I was watching Schoolhouse Rock videos on YouTube when I came across the following:

That made me very curious. The debt was born in 1780, and has never been paid off? Hamilton wanted the debt as a reason to establish taxes?

Someone commented on the video saying that Bill Clinton paid off the national debt. Another person properly replied that was wrong, that was only the budget, and Clinton didn’t even touch the debt.

Is the debt bad? I looked it up on Wikipedia. Currently, the national debt is about $9.5 trillion, or $31,100 per U.S. resident. If unfunded Medicaid, Social Security, etc. promises are added, the figure rises to $59.1 trillion. That means Medicaid, Social Security, etc. will cost about 5.2 times the amount of our current national debt. When put in that perspective, the $9.5 trillion isn’t bad at all. Medicaid, Social Security, etc. are a far bigger problem.

According to the The CIA World Factbook, the following countries have a higher national debt than the United States, as a percentage of GDP… personally, I was really surprised by this:

Japan, Zimbabwe, Lebanon, Seychelles, Jamaica, Italy, Egypt, Singapore, Sudan, Belgium, Sri Lanka, Israel, Greece, Bhutan, Cote d’Ivoire, Hungary, Jordan, Uruguay, France, Portugal, Germany, Canada, Morocco, Cyprus, Austria, Mauritius, Philippines, Argentina, India, Turkey, Nicaragua, Ethiopia, Tunisia, Colombia, Pakistan, Albania, Panama, Kenya, Switzerland, Ghana, Netherlands, Costa Rica, Aruba, Bolivia, Croatia, Poland, Brazil, Papua New Guinea, United Kingdom, Vietnam, Malawi, Sweden, Malaysia, Dominican Republic, Norway, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Bangladesh, Babon, El Salvador, Syria, Thailand, Cuba, and Serbia.

If you look at this way, the U.S. national debt isn’t bad at all. (Although there is also a large number of countries with smaller national debts, too.)

Let’s look at #1 on the list, Japan. It’s a country that most Americans today have a lot of respect for. I think their economy is quite good. I didn’t know they had a particularly high national debt. But they do, especially as a percentage of GDP. In absolute terms, it’s only a little less than the U.S. national debt. Apparently, Brazil’s national debt is the highest in absolute terms. So I guess our national debt is not too bad after all.

Here’s the transcript of the video:

TOUR GUIDE: To your left, folks, is the Washington Monument, to your right, the White House. And over there, just beyond the Capitol, is the National Debt!

TOURISTS: Oooo! Wow!

There’s something huge
Red, white, and blue
That’s grazing in D.C.
It’s gobbling up the taxes
That are paid by you and me
It doesn’t seem to notice
We really can’t afford
The billions that it’s costing us
To pay its room and board

It doesn’t roam
But seems content
To dwell on Capitol Hill
As long as trucks keep pulling up
With tons of green-back bills
We’ve got to feed the big guy
We really can’t forget
It has an awesome appetite
Tyrannosaurus Debt

TOUR GUIDE: The debt was born in 1790 when our new government took over 75 million the colonies spent in the Revolutionary War.

We’ve got to feed the monster
So it doesn’t get upset
It’s got an awesome appetite
Tyrannosaurus Debt

TOUR GUIDE: Alexander Hamilton, our first Secretary of the Treasury (he’s on the 10, you know), wanted a federal debt to provide a reason to establish taxes to support our new nation.

The debt was young, they kept it small
They didn’t know back then
In 1812 another war would make it grow again
By ‘66 the Civil War had cost the nation millions
The government in Washington now had a debt of billions

TOUR GUIDE: The Civil War ran up a debt of almost three billion dollars that still wasn’t paid off by World War One.

We’re spending money we don’t have
Or so it would appear
The deficit is that amount we overspend each year
Though congressmen and senators
Make vows to cut its size
Despite their honest efforts
The debt just seems to rise

TOUR GUIDE: Now the debt’s over 4 trillion dollars and still growing…

A balanced budget would be great
To spend within our means
To stop the monster in its tracks
Before we bust our seams
It feeds on just the interest
Its appetite is whet
It never, ever stops to rest
Tyrannosaurus Debt

TOUR GUIDE: And this is the U.S. Treasury. It sells Treasury Bonds, bills, and notes, and savings bonds to finance the debt. The U.S. government promises to pay the owner interest plus the value of each bond at a future date.

We’ve got to try to tame the debt
And bring it down to size
To let it grow unchecked like this
Is certainly unwise
The debt’s a monster problem
That we really can’t ignore
I guess we should be grateful
That it’s not a carnivore
We’ve got to keep on servicing
Our trillion dollar pet
It’s got a monster appetite
Tyrannosaurus Debt

A fiscal misadventure
With trillion dollar dentures
Tyrannosaurus Debt

TOUR GUIDE: Feeding time is ALL the time.

Posted in Politics on May 3rd, 2008 Read More Be the first to comment

I’ve been reading Ron Paul’s The Revolution, and have already mentioned what it says about gold. Today I’d like to quote a bit about what Paul says regarding the income tax. Essentially, he believes we should completely abolish it, and replace it with nothing, not even a sales tax– and after reading his argument, I fully agree. It would eliminate about 40% of government revenue . . . which would make the government’s budget about the same as it was in 1997! Think about that.

