Student Loan Bubble Might Soon Burst? Glad I don't have Sallie Mae Bonds

Well it seems that putting oneself in massive debt for a college education might soon bite the economy in the ass.

Research done by the Federal Reserve and Equifax also paints a dismal picture for student loans. Outstanding student loan balances increased $10 billion during the fourth quarter of 2012 to reach a total of $966 billion. Even more concerning was that the number of borrowers who have fallen behind on their student debt by at least 90 days continued to climb higher. In the fourth quarter, it surpassed the delinquency rates of credit cards to reach 11.7 percent. Thirty-five percent of people under 30 years old who have student loans are at least 90 days late on payments, compared to 26 percent in 2008.

So 35% of loans given to people under 30 are more then 90 days or more late? What is worse is that college tuition doubles every 9 years so these numbers will only get worse the further along we get. I can see many graduates decide to go into bankruptcy due to hopelessness to get their loan debt off of their backs. There will be quite a few 30 somethings that can declare hopelessness because they are underemployed. So they get a job at Dairy Queen with their PHD in Medieval Literature (or are denied a minimum wage job due to over-qualification) and they can dump their loan debt.This rush for the exits will pop the bubble.

One thing I can easily see happening is Obama forgiving these loans if things get too hairy. He is all about taking accountability away from the students. After all they were just kids were dupes who were fooled by to bond-bundling Wall Street-types. Then a bailout will happen. However if you are a Sallie Mae bondholder you will get some awful haircut. After all Obama is making you lose money "so the students don't have to hurt."

I Have to Agree With Ron Paul: the Boston Lockdown was Too Excessive

Well its very rare that I agree with both Ron Paul and Bill Maher at the same time. Ron Paul said this:

These were not the scenes from a military coup in a far off banana republic, but rather the scenes just over a week ago in Boston as the United States got a taste of martial law. The ostensible reason for the military-style takeover of parts of Boston was that the accused perpetrator of a horrific crime was on the loose. The Boston bombing provided the opportunity for the government to turn what should have been a police investigation into a military-style occupation of an American city.

While Bill Maher said this:

Maher also said that America is becoming a “police state.”

“I want to talk about the police, who I am a supporter of… Look at this, I mean if this is what you have – why don’t you invade a country? …. I mean go up to Canada – take their oil… This country is becoming a police state. And it is very troubling to me,” Maher said, while showing pictures of police officers patrolling the city and searching for Tsarnaev.

Yeah I think shutting down Boston to catch one guy is way too much of a response to terror. That sets a precedent when the next bomber strikes an entire American city will shut down in order to catch him. Or if the city isn't shut down and the bomber strikes again everyone points the finger at the police.

If the Al-Quida scumbags were smart they would do this every few months until America freaks out. They could even change things up by bombing one month then a spree-shooting the next. I don't think America has the stones to endure terror in the same way that the Israelis have in the past decades.  

Say What! Instagram Owns All of Your Pictures and Can Sell Them to To Unscrupulous Ad-Men?

Well, time to delete my Instagram account as well. This is absolutely unethical and I hope everyone jumps ship to Vine whatever picture app is out there that people are currently using. Hell, just getting your photo developed at Wal-Mart is preferable to this:

Today Instagram announced that it will be changing its policy to fall into line with Facebook. From mid January 2013, everything you post on Instagram (or have posted) will be deemed to be usable commercially. Unless you remove content before the date, you will be deemed to have given permission for that content to be sold to advertisers for use in ads. Let’s think of an example. You go to Starbucks and take a photo of a coffee cup and a cake and you upload it to Instagram with “Starbucks” in the caption. Next thing you know, that picture is showing up on the timeline of your Facebook friends under a “Sponsored” banner with the news that you love Starbucks. Even if you don’t.

What is worse is that Instagram just became a massive stock photo repository. So that picture of you in an office setting can now be used by Xerox to shill their copiers. Or that picture of a woman out with her friends at the local bar wearing a skimpy dress can be snagged by Skinny Girl to sell flavored vodka. Every one of your pictures can now be used by advertisers and you don't see one thin dime.

Or even worse get used in a "Get Checked for Venereal Disease" campaign waged by the local free clinic. I can just see a picture of a 20-something woman sitting next to a man at a bar with a big smile on her face. The original Instagram caption was "Look it is Mary-Anns new man!!!!"

That caption has been changed to "This Woman has Chlamydia! Go to Cleveland Free Clinic for Your Shot Today!" and has been blown up to poster size and sores have been Photoshopped onto her face. Mary-Ann cannot sue Facebook because that content belongs to them. It no longer belongs to her or her friend who posted the pic with that Instagram app. As soon as those pixels move from the camera on her friends phone to Facebook's data center it is now usable by anyone that writes a check to Facebook.

In fact, she may not have even known that her friend uploaded the picture to Instagram in the first place. After all it was mixed in with a whole bunch of photos posted that night by all her friends. In fact Bacardi has already used one of her and the"Applebee Brunch Bunch" making a toast in their "Take Your Gals Out on Bacardi" ad-campaign.

All Mary-Ann knows is that she when she walks into her doctors office to get a boil lanced her likeness is staring back at her from the cork-board next the receptionist. Yeah, time to delete your Instagram and tell your friends to do like-wise. I mean if you are in their pics, and they are on Instagram, you are back on unpaid-endorser duty as soon as Facebook gets their hands on your pics.

Yet More Reasons to Delete Your Facebook Account: Your Friends Can Hurt Your Privacy

Well, I'm still glad I deleted my Facebook account years ago. Your privacy seems only as good as the amount of trust you have in your "friends."

In other words, you can restrict your own likes to your friends, but if those friends use apps in an open way and decide to share more information than you would want them to, tough luck.

The short reality is that you cannot actually control your privacy on Facebook. No matter how many lines Facebook adds to its privacy statements or how many granular controls it adds to your account settings – the whole system of you being in control of what people see about you falls over completely because anything any of your friends does can make you public.

So if they like your picture even in you are in the "walled garden" you are suddenly out in the clear. Your privacy depends on how many times your "friends" have clicked like on your content. So if your friends are clueless newbies and like-everything you are in the open. Facebook can use your content for whatever purpose simply because your friend liked it.

This part is equally insidious.

Additionally, I might like the Starbucks page just to enter a prize draw, then my name and picture will appear in adverts for my friends to see, showing me endorsing Starbucks. Great. Way to go Facebook.

So in other words you become an unpaid endorser of Starbucks as soon as you click that Like Button. Your unpaid endorser friends also appear on your own Timeline if they click that Like Button as well. Yeah that sounds like something worth getting into.

Cure for AIDS Nearly Complete

Well, this might be cause for celebration in many circles.

1. Normally, the HIV virus hides out in "reservoirs" it builds for itself inside infected DNA cells. But this treatment flushes HIV from behind its battlements using a class of compounds called HDAC inhibitors, which are typically used to treat cancer.

2. Once HIV is flushed from its hideout, the body's own immune system — turbo-charged by a separate vaccination — can then seek out the newly vulnerable virus and eliminate it. The hope is that every single bit of the HIV virus becomes

That second part might need to be tailored per individual and does not sound very cheap. It is much better than a lifetime of taking Anti-AIDS drugs though. In any case I remember AIDS being so scary when I was a kid. Now they might cure it. Maybe Cancer will be next?

Facebook Defections In the Millions

Well, this might be start of the long fall off if Facebook isn't careful.

