Don't worry I wasn't going to use my savings anyways

In a past post I mentioned that I spend $2 a day funding the Iraq war. My brother called me on it, so I checked. Actually the first 4 years of the war cost me much less than $1 a day, but last year it was over $2. Now it is up to everyone to decide if they think that money was well spent or not. But for those of us who would like to reduce the amount of money we spend on bombs, toilet seats, bridges to nowhere, and Spitzer's late night rendezvous there was a way to cut it down. It was one of the happiest days of my life when I realized there was a way to not pay taxes...I could stash away money in a 401K! I could pretend like I am a popper without the government stealing all of my cash. Sadly Greg Mankiw pointed out to me today that money might not be as safe as I thought. Turns out that Barack doesn't put any of his money in a 401K, which can only mean one of two things. He likes paying taxes, or he has reason to believe taxes are going to be significantly higher after he retires. So not only will I never see the $4,000 I pay to social security each year. But, also the 10% of my wages I put in my 401K. At least I will have the satisfaction of knowing my hard earned money will be put to good use. And who knows maybe they will let me use that fancy toilet.

Jumping Jigga Watts Batman...It's Josiah!

Josiah Schaddelee (right) is a student at the University of Texas were he is preparing to become a firefighter and save the world (or at least a few kittens that are stuck in trees). He gained fame when he was one of only three capital wardians who didn't turn into a little girl during the month of December. I caught up with him to ask about some of his goals and his recent conversion.

What brought you to Austin?
The University of Texas at Austin and my automobile.

What is your favorite thing about living in Austin?
Well, I don’t like Texas that much. I don’t like suburbia. Austin is very non-suburbia, it has green belt, Frisbee golf, Zilker,. The nature of Austin it just isn’t all buildings and concrete there is a lot of wildlife to it.

How has your life changed since joining the church?
Well, I kind of like don’t cavort and party, I still party, but I don’t inebriate myself. I don’t do engaging activities on Sunday anymore.

What was the hardest thing about joining the church?
Definitely the steel rail that gashed the top of my head.

Describe the perfect day?
It would start with me waking up. Upon which I would eat some breakfast and splash water in my face. And then I would do all sorts of fun things. Everyone would do fun things with me. And pretty much fun things would happen all day. And when everyone is too exhausted to do fun things, we all sit back and eat some brown sugar and maple oatmeal, and then hit the sack.

What are three things you are passionate about?
Food, music, J.C. (Jesus Christ)

I’m just very passionate about food because certain foods revolt me, and I can’t be in the presence of it. Like salt and vinegar potato chips, and mayonnaise, I am venumently opposed to McDonalds griddle cakes.
I enjoy and I listen to a lot of music. I have made my rounds and I can distinguish good and bad music. Really bad music can put me in a really bad mood, so I try to be passionate about listening to something that is pleasant, relatively speaking.
I’m not always passionate about JC, but it is increasingly where I want my priorities to lie. And that is where ultimate rewards come from so it makes sense that is where I should be focused.

What things are you looking for in an ideal candidate?
They would have to be increasing adaptive, they would have to be able to serve the people, and poses the discernment to know when the people are making foolish decisions. They would have to be exceptionally good at helping the population, realize what the right course of action is and why it is being implemented. They would also have to be firm and steadfast in consistently doing the right thing. And they would have to be capable of not only leading the country, but serving to help the country as well. And they would have to be completely green

Getting back to my Roots

Yesterday my dad started a blog where he is going to tell stories about growing up in Pocatello Idaho. His first post is mostly about how my Grandpa ended up there. I never knew people had such a negative opinion about war crime judges. But what impressed me is that my Grandpa didn't listen when the government told him he wouldn't be able to make it on his own. He said it was better to try. My Dad often did the same thing, by turning down government funding while he was at school. They both had the Audacity of Hope. They actually believed they would make it even if the government didn't put them in the wheel chair and pushed them along.
Compare that to Barack Obama's idea of hope. He thinks we can make it on our own...if we eliminate foreign competition, if we pay off anyones mortgage who can't afford to pay themselves, and if we pay for your health insurance. You might make it, but we will put in every fail safe possible (because lets face it, your not going to make it). Yes, he is uniting the masses. Where people all over are standing together and saying "YES I CAN...count on the government to take care of me from cradle to grave". Yes, finally we have a politician that can help us reach our full potential of dependancy and usher in a new age, the age of hopelessness.

