Inflation, Lies and the Inevitable Bankruptcy

The currency of the U.S. that the government prints used to be backed by gold and silver. The U.S. left the gold standard in 1933 when President Roosevelt was in office. The government saw that others countries that were not our allies had most of the gold, this was a threat. Also, the U.S. wanted to spend more money than it had in gold or silver. Going off the gold standard seemed like an easy solution to prevent running out of gold reserves, so the U.S. left the gold standard. Since then, there has been a lot of inflation. Year after year, the government just keeps printing money. It seems it prints as much money as it can. This is bad for citizens that try to save money because their savings is worth less and less every year. If the government keeps spending money like this, it will eventually result in bankruptcy for the country. Then everybody’s money is worth nothing.

But now we can’t go back to the gold standard. There isn’t enough gold and silver. The solution is for the government to not print so much money. Everybody has to pay for the things they want or need with money that they have worked for.

Lawboy-

Bail Outs

The US government gave the banks (e.g. Bank of America), insurance companies (e.g. AIG), and car companies (GM, Chrysler, and GMAC) billions and billions dollars to get them out of the tight financial spot they were in. The US government gave a bail out to the banks for them to loan money to small businesses and home owners, but instead the banks loaned the bail out money back to the government with about 4% interest profit. This worked for the banks, but not really anybody else. The US government gave a bail out to the insurance companies so that they wouldn’t go out of business and other businesses could continue to operate with insurance, this worked. The US government gave a bail out to the big US car companies for the same reason as the insurance companies, this worked too but in my opinion it was pointless. The Japanese, Korean, and German car companies could have sold cars just as well as GM and Chrysler. So, I think the government is 2-1 in bail outs which is a not bad soccer score.

Lawboy-

Who owns it?

When you come up with an idea it’s “yours.” But, if somebody else comes up with instructions on how to do it, could they then patent or copyright the instructions?

I believe that if the original person that came up with it doesn’t patent it, and doesn’t write it down in a way that can be copied by an average person, then the follow-on instructions doesn’t belong to them. Why, because you need instructions to know how and if it works. For example, a lot of kids come up with ideas like a robot that cleaned their room. But, it’s not “theirs” if they don’t put together the prototype and instructions to do it!

Lawboy-

Leaking Academic Records

There was a football player, Cam Newton, which might win the Heisman trophy. But, some organization or some group at his previous college (University of Florida) thought that he shouldn’t get it; regardless of his play on the football field. So they leaked his academic records that may or may not have negative information in them. The allegation is he had cheated on a test. Now he may not get the Heisman trophy because of this invasion of privacy. It wasn’t legal for them to leak his records.

I think he shouldn’t be punished (not allowed to win the Heisman trophy) for something that happened off of the field. And if he files a lawsuit against his previous university, how much the Heisman trophy is worth?

Lawboy-

Accepting money to play

Cam Newton and his dad are being accused (without any evidence) of accepting money from Auburn University or boosters to go there. I think this is 100% OK, either way! It is kind of like if you pay for a great coach like Nick Saban or Bear Bryant on a football team, or a great teacher like Richard Feynman at a school like Harvard or CalTech.

Let’s see, the universities get paid, the coaches get paid, the NCAA gets paid, the commentators get paid, the networks get paid, and even the parking attendants at football games get paid. But, not the players? What kind of candy land world has everybody get money, but the players? I know the players get an education. But, do they? Their scholarships are year by year. They can be kicked out, forced out, or be in other ways made to give up their scholarships. I bet the NCAA reps don’t give their salary back for any reason. But, the players get funny money in the form of tuition and registration fees and everybody else gets real money. Sounds like a situation those getting real money like, even if the real players often get stuck in the molasses swamp.

Lawboy-

Should Halloween be legal?

There may be some legal issues with Halloween. For one, strangers giving kids candy! The first thing you learn in guidance when you’re in kindergarten is never take candy from strangers or walk their dogs. Also, Halloween may be the day when criminal activities take place, and it doesn’t help that you can’t see anyone’s face. Even if someone had a ski mask, machete and gloves you may take it for a costume or it could be a costume but someone thinks it’s real. Halloween was made a nationally recognized holiday and is observed on October 31st.

Lawboy-