The income tax implies the “government owns you, and graciously allows you to keep whatever percentage of th fruits of your labor it chooses. Such an idea is incompatible with the principles of a free society” (78). As Frank Chodorov puts it: “It is like saying that the slave is free because he is allowed to do anything he wants to do (even vote, if you wish) except to own what he produces” (79).

Ron Paul does not sit around and vote “No” on everything. Although he wants to eliminate the income tax completely, that is currently impossible, so he tries to at least “make dents in the edifice in the meantime.” Thus, he makes lots of proposals, such as the proposal that, “for all those whose income consists largely of tips, that income in the form of tips be exempt from income taxation. I have proposed that America’s teachers be granted tax credits, thereby increasing their salaries. I have proposed that people with terminal illnesses be exempt from Social Security taxes while they struggle for their lives. (There is surely no moral justification for taxing people who are trying to maintain their very lives.)”

These are moral and sensible tax breaks, unlike the subsidies specific business interests currently receive from the government. It’s a complex issue, and Paul is careful never to make overarching generalizations. The ideal, however, would be to abolish the income tax and replace it “not with a national income tax, but with nothing.” The federal government is currently funded by:

• Excise taxes
• Corporate income taxes
• Payroll taxes
• The individual income tax
• Miscellaneous other sources

Abolishing the individual income tax “would cut government revenue by about 40 percent. I have heard the breathless claims about how radical that is– and compared to the trivial changes we are accustomed to seeing in government, I suppose it is.” I love that line: compared to the trivial changes we are accustomed to seeing in government, abolishing the income tax would be radical. “But in absolute terms, is it really so radical? In order to imagine what it would be like to live in a country with a federal budget 40 percent lower than the federal budget of 2007, it would be necessary to go all the way back to . . . 1997″ (80). Paul continues: Continue reading Eliminate the Income Tax Without Adding a Sales Tax

Posted in Politics on May 1st, 2008 Read More Be the first to comment

I mentioned this book previously. Bought any gas lately? How about food? Do you think prices are going up by only a few percent per year?

Consider this, from page 144:

…the “inflation rate” itself, which is tracked using the Consumer Price Index (CPI), tends to be measured in a misleading way. Ask the average American if he thinks prices are going up by only a few percent per year, as the official figures would have it. So-called core inflation figures do not include food or energy, whose prices have been rising rapidly. (emphasis mine)

Do you own any gold? I’m considering looking into it. With the Fed cutting rates even more today, I don’t think the dollar will be worth much in the future.

Think about this, and please, refute it if you can:

When the Fed artificially lowers rates, it misrepresents economic conditions and misleads people into making unsound investments. Investments that would not have been profitable beforehand suddenly seem attractive in light of the lower interest rates…In the short run, a false prosperity takes root. Business expands. New construction is everywhere. People feel wealthier. This is why there is always such political pressure on the Fed to lower rates around election time: the prosperity comes in the short run, and the painful correction comes much later, well after people have cast their votes. (145, emphasis mine)

This is the sort of thing that makes me want to be an economics major. Then I’d be able to say whether this is true with some authority and judgment. For now, I have to rely on what I learned in high school, college introductory microeconomics, and intuition. And all of what I know indicates that Ron Paul is right. It’s scary… but if it’s true, the only way out is to stop the Fed from manipulating the money supply. Continue reading Gold in Ron Paul’s The Revolution: A Manifesto

Posted in Politics on April 28th, 2008 Read More Be the first to comment

In episode 141 of Security Now!– the latest episode– Steve Gibson highly recommends watching some of the keynotes from RSA Conference 2008. This is a reminder to myself to watch some of them when I have time. Here’s a link: RSA Conference 2008.

Posted in Geek Stuff on April 27th, 2008 Read More Be the first to comment

Recently, Facebook released Facebook Chat. Here’s what it looks like:

It was inevitable. Gmail has had built-in Chat for a long time now. Continue reading Welcome to Facebook Chat

Posted in Neat Stuff on April 23rd, 2008 Read More One

This is one of the funniest videos I’ve seen in a long time.

It’s an engineer’s guide to cats! These cats have varying aspect ratios and leaping capabilities.

Actually, I’m allergic to cats, but it’s a funny video clip nonetheless. I challenge you to make a “An Engineer’s Guide to __________” video! Continue reading Funny Video Clip: An Engineer’s Guide to Cats

Posted in Jokes on April 21st, 2008 Read More Be the first to comment

Today I’d like to tell you about Petey. He’s a 12-year-old boy suffering from muscular dystrophy. It’s fatal, but Jason Marshall is helping him to live a happy and fulfilling life by being his full-time one-on-one aide. I blogged about Jason Marshall back in October.

To get around, Petey uses a power wheelchair. This requires a special van in order to transport him and the wheelchair, but they don’t have one.

Jason can’t afford the van for Petey on his own, because he makes a small salary, sacrificing his time as an act of service. Petey has a single mom with nine children, so they can’t afford the van either.

