Education About Education

July 29, 2015July 29, 2015 fasab Current Events, Rants ability, afford it, americans, auto-loan debt, college, college graduates, colleges, contemporaries, cost of a college education, credit card debt, crunch some numbers, debate, degree, education, electricians, essential trades, expenses, expensive, facts, fixated, food for thought, go to college, good paying jobs, graduate, heavy cost to pay, housing, important questions, inflation, information, kids going to college, learning, limited, lucrative, lumbered with a loan, manual, money, more opportunities, office jobs, Opinion, other opportunities, parents, percentage, plumber, plumbers, Rants, right career path, school, shortage, skill, student, student loan, student loan debt, students, Thoughts, time, trade, Travel, tuition fees, turning their noses up, United States, universities, university, US, workplace, young Americans

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

Today a little education about education.

First I’ll crunch some numbers, as I like to do.

4,726 = the number of colleges and universities United States.

$589 billion = the amount spent by students annually.

Of that figure,

$393 billion = tuition fees, and

$196 billion = expenses like travel and housing.

538% = the percentage increase of the cost of a college education over the past three decades.

4.5 = the number times more expensive it is to go to college today than it was back in 1985, even allowing for inflation.

So is the cost worth it?

Does the education system make sense?

The vast majority of Americans never even consider these important questions. They are fixated on their kids going to college – end of debate.

Whether they have the ability or not, or whether it is the right career path for them or not, if the parents can afford it and/or the kids can get a student loan (which they usually can) then they go to college.

But there is a heavy cost to pay, as we have just seen above. By the time they graduate 70% of students are lumbered with a loan balance averaging $28,400. Nationwide in the US, student loan debt now sits at a staggering $1.2 trillion, which is nearly 50% higher than all the outstanding auto-loan debt, and almost double credit card debt.

While it is true that college graduates have more opportunities to earn more than those without a degree, the number of those good paying jobs is limited. Most college graduates have to settle for a lot less that they were planning for when they started that expensive college education.

What is often forgotten is that there are many other opportunities out there in the workplace for someone who spends their time and money learning a trade or a skill. A friend of mine who is a plumber earns many times more than many of his contemporaries with college degrees and office jobs.

In fact, since more and more young Americans are turning their noses up at manual type jobs and opting for expensive colleges, there will soon be a shortage of essential trades such as plumbers, electricians and so forth, making those jobs even more lucrative than they are now.

Food for thought for the future perhaps.

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Twitter Treasure

July 26, 2015July 16, 2015 fasab Business, Computers, Crime, Current Events, Factoids, Investing, Stockmarket amateurs, bloated and confusing, Bloomberg financial organization, Bloomberg.com, bloomberg.market, bogus web site, buyout story, Current Events, cyber criminals, dot word domains, dot-com, dot-market domain, easy, education, expensive, facebook, fact, factoid, facts, fake, famous, finance, fun, good invention, greedy and stupid people, gullible internet users, information, internet, internet story, investing, investments, investors piled in, legitimate webpage, lost money, mirror, morons, ordinary people, Panama, permutations, professional, protect your online identity, proxy service, scam message, shares, shares jumped, stupid people, stupidity, too good a deal to refuse, Twitter, Twitter shares, Twitter story, Wall Street, WhoisGuard

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

Twitter is a good invention. It’s easy and fun. Much less demanding and intrusive than Facebook. So much so that many millions of people, from the famous to ordinary people like you and I, use it every day.

On the back of that success the Twitter company is doing very well. But recently it did even better when its shares jumped four per cent in a matter of minutes.

It all happened after a buyout story appeared on the internet that claimed that Twitter had received a significant offer. It started off, “Twitter is working closely with bankers after receiving an offer to be bought out for $31 billion…”

Investors piled in. And not just the amateurs, lots of the ‘professional’ Wall Street guys too.

The trouble was, however, that the internet story was on a bogus web site and was completely fake. The site was called “bloomberg.market”. It was not “Bloomberg.com” the official name of the web presence for the Bloomberg financial organization.

“Bloomberg.market” was what they call a ‘mirror’ of the genuine “Bloomberg.com” website. Whoever designed “bloomberg.market” set it up to look like “Bloomberg.com”. They copied real headlines and linked them back to the real dot-com website. With one exception: the fake Twitter story, which was dressed up to look like a legitimate webpage.

