YouTube Goes Interactive There Goes My Weekend January 30, 2009March 12, 2017 I had fully planned to make good on last week’s Mark Twain pledge of last week (“Next week: Mark Twain on Economics”), but you’ve been sending me such great stuff, Twain will just have to wait. Alan Greenspan testifying five days into the Bush Administration:* “… The most recent projections indicate that, if current policies remain in place, the total unified surplus will reach $800 billion in fiscal year 2011…” ☞ Good thing the Republicans had the wisdom to switch course. David Letterman with financial advice a couple of days ago:** “I want to warn people from Nigeria who might be watching our show, if you get any emails from Washington asking for money, it’s a scam. Don’t fall for it.” HOW DO YOU NOT SMILE? We are in the midst of tough times that will get worse before they get better. And yet there is such hope and sense of possibility here and abroad. So much youthful enthusiasm. Yesterday we had the Irish singing to O’bama. Today, Obama singing (after a fashion) and dancing himself. And more: THERE GOES MY WEEKEND This guy makes Barack, Paper, Scissors impossible not to enjoy.*** I think even Mark Twain would have twinkled at some of this. *Thanks, George Hamlett! **Thanks, Joey! ***Thanks, James Musters!
Ah, The Black Irish January 29, 2009March 12, 2017 YESTERDAY’S VOTE So the President’s economic stimulus package passed the House without one – not one – Republican vote. Sound familiar? The same thing happened to President Clinton’s first budget. It passed without a single Republican vote. And yet it steered the economy into better balance . . . prosperity followed . . . and by the time he left office he handed the Republicans what they themselves called “surpluses as far as the eye could see.” I’m afraid it won’t be so easy this time. But one thing not to worry about is that Republican lawmakers unanimously think it’s a bad plan. That’s what they thought sixteen years ago. And aren’t they the ones who thought the disastrous Bush economic strategy was worth voting for? GIANT PHOTOS Richard Factor: You don’t need a special camera to take giant gigapixel photos. Microsoft has a free site – photosynth.net – to which you can upload as many photos as you want, so long as they all have some overlap. The site stitches them together for you. I did one of Mount Rushmore.” ☞ Looking at it close up, there’s clearly room for FDR to the right of Abe Lincoln – and maybe one day another great man or woman. O’BAMA If you haven’t heard this song, it is all but guaranteed to get your toes tapping. We have an Irish President! THE FIRST INTERVIEW But he is also Kansan, and Kenyan, and members of his family are Muslim. Here is one review of President Obama’s first formal TV interview as President. (“What Obama did has provided a new punctuation point in American foreign policy. This is a new game and a very impressive new leader.”) DIVERSIFICATION – THE FATAL FLAW Overheard at a recent cocktail party: “Diversified? I was wonderfully diversified – except that all my investments were on Earth.”
Young Love January 28, 2009March 12, 2017 ZZZZZzzzzzzz…… Drew Bubser: “[The zoomable photo you linked to yesterday] is not only a great picture, but a very interesting story / process / robot that made it possible.” ☞ This 90-second video gives a quick overview of how it works. Roger Berkley: “If you zoom in, you can see Justice Clarence Thomas [just behind and to the right of the President giving his Inaugural Address], fast asleep.” YOUNG LOVE Call me a sap, but if you have 11 minutes . . . (Thanks, Marc!)
Playing Tennis At 90 January 27, 2009January 3, 2017 BLONDE GOES BACK TO WORK AFTER 30 YEARS I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry. (And she appears to be brunette, actually.) But it’s just four seconds. MORE INAUGURAL SNAPS Yesterday’s were nice, but this one lets you zoom in from the sky and see faces. A BORN AGAIN AMERICAN What a country. Listen to the song; then listen to my hero Norman Lear explain what it’s all about. BAD NEWS / GOOD NEWS The bad news is that the next 10 or 20 years are likely to be tough for the economy, just as the 10 or 20 following Vietnam were. Only worse, because we have less wiggle room. The good news is that in many ways the future remains bright. Yes, on average, the car you drive and the house you live in will be smaller – but both will be safer and more energy efficient; the car will park itself if you ask it to, and the house will respond to your commands. You’ll say, “Turn down the lights a little,” and the lights will dim . . . you’ll say, “Show me the Seinfeld where George goes on a date with Marisa Tomei,” and up it will come. Luxuries that involve physical resources or energy will be harder to afford (50 years from now, energy may be all but free), but tech-driven marvels should become ever more accessible. And did I mention that we may live forever? Yes I did – and surprisingly few of you seem interested. But okay, what about this: Remaining in good health into your 90s – playing tennis at 90 – and then, eventually, when you do go, going quietly in your sleep. Does that grab you? Did you watch it on “60 Minutes” Sunday?