We have freedom, so we should help to give Petey freedom.

I read about this from Eric Holmlund, who challenged his readers to blog about this fundraiser. Jason has put together a package of over $2,000 worth of digital products donated by internet marketers to help with the fundraiser. If you give the standard donation amount, you can download the products as a gift for your contribution. You can give any amount and it will be 100% tax deductible as a charitable donation. Continue reading Jason Marshall and Petey

Posted in Stuff 2 Buy on April 15th, 2008 Read More One

The following is a paid review:

I was asked to review Software security, a website offering software security articles. The first thing I noticed when I saw the site was the simple, clean layout design. The top of the page has the heading “software security @web articles”, with the second part in a blue color. Then there’s a generic red background with some navigation links on it: home, submit articles, free content, and contact. Overall, it looks like a typical template for a content website, and doesn’t seem particularly original. I would suggest improving branding with a more unique name, instead of using only general terms like “software security”.

Clicking home takes you to the front page of the entire website, at http://www.web-articles.info/. It’s a typical article directory, with various categories for both submitting and viewing articles. Visitors are invited to link back to the site from theirs.

Clicking submit articles takes you to a page with information about submitting an article. This is interesting because the main purpose of an article directory is to host and provide info submitted by others. From this page, if you understand the guidelines for an article submission, you can go to the actual submission form. This form accepts the article in .doc or .html formats, and warns that other file types - such as php, phtml, and cgi - are not accepted.

Clicking free content backs the user out from the software security category, and provides instructions on how to get free content for your website. This is interesting because article directories don’t always make it so easy to syndicate their content. Of course, they do benefit from the increased exposure, so why not?

Two syndication options are provided. The first option is to “Subscribe to general Feeds of the last articles added” in the directory. This means that the newest articles in the directory - in the general category - are shown on your website. Within this first option, there are two methods for getting the content onto your site. The first is “The JavaScript method”, which the site recommends for beginners. All you have to do is:

1) Select the number of items you want to appear on your site.

2) Copy and paste the provided JavaScript code.

The second method is “The XML - RSS method”, which is more professional. I would recommend this option because not all users have JavaScript enabled, and many search engines will not pay attention to JavaScript either. Again, you can select the number of feeds you want, and copy the resulting URL.

The second syndication option is to subscribe to specific feeds “added under specific categories”. This is the one I would recommend, because it’s very important that the content you have on your website is related to your website. Again, JavaScript Feeds and XML-RSS Feeds are provided.

Posted in Travel on April 14th, 2008 Read More Be the first to comment

I’m reading Coming of Age in Mississippi by Anne Moody, and on page 221 it says this:

We walked over to one of the little broken-down tables and pulled up a couple of creates and started a game of Coon King as all th eteenagers stood around looking. … All that evening I sat playing Coon King and thinking…

I Googled it but couldn’t find it. What is Coon King? Continue reading Coon King Card Game?

Posted in Travel on April 13th, 2008 Read More One

I sat down to do some Java programming for a school project when I went to check my email first. Turns out my mother has “tagged” me with an internet meme, to post 7 things about myself you wouldn’t guess. (A meme is “any unit of cultural information, such as a practice or idea, that gets transmitted verbally or by repeated action from one mind to another” - Wikipedia.) She didn’t include the instructions in her post, so I went back a couple levels to see what the original meme stated.

“The meme asks me to give a link to the person who meme’d me, to tell 7 interesting things about me, and to then pass the meme on. I interpreted the meme to mean that I should tell things that you’re not likely to guess. Here goes:”

So for me:

1. I originally learned most of the fundamentals of programming on the Cybiko handheld computer, not on a typical PC. Major props to Greg Smith, who had great patience chatting with me on AIM late at night. I’d ask him how to do something and he’d nicely show me how; stuff like manipulating sprites, improving performance with graphics tricks (very necessary on a low-powered handheld), fixing my syntax, and squashing silly bugs.
2. I bought my first domain name, 4Cybiko.com, in 2001 for $15 from 15DollarDomains.com, which no longer exists (merged to a different name).
3. I was addicted to 3D virtual worlds circa 2003, spending hours building my own buildings, towns, streets and cities. I had lots of online friends and we developed some very interesting relationships, purely online. I forget the name of the original one I got hooked on, but they eventually closed down their servers, and I moved on to “Awaba”, the only free one in existence at the time. I only stopped because they closed down, too.
4. For years I played StarCraft “Shareware” because I was too young to make any money and actually buy a copy of StarCraft. Fortunately it has a multiplayer mode, although you can only play as Terran. Today StarCraft and Brood War are so cheap on eBay it makes no sense to play StarCraft Shareware. If it weren’t for shareware, though, I wouldn’t be still playing it today. The shareware model can really work.
5. I’m not a fast reader. Reading books often bores me. There are no hyperlinks. Reading on a computer is the way to go.
6. I once burned my finger on a soldering iron.
7. I once cut myself on the sharp edge of an old computer case. It was a fairly bad gash and it left a scar.

I tag Audrey, Larissa, and Illya.

Posted in Neat Stuff on April 6th, 2008 Read More 3