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Government

70% of U.S. Government Spending Is Writing Checks To Individuals 676

An anonymous reader writes with this excerpt from Investor's Business Daily:"Buried deep in a section of President Obama's budget, released this week, is an eye-opening fact: This year, 70% of all the money the federal government spends will be in the form of direct payments to individuals, an all-time high. In effect, the government has become primarily a massive money-transfer machine, taking $2.6 trillion from some and handing it back out to others. These government transfers now account for 15% of GDP, another all-time high. In 1991, direct payments accounted for less than half the budget and 10% of GDP. What's more, the cost of these direct payments is exploding. Even after adjusting for inflation, they've shot up 29% under Obama." It's very hard to lay blame on only one part of the U.S. government, though; as the two largest parties are often fond of pointing out when it suits them, all spending bills originate in the House.

Submission + - Malaysia Jet Made Radical Course Change at Time of Disappearance 2

Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes: The NYT reports that the Malaysian authorities now believe that a jetliner missing since Saturday may have radically changed course around the time that it stopped communicating with ground controllers. Gen. Rodzali Daud, was quoted in a Malaysian newspaper saying the military had received “signals” on Saturday that after the aircraft stopped communicating with ground controllers, it changed course sharply, from heading northeast to heading west, and flew hundreds of miles across Peninsular Malaysia and out over the Strait of Malacca, before the tracking went blank. According to the general’s account, the last sign of the plane was recorded at 2:40 a.m., and the aircraft was then near Pulau Perak, an island more than 100 miles off the western shore of the Malaysian peninsula. The assertion stunned aviation experts as well as officials in China, who had been told again and again that the authorities lost contact with the plane more than an hour earlier, when it was on course over the Gulf of Thailand, east of the peninsula. But the new account seemed to fit with the decision on Monday, previously unexplained, to expand the search area to include waters west of the peninsula. Without specifying why, the Malaysian authorities vastly expanded the search area to the west on Monday, implying that they believed there was a strong chance the plane had traveled there. No similar expansion was made to the east or the south. If the flight traveled west over Peninsular Malaysia, as the air force chief was quoted saying, it would have flown very close to a beacon in the city of Kota Bharu operated by Flightradar24, a global tracking system for commercial aircraft which means its transponder had either been knocked out of service by damage or had been shut off. "We see every aircraft that flies over there, even if it’s very, very low," says Mikael Robertsson,. "so if it flew over there, the transponder was off." Robertsson added that since the plane had been fully fueled for a trip to Beijing, it could have traveled a great distance beyond its last reported position. “The aircraft could have continued another five or six hours out into the ocean. It could have gone to India.”

Submission + - 70% Of U.S. Government Spending Is Writing Checks To Individuals (investors.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Investor's Business Daily reports, "Buried deep in a section of President Obama's budget, released this week, is an eye-opening fact: This year, 70% of all the money the federal government spends will be in the form of direct payments to individuals, an all-time high. In effect, the government has become primarily a massive money-transfer machine, taking $2.6 trillion from some and handing it back out to others. These government transfers now account for 15% of GDP, another all-time high. In 1991, direct payments accounted for less than half the budget and 10% of GDP. What's more, the cost of these direct payments is exploding. Even after adjusting for inflation, they've shot up 29% under Obama."

Comment Re:And the water practically disappears, right? (Score 1) 545

Yes, that's nearly exactly what they believe. Of course they will mostly deny this, but have no explanation for their inability to follow their own claims to this logical conclusion.

They suffer from cognitive defects that man is not an animal that clawed its way to the current pinnacle of evolution and because of that first defect they also fail to understand that man is not all-knowing and all-powerful. This causes them to assume that we know all the answers about what is supposedly right or wrong with the planet, and that everything wrong is caused by and can be fixed by man.

A lot of these mental issues can be directly traced to malnutrition of the brain, caused by denial of the facts that eating meat was crucial for intellectual development and that without eating meat, it is far more expensive or even impossible to get all the nutrients required for a healthy brain.

Comment Re:Answer too long to fit in subject line (Score 2) 445

A text file, encrypted locally with a long password (something I can remember easily, but quite long) and then uploaded to Google Docs for easy access anywhere that I have the decryption software

This. However s/password/passphrase/ and I don't use google docs but similar propagation.

