Joe Kraynak

You Owe $36,000!

As a U.S. citizen, you owe over $36,000. I don’t care how old you are, how much money you make, or how deeply in debt you are, your share of the national debt comes to approximately $36,666.

How’d I figure that? Well, last I checked, according to the U.S. National Debt Clock, the national debt is currently about $10 trillion ($9,734,169,505,691.88). Add another trillion or so for the current bank bailouts, and we’re up to about $11 trillion. I won’t even count all the interest we’re racking up on that debt every second of every day. Divide that by 300 million (the approximate number of people in the U.S. according to the Census Bureau), and you get $36,666. For a couple with two kids, that represents over $140,000. They could buy a pretty decent house for that much.

It kills me to think how hard I work and how financially responsible I try to be. I obsess about balancing my budget, paying my bills (including taxes), and saving for the future. Then I witness corporations who haven’t done such a great job of doing the same getting bailed out with my tax money. I watch our public servants embrace deficit spending and simply print more money to cover their wreckless spending.

I wonder why I should bother. Maybe I should just max out my credit and become a day trader to see whether I can score a big payday. Could be fun. Why not? Oh yeah, I remember… it’s because the federal government won’t bail out the little guy. Only the fat cats get the free pass.

Later: After doing a little more research, I discovered a page (America’s Total Debt Report) claiming that the national debt is more like $53 trillion, if you take into account “recognized debt of federal, state & local governments, international, private households, business and domestic financial sectors, including federal debt to trust funds.” This represents over $175,000 in debt for every man, woman, and child in the U.S. Wow. That’s far worse than the scenario I painted.

I also found a page (”How Bad is the National Debt, Really“) that says we need to look at the national debt in perspective and view it as net worth per citizen. If we look at the national debt as a liability and our national wealth as an asset and then subtract liabilities from assets to determine net worth, we’re actually in the black. According to this page, every individual’s share of the national debt is about $162,000, but everyone’s share of the national wealth is over $300,000. If that’s true, I’d like to know where I can go to collect my $138,000, because I could really use it right now.

In essence, I’m more confused than ever.

Difference Between Russia and the United States

Russia takes over companies that are earning money.

The United States takes over companies that are losing money.

I think the U.S. government ought to take over the U.S. oil companies to offset the cost of its most recent financial industry bailouts. Maybe they should take over Microsoft, General Electric, and Coca Cola, too.

Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution–and How It Can Renew America

I haven’t read the book, but I watched Thomas L. Friedman on Meet the Press last Sunday. Based solely on what I heard during the interview, I can’t believe that this book is a number 1 bestseller.

Why? Because I remember hearing this same sort of thing back in 2000.

In fact, if Friedman had a paper bag over his head, I would’ve sworn it was Al Gore. One of Gore’s central themes during his 2000 presidential campaign was to use global warming as a way to stimulate economic growth through the development of green technologies.

If you’ve read the book (or you happen to be Thomas L. Friedman, not Al Gore pretending to be Thomas L. Friedman or vice versa), please let me know what you think. Maybe you can convince me that it’s worth reading. Friedman certainly didn’t convince me through his appearance on Meet the Press.

Scientists Destroying the World?

In his novel Cat’s Cradle, Kurt Vonnegut explores humanity’s catlike curiosity - a curiosity that’s said to have killed the cat. Scientists develop a crystal called ice-nine that causes water to turn to ice at room temperature and warmer - risking the possibility that all the water on the planet could be turned to ice.

On Wednesday, September 10, 2008, scientists are going to fire up the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) on the border between Switzerland and France to re-enact the “Big Bang” on a smaller scale. In the process, they hope to discover more about the origins of the universe and the composition of dark matter, dark energy, and other dimensions. A handful of scientists are concerned that this tiny big bang could ultimately shower the earth with miniature black holes that will ultimately cause the earth to collapse in on itself.

I always get a little concerned when humans begin messing with stuff they don’t fully understand, like genetic engineering. I think back to the genetically engineered corn that was killing Monarch butterflies. I think ahead to the possibility of some scientist trying to genetically modify bacteria that can convert water and carbon dioxide into oil. What if something unexpected happened, and all of our water turned into oil?

Maybe I just don’t understand the risks involved or how scientists manage to contain the risks, but some of this experimentation really gives me the heebie jeebies. I think science and technology have done wonderful things for humans as a whole and hold out the promise of doing even more good. I would hate to tie the hands of the curious scientist, but I wonder what gives scientists the right to proceed with these experiments without consulting with the rest of the human race. I suppose it’s the same thing that lets world leaders wage war without consensus of the people who stand to suffer the consequences.

Schools and Teachers: America’s Scapegoat

For at least the past 20 years, I’ve heard more griping over our “failing schools” and supposedly broken education system than I can stand. I hear it from both political parties, read about in the editorial columns, and watch the pundits blast our schools and teachers on every TV station and online news outlet almost on a daily basis.

I don’t disagree that (overall) today’s students are not as educated as they need to be for today’s world. That’s patently obvious. What I disagree on are the reasons why.

Everyone is quick to blame the teachers and the schools. Politicians constantly rant about holding teachers and schools accountable. I just heard one of the presidential hopefuls talk about making schools and teachers “answerable” to parents and students!

What a crock of bull-loney.

Our society is broken. We have a divorce rate of about 50%. Kids are spending far too much time watching TV, playing video games, and surfing the Web and far too little time playing outside, interacting with one another (in reality rather than “texting”), exploring their environment, and reading. Parents are afraid to send their kids outside, afraid they’ll fall victim to a child molester or drug dealer or other miscreant. And kids’ access to porn and violence via TV, movies, the Internet, and other media is appalling.

Instead of doing something to turn our society around, we take the easy route – blame somebody. Whose fault is it? The schools, the teachers, of course. After all, aren’t they the ones responsible for educating our children?

People, wake up. Our kids are failing because we’re failing our kids. It’s not the schools and the teachers. It’s us – the rest of us who are supposed to care for our children for all that time they’re not in school. We’re too afraid or lazy to turn off the TV; enforce restrictions on video games and bedtimes; make our neighborhoods safer; and encourage our kids to spend some time reading on their own. It’s too difficult to fix a sick society that considers torture movies like Saw as entertainment and easy access to porn as a first amendment right. It’s much easier to just blame someone else.