Facebook and You

At least some people still understand the order of things…

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The problem with unemployment

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Green (River?) Energy

Quick question (no googling people): where is the largest oil reserve in the world?

—x—

I am all for green energy. Can you imagine how nice it would be if the US didn’t have to deal with the crazies in the Middle East? How about clean, shinning solar panels giving us everything we need without all the dirt and risk of oil?

Did I mention that I’d love to have a tree that grows money too?

Back in the real world we keep

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Column of the week

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The power of micro financing

Intercontinental Ballistic Microfinance from Kiva Microfunds on Vimeo.

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11

So it is time again to visit the old bananaland, I mean, motherland.

It is funny how it’s been 1 year and a half since I’ve been there. Time flies. And apparently I fly too much as well. My post back then was me complaining about all the air travel but since then I’ve been to Europe, Atlanta and Seattle a couple of times. Another 20 thousand miles to the total at least.

Did I mention that my great flight plan today is SLC->NYC->GRU? Not very efficient I must say. Damn you expedia and your great deals.

Am I complaining too much here?

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Stupid partisans

I was telling my wife the other day that if Michele Bachmann ended up being the Republican candidate I would consider voting for Obama. I think Bachmann (differently than most Republicans even in the House) was irresponsible for saying that we should default.

But then stupid Newsweek comes with

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The Authoritarian left is still alive

Michael Moore, the last bastion of the left,

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So long Welfare

I think it is amazing how clueless people are regarding the current debt crisis.

People look at the debt and think that it is something ‘new’. They think Reagan started it and every President ever since made it worse. That is of course, a half truth. What people need to understand is that before Reagan we already had the same overspending problem. The only difference is that the Democratic machine was taxing and printing money like crazy (which is nothing but ‘mini’ defaults by the way) and that caused the runaway inflation crisis in the 70s. Reagan did change a few things and indeed controlled inflation and taxes. But the overall spending was simply shifted to debt.

What we are having now is the second large adjustment to the welfare state. The first one was mostly an accounting trick that resulted in some relief. That will not work again. The real problem needs to be addressed, and that is spending.

Europe is in an even worst situation since they added even more debt and a stupid union on top of it. So you might see people (Krugman) in the US still pushing the inflation ‘solution’ while in Europe that is not even an option anymore. Both places were hoping growth was the solution to reckless spending and that is simply not happening.

Italy already passed a balanced budget ammendment to its constitution. Expect more political battles in Europe and the US resulting in the same thing. The 2008 crisis caused the ‘unwinding’ of consumer debt. The current crisis is the unwinding of government debt. Taxes will eventually be raised but it is mathematically impossible to solve the issue without MAJOR cuts (debt deal was not even a down payment – it was a tip).

FDR is finally coming back to bite. Historians will look at 2008 as the opposite side of 1932 – we made a huge mistake as an excuse to solve one recession and now we are paying the price for it.

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Scary stuff

What are the lefties in Europe doing about this? How about asking women to wear less provocative chothing?!

(Both links from this interesting discussion at MR)

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A good Dino Friday to you!

So I am spending the week in Seattle attending a conference. It is funny how my daily routine completely changes when I am alone in a hotel like this. I can’t sleep at the right time; I watch TV channels I never do at home; I work at weird hours.

One of the shows I’ve watched (when I woke up at 4 am this morning for no apparent reason) was ‘

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The post Pele era for the US/Brazil relationship

The US vs Brazil game was a pretty interesting one. Not only because of all the soccer drama and PK decision but because of something I haven’t seen here in the US before: Americans got mad at the Brazilians for

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The joys of Federalism and the doom of Liberalism

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The magical wonders of the brazilian economy

It sounds funny if you never heard about it but here is the gist of it: Brazilians think that the main reason their products are so expensive is that big corporations are exploiting them.

Here is one example: autos sold in Brazil are among the most expensive in the world. You can compare them to similar cars sold in richer or poorer countries and the difference is shocking (for instance, the cheapest Civic made in Brazil costs R$ 86.750,00 – or more than US$ 55k).

You read their news and opinion columns and the idea is always that even though Brazil has ‘some inneficiences’ the bigger problem is just that those auto companies are ‘too greedy’. Even pieces that try to

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Midnight in Paris

!SPOILER ALERT!

Here is a surprise for you: I don’t like Woody Allen. I don’t like his whining, I don’t like the fact that he is a morally bankrupt pervert and for the most part, I don’t like his movies. However, I saw the preview for Midnight in Paris and it looked funny. I really like Owen Wilson so even though I felt bad about giving stupid perverts my money, I decided this was a valid exception. My wife refused to go, so I even had to go by myself.

And I was right. Midnight in Paris is a very good movie. Not laugh out loud funny, but quirky and witty kind of funny. You can see the details of the plot

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Time machine: The doomed Nintendo

Ah, the press… I love when the guy says “23 million homes already bought this. There is no market left!”

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Ignorance has no side

I have no problem defining myself as a right winger. However, it is always good to be reminded that ignorance is not unique to the left.

For example, there is this self-described right winger that comments on MR (of all places!) that is nothing but a classic xenophobe (you can see his last display of stupidity

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Are the unborn human?

That is the real question. Watch the whole thing.

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Atlas Shrugged Part 1

We just watched it and it is way, way better than what I expected!!! Not sure how it works for people who never read the book but for me it was actually better than the book in several parts. Ignore all the bad movie reviews, it is all politics. Can’t wait for part 2!

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A weak person knows the value of strength

About two months ago my wife and I decided to get our concealed firearm permit. Utah is one of the most ‘liberal’ states as far as getting these permits (you don’t need to be resident) but it still requires a 4h class on firearms safety and basics on the laws of self-defense and use of force (you can see the required curriculum

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