The spike in the Twitter share price only lasted about 15 minutes before Bloomberg denounced the story as fake and the share price dropped back to its previous level. But 15 minutes is a long time in the world of finance and plenty of time for someone to profit substantially from the scam.

No one yet knows who owns the dot-market domain – except the people who own it, of course – but it was registered just days before the scam message, using a proxy service called “WhoisGuard”, based in Panama, that protects registrant details by offering its own address and contact numbers. But the details of “WhoisGuard” on its own website at “WhoisGuard.com” also appear to be fake, listing a telephone number that is disconnected. Emails to their contact address have not received a response either.

The significance of this incident is not that some greedy and stupid people lost money rushing to buy Twitter shares on the back of this fake announcement.

The problem is that so many new dot word domains have recently been allowed – hundreds of them in fact – that the whole internet is becoming bloated and confusing. And expensive.

If you are a company that wants to protect your online identity and integrity it could now cost you tens of thousands of dollars to cover all the permutations. Not many companies, even huge affairs like Bloomberg, will choose to do that.

That leaves the way wide open for cyber criminals to take advantage of gullible internet users.

I am certain they will.

Like the Twitter announcement, it’s just too good a deal to refuse.

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Nails Are One Thing You Don’t Want To Screw With.

March 12, 2015January 29, 2015 fasab comedy, Humour, Language, Puns a man with three balls, ache, amusing, atomic, baby monitor, bad jokes, barometer, bathroom, blood, Bonnie Tiler, boxes, broad mind, buggers, cheese, combing the area, Comedy, couldn't handle the pressure, decorates, dough, dwarfs, employing, Entertainment, expensive, for crying out loud, freeway, funny, getting old, HDTV, helium, hospital, Humor, Humour, joke, jokes, juggler, kid, listening devices, maternity, Mr Rice guy, nails, narrow waist, nihilists, no point, NSA, pizza, plasma screen, police, pregnancy, pun, pun day, puns, Scottish lady, Screw With, sharpen a pencil, silly jokes, stupid, tampons, tomatoes, tough period, truck, Uncle Ben, uranium, Walmart, wigs, woman crying, wonderful word play, word play, word plays

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

Neither is Pun Day.

Another selection of wonderful word play for you to….

Enjoy or endure!

Sometimes pregnancy lasts so long

it seems like a maternity.

How many nihilists does it take

to sharpen a pencil?

One, but there’s still no point.

I dropped my barometer earlier.

Just couldn’t handle the pressure.

What do you call a man

with three balls?

…a juggler.

Uncle Ben found dead.

No more Mr Rice guy.

I just invented a joke about helium.

Unfortunately it doesn’t go down well.

You know that you’re getting old

when your narrow waist swaps

places with your broad mind.

Apparently a truck carrying boxes of wigs has overturned,

spilling its load across the freeway.

Police are combing the area.

I saw a woman crying as she

was buying tampons earlier.

Must be going through a

tough period in her life.

This man was about to throw dough,

cheese and tomatoes at me.

I said, “You wanna pizza me?”

Looking after my kid is

proving to be expensive.

I’ve just had to buy a baby monitor,

for crying out loud.

The hospital told me there is a problem

with my son’s blood and he should have

a plasma screen as soon as possible.

They were going to charge me $10,000,

but I managed to buy him a 50″ HDTV

in WalMart for less than a grand.

Now I hear that the NSA are employing

dwarfs to break into people’s homes

and install listening devices.

The little buggers.

What happens if you swallow uranium?

You get atomic ache.

What do you call a Scottish lady who comes round

and decorates your bathroom?

Bonnie Tiler.

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It’s Hard To Love Your Country When It’s Government Doesn’t Love you Back!

