Entries Tagged 'News' ↓

A few weeks ago I stumbled upon a site named Angry Renter through a Google ad. I rarely click on Adsense ads, but this one intrigued me. The site presents a petition for renters to sign in hopes of stopping a housing bailout. I perused the site a little bit and figured that online petitions never really work, but I left a comment anyway and moved on.

Interestingly enough, this weekend I read an “expose” by the Wall Street Journal about Angry Renter. The gist of the article is that Angry Renter is a fake grass roots campaign run by a non-profit organization called FreedomWorks.org ran by a bunch of fat cats including Steve Forbes. They also listed the expensive properties the leaders of the organization owns. They also quoted the president of FreedomWorks.org saying “I’m an angry homeowner who pays his mortgage”.

I found it funny that the Wall Street Journal needed to write this article because it shows that maybe Angry Renter is really pissing someone off. So what if Angry Renter is run by homeowners? Homeowners pay income taxes also, and I don’t think any sensible person wants their money to be used to prop up bubblicious housing prices so that their children cannot afford a reasonable home. I also don’t think anyone wants to contribute their hard earned money to banks that scoop in billions of dollars a year by being legal loan sharks. Though the site is biased, some of the statements on Angry Renter are true. For example, renters do not get tax rebates for renting, and for all intents and purposes, renting serves the same basic need as buying a home. Why is there such a clear discrimination? Renters do wield less political power because they own less money as a whole compared to the banks and homeowners. So what is the problem with one little non-profit group with rich donors wanting to give renters a voice?  Additionally, it is also true that most homeowners are responsible and didn’t buy into the housing bubble so that they don’t need a bailout.  So why should all of us suffer for the folly of a few?

I am just surprised that all of this is happening in America, a place that prides itself on freedom, democracy, and free market.  Why should people have the freedom to be stupid and irresponsible, but not be encouraged to manage their money wisely?  A general housing bailout seems to send the message that saving money for a downpayment and renting is stupid because as long as you bought a house the government will protect you.  Why don’t they apply bailouts to obsessive gamblers that were “tricked” by the casinos, or stock speculators that lost their shirts during the dot com bubble?  Why is the housing bubble so special?  The answer is simply that the banks want their money back from people who can’t pay, and they are disguising their greed and grapple for survival as a humanitarian mission to “save the troubled homeowners”.  Give me a break because I don’t want to pay for mortgages that I did not sign for.

So the bottom line is, I don’t think you need to be a renter right now to be angry about the impending giant housing bailout. Currently, the House has passed a $300 billion bill for housing aid which President Bush and the White House is threatening to veto. Unfortunately, old George only has a few months left in office and as long as the Democrats stay in power this housing bailout will probably go on regardless of how many signatures people collect.  Anyway, I hope more bailout bills never go through, but that is probably just wishful thinking.  Meanwhile, I will be a patient and maybe slightly angry renter.

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Today I saw a headline in Boston.com that listed 8 reasons why those under 30 belong to the dumbest generation. I read on, and apparently it’s a gallery based on a new book by Emory English professor Mark Bauerlein titled The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future. Here is a blow by blow of his points with my comments.

1. They make excellent “Jaywalking” targets - Here Bauerlein makes an argument that young people do not know anything beyond friends, work, and Facebook. Well, I know many people older than 30 that do not know anything beyond money, cars, and sports. Basically, I don’t think it’s unique to our generation to focus on things that are narrowly important to ourselves. Jaywalking is a TV show segment that picks out the most hilariously dumb people on the streets, and I have seen Jay find dumb people of all sizes and ages.

2. They don’t read books — and don’t want to, either - I don’t think this generalization could be blanketed onto an entire generation. Some people love to read and some don’t. I am one of those people who used to read almost a book a week, but these days I just don’t have the time to dig through the thousands of books that are written everyday. I do read a lot of news, and I don’t believe that young people don’t want to read books. If we didn’t read books then how do giant bookstores like Amazon sell so many books that are interesting and targeted to our generation?

3. They can’t spell - In this point Bauerlein states that young people’s vocabulary and spelling have been defiled by IMs and text messages. Well, I do a considerable amount of instant messaging every day, and I do use shortcuts sometimes because they are easier to type. Bauerlein seems to miss the point that texting and IMing are forms of communication equivalent to speaking. When you talk to your friends it is completely acceptable to use slang and colloquialisms that are not applicable to formal writing. I think most people I know are aware of this fact and are completely capable of spelling correctly in formal papers and reports even though they IM things like “LOL” and “luv u”.

4. They get ridiculed for original thought, good writing - This is one of the dumbest points I have read. Basically the author states that when a young person actually formally composes something original on MySpace they are ridiculed for their spark of intelligence. Well, guess what, MySpace is not a place for literary greatness, and buddies are ALWAYS making fun of each other on sites like that. My husband writes an extremely intelligent blog about games, and I have never seen him ridiculed on his blog. There is a place for everything, and Bauerlein shouldn’t be scouring MySpace for intelligent discourse.