5 years...and a whole lot of money.

So we have reached the 5 year anniversary of the Iraq war. To date it has cost Americans 500 billion dollars. I did a little simple math and that means that every man women and child has paid $1,646.45 give or take a bit. That means we pay about $329 a year. But of course not all of the children are really pulling their weight (and believe me I have seen some fat kids) we are actually each paying a bit more. So if you spread the cost out among everyone who filed income taxes then the amount increases. If you are one of the approximately 134 million who did file their taxes you paid $3721 or $744 dollars each year. Which means if you are like me than you are actually paying more than $2 every day to Iraq.
When I lived in South Salt Lake Casey Fitts justified rasising taxes by 116% by saying "It is just a candy bar every day". Yes, my parents now get to "donate" a candy bar every day so that a women with far less education, experience, and mental capacity can make more than double the average salary of the city while sitting at a desk playing solitaire. Now for $2 you can get more than a candy bar, you can get a hamburger at my work cafeteria. So in honor of the 5 year anniversary and Casey Fitts stupidity, I skipped lunch thinking instead those two bucks are going to Iraq so we can blow up more bridges. I can't help but think some where in Iraq there is a kid wishing I would have eaten the hamburger.

3^3

In honor of my 27th birthday I decided to write my birthday wishes in this post similar to how Greg Mankiw did on his 50th (although I don't think the Times will publish mine). Initially I planned on writing about how I wish my money was still worth something, and that we would get inflation under control. I also had the wish that presidential candidates would actually listen to their economic advisers. And about 10 other economic related issues. But Wednesday my younger brother Andrew entered the MTC to prepare for his mission in Peru.
While speaking to him I started to realize how trivial some of the issues I spend all day arguing about really are. Now don't get me wrong, I haven't taken anything off of my wish list. And I will continue to harass Bernanke and all of the presidential candidates. But I decided this year if I could only get one of my wishes to come true it would be to become a missionary.
As I was talking to Andrew and giving him advice I started to have flashbacks to my days in Bayern. It seems all I have left from those days are a few journal entries and a par of photos. All of the important lessons learned have been all but forgotten. I remembered thinking what I wanted to become while I was out there, and looking at where I have arrived it is apparent I took a few wrong turns. So this year I am going to be looking for that lost path I should have headed down long ago. And who knows, maybe I will get a chance to give the FED a piece of my mind while I'm looking.

My brother needs a house!

For the past few months my older brother Gardner has been searching the Salt Lake area for a new house. Now my brother recently received his Masters degree in Economics, so he isn't exactly raking in the Benjamin's. And prices in Salt Lake haven't plummeted as they have in other parts of the country. But there have been a few foreclosures. So every time I hear about the number of foreclosures skyrocketing I give out an evil cackle (waaahahaha). And every time I hear some *eggnog head politician saying we need to help people so they don't foreclose I am getting ready to paint my face and head out with the local mob (to join your own local mob simply grab a torch and pitch fork then proceed to the town square screaming gibberish). I mean really no one ever thinks about the even poorer people who can't even afford a house. As people foreclose home prices are falling and that means for many Americans they will finally be able to buy the house they have always wanted. If we really wanted to help the poor we would let the housing crisis do it's thing, and we would lock up those crazy chowder heads into the darkest dungeon (at least I think that is what mobs do). I thought I was alone in this idea, until Steven Landsburg came to the rescue and backed me up.

*eggnog head or chowder brain is a term often used to describe our current president, or any other loon without any economic sense.

We need more criminals!

