`Why do we retire at age 65+ (usually)? At 59 1/2 you can withdraw from an IRA account. However, maybe the subterfuge should change. ....
Why not allow individuals to retire once they are done with whatever school level they choose, (highschool, college, masters, PhD., even grade school if inclined enough.) and take out loans/debts based on thier future success rate?
i.e. I graduate with a PhD. from Harvard, I am allowed to retire and borrow 10 million dollars doing whatever I please until a certain year determined by my lender say, 39. Then I must start working and pay off those debts for the rest of my life, if I exceed expectations, the lendercould make a small profit......
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Monday, August 25, 2008
Entertaining Read, why was I not aware of these kinds of things before college? Was I myopic or were my instructors?
I came across a very interesting read today. "Thoughts on Various Subjects," by Jonathan Swift an Anglo-Irish essayist in the late 16 to early 17 hundreds.
http://www.readbookonline.net/readOnLine/3366/
Here are some of my favorite thoughts from the pamphlet to hopefully engage some curiosity....
"I am apt to think that, in the day of Judgment, there will be small allowance given to the wise for their want of morals, nor to the ignorant for their want of faith, because both are without excuse. This renders the advantages equal of ignorance and knowledge. But, some scruples in the wise, and some vices in the ignorant, will perhaps be forgiven upon the strength of temptation to each."
"Religion seems to have grown an infant with age, and requires miracles to nurse it, as it had in its infancy."
"When a true genius appears in the world you may know him by this sign; that the dunces are all in confederacy against him."
"The motives of the best actions will not bear too strict an inquiry. It is allowed that the cause of most actions, good or bad, may he resolved into the love of ourselves; but the self-love of some men inclines them to please others, and the self-love of others is wholly employed in pleasing themselves. This makes the great distinction between virtue and vice. Religion is the best motive of all actions, yet religion is allowed to be the highest instance of self-love."
"Ambition often puts men upon doing the meanest offices; so climbing is performed in the same posture with creeping."
"If a man would register all his opinions upon love, politics, religion, learning, etc., beginning from his youth and so go on to old age, what a bundle of inconsistencies and contradictions would appear at last!"
"Some people take more care to hide their wisdom than their folly."
"The common fluency of speech in many men, and most women, is owing to a scarcity of matter, and a scarcity of words; for whoever is a master of language, and hath a mind full of ideas, will be apt, in speaking, to hesitate upon the choice of both; whereas common speakers have only one set of ideas, and one set of words to clothe them in, and these are always ready at the mouth. So people come faster out of a church when it is almost empty, than when a crowd is at the door."
http://www.readbookonline.net/readOnLine/3366/
Here are some of my favorite thoughts from the pamphlet to hopefully engage some curiosity....
"I am apt to think that, in the day of Judgment, there will be small allowance given to the wise for their want of morals, nor to the ignorant for their want of faith, because both are without excuse. This renders the advantages equal of ignorance and knowledge. But, some scruples in the wise, and some vices in the ignorant, will perhaps be forgiven upon the strength of temptation to each."
"Religion seems to have grown an infant with age, and requires miracles to nurse it, as it had in its infancy."
"When a true genius appears in the world you may know him by this sign; that the dunces are all in confederacy against him."
"The motives of the best actions will not bear too strict an inquiry. It is allowed that the cause of most actions, good or bad, may he resolved into the love of ourselves; but the self-love of some men inclines them to please others, and the self-love of others is wholly employed in pleasing themselves. This makes the great distinction between virtue and vice. Religion is the best motive of all actions, yet religion is allowed to be the highest instance of self-love."
"Ambition often puts men upon doing the meanest offices; so climbing is performed in the same posture with creeping."
"If a man would register all his opinions upon love, politics, religion, learning, etc., beginning from his youth and so go on to old age, what a bundle of inconsistencies and contradictions would appear at last!"
"Some people take more care to hide their wisdom than their folly."
"The common fluency of speech in many men, and most women, is owing to a scarcity of matter, and a scarcity of words; for whoever is a master of language, and hath a mind full of ideas, will be apt, in speaking, to hesitate upon the choice of both; whereas common speakers have only one set of ideas, and one set of words to clothe them in, and these are always ready at the mouth. So people come faster out of a church when it is almost empty, than when a crowd is at the door."
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Mislead by Universities?
I can't help but ponder lately, if certain colleges and programs are worth the cost. If you attend the University of Cincinnati, a public school with some exceptional programs you are paying an in-state tuition of about $9,500 per year. Adding that up for four years without living and other expenses, that totals $40,000.
