Cab Thoughts 5/21/12

I saw the Libertarian Johnson speak on TV. He is a guy with a lot of mannerism but he is smart and will hurt Romney. There will be the inevitable Obama defection from the guys who want to legalize dope--and perhaps the homosexual subset--but most will be from guys who just hate government excess and, while Romney will not make them happy, Obama is worse for them. If this group moves to Johnson, Romney has no chance. Although one wonders at Obama's curious timing about gay marriage. Johnson might have been a stimulus there.

There is a book out decrying the lack of world leadership. Its name? G-Zero.

The question, "How can the government with its unmanageable budget and debt, pretend to chastise and investigate JPMorgan with its 2 billion trading loss but the likelihood of earning 16 million dollars profit this year?"

Golden Oldie: http://steeleydock.blogspot.com/2010/08/irony-is-overrated-claudia-black.html

"Dissertation Upon Parties" by Henry St. John Lord Bolingbroke, a rare 270 year old book, was found in The Charleston Library Society. One of the Library's  archivists, Trisha Kometer, says the contents of its vaults, one of which is located behind an antique shop on Charleston's King Street, remain unclear. "We have lists but because the library itself has been moved from place to place to place, the collections have been integrated, they have been pulled apart and a lot has gone on during the years," she said, making it difficult to tell for sure. This is really hard to believe. Like the warehouse in Raiders of the Lost Ark. We should limit our investigations to what we have. That sounds close to a life lesson as well.

From marcellusgas.org: the last well in the Marcellus shale region will be drilled in 2070 when 13 million acres in 37  counties will be under production. There will be an average of 3000 drilling permits a year then. (Since 2005 there have been 10,033 permits issued with 5,700 wells drilled or under production so far.) The estimated life of the field? >100 years. This is a revolution in economics.

So Romney disavows an ad that a PAC said they had no intentions of running and the Democrats want a stronger disavowal. These guys would give you a permanent migraine if you paid close attention to them.

90% of the information we have about the brain we have learned in the last 11 years. The internet has 6 billion nodes, each connecting to ten nodes. The brain has 60 billion nodes each with 1000 connections. Sleep of less than seven hours decreases learning by 20%. Exercise looks to enhance brain ganglion creation, i.e. learning potential.

From "Clash of Generations" by Larry Kotlikoff, and Scott Burns: "In the dream world of our political parties, their favorite action always "pays for itself." Republicans buy votes by reducing taxes and claiming they pay for themselves. Democrats buy votes by spending money and calling it an "investment." Setting just one set of these loonies loose on the economy would be damaging enough, but in recent years we've opened the asylum. We've watched them combine forces to both raise spending and cut tax rates. The bill goes to the kids who, conveniently, are never in the room."

The average age of retirement in this country is now 67 and rising. People are just not able financially to retire. The logical step would be to prepare for that event in advance. However, 49% of people have stopped contributing to retirement plans and, under the age of 48, 56% of people have stopped putting money in retirement plans. This is seriously nuts. The savings rate in this country has fallen dramatically, from 15% to zero.

The teachers union in Pennsylvania has discovered that there is not enough money in the retirement fund to pay its retirement commitments. This is a contract that must be met. Therefor, taxes will rise in the state to cover it. And, people will leave to lower taxed states in response.

Your phone tracks you every ten minutes so there is a map of your whereabouts that can be called upon. The police do it regularly. So, if you are going to commit a felony, do not bring a phone. (It might make a good attempt at alibi in fiction.)