Really, London, really?

The 2012 Summer Olympic Games are upon us! YEY! 

From July 27th to August 12th, 2012, London will be the host city. Sports enthusiasts with tickets, step forward. This sounds like a blast. Really, a blast. As reported by many media outlets, authorities are installing roof-top missiles around the Olympic Stadium as a defense against low flying aerial objects. Is Rocket Quidditch becoming a new Olympic sport?

Photo by tomatokill at SXC

What I find even more interesting is an article from Chicago Tribune:

Some 12,500 police will be on Olympics duty each day across the country. Most will not carry a gun, in line with the long tradition of the British police.

I'm sure nightsticks, batons, and whistles will be sufficient to earn respect of the crazies.  

Enjoy the top 10 list of the Olympic Games slogans for 2012: 

     

          10. The English Channel on me telly is misty.

            9. Spend it like a Beckham.
            8. TheBeetlesjuice, TheBeetlesjuice, TheBeetlesjuice

            7. Cheerio cholesterol!

            6. Queen size in Cockney?

            5. It's a bird. It's a brolly. It's a missile.

            4. Cry me a River Thames.

            3. Quid hairpin on me bobby pin.

            2. Your bobbies are unprotected!

            1. More Cowell bell! More Cowell bell! 

Simple taxes?

The discussion in the media about flat tax, progressive tax, business tax, divided tax, and all other taxes, comes and goes every year.  Laffer curve is a big one too.  But how much taxes do we pay?  Looks like more than half of our money is going to various taxes.  Considering that college cost and health care is not included in the deal, the financial strain is huge.

Ratified in 1913, The Sixteenth Amendment, states:
The Congress shall have the power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration. 

Why not revoke the The Sixteenth Amendment and let Federal Government deal directly with the states?  States would pay whatever necessary to support the Federal Government affairs and citizens would gain a clearer tax picture.

States would set one flat income tax rate removing any property, use, excise, toll, and fee taxes.  Feeling underprivileged?  Let's set the tax exemption at $15,000 for single and $25,000 for family of three.

You don't like the tax rate?  You move to some other state.  

What about Social Security?  Well, people should be responsible for their own money.  I don't mind taking my contributions and investing it myself.  And Medicare?  The states already run their health care services, taxes should cover that also.

And local governments?  The only tax that would be fair is a sales tax.  You consume more expensive items, you pay more.  One more thing.  There is no need to have a city or county employee for every little task.  Cleaning lady getting a guaranteed pension plan after 25 years of work?  That's sounds good, but only to the cleaning lady. 

You don't like the idea?  Why not run a household like a business then?  You deduct food, clothes, gas, housing, transportation cost, education cost, and whatever else you can before paying any taxes on what's left.  What would you call your business?  Business of living and raising kids.

Federal student loans doubling interest dilemma

If the US Congress won't take any action, the federal student loans rate will double for 2012-2013 school year from 3.4% to 6.8%.  According to CNN article:

What's at stake: More than 7 million undergraduates have subsidized student loans, which means the federal government absorbs some of the interest rate for lower- and middle-income families based on financial need.
If Congress does nothing, the cost to students borrowing the maximum $23,000 in subsidized loans is an extra $5,000 over a 10-year repayment period. The cost to the federal government to extend the lower interest rate is $5.8 billion, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

Putting all that election year politics debris aside.  With the cost of college tuition rising, what can an average student do to avoid higher student loan interest rates or eliminate at least some of the loans?