So today I got a great chuckle when I was listening to a story on NPR that was discussing the sad state of affairs in Camp Gabriels. Camp Gabriels is a prison which due to the low number of inmates is getting shut down. This comes after the NY Times did a story on how 1% of Americans are in prison. This is a huge burden on everyone. So when we hear a prison is shutting down you think the masses would be jumping for joy. But no, not in upstate New York. Were they are lamenting the loss of the 180 jobs, they think we should wait to close the prison. The mayor of the town explained the logic in waiting: "If we wait the economy will continue to grow thanks to the jobs created by the prison, and we will build new homes...homes that will soon be filled with criminals". I am just waiting for Obama to pick up this story....just think we can boost the economy by importing criminals!

Giving them Hope while preying on their Fears

Obama's message of hope is sounding more dismal to me every day. But the real question I have is how is he going to be such a great diplomat by cutting off trade with all of our friends? Apparently I'm not the only one who thinks Obamanomics are not only scary, but it is old fashion fear mongering.
Update: Thomas Sowell says what the real problem with the rust belt is. Without playing at peoples fears or pandering for votes.

Close the Door

Now as the name of this blog implies I am always looking for ways to maximize my utility. So while reading the Times this morning I found one thing that was preventing me from do just that. So I have decided to start closing the door on a few of my options.

I Want My Raise Back Bernanke!

Two days ago I heard a report that inflation was higher than it had been in years. 1% in January alone. Ben Bernanke said that the rising inflation rates will lower the unemployment rate. He also denied the notion that America is moving into the stagflation that we had in the 70's. I find it interesting that the only presidential candidate's who is talking about the problems we are facing with the Fed is Ron Paul.
Bloomberg might, and although he said he won't be running. I think what he is really saying is "these guys are no good, they don't have real solutions, so I'll announce my candidacy's next month."
But in any event, keep in mind that the only reason the unemployment rate will drop next month is because you just got a pay decrease.

Ron Paul in Austin!

The Ron Pauliticians hit the campaign trail last weekend, by visiting the Ron Paul rally. I found it appropo that he was speaking under "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth will make you free."

FYI. This is why Ron Paul would be better than Obama

Getting out of the Ghetto

A recent study shows how difficult it can be for someone to get out of the poverty cycle. Personally I found it very encouraging. It shows that there is a way out of the cycle...get educated. Now Paul Krugman is saying we need to do more to help people rise out of poverty. But I think if you look at the world as a whole we are doing much better people have been breaking the poverty cycle all over the world. And according to a new paper from Andrei Shliefer the one man we have to thank is Milton Friedman.

Learn your Econ!

So when I was a senior in college Justin Skidmore (a friend and former roommate) suggested that I should take a class in economics. His reasoning: We require that people take biology, history, and a host of other classes that most people will never use. We all need economics to make educated decisions every time we step inside to a pool both, and knowing about the krebs cycle won't help with that. Tyler Cowen says that we don't hold our politicians to any of their economic promises, perhaps the problem is that no one knows anything about economics.
As a side note: Obama and Clinton have talked about the difference between between the rich and poor. Michael Cox and Richard Arms show how big that difference really is.

Foolishness of Stimulus

Yesterday Mayor Blumberg described the stimulus plan congress passed last week as " giving drink to an alcoholic". Edward P. Lazear the Chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers said that the stimulus package would help save 500,000 jobs this year. That would be great, except that means each of those jobs are costing us $336,000. But our presidential candidates are already trying to find plans which would be an even more expensive way of saving jobs. Even Hillary Clinton now has turned her back on NAFTA, now she agrees with Obama in saying that NAFTA has taken jobs away from Americans. If they are successful in getting rid of free trade agreements and "forcing" corporations to stay in America. We will soon find ourselves paying much more than just $300,000 to keep a job that pays less than $50,000 here. But this one may take the cake for Hillary and Obama's worst idea.

Not Falling Far From the Gee

Merrill Kaey Gee is a Mechanical Engineer with a Masters degree in both Engineering and Physics. But he has always had a passion for Economics. With some much debate focusing on the economy during the presidential campaigns, I thought it would be good to see how the interest in economics started in the Gee family.


