Tax and Spend Comparison over 50 years

Not much to say here.. the chart says it all. And what makes it more interesting is that 51% of American's currently do not pay any tax. And close to 40% are receiving some sort of tax credit reimbursement. Listen to audio link here.

The Hidden Power of Smiling

Ron Gutman reviews a series of studies about smiling, and reveals some surprising results. Did you know your smile can be a predictor of how long you'll live -- and that a simple smile has a measurable effect on your overall well-being? Prepare to flex a few facial muscles as you learn more about this evolutionarily contagious behavior.

Another great TED presentation!

Pension Comparisons

It is revealing to compare retirement ages and pension contribution participation rates among various countries.  Interestingly, Mexico is officially the oldest in actual numbers (72.2) and France the youngest (59.1).   

When we look at participation rates, Turkey has decreased significantly in the past 25 years, while New Zealand tops both Japan and the USA.

Moving on to looking at how many people are working to support 1 retiree, this has shrunk greatly since 1970 (lightest large blue) and will barely be tenable as projected into 2050 (small dark blue). Most of Europe is very low and Japan will require 1.2 people to support 1 retiree!

Complete narrative at The Economist article linked here

How much is a trillion dollars anyway?

A $100 bill

$10,000

$1 Million (100 packs of #10,000)

$100 Million

$1 Billion

$1 Trillion

Thanks to Pagetutor.com

A virtual choir 2,000 voices strong

An absolutely stunning melded choir composition by composer and conductor Eric Whitacre...

As one choir member commented:

"To all the people who had positive comments, thanks, we in the choir take a lot of pride in what we accomplished, what started as a song to sing has become (expectantly) a quest to enlighten humanity, and show the world that we can work together, for beauty, art and good."

Stunning Milky Way Images

Norwegian landscape photographer Terje Sorgjerd has captured some amazing footage here. This recent incredible video looks like something far away from Planet Earth. His time-lapse shots of the Milky Way show a stunning sky, backlit with an incredible aura.

The Mountain from Terje Sorgjerd on Vimeo.

The time-lapse footage was captured between April 4th and 11th, 2011, from atop El Teide, Spain's highest mountain. At one point a sandstorm blows across, which rendered Sorgjerd unable to see the sky, but left his camera with some stunning images.

The Comeback America Initiative

David Walker, former US Comptroller General, is very active warning the US citizenry of the dangers of rising budget deficits. His sponsored Sovereign Fiscal Responsibility Index (SFRI) is a new fiscal indicator that incorporates a wide range of fiscal, economic and political factors into ranking a country's fiscal responsibility and sustainability. 

A full description of the index and findings is linked here.

The SFRI found that the most fiscally responsible countries are not the ones one would generally expect, including Australia and New Zealand as the front runners. Four of the top 10 in this index are emerging markets. Not surprisingly, Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece, Spain and Japan are ranked near the bottom of the list.

The United States is ranked number 28 out of the 34 countries analyzed. Assuming no reforms are made, the study found that the United States will hit its debt ceiling in 2027 - 16 years from now. However, the U.S. is set to enter the fiscal danger zone in two to three years and a debt crisis could come suddenly thereafter. 

Importantly, when the data is re-analyzed, inserting the proposals from President Obama's National Fiscal Responsibility and Reform Commission, the U.S. moved up 20 spots to number eight.

The SFRI is the result of a Master's Thesis project completed by a team of Stanford University graduate students under the guidance of the Hon. David M. Walker, the former Comptroller General of the United States.

That glitter of silver

Since a child, I have had an unending interest in gold and silver. Most likely, it was influenced by growing up in the Washoe Valley in Nevada. We were just a short drive from Virginia City, the location of the Comstock Lode. 

The Lode was a huge silver and gold find with the great extracted wealth becoming the basis of the building of San Francisco as well as funding the Union in the last months of the Civil War. (Nevada entered the USA in 1864 as the "battle-born" state).  Silver as an investment, instead of just an adornment, has proven an excellent choice for appreciation (more than other alternatives) in the past decade. 

And with less physical silver available for purchase then gold, many analysts see even much more price appreciation ahead in this decade of "quantitative easing" and weakening the US dollar.

These two short video's below (about 6 minutes each) give a quick tour of how the mineral silver is discovered, mined, assayed and refined to end products such as jewelry and coins.

If you have interest to further explore silver as an investment alternative, check out this short podcast, or purchase this excellent book by David Morgan.

American Citizen Support for Military Actions

Gallop recently released a historical polling summary of US citizen approval for various military actions looking back 20 years.

Obviously, the ongoing actions in Libya are on the low end of historical support. An extract of Gallop's analysis of implications is below:

Americans are more likely to favor than oppose the current military action against Libya, though they favor it to a lesser extent than prior U.S. military campaigns. The poll did not ask Americans' specific reasons for approving or disapproving of the efforts against Libya, so the reasons for their subdued support are not clear.

There is a lack of a significant Republican-Democratic difference that could be the net result of Republicans' inclination to support military action and Democrats' inclination to support the Obama administration's policies. Gallup found similar dynamics at play during the Vietnam and Korean Wars.

In the past, the public's views on military actions have changed in response to the progress or lack of progress of those ventures. Usually, the longer the United States is involved in a military operation, such as the recent war in Iraq, the more support drops.