In the last month, the world's largest social network has lost 6m US visitors, a 4% fall, according to analysis firm SocialBakers. In the UK, 1.4m fewer users checked in last month, a fall of 4.5%. The declines are sustained. In the last six months, Facebook has lost nearly 9m monthly visitors in the US and 2m in the UK.

Users are also switching off in Canada, Spain, France, Germany and Japan, where Facebook has some of its biggest followings. A spokeswoman for Facebook declined to comment.

It seems to be growing in Latin America but it isn't like tons of ad money will be coming out of that region. You just can't value the company at $64 billion if the visitor count keeps dropping like this. What is bad is that these are people that probably won't come back to Facebook unless something really drastic happens. I wonder how many of these people had Facebook for years and how many used it for a few minutes and left after finding nothing much to do?

Internet Firsts. Wow The First Uploaded Picture is Awful

These are pretty cool firsts. However, these girls are good looking but this picture itself is freaky looking. I think it is the weird glove on the girl on the right. It makes me think of Silent Hill or something.

Teens Dump Facebook in Droves

Well I guess teens of today are just not the same thing as teens of 5 years ago.

The chart shows that the 18-24 year old group lost the largest amount of users in the last 3 months at over 2 million. The second largest group was the 25-34 year olds at nearly 2 million users. Ironically the only group to gain was the 65+ year old group that likely diminishes the younger groups desire to stay on the site. Its one think to deal with a nosy parent, but showing your wild party pics to your grandparents is a whole different issue.

So older people take up Facebook as their kids and grand-kids start to jump ship like crazy? That does not bode well for Facebook and it doesn't take a Facebook Phone to stop the slow bleedout. I don't agree with this statement though:

As with all of the monetization plans of Facebook, the investment community always overlooks the number one fact. All social networks eventually die whether a virtual network such as MySpace or a real world network of high school or college friends.

Social Networks don't die but merely morph into something different. I think the idea of Facebook connecting you with 100s of "friends" was overrated. Most people only have a few close friends and you don't need Facebook to interact with them. If I want to contact my friend I just text them or call them. If they moved away I would Skype them.

I remember Zuckerberg saying when he was rolling out the Graphs Search function saying you can use it to search for the word Paris. Then your friend's Paris trip photos and info would pop up. He made it sound like you didn't even know your friend went to Paris. That really isn't a friend but an acquaintance at best. If a good friend went to Paris you probably had a way to look at their pictures in real time via text or connect to a 100 different picture sharing sites. People are just bored of Facebook and every user they lose is a loss for life.

Kid Wears NRA Shirt and is Arrested for Starting Riot! Um, Overreact Much?

Well this is yet another example of why public school in America is full of crap.

At lunchtime, Marcum maintains, a teacher confronted him about the shirt. When Marcum said he would not take off the shirt or turn it inside out, the teacher began yelling, which caused a cafeteria scene.

“I believe the teacher was acting beyond the scope of his employment,” White told ABC. “What the video shows is that students did step up on the benches to the tables in the lunchroom when they were escorting Jared out of building. Kids jumped up, clapping.”

Yes the teacher who remains unnamed (probably due to Teachers Union pressure) yelled at a kid because he would not take off an NRA T-shirt. The shirt was not against the dress code just like a "No GMO" shirt would be. The teacher just did not like "that kind of free speech" and decided to make an example of this kid. The idea that the kid was arrested absolutely boggles the mind. I'm sure the ACLU is rushing to this kids defense as well.

Ancient European People Suddenly Vanished! I Suspect UFOs

This is one strange conundrum for archaeologist that study ancient European peoples.

"What is intriguing is that the genetic markers of this first pan-European culture, which was clearly very successful, were then suddenly replaced around 4,500 years ago, and we don't know why," said study co-author Alan Cooper, of the University of Adelaide Australian Center for Ancient DNA, in a statement. "Something major happened, and the hunt is now on to find out what that was."

I suspect that the early European peoples were taken en-mass by aliens for breeding and the re-population of their horribly scarred world. Eventually the humans died out because 4500 years of inbreeding made them horrible man-beasts. So that is why the aliens came back to study the current culture to see if they have to make another harvest of human breeding-stock.

Blackstones Comes to Their Senses: Drops Dell Bid

Well this is more evidence that Blackstone is one of the better money managers in the business.

The firm is withdrawing its offer, which valued Dell shares at about $25 billion because of "an unprecedented 14 percent market decline in PC volume in the first quarter of 2013, its steepest drop in history, and inconsistent with management's projections for modest industry growth," according to a letter sent to Dell. 

Earlier this month, technology research firm International Data Corporation said PC shipments in the U.S. fell fell 13.9% year-over-year to 76.3 million units in the first quarter, sharply worse than the 7.7% the firm had forecast.

Dell is a dying duck and paying $25 billion for a company that derives most of its sales from a product that might be totally commoditized in less than 5 years is setting that money on fire. I mean Dell will not be able to compete with low cost PCs from China and scramble for a market that is rapidly shrinking due to mobile. Some companies are taking 7 years to refresh their PCs (instead of 3 - 5) and might just refresh them to low cost Chromeboxes or tablets with docking stations, keyboards, and monitors.

I mean I was in Verizon the other day and the sales rep did his entire sale on a tablet with a little payment peripheral plugged into it. I can see many other sales and retail companies following this model and just forgetting about a PC all together. It just depends on how fast their business software turns into Android or IPhone apps. In any case Dell like HP will become the next Blackberry if they aren't careful.

CFO Out at Microsoft but Ballmer Still Remains!

Well its rats off the sinking ship time at MSFT.

Microsoft said on Thursday that Chief Financial Officer Peter Klein was leaving the company, as it struggles with sharply declining personal computer sales and a lukewarm reception for its new Windows 8 operating system. 

Klein, an 11-year Microsoft veteran with 3 1/2 years as CFO, is the latest in a line of top-level executives to leave the company, following Windows head Steven Sinofsky last November. Some have questioned whether Chief Executive Steve Ballmer is still the right leader for Microsoft, whose shares have remained essentially flat for the last decade.

There is nothing like a decade of being in a trading range. I think Ballmer has family members of the MSFT board of directors being held hostage in an undisclosed location or something. A decade of being late to nearly every party should have cost this guy his job when the Zune was a dismal failure.

New Batteries Might be Able to Charge 1000 times faster

Now I want this invention to be fast tracked.

One might think that such a powerful battery would requie ample time to recharge the device, however this isn’t the case. The batteries are capable of charging 1,000 times faster than competing technologies, thanks in part to the fact that they are 30 times smaller.

“Imagine juicing up a credit-card-thin phone in less than a second,” the university’s press release reads.

If you can add this to something like a powermat then it will change the world. I would just love the idea of putting my phone on a small mat before boarding a long flight and it is charged just like that. I wonder if these powerful mini batteries can go into cars? I would love to have an electric car that charges to full in the time it takes to fill up a tank of gas. 

John Paulson Lost $1 billion in 2 days!

Wow, now imagine all of the things he could have done with that $1 billion that he lost over two days time.

The metal’s drop wiped out almost $1 billion of hedge-fund manager John Paulson’s wealth in the past two days. The 57-year- old began the year with about $9.5 billion invested across his hedge funds, of which 85 percent was in gold share classes. He’s sticking with his thesis that gold is the best hedge against inflation and currency debasement, John Reade, a partner and gold strategist at New York-based Paulson & Co., said in an e- mailed statement. 

