Saturday, January 14, 2012

Can Money Make You Happy?

Can money make you happy? An entire quantitative field of study, happiness economics, has grown up around that question. In reading the literature, I came to one inescapable conclusion: Happiness economics makes some academics happy because they can publish conflicting papers that help them earn tenure. Oh, and they’ve boiled down happiness to an equation:

Wit = α + βxit + εit

But the real relationship between income and happiness is more nuanced, and measuring people’s true feelings is tricky. For example, when study subjects are asked how happy they think people at different income levels are likely to be, they generally underestimate the happiness of the poor. And because much of the research considers just two variables, with income on one axis and happiness on the other, the other factors that make

Read the whole thing.

Can Money Make You Happy?

From the comments section, two were excellent and I agree with them:

Money buys one thing: more choices. Happiness comes by making the right choices. More choices can often lead to poor choices. I think there is a basic income level that provides satisfaction -- enough money to pay for basic needs and wants. Beyond that, it's the making of good choices that creates happiness. I've known a lot of people with a lot of money, who make horrible choices and are pretty unhappy.

It's the wrong question. Money is amoral. It's like asking, "Can a chair bring happiness? It depends on what you do with the chair. The love of money is the root of all evil. Not money itself. You can truly be happy in giving your money to others, or even using money to meet a need. For a time, you may even "feel happy" in purchasing ______. But, in the end, the love of money will not bring happiness. John D. Rockefeller, Sr., one of the richest men in history, was once asked how much money it takes to make a man happy. Rockefeller's famous reply was, "just a little bit more." Only God can bring true happiness.

I have thought very hard about my father in law and my father both in Nursing Homes, who in their lucid moments never thought, DARN, I wish I hadn't taken that vacation with my wife or family, I wish I hadn't gone to dinner with friends, I wish we hadn't spent money on good memories at the lake, hunting, fishing or whatever. I wish I had saved it all up carefully in an IRA or 401K so I could give all that money to thee NURSING HOME.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

WHY OBAMA WILL BE RE-ELECTED IN 2012 by Walter Williams

By Dr. Walter Williams

Can President Obama be defeated in 2012? No. He can't.. I am going on record as saying that President Barak Obama will win a second term.

The media won't tell you this because a good election campaign means hundreds of millions (or in Obama's case billions) of dollars to them in advertising.

But the truth is, there simply are no conditions under which Barak Obama can be defeated in 2012.

The quality of the Republican candidate doesn't matter. Obama gets reelected.
Nine percent unemployment? No problem. Obama will win.

Gas prices moving toward five dollars a gallon? He still wins.

The economy soars or goes into the gutter. Obama wins.

War in the Middle East ? He wins a second term.

America's role as the leading Superpower disappears? Hurrah for Barak Obama!

The U.S. government rushes toward bankruptcy, the dollar continues to sink on world markets and the price of daily goods and services soars due to inflation fueled by Obama's extraordinary deficit spending? Obama wins handily.


You are crazy Williams. Don't you understand how volatile politics can be when overall economic, government, and world conditions are declining? Sure I do.

And that's why I know Obama will win. The American people are notoriously ignorant of economics. And economics is the key to why Obama should be defeated.

Even when Obama's policies lead the nation to final ruin, the majority of the American people are going to believe the bait-and-switch tactics Obama and his supporters in the media will use to explain why it isn't his fault. After all, things were much worse than understood when he took office.

Obama's reelection is really a very, very simple math problem. Consider the following:

1) Blacks will vote for Obama blindly. Period. Doesn't matter what he does. It's a race thing. He's one of us,

2) College educated women will vote for Obama. Though they will be offended by this, they swoon at his oratory. It's really not more complex than that,

3) Liberals will vote for Obama. He is their great hope,

4) Democrats will vote for Obama. He is the leader of their party and his coat tails will carry them to victory nationwide,

5) Hispanics will vote for Obama. He is the path to citizenship for those who are illegal and Hispanic leaders recognize the political clout they carry in the Democratic Party,

6) Union members will vote overwhelmingly for Obama. He is their key to money and power in business, state and local politics,


7) Big Business will support Obama. They already have. He has almost $1 Billion dollars in his reelection purse gained largely from his connections with Big Business and is gaining more every day. Big Business loves Obama because he gives them access to taxpayer money so long as they support his social and political agenda,

8) The media love him. They may attack the people who work for him, but they love him. After all, to not love him would be racist,

9) Most other minorities and special interest groups will vote for him. Oddly, the overwhelming majority of Jews and Muslims will support him because they won't vote Republican. American Indians will support him. Obviously homosexuals tend to vote Democratic. And lastly,

10) Approximately half of independents will vote for Obama. And he doesn't need anywhere near that number because he has all of the groups previously mentioned. The President will win an overwhelming victory in 2012.

