I'm on my way home from Budapest. They have a brand new airport here. It's beautiful. I don't know if you have ever been to LAX international airport. It's like a third world terminal without the unexploded ordinance laying around.
I will be in London right about the time the Royals are getting married.
CNN told me that the entire world will remember where they were at when this "Event of the Millennium" took place. (Millennium is a really hard word to spell).
I think I am more likely to remember what I have for a snack on the plane flying in. I have nothing against royalty nor the big pep rally this wedding seems to be generating. I just don't get it. I'd think more people would watch the last episode of LOST than the wedding.
I must be an outlier data point.
I am not a basketball fan, but CNN made me watch some highlights. I saw the Spurs were about to be eliminated when a guy drops in a 3-pointer from outside the building with no time left on the clock. Wow! The Spurs go on to win.
Ryan is pitching his budget plan all over his home state. Getting lots of boos but I think this is actually helping him develop a strategy for responding to criticism. For example: His new catch phrase is "Broaden the base." This mean that cutting taxes will create jobs and thus, more tax payers.
This is a great idea...almost.
Step 1: cut taxes to create jobs
Step 2: more jobs equals more tax payers
Step 3: more tax payers equals a balanced budget
Aside from the fact that Step 1 is a complete fantasy, I like this idea. 2 out of 3 ain't bad.
I see Mitt Rommneneneeny has really stepped up to the plate with the insightful comment of "Obama is on a spending spree." He puts out this little sound bite and then steps away from the podium as if he's just solved something. Blaming the other guy implies that he has the solution.
It's like when the GOP says "Gas prices are too high." People look at them as if they've just created our nations first energy policy.
How come this only works for politicians. If it worked in the real world, I could point out the window and say, "That plane is blue," and people would gather around to congratulate me as if I'd just invented air travel.
Bottom line: A sound bite is just a string of words that actually does - nothing.
Henry Ford said: "You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do."
My flight boards soon and thus far, I have avoided the giant bag of M&Ms. I actually have a strategy for this. I eat as much as I can hold before going to the airport in an attempt to muffle my M&M urge. This actually works fairly well.
By the time you read this, I will be flying alongside my plane as it crosses the Atlantic.
Time to do something heroic.
Up, up and away...
jim
Time permitting, take a look at this video and see if you see what I see. We get after the Muslim leaders for not standing up to their radicals and say, "Quit being stupid!" And yet...
When in Hungary, I watch CNN constantly since its the only English speaking channel on TV. I leave it going in the background as I work.
Apparently, the Earth has frozen in place in anticipation of the Royal wedding.
At least that is what it feels like. For every minute of world news, there are 59 minutes of Royal wedding details.
"Bob, are they still fighting in Libya and what color will the escort horses be at the wedding?"
"Grey, Frank. The horses will be grey. Back to you."
I know the types of flowers they will have, how much the wedding cake costs and the alternative transportation plans should it rain. This is WAY more than I want to know.
This just in: The Tea Party's main platform of "Obama is not a citizen," was just flushed down the toilet with the release of his birth certificate. Obama came on television and said, "There...now quit acting like babies and let's get to work on real problems." My guess is they will start to polish off Plan B: Obama is an alien from outer space.
The Republican "Path to Prosperity" is hitting a few bumps in the road. There are some high points to their plan. They are tackling the budget. I like this. I just don't like how they are doing it - mostly because it won't work. Right now, they are putting on a series of Town Hall meetings and they are finally finding out "What Americans Really Want," as they are so fond of saying.
These meetings are not going well for them.
(Wedding dress: $46,965)
They have a two-fold plan. Here it is:
Step One: Eliminate Medicare and replace it with a voucher for healthcare. This is fine if you never get sick. Old people not only get sick, they get very sick. This voucher is a modest amount and if you get cancer or need a heart bypass, you will use up this voucher in the first day. After that, you are on your own. Even the GOP admits this pushes the cost of healthcare onto the elderly (not those currently elder, just those that are now 55 or younger). This saves government money but you will be paying for healthcare out of your own pocket.
