Tis The Season

Our family has kicked Christmas shopping into high gear this week.  I find that I am often asked what we will buy our son, who will be 10 months-old during Christmas.  My usual response is "not much", since I firmly believe in being cheap for the holidays when your child is too young to know the difference between an X-box and a cardboard box.  Nonetheless, I came across an interesting article in the WSJ regarding starting your child in investing as a gift and a means of financial education.  Here is the link: How to Give Children the Gift of Investing.  At first glance, I thought the idea of buying your kid stocks and bonds for Christmas was pretty lame.  However, after some thought, I am coming around to the idea.  Prior to taking this BUS 501 class, I literally knew practically nothing when it came to finance.  I knew the terms stocks and bonds, but had no idea what the difference was other than I was pretty sure bonds were safer for some unknown reason.  Yet, with this scarcity of knowledge I have purchased a home, acquired a credit card and started saving for retirement.  I'm lucky I have not put myself in financial ruin with my blind pursuits.  Maybe by introducing finance and investment at an early age to my kids, I can set them up for an easier road and more future success than I have had.

The Video Gamer's Day Has Come

Remember the grief your mother used to give you for spending too much time on all of those mindless video games?  Well, it turns out you may have inadvertently been learning some futuristic job skills.  I'm referring to the evolving world of robotic warfare.  Check out the article in the WSJ: War Machines: Recruiting Robots for Combat.  I used to enjoy watching those TV shows where people would build their own robots equipped with axes, saws or any other device capable of inflicting destruction on one's opponent.  It was like the Ultimate Fighting Championships for intelligent people, or those who got beat up by the ultimate fighters in high school.  Now, the government is creating their own robots, albeit with machine guns and grenade launchers replacing the axe or circular saw.  This sounds like a good idea in regards to saving soldiers' lives, but I would imagine the economic cost for robots versus soldiers will be greater.  Likewise, I would think the robots would eliminate much of the need to employ humans.  This technology may raise our deficit and eliminate jobs.  I'm sure these topics will not be highlighted in the press releases.  I'm off to make sure my Roomba is not plotting a coup against me.

The First Cut is the Deepest

Today's Wall Street Journal has an article detailing a plan by a White House commission to cut the federal deficit.  Check it out: Deficit Panel Pushes Cuts.  The plan includes horribly unpopular cuts to entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare, defense spending, and middle class tax breaks.  Being fairly conservative, I suppose I should jump at the chance to criticize President Obama's crew for another terrible plan.  Yet, after reading some of the details I have to admit that I think this plan is a big step in the right direction.  Unfortunately, I am certain this plan will not come to fruition because we Americans only support cuts that do not impact us.  People will eagerly rally to support a "balanced budget", but if you want our votes you had better not plan to do anything that will negatively impact our pocket books.  Likewise, too many politicians are eager to jump on the bandwagon of this sentiment and portray anyone who proposes cuts to entitlements as a villain.  I may not be eligible for Social Security or Medicare, but as I member of the middle class I am willing to accept losing some tax breaks.  I will gladly pay my portion to help get out of this economic hole we are digging.  Medicare/Medicaid, Social Security and Defense make up nearly two-thirds of federal spending.  It only makes sense that they should have proportional cuts to reduce the deficit.  It's frustrating that most seem to burst with the desire to fix the economy, but are only willing to give up someone else's piece of the pie.