-- Dr. Walter Williams

IN ADDITION TO THE VOTING BLOCKS HE MENTIONS, THERE IS ANOTHER HUGE GROUP: THE NEARLY ONE-HALF OF ALL ADULTS DO NOT PAY ANY TAXES AND, IN FACT, MOST OF THEM RECEIVE MONEY FROM THE GOVERNMENT. THESE PEOPLE DO NOT WANT TO "SHAKE THE BOAT" TO DO ANYTHING TO STOP THE FLOW OF TAXPAYER MONEY TO THEMSELVE




* It's believed the United States is now somewhere between the "complacency and apathy" phase of democracy, with some forty percent of the nation's population already having reached the "governmental dependency" phase.

* If Congress grants amnesty and citizenship to twenty million criminal invaders called illegal's - and they vote - then we can say goodbye to the USA in fewer than five years.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Eric Holder's corruption continued
www.judicialwatch.org
The untold story of the Obama Administration’s widely reported, $335 million discrimination settlement with Countrywide Financial Corporation is that, under a secret Justice Department program, a chunk of the money won’t go to the “victims” but rather leftist groups not connected to the lawsuit.
Police State
· · · January 6 at 7:46pm
This is really funny... I heard it today on Car Talk. Hilarious. I may soon HIT....
docvmp.com
Observations on Aging … George Carlin
WOW... this is almost impossible to believe. A socialist leader, popular because of welfare expansion, leads a country by being an attractive figure and a skilled orator was just re-elected despite danger in the economy. She had a cancer scare..but didn't. I read that in a book somewhere. But it could never happen in this country .... could it?
www.reuters.com
BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentine President Cristina Fernandez never had cancer despite having been diagnosed with the disease last month and having her thyroid gland removed on Jan 4, her spokesman said
Why does this remind me of the scene in Blazing Saddles where Cleavon Little threatens to shoot himself if they don't back off.... I don't get this
seattle.cbslocal.com
Some 300 Chinese Foxconn employees who manufacture X-box 360 machines said they would throw themselves from their Wuhan, China, plant if demands for lost wages were not met.
What is happening in Argentina right now is what will happen in the USA unless we get a MAJOR change this fall. If you can still find this article on line somewhere, and read it, it will give you the shudders. Most of the fascist things the Pres of Argentina is doing, our President is already headed down that road.
online.wsj.com
In The Wall Street Journal, Americas columnist Mary Anastasia O'Grady writes that the Argentine government of Cristina Kirchner is clamping down as the economy is deteriorating and capital is attempting to flee the country.
If you have the courage, I have a way you can make a lot of money on Thursday. This would only be for people already trading commodities. There is a crop report coming out on Thursday. First since last fall. It has been an uncertain season and the weather is taking a toll. To make this trade you would take a long and a short position on Corn, Beans and Wheat. The three commodities that are mos...t at risk and with a lot of volume. When you take these positions you put a stop loss about 15 points above and below your respective positions. When the report come out, you let the market hit your limit point and allow the other to run. This should be good for ten thousand dollars. I won't be doing this, but if you are already trading you will find this useful. You're welcome. OH, some houses won't allow this in one account, so you will need two accounts to accomplish this. It's how Hillary made her big money years ago.
relate the right to work states to the personal prosperity of the people living in those states and be prepared for a surprise. Organized labor is a farce.
www.nrtw.org
A Right to Work law secures the right of employees to decide for themselves whether or not to join or financially support a union. However, employees who work in the railway or airline industries are not protected by a Right to Work law, and employees who work on a federal enclave may not be.
In the past week I have been rubbing shoulders with business people from all over the USA. They are laughing at Illinois they call the land of Hope and Change. Now we officially have the worst credit rating for a state of any in the union. How did this happen? Who was elected to make this thing work? It sure doesn't. They can't even cash lottery winner's checks. I'm not embarrassed to live here, even though we have become the laughing stock of the whole country. Harrumph
www.chicagobusiness.com
I'm sure this means nothing....Right? Right?
www.washingtonpost.com
Tim Tebow’s passing yardage — the Christian quarterback threw 316 yards — sent commentators over the edge Sunday night.