August 29, 2014August 25, 2014 fasab Business, Current Events, Politics, Rants AbbVie, America, billions of dollars, bogus emotional claptrap, bureaucrats, burger king, business, business-friendly environment, businessmen, can't afford, Canadian, Chicago, coffee chain, companies, corporate inversion deals, corporate lawyers, corporation, corporations, Current Events, cutting its tax bill in half, deal, difficult, doesn't love you back, drafted, drive a coach and horses through, encouragement, Europe, expensive, fast food giant, fools, frustration, get out of America, hard-headed businessmen, headquartered in Canada, henchmen, high profile, highest among developed economies, idiots, illegal, Illinois, incentives, inversion deal, legislate, legislation, liable, love your country, lower their tax bills, merger talks, merging with a foreign company, Miami, new company, Obama, Opinion, pass the bill on to the tax payers, pharmaceutical corporation, politicians, politics, predictable, punitive US taxes, Rants, relocate out of the US, revenue, self-defeating, sense, short term solution, significant saving, spend money they don’t have, Star Spangled Banner, strategy, Thoughts, Tim Hortons, wealth creating corporations, wealth-distributing philosophy, wealthiest nation on Earth

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

A few weeks ago I wrote a post that I called “Why are the bureaucrats destroying what made America great?” (if you want to refer to it please click here)

In it I posed the question as to why a self-defeating wealth-distributing philosophy is taking the place of the business-friendly environment that America is famed for and that made it the wealthiest nation on Earth. And why the bureaucrats are trying to make it increasingly more difficult and expensive for businesses to operate in the US rather than offering more incentives and encouragement.

The example I gave in the previous post was the huge pharmaceutical corporation called AbbVie, which was relocating from Chicago, Illinois, to Europe and thereby effectively cutting its tax bill in half – a significant saving when you are generating billions of dollars in revenue each year.

Now the latest corporation to show its frustration with the way things are deteriorating in America is the Miami based fast food giant Burger King. It is currently in merger talks with Canadian coffee chain Tim Hortons, in a deal that would allow Burger King to relocate out of the US with a view to trying to cut its “big whopper” of a tax bill too.

Since the new company would be headquartered in Canada, Burger King would no longer be liable for punitive US taxes which are now regarded as the highest among developed economies.

It’s another high profile example of what is called an ‘inversion’ deal, a strategy that allows US firms to lower their tax bills by merging with a foreign company, and then relocating to the new country.

The Obama administration’s response has been predictable – cry foul, say it’s not fair, and tell these corporations to forget about the best strategy for their business and just wrap themselves in the Star Spangled Banner.

“My attitude,” the President declared in July, “is I don’t care if it’s legal — it’s wrong.”

It’s great to love your country, but it’s tough when the government of your country doesn’t love you back! And it will take more than bogus emotional claptrap to change the minds of hard-headed businessmen.

What Obama and his henchmen should be doing is asking themselves why it is happening and what THEY are doing wrong that makes these giant wealth creating corporations want to get out of America as fast as they can.

But they won’t do that.

That would make sense – and sense is the last thing that the bureaucrats want to apply to any situation.

So they’ll continue to spend money they don’t have, on things the country can’t afford and probably doesn’t need, and then pass the bill on to the tax payers.

Their short term solution to these corporate inversion deals will be to try to legislate to make them illegal. Good luck with that, I have never seen legislation drafted by an idiot bureaucrat that a team of top corporate lawyers couldn’t drive a coach and horses through.

So rather than stopping the exodus, it’s more of a question of what will be the next corporation to leave???

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Quizday….Err… I mean, Monday 24th June!

June 24, 2013June 7, 2013 fasab Questions, Tests $400, $5.6 million, 12-hour digital clock, 1849, 1865, 1994, 7100 islands, Anteaters prefer to eat, antonyms, area, arrest, arrested on stage, attempting, below sea level, collective noun, combating, committing, continent, country, decorative egg, education, English language, English word, Entertainment, established, expensive, Great Pyramids, group of larks, household item, information, invent, invented, land areas, manufactured, mind benders, Misc, Miscellaneous, Monday, mother, opposite meaning, paper invented, patented, police, pop band, population, question, questions, quiz, Quiz Day, Random, rock star, same meaning, smallest country in the world, sold, sold the patent rights, star, synonyms, ten gallon hat, test, tests, The Monkees, thyroid cartilage, TONKA truck, trivia, US Secret Service, Walter Hunt, white as snow, whiteout, Winter Egg

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

The clue was in the title.

Yes, it’s Monday, it must be quiz day on the fasab blog.

Here is another selection of mind benders.

Good luck and hope you enjoy!

Q 1: It is called a “ten gallon hat”, but how much does it really hold?

Q 2: In what country was paper invented?