He must be eating antacids like it was Pez.  What is also pretty bad is that he is long all sorts of gold miners which makes that portfolio even scarier. I read an article that it costs gold miners about $1200 an ounce to dig the gold out of the ground. So if gold prices drop below that price then they will go bankrupt like crazy. Many smaller gold miners are heavily leveraged (mining gold is super capital intensive) so more of that $9.5 billion could be at risk as well.

Gold Trading is a Religion?

This is a funny article that is spot-on about my feeling that gold trading is more religion than any other type of commodity.

The reaction to Gold’s crash has produced some astonishing rationalizations. The refusal to acknowledge basic trading facts leads us to recognize that Gold bugs and traders have very specific rules that they MUST follow. These social conventions look less like a debate about asset classes and more like a religious cult.

This is one that I have heard quite a bit from the gold-floggers:

6. Gold works whether the economy is good or bad: When we have a red hot economy, Gold is your hedge against inflation. When we have a bad economy, Gold is a safe harbor against collapse. It is a one way trade that never fails!

In other words it acts as a hedge against inflation and a safe harbor at the same time. It is always uncorrelated with other assets so is safe. But I think Warren Buffet said it best:

“Gold gets dug out of the ground in Africa, or someplace. Then we melt it down, dig another hole, bury it again and pay people to stand around guarding it. It has no utility. Anyone watching from Mars would be scratching their head”

That is pretty much my feeling on gold. You dig it up and move it from hole to hole and have people guard it. All you can make with it are semiconductors (in which you need like a tiny amount) and jewelry. If people aren't buying jewelry then its only value is as a shiny block of metal that people want for some reason or another. 

I like the idea of wedding season in India being a driver of gold prices to come back from here. Oh look gold took a sickening nosedive now I can buy even more garish gold bracelets for my goofy daughter. Now I can cover her entire body in gold like an armored knight made of gold! I'm sure Indians are rushing out to do that and gold will be back at $1800 again.

Windows 8 Crashes PC Market

Well it seems that Windows 8 is actually slowing the industry instead of doing anything positive.

Shipments of PCs in the first quarter fell by 13.9% from the same quarter in 2012. The forecast decline had been 7.7%, according to International Data Corp.'s Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker. That makes the worst quarter ever tracked by IDC, which started issuing the reports in 1994.

Mini Notebooks saw the biggest decline on the low-end, but the whole market was affected by what IDC calls "weak reception for Windows 8," Microsoft's (MSFT) answer to the rise of the tablet. The operating system that incorporates elements of tablet OS's "not only failed to provide a positive boost to the PC market, but appears to have slowed the market," said IDC's Bob O'Donnell, in a statement. He said Windows 8 is just too radical a departure from what consumers have come to expect from Windows, and too expensive. The OS has "made PCs a less attractive alternative to dedicated tablets and other competitive devices."

The thinking is that there is a needlessly steep learning curve with Windows 8 so people just buy a tablet instead. I mean if you have to learn something you might as well do it on a totally different device. I think Windows 8 will be corrosive acid that eats on Microsoft for years. I'm sure Windows 9 will be great but many people might never look back once they leave.

2017: The End of Microsoft?!?

Well it seems that Gartner Microsoft is going to be seriously hurting by 2017 if they keep losing market share to Android and iOS.

According to Gartner, worldwide shipments of smartphones and tablets may reach 1.9 billion units and 197 million units, respectively in 2013. Further, by 2017 smartphone units may touch 2.12 billion, with tablet units going up to 467 million. 

Further, Gartner predicts that traditional PC shipments will continue to decline. Shipments may fall 7.6% in 2013 to 315 million units, down from 341 million in 2012. By 2017, it may go down further to 271 million. The rise in popularity of Android-based smart devices is expected to further aggravate the decline. By 2017, Gartner expects tablets and smartphones may outperform traditional PCs.  

In other words Android and iOS based tablets and smartphones will have a huge install base by 2017 while traditional PC sales will go from 341 million to 271 million in a few years. The only problem I have with Gartner is that it is still difficult to do actual work with a tablet or smartphone. Once people get used to docking their tablet and then working with a bunch of work related apps then Microsoft will be hurting. I can see a future where certain industries have every major piece of their business software hosted outside of their company and accessible via any browser on any device.

What is worse is that ChromeOS might really threaten Microsoft from a price point of view as well. Cheap Chromebooks will eat into their already shrinking install base. I can see a company facing an upgrade cycle perhaps going to a Chromebook or a Chromebox if the majority of their programs are hosted. I mean by 2017 that company might just go all tablets with docking stations or Chromebooks to save money and make things more mobile.

I still think Windows 8 was a terrible blunder at a time when a single mistake like that lets your rivals steam right past you. Gone are the days where you can lay an egg like Windows Vista and still hold the top spot until you can get Windows 7 out there. 

The Surface looks like an also-ran and Windows 8 in general seems reviled by many. Also the Windows Phone offerings looks like something you will walk past in order to pick up a Samsung product. There is too much creative destruction in tech nowadays (and think how bad it will be in 2017) to make many mistakes in execution. 

Fisker Circles the Drain as they Lay off 75% of Their Workforce

Well here comes the next Solyndra.

The government-backed electric car company Fisker Automotive laid off about 160 workers Friday, or roughly 75 percent of the automaker's staff, as it has struggled to find financial backing that would allow it to continue building its high concept clean cars. 

The layoff announcement came as the innovative start up faces a looming repayment on a loan from the U.S. Department of Energy, and as reports have swirled that it could be preparing to file for bankruptcy. As with the failed solar firm Solyndra, the green car company was once an early pick by the Obama Administration to be part of America's clean energy future. The Obama Energy Department had approved Fisker for a government loan up to $529 million. 

Wow $529 million loan that they have to pay back soonish? I guess there is no way that they can go to the Energy Department and ask for a workout on the loan so they can continue. Oh well, this is yet another case of  the government making bad investments when it comes to green energy. 

If the US government was smart they would take some of this wasted money and start building natural gas power plants and lease them to electric utilities. That would get coal plants off the books and provide cleanish power for thousands of people.

Uh Oh Rich People. Huge Document Dump Reveals How You Folks Hide Your Money

Wow now this is some investigative journalism all right.

But here are some other numbers that explain the challenge of tackling the massive leak of confidential financial data: Somebody gave the consortium a flash drive with about 260 gigabytes of data — 160 times larger than the 2010 WikiLeaks diplomatic cable dump. The drive included 2.5 million files containing 30 years' worth of records of 120,000 offshore companies and trusts and their connection to individuals and firms in more than 170 countries and territories. It took 86 journalists from 46 countries and 38 media partners to sift through the records and try to make sense of what the ICIJ calls "the biggest stockpile of inside information about the offshore system ever obtained by a media organization."

Wow, 160 GBs of data containing 2.5 million files of 30 years worth of records. Wow now that is one huge data dump. What is interesting is the amount of money people are hiding in these offshore companies and trusts:

How much money are we talking about? The ICIJ points to a June 2012 study by former McKinsey & Co. chief economist James S. Henry that estimated the total private financial wealth stashed in offshore havens at between $21 trillion and $32 trillion — an amount, the ICIJ notes, "roughly equivalent to the size of the U.S. and Japanese economies combined."

