On Magnitude and Minimum Wage: How Raising Minimum Wage Trivializes the Value of a Dollar

Perhaps, the most grievous part of our America’s situation is not that the middle and working class are shrinking, while the ranks of the underclass and the working poor increase is that there is a total loss of the value of the dollar. For example, ask a regular someone the difference between $5 and $7 and they will say two dollars, and not think much of the difference when spending when the real difference between these is a full 200 units!, pennies that is.

So, the problem is that 200 pennies are not being spent wisely. That is a lot of units of our currency. Ask someone the difference between $2 and $202 and he or she will probably say there is a huge difference. Do you see the problem with this mentality that disrespects the value of a penny.  It is the mentality of a Democrat, and that has to change if America is to have a bright future. The 99% can't continue on spending like they are drunk unable to pay respect to the value of a penny.

The fact is that every time government steps in to raise minimum wage it makes things worse.  Because when minimum wage is raised, the prices of goods also rise.  They rose in my parent’s generation, and they rose in mine.  What is even more worse is that it becomes more difficult to determine the magnitude of prices when people with less than amazing skills are calculating how much money they will need at the checkout counter. 

Elections 2012: I Can’t Believe That There Is A Question as to Whether or Not We Need New Leadership

It’s practically unbelievable that there is even a contest for the 2012 election.  America is in the mud, and everyone seems to be worried that Mitt Romney will take away all the precious program funding and leave us to hang out to dry.  I do agree that Mitt Romney wants cuts.  And, I can only pray that they will be sensible cuts that will eventually balance the federal deficit.  However, what we have in office as I am writing this blog is a President that has proven himself to be completely ineffective at making any headway in reducing the federal deficit.  That amounts to this, America is either going to have to take its cuts, which I liken to taking needed medication, or else we will go on inflating the dollar as a sick nation on a crash course with oblivion.
 

Ladies and gentlemen, I implore you, look at the evidence.  President Obama has not been able to make even a dent in the deficit in 4 years, and many people want to reelect him.  The evidence is that if he since he has not made any headway, that if we give him another 4 years, it is only reasonable that we can expect the deficit to remain unchanged, while trillions of dollars are once again heaped onto the federal debt.
 

America needs change, and the only way we are going to get it is if in the next four years we balance the federal deficit.  Otherwise, we can only expect the devaluation of the dollar.  Yes, there are consequences to running big deficits and the primary one is inflation of the dollar.  If you don’t know what that means, it means things get more expensive though you do not have necessary money to pay for them.  That is, with inflation, your money won’t stretch as far, and while you might have programs, the inertia of these programs to adapt to fiscal change is also very likely to leave those whom are unfortunate without anyway.  They can’t be saved.  Unless Obama does a 180 and suddenly starts putting forth potential ideas that are bipartisan to balance the budget America’s future will remain bleak.  So, let’s put a stop to the Obama bin Laden’s insane fiscal policies.
 

First, and foremost, if we give someone who has already failed at this another chance, as in another chance to be able to work in a bipartisan House and Senate in order to accomplish something for good we as Americans are headed more and more into the direction of becoming indentured servants, for future generations.
 

When I elected President Obama, I had two things in mind.  I wanted national healthcare, and I wanted a balanced federal budget.  I believed then, and I still believe now that those two things are capable of being accomplished.  Medication and medicine pays for itself, and I believed that the Democrats could make headway in balancing the debt because I believed in President Barrack Obama’s ability to fall in the steps former President Bill Clinton during his term in office.  However, I was wrong.  Barrack Obama wasn’t the answer, and I still think John McCain was not the correct answer either.  Hopefully, though it may take some financial responsibility, the voters will elect someone new, and not someone who has done nothing on the most important issue we face in the last 4 years.

On Deregulation and Immigration 2012

1:1  Immigrants never did one thing to harm me. They take away jobs that are mindless and stupid in our harvest of shame. Honestly, Romney has a point, roughly 40% of Americans could be called unnecessary, such that I don't see the point protecting our borders much.

1:2  The border is massive. Too massive, and expensive to patrol to keep people (immigrants) from coming here to take lame ass jobs. Forget about the lower 50%.

1:3  In response that illegals get a free education and that this should  be stopped:  I believe it is about time to gut the public educational system. Parents who can afford it have greatly increased the rate that they are sending their children to private schools. The sad part is that inability to get private education may equate to all publicly educated children being left behind. As someone who qualifies for food stamps, I would imagine that my child will probably be able to get into whatever school he wants through on merit based scholarships. I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up in the top ten in the state for intelligence on some subject. He wouldn't be the first in my family. My grandfather and his brother both scored in the top 10 in the state of Pennsylvania when for World War II intelligence assessment, and so on.

1:4  Many businesses depend on having illegal immigrants because they can pay them less. The documentation of new citizens need not be that extensive. Really, it should only take an hour or so meeting to make illegals into documented folk. Seriously, if you can get by as an illegal here, we need not spend a whole lot of time educating folks to be citizens in some sort of silly process. Really, at the heart of keeping people illegal is so that folks can be lazy. Essentially, the demand for keeping illegals undocumented is the desire to inflate the dollar by paying citizens more money, and it is completely back firing. No person wins when we raise minimum wage.

