Is A Double-Dip Recession Imminent?

Benn Steil of the Council on Foreign Relations seems to think so, according to this WSJ article.

A Word of Warning

Internet identity fraud is very real. And I have just been hit for the second time. The first incident took place during senior year of college. I was charged $800 for a flight from Bumblef*ck, Africa to Europe. I took all the appropriate measures to resolve that charge, including filing fraud reports with the credit reporting companies and canceling my credit card. It was never quite clear on how that information was stolen, but probably from a minimally-secure, legitimate company I had bought something online from (because I'm obviously not stupid enough to click links in Nigerian Prince phishing scams).

This time around, I was charged 50 Euros through PayPal to a company called Betamax GmbH & Co.KG. I googled this company, and there is a plethora of complaints about them stealing from PayPal accounts. Apparently it is a real German VOIP company, but has a shady history in terms of fraudulent charges. I've gone through the appropriate measures of response, but I plan on canceling my PayPal account upon the resolution of this incident.

Common Since: Here is my word of warning - make your internet accounts as secure as possible. Even if you think they're secure, they may not be. Cancel any accounts you don't use frequently (like PayPal for me). The threats against my financial security on the internet have me more scared than I was of the Boogeyman when I was 4.

Time for a Debt Ceiling

Here is the newest reading material in my running commentary on the federal debt/deficit.

Also, a bill has been introduced to form a Bipartisan Task Force for Responsible Fiscal Action by Sens. Gregg and Conrad. Read about it here.

Sun Rail: The Beginning of Something Great

The Sun Rail bill passed a special session of both houses of the Florida legislature this week, and is expected to be signed by Gov. Crist. This is the beginning of something great for the citizens of Florida. Envision a rail network linking the major metropolitan regions of the state and local rail/bus transit systems that operate within those regions. That vision just got kick started and will be a reality 20 years from now. We've got a lot of work ahead of us, but the future of Florida business and quality of life just got a bit brighter.

Important links and perspectives:

http://www.wusf.usf.edu/news/2009/12/08/bill_could_help_tampa_light_rail

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/os-sunrail-development-20091210,0,4215171.story

http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/columns/rail-is-right-for-florida/1056541

http://sunrail.com/

http://www.tbarta.com/

Health Care Reform: A Congressional Viewpoint

Rep. Jason Altmire, D-PA (and Blue Dog Democrat), gives his view of health care reform and his reasons for voting against the previous iteration of the bill in this article. It should be noted that Rep. Altmire has a Master's in Health Administration and worked for 7 years in the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center system. I'm having a hard time researching how many members of Congress have an MHA or health care administration experience, but only 17 Representatives and 3 Senators have medical degrees. I think it's safe to assume that Altmire knows what he is talking about, and only a handful of additional Congressmen. Sadly, his position is not on center stage in this debate.

I'll admit that I know next-to-nothing about health care administration nor the proper way to reform health care, but I can recognize that the bills that have been proposed will accomplish very little beyond raising our taxes and increasing the federal deficit. Many Americans are understandably scared to death about the "public option", so Congress is now debating dropping the idea and expanding the coverage of Medicare and Medicaid. What a brilliant idea. Let's expand two of our nation's largest entitlement programs that are already threatening to bankrupt our government before I hit the age of 40. Furthermore, the claim that health care reform is "deficit-neutral" hinges on cost-reducing reforms to Medicare and Medicaid. Exactly what those measures are, no one has been able to deduce. You can be sure that adding millions of Americans to those programs will not be "deficit-neutral".

Common Since: Where are the experts on this one? They are being drowned-out by partisan sound bytes. And how can we trust people with no health care administration experience at the forefront of this grand scheme? The goal stated at the beginning of this health care reform process was to reduce the cost of health care for every American, while providing a means to insure the majority of the uninsured (which would simultaneously bring down costs). I am of the opinion that this principle has been lost among the partisan bickering and backhanding. When this dog and pony show comes to a close, be prepared to bend over. 'Cause this is really gonna hurt.

I'll Take the $250K, If You Don't Mind

An economic analyst has run the numbers to determine the value of the stimulus for job creation. According to recovery.gov, 640,329 jobs have been created by the stimulus through October. This is of significant importance to me, because technically I am 1 of 640,329. I am working on a stimulus-funded project and was hired right before it started. There is no way for me to deny that I am a statistic, but it still doesn't make me happy about or proud of the amount that the government has flushed away, which is $157.8 billion to date. By doing some simple math, that amounts to $246,436 spent per job created. I can assure you that my salary is nowhere near that figure. Where did the roughly $200,000 in spare change go? Somewhere in the black hole that we call the federal bureaucracy. I suppose when I got my job offer back in June, I could've been a little more assertive at the negotiating table. I should've said, "I'll take the $250K, if you don't mind."