Dave Morin

Scary. Is the one word to describe the lack of intelligence many members of the House Committee on Financial Services displayed in their questioning of Mr. Greenspan today. It was almost as if they had no idea what to ask about. Greenspan articulately answered questions which basically had no factual basis. He also fielded angry democratic banter, which predominantly made absolutely no sense. This disgusts me, especially coming from that side of the line.

In his second day of testimony on Capitol Hill. Greenspan was resolute, intelligent, and patient. As I said in my last blog, he displayed a vigilance in maintaining his opinion that we have a dire need to keep an eye on the increases in spending congress continues to make. Higher debt = problems in the future. Education = the future of our nation. Foreign investment is not so much a risk, but rather the propensity for Americans to invest in our OWN debt instruments presents a much more pertinent problem. Education is pivotal to the future of our great nation. He reiterated again that education is the only way to address inequality across the board. He stated that education is almost the most important issue we should be discussing.

There is one thing that I would like to point out to my general audience, which almost all of the members of congress missed. The Social Security fund is NOT liquid cash. The fund is generally retired into some kind of long-term treasury instrument, most often times a special flavor of bond desgined specifically for SS. But, congress is allowed to borrow against SS as it wishes. So, essentially they have this huge (1.5 trillion $ huge) pot of coin to borrow against. Just like when you or I have a large chunk of coin sitting in our savings account, or just like a credit card, you will think about spending that money. Groups behave the same way. So, Greenspan was resolute in pointing out that the privatization of these funds is a way to guarantee that this capital is pulled out of the federal budget pool. This can be pivotal to guaranteeing reduction in captial spending by congress. In turn guaranteeing a debt reduction. Which, he pointed out several times to be the most important issue facing the current adminstration. Let me repeat…debt REDUCTION.

In addition, privatization guarantees that the retirement system will be fully funded. As he pointed out, any retirement system needs to be fully funded. With congress borrowing heavily against the current SS system and the general reduction of incoming funds starting in 2008, we as a country face a significant decrease in the availability of funding for retirement. By shifting towards a privatized account system, it virtually guarantees funding of the retirement system. This is predomintantly due to the generally assumed fact that people tend to put money away adequately for the future.

There will undoubtedly be more on this from me as the issue heats up…;)

Alan Greenspan is brilliant. Absolutely off the wall brilliant. He is a credit to the economy and democracy that we all know and enjoy. Listening to him discuss Social Security on my way to work this morning on NPR was incredible. This man can take the most complex, sometimes overly complex, questions about the state of our nation and economy and turn them into intelligently articulated answers. Answers which defend the most simple economic building blocks of this society. Predominantly, he speaks like he is quoting Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations, defending economics itself. Listening to this as an Econ major, is almost a treat (Did I really just say that?).

At one point, a senator questioned him about his opinion on the export of jobs and resources overseas to places like China and India. How will this effect us in the long term? What competitive advantage do we have? Greenspan was articulate and concise in pointing out that the wealth of our nation lies in our intellect and the laws that protect us. He then continued to remind the congressmen that without concentrating resources on the development of our education system we are putting ourselves at a serious risk in the increasingly competitive global economy. Our ideas, our people, the constitution that protects our civil liberties. This is what makes this nation great. Without Education, we would not have what we have. I think he is wise (as always) to point out that Congress needs to spend time reconsidering the investment in education in America.

I’ll finish by saying, I believe in education. I believe in innovation and evolution in education. That’s part of the reason I my work involves education.

Social Security. Medicare. These are all important issues. But, will we spend time…and money…to ensure the future ideas that are ingredients of the American dream?

Tom Peters hit a chord with me today. With his post on leaving the east for California. I left Montana in 1999 for school at the University of Colorado. I was scared. Really scared. I grew up in Montana, a place where material wealth doesn’t matter. A place where it’s about life, not wages, not consuming. It’s about the outdoors, friends, and family. Colorado began an evolution but California is where it hit overdrive.

Tom’s post rings true. There’s something inherently awesome about making that decision to free yourself by moving to Kal-i-for-nya (Thanks for the new pronunciation Arnold). I made that decision last year. To Californicate. One of my best girl friends and I took a random job, with a random company. Moved to the South San Francisco Bay. Spent the summer under palm trees, hanging in Santa Cruz on the Boardwalk, learning to surf, wakeboarding in the Sacramento river delta, and enjoying the perfect South Bay summer nights. We didn’t know if it would all work out, but California took us in with open arms.

California frees your mind. Although I’ll always consider Montana my heart and soul. California becomes a part of you. Whether it’s the constant smell of flowers, the golden brown hills contrasting with black oak, or the quintessentially cliche palm trees. California makes you smile inside. This is where we re-imagined ourselves.

When will you?

So. Yes, my blog has been lacking. Ridiculously. There’s a gamut of excuses that I could lay out. Work, travel, travel for work, the hotel that has become my apartment over the last few weeks. But, in all reality I’ve been working on an all new version of this very site. Most of the work has gone in to the part that you, the reader, never sees. Code, data structures, HTML, and the all wonderful cascading style sheets (I mean, what isn’t wonderful about style sheets that cascade). So, once I decide on a new blog package, am happy with the new design. You’ll see an updated face on davemorin.com/blog. I’m happy about it. It is definately coming soon. And, I hope you will be too.

Have a great week!

Shouldn’t we make sure we don’t overheat the one we are already living on before we try “warming up” another planet? Seriously.