Health Maintenance - Corporate Style

A package arrived in my corporate mailbox the other day. It contained a health maintenance kit. You might think the company really loves us employees, but I callously suspect they made some commitment to do this to secure a lower health insurance rate.

The contents, a cheap pedometer, a large rubber band with exercise instructions, and a cloth backpack, bear witness to my skepticism:

Well, at least this beats the "good old days" when the supply cabinets provided ashtrays. If my health were the key issue here, how about reducing the discretionary stress?

Hiking 2011

My "hiking club" has planned two major hikes this year, and I would anticipate a third in the fall.

First up, the Buffalo River area in Arkansas:

For the summer, we'll hit the mountains in Colorado, specifically a circuit around the iconic Maroon Bells, where a camera must always be ready:

Carrying everything you need on your back to reach isolated places is a blast, and creates lasting memories. But like most vacations, it's always satisfying to return home after such adventures.

A Crisis for Everyone

There are many areas in which liberals and conservatives can have healthy and legitimate differences of opinion. It so happens, financial solvency is not one of them. Economics are based on unrelenting and unarguable principles in which a right position and a wrong position unerringly prevail.

Yet it's been debated for over a hundred years now. In the early 1900s, a book called The New Deal was published. It advocated a planned economy which ignored free market principles, and offered up the newly formed Communist Russia as an example. Strike 1.

FDR based his policies on the New Deal, and modern economists estimate the Depression-era unemployment rate was a full 8 points higher than necessary as a result. To him, reform was more important than recovery. Strike 2.

We survived the first two whiffs because of isolationism and the "good fortune" of timely wars, but the globalization of the economy and our recent attainment of $15 trillion in overdue bills will make "strike 3" deadly.

Avoiding Strike 3 requires an annual reduction of a trillion dollars in the federal budget (the current attempt to cut $62 billion, or 1.5%, is a drop in the bucket). While everyone says this will be difficult (from a political perspective), I contend it should not be (from a financial perspective).

That's not a conservative's opinion - that's fact.

The Three Paths of AP

Now that the Cardinals and Albert Pujols have decided to take it to a Constanza-like standoff, there are only three possible outcomes. Here they are in my order of preference:

First, either during the season or during the free agent sweepstakes, the Cardinals offer a package which does the best they can and allows them to be competitive, Albert adopts the Cliff Lee attitude that "it's not all about money", and everyone lives happily ever after.

Second, during the free agent period, the Cardinals offer the best deal they can without damaging the ability of the team to win, but Albert decides to accept bigger money from a large-market team. After some adjustment, I contend everyone can still live happily ever after.

Third, either during the season or during the free agent sweepstakes, the Cardinals pay more than they can afford, Albert signs, but the team is seriously compromised. In this case, no one lives happily ever after, because being a perennial loser is fun for no one.

Confession

I have a confession to make ...

... I've often posed for naked pictures.

It only happens when traveling, but it's a sad fact that on most trips, some very revealing photos are snapped.

The TSA - I don't even recall what "TSA" stands for, but the "S" obviously means seedy - stages these photo shoots on every attempt to board a plane.

After they've done this and checked my bags, they often perform a hand search. You'd think the naked photo op would have revealed all.

I wish there were some proofs to show, but there are none available.

Not that I haven't asked.

Babysitting

Tommy took Jena out for Valentine's Day and we the dog grandparents stayed home and dogsat. This is how our evening went. It sure is exciting around here!

Read This in the Bathroom

When it comes to public restrooms, men’s facilities rank below third world standards while women’s are so palatial as to be legendary. We men (sometimes referenced as the “stronger sex”, but clearly the dumber one) are ingrained to expect this shabby treatment. I recently double-checked the label on a bathroom I visited because it happened to be clean, bright, and boasted flowers in a vase. Shocking.


The typical public restroom for men:




The typical women’s facility:




When laws against sexual discrimination were strengthened, the lady Congressmen must have inserted exemptions for public bathrooms.

Company

We did a little entertaining last week before Tommy had another infusion. Our friends Dave & Judy and their sons and daughter-in -law joined us for dinner. We've been friends with them for years. Tommy & Josh have grown up together. It was a lot of fun getting both families together and reminiscing about old times. Don't ask them about the chocolate pie though!

Leah & Josh

Justin, Jena, Tommy, Leah & Josh

Anticipation

We spend a great deal of time anticipating some future event ...


As a kid, we anticipated Christmas and summer break. As adults, we anticipate vacations and, eventually, retirement.


On Thursday we anticipate Friday so that we can spend Friday anticipating the weekend.