Rush Limbaugh Makes No Bones About It (Things Went So Well With a Conservative Administration) January 26, 2009March 12, 2017 CHANGE Change is in the air. Take this example, posted at Talking Points Memo (thanks, Ralph): I work at the Department of Education headquarters in DC. Today completed our 2-day introduction to [incoming Secretary] Arne Duncan. Yesterday he had lunch in our cafeteria (Edibles, ha ha), with his wife and children. His wife wore jeans and a sweater and Arne looked like an average joe in khaki dress pants, white shirt and tie. They stood in all of the lines and talked to anyone who approached them. They probably stayed 90 minutes. It was definitely the highest cafeteria attendance ever. Yesterday afternoon he visited every floor of our building and introduced himself to everyone. We all came out into the hall and he shook everyone’s hand with a “Hi, I’m Arne.” By the end of the day yesterday, everyone was aglow, since this was already more attention than we’d received from Spellings or Paige. Today, however, was the all-staff meeting, and I can say that the morale in the building increased ten-fold by the end of it. Our auditorium was beyond packed, with people standing in the aisles. I myself snagged a seat on the floor next to the stage kindergarten-style. Arne stood in front of a blue screen that read “Call me Arne!” in bright yellow letters. He insisted that we call him Arne, rather than Mr. Secretary or anything like that, saying his name was Arne before he got this job and it would be 8 years from now. … I know this isn’t anything earthshattering, but the change in the atmosphere at the Department over the last week has been really astounding. In the past, we all knew that the Secretary had an agenda that she was going to follow, and that we were only there to affirm that her way was best. We really feel that Arne wants to know the truth, whether it fits with his agenda or not. INAUGURAL SNAPS Here. RUSH LIMBAUGH HOPES OBAMA FAILS Here. YOU CAN HELP HIM SUCCEED Here.
Odds, Ends January 23, 2009March 12, 2017 STAR SIGHTING Some of you reading yesterday’s column seem to think I met Marisa Tomei (not “Melissa” Tomei) at an Inaugural event. Not that WOULD have been something. BACK ACHING Brooks Hilliard: “I have the same problem with back aches when standing for long hours, but found a cure for it: Take two aspirin about 30 minutes BEFORE the long stand begins and re-dose about every 4 hours. I say aspirin because it works better for me for all types of aches and pains than Tylenol or Advil.” SARDINES (again) Linda Melazzo: “They are known as ‘health food in a can’ and are loaded with omega 3 and contain virtually no mercury and are a good source of calcium. If you mash them with some Dijon mustard and onion and put them on crackers they are delish. My grandfather turned me on to the snack them I was a kid. Little did I know how good they were for you.” SOCIAL SECURITY AT 62 Bill Winterberg: “Remember that if one takes SS from age 62 and intends to pay back benefits received through age 70, then reapply for the higher payout, one gets to pay with money that (in normal market conditions, i.e. not deflation) has lost purchasing power. If inflation averages 3% for 8 years, the future value of $10,000 of 2009 benefits is $12,667 in 2017, but the recipient only needs to pay back $10,000 (the benefit paid) after 8 years! Plus, no interest on the benefits needs to be paid, so this is a double-dip.” SKYPE Joe, in France: “I have a Skype-In number. It’s a New York area code, but it actually comes to Skype in my computer. You should get one too! It’s cheap and very useful. For example, HP tech support would only call me in the U.S., not overseas. So I gave them my New York Skype number and they called thinking I was in New York! Even though the world is coming to an end, some things keep getting better! Like Skype!” Next week: Mark Twain on Economics
Oops January 22, 2009March 12, 2017 There was no column yesterday because I was too sick to write it. I was too sick to write it, because it was so icy standing on the mall for six hours that just watching gave me a really bad cold. I was watching on TV because I was not given a seated ticket and have found that standing in one place for hours kills my back (man of steel though I am). I was not given a seated ticket because there were only 8,000 of them to go around. But you know what? It was a wonderful weekend, even watching it on TV from the world’s most expensive hotel room. And I did get to meet Marisa Tomei at one gathering – and get reelected DNC treasurer at another. This latter was not supposed to happen. Indeed, just before leaving for Washington, I emailed friends farewell: Subj: We won — I’m done. Have fun! Date: 1/17/2009 I’m embarrassed