Way NOT to fix the world #1 - USA Edition

This is going to be short and sweet. I want to see Obama do a good job. I want to see the USA prosper but I predict that the bailout fiasco will be Obama's undoing and even his staunchest supporters are probably surveying their escape routes now.

Today the President said that he plans to cut the national dept in half in four years. He has also promised tax cuts. Either of these statements smacks of lofty campaign promises that will never come to pass but both of these statements said together by a current President should raise red flags to anyone who can do any math at all.

President Obama has authorized over 1.8 trillion dollars in new debt as part of the "bailout" and "stimulus" packages. This took the national debt to 10.8 trillion dollars or about $38,000 per capita. That debt costs $14,000 per second in interest or a little over 37 billion dollars per month.

The president has promised tax cuts and promised to cut the national debt to half in four years. Wait... what the...?!? This debt is over and above the everyday operating costs of the federal government which suck up all the tax dollars and then some. That means there are not enough taxes now. If the current amount of tax dollars can't pay the existing expenses, how can fewer dollars pay an additional 5.4 trillion plus the interest of roughly 2 trillion more over the next four years? Am I missing something?

Let's consider some possibilities:

• The military uses the lion's share of the general fund. Cutting the hell out of the paetagon's budget would work; but wait, the President just commited more troops to Afghanistan and the newly built behemoth of an Embassy in Iraq says there is no end in sight there.
• Each American could pony up an additional $6,100 per person per year over the next four years. Oh wait, that mean higher taxes... what? Your family can't pay the USG another $25K per year in taxes? Hmmm...
• The President and Congress could forego their salaries totaling about 364 million over the four years plus nixing all of the boondoggles like taking their families on their "business trips" to exotic vacation spots for another untold amount, lets call it 100 million over four years. Even these big numbers a chump change in the scheme of the national debt but it would show that they are commited.
• Revamp the tax system and eliminate the loopholes. That'll happen.
• I'm out of ideas...

Obviously none of the ideas on that list of deficit cutting possibilities will happen so what's the answer? The best thing I can come up with is STOP BAILING AND STIMULATING, it won't help and it hurts everyine in the long run. *sigh* Do the math people.

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Way to fix the world #1 - Stop petitions, especially online petitions!

Petitions are annoying. People who push their petitions are annoying. Even most of the topics are annoying. When I see a clipboard-toting canvaser on the street, my first thought is, "Get a real job hippie," and my second thought is, "Oh shit, I hope I didn't make eye-contact." The reason I hate these people is not because they have a cause (real or imagined) but because they are intent on thrusting their crappy cause on me and other innocent passers by who want nothing more than to get to the grocery store safely so we can all go home and push the sofa in front of the door to avoid having to deal with the morons outside especially the ones toting petitions. And why? Because I know their petition does not matter and will not help the alleged cause; it will only waste my time and make then feel bad when I straight-arm them and keep walking.

Even if I may have the slightest inclination to agree with their topic, the moment someone says, "Do you have a minute to save the ____ (Insert cause -obese baby seals/ gay whales/ thumbless, left-handed wii players in Tibet/whatever)?" Then, all of a sudden, I really don't have time. I don't want the literature. I don't want to sign anything. If I once cared, asking me to sign a petition which will do nothing but waste my time killed the caring in me.

It may make them feel that they are making a difference but they aren't. This is to the eighth power for online petitions. Online petitions are started by attention whores and signed by naive do-gooders who don't know enough about the world to know that nobody in the real world cares about their stupid petition even if it makes them feel good to champion whatever the cause, e.g. The character of the Joker will not be retired because Heath Ledger died. The 20K+ morons who passionately signed the online petition are funny but sad. Deal with it, slacktivists.

A great article at snopes: http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/petition/internet.asp