Wow $21 to $31 trillion in tax free wealth just sitting in trusts and bank accounts in offshore tax havens? The greedy eyes of millions of regulators and governments just grew quite large at the idea of getting some of the tax money from that hoard. There are 4000 US Individuals on that list. I would love to see how many of them are billionaire politicians that pound the table about higher taxes while they stash their money in these tax havens.

Gate to Hell Found in Turkey

Well it seems that the gateway to the underworld has been discovered in the ruins of
Hierapolis. Here is a digital reconstruction of the site.

Well Fallon is In and Leno is Out at Late Night

The clueless grandees at NBC have finally announced the move.

"We are purposefully making this change when Jay is No. 1, just as Jay replaced Johnny Carson when he was No. 1," Steve Burke, chief executive officer of NBCUniversal, said in a statement. "Jimmy Fallon is a unique talent and this is his time. I'm thrilled he will become the sixth host of The Tonight Show at exactly the right moment, in conjunction with our coverage of next year's Winter Olympic Games from Sochi, Russia."

Then when Fallon is 2nd they will freak out and do something stupid instead of ride things out until Letterman retires. My money is on Fallon being kicked off Tonight Show as fearful executives try to get back into 1st by tinkering with the formula. Fox would then start a show with Fallon and they will then jump NBC.

FBI's UFO Memo Seems to Talk about Second Incident not Roswell

Well it seems that the FBI put a UFO smoking gun memo on their site accidentally (or intentionally?) Here is the text of the memo dated March 22, 1950:

An investigator for the Air Force stated that three so-called flying saucers had been recovered in New Mexico," They were described as being circular in shape with raised centers, approximately 50 feet in diameter. Each one was occupied by three bodies of human shape but only 3 feet tall, dressed in metallic cloth of a very fine texture. Each body was bandaged in a manner similar to the blackout suits used by speed fliers and test pilots.

According to Mr. *redacted*  informant, the saucers were found in New Mexico due to the fact that the Government has a very high-powered radar set-up in that area and it is believed the radar interferes with the controlling mechanism of the saucers.

No further evaluation was attempted by SA *redacted* concerning the above.

Roswell was only 1 saucer with 3 dead bodies in it. This describes 3 different saucers each with 3 pilots in each one so it seems to be describing a different incident. It is also interesting that the second paragraph talks about an FBI informant in the Air Force at the time. It seems plausible that this "high-powered radar" also downed the Roswell saucer as well. Now this has me wondering if the aliens that lost 4 saucers had anything to talk to the government about since it seems like they lost 12 pilots in a 3 year period.

Obamacare to Explode the Cost of Individual Insurance according to Actuaries

Well it seems that Obamacare is going to screw some people up who aren't getting insurance from their employers.

The disparities are striking. By 2017, the estimated increase would be 62 percent for California, about 80 percent for Ohio, more than 20 percent for Florida and 67 percent for Maryland. Much of the reason for the higher claims costs is that sicker people are expected to join the pool, the report said.

The White House counters that this report doesn't take into account certain things:

The administration questions the design of the study, saying it focused only on one piece of the puzzle and ignored cost relief strategies in the law such as tax credits to help people afford premiums and special payments to insurers who attract an outsize share of the sick. The study also doesn't take into account the potential price-cutting effect of competition in new state insurance markets that will go live on Oct. 1, administration officials said.

The problem is that the tax credit won't help certain Americans if their income is too high to receive the credits but can't afford the cost of their premiums nearly doubling. In other words the Middle Class. Also since it is a tax credit the amount will be lagged and only show up in their tax refund. So you have a monthly charge go up by 80% but won't receive your credit until tax time. That would seriously impact consumer spending depending on how much this insurance is jacked up.

Support Wanes for Gun Control

Well it seems that America does not much care for the Obama Administration trying to crack down on gun violence by taking away peoples guns.

According to a CBS News poll, less than half the public (47 percent) now supports stricter gun control laws, compared with 57 percent in late December following the mass shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn.

Those who say they want less strict gun regulation (10 percent) has hardly wavered in that time period, although those who want current gun laws kept as they are has increased four percentage points, from 30 to 34 percent.

I remember seeing Dem lawmakers all giddy that they had 51% support for stricter gun control. Now they can't even claim that as support.

Judge Strikes Blow Against the Nanny State: NY Sugary Drinks Ban Stopped

Well I guess Bloomberg has to stop New Yorkers from getting fat in some other way.

State Supreme Court Justice Milton Tingling in Manhattan ruled the new regulations are "fraught with arbitrary and capricious consequences. The simple reading of the rule leads to the earlier acknowledged uneven enforcement even within a particular city block, much less the city as a whole ... the loopholes in this rule effectively defeat the state purpose of the rule."

I'm still not sure what Starbucks would have had to do to comply with this ban. I guess there would be no Grande or Venti sizes. Also what if you ordered a Grande Latte with a sugary add-in like Mocha or Vanilla? What about Frappicinos? Also if you went to Shake Shack would you be able to order anything to drink? This is one of those checks on governmental overreach the the judiciary branch is made for.

12 Frugal Celebs

I think these people need to be an example to the rest of Hollywood their retched excess. Jimmy Kimmel can talk all the trash he wants about Jay Leno but this is a good attitude to have for a rich person in Hollywood.

The late-night host revealed in a Parade column that he only spends money from comedy routines.

"When I was a kid, I had two jobs," wrote Leno. "I worked at a Ford dealership and at a McDonald’s. I’d spend the money from one job and save the money from the other. That’s still the way I am now. I live on the money I make as a comedian, and I put all the TV money in the bank. I’ve never spent a dime of TV money—ever."

I think when he retired he should start a foundation with the TV money and give back to community. Maybe start a mechanics training school scholarship fund. Lady Gaga is also a saver:

Mother Monster tweeted to her followers in December about her bargain buys: "Why do people look at me like I'm crazy when I use coupons at grocery (stores) or try bargaining at retail, IM FROM NEW YORK WHERE IS THE SALE RACK."

Old JCPenny CEO Blasts the New Guy

I have to agree with this statement.

Former JC Penney CEO Allen Questrom told CNBC on Wednesday that the company's board of directors is wrong in thinking the struggling retailer can change its fortunes under current boss Ron Johnson.

"The board has to take action. They can't be delusional like Ron Johnson is," Questrom said on "Fast Money Halftime Report."

"This has been going on long enough. You can't say you're going to make your numbers for the year and then drop a billion dollars."

I'm still kind of at a loss to figure out how they lost a billion dollars like that. It seems that Macys and Khols and the other companies in the department store retailer space are making decent money. I mean Kohls made $215 million and Macy's made $145 million last quarter so there is still money to be made in this space.

Distance to Milky Way's Neighbor Galaxy Revealed: Great Idea for Sci-Fi!

Well there is still a margin of error but 2% is pretty good I think.

The achievement could help scientists calibrate other cosmic distances, which are essential for understanding how quickly the universe is expanding and solving the mystery of dark energy. Dark energy is the name given to whatever is tugging the universe apart and causing its expansion to accelerate.

According to the new measurement, the nearby dwarf galaxy called the Large Magellanic Cloud lies 163,000 light-years away. 

That seems fairly close compared to lots of other things in the universe. I have an idea for a sci-fi novel. Set it in a massive ship with like 100,000 people on board that is traveling to the Large Magellanic Cloud. They have technology that allows them near light speed travel but it still takes untold generations to complete the journey.

