The Perfect Baby Shower Gift: 20 Pounds of Gold

A number of children are given money at birth in the form of opening trust or college funds for them. However, considering the debt load that each child has at the moment of birth, perhaps giving them 20 pounds of gold is a better idea so that they can start life debt free. That will cover their share of the U. S. National Debt and unfunded Social Security and Medicare commitments. Only 20 pounds of gold however, won't also pay for their college or even their graduation gown.

BTW, that amount of gold is almost THREE TIMES the average newborn's weight in gold.

Here's how I came up with the number.

According to the U. S. Treasury, the U. S. National Debit is currently $11.15 trillion. This is the debt for past Congressional spending.

According to this speech given to the Federal Reserve, the total amount of Social Security Benefits and Medicare Benefits that are unfunded is $70 trillion. This is the amount of money the Federal government has committed to paying out after the trust funds run out of money. This is debt for future spending that is committed but for which no funds are available.

This brings us to a grand total of $81.15 trillion of debt.

According to the Federal census folks, there are currently 306,324,670 people in the United States.

So the share per person (share = debt/population) is: $264,915.00

The price of gold as of today in troy ounces is $886.80.

Share per person expressed in troy ounces of gold (ounces = share/price per ounce): 298.731393

Converted to U. S. pounds @ 14.58 troy ounces per U. S. pound = 20.5 pounds of gold bullion.

Clinton Balanced the Budget... So What Did Obama Do?

Before the last U.S. Presidential election, I heard a lot of Democrats crowing about how President Clinton balanced the Federal Budget and produced a surplus. Thus according to them, only a Democrat as President would again, balance the budget.

So we have Barrack Obama in the Whitehouse and a record busting almost $3.5 trillion budget with a planned deficit of over $1 trillion!

WHAT? I thought those Democrats said a Democrat as President would balance the budget?

Could it be because the President doesn't determine how much we spend? I know, it's just a little fact. But facts count.

Presidents prepare budgets and ASK Congress to approve them.

When "Clinton" balance the budget, that was (I think) the first Republican controlled Congress in 40 years that approved it. Just by coincidence, it was the first balanced budget in 40 years. (Remember, the "Great Society" and all the budget busting social welfare programs were started by the Democrats after they tool control of Congress back in the 60s.)

So we had a Democratic President and a Republican Congress that balanced the budget. In most of Bush's term, he had a Democratic Congress.

Now we have a Democratic President and a Democratic Congress and the budget is busted all over the place.

Their "frugal" budget plans to get the deficit back down to above the record Bush/Dem Congress 2009 planned deficit in only four years.

Yup, that's change we can count on... trillions of dollars worth of change.

Why not use Photoshop vs flying Air Force One?

Why not use Photoshop vs flying Air Force One? - iReport.com: Is the question posed by an iReporter referring to the recent low level fly-over of Manhattan by Air Force One for publicity photo purposes.

In case you've been in a coma that past few days, you'll know that the fly-over caused thousands to panic and try to evacuate due to memories of 9/11.

The iReporter has a good point and the comments on that page agree with him or her.

However, expecting the government to use stock photos and Photoshop, just saving many thousands of tax-payer dollars with the economy the way it is, well, that's just asking the government to use sense.

It has been said that the bigger the crowd, the lower the average IQ of people in the crowd.

And that describes our government perfectly... a crowd of morons, many who when seen singly or in very small groups seem to have at least as many functioning brain cells as class of college freshman. But when in a crowd... like when Congress is in session, or a Federal Department shows up for work, degenerates into the equivalent mental power of the town of St. Olaf. (A reference to the dense citizens of the fictional town that Betty White's character in The Golden Girls was always talking about.)

(Via iReport.com.)

A Punny Thing Happened on the Way to the Fish Market

Video - Breaking News Videos from CNN.com: "Cod swallows cell phone "

A small human interest/odd news story caught my eye this morning. The front page headline read "Cell phone found in belly of 30-lb cod". Now remember, I'd only been awake a few minutes... but my first thought was "Hmm a long distance calling cod."

Jay Leno... if you're reading this, feel free to use it. LOL

(Via CNN.com.)