to admit that — disastrously — it took eight years longer than planned . . . but as you have probably heard by now, we won. Many of you on this list have dug really deep, year after year, to bend the arc of the moral universe toward justice, and I want to say one last thanks while I still have some standing to do so. (It was about a year into all this that I happened to see someone’s paycheck and was shocked to see my signature on it. So *that’s* why they had asked me for my signature. I’m sure they told me, but I guess it hadn’t sunk in.) It’s been a privilege working with DNC Chairmen Steve Grossman, Joe Andrew, Roy Romer, Ed Rendell, Terry McAuliffe, and Howard Dean (when ARE we going to appoint/elect a woman chair? soon, I hope) . . . . . . and, by extension, working for our mostly terrific Democratic candidates throughout the 50 states . . . . . . and certainly working for the two magnificent candidates, Al Gore and Barack Obama, who won in 2000 and 2008, respectively. If you’ve lost your mind with enthusiasm and are going to Washington to join the celebration, I hope to see you there. But given how cold it will be, and my aversion to crowds of more than a million — and Secret Service mag lines of more than 200,000 — I am most likely to see you on my hotel room TV, to which I expect to be glued, getting a better view than anyone but the Chief Justice. I raise this by way of playful (but sincere) apology to all of you who gave and gave and gave and then found that the DNC was unable to secure tickets for you. We had hoped to get an allocation from the Presidential Inaugural Committee (itself, by law, largely at the mercy of a Senate committee) — and we did beg — but to no avail. The big picture, however, is: 1. On November 4, hope won. 2. Facing challenges that are hard to overstate, a tremendously talented, progressive team is taking over (not least our extraordinary Secretary of State-designate). 3. You helped make that happen. 4. I, for one, and, I know, Howard Dean, for another, are truly grateful for what you did to *make* it happen . . . and to make the 50 State Strategy a success. (Alaska! we won a Senate seat in Alaska! “Opportunity favors the prepared mind,” as Gov Dean is fond of quoting Louis Pasteur.) (I know Howard is grateful because I was with him last night after he had flown from American Samoa . . . having pledged to visit all the DNC states and territories while chair . . . to Nigeria . . . having agreed to speak at a conference . . . to Washington — a l l b u t o n e l e g o f t h i s i n c o a c h — and had then come straight in from Dulles to work on some last-minute DNC business that stretched out until nearly midnight, causing him to miss his plane to Vermont . . . whereupon, to keep from wasting your hard-earned contributions, he retired to his office to sleep on his couch until the first flight out in the morning. It was during the course of the evening that he expressed again, as he always does, how much he appreciates the enormous support you gave his efforts.) 5. So it’s time to feel great . . . to note (but, I would argue, not overweight) the inevitable missteps . . . and to come together to make the years ahead as constructive and progressive as possible. Whether you watch this new beginning from the comfort of your own TV or, freezing your butt off, on one of two miles’ worth of Jumbotrons, please have fun Tuesday. If only for having to suffer through so many hundreds of emails — you’ve earned it! Signing off one last time . . . gratefully . . . Andy ☞ Get it? I was done! Free! And then, 36 hours later, to the same list . . . Subj: oops Date: 1/18/2009 Well, THIS is embarrassing. Apparently, I am still your Treasurer. I know – this isn’t what I expected either. And if the prospect annoys YOU, think what mixed feelings Charles and I must have. I got off the Acela (which was two hours and twenty minutes late “due to Inaugural congestion”) more than comfortable in the knowledge that (a) we have a fantastic new President and First Lady coming into office; and that (b) someone else would finally have the chance to ask you for money, while I went off and tried my hand at writing. (The decision not to serve again was simple: I hadn’t been asked. It was much like my decision not to host the Oscars.) But then, as I stood in the cab line from hell, I got a call asking me to be Treasurer (the election is Wednesday) — the first anyone had mentioned anything about this. I explained that I had hours earlier sent out my final email, and that An Important Book needed to be written. And I mentioned that *the election is WEDNESDAY* and they are just thinking about this NOW? (“We’ve, uh, been *building a government* my counterpart explained, with just the hint of an edge in his voice.) But then