Q 3: What is the smallest country in the world, with a population of 1000 and just 108.7 acres in area?

Q 4: What do Anteaters prefer to eat?

Q 5: What is the “thyroid cartilage” more commonly known as?

Q 6: In the 1960’s, who was the first rock star to be arrested on stage?

Q 7: What is the collective noun for a group of larks?

Q 8: What is the only continent that does not have land areas below sea level.

Q 9: The more you take the more you leave behind. What are they?

Q 10: The police can arrest you for attempting this crime, but strangely not for committing it. What is it?

Q 11: On a regular 12-hour digital clock how many times would the same three digits in a row be displayed in one day – for example, 1:11, 11:12, 12:22?

Q 12: What country is made up of approximately 7,100 islands?

Q 13: The mother of what star of “The Monkees” pop band invented whiteout?

Q 14: There are only four words in the English language that end in “dous”. Can you name any one of them? (A point for each.)

Q 15: What is the only English word with two synonyms (same meaning) which are antonyms (opposite meaning) of each other?

Q 16: In 1865, the U.S. Secret Service was first established for the specific purpose of combating what?

Q 17: The first TONKA truck was made when? In 1937, 1947, 1957, or 1967?

Q 18: Why did the Great Pyramids used to look as white as snow?

Q 19: Walter Hunt patented this common household item in 1849 and later sold the patent rights for only $400. What did he invent?

Q 20: The most expensive decorative egg that has ever been sold was the “Winter Egg” which went for $5.6 million in 1994. But who manufactured it?

ANSWERS

Q 1: It is called a “ten gallon hat”, but how much does it really hold?

A 1: A ten gallon hat actually holds three quarters of a gallon.

Q 2: In what country was paper invented?

A 2: Paper was invented early in the second century in China by Chinese eunuch. (I guess he needed something to do!)

Q 3: What is the smallest country in the world, with a population of 1000 and just 108.7 acres in area?

A 3: The Vatican City

Q 4: What do Anteaters prefer to eat?

A 4: Yes, it was a tricky one, Anteaters prefer a meal of termites to ants.

Q 5: What is the “thyroid cartilage” more commonly known as?

A 5: The “thyroid cartilage” is more commonly known as the “adams apple”.

Q 6: In the 1960’s, who was the first rock star to be arrested on stage?

A 6: Jim Morrison of the rock group The Doors.

Q 7: What is the collective noun for a group of larks?

A 7: A group of larks is known as an “exaltation”.

Q 8: What is the only continent that does not have land areas below sea level.

A 8: Antarctica.

Q 9: The more you take the more you leave behind. What are they?

A 9: Footsteps

Q 10: The police can arrest you for attempting this crime, but strangely not for committing it. What is it?

A 10: Suicide

Q 11: On a regular 12-hour digital clock how many times would the same three digits in a row be displayed in one day – for example, 1:11, 11:12, 12:22?

A 11: 34 times. These 17 instances will be visible twice in a 24 hour period. 1:11 2:22 3:33 4:44 5:55 10:00 11:10 11:11 11:12 11:13 11:14 11:15 11:16 11:17 11:18 11:19 12:22

Q 12: What country is made up of approximately 7,100 islands?

A 12: The Philippines

Q 13: The mother of what star of “The Monkees” pop band invented whiteout?

A 13: Michael Nesmith’s mother invented whiteout.

Q 14: There are only four words in the English language that end in “dous”. Can you name any one of them? (A point for each.)

A 14: The only four words in the English language that end in “dous” (as far as I know) are: “tremendous”, “horrendous”, “stupendous”, and “hazardous”.

Q 15: What is the only English word with two synonyms (same meaning) which are antonyms (opposite meaning) of each other?

A 15: The verb “cleave” is the only English word with two synonyms (same meaning) which are antonyms (opposite meaning) of each other: adhere and separate.

Q 16: In 1865, the U.S. Secret Service was first established for the specific purpose of combatting what?

A 16: In 1865, the U.S. Secret Service was first established for the specific purpose of combatting the counterfeiting of money.

Q 17: The first TONKA truck was made when? In 1937 1947 1957 1967

A 17: The first TONKA truck was made in 1947.

Q 18: Why did the Great Pyramids used to look as white as snow?

