Economy
You can’t separate the economy from work. When folks are working and feel secure in their jobs, they’re willing to spend on goods and services and the economy soars. On the other hand, when the ranks of the unemployed swell, the economy tanks. You don’t need a Ph.D in economics to know that these two factors will forever be entwined. What does this all mean to the American workforce? It means we have to keep an eye on those policies and factors that are going to have an impact on our wallets and bank accounts. It’s obvious for most of us that we didn’t make this mess. But we’re in it together now and are heavily invested in the “clean-up.”

CBO This and CBO That

There’s been a lot of talk lately about the CBO and its projections. The CBO stands for the Congressional Budget Office. This department of congress was enacted back in 1974. You can imagine the discussions leading up to the creation of this department:

Senator A: “Say, friend and colleague, I’ve got a dandy bill we should all vote for.”

Senator B: “Sounds, peachy. What’s it gonna cost us?”

Senator A: “Geepers, I have no idea.”

Senator B: “Too bad we don’t have some sort of congressional budget office to figure these things out.”

Senator A: “That is too bad. Say, wait a minute! We’ve got the power. Let’s make one! We’ll call it the congressional budget office.”

Senator B: “You call it that. I’m gonna call it the CBO!”

Senator A: “Swell. Let’s shake on it!”

Adding UpOkay, so maybe that wasn’t exactly the conversation that took place. The director of the CBO is appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senator after their respective budget committees have made recommendations. The CBO staff is made up of economists and public policy analysts. Most of these folks have advanced degrees in economics. That’s gotta be some wild Christmas party, huh? Read More...

Let Them Eat Carp!

From the outbox of Meyer’s video inbox:

fish cakesA while back I put up a piece about an Asian carp invasion threatening to take over Lake Michigan. Federal officials tried poisoning the river to kill the carp. Didn’t work. Now comes a brand new solution: let’s just eat them into extinction. Here’s a report from the ABC News. Bottom line: fish cakes all around will save the day! Pass the tarter sauce.

ASIAN CARP: IF YOU CAN’T BEAT ‘EM, EAT ‘EM

At this week’s National Grocers Association convention in Las Vegas, celebrity chef Philippe Parola was touting his new favorite fish. “[It has] 70-percent more Omega-3 than in catfish and tilapia,” an animated Parola told an assembled crowd at his booth. “No mercury because it’s a filter fish.”

Parola was talking about the Asian carp — a slimy, boney fish that breeds quickly and is widely considered a pest. Parola’s message: Eat the carp. Save the Great Lakes.

“It’s amazing how these fish are taking over,” Parola said. “We need to do something.”

After being imported from China during the 1970s to clean fish farms of algae in the southern U.S., the Asian carp steadily spread north up the Mississippi and other rivers.

To read the rest of the article and see the video, go here.