I have always wondered since my first day here, is vocational school a better option. Plumbers, pipe fitters, machinists, mechanics, and other trade oriented jobs seem to be in demand even when the economy is slow and pay solid starting salaries. (Plumbers are at $45,000 avg. according to Payscale.)
My point is, should highschools be more prone to seeking out potential trade schools for students, should parents realize loans can literally put great stress on young men and women at 18 years old?
As a college student, I have found many things I love about a University atmosphere, especially fellow students and interacting with them. But again, I will always wonder if this endeavor was worth the money as I watch many of my fellow classmates have a harder time finding jobs in a slow economy and as I myself become less certain a college degree is needed is certain fields.
Maybe I feel like like Ben Franklin when he said:
"Reflected in my Mind on the extream Folly of those Parents, who, blind to their Childrens Dulness, and insensible of the Solidity of their Skulls, because they think their Purses can afford it, will needs send them to the Temple of Learning, where, for want of a suitable Genius, they learn little more than how to carry themselves handsomely, and enter a Room genteely, (which might as well be acquir’d at a Dancing-School,) and from whence they return, after Abundance of Trouble and Charge, as great Blockheads as ever, only more proud and self-conceited."
I am afraid of being that self-conceited Blockhead. Obviously certain fields to not pertain to this argument, (i.e. Doctor, Lawyer). You can also get much more in depth when people chose more expensive out of state schools running up huge bills. UC is much more affordable than Dayton or Boston College, and none of the three are Ivy League, why would you attend Dayton U?
I have always wondered since my first day here, is vocational school a better option. Plumbers, pipe fitters, machinists, mechanics, and other trade oriented jobs seem to be in demand even when the economy is slow and pay solid starting salaries. (Plumbers are at $45,000 avg. according to Payscale.)
My point is, should highschools be more prone to seeking out potential trade schools for students, should parents realize loans can literally put great stress on young men and women at 18 years old?
As a college student, I have found many things I love about a University atmosphere, especially fellow students and interacting with them. But again, I will always wonder if this endeavor was worth the money as I watch many of my fellow classmates have a harder time finding jobs in a slow economy and as I myself become less certain a college degree is needed is certain fields.
Maybe I feel like like Ben Franklin when he said:
"Reflected in my Mind on the extream Folly of those Parents, who, blind to their Childrens Dulness, and insensible of the Solidity of their Skulls, because they think their Purses can afford it, will needs send them to the Temple of Learning, where, for want of a suitable Genius, they learn little more than how to carry themselves handsomely, and enter a Room genteely, (which might as well be acquir’d at a Dancing-School,) and from whence they return, after Abundance of Trouble and Charge, as great Blockheads as ever, only more proud and self-conceited."
I am afraid of being that self-conceited Blockhead. Obviously certain fields to not pertain to this argument, (i.e. Doctor, Lawyer). You can also get much more in depth when people chose more expensive out of state schools running up huge bills. UC is much more affordable than Dayton or Boston College, and none of the three are Ivy League, why would you attend Dayton U?
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Is Water the Next Oil, and I do not mean for energy....
After reading a book, Rigged about the Crude Oil market and the trading of oil and the markets automation, I came across a note from the person the book was about.
He, "former VP of the Mercantile Exchange," mentions the trading of elements and water in the future as the only thing that could possibly rival the trading of energy today. Basically saying energy runs our world today.
Having been to another country myself, and seeing the effects of limited water, think about the possibility of a water exchange. Yes, water being bought and sold on a market much like our stock market, by the barrel......Obviously this may sound crazy, but if water in Arizona is scarce and highly needed, the price per barrel could be high. Fourtunately right now we have means to transport and maintain water cheaply, but it is not out of the question to think America or some other country could control the water market as the Middle East controls the oil market.
The way this would happen is like the start of all other markets, buyers finding sellers. I.E., in Mexico, currently, water is bought and sold by the half barrel, lets say I think they are paying too high a price. I may be an intemediary (broker) having found a cheaper seller in Texas. Thus, a market is, "created," I have found way to trade water at a lower price, and the bidding or an agreement to raise prices (with my competitor and share profits) begins......
He, "former VP of the Mercantile Exchange," mentions the trading of elements and water in the future as the only thing that could possibly rival the trading of energy today. Basically saying energy runs our world today.
Having been to another country myself, and seeing the effects of limited water, think about the possibility of a water exchange. Yes, water being bought and sold on a market much like our stock market, by the barrel......Obviously this may sound crazy, but if water in Arizona is scarce and highly needed, the price per barrel could be high. Fourtunately right now we have means to transport and maintain water cheaply, but it is not out of the question to think America or some other country could control the water market as the Middle East controls the oil market.
