Dealing in facts

When considering the plight of the American political scene, it is far more constructive to work from facts than to work from emotion.  The Republicans continue to scream that Obama and the Democrats have been "tax and spend" liberals and that they are increasing the deficit at exponential rates. It is simply not true.

It seems to me that we could do a lot to improve political discourse in this country if we passed laws to make it illegal to tell lies on television and to strengthen liable and slander laws to cover even politicians. It might make our politics a whole lot more civil.

Letter To The Editor

Over at Bits & Pieces they posted a letter to the editor of some newspaper...

Dear Mr.President,

Patriotic retirement: There are about 40 million people over 50 in the work force; pay them $1 million a piece severance with stipulations:

1) They leave their jobs. Forty million job openings - Unemployment fixed.
2) They buy NEW American cars. Forty million cars ordered - Auto Industry fixed.
3) They either buy a house or pay off their mortgage- Housing Crisis fixed

There's only one problem with this (if his figures are correct) - the cost would be $40 Trillion - that's $40,000,000,000.000. According to The World Fact Book, the entire Gross Domestic Product of the US in 2008 was $14.28 Trillion.

Huge Economy

It's easy to forget just how huge the US economy has actually become. On this map, each state has been named with a country that has a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) similar in size to the economy of the state.

You may need to click on the map to view it larger to read all of the names.