10 years later

Ten years ago today on 9/11/01 our country was attacked by people who did not believe in the freedoms that Americans enjoy. It forever changed the way the world traveled, it increased the tensions between us and middle eastern oil companies, and finally it sent our country in to debt by causing our national defense spending to shoot off the charts. But is it fair to say that the terrorists won by causing horror and economic disaster on our country? Heavens no!

http://www.gobankingrates.com/ten-years-after-economic-impacts-9-11/

The terrorists lost because they didn't stop us from doing what we wanted. One of the many things Osama Bin Laden hated about our country is how Americans are greedy (I prefer pursuit of happiness). Guess what? Donald Trump down the street from the twin towers still lived in his cozy tower trying to find somebody he can mentor by humiliating him/her on national television for many years. Speaking of buildings how about that 1.2 billion $ Spaceship that the Dallas cowboys play in? Jerry wanted America's team to have the best didn't he? Hold up now... Let's not forget how the NFL still played on opening day five days after the attacks on the world trade center and how the military flew jets over the stadiums while the national anthems were being played. Our economy's mindset hasn't changed and I still have faith in it.

Now being an ambitious young man who lives in America I plan on supporting our country's way of life by working towards the pursuit of happiness. In fact I'm willing to pay my taxes on military spending debt because I know those people who died in the attacks would do the same for me knowing it would defend the freedoms that everybody should be born with. Osama Bin Laden once said "We love death. The U.S. loves life. That is the difference between us two." The real difference between us two is I can choose the diamond while you can only take the water. How's that for paradox value?

God Bless America!

The Cost Of Living

The Cost Of Living

When people ask me whats up I always say the cost of living. I say it as a joke but the joke is actually true. The prices to have the resources you need to live just cost way to much these days. Milk is like $3.25, Gas are like $3.33, and if you have a baby thats going to be an estimate of 250,000 dollars to raise til the age of 18. The main reason for prices being so high is the debt that The US has. We are in a trillion dollar debt and no country has a trillion dollars to give us to get us out of debt, that wouldnt help anyway that would just put us in debt with that country. China has issued us some money to kinda help us out but a trillion dollars is alot of money. We saved a dollarsfrom the day Jesus was born until today we still wouldnt have a trillion dollars to pay off our debt. One of the ways we could reduce the debt is add tax increase to the resources or just tax the higher class people more then the lower class. Being the fact, that they tax so much stuff already which raises the prices of FREAKING LIVING it make it hard for people to make ends meet and get the neccessary resources they need. So maybe they thinking about another way to decrease the taxes or just dont tax at all.

Rising Gas Prices

Gasoline prices are peaking up to 5 dollars a gallon in some areas of the country and is certainly a cause for concern. According to a poll in the Washington Post, about 70 percent of Americans say that high gas prices are the reason for their financial crisis. High gas prices in 2008 contributed to our nation's deep recession, and we still haven't fully recovered from it. Policies that lower fuel prices and lift regulations that are contributing to even higher petroleum and energy prices need to be favored more than the other policies trying to get passed. Since failing to pass a flawed cap and trade legislation, the Environmental Protection Agency has been used as backdoor to implement new harmful regulations and energy taxes. Recently, the House passed H.R. 910, The Energy Tax Prevention Act, in order to prevent the EPA from promoting any regulation relating to climate change under the Clean Air Act. We also must take steps to ensure our nation is not held hostage to the prices set by the Middle East. That means we need to look for new sources of oil in Alaska, on the Outer Continental Shelf and from shale in the West. The use of American innovation to accelerate technology that burns coal in a cleaner way because it is an abundant energy source in our country needs to be used. I believe that over the long run, we the people need to develop and implement new alternative energy sources and technologies.

LongHorn Network and the Big 12 Meltdown

My Saturday evening was spent depressing over the fact that I was one of the millions of Texas Longhorn fans watching the Oregon vs LSU game instead of watching our team start their rebuilding period with the debut of freshmen Jaxon Shipley and Malcolm Brown. The LongHorn Network (LHN) is currently in a broadcasting dispute ESPN which prevented every major satellite television company from showing the game. But that's not the biggest of my problems... The biggest is the LongHorn Network is in the process dismantling the Big 12.

http://www.burntorangenation.com/2011/9/2/2401944/case-of-longhorn-network-blues

Our arch-rival Texas A&M is secretly jealous that the University of Texas has a TV network that is going to be making millions of dollars and be able to televise high school football games that star high school recruits. In retaliation Texas A&M is leaving the big 12 and looks to join the South Eastern Conference (SEC) in order to balance the recruiting field by playing in the most competitive conference and earn more money from television contracts. Meanwhile the University of Oklahoma views the departure of Texas A&M and former conference foes like Nebraska as a sign that the conference is heading in a direction that will decrease their own payouts from television contracts as they look to join the Pacific Athletic Conference (PAC-12).