1. Enroll in a local junior college aka community college - tuition is cheap, schedules offer morning and evening classes so you can work part-time, credits are transferable, some offer BA programs from affiliated universities, you can live at home and still enjoy mom's cooking, you can change majors and finally decide who you want to be when you grow up without pissing away thousands of dollars, you can party your bottom off after you transfer to your dream college 
2. Enroll in state programs that offer tuition reimbursement - most of the states have programs that would pay for all or some of your tuition if you agree to work in the state for couple of years.  Nursing is one of the biggest around.  Become a wet nurse at no cost to you!
3. Select in-state state school - you will cut your cost significantly, consolidate your loans early to secure lower rate, screw the esteemed pile of steaming sorority stories from your older buddies on the other end of the planet - you will impress the ladies with your saved cash later!
4. Choose college close to home - you can still live in a basement, you keep all your gadgets, you can show your face at the parties,  you can borrow your parents car, you can munch off your siblings, did I mention mom's cooking?  And the big one: laundry anyone?
5. Get a good trade - try getting some plumbing or electric work done nowadays - it will cost you 2-3 college credits!  If only that much.  Think before your spend all that money on college to work at Red Lobster after you graduate.  Good trade will make you a lot of cash and with your own business, you can do even better in no time.  Think - you build swimming pools - you meet the ladies.
6. Just get a job - the dirty little secret of good-paying job for high school graduates is garbage collection truck driver.  It might not be the most pleasant one, but your trade your sense of smell for thousands of dollars saved on tuition.  Wake up - smell the aroma!  Of cash, that is.
7. Ask your parents to pay for college - sure, it's not for everyone, but if your parents or grandparents are willing to pay for your transformation to a higher life satisfaction with a college degree - go for it! There is no shame to take money from family.  After all, you will be the one selecting that attractive Polish nurse for your loved ones.  Nothing but the best for the family.
8. Finally, just get the lady - if you marry a well-off girl early, you are combining your feelings with the ability to accomplish your dreams at no cost.  Sounds good Levi Johnston, doesn't it?  Oh wait, not the greatest example.  So, what's your choice to save?

Who pays for the convenience?

In the age of computers, smartphones, iPads and Internet, I find it very upsetting that the credit card "convenience fee" is still applied by various organizations.  What is the "convenience" if you have to pay for it?  I guess it's the way for the retailers to cover the charge back by the credit card companies.  What get me is that government offices also charge that fee.  When renewing my registration sticker on the Internet, the Illinois Secretary of State wanted to charge $2.25 to cover payment processing.  On the top of the exuberant $99 for the sticker! The explanation states:

Why do I have to pay a convenience fee?
The Secretary of State's office pays a small fee per transaction to credit card providers. License plates renewal fees are set by state statute and the office is, by law, unable to absorb the cost of the additional provider fee.

So, there is no way to get a better deal for the drivers?  As a state, Illinois cannot leverage it's position to pursue some financial institutions to process the payments for lower fees?  All the financial processing is done electronically anyway.  What about the banks that Illinois is using to run the state?  Couldn't they provide the processing since they get business from the state?  Can someone explain this to me because I just don't get it.

Shall we have some fun with numbers?  There are 10.4 million vehicles registered in Illinois.  That number includes passenger cars, motorcycles, ect.  Lets say, half of the owners use Internet to renew their registrations.  That's $11,700,000 a year of our money going to the credit card companies.  And, that just registration.  For that kind of money, state could build their own payment network - ePayIL anyone?  


If you wonder if I renewed my sticker online - I did not.  I took my time and went to the local office and paid cash.  Why cash?  Because they also wanted to charge me 3% transaction fee.  Like the good old saying goes - cash is a king.

CNG cars? If not now, when?

How much tribute did it take to satisfy the petroleum demigods last time you filled the belly of your steel horse?  $60, $80 or more like $100?  With the media blasting about new oil price hikes, it's painful every time, all the time.  With those crazy gasoline prices, why not pay more attention to the sweet and cheap compressed natural gas aka CNG?  According to Natural Gas Vehicles for America: 

Almost all – more than 98 percent -- of the natural gas consumed in the United States comes from North America. The vast majority of this – more than 85 percent – is produced in the United States, and the remaining supplies come by pipeline from Canada. A very small percentage – less than one percent – is imported from outside of North America.

In Europe alone, at the end of 2011, there were 1.6 million natural gas vehicles and 4,000 CNG refueling stations.  Even Pakistan beats US with its 2.74 million NGVs.  Not to mention South America and Asia. Compare that to very few CNG personal vehicles and stations in US.  Example: only 3 public CNG stations in Chicagoland.  

