The Rise of CSL (Chinese As A Second Language) March 5, 2009
Posted by shwaldman in Uncategorized.Tags: China, Chinese, Debt, Economy, GDP, Gross Domestic Product, Language, NPR, USA
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I heard two disturbing stories on NPR this week. I listen to several of their podcasts which combine stories of similar interest – like, Education, Technology and Economy. It really is a good way to catch up on important topics and interesting human interest stories. This group of stories was on the economy. The first one discussed how we have as much debt as we do gross national product. In other words, as a country we borrow for everything we have – if we produce $1,000 worth of products, we borrow as much from other countries.
And the second story goes to show who holds our debt. There is an organized program out of China where people come to the US to buy property. It is more affordable here than their homes in Shanghai. They buy them as investment properties or as future homes for their children.
The economy world wide has taken a turn for the worst in the last 6 months, but because we were already borrowing more than we could handle, Americans should expect that the result will be the lenders will be calling in that debt… I don’t want to go to far down this path, but I am feeling more and more like we need to start learning Chinese… and I stink at learning new languages!
Fear Campaign II October 30, 2008
Posted by shwaldman in Politics, Society.Tags: Election, Politics, Racism, USA
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In the remaining days of the campaign, it seems that the McCain-Palin team have turned to the old Bush-Cheney(-Rove) teams main strategy. If this isn’t Bush II, I don’t know what is. The Republican campaigns have turned the “Fear Him” strategy into an art form. Even though Obama-Biden team has a relatively large lead in most polls (7-10%), I am concerned that McCain’s strategy will work.
The margin of error on most polls seems to be focusing on the “likely voter” adjustment. However, with this latest push, it seems they should be more focused on how well the fear campaign will sway voters as they stand in the ballot booth. Just watch, the Fear strategy could even start to focus on the underlying racism that pervades our country.
Honestly, if you look at other countries, there are places were women are presidents and other racial minorities in those countries are running the show. And here we are in what WE consider that greatest country of the world and race is still is an issue. I can not believe it. Hopefully, this election we will finally be able to look past race, gender, religion and do what is better for the country.
National Debt Too Big to Count October 13, 2008
Posted by shwaldman in Society.Tags: Counter, National Debt, quadrillion, USA
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How sad is this? The National Debt Counter in New York no longer has enough digits to record the amount we as a nation owe the rest of the world. I think the scarier part is that when they upgrade it next year, it will support a QUADRILLION dollars. That is CRAZY!