After writing my last post Dirty Money at The U and in this post I realize that college football operates as a market economy that is motivated by Adam Smith's philosophy of worrying about your self. Only in this economy the consumer (the fans) get to miss college football action and lose their traditional rivalries and the the government (the NCAA) can't control its members from cheating. This economy is controlled by the corporations who know they can get away with cheating (most of time) and can force their consumers to do whatever it takes to support their university.

NBA Lockout

http://www.nba.com/2011/news/07/01/nba-labor-lockout.ap/index.htm

The NBA Lockout has happen because owners and players cant agree on NBA contracts for next season. The most recent lockout was in 1998-1999 season, which caused them to lost 32 games that were suppose to be played. They also don't have enough money to go into the teams salary caps. The only way the NBA season could start right now is to pay every players a value of one million dollars which would be really bad for the NBA also. For example, an NBA team salary cap depends on how much money a team can player their players. If a NBA team had the salary cap of 55.5 million dollars they could get pretty much get any NBA Superstar they want.For example imagine if the Miamia Heat had Bosh,D.Wade,LeBron,Howard,Carmelo,Stoudmare,Jimmer,and Dirk. Which mean they would probably go to the championship every year and when you win championships you get more money. If your team is a highly favorite then their memorabilia sells go up and when their memorabilia sells are extremely high then it becomes a big part of their franchise. They could possibly rack in up to half a billion dollars just off that. Now for other teams that barely get any TV time or hardly sell out there stadium, its hard for them because they don't have any money coming in and that is one of the reason the lockout is taking place. By the time the lockout is over there is most like going to be some teams delete from the league. Either that or there are going to be some teams moved to different state because they don't have enough money to support there team. Its kinda hard when to owner of your team is rich but the team is about to go bankrupt. So when the lockout is over don't be surprised if you see a NBA team called The Salem Sonic s from Oregon or The Chapel Hill Fliers from North Carolina.

Outside Help and Boosters

According to Yahoo! Sports, booster Nevin Shapiro provided almost 930 million dollars that he acquired from a Ponzi scheme to over 72 athletes. Most of those players are now in the NFL and about 12 players are still at the university are in big trouble and are not allowed to play football this year. Documents from Miami show a booster who broke NCAA rules while simultaneously making tens of thousands of dollars in annual contributions to Miami’s athletic program. All while incurring massive bills aligning himself socially with a stable of Miami players. Shapiro stated that he became a booster in '01 and started giving gifts to players in '02. He was doing this with money he pretty much was stealing from people who were giving him 'loans' or 'donations'. ESPN gathered coaches, former players and staff of college programs together to discuss a "blueprint for change" for college football. The biggest topic they talked about was getting rid of third party contributors such as boosters and outside help. Eliminating those would in theory get rid of the scandals and rumors traveling all throughout college football programs. In essence, getting rid of outside help and these illegal boosters would help clean up college programs. Colleges won't have to worry about getting in trouble, losing scholarships, championships, awards, or coaches having to quit their jobs to stay out of trouble. Everyone could focus on the actual gameplay of football instead of the illegal allegations that come up every now and then due illegal benefits from outside help.

Dirty Money at the U

The University of Miami (aka THE U) has done it again. For the second time in their football program's history they have been proven to have given "gifts" to student athletes. Why can't the boosters leave student athletes alone and prevent further damage to the prestige of the university? The answer is... Scarcity. Today winning in college football means one thing and that is being number 1. Today being the best college football team is high in demand.

athletes. http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2011/08/dirty-money-in-miami-whos-shocked-by-college-sports-latest-scandal/243801/

Nevin Shapiro understood how hard it was to be number one... After all he was on his way to becoming the highest paid ponzi schemer of all time before he was sent to prison for fraud. In order for his team the Miami Hurricanes to win he did what he was best at and invested in the entertainment value the players experianced while they attended Miami. Nevin Shapiro claimed that his "eight-year run of rampant NCAA rule-breaking" included "cash, prostitutes, entertainment in his multimillion-dollar homes and yacht, paid trips to high-end restaurants and nightclubs, jewelry, bounties for on-field play, travel and, on one occasion, an abortion." Hmm... If I was a high school recruit I would definitely being willing to ride that investment out. However some of these recruits came to the university with nothing but the clothes on their back. One anonymous Miami player stood up for his teammate Tyrone Moss who took money from Shapiro saying he was "poor as [expletive] from Pompano and he's got a little kid to feed... Of course he's going to take [the money.] Who wouldn't in that situation?"

So does this mean Tyrone Moss and other poor athletes are greedy for taking gifts? No they're doing what it takes to survive and getting the most out of Miami's above average education. Is Nevin Shapiro greedy for donating to the school's post game football party fund? Of course not! Nobody who ever gave away money was greedy right?