A 18: The Great Pyramids used to look as white as snow because they were originally encased in a bright limestone that has worn off over the years.

Q 19: Walter Hunt patented this common household item in 1849 and later sold the patent rights for only $400. What did he invent?

A 19: In 1849 Water Hunt invented and patented the safety pin.

Q 20: The most expensive decorative egg that has ever been sold was the “Winter Egg” which went for $5.6 million in 1994. But who manufactured it?

A 20: The “Winter Egg” sold in 1994 for $5.6 million was made by Faberge.

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Are These Dumb Politicians And Bureaucrats Trying To Make America A Better Place Or Just Trying To Destroy It!

May 12, 2013May 9, 2013 fasab Business, Current Events, Factoids, Legal, Politics, Rants, Unusual a politician lying, America, awkward, Bill, bricks & mortar businesses, bureaucracy, bureaucrats, China, consumer, control, Current Events, deceitfulness, destroy businesses, difficult, dumb politicians, education, enforce, entrepreneurship, Europe, events, expensive, extort, fairness, final consumer, fools, foreign companies, foreign countries, forms to fill out, government, hassle, High Street, House of Representatives, idiots, impose sales taxes, increased costs, India, insatiable desire, internet, legislation, legitimate businesses, leveling the playing field, Marketplace Fairness Act, Mexico, Misc, Miscellaneous, more taxes, morons, Musings, needless bureaucratic interference, online, online businesses, online retailer, Opinion, outside the United States, pay more, politicians, politics, Random, Rants, regulations, sales tax, stupid, stupid bureaucrats, stupid people, stupid rules, stupidity, tax filings, tax free, taxes, Uncle Sam, US authorities, US Senate, US-based consumers, War, Washington, Whatever next

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

I talked before about the bureaucrat’s insatiable desire to make things more difficult, awkward and expensive for legitimate businesses in America and Europe. That’s all they know how to do. I’ve also said before that introducing ever more taxes and regulations on bricks & mortar businesses would not be enough. They would have to try to destroy businesses operating online as well.

Well that latter attempt at destroying what is left of American entrepreneurship moved up another notch this week when the US Senate passed the “Marketplace Fairness Act”.

I’ll come back to that in a moment, but the title of this latest piece of needless bureaucratic interference illustrates perfectly once again the deceitfulness of the politicians and bureaucrats.

The “Marketplace Fairness Act” is not about “fairness”. It is not about leveling the playing field between those businesses operating online and those on the proverbial “High Street”. Anyone who tells you that is lying. (Really, a politician lying? Whatever next?)

Like all similar legislation, the “Marketplace Fairness Act” is about control; about making life more difficult for people who want to do business; and, not least, about trying to extort the last penny out of your pocket in the form of taxes.

I say “your” pocket, because at the end of the day businesses have to pass their increased costs on to the final consumer and that my friends is us!

Yes, the “Marketplace Fairness Act” has just been passed by the US Senate. As these things do, it still has to pass through the House of Representatives as well, and it will, if not on the first attempt on subsequent ones. Have you ever seen a stupid bad law that wasn’t pushed through by fair means or foul?

What the “Marketplace Fairness Act” does is to impose sales taxes for business transactions or sales done online. In other words, when you buy something from an online retailer, or a retailer with an online facility, you will be subject to the addition of a sales tax.

In the simplest terms, for you, the consumer, this Bill means that your bills will be bigger – you will have to pay more! For the business operating online it means more bureaucracy, more forms to fill out, more tax filings to be done – in short more hassle.

But for the government it means more money to be squandered on another war or on the next idiotic idea that Washington can think of.

And another unfairness that the Marketplace Fairness Act will create is that online businesses operating outside the United States will be laughing their tax free socks off.

You see this law will not – cannot – apply to foreign companies who do business online and sell to US-based consumers.

Why? Because the US authorities have no practical way to enforce it, and because businesses in foreign countries couldn’t care less about enforcing it, nor will their governments.

Do you seriously think for one moment that either businesses or governments in, for example, China, or India, or even Mexico are going to waste their time collecting sales tax for Uncle Sam?

So if I was setting up an online business would I still do it in America? I think you know the answer.

You could be forgiven for asking whether these dumb politicians and bureaucrats are really trying to make America a better place or just trying to destroy it!

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