I talked to our outgoing chair and to our incoming chair, and to some other folks, and I watched the opening ceremony at the Lincoln Memorial (on HBO), and it seemed to me that when the country faces the kind of challenges it does, and one is asked to help, in however minor a way, one says yes — and is grateful for the privilege. Please ignore yesterday’s email. Andy ☞ As to the Swearing In itself, a friend of a friend reported: I am still tired, but quite content. We got up at 3:30 a.m. yesterday morning, dressed in our multiple layers, and trekked up to the subway station in time to board one of the first trains to arrive at 4:00 a.m. There’s only one other stop on the line after ours, the stop where the train originated, and when that train pulled into the station at 4:00 a.m. it was already crowded! That alone told me what the day would be like. We managed to survive the crushing crowd just to get out of the subway at the L’Enfant Plaza station, then got crammed into another massive crowd piled up behind the closed security gates lining the national Mall. Sometime just after 5:00 a.m. the crowd suddenly began to surge, and we knew the gates had been open, so we squeezed through the gap in the fence (no security screening at all this far back from the Capitol) and raced for the spot on the Mall we had picked out on a reconnoitering mission the previous afternoon. There were already so many people, however, we didn’t get to be exactly in the center of the Mall, but we still had a pretty good view — of a Jumbotron. But with binoculars we could see the Inaugural platform on the west front of the Capitol. So by about 5:20 a.m. we were in place, and we just sat there in the cold (never got out of the 20s, and the wind at times was fierce) for the next six hours before the Inauguration ceremony really got started. Ah, but what a moment it was! The largest crowd ever to assemble in Washington, D.C., and we were a part of it. And everyone — everyone without exception — was friendly and polite and good natured. No pushing, no shoving, no tempers flaring. I would not have thought it possible, but it was almost a miraculous assemblage of universal good cheer. And words can never capture the overpowering, swept-away, carried-aloft, dazed and awesome jubilation that I felt and that all about me collectively felt when President Obama at last said, “So help me God.” It was done! History had been made — and then, in what I term “the Old Faithful effect,” some people started leaving immediately, not interested in hearing the inaugural (but given the cold and the wind and the fact that they had been standing for almost seven hours, I guess that’s understandable). For us the worst part of the whole day was trying to get off the Mall. We needed to walk to Georgetown, about a four mile walk, where we had left our car the day before, but all exit points to the north of the Mall were closed off (that was where the parade was getting ready to take place), and crowd barricades prevented us from simply walking west on the Mall. So we got onto Independence Avenue, where we got stuck in a congealed mass of tens of thousands of people all trying to enter the Smithsonian Metro Station. I was a bit unnerved for a time, as I wasn’t sure we were going to be able to get out. But at last we found a way to climb down an embankment onto 12th Street (closed to traffic for the day, thankfully) and walked through the 12th Street tunnel underneath the Mall, emerging at Constitution Avenue (where there is no subway station) and continuing our walk west from there. By 2:20 we had finally crossed 17th Street and made it to Constitution Gardens (where people were crossing the ponds on the ice before Red Cross volunteers rushed to cordon off that route!), and from there we found a relatively uncongested spot in front of the Department of the Interior building were we sat on our portable camp chairs and ate our lunch (pre-made sandwiches from Starbucks, also purchased the day before in preparation). After that we completed the trek to Georgetown and our car, dropped off all unneeded items, shed some of our extra clothing and changed shoes, and then went to a nearby Starbucks for a coffee (our first hot drink in ages!) and to plan the rest of the day. We had 8:00 p.m. dinner reservations at a restaurant at DuPont Circle, where we have eaten every January 20th since George Bush became President in 2001 (it became our way of counting down the years to the end of his presidency, but we were chagrined that there were an extra four years of dinners than we hadn’t initially hoped for). I made the late reservations with the initial idea that we would attend the parade, but with the crowd and the cold we scrubbed that idea. However, we could not change our