1:5  Yes, we can harness the power of cheap labor (minimum wage first inflates the dollar, and makes it harder to hire citizens), and the business model doesn't work in some ways (especially from the economic perspective), but that is because no business except big business can seem to get a foothold in this economy. Many folks hire illegals because it is the only way to get by. In that sense, their business model is not flawed. It comes down to this, "You do what you have to do," in order to survive in this economy if you are a small business. Trying to get rid of illegals is virtually impossible, and a big waste of funding, especially in an economy with a high rate of unemployment. Folks that are documented need to be able to compete over the table. Getting rid of illegals is a poor attempt to get everyone at minimum wage because the illegals will nearly always steal documented folks job from them.

1:6  Fools believe that raising the minimum wage results in the working poor or the working class getting more stuff.  It just means that prices go up.

1:7  The milk is going sour by itself. As time progresses, with the current economic progression, we should be worried more about middle class jobs and not the working poor.

Craig’s Tips for Quitting Smoking Tobacco

Quitting smoking is no simple undertaking.  It is expensive.  It may require saving up to get it done.  If quitting costs you only $500 in quitting materials, you should consider yourself lucky.  If you are to be successful at quitting, for the entire first year or two, I recommend avoiding all places where tobacco is being smoked.

First, switch to self rolled cigarettes.  In my opinion, rolled cigarettes are less expensive and less addictive at the same time.

Have it in the back of your mind that it may take 1,000 attempts to stop smoking, such that quitting requires a constant mentality that can be sustained, instead of a mentality that is heroic.  Every time you try to quit and fail, do not judge yourself, but rather accept that you are mortal.  Mortals can succeed and mortals can fail.  If you are able to approach quitting smoking without judging yourself for the hundreds if not thousands of times you attempt quitting, there is victory in that alone.

This constant mentality I recommend includes acceptance of the displeasure for what cigarettes do to you.  Realize how much wreckage they cause to you.  The make you stink 24/7 such that people wrinkle their nose at you and think that they are better than you, and the make you order not only your day around smoking but your entire existence around smoking - I could go on, but if you are at this point, you don’t need to be reminded of the many ways smoking brings you down.

When you quit smoking, I recommend the strongest strength patch, but I can almost guarantee you this won’t be enough.  Don’t be a hero!  Buy the full strength gum too.  I realize that the label says not to combine these, but for me, the author of this, it was the only way to quit!

I would have quit trying just one of these methods, but one alone didn’t work.  I tried and failed many times.  Also buy the patch with lower strength and the lower strength gum, for once you buy the more expensive ones you may not have enough money for these, and that can cause failure as well, as you may find yourself sifting through ashtrays, and begging.  Like I said, quitting smoking is expensive, and it is a good idea to stock up on the things that will help you in the journey.

Use the patch and the gum such that you can feel that you no longer want a cigarette.  Though I do not recommend using two gums at once, you may have to abuse the gum too.  Use whatever method it takes to quit, and not put the next cigarette in your mouth.

If you fail, and smoke a cigarette, then don’t give up on the gum and the patch.  When I was using the gum and the patch I was able to wean down to 4 cigarettes a day.  I was having relapses on the gum and the patch, but through persevering it is impossible to say that I have not had success.  However, there were fewer relapses than without the gum and the patch.  Keeping strong with the gum and the patch after a few weeks I was able to go from 4 cigarettes a day, to none, in one very difficult step.

Once you have successfully instituted smoking cessation methods, and are no longer smoking for about a week, it gets slightly easier from this point, but just barely.  At this point for an entire year or two, I recommend avoiding having any contact with smokers.  Don’t try to be a hero, but instead cower and avoid places where you might smell smoke on someone’s clothes.  These places are the places that often cause relapses.  For example, I had to avoid places where I might hear the flick of a lighter, or even a word associated with smoking, etc, especially in the first year that I have gone without a cigarette.

I still feel the urge to relapse after years of having quit if I am around smokers.  Someone who has just quit is very fragile, and needs to protect himself or herself from situations where he or she might experience a trigger that make one have a rush of desire to smoke.

There are other methods to quit, such as behavioral substitutes.  I recommend these too.  I recommend using hot flavored sugar candies, such as fireballs or minty gum.  A friend of mine had some success with a chew stick, where one can use their jaw muscle to generate endorphins, which help substitute for nicotine.  My own personal method is to flex my jaw muscle until the endorphins come when I feel the urge.

I have been unable to avoid every situation where there is smoking entirely for at least a few years.  When I go to a restaurant, I sometimes see people smoking, and it makes me want to have one even years later.  Even mentioning words like tobacco, smoke, or cigarette are triggers for me.  One personal trigger for me is when I have a good idea often times it makes me want to have a smoke.  At this point, I pop a nicotine gum in my mouth if I feel myself getting close to the point of giving in and going to the store or to bum one.  In fact, I recommend always having a few pieces of the gum around even years later for really difficult cravings.