My text file also contains credit card account and phone numbers in case I need to cancel a card, routing and account numbers for if I need to set up direct deposit or other EFT, my kids social security numbers, and other similarly confidential reference information. I've even at times (not currently) kept a regularly needed signing cert in the file as my backup.

I've tried many of the desktop password apps. But I've been doing my text file for about 20 years and nothing else is nearly as useful -- flexible and with ubiquitous availability.

I recommend also to print a copy every now and then, with a date, sealing it up in an envelope or two, and keeping it with important "should I die or be incapacitated" papers (such as your will), replacing and shredding the older version.

Write the date also on the envelope. The dates are so it is easy to tell which is the most recent in case multiple copies are found (e.g. a copy with your lawyer and a copy in the fireproof safe in the basement that is updated more frequently). The envelope(s) are to tell if someone has compromised the passwords so seal it up however makes you comfortable depending on who has access and how often you check (and update).

Comment Re:The Problem (Score 1) 332

They have no intrinsic value.

Nothing, but nothing has intrinsic value. Not gold, diamonds, dollar bills, land or anything else. The only reason anything has value is because people want it.

'want' is the source of value or sometimes can even be used synonymous with value.

But that is not an argument against intrinsic value but rather proves intrinsic value. One subset or type of value is intrinsic value.

Intrinsic value is that value or want of something for itself, rather than for its exchange value.

Some people buy gold because they think it is pretty and they like to adorn themselves with it. Some people buy gold because it is a necessary component. Both are examples of the intrinsic value of gold.

Comment Re:The Problem (Score 1) 332

The purpose of money should be to encourage the exchange of labor,

Exchange of labor is one purpose.

More generally that purpose is for any exchange in general, thus avoiding problems caused by missing coincidence of wants.

Another purpose is to store value, such as from my labor now to protect myself against a future time when I am unable to labor.

Another purpose is as an aid in accounting, such as in determining the relative value of various labors I might perform, directly useful in determining if I would rather have someone to do a job for me or do it myself. Or in simple bookkeeping, money being one of those revolutionary ideas along with double-entry accounting which revolutionized business record keeping. Both of those are key factors enabling specialization, a certain amount of which is highly beneficial for all of society as well as individuals.

Those three purposes are essentially all concerned with the 'now' uses of money. The fourth is as a standard of value over time, to enable comparison and choice not only between items now but between now and the past or the future.

A little ditty that used to be taught to help children remember the purpose of money: "Money is a matter of functions four: a medium, a measure, a standard, a store." Meaning a medium for the exchange of value, a measure of value, a standard of value, and a store of value.

Comment Re:Making Direct Deposit Easier (Score 2) 211

setting up direct deposit is a pain in the ass: fill out a paper form, search around for routing and account numbers. The payroll department ...
Couldn't all of this be taken care of with a single, one-time, QR code, generated on-demand by you (or, actually, by you bank's online or mobile access application) and given directly to HR, who then simply passes it on to the payroll processor?

If only!

When setting up new job direct deposit in 2008 and another in 2012 they BOTH insisted not only on a paper form, but on a voided paper check attached to it! Uh, I use a bill pay service, I don't write my own checks. I don't know if it was HR/payroll department requirement or the payroll processor (don't remember who it was for the 2008 company, but currently it is ADP, talk about stuck in the dark ages...).

I'm just glad that everything else will accept my routing and account numbers without the paper check. For example, on a mortgage refi closing they offered me an annual rebate if I agreed to let them direct draft payments from my account. They wanted a paper check. When I didn't have one, they told me I could wait until the closing was processed and the mortgage showed up on the website, and I could sign up there for automatic payments.

But I am getting heartily sick of having to sign and return paper forms! A few places allow fax, and a very few allow scan and email for anything with legal implications. Where is my legally recognized digital signature???

Hello, 1.5 decades ago was the turn of the 21st century, not the 20th...

Comment Re:I hope this fixes my black screen on boot (Score 1) 141

On your fanless PC, if you have a keyboard you can probably to bring up a text console. Might be easier than coming via ssh from another system, and works even without a live network. Sometimes also and etc. Note that distro's can and some do disable that text console in favor of X, but most will leave at least one console on F1.

