"Checkered Floor"

1. Bill Awards
Zero Academy Awards time for me last night.
And the Oscar goes to... www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/82/nominees.html

Of the "Best Picture" nominees that I saw, here's my ranking:
  1. "Up in the Air" 4 bill-stars
  2. "District 9" 4 bill-stars
  3. "Up" 3 bill-stars (barely)
  4. "Avatar" 2 bill-stars (barely)
Of course, "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" was a 5 bill-star effort, so there. Ha!

I'm glad "The Dude" won for Best Actor, and "Crazy Heart" won best song with "The Weary Kind". Excellent!

2. Forbes Shape

QOTD
"One state retiree, 49 years old, paid, over the course of his entire career, a total of $124,000 toward his retirement pension and health benefits. What will we pay him? $3.3 million in pension payments over his life and nearly $500,000 for health care benefits--a total of $3.8 million on a $120,000 investment. Is that fair?"
- Chris Christie, gov of New Jersey, source
Steve Forbes' outstanding article on the New Jersey state government budget and what new governor, Chris Christie, is doing to fix it.

The Shape of Things to Come

Here's the 2nd (stupefying) anecdote from the article.

QOTD2
"A retired teacher paid $62,000 toward her pension and nothing, yes nothing, for full family medical, dental and vision coverage over her entire career. What will we pay her? $1.4 million in pension benefits and another $215,000 in health care benefit premiums over her lifetime. Is it 'fair' for all of us and our children to have to pay for this excess?"
- Gov Christie on Jersey budget woes
Christie uses the term "fair".
I dislike it.
  1. These teachers and state employees just signed up for the deal they were offered.
  2. The term is inflammatory, only used to appeal to the emotions.
Of course, fair/unfair/whatever are the modus operandi of the left... but to get things fixed in Jersey, maybe it's worth using this crappy tactic.

This is the same setup we find in many programs: social security, medicare, etc.
Many (most) people get more out than they put in, but the price is risk... you're name isn't on the money, so some pol some day might come saying that your deal is not "fair".

OK, last QOTD from Crazy Heart's winning song.

QOTD3
"And this ain't no place
To fall behind
Pick up your crazy heart
And give it one more try"
- "Weary Kind" lyrics from "Crazy Heart"
weary kind... yow, bill

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