Even years later it is difficult and I have to fight put an end to cravings, as best I can.  Apparently, it seems quitting smoking is a lifelong battle, which is kind of sad, but there is victory for those who fight a good fight in the battle against the urge to smoke.  Even those who are stuck at the first few steps, such that even admitting that you don’t feel in control and don’t smoke by choice should serve as a warning for those are pondering picking of their first cigarette or their first pack, etc.  There is victory at all stages of the quitting process, from personal experience I can assure you that fighting in this battle is well worth it.  And, count yourself lucky if you never had to because you never got addicted in the first place and there are better ways to spend your time than picking up cigarettes just to want to quit them later.  Few are the people that enjoy being slaves to these cancer sticks that end too many lives too early.

Collegiate Sports Majors Instead of Traditional Majors Where One Also Plays Sports

I understand that some people prefer to play sports in addition to their major, and I am not knocking that.  What I am seeking is for universities to recognize collegiate level sports as a major, such that graduation from such a program results in say a Bachelors Degree in Baseball.

Let’s face it, African Americans often find school difficult, but it seems to everyone that there are other ways of measuring intelligence other than IQ, and even the various standard assessments that I am aware of today.  For example, one person might be calculating the mathematical way to hit a 3 pointer in a basket ball game, while someone else might be entirely able to put the ball in the bucket and get the job done.  In that way, including sports as majors will no doubt help the Africa American community.

My radical suggestion would be to make collegiate sports to be a major.  For example, majoring in sports would mean that someone could choose basketball or baseball or even football as a major.  This is as opposed to traditional majors, such as biology, French, and engineering.

There are several reasons for this, but one of the greatest is my hope to inspire young athletes at the grade school to pursue health and wellness for a lifetime.  The problem is that America is getting fat, and that much needs to change or else there will be consequences to our poor eating habits.

The evidence is out there that putting sports on the television does not help folks, but I would beg to disagree.  Those polled were probably adults.  When I was in elementary school, nearly every kid playing squirts wanted to be a professional ball player.  And, though while we should not have delusions of grandeur that we are better than we really are, I believe that professional sports inspires youngsters to exercise.  That much is good for our bodies, and I believe that will translate into a strong America.

One of the major faults of America is that we need to focus more on sports more at the minor league level.  Our minor leaguers should be an inspiration for our youth.  I am lucky to live on Cape Cod where we have the Cape Cod Baseball League, CCBL, which is really at about the AA level.  When our local kids watch these players, many of which are headed for the big league, I indeed feel that it is inspirational to the youth, especially since so many kids can’t afford to attend major league sports.  The minor leagues are very affordable for almost anyone.  Likewise, I feel that broadening the scope of professional sports to include enough teams such that it would make sense for a student to attend College primarily for the aspect of achieving a degree in sports is beneficial to America. 

***** Samsung A157 Go Phone: Unbeatable Price – Go For This Phone

This phone is totally awesome.  It is excellent for text based internet, like Facebook.  I totally love the T9Eab function, such that I find it more useful and quicker to use once (once you get used to it).  So for, cell phones that have a keyboard, generally I feel that once you get used to T9Eab, you will never want to go back.  Additionally, as a bonus with this function, you can add words to the T9Eab vocabulary.

It does have a small screen.  That can either be a bonus or a bane.  For me, personally, it's a bonus.

The A157 is also perfect for checking one's email.  I use Gmail, and here and there during most days, I use this phone to read my email.

Be warned though, there are some features of websites that this phone can't handle, such as buying at amazon.com.  If you use Amazon, then I recommend connecting with a computer with a larger screen.  Thus, though this phone can't buy via Amazon.com, it would probably not be good enough as a computer to use Amazon's functions anyway, and that is neither plus nor negative.   The reason being, size.  If you want a small phone, that is well constructed, and has some internet function capabilities, go for this phone!

I personally use my phone as an emergency phone, usually paying just $15.  I spend $5 for internet, and roughly $9 in emergency calls.  That is unbeatable!

The one thing I feel that is actually lacking with respect to the A157, is that it can't interface with say a laptop or a desktop to be a source of internet capability.  Yet, for $20, I still feel that you really can't beat the price of this phone for the functionality of it.

The Physics of Binge Eating

I believe that I know what binge eaters are so likely to turn to the comfort of food when they are feeling emotions.  Food adds fat to their body, such that it enables a greater amount of resistance to having an emotional meltdown.  The exact physical equation I am commenting on is Voltage equal Current times Resistance.  It is such that feeling lots of emotions increase the amount of thoughts, such people need to feel the resistance to their emotions primarily by adding fat to their diet.  That is of all properties of foods, fat is the one that is most resistant to current, meaning that as resistance works against the circuitry of emotions via providing relief.

Clearly, binge eating is not an optimal answer to controlling one’s emotions.  However, the way I see it is that it is important not to talk someone out of eating.  That is, though overeating is unhealthy, it can also be protective and necessary, such that it can help prevent an emotional breakdown.  However, I am in definite agreement that overeating is not the best way to handle emotions.

The best way is to reorient one’s thinking such that emotional responses are decreased even when the same stimulus is given.  Thus, the optimal way of combating binge eating is not encouraging people not to eat, but changing how they feel about certain things, or even avoiding problem situations that cause emotional instability.