Tag: government
Always Forgetting Passwords? I’m With the Government, and I’m Here to Help
What could possible go wrong? The Obama administration on Friday proposed that all your private passwords be replaced by a single credential, issued and controlled by the federal government.
SWAT Team Sent In to Confiscate 13-Year-Old Over Unneeded Medication
Our land of freedom: SWAT team sent in to confiscate 13-year-old over unneeded medication.
“Our current unfunded entitlement liabilities run about $100 trillion.”
No deal
No deal. Key quote:
If Democrats are not going to do even minor surgery on Medicare and Medicaid and Republicans are not going to raise taxes, there is no hope of big budget deal to cut a deficit now running at 11 percent of gross domestic product.
And that raises another question. How long can the Federal Reserve continue financing these deficits? China, choking on U.S. debt, is reportedly beginning to divest itself of U.S. bonds. Japan will need to sell U.S. bonds to get hard currency to repair the damage from the earthquake and tsunami. And the Fed is about to end its QE2 monthly purchases of $100 billion in U.S. bonds. Where is the Fed going to borrow the $125 billion a month to finance this year’s deficit of $1.65 trillion, and another of comparable size in 2012? Bill Gross’ Pimco, the world’s largest bond fund, has sold all his U.S. bonds and begun to short U.S. debt. Pimco is betting that the value of U.S. Treasury bonds will begin to fall.
We may be about to enter a maelstrom.
Why Houston Did Not Get A Shuttle
Wayne Hale: Why Houston did not get a shuttle.
Battery powered Chevy Volt produces more CO2 than an ordinary gasoline engine
The electric-powered Chevy Volt actually produces more CO2 than an ordinary gasoline engine!
I don’t know if the analysis in the above article is completely accurate, but it sure suggests that switching to electric cars over gasoline is not all that it’s cracked up to be, and is probably not a good idea.
House approves 2011 budget deal in 260-167 bipartisan vote
With substantial numbers of Republicans and Democrats voting against, the House today nonetheless approved last week’s budget deal for the 2011 fiscal year by a vote of 260-167.
Next important deadline: on May 16 or so the federal government should reach its debt limit.
Taxing the rich will not solve the problem
Because it is often claimed that we can solve our federal budget problems by closing loopholes and increasing taxes on the wealthy, I thought I’d share this video from Bill Whittle, dramatizing this Iowahawk essay.
We can argue all day about whether we should increase taxes on the wealthy, but that is not going to solve our debt problem. Even if we confiscated every penny of profit from every person or corporation earning more than million dollars a year, we would still not make the slightest dent in the federal deficit.
Our federal government is simply spending money it doesn’t have. We need to cut spending, and cut spending drastically, in order to gain some control over this problem.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear to me the American people or Congress are yet willing to face this fact.
Boeing moves forward on its commercial manned capsule
Boeing moves forward on its commercial manned capsule.
Budget deal cuts this year’s deficit by just $352 million, not $38 billion
They really do think we are all fools: Last week’s budget deal actually cuts this year’s deficit by only $352 million, not $38 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
And they might be right.
Catching up with the future of the U.S. space program
As I have been traveling for the past week, I have fallen behind in posting stories of interest. Two occurred in the past week that are of importance. Rather than give a long list of multiple links, here is a quick summary:
First, NASA administrator Charles Bolden yesterday announced the museum locations that will receive the retired shuttles. I find it very interesting that the Obama administration decided to snub Houston and flyover country for a California museum. In fact, all the shuttles seem to be going to strong Democratic strongholds. Does this suggest a bit of partisanship on this administration’s part? I don’t know. What I do know is that it illustrates again the politically tone-deaf nature of this administration, especially in choosing the fiftieth anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s spaceflight to make this sad announcement.
Second, the new budget deal (still pending) included NASA’s budget, with cuts. While requiring NASA to build a super-duper heavy-lift rocket (the program-formerly-called-Constellation) for less money and in less time than was previously allocated to Constellation, the budget also frees NASA from the rules requiring them to continue building Constellation. Since the Obama administration has no interest in building the super-duper heavy-lift rocket and has said it can’t be done, I expect they will use the elimination of this rule to slowdown work on the heavy-lift rocket. I expect that later budget negotiations will find this heavy-lift rocket an easy target for elimination, especially when it becomes obvious it is not going to get built.
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