5. Grand Theft Auto IV, etc.- Ah, here is another required bashing of games and other digital entertainment for the dumbing down of my generation. My husband could probably write a ten page rant about this since he is a video game developer and he gets a bit riled up whenever the media blames video games for the downfall of modern society. Whenever I hear people bashing video games, I wonder if they have ever played a great video game. Yes, there are a lot of dumb games, but there are a lot of dumb books and movies, too. Any piece of entertainment reflects the skill and art of its creators, and I’m sure not all of the trashy pieces of entertainment we see are created by 20 somethings. Anyway, I am pretty sure that the author of this book doesn’t have 1/100th the ingenuity and creativity that goes behind creating a great game.

6. They don’t store the information - Here the author’s point is that young people have access to a lot of information at their fingertips so they don’t make an effort to retain the knowledge they obtain. Instead, they look it up and move on. I don’t think there is anything wrong with this. For example, I am a software engineer by trade, and I don’t make an effort to memorize every defined function in a computer language because things are changing all the time. So when I need to write something I am unfamiliar with I search for functions I need and read documentation. I know pretty much all of my colleagues young and old work the same way. Some of the older people may have stored more in their heads just because they have programmed in a language for a longer period of time, but that doesn’t make them smarter. We don’t store information because there is just so much information we need to know these days. Life isn’t as simple as knowing your multiplication table and this behavior of research instead of memorization is not stupidity. I would argue that it’s actually better than memorization because we constantly obtain updated information.

7. Because their teachers don’t tell them so - Well, this point actually says to me that the teachers are dumb. I have had teachers I needed to correct. The last time this happened was in college in Physics class. There were three problems on a midterm and two of them had wrong answers on the answer key. I had to email the professor and tell him he was wrong. I just want to say that just because there are teachers that do not do their jobs well it doesn’t mean that my generation isn’t learning and thinking.

8. Because they’re young - I made a comment on Can I Get Rich on a Salary saying that it is probably unfair to judge the money habits of generation Y right now because when we are in our 20s we are in a grand stage of transition. Life is confusing and abruptly changing for any generation of people at this age range. Anyway, this is an extremely retarded reason to call an entire generation stupid. It is almost as absurd as calling my friends’ children’s generation dumb just because they are all babies that can’t do anything but poop and eat. I really wonder if Bauerlein admitted how stupid he was when he was young in his book to support this point.

Anyway, I personally know more brilliant 20 somethings than smart older people just because most of my friends are about the same age as me. I researched this Mark Bauerlein a bit and it seems that his students think he is a very condescending guy. I am not surprised, and I am pretty sure he wrote this book to stir up controversy, and also make a bit of money so he is a little less angry about dumb twenty-somethings like me being paid more than a highly educated English professor like him.

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Today as I was driving to work the news did a short report about Homestead High School students going to the 18th annual National Science Bowl sponsored by the Department of Energy. This is a contest where you answer questions about a variety of scientific subjects. Everyone gets a buzzer and you buzz in with your answer for points. It is sort of like Jeopardy, but it’s multiple choice. That news clip stirred up quite a few memories because I participated in that contest when I was in high school and my team made it to the nationals two years in a row after winning the East Bay regionals. We all got an all expense paid trip to Washington DC and had a lot of fun. I would say that was one of the highlights of high school for me.

Even though it has been seven years, I still remember the day of the regionals of the second year I participated. Since it was on a weekend I overslept and my physics teacher’s van was at my door. My teammate knocked on my door and my mom woke me up and I ran down with my hair uncombed and hopped in the van. We won after a few hours of intense competition. A few months later we were flown to DC and participated in the nationals. We met some really weird New Yorkers there. One of the New Yorkers looked so much like one of our classmates that they could be twins. What’s weirder is that they and had the same first name and last initial. I took pictures of him and took it home for comparison. That year my parents actually went to Washington with me just for fun. They had to pay for their trip, but it seems that they liked DC a lot. I really loved touring the Smithsonian and it really takes days to look at everything in those museums and I am so glad they are free for everyone. That year we came in the top 12 in the competition and won $1000 for our school.

Quite a few of my best friends were on the team and we don’t see each other much these days since we all live in different parts of the country now. The girl that’s my best friend is now a bioengineering PhD at MIT, and another best friend is now going to medical school in Cleveland (he still comes to read my blog and leave comments from time to time :D). Another older guy is now doing a geophysics PhD at Harvard. I think another guy is also in grad school for something or other in San Diego. Looking back, I think they have always been the real hardcore science nerds and that is why they are all going to be doctors and scientists now. I think I was on the team because I was quick with a buzzer and I had a lot of random knowledge about rocks, poisons, and diseases. I enjoyed the game and competition, but I always knew that I would not devote my life to science. That is why I am the only one in that club that did not go on to a PhD and I have to say I am quite content with my decision. I also think that my friends are where they need to be, because frankly they are brilliant and maybe one of them will change the world.

