Roughly the TRUTH

Violence flares, various parties battle for political control, and with a one-way ticket to the U.S. in hand, Al Qaeda waits patiently in the screening lines of Baghdad airport. A scary scenario? Hold on to your seat, but this isn’t what happens if the U.S. pulls out of Iraq, it’s happening right now.

However, there are some results of a U.S. draw-down we can confidently predict: increased dialogue in the region (similar to welfare reform in the 90’s), increased focus on developing alternative energy (in conjunction with the increased oil prices), greater wealth for the poor people in oil-rich nations (in conjunction with the increased oil prices), a dramatic cut in U.S. casualties in Iraq (duh) and a drastically improved budgetary picture (duh).

As Iraq spirals deeper into chaos, at what point will the crazy man quit doing the same thing and expect to get a different result? With elections drawing near, the U.S. congress will finally recognize the need to reign Bush’s policy in. With the start of a significant withdrawal, don’t be surprised to increasingly see headlines reading: peace & stability, prosperity, clean-energy and balanced-budget. Stories that are in high demand and short supply these days.

Then again, WWIII might be just around the corner.

Valuable insights are gained by Bill and Melinda Gates since embarking on a philanthropic mission via their foundation. They recently discussed this on PBS’ Newshour…

The Interview
Judy Woodruff posed challenging questions to the couple entrusted with billions in other peoples money:

“There’s been some improvement, but in terms of academic achievement, improved only slightly, and in math, it appears to have gone down. What lesson is there from that?”

From the mouth of Melinda:

“It would be great to work in just new schools or new models of schools, but we’re realizing that you have to work at the district and the state level. You have to have policy changes that support these 1,800 schools that we’re working in.”

“It would be nice if the curriculum that was there really worked, but, as you start to look at it, we’re realizing that the gains we’re making are in reading and in English[…]But you’re absolutely right: Math and science, there needs to be a curriculum change, and sometimes even teacher training to make sure that we’re teaching the right things to students.”

Bill provides an interesting insight, linking the foundation’s dual causes of promoting global health and modernizing the education systems:

“The impact of improving health is that the population growth goes down, and so you can educate more kids, feed more kids. It’s paradoxical that, when you have better health, families choose to have less children, because they’ve been having enough children so that they can be sure that a few of them will survive and take care of them. So as health improves, then all the other problems are dramatically easier to tackle.”

Listen to or read the full transcript of the interview.

Some Thoughts
A sure-fire attention killer is learning math for math’s sake; this was true for me in most subjects. As for todays youth, I’d bet that things haven’t changed much. I was lucky enough to be shown the “light”…the practical application of this knowledge opened a new world of possibilities. My motivation came as the result of finding more effective strategies to get what I wanted.

What Motivates a 10 Year-Old
G.I. Joe and He-Man
Those blue and white ticker tapes run across the TV every night my father (a banker) gets home - I eventually had to ask him, “What could possibly be so interesting about this that you watch it like it’s your religion?” I was facinated by the idea that people were earning money not by “going to work,” but just putting the money they earned into pieces of paper (You mean there’s a way to get EVERY Star Wars action figure besides mowing lawns!). As time passed, this led to discussions of financial statements, the various ratios derived from them that investors use value companies and the function of interest rates.

More Recently
I’ve been facinated by the analytics used in search engine rankings (although I have yet to actually delve into the topic, the interest is there…now, if only the time was).

So, what’s motivated you to learn what would otherwise be a dull topic?

Dont’ count on government to save for your future…

The U.S. government is threatening the financial future of todays youth. Like a group of dis-jointed heroin addicts, our apathetic congress has ignored record budget deficits, America’s spiraling debt and has effectively shunned an entire generation in favor of temporary, quick fixes. This article, Your free financial report card on MSN Money, provides provocative evidence for this thesis. For instance, the future of Social Security, remember that old debate? Liz Pulliam Weston, the author, has compiled some interesting numbers to help you sort through all the political banter surrounding this issue:

The farther out your retirement and the more money you make, the more you may want to discount the estimated benefits on Page 2. (Higher-income workers may see their benefits cut more than lower-income workers, if Congress decides to preserve the safety-net aspect of the retirement system.) What this means:

* If you’re in your 20s, you might not want to include the estimates at all when calculating how much you want to save. If you do include them, figure on getting 25% to 50% of the amounts on Page 2.