Step Two: Eliminate tax loopholes (which the rich use) and then give the rich a tax cut to 25%, down from 35%. The idea is to replace the money the rich will lose when their loopholes go away. They actually say this is the plan.
(Odds makers think a hand kiss is much less likely than a liplock)
If you think giving money to the rich will stimulate the economy, then this is a great idea. The best economic minds in the world look at this idea and marvel that educated people would even consider this. It hasn't worked in the past; its not working today; and it will not work in the future (unless the entire future is Opposite Day).
Here is my plan for a Manufacturing Policy. We tax all imports only to the amount that the advantage of cheap labor is eliminated. So, if I buy a radio from China, they must raise the price to where it should be if their laborers were paid the same as those in the United States. This will eliminate the Chinese advantage of slave labor and thus encourage them to raise the wages for their slaves.
(Flowers will be local and mostly have a green theme)
My energy policy is "Nuke It!"
I know we are all afraid of nuclear power however, it is way safer than all of the other forms of energy generation. Here is a chart of deaths per TeraWatt-hour. The nuclear figure includes Chernobyl.
(The open carriage is called the 1902)
Energy Source Death Rate (deaths per TWh)
Coal – world average 161 (26% of world energy, 50% of electricity)
Coal – China 278
Coal – USA 15
Oil 36 (36% of world energy)
Natural Gas 4 (21% of world energy)
Biofuel/Biomass 12
Peat 12
Solar (rooftop) 0.44 (less than 0.1% of world energy)
Wind 0.15 (less than 1% of world energy)
Hydro 0.10 (europe death rate, 2.2% of world energy)
Hydro - world including Banqiao) 1.4 (about 2500 TWh/yr and 171,000 Banqiao dead)
Nuclear 0.04 (5.9% of world energy)
You can see that Nuclear Power is way safer.
Here is another chart that evaluates the Energy Returned on Energy Invested (EROEI). Basically, it takes energy to make energy. The higher the EROEI, the more efficient.
Power Source
EROEI(actual)
Hydro
50, 43 and 205
Nuclear (centrifuge)
18.1, 18.4, 14.5, 13.6 and 14.8
Nuclear (diffusion)
6.0, 6.7, 5.8, 7.9, 5.3, 5.6 and 3.9
Coal
12.2, 7.4, 7.32, 3.4 and 14.2
Gas (piped)
16
Gas (piped a lot or liquefied)
3.4, 3.76 and 4
Solar
10.6
Solar PV
12-10, 7.5 and 3.7
Wind
12, 6, 34, 80 and 50
By the way, biofuel has and EROEI of between .8 and 1.4. This means that by some estimates, it takes a barrel of biofuel to make .8 more barrels of it. This is a big loser! Politically, it rings popular but the more biofuel we make, the more energy we use and the less food there is in the world.
(No elected heads of state are invited. Apparently same goes for superheroes.)
I was surprised at the efficiency of coal. However, it causes a lot of pollution and is the most dangerous.
Nuclear power is by far the safest and currently competitive as far as efficiency goes. I read the comments that went along with this last bit of data. These guys are real brainiacs. All of them agree that the nuclear figures for efficiency are accurate, new improvements in this industry will quickly make it the most efficient when the next generation of plants are built. I know you are thinking about waste and such. I'll say this, they took everything into account. They even talk about the additional energy needed to make stronger turbine blades in a nuclear plant vs. a coal plant.
(2 billion people will watch the wedding. That's about 1 out of every 3 people. I plan on napping.)
My energy policy is to make electricity using the safest, most efficient means. I will also promote green tech. I once thought that Going Green meant loss of operational efficiency and thus puts the U.S. at a disadvantage. The GOP still believes this. Now, I think Going Green means creating an entire new generation of jobs. It's like the computer industry. Let's embrace it.
I hope Obama is reading this today. Just to be sure, some of you may want to forward this to him.
Paul Ryan is on the move. I must get going as well. Only I stand between him and a world of Kings and
Serfs.
By the way, this world-saving blog is now read in 52 countries. That's a lot of saving...
Up, up and away...
Jim
Today's video is of people outside a townhall meeting where Paul Ryan is inside being booed as he tries to sell tax cuts while eliminating Medicare.