So in summary, here are the random thoughts from this session of reminiscing:

1) Science is fun
2) You could win great prizes by being good at trivia and buzzers. Heck, Ken Jennings won over $2 million on Jeopardy.
3) Devoting your life to science isn’t as easy as donating your cadaver

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CNN Money is running a slideshow where people have sent in their photos and stories about how they are doing in the current economic atmosphere. A lot of these stories are pretty sad and involve people losing their homes, businesses, and jobs. Here are some of the stories that stood out to me and not all of them are bad.

Ready for a Rainy Day - I liked this story because the girl is about the same age as me and she’s got things figured out.

Doing just fine - This couple seems to be doing just fine, too. They are cutting back, but they’re not in dire straits.

Moderation is Key - This is a great story with a bit of advice - if you need something , start saving for it early.

Loonies are Worth more than the Dollar - This story made me laugh. If I just waited a few months to deposit a wedding gift from my dad’s cousin from Canada I would have gotten more money, too.

Fools for Saving - This is a couple who are savers, and felt that their money have been eaten away by inflation and they have been fools for not spending their money. This is why investing money in things other than CDs could help.

Home won’t sell - The guy on the picture just looks scary.

$250 Commute - When I read this story I thought, hey a $250 commute a month really isn’t that much. My hubby and I spend about $200 a month on gas, too.

Rely on Yourself - This guy makes a lot of sense. A lot of these people who are in trouble can’t blame everything on businesses and the government, they have to be self sufficient.

A story of hope - I liked this story. It’s nice to see that someone sees the silver lining in a bad situation.

$800 Fuel Bill - Here is a story that annoyed me a little bit, because the woman says “like most we carry $17,000 in credit-card debt and don’t have much in savings”. I don’t know if that is true for most people because $17,000 in credit card debt is definitely above average.

There are currently 51 stories and you can submit your own. I think there needs to be more positive stories amidst all the dreary news.

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This morning as I drove to work I heard   a barrage of news about protests against the Olympics in China. Here are some of my thoughts about the matter since a few friends have talked to me about it. I really think that people should leave the event alone and stop these ridiculous protests, and here are my reasons.

First of all, the Olympics is an economically draining event and not that many countries could afford it. The 2004 Olympics in Athens put Greece in so much debt that they are still trying to pay it off. When someone in San Francisco’s City Hall threw around the idea of hosting the Olympics the citizens actually said “Hell no”. Basically, no matter where you are from, you should be glad that the Olympics is not in your country for the sake of your money. In the case of China, the 2008 Olympics is really a special event for every single Chinese citizen. It is the first time China is hosting, and it is a symbol that China is now a great economic force that could compete with the United States and other developed countries. The country of 1.3 billion citizens has been preparing for the event for over eight years, and it is unfair to the Chinese people for the rest of the world to be so antagonistic to this event.

Second, the Olympics is supposed to be a time for the world to lay down their differences and compete in a civil and friendly matter. The ancient Greeks created the games as a break from war. When you throw war back into these games it never ends well. For example, back in 1972 a terrorist group kidnapped the Israeli Olympic team and murdered them. Then the Mossad (Israeli Intelligence) killed the people they believe were responsible. Violence just begets more violence, and I am very disheartened to see that people are injecting hate into the Olympics.

Third, protesting against and boycotting the Olympics is extremely unfair to the athletes. The athletes who compete in the Olympics train for years to get where they are. They want to make their own countries proud, and they want to accomplish their dreams. I am sure that they are also disappointed and perhaps even afraid to compete in the games with so much opposition. I would hate to see an athlete being spat on like a Vietnam War veteran because they competed in the games in China. Once again I reiterate that the Olympics should be about peace, and not war.

I don’t deny that some rights taken for granted in America do not exist in China, but there is no perfect government. If you look on the record of any reasonable large and powerful nation you will find corruption,abuse,and other atrocities. As to the violence in Tibet, here is how I see it. The Europeans who colonized America took away the United States from the Native Americans just like China annexed Tibet. Actually the situation in America is even worse because many Native Americans are still segregated on reservations while Tibetans are free to live in their own homeland. Just like Native Americans in the United States, the Tibetans receive various benefits for being ethnic minorities in China. Now if a bunch of Native Americans took up torches and destroyed homes and stores belonging to other races in the name of freeing their nation, do you think that the current United States government will not react with force?

Anyway, I am trying to say that China’s political flaws and racial tensions really shouldn’t be the reason for people to douse the Olympic flame. I think it’s despicable for people to advance their own political agendas by knocking down this wonderful event meant to foster world harmony. Supposedly there will be a giant protest in San Francisco when the torch arrives on Wednesday, and I hope it will not get out of hand. I really wonder if those protesters have been to China, and if they know what the games mean to a Chinese citizen; I wonder if they know the original purpose of the Olympics, or if they are just following the herd. I sincerely hope the Olympics torch will burn brightly in San Francisco, and the games in August will be a huge success.

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