Category: PopCopy

The White House announced their new budget plan and it lays out exactly how The New Economy works. In case you don’t understand economics or are not an accountant, here is How The New Economy Works For Dummies:

Companies pay less taxes, but continue to get great subsidies from the government. This is great because companies can have better profit margins and hopefully hire more people. On the other hand, employee wages in comparison to CEO salaries have been stagnant and there seems to be a sense that businesses do not need to share the wealth with most of their employees, just their executives.

Government continues to shrink domestic programs, because we all know that citizens should not expect anything from their government. Killing job programs, education, and unneeded services forces people to become more self-sufficient. If you can’t afford your prescription drugs, too bad, maybe you should have taken better care of yourself. If you can’t read, too bad, No-Child-Left-Behind will surely fail you and whatever school system got stuck with you. And of course, if a big giant force of nature comes down and destroys your property, too bad, don’t expect FEMA to come to your rescue. See all this makes you self-sufficient.

The New Economy is all about dumbing down Americans and bankrupting the nation.

Here’s a helpful parenting tip I wanted to pass along to young parents. Every time we were about to eat out as a family, my four year old kept insisting on going to McDonald’s. Not because the food is incredibly delicious, but because McDonald’s has the market cornered on kids. Their Happy Meal toys are a great incentive for kids and a terrible curse on parents who deny their kids the privilege of McDonald’s fast food. As an adult, let me just say that the McDonald’s menu is not entirely suited to our dietary needs. After constantly being the bad guy for telling my kid no, I decided to just tell him that McDonald’s was closed for the winter season and that they would reopen in the Spring. For a few months, my kids never asked for McDonald’s and they even started to like other restaurants that served a more adult menu.

Now I’m sure some people are saying that lying to your kids is just plain wrong, but I would argue that all that advertising on television aimed at kids is not entirely trustworthy. My kids eventually realized that McDonald’s wasn’t closed, and at that time I told them why I did not want them eating McDonald’s all the time and by this time they were older and understood my intentions.

I’ve never been much of a coffee drinker, to be honest I’ve much more preferred Coke Cola. My girlfriend reminded me of the 3 liter bottles I use to down regularly while in college, but now that I’m a certified diabetic, I find myself drinking only Diet Coke and other horrible diet varieties of soft drinks. Since I started working earlier, I’ve found myself drinking 16 ounce coffee cups almost daily and even on the weekends when I sleep in, I find myself drinking coffee instead of getting breakfast. At first I did not notice, it just kind of happened with the change in work schedules, but come Thursdays and Fridays, I find myself exhausted and almost relish the energy (or should I say hyper attitude) that comes with morning coffee. For some reason, even though Diet Coke and Diet Mountain Dew have caffeine as well, it just doesn’t register the same with me.

Overall I find the taste of coffee to be bitter. It is not exactly a delicious drink. Though I would have to say that the Panera coffee is very flavorful and quite pleasant compared to the usual gas station coffee. I’ve mostly grown somewhat fond of French Roast with Hazelnut creamer. Since I’ve grown to become a coffee drinker, I’ve started to try a few other beverages as well, most notably beer. My preferred beer is ale. I find ale to be smoother, with less after taste. Luckily Iowa City offers plenty of choices when it comes to beer. There are even some nice local brews that are pretty good. Over the Holidays, I decided to try red wine a bit more, but cheap wine can give you headaches, and it sure gave me a terrible headache that lasted pretty much the whole day. No more wine for me.