On February 25th 2009, The New York Times published as article about the energy plans of president Obama.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/26/opinion/26thu1.html?_r=1&ref=opinion
The author seems optimistic, but remembers the similarities between Mr. Obama's start and former president Bush's start. He also remembers that it has been "four decades since Richard Nixon urged Congress to free the nation from its dependence on foreign oil", but we all know how much America relies on foreign oil now. This is probably a pretty safe stance, hoping for the best but expecting what we have come to expect.
Unfortunately I see very little in the way of a plan, whether it is details on Obama's plan, or comments on any sort of plan. The most I find in the way of what we will use to 'defeat global warming' is the obligatory phrase "renewable energy sources like wind and solar". Even if Obama doubles the amount of solar and wind energy this country produces, where would that bring the total? 5%? It would be a step in the positive direction, but we need a bigger step.
The other point of this 'new' source of energy is that it can help to improve the economy, which is probably true and a very valiant effort. This point should appeal to a wide variety of either grad students or technical workers.
As for the last sentence in this editorial, the country has been challenged for the past 40 years. Mr. Obama will have to do better to actually change something.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Friday, February 13, 2009
Salary Cap
If you haven't heard, executives whose companies took money from the financial bailout plan are having their salary capped at $500,000. Undoubtedly anyone reading this blog would be more likely to see this type of money from winning the lottery than from actually working (which basically means that it's not going to happen).
But how likely is it that some of us will be making $50,000 within the next decade? A recent article in the New York Times suggested that a six figure income in New York was only worth about $50,000 in Houston.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/08/fashion/08halfmill.html?em
Let me first clarify by saying that I still believe $500,000 (or a mere $250,000 here in TX) is plenty of money to live on, even for a top executive. Just because you are at the top of a company that just had to be given a few billion dollars, does not mean that you should forget where Walmart is located. On the other side of that, just because you can pay the minimum payment on a loan does not mean that the minimum payment will even cover the interest you incur.
The article suggests that the executives need to keep up appearances similar that of their peers, and this is understandable. It is vary naive to suggest that anyone would regularly associate with someone who has significant differences, and financial restrictions can create these differences. Even so, something tells me that these are not the people that clip coupons, these people buy fitted suits, these people live in houses that cost more than I will make in a lifetime. I have little sympathy for someone making $500,000, but I would not be happy either if my income just became 1/6th of what it was.
But how likely is it that some of us will be making $50,000 within the next decade? A recent article in the New York Times suggested that a six figure income in New York was only worth about $50,000 in Houston.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/08/fashion/08halfmill.html?em
Let me first clarify by saying that I still believe $500,000 (or a mere $250,000 here in TX) is plenty of money to live on, even for a top executive. Just because you are at the top of a company that just had to be given a few billion dollars, does not mean that you should forget where Walmart is located. On the other side of that, just because you can pay the minimum payment on a loan does not mean that the minimum payment will even cover the interest you incur.
The article suggests that the executives need to keep up appearances similar that of their peers, and this is understandable. It is vary naive to suggest that anyone would regularly associate with someone who has significant differences, and financial restrictions can create these differences. Even so, something tells me that these are not the people that clip coupons, these people buy fitted suits, these people live in houses that cost more than I will make in a lifetime. I have little sympathy for someone making $500,000, but I would not be happy either if my income just became 1/6th of what it was.
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