Source: http://www.ngvaeurope.eu

So far, the only dedicated CNG sedan available in USA is 2012 Honda Civic Natural Gas.  The specs are great and the price is not unreachable (MSRP: $26,155 - $27,655).  See how it compares to 2012 Toyota Prius, the most successful hybrid ride.

Source: http://www.fueleconomy.gov

So why not convert your car into gasoline/CNG hybrid?  In Poland, you can convert your family sedan for about $1,600.  It takes a day and you receive an extra switch on your dashboard to toggle between gasoline and CNG.  

After contacting one of the very few conversion shops in Illinois, I was quoted $12,000 with $2,000 tax credit to convert Ford Fusion.  For that money, I could buy 2,469 gallons of gasoline ($4.05/gal) or drive 54,318 miles or 4 years (13,000 miles/year).  Wow.

With the gasoline prices eating up our wallets, prepare for the great battle of the oil and natural gas lobbies.  I wonder what our esteemed Congress Representatives will do to simplify our current laws to allow more CNG vehicles to hit the market.

Lights, camera, wallet!

Courtesy of chides @ SXC

With the plan to add about 500 new speed cameras around schools and parks pushed by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, I find it very disturbing that public interest is quite mild.  With the existing 380 red-light cameras already in service, city of Chicago will become a "leader in safety".

With WSJ reporting that Chicago already pockets $68 million a year from the red-light cameras, how much would Chicagoans dish out for fines?

Conservatively, lets say half of those cams would get business during the school days:

     270 days x 250 cams x $35 (6 miles over limit) = $2,362,500

The other half would catch drivers around parks all year around:

     365 days x 250 cams x $35 (6 miles over limit) = $3,193,750

Total of $5,556,250 would be split between the city of Chicago and Redflex Traffic Systems represented by Greg Goldner (Mayor strong supported) acting as a link between the Mayor and the company.  

But it gets better.  The fine for speeding 11 miles over the speed limit goes up to $100.  Shall we?

         270 days x 250 cams x $100 = $6,750,000

         365 days x 250 cams x $100 = $9,125,000

That makes $15,875,000 pot of gold available for grabs.  Maybe I should start a traffic-cam company?  There's money there. 

So, since the speed cam ordinance was approved by the City Council committee in 7-3 vote, let the games begin.  Lights, camera, wallet!  Your wallet.

Give control of education back to the cities

After watching "Stupid in America" by John Stossel, I can't help to overcome the feeling of being cheated out of my property tax money.  But do I really?

My son attends an elementary school in one of the suburbs of Chicago.  So far, we are very pleased with the school, teachers, approach to the curriculum, and above all, the results.  Even though he's in 2nd grade, his reading, writing, math, and critical thinking skills are amazing.  The school district is ran very well.  Sure, they want to raise taxes to expand and pay for more programs but the community keeps close watch over the spending.

So, is the problem with poor education related to the inner city schools?  I believe so - for the most part.

It's more difficult to recruit teachers with a true calling in poor neighborhoods - that's a given - but the teacher unions are no help either.  Bureaucracy and mismanagement of inner city school districts is a common issue.  

But what about the parents?  According to Wikipedia:

The 1960 United States Census reported that 9% of children were dependent on a single parent, a number that has increased to 28% by the 2000 US Census. The spike was caused by an increase in unmarried pregnancies, which 36% of all births by unmarried women, and to the increasing prevalence of divorces among couples.  In 2006, 12.9 million families in the US were headed by a single parent, 80% of which were headed by a female.

No wonder that kids in single parent families have difficulties with homework, behavior, comprehension, and attendance.  Mothers working two jobs to keep the family afloat just can't handle the extra load of helping with homework or school projects. 

Give back the full control over schools to the communities.  Let them decide what type of school they want - public, charter, Catholic, Jewish, Baptist - and how they pay for it.  Dealing with unions on the local level would give more flexibility to the school districts without the fear of dealing with state or national bullies forcing they way into our schools.  We pay - we demand - we control.