You could also disable X from auto-starting.

Comment Good luck with that (Score 1) 324

I've been trying for over 10 years to get the cable company to hook me up. Right after the Comcast acquisition AT&T pamphletted the neighborhood and solicited pre-orders but didn't ever install.

AT&T traded my area off to CableOne and CableOne wouldn't do it.

I'm less than 400ft by right-of-way from the CableOne pedestal. One other property in between. They won't do it.

CableOne sent me a flyer early last year with an offer to sign up but wouldn't take my order, "please contact our sales office." I did, they said they couldn't do it.

They took my order and my money last fall, then the day before the scheduled install they called and cancelled. They couldn't do it.

I've even offered to run the cable myself if they will hook it up. They won't do it.

Just before Thanksgiving I signed up for 20Mb/s DSL instead.

On Jan 18th I received another flyer in the mail from CableOne wanting me to sign up. Think they'll do it now?

I don't. I won't believe they will run cable 400 feet to hook me up until I see action.

Getting them to run cable thru an entire neighborhood?

Good luck with that.

Comment Re:Tech's Gender and Race Gap Starts In High Schoo (Score 1) 489

How many other parents do that? Why are frilly pink things what see for sale? Boys get guns girls get dolls, Think about it, you know, without the defensive attitude.

Because that really is what most little girls choose.

I have boys (now ages 11 to 20). Then got a little girl (now age 4.25). The little girl is and always has been very different from the boys. She started picking out clothes she liked before she could walk. None of my boys cared until much later. The girl chose pink clothes even tho she had almost none since she outgrew the "new baby" gifts (most of which were neutral yellow and white). My wife is not a "pink, frilly" type, but my little girl is. We had to buy more pink and frilly stuff.

Christmas 2012 at age 3, my little girl "adopted" a particular wrapping paper (pastel, blue field with white angels and some other minor colors) and came to tears when a package with that paper was not for her, and refused to have anything to do with packages wrapped in a color she particularly disliked that year. My boys never cared about the paper and certainly never turned down the chance to open any present.

My wife is not a "let's go shopping" type. My little girl is. She wants to go shopping for shoes, or for dresses, something my mother-in-law still has to drag my wife out to do. At age 3 she didn't much care for dolls. She did like stuffed toy cats but her favorite toy was a green john deere tractor (sit on and kick it around it size). Last summer my little girl noticed an older cousin had painted fingernails and wanted it on her own fingers. My wife never wears nail polish (and seldom makeup). My little girl has started taking care of a "baby doll," but last november when a friend just wanted to play with barbie dolls, after less than 10 minutes of that came the response, "I'm not a barbie kind of girl" (as reported in shock by the mother of the other girl).

My little boys played with blocks. They made roads that cars would drive on. They made buildings and towers to knock them down. My little girl plays with blocks. She makes houses where people (and animals) live. She makes roads so the people can visit each other. She makes towers so the people can be on top and see each other. The little girl makes forts with blankets and boxes. They are places where people live and she brings all her stuffed animals in with her and they eat and play together. The boys made forts with blankets and boxes. They were hideouts, and the associated play had monsters and missiles, traps and battles.

And little boys will make a gun or a car or a plane or a bomb out of anything.

Comment Re:Girls "grow up" faster than boys (Score 1) 489

Unlike boys that continue to be attracted by shiny toys until much later in their education cycle...

What do you mean "until much later" ? :)

Just to make your point a bit more clearly in case anyone does not get it...

I have four boys from 11 to 20. I work with "boys" ranging in age early 20's thru mid-60's. My father in law will be 69 this year and my father will be 80. There is not a single one of those "boys" that is not "attracted by shiny toys."

I draped a roll of RGB LEDs over my desk in December. Guys stopped by to ask details about it every day. None of the passing women stopped except one that said, "those look nice."

I bought some closeout LED decorative lights on New Years Eve. I was checking them out and all the guys in the extended family gathered around to see what was going on, what the lights could do, and etc. I could not get any of the women interested. Maybe next Christmas when they are decorating...

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So you think that money is the root of all evil. Have you ever asked what is the root of money? -- Ayn Rand

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