They would even have genetic diversifiers on the ship to combat the effects of inbreeding. It would be cool to have statements like "I am the product of 25 generations of diagnostic engineers! And I say that this drive cannot stand the stesses you are putting on it!"

It would just be very interesting to see how humans survive on a Star Ark (hey that is the title for the novel) that has been traveling through space for almost the entire recorded history of mankind. There would be ship spanning wars, disasters that kill 1000s, changes in government onboard the ship etc. They of course would have to have a holodeck like in Star Trek so that they could escape the ship in their minds but claustrophobia would be eventually be nonexistant.

Then you can shake things up by having humans on Earth develop faster than light travel and have already traveled to the Large Magellanic Cloud on survey missions and have mapped much of the Milky Way. Maybe you can have them travel psychically or something. Make it so their physical bodies stay on earth while they Astrally travel to distant worlds or something. Then the far advanced humans are debating whether they should contact the Star Ark or leave them in isolation. Should they inform them that technology has made their generation spanning mission obsolete?

The Honeymoon is Over: Obama back to being Disliked

Well that certainly didn't take very long:

A Reuters/Ipsos online poll released on Wednesday showed 43 percent of people approve of Obama's handling of his job, down 7 percentage points from February 19.

Most of that steep drop came in the week to February 26 when it was becoming clear that Washington was going to be unable to put aside partisan differences and agree to halt automatic budget cuts which started last Friday.

I guess scare tactics to avoid "sequestration" and bullying legendary journalists in order to hike taxes is not a winning combination for the White House.  

Windows 8 Sales Dismal

Well I guess people just don't want to upgrade from Windows 7 (like me) or just don't care enough about touch screen computing to care (also me.)

Four months after being released into the wild, no one seems to care that Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT  ) Windows 8 has been desperately trying to reinvent the desktop PC experience. According to Net Applications, February was a downright awful month for Windows 8; it only gained 0.4% more of the desktop PC market. Since its debut, Windows 8 has only picked up an embarrassingly low 2.67% market share. For those keeping track at home, this pace is so awful that Microsoft Vista actually commanded more of the market after the same amount of time. Yikes.

Also in this article this unfortunately laughable statement:

The $230 Nokia Lumia 620 could become both Microsoft's and Nokia's secret weapon in combating Google Android's stronghold in emerging markets, which has largely gone unchallenged in the sub-$250 emerging-market segment. Investors may be underestimating that the Lumia 620 is priced to sell, offers tremendous value, and could actually give Android a run for its money.

How many people in an emerging market can afford a $230 Nokia Lumia phone? And if they could why wouldn't they just buy a Samsung or a LG phone instead? Anyone rich enough to drop several weeks wages on a smartphone probably has enough money to buy an iPhone or a higher end Samsung and won't waste time with a Nokia Lumia.

I think MSFT needs to understand that Android and iOS has too much of a head start for the Windows 8 phone (which doesn't seem to be selling either.) Again they are years late to the party with a product that is just another me-too. Um, fire Balmer please.

La Santa Muerte (The Saint of Death) Gaining in Popularity

It seems that there is a new Saint in town coming from Mexico.

Clad in a black nun's robe and holding a scythe in one hand, Santa Muerte appeals to people seeking all manner of otherworldly help: from fending off wrongdoing and carrying out vengeance to stopping lovers from cheating and landing better jobs. And others seek her protection for their drug shipments and to ward off law enforcement.

"Her growth in the United States has been extraordinary," said Andrew Chesnut, author of "Devoted to Death: Santa Muerte, the Skeleton Saint" and the Bishop Walter F. Sullivan Chair in Catholic Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University. "Because you can ask her for anything, she has mass appeal and is now gaining a diverse group of followers throughout the country. She's the ultimate multi-tasker."

She does cut a quite ominous looking figure. The color of Santa Meurtes robes are supposed to symbolize what sort of thing the person prays for. Red means you want her to grant love, white means protection, gold means getting you a job, and black means vengeance.  I guess this one wants revenge on someone or something:

Basketball Diplomacy Dennis Rodman Style

 Well I guess this is a good thing so we don't come to blows over their nuclear program.

Kim, a diehard basketball fan, told the former Chicago Bulls star he hoped the visit would break the ice between the United States and North Korea, VICE founder Shane Smith said.

Dressed in a blue Mao suit, Kim laughed and slapped his hands on the table before him during the game as he sat nearly knee to knee with Rodman. Rodman, the man who once turned up in a wedding dress to promote his autobiography, wore a dark suit and dark sunglasses, but still had on his nose rings and other piercings. A can of Coca-Cola sat on the table before him in photos shared with AP by VICE.

I think the next thing we need to do is offer an NBA pre-season game in North Korea in exchange for some give-back on nuclear tests. If they give up their nuclear ambition and dismantle their program they can have even more of this kind of thing.

It would be so weird for Rodman to win the Nobel Peace Prize because of starting something like this off. This picture is so funny. Look at all the eyes on the Supreme Leader to see what his reaction is. He is cheering so we can cheer as well!

  

Bob Woodward Welcome to the Chicago Way

Well I guess even legendary journalists aren't immune to the proverbial bat to the head.

Now, Woodward alleges that he was bullied even ahead of publishing his report. He told Politico Wednesday that one Obama aide "yelled at me for about a half hour" and in an email message delivered a veiled threat.

"It was said very clearly: 'you will regret doing this,'" Woodward told CNN. "I'm not going to say [who], a very senior person. It makes me very uncomfortable to have the White House telling reporters you're going to regret doing something you believe in."

What is funny though is that the sequester was all Obama's idea to get lawmakers to actually get to work on some cuts. Now all the Dems want to do is soak the rich even further through closing loopholes or other nonsense and using scare tactics to do it.

I mean if you listen to the White House there will be chaos in the streets come March 1st. In any case this is how the White House does business. Threaten journalists that don't toe the party line and then rush around covering their asses when it comes out. I'm sure if Woodward keeps talking they will eventually drone strike his house.

JCPenny Beaten in the Face with Shovel

Wow it seems that no one is buying from JCPenny.

Excluding items, the retailer reported a loss of $1.95 a share, compared with a 74-cent profit in the year-earlier period. Analysts had expected a much smaller loss of 18 cents a share, according to a consensus estimate from Thomson Reuters.

Revenue decreased to $3.88 billion from $ 5.43 billion a year ago. Analysts had expected the company to report $4.08 billion in revenue.

Same-store sales fell 32 percent during the quarter, compared with a 2-percent drop in the year-earlier period.

What is strange is that other department stores like Macy's seems to be doing fairly well. I guess the idea of every-day-low-prices was a killer for them. It is a case of if you want to buy something cheaper or a little upscale you go with Macy's. If you want to buy something upscale you go with Neiman Marcus. If you want to buy something cheap you go to Wal-Mart/Target. There is no reason to go to JCPenny at all.

Do you have $500,000? You Can Now Buy Access to the President

Well it isn't a stay in the Lincoln bedroom but I guess this is as good as any way to talk to the President.

On Friday, New York Times reporter Nicholas Confessore wrote of an alleged pay-for-access arrangement through OFA: "Giving or raising $500,000 or more puts donors on a national advisory board for Mr. Obama’s group and the privilege of attending quarterly meetings with the president, along with other meetings at the White House."

I think the GOP needs to invest in a few of these golden tickets. That way they at least get a quarterly meeting with him.