* If you’re in your 30s and 40s or make more than six figures annually, you might figure on getting 50% to 75% of the promised benefits.

* In your 50s, figure on receiving 75%.

Everyone’s entitled to their own opinion, just not their own numbers.

Liz also explains a very simple and easy way to get a snapshot of personal earnings growth over your entire working life - something the government is actually capable of providing us with. Read this article not only for eye-opening insights into our countries welfare system, but also benefit (or at least find some extra motivation…for you competitive types) by comparing your own finances with others in your demographic. Here’s a sample of the stats for those aged between 60-69:

Net worth by age
60-69 Age
$209,200 Median
$647,200 Top 25%
$1,429,500 Top 10%
5.8% Negative

Enjoy the read and if you’re among the younger generations (you’ve probably heard this before, but) remember, plan your own retirement - don’t be fooled into thinking the government will (or even can) do it for you.

Update (11.07.06):
Another article from the good folks at MSN Money.com to help you see how far behind (or ahead) you are of your peers; Your 20s: See how your wealth measures up

The inconvenient truth of rapid economic growth: Third of China ‘hit by acid rain’

Natural law tells us that for every action we take, there is a consequence…problem is, common sense isn’t always common practice. Just last month the Chinese government and it’s citizen’s were probably most optimistic about their new agenda to offset a brewing environmental catastrophe with a $175bn protection plan - unfortunately, there are cumulative effects from our actions as well.

Emissions of sulphur dioxide - the chemical that causes acid rain - were double the safe level, the report said. In some areas, rainfall was 100% acid rain, it added.

If there’s a silver lining to this, hopefully it will be a renewed push towards alternative, clean energy sources. The industrialized nations have been stoking this fire for decades - only recently it’s helped to create disasters like Hurricane Katrina, global terrorism and an economy which hangs by a thread - unless change is made quickly, I’d hate to see what’s ahead.

I just hope we learn our lesson before it’s too late.

An article today on Reuters | US officials seeing new home-grown terror cells, gives me hope that we may seriously begin to address the root causes of terrorism.

This quote by Scott Redd, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, really caught my attention:

“We are grappling with a whole new set of questions: what forces give rise to this violent ideology in immigrant communities that may appear otherwise to be quite well assimilated? … What signs should we be looking for to try to draw early warning of potential problems?” the statement said.

I guess we’ll just have to wait and find out…

After a brief absence on the old blog, I’ve been inspired to comment on this article published today by the BBC: Anger syndrome ‘under-diagnosed’

WARNING: The first signs of this truly serious disorder appear in adolescence. The study claims that it’s not just “bad behavior,” but actually a serious biomedical problem. I agree - at least partially.

Here are some of the tell-tale signs:

To be diagnosed with IED, an individual must have had three episodes of impulsive aggressiveness which are grossly out of proportion to the situation, such as that seen in cases of road rage or domestic violence.

This not-so-unique disorder is also commonly known as: “Immaturity & Lack of Self-Control.” I’m curious to find out who actually funded this study - no doubt we will see numerous high priced prescription remedies.

But please, give me a break. When people lash out, as the study describes, there is obviously some sort of chemical imbalance occuring internally. If these people possessed some level of internal balance, they wouldn’t engage in such activities.

As a youth, I too had of bouts of ‘aggressive’ behavior - albeit there was no road rage or domestic violence involved; but I certainly had my fair share childish sparring matches. Although, by blaming this on a “disorder,” it seems to me that we are relieving individuals of any responsibility for their actions…and this is where I firmly disagree. Bad behavior is, in fact, a condition which is the result of a lack of internal discipline. Everyone goes through periods of imbalance in life; although not everyone lashes out in such ways. The difference is in how we react, and luckily we have been endowded with an ability to choose our reaction to any given set of circumstances.

Oops, I think I just lashed out

Energy independence took a backseat this week as the immigration debat