Here is something fun to do: stand in one place and look all around. See the texture and detail of what's in that place at that point in time.53rd Ave, Hillsboro. At one time a grassy field. Now soccer fields with astroturf.
These kids, striving. Soccer is an international language. One time I was looking up middle east websites (before Egypt and other countries erupted) - soccer is something the rest of the world is passionate about.
Maybe we can finally play. Go Timbers!
Today our Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernake was in front of a Congressional Committee, again. I am sort of tired of hearing from him. His attitude was quite interesting. He was defending his "Quantitative Easing" strategy, also known as QE2 (which makes it sound like an oceanliner), the $600 billion he has pumped into the American economy.
Why? And where did he get the money? Um, not from taxpayers, since we're tapped out. From the Treasury, which, again, has to loan money from China. OK all that irresponsible financial stuff aside, what happens when this money is pumped into the U.S. economy?
Do banks start lending? Nope. Do companies start hiring? Nope. Not even with Obama's kind words to the business community. No, it takes more than words, and money apparently, to kickstart our economy.
So we're still in a dead stall (hmm, nice time for grad school, perhaps??). What is happening in the rest of the world? Food prices are rising. Why do I care about this more than anything else? It is so very fundamental. Thank you for the gift of a goat for Xmas! It will provide subsistence to a family in a developing country (www.heifer.com, check it out).
Mr. Bernake said that no, our QE policy was not responsible for rising food prices in the rest of the world. There are surely other factors, I believe that. But we are, indeed, a global economy. Every QE dollar put into our economy has a national security impact on the rest of the world. Do we think about this?
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