Sequestration Will Destroy the Government according to CNBC

This is such a scare-tactics slanted article that it isn't even funny.

Most government agencies have funds available after March 1, but the clock would be ticking on how long they can keep operating. One of the biggest problems from the cuts is the number of government workers placed on furloughs or laid off.

So if Congress and President Barack Obama can't reach a deal to avoid sequestration, where would most people feel the immediate pain? How would it affect every day life? 

Then it rattles off a bunch of scary things that will befall our country because we can't come up with $86 billion in spending cuts. For instance wait times are airports will rise by 1 hour because there won't be enough TSA agents to feel up enough travelers. Also air traffic controllers will be furloughed for whatever reason.

Then we have the government closing Social Security offices and the IRS can do less enforcement. In other words less audits. That must be scaring Americans. Also public parks might close because rangers will be furloughed. Maybe a trip to Yellowstone will have to change to a trip to Disneyland instead.

Having the military cut by $50 billion a year is exactly what the Dems have been clamoring for. The part that I don't understand is that these furlough shouldn't be permanent. The FBI for instance will have to be furloughed for 3 weeks according to this article. Its not like they will be shutting down the FBI just making agents take a 3 week vacation for no pay. Hawaii went through furloughs and it didn't seem too crushing for us.

Cardinal Keith O'Brien of Scotland Wants Marriage for Priests

It seems that the Catholic church will have many changes depending on who they pick for Pope in the coming weeks.

Cardinal Keith O'Brien, who heads the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland, said the requirement for priestly celibacy is "not of divine origin" and could be reconsidered.

He told BBC Scotland that "the celibacy of the clergy, whether priests should marry — Jesus didn't say that."

He said that "many priests have found it very difficult to cope with celibacy," and while he had never considered marriage himself, "I would be very happy if others had the opportunity of considering whether or not they could or should get married."

I never understood the idea of celibacy for Catholic Priests. I'm pretty sure if Jesus had lived longer he would have married someone. It would have been weird for a Jewish man to not have married at any time in his lifetime. Supposedly the Apostles were married as well because Jesus healed Peters mother-in-law of a fever. 

(Matthew 8:14-15)

^"And when Jesus was come into Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother laid, and sick of a fever.

 And he touched her hand, and the fever left her: and she arose, and ministered unto them."

So it seems that Peter was married according to the New Testament. I have no idea why Catholic Priests couldn't follow Peters example and do what he did. Plus a priests wife and children could help with the congregation in various ways as well. I'm pretty sure that the next Pope will convene a Vatican Council and make some of these changes.

Obama Sends Troops to Niger but Ignores Syria

The White House foreign policy is such a joke. We are supporting the French who have prevented Mali from falling to Islamist rebels but we still ignore Syria and the 70,000 people that have been killed already.

About 40 U.S. military personnel have arrived in Niger, President Barack Obama told Congress on Friday, the last of a deployment of about 100 to help coordinate intelligence sharing with French forces operating in Mali.

The U.S. forces are equipped with "weapons for the purpose of providing their own force protection and security," Obama said, and are there with Niger's consent.

Why can't they send 40 military personnel to Jordan or Turkey to coordinate intelligence sharing with Syrian rebel groups? Maybe he is waiting for the death toll to reach 100,000 before he cares about anything happening in Syria.

You Better Watch out for Barrow Wights: Russian Warriors Tomb Uncovered

I hope they went into the tomb with silver weapons at the ready because as you know Barrow Wights are immune to normal weapons.

Hidden in a necropolis situated high in the mountains of the Caucasus in Russia, researchers have discovered the grave of a male warrior laid to rest with gold jewelry, iron chain mail and numerous weapons, including a 36-inch (91 centimeters) iron sword set between his legs.

That is just one amazing find among a wealth of ancient treasures dating back more than 2,000 years that scientists have uncovered there.

Among their finds are two bronze helmets, discovered on the surface of the necropolis. One helmet (found in fragments and restored) has relief carvings of curled sheep horns while the other has ridges, zigzags and other odd shapes.

The archeologists were then killed by undead warriors streaming out of the tomb to cut down the luckless researchers. Valentina Mordvintseva, a researcher at the Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences Institute of Archaeology, who barely escaped with her life, was cursed with a wasting sickness by the angry Barrow Wight King. Authorities are contacting a cleric to cast Remove Curse on her but he was out of 3rd level spells for the day.

Here is one of the Barrow Wight Kings treasures taken from the site. I think this Brooch protects one from Magic Missiles but researchers have yet to cast a Legend Lore on the item to be sure:

Titan International CEO Blasts French Workers: Um, Bring the Jobs Back to the US Then

Well it seems that making tires in France might not be such a good idea.

Titan International's Maurice "Morry" Taylor, who goes by "The Grizz" for his bear-like no-nonsense style, told France's left-wing industry minister in a letter published by Paris media that he had no interest in buying a doomed plant.

"The French workforce gets paid high wages but works only three hours. They get one hour for breaks and lunch, talk for three and work for three," Taylor wrote on February 8 in the letter in English addressed to the minister, Arnaud Montebourg.

Then take tire production out of France and bring it to a southern state that does not have as much union control. All this "Grizz" character needed to do is say "France does not meet our cost criteria so we are shuttering the plant" and announce a new plant that is opening in Tennessee or somewhere similar.  

McCain Takes on Angry Anti-Immigration Town Hall

Well it seems that his constituents are now shouting at their Senator.

"There are 11 million people living here illegally," he said. "We are not going to get enough buses to deport them."

Some audience members shouted out their disapproval.

One man yelled that only guns would discourage illegal immigration. Another man complained that illegal immigrants should never be able to become citizens or vote. A third man said illegal immigrants were illiterate invaders who wanted free government benefits.

McCain urged compassion. "We are a Judeo-Christian nation," he said. McCain's other town hall meeting took place in Green Valley, south of Tucson.

One thing I never understood about the anti-immigrant sentiment on the right is their view that 11 million people can somehow either "self-deport" or we can somehow kick them out of the country. Some of them have been living here for 20 or 30 years and have raised families. I'm pretty sure that in a Judeo-Christian nation you would not want to break up families simply because you want all the "illiterate invaders" thrown out.

Also the idea of shooting illegals like that one guy advocates is just so crazy that it doesn't need to be addressed. The funny part is that the longer illegals are treated as "invaders" the longer they will reflexively vote for the non-Republican. You can't appeal to any voter if you are seen as wanting his grandma thrown out of the country at gunpoint.

Samsung Invades Silicon Valley

It seems that Samsung is going big in the US.

The Los Angeles Times reports that Samsung has been aggressively expanding its presence in Silicon Valley recently by building its own innovation center, by launching a $100 million venture fund for Silicon Valley startups and by building “a massive new semiconductor campus with a distinctive design destined to compete with Apple’s proposed spaceship-like campus for the title of Silicon Valley’s most distinctive architectural landmark.”

I think they just want to be close to any innovation coming out of the Valley so that they don't have to be so reactive to tech changes. It still seems like destructive innovation is what will be happening between Samsung, Apple, and Google for years to come.

Vulcan pulls Ahead in Pluto's Moon Voting

Well it seems Shatner is pushing for Vulcan and the Trekkers have heeded his call.