reservations (all booked up) so to kill time we went to a movie (“Revolutionary Road”, which we thought very good) and then walked to DuPont Circle and had our traditional dinner at “The Front Page.” It never tasted so good. By the time we were done all the Inaugural Balls were in full swing, which meant that taxis were at last available, so we hailed a cab for the ride back to Georgetown and our car. Before the taxi driver would allow us in his cab, however, he wanted to make sure we didn’t want to go anywhere near the D.C. Convention Center or the other major ball locations, as he had just come from being stuck in traffic for over an hour. He was quite relieved to hear that we wanted to go in the opposite direction! So back to the car, and a quiet drive home, arriving there just at 10:00 p.m., to watch the news and recount our memorable day. ☞ Here’s to the United States of America.
If Your Drinking Buddy Clocks You With a Sirius Satellite Radio On Your 69th Birthday And Then Disposes of Your Body Parts in Used Plastic Bags January 16, 2009March 12, 2017 BARBELLS FOR YOUR BRAIN Did you forget that Brain Posit Science will be on QVC tonight from 7pm-8pm EST? Well, you see? That’s exactly why you need it. You may have seen this popular program on public television. Now, QVC® is pleased to bring you revolutionary computer software that helps you think faster, focus better and improves the quality and quantity of the information your brain processes. . . SOCIAL SECURITY Judy O’Leary: “If one takes Social Security at 62, they are limited on how much they can earn in a given year without forfeiting a portion of the payout. If you wait until full retirement age, your annual earnings can be unlimited.” ☞ True. It’s explained here. But I don’t think that affects the strategy discussed Wednesday. Yes, you’d receive a smaller benefit; but you would also have less to repay if you elected to reset the benefit later. Russell Turpin: “Like every other endeavor, it’s first important to decide one’s goal. Is the chief aim to maximize one’s estate? Or is it to insure against outliving one’s income? If it is the latter, and there is the possibility of living much past 70, then the best strategy is to wait until one is 70 to start drawing social security. That maximizes guaranteed income when one is truly old. Starting at 62, with the intent of paying back benefits at 70, is a bit more flexible, but carries some risk. The money that is drawn is exposed, not just to one’s own lapse in discipline or bad turn at investment, but also to lawsuits, state actions, and court judgments. One of the great features of social security is that it is immune to all of that. A 68 year-old man may fall down a cliff with an old drinking buddy, spend an expensive three months in a hospital, get sued by buddy’s family, and simultaneously by an ungrateful son. Neither the various creditors and plaintiffs nor their lawyers can touch the cash value of this fellow’s social security, force him to start drawing it earlier than he desires, nor garnish the checks once he decides to do so. Despite a bad year that exhausts a lifetime of assets and lines up the creditors, this fellow may have a decent income for the next twenty-five years. Of course, if his girlfriend kills him at his 69th birthday party, this fellow’s son may be even more ungrateful that the father never drew a cent from social security, continually borrowing drinking money from the son while forestalling until his 70th year. So, it depends on one’s goals.” ☞ And one’s rather vivid – not to say violent – imagination. PLASTIC BAGS Karen Tiede: “On the topic of whether or not to wash plastic bags [which I last month suggested could profitably be explored at book length], Amy Dacyczyn, the frugal zealot who wrote The Tightwad Gazette, addressed this topic several years ago, long before $4 gas prices. On pages 45-47 of volume 1, she distinguishes between Zipock (which you should wash) and other bags (not worth it). She, and I, do not reuse any bag that has been in direct contact with meat. Also, do not use any bag inside out if it has “paint” (bread bags) on the outside. Elsewise, the cost savings for washing and reusing Ziploc bags in 1993 time-and-money (and petroleum) values came out to $30 / hour. On page 99 of volume 2, one of her readers recommends turning them inside out and tossing them in the wash with a warm load. Those of us with cats and litter boxes are always in need of plastic bags. In my house, all food-contact bags (lettuce) go to the litter box stash once they’re done protecting the lettuce from dehydration.” RIP-OFFS Click here for a website entirely devoted to them – and a chance to add your own. I noted 109 reports on Sirius Satellite Radio, for example, before even adding my own.