We often anticipate a meal, then the dessert, then we anticipate the next meal.


Businessmen anticipate trends and profit from it.


As parents, we anticipate great things from our offspring; as offspring, we anticipate independence from our parents.


As Americans, we anticipate a better future; as Christians, we anticipate an eternal destiny.


In our current situation, I anticipate happiness and health for my growing family, and firmly believe it will come to pass. I believe they will be blessed and handle it well.


Is it bad to think about the future when there's a "here and now" in which to live? The present is important, as are the experiences of the past. But another word for anticipation is "hope", and hope is the strongest pull of all.

Rightsizing

Is government spending too high or simply underfunded? Should we raise taxes to cover the annual shortfall of $1.5 trillion, or should we cut spending? On top of this, the Obama administration favors more spending ("investments"), not less.

What's the right answer? Do we curb our spending or adopt a national lifestyle of increasing debt loads?

As usual, the answer is in the data ...

Our spending trend is alarming:

However, we'd expect spending to rise year-over-year simply due to inflationary pressure. Can we create a level view which reflects the true picture? The following graph does just that, showing federal outlays as a percentage of GDP for the last 60 years:

It turns out the historically "right" level of federal spending is 18-19% of GDP. The last two years reflect what us corporate chartists refer to as an out-of-control situation. To return to historic norms, we need to reduce the current budget by 25%, or over a trillion dollars annually. It turns out this is approximately equivalent to our budget shortfall.

We have the answer ...

Balancing the budget is the right thing to do. Now ... not ten years from now.

Sliced Fingers Anyone?

THIS

PLUS THIS

EQUALS THIS!

Confused Weathermen

We awoke to an unexpected blanket of snow Saturday morning which caught even the snowplow guys by surprise. It reminded me of our confusion at times when it comes to predicting weather patterns.

For instance, a few years back, Time ran the following cover:

More recently, the storyline was different:

All we can safely say is this: the weather seems more volatile now and we have no idea why.

Countdown

Albert Pujols has stated he will not negotiate with the Cardinals after February 18. Which means: if no agreement is reached in the next 11 days, 2011 will essentially be a lame duck season for the Cardinals slugger.

I'm not in the "sign Abert at any cost" camp. The players themselves remind us how baseball is a business, and no business should overpay for a commodity. But if not resolved one way or another, the situation could create some interesting dynamics this season. (Albert, who has a no-trade clause, has also ruled out that possibility.)

We are also facing a March deadline in the NFL. The worst case scenario: the Cardinals playing with their best player one foot out the door, and no football!

I liked it better when these were games rather than businesses, and countdowns came at the end of exciting games rather than contract negotiations.

Baby Baby

Sunny and baby girl have passed the 6 month mark! The sonogram today said that she's a whopping 2 pounds 4 ounces.

Big-Time Debt

In WWII, our strength was based on the world's most powerful economy. We could make things like nobody's business and didn't need to borrow from other countries.

This year, the Federal government alone will need to borrow $1.48 trillion just to meet budget. That's written as follows: $1,480,000,000,000.

Some say we need to tax more to close the gap. But others know the truth. We need to (1) resume making things like nobody's business, and that's hard to do with manufacturers fleeing in droves from the world's most onerous corporate tax structure, and (2) cut spending with no scared cows.

Politicians have been quoted as saying these things won't happen. These are the ones which need to be given the boot. The leaders to install are those that talk about growth and spending discipline, not those who speak of "investments".

Tolstoy's Masterpiece

I just finished reading Leo Tolstoy's classic, Anna Karenina. As an aside, this was my first e-book experience (thumbs up).

Reading Tolstoy is enjoyable if only for the glimpse it provides of Russian aristocracy, the peasantry, and the spirit which they share.

The co-protaganists in the novel, which some call the best ever penned, are Anna Karenina and Levin Konstantin. Anna excelled in society, but was shunned due to adultery. Levin did well in society, but preferred the country and overseeing operations on his land.

To me, the theme of the novel is the pursuit of happiness. It opens with the line "happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way".

The beautiful Anna fails to find happiness in pursuing the man she desires, and takes her own life in a despair created by insecurity. Hers is a "heart-to-head" story in which she sinks into a personal hell of her own making.

Levin, an intellect, finds love and achieves happiness by exercising faith as opposed to relying solely on his own formidable powers of reason. As a peasant tells him, "we work to serve God". His is a "head-to-heart" story in which he finds alignment with heaven.

It is said that Tolstoy converted to Christianity after completing Anna Karenina.