Once Shatner proposed "Vulcan" to be a Pluto moon name, fans rallied. As of now, "Vulcan" -- a fictional planet in the "Star Trek" universe -- is winning by a landslide. "Cerberus" and "Styx" are battling it out for second place.

Although I think Vulcan would be better suited to a planet that is really close to its sun. Kind of like those hot Jupiters that seem to be popping up in front of nearby stars.

Apple wants to Control Your Home! Well That Might be a Good Thing

Wow Apple is serious about making the TV the centerpiece of a so-called iHouse or a iApartment.

Apple is evolving into an ecosystem, a network that connects to and controls everything from your home to your car to your office. This has the potential to be as impactful as the iPhone and iPad. Today I use iOS apps to control my stereo system (the Sonos) and central air (the Nest). Both work beautifully, and there are more iThings on the way like this incredible door lock.

It seems that the iTV coming out later this year might be the centerpiece of this new way of life:

Most of all, I want my television to be part of that Apple ecosystem: a thin glass hub integrating cable series, movies, endless utility and gaming apps, YouTube videos, music, photos, e-mails, FaceTime, social media feeds, and more. I want the TV to be my alarm clock, turning from 'Sleep' mode to awaken me with sweet music, a weather report and news, through an app like the newly launched Winston (which is already optimized for Airplay).

It would be very cool to have an iTV wake me up with music and then tell me what my stocks are doing and maybe a little news on each company if I want that. Something like "This just in from the Street.com JP Morgan is interested in buying out US Bankcorp do you want to hear more?" Then you say Yes and it reads the article to you.

Maybe you could have a toaster App that connects to the iTV that automatically cooks a bagel for you. All you have to do it take it out of the toaster and put cream cheese on it. You find that you are out of cream cheese and the iTV asks if you want to add it to your iOS reminder app. If you want you can link it to Amazon Prime and once your list reaches a certain size you can have it automatically buy the cream cheese along with several other things you want.

Another cool feature I would like to see the iTV do is answer questions you have on what you are watching. Like you see Sheldon wearing a cool T-shirt on Big Bang Theory. You just say "iTV where can I get a shirt like the one Sheldon is currently wearing?" Then it links you to the Hot Topic site in a small popup window and asks if you want to purchase it. You say "yes buy it in Large and send it my apartment" and the order is placed after you confirm it with a code word you type into an iPad. Or maybe it will use voice recognition software to prevent other people from buying things if your iTV is on.

16 Year Old Actress Day Trades on the Side

Hopefully she isn't using all of her acting money to do something like this.

Rachel Fox isn’t an ordinary 16-year-old. She's already graduated from High School and has been a working Hollywood actress for years, appearing in shows like Desperate Housewives as evil Kayla Scavo and in the film Dream House with Daniel Craig and Naomi Watts. When she’s not on set she can often be found on stage, singing and playing guitar in an indie rock band.

That would be a packed schedule for most of us, but Rachel has another activity that’s a real passion. For the last year-and-a-half she’s been actively day-trading stocks with her own money. She says she's been racking up stellar returns, claiming a 30.4% gain in 2012, versus the benchmark S&P 500 which gained 13% for last year.

That is not a bad gain but lets see how she trades in a down market. In any case if she has discipline and uses like 20% of her invested capital to day trade then it shouldn't be a problem. If she is using all of her acting money to chase stocks up and down day to day then she is a fool.

Iran To Upgrade their Centrifuges: World Doesn't Seem to Care

Well it seems that the Iranian bomb program is running full blast even though they have "sanctions" against them.

In first announcing plans to update last month, Iran indicated that It could add more than 3,000 of the new-generation centrifuges to the more than 10,000 older models it has at Natanz turning out low-enriched, fuel-grade uranium. About 700 of the old machines at Fordo, another site, are churning out higher-enriched material that is still below — but just a technical step away — from weapons-grade uranium. Iran says it needs that higher-enriched level to fuel a research reactor.

I'm sure the UN will condemn a nuclear cloud rising over Tel Aviv in the "strongest possible terms."

Pentagon Creates Drone Warfare Medal

I guess this is going to be similar to an achievement unlock in Call of Duty.

The new blue, red and white-ribboned Distinguished Warfare Medal will be awarded to individuals for "extraordinary achievement" related to a military operation that occurred after Sept. 11, 2001. But unlike other combat medals, it does not require the recipient risk his or her life to get it.

I know there should be a way to reward drone pilots who kill insurgents or provide close air support but a medal similar to the bronze star doesn't seem to be the way. Maybe a drone pin or something would have been more appropriate. 

Also the first thing I thought of when I read about this was "I wonder if you get a special cluster whenever you extra-judiciously kill an American Citizen?" Maybe you get a little Obama "O" symbol added to the blue, red and white medal.

Why Was Wrestling Removed from the Olympics? Americans are Good At It

Well the recent decision to get rid of one of the first Olympic sports and one that stretches back to the ancient games is pretty stupid.

As such, both freestyle (somewhat similar to what you see in American high schools and colleges) and Greco Roman, each of which dated back to the 1896 Games in Greece, will soon be history. Wrestling can try to get back in, but the odds are long. 

This is a poor decision and it would be only slightly less poor of a decision if it was modern pentathlon (a five-event competition of fencing, horse riding, swimming, running and shooting) that got the boot instead. 

You can tell why they kept that sport in instead of wrestling. Americans have won only one 9 medals total in modern pentathlon since 1912. (I am counting the team medals as one medal) We have also never won a gold in the competition at all. 

Americans have dominated wrestling since it was introduced in the Olympics. We have won 47 golds alone in freestyle wrestling since it entered the games in 1904. You add to this the fact that Americans can easily dominate women's wrestling as well going forward. There are just too many American medals coming out of wrestling for a biased and corrupt organization like the IOC to tolerate.


I'm sure the IOC figures that anything that makes it harder for the US to win the medal count is okay with them. I am sure they will try to limit the amount of swimming medals while increasing the amount of diving medals in their next move.

US Energy Independence Might Happen in the Next 5 Years

What is good news for our country will be pretty bad news for people that hate us that happen to live on top of vast oil reserves.

Citigroup's Edward Morse, in a new report, projects a dramatic reshaping of the global energy industry, where the U.S., in a matter of years, becomes an exporter of energy, instead of one of the biggest importers. 

The shift could sharply reduce the price of oil, and therefore limit the revenues of the producing nations of OPEC, as well as Russia and West Africa. Those nations face new challenges: not only are the U.S. and Canada increasing output, but Iraq increasingly is realizing its potential as an oil producer, adding 600,000 barrels a day of production annually for the next several years.

It will be nice to know that whenever I fill up gas it is from oil produced in the US or Canada and not Venezuela. The report also goes on to say that Iran, Nigeria, Venezuela, and maybe even Russia might become unstable because of the US going independent of oil.

I mean they lose their biggest source of revenue so they will have to find something else to export or there will be a crisis. You can't pay for all the socialism of Dear Leader Hugo if America no longer buys his top product. This might also hasten the fall of the Mullahs as well. I mean they already have a crisis due to sanctions and shutting down refining capacity. Imagine what $70 oil will do to them if they are losing money on every barrel they pull out of the ground?

Also the report goes into how a natural gas boom will create new opportunities in manufacturing and transportation that was not there before. The idea of retrofitting our truck fleet for natural gas will create quite a few new jobs. I could also see trains running on natural gas based fuel instead of diesel fuel as well. It will be nice to get some of our heavy industry back from Japan and China and create a new generation of industrial jobs.

