Trying to Understand the Federal Reserve Balance Sheet

Trying to read the Federal Reserve Balance sheet  is very complex task.  It shows all of the assets and liablities of the Federal Reserve.  Most people will not understand unless you have a basic understanding of macroeconomics.

Economix provides an excellent guide for understanding the Federal Reserve Balance sheet and how it is impacted by the current financial mess.    I believe that all of the money printed by the Fed could result in rampant inflation and could result in a significant decline in the standard of living for most Americans.  The raises provided by employers will not keep pace with inflation and therefore, that will result in a decline in our standard of living.

Prop Eight

Personally,  I do not why the certain people invest so much into the gay marriage issue.   The number of gay marriages is very small compared to the size of the general populance.  

In the bible, it clearly states that marriage is between a man and woman.  Therefore, God will not see the couple as married in his eyes.  In the end, God’s opinion count

However, if the spirit and intent of the state constitution is to allow marriage regardless of sexual persuasion, than it should be legal to have gay marriage.  While in the moral law clearly states that gay marriage is sin,  the intent of constitution should be upheld.  Not allowing gays the right to marry is violation of their fundmental civil liberities as long it is was the intent of the framers to allow marriage regardless of sexual persuasion.

I voted “Yes” on Prop 8 because I had vote my conscience.  However, I was not passionate on my vote.  Personally, I never wished to vote on that measure because courts clearly spoke on the issue and therefore, the court decision be upheld.    The people of California are not experts in constitutional law and therefore, should not have the right to make that decision.   However, our states crazy intiative process allows bad laws like this and Prop Six, and course my favorite bad  “Three Strikes” law.

In the LA Times, there is a story about a Christian couple that devoted an significant amount of effort to this measure.  The article states the following 

“But when Proposition 8 landed on November’s ballot, the Spring Valley couple did everything they could to ensure that the constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage got passed. They made phone calls. They attended prayer rallies. They fasted for 40 days

For the Ferreiras, as for so many other people motivated to action by Proposition 8, the measure wasn’t just a matter of politics. It was about family, faith and the future of the country.

“I saw it as a crossroads in our country,” said Abel, 55. “I feel like for the sake of our country and our family I had to stand up and be heard.”

The family was relieved when the measure passed on Nov. 4. But since then, gay activists have fiercely protested the outcome, and the California Supreme Court has said it will consider legal challenges to Proposition 8.

The Ferreiras know their struggle isn’t over”

 

 

  

Use Facebook More Productively

The great thing about Facebook is that all of my groups of friends are consolidated on one network.  So learning how to use Facebook effectively for me is very important

Techradar presents a way that Facebook can be used more productively especially at work.  At my work, we have a filter that blocks Facebook so I cannot use the features of Facebook in work setting.   However, Techradar describes how it can be used for team working and add-on application

The team-building aspect of Facebook is accomplished by using groups.  Since the description of the process to create the group is fairly technical, I am going to include an exceprt from the article to describe the process. 

“There are usable productivity tools built right into Facebook’s main interface. One of the best is the Groups feature. This application includes valuable collaboration features like event listing and a full discussion board. They’re ideal for scheduling work and – because they’re online – can be accessed from any computer with Internet access. You’ll also find the usual Facebook stalwarts: a public ‘wall’, posted items board, photo album and news feed.

Any Facebook member can create a group and invite users on their friends list to join. To find the Groups application in Facebook, click the ‘Home’ link to go to your Facebook homepage (rather than your Profile page) and choose ‘Groups’ from the Applications panel. If you can’t see the Groups link, click ‘More’. If you still can’t see it, click ‘Edit’ next to the Applications label and check the full list of installed applications for the Groups app.

When you’ve found the Groups link, click on it to see a page showing groups that your friends belong to – alongside a list of groups you may already belong to. To begin making a new group, just click the ‘+ Create a New Group’ button. A form prompts you to give the group a name, brief description and category. You can also add other information such as an email contact or the group’s geographical location.

At the next stage, you can customise your group’s available applications, upload a profile photo and set privacy levels. It’s all very similar to setting up a new Facebook profile.

Be careful when choosing whether to make your group open, closed or secret. A secret group is desirable for work-related activity, but it won’t show up in search results. A closed group may be the best option, enabling all Facebook users to find the group but requiring administrators to approve membership before a user can see the group’s content.

When you save the changes that you’ve made at this stage, you’ll be prompted to publish the story to your Facebook feed.

The final step is the trickiest. You’ll be prompted to select people from your friends list to join the group. Simply ticking the box next to their name adds them. You can also invite people by email. Either enter their address manually, separating each with a comma, or click the ‘Import email addresses’ link to upload details from your webmail account.

The next area where Facebook can be used is for applications.  There are two applications that the articles suggest for Fonobook and Cagoo Calendars.  Fonobook synchronises your Facebook contacts with Outlook 2003 or 2007.  Cagoo Calendars synchronises with Google Calendar, 30 Boxes and other scheduling services, enabling you to share all of your appointments from all of your calendars with 30 Boxes on Facebook.