The way this would happen is like the start of all other markets, buyers finding sellers. I.E., in Mexico, currently, water is bought and sold by the half barrel, lets say I think they are paying too high a price. I may be an intemediary (broker) having found a cheaper seller in Texas. Thus, a market is, "created," I have found way to trade water at a lower price, and the bidding or an agreement to raise prices (with my competitor and share profits) begins......
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Globalization
I came across this power point about a year ago. It is only about six minutes long. It simply goes over some interesting facts about how the modern world is growing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljbI-363A2Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljbI-363A2Q
Friday, August 1, 2008
Van Gogh, Map Dots and Stars
"For my own part, I declare I know nothing whatever about it. But to look at the stars always makes me dream, as simply as I dream over the black dots of a map representing towns and villages. Why, I ask myself, should the shining dots of the sky not be as accessible as the black dots on the map of France? If we take the train to get to Tarascon or Rouen, we take death to reach a star. One thing undoubtedly true in this reasoning is this: that while we are alive we cannot get to a star, any more than when we are dead we can take the train." ~ Van Gogh
Van Gogh wrote this in a note to his brother, the thought stemming from his painting, Starry Night
I teetered upon this quote the other day. Very interesting, as lately I have seen maps and dreamt of visting towns and villages across the country. Interesting Van Gogh had the same feeling gazing at the night sky and related it to life and death.
Van Gogh wrote this in a note to his brother, the thought stemming from his painting, Starry Night
I teetered upon this quote the other day. Very interesting, as lately I have seen maps and dreamt of visting towns and villages across the country. Interesting Van Gogh had the same feeling gazing at the night sky and related it to life and death.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
"The True Patriot"
The True Patriot is a pamphlet written by a former policy advisor and an entrepreneur and venture capatalist about their views on patriotism and their political agenda...I thought that their views were interesting, but my favorite part was that they inserted all of their favorite speeches from former presidents and politicians to back up their arguments...if nothing else it is worth it to read the book for the all of speeches that they assembled...here are two of my favorites
"Let us then, fellow-citizens, unite with one heart and one mind. let us restore to social intercourse that harmony and affection without which liberty and even life itself are but dreary things. and let us reflect that, having banished from our land that religous intolerance under which mankind has so long bled and suffered, we have yet gained little if we coutenance a political intolerance as despotic, as wicked, and as capable of bloody persecutions."
-Thomas Jefferson
"I preach to you then my countrymen, that our country calls not for life of ease but for the like of strenuous endeavor. The twentieth century looms before us big with the fate of many nations. If we stand idly by, if we seek merely swollen, slothful and ignoble peace, if we shrink from the hard contests where men must win at hazard of their lives and at risk of what they hold dear, then the bolder and stronger peoples will pass us by, and will win for themselves domination of the world. Let us therefore boldly face the life of strife, resolute to do our duty well and manfully, resolute to uphold righteousness by deed and by word, resolute to be both honest and brave, to serve high ideals, yet to use practical methods. Above all, let us shrink from no strife, moral or physical, within or without the nation, provided we are certain that strife is justified. For it is only through strife, through hard and dangerous endeavor, that we shall ultimately win the goal of true national greatness."
-Theodore Roosevelt
"Let us then, fellow-citizens, unite with one heart and one mind. let us restore to social intercourse that harmony and affection without which liberty and even life itself are but dreary things. and let us reflect that, having banished from our land that religous intolerance under which mankind has so long bled and suffered, we have yet gained little if we coutenance a political intolerance as despotic, as wicked, and as capable of bloody persecutions."
-Thomas Jefferson
"I preach to you then my countrymen, that our country calls not for life of ease but for the like of strenuous endeavor. The twentieth century looms before us big with the fate of many nations. If we stand idly by, if we seek merely swollen, slothful and ignoble peace, if we shrink from the hard contests where men must win at hazard of their lives and at risk of what they hold dear, then the bolder and stronger peoples will pass us by, and will win for themselves domination of the world. Let us therefore boldly face the life of strife, resolute to do our duty well and manfully, resolute to uphold righteousness by deed and by word, resolute to be both honest and brave, to serve high ideals, yet to use practical methods. Above all, let us shrink from no strife, moral or physical, within or without the nation, provided we are certain that strife is justified. For it is only through strife, through hard and dangerous endeavor, that we shall ultimately win the goal of true national greatness."
-Theodore Roosevelt
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