In any case the report says that energy independence will be paying dividends as early as this year. As more oil pipelines are being built and more oil flows in from Canada we will be importing less oil from everywhere else. West African crude shipments might start to become unnecessary by the end of the year. That is bad for OPEC and Nigeria but it will certainly be nice for the American consumer.

Time to Vote for Plutos Two New Moons

Well even thought the ass-grabs from the International Astronomical Union demoted it to dwarf-planet status they discovered two new moons. Here is a ballot for naming the two moons.

Images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2011 and 2012 revealed two previously unknown moons of Pluto. So far, we have been calling them "P4" and "P5", but the time has come to give them permanent names. If it were up to you, what would you choose?

By tradition, the names of Pluto's moons come from Greek and Roman mythology, and are related to the ancient tales about Hades and the Underworld. Please pick your favorites on the ballot below. 

Most of the names are kind of dumb but the ones I liked were Cerberus (the three headed dog guardian of the the Underworld) and Styx (the river that led into the Underworld that Charon the Boatman crosses.) I voted for them.

Wow there Might be Billions of "Alien-Earths" in Our Galaxy

It would be interesting to know what level of technology (or lack thereof) for the various races that live on these "alien-earths?" Also it would be cool to find out how many of them are sending out radio waves.

Taking this into account, about 6 percent of red dwarfs in the Milky Way galaxy should host Earth-like planets, the astronomers said.

Since about 75 percent of the galaxy's 100 billion stars are red dwarfs, this translates to an estimated 4.5 billion "alien Earths" spread throughout the galaxy. The research team stressed, however, that this is a tentative figure because the distribution of stars varies widely.

The chance of life only being on our planet out of these potential 4.5 billion planets is just ludicrous.

Post Office Cuts Saturday Delivery

I'm willing to bet that this won't be the last time a day of the week will be skipped for mail delivery.

Ending the Saturday delivery of mail is "just one step in a plan to resolve our finances," Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe said in an interview on CNBC. "Going forward we still need legislation to address a number of things."

This plan is supposed to cut $5 billion from the Post Offices expenses. They also plan to make changes to the Postal Workers health care that is supposed to save another $7 billion. I would be willing to bet that Friday delivery or maybe Wednesday delivery will probably be next. I mean each day you cut is $5 billion in savings so you might as well cut a little more.  I can stand not getting advertising flyers and useless catalogs for another day of the week.

GOP Finally Acknowledge the Existence of Minorities

Well at long last the GOP is learning that minorities vote and are worth courting unless they want to become a regional rump party.

Party officials on Wednesday announced the creation of The Future Majority Caucus, a group of Hispanic politicians who will advise the party on its efforts to recruit more state-level minority candidates. The caucus will be co-chaired by New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez and Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval.

Now they need a GOP Woman's Caucus and they will be all set. Maybe they should get Romneys binders full of women and turn them into a group. 

Budget Deficit Drops Below $1 Trillion for the First Time in Years

Well I guess that is good news.

The Congressional Budget Office analysis said the government will run a $845 billion deficit this year, a modest improvement compared to last year's $1.1 trillion shortfall but still enough red ink to require the government to borrow 24 cents of every dollar it spends.

It seems like the CBO is projecting this deficit getting better as we go along.

The report predicted the deficit would dip to $430 billion by 2015, the lowest since the government posted a $459 billion deficit is former President George W. Bush's last year in office. That would be a relatively low 2.4 percent when measured against the size of the economy.

Maybe with a few targeted cuts or an uptick in the economy we might even get this number positive by 2015. Know Obama and the Dems though they just can't live without running up the nations credit cards.

Corporate Bonds Might Be Headed for Dangerous Waters

It seems that the bond market has changed in the past few years and it might be much more dangerous than ever before.

Mikkelsen estimates that a 2.5 percent yield would lead to what he would consider an orderly move out of the market, but a continued trek higher past 3.0 percent would be the game-changer.

BofA is not alone in its aversion to fixed income - Wells Fargo recently cautioned its clients about fixed income amid dangers from rising rates, and advised shifting 5 percent of their bond positions into stocks.
What this guy is afraid of is that mutual funds and ETF hold trillions in bonds and a "disorderly" run for the door will trigger big redemptions that will take bond prices lower. I can see it happening if interest rates surge as many have said. Many investors will sell their bond ETF holdings and get into stocks. The ETF companies will have to sell their bonds to give these people their cash and it becomes a vicious cycle taking bond prices lower. It might be time to sell my junk bond ETF and get back in after the dust clears.

61% of Facebook Users Take a Multi-Week Break: That is Bad News

Well the media doesn't seem to think that this is a problem but I really think this is a bad deal for Facebook.

A report from the Pew Research Center's Internet and American Life Project found that some 61 percent of Facebook users had taken a hiatus of at least several weeks for a myriad of reasons, whether they were weary from an onslaught of gossip, or for the more pious, the arrival of Lent. 

I am sure that many of those hiatuses are permanent. When I still had a Facebook account I just never understood what people did on it for so long. I know playing Farmville was one of the big drivers back then but Facebook games are dying much to Zynga detriment.

I think people are just getting tired of hearing about other peoples lives in a long stream like that. Most of the stuff that is posted on there is just not very interesting. I mean the important events of peoples lives are still shared by close friends in a different media. So if your sister had a baby you probably would have known about it from a different source than Facebook (probably a text depending on her age.) If the girl you barely knew from Chemistry class 20 years ago had a baby then you probably would have heard about on Facebook.

So this fairly useless stream of information coming from Facebook is just not something people want to keep up with in their daily lives. This is especially true if the person has lots of friends who are actively posting things. This is the so-called Facebook spam that people talk about. It just seems that people are finding better things to do other than following the lives of people they barely know.

 At least with Twitter you have the added bonus of reading about world events as they are happening. Those hashtags actually keep everything together so you can read all about a certain event. I still have Twitter but I never look at the personal feed because it is a waste of time.

Yet Another Nail in Microsofts Coffin: HP Chromebook

Well it seems that Windows 8 might be a bigger mistake then some people believe. It seems that HP is now going to release a Chromebook.

And now, HP (HPQ_). Perhaps this is Meg Whitman's turnaround plan? 

According to this document on HP's Web site, HP is set to launch its first Chromebook on Feb. 17. It's a 14-inch laptop, price yet to be set, but something close to $299 to $349 sounds reasonable.

I think Chromebooks will be what some companies will be refreshing to going forward. I mean most of a mobile business persons job is spent interacting with Web apps so there really isn't any reason for Windows 8 to get in the way. You add to this the fact that it is very hard to have viruses and trojans to infect a Chromebook due to how its processor is built it is perfect for IT departments. A company can buy a bunch of these and give them to their sales staff and they don't have to worry about them.

The price is comparable to an iPad but you get a keyboard and a form factor that is easy to do work on. iPads are good for consuming media and browsing the internet but its hard for some people to make a change to the business plan on Google Docs or bang out an email on a virtual keyboard. You can buy a keyboard peripheral but that is another $50 to $100 added on to the $400 price tag. If a company can save a full $100 per salesman with a Chromebook then those savings can easily add up.

I'm certainly going to buy a Lenovo Chromebook when they come out in order to see how they stack up. 90% of the time I am using something attached to the web on my laptop (Steam, Gmail, Browsing etc.) so it shouldn't be much of a change I should think.