More on Surgical Checklists (And Taxes, Tax Cuts, and MYM) January 15, 2009March 12, 2017 ONE WAY TO OWE NO TAXES: HAVE NO INCOME So today is the deadline for your fourth quarterly 2008 estimated income tax. But of course you have probably none due because all those taxable gains from early 2008 were wiped out by losses you took last month to lower your tax bill. Poor Uncle Sam is going to see his receipts fall off a cliff. TAX CUTS I just have to keep saying it. This is really dumb. I guess we have to do some of it, for political reasons, but that famous line – who can spend your money better, you or the government? – is not nearly as wise as it sounds. You will spend your money to pay down credit card balances (as you should, but that hardly creates jobs) or to shore up retirement savings (as you should, but that hardly creates jobs) or to buy clothes (that creates jobs in Shanghai) or to buy a flat screen TV (that creates jobs in Seoul), or to take the kids skiing or to take your honey to dinner twice a month instead of once a month – which is good for the chef, waiters, and busboys, but here is the thing we have to ask ourselves: Is now really the time to keep borrowing (for this tax cut will be financed entirely with borrowed money) to keep more busboys and waiters employed? Or is now the time to be borrowing to become energy independent, build a smart energy grid, digitize our medical records, dredge our waterways, repair our bridges, and educate our children? Is now the time to be borrowing to give people with jobs a break (much as we’d like to), or is it the time to be borrowing to extend unemployment benefits – and, by spending on infrastructure, create new jobs? Should we borrow to give people the money to go out to dinner and keep restaurants open? Or should we borrow to funnel money to the states to keep them from having to lay off teachers and cops and shut down after-school programs? Which would be worse? Becoming a nation with fewer auto dealerships and fewer retail stores – perhaps even fewer real estate agents and fewer restaurants – or remaining a nation whose infrastructure continues to deteriorate and whose kids fall further and further behind the global competition? And (while we’re at it) why do we have nice, bright people – who could be teaching math – selling something, automobile insurance, everyone is required by law to have in the first place? We don’t sell Social Security one policy at a time, why auto insurance? Why not just build the price of insurance into the cost of fuel and the cost of driver’s licenses (if we want an efficient way to charge young people extra), the cost of registrations (if we want an efficient way to charge more for muscle cars), and the cost of moving violations (because we want to charge bad drivers more than good drivers)? A fella could write a book! As will become increasingly clear, we are not in a steep recession out from which we will emerge more or less as we entered it. We’re at the beginning of a process of reinventing ourselves as a more efficient, greener nation. This is ultimately a good thing, even though there will be widespread pain along the way. In any event, it is a necessary thing. MEDICAL EFFICIENCY And some of it doesn’t even have to be painful. Mark: “I found another good article on check lists in medicine saving lives and money. Maybe we can get Obama to move on this!” ☞ Well, and incoming HHS Secretary Tom Daschle for sure. That article screams out to be forwarded to your doctor and any hospital administrator – or elected official – you know. MYM Some of us still use Managing Your Money for DOS, first released in 1984, before PC’s had hard drives, and last updated in 1993. Hey, if it works, don’t fix it. (Though don’t buy it, either.) And when it doesn’t work, Mike Starkey – who is like the one guy left at NASA from 1969 who actually knows how to put a man on the moon – may just be able to fix it. Click here for his just-created MYM FAQ.