How did you become interested in Economics?
When I was in high school taking a speech class there was a book called Economics in one lesson on the table of books in our class. I was just fascinated by it. The teacher said if I liked it that much I could keep it. So I still have it.

Did you continue studying Economics?
No, I just didn’t have time because I had physics and other things. But I picked it up again after I heard a talk by Joseph Kearl. At that time Chrysler had gotten a big loan from the government to rescue them. The chairman of the board went around the country talking about how evil Japan was and how we needed tariffs to protect Americans but particularly the auto industry. Kearl gave a talk at BYU explaining the effects of tariffs. And it was so clear and cogent, that I went and asked for a copy of his talk. Which he gave me. But about that time, I came in contact with the foundation of economic education. So I started reading (they had an updated version of the first book I read). I started reading books by Henry Haslett. About the same time Milton Friedman came out with Free to Choose. I saw the TV show and then I read the book. Then I read Ludwig von Mises…and I am still studying his works.

Why didn’t you major in it?
Well I really wasn’t interested in it during college, I took the class in college and had the book by Paul Samuelson. It was a lot of charts and graphs justifying government action. When I went to BYU the Economics department was Keynesian very liberal. By the time Kearl was there about 15 years latter it was monetarist, much more conservative.

What has been your favorite book on economics?
Probably economics in one lesson, that or Free to Chose.

What is it that you like about economics?
Well, I really think economics…I enjoyed Adam Smiths book that was a favorite…Political economy (that is what we are talking about with Adam Smith, Milton Friedman, and Henry Hasslet) is really applied ethics, how to apply moral principles to your daily interactions with people in terms of economic interactions, which are very critical and that constitutes most of our interactions.

Why did you decide to major in physics?
That is a sad story. I started in EE but my cousin Martel was getting his PhD in physics, he convinced me that I would be better off in physics so I did. I don’t really regret it because physics was more rigorous than engineering so when I switched it was a little easier.

Why did you decide to get a Masters?
I started out to get a PhD, they were encouraging it, but I was drafted. I got a NDEA fellowship to get a PhD, because of the space race the government wanted more physicist. But after I got out of the army the bottom had dropped out of physics so I dropped the NDEA fellowship. At the graduation banquet (for masters in physics), the department chairmen said he didn’t want to discourage us, but he had called all over the country and as far as he could tell the next opening for a physicist would occur in 1985 that was 13 years away. Only two physicist got jobs. One was a women, who when she reported to work she was told she was only hired because she was a women, they had no work for her. They wanted her to go to Stanford and get another degree and they would put her name on the staff list. To get government contracts they needed a woman. The other that got a job, was my lab partner, not a good student. And we always felt, but he denied it, the only reason he got a job was that his father was the president of the company that hired him. So I went back to school and got a degree in Engineering. Everyone in my class besides those two got MBA’s or masters in Engineering.

What would be your dream job?
I don’t really know anymore… I wouldn’t make any money, but it would be fun to be a commentator on Economic issues.

Have you ever wanted to go back to Germany?
Well, I don’t like to fly. Before I was married I thought about it several times, since then I haven’t really desired to go back.

If you could go anywhere on a trip where would you go?
Probably Yellowstone.

Since this is an election year, what things are you looking for in a candidate?
Well I am Jeffersonian, so one that believes in the roles in the different levels of government. And a candidate that agrees to play by the rules. Every part of government has it own rules, and none really think they are bound by those rules. It is especially true in the national election.

Are there any key issues for you?
I think the most important one on the federal level is the restraint in spending. That is really it, I think Economic issues, particularly on the federal level should be restricted.

What Economic policies would you like to see changed?
Just about all the federal policies that are not constitutionally based: Social security, National endowment for the arts, Medicare, PBS, on and on and on.

Are there any candidates that you like?
I like Ron Paul, but I don’t think he has a china man’s chance.

Of all the candidates that have a chance, who do you like most?
Well there are only three left. I don’t like any of them. I will probably vote for Ron Paul as a write in.