The naked truth

The Detroit Free Press had a funny story this morning about a naked man walking through someone else's apartment. I used to live at Huron Towers, where the incident occurred, and most people on the upper floors leave their sliding windows open and unlocked. I can just imagine the shock some resident had seeing a naked guy stroll through his apartment.

Memorial Day Weekend

So far, my Memorial Day weekend has been pretty active. I headed out to Shenandoah National Park for some hiking. I had also planned on going camping, but the park was very busy, and all of the campgrounds had filled up by the time that I reached the park. Since I had not originally planned on backcountry camping, I did not have my pack with me, so that ruled out that option. Still, despite the change in plans, I had a very enjoyable time hiking. I hiked down the White Oak Canyon Trail about three miles, and got to see two of the six waterfalls along the river. I have posted pictures from my hike online here.


A waterfall at White Oak Canyon

Today, I rode the W&OD Trail from Sterling to Purcellville and back, for about a forty mile ride. Despite it being the holiday weekend, the trail was not too busy. I was running a little slow by the end of my ride, which means that I really need to work on getting myself back into shape.


Goose Creek

Take me out to the ball game

Yesterday, I went with my roommate to National's Park to watch the Phillies play against the Washington Nationals. Actually, it is probably more accurate to say that the Phillies walked all over the Nationals, since the final score was 12-2. Oddly enough, it was the first major league baseball game that I have attended since 1984. It was a little strange for me to be sitting in the stadium as opposed to watching the game on television. Nationals Park is actually pretty nice, and it is amazing to see how much the area near the Navy Yard Metro has improved.

Memorial Day weekend is almost here, and I am looking forward to the holiday. The weather is supposed to be beautiful this weekend, and I am planning on spending much of it enjoying the great outdoors.

The nanny state in the kitchen

The Washington Post is running a series of articles discussing the childhood obesity epidemic. Today's article was bemoaning the fact that the government is failing to take action. Various interest groups want the government to impose changes on the food industry, and restrict advertising that could reach kids. However, the concept that the government should be directly responsible for the nutrition of our kids is ludicrous. People are responsible for how they choose to eat, and if they have kids, they are responsible for what their kids eat. If the government wants to help, then it could encourage nutrition education in the classroom, since that helps individuals make informed choices. But setting limits on what types of food are available completely undermines the concept of individual responsibility.

I can imagine what life would be like if the government started regulating what people could eat. "You are not allowed to eat a hamburger today - you have to eat tofu. And because of last year's Farm legislation, tomorrow you will have to eat two portions of corn." Can you imagine living life like that?

Fun with government

Well, I managed to resolve my issues with Arlington County. I had to research Virginia's vehicle laws in order to find my answer, and once I cited the appropriate section of Virginia's vehicle code, Arlington County was satisfied. It is amazing how much easier the Internet has made researching legal issues. Twenty years ago it would have taken me hours, if not days, sitting in a library trying to find an answer like that. (Of course, twenty years ago I would have been in high school, and wouldn't have had to deal with anything like this.) Now it only takes an hour or two entering search terms into online government portals, sitting in the comfort of home.

As much as it was difficult dealing with Arlington County, it could have been much worse. There was a news story yesterday about how a one year old baby was issued a subpoena to appear in court. The court ended up dismissing the subpoena, but it takes quite a bit of human error to issue a subpoena to a baby. Of course, this happened in Virginia...

Arlington County strikes again

Living a commuter life between two different states is not easy, and involves a lot of attention to detail. I have been very careful to follow all the rules in keeping my legal domicile in Michigan while working in Virginia. This has meant a complicated tax situation, including paying the trolls at the People's Republic of Arlington for annual personal property taxes on my car. And now life has just gotten more interesting. The County of Arlington has an ordinance that allows it to fine vehicle owners $100 per year if their car is not properly licensed. Recently, they have decided to interpret that as meaning that any car with out of state plates is not properly licensed, and thus must pay the fine with their annual property taxes. Basically it's a tax on all of the commuters from out of state. So much for equal protection under the law. I'm sure a Federal Court would find Arlington's stance unconstitutional, but it would cost far more than a hundred dollars to challenge it.

Of course, because I am a Michigan resident, Michigan law requires me to have my car registered in the State of Michigan. If I were to register my car in Virginia as a non-resident in order to get Virginia plates, I would be committing a misdemeanor the second I drove back home. As I have no desire to abandon my home in Michigan and establish a domicile in Virginia, it looks like I will be stuck paying the folks in Arlington another $100 per year.

Digging deeper into debt

Last week, the IRS started the process of sending out economic stimulus payments to US taxpayers. Usually, I would be happy at the thought of getting "free money". Unfortunately, I see the stimulus checks as being terrible economic policy. The US government is deeply in debt, with out of control spending, and the government is digging deeper into debt to send these stimulus checks out. It is equivalent to an individual with maxed out credit cards taking a cash advance to buy himself (or herself) something nice just to feel good. That individual will eventually have to repay that debt, and in the same way, the taxpayers are now on the hook to repay this "stimulus".

The theory behind the stimulus is that taxpayers will use the money to continue their behavior of consumption. With an extra $600 in hand, taxpayers might buy big screen televisions, spend it on vacations, or perhaps just use it to fill their gas tanks for the next two months. These purchases would theoretically reduce financial pressures facing businesses, and depending on how much you believe in supply-side economics, might come close to generating tax revenues equivalent to the stimulus package.

The problem is, US consumers are up to their eyeballs in debt. Many are behind on their credit cards and mortgage payments. So it is possible that a significant percentage of people will just apply the money to existing debts in order to avoid debt collectors or foreclosures. Others will save the money away in order to just survive this recession. In the event that consumers take the fiscally prudent approach, the stimulus will not generate significant amounts of increased business or tax revenue, and US taxpayers will be sitting on an additional $160 billion of debt. It is ironic that the economic stimulus only works if US consumers continue with their unsustainable spending.

The stimulus package would be less objectionable if the government had reduced spending to cover at least half the cost of the package, perhaps with the hope that supply-side economics would took care of the remaining half. It would also be completely different if both the deficit and the overall debt were not excessive. The projected deficit for 2008 will be $410 billion, and the debt as of today is $9.34 trillion dollars. Even assuming a GDP for 2008 of $14.1 trillion dollars (BEA value), the deficit to GDP ratio is 2.9%. While theoretically, short term deficits are not the end of the world, with Social Security digging into the red in 2017, we can't afford to be digging ourselves deeper into debt right now.