With the current financial crisis many people blame Wall Street and the “greed” factor for the fact that the economy seems to be hitting the wall. However, that’s only part of the picture. America has been living on the financial edge for quite some time. The federal government has accumulated $52,700,000,000,000 Dollars of dept and committed financial obligations, roughly US$455,000 for every household. The average household income is about 1/10 of that.
So it’s time to save some cash. It has gotten so bad that, that more and more people are trying to create more awareness and do something about it. There is even a movie about it, supported by people like investor Warren Buffett.
This is a website I wanted to feature for a long time. In case you have not checked out Ted.com yet, you should definitely do that.There are some awesome talks and ideas for you to watch.
TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become ever broader. The annual conference now brings together the world’s most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes).
Here is one on the more entertaining side, but very fascinating and simply amazing from a Math perspective. In “MatheMagic”, in a lively show, mathemagician Arthur Benjamin races a team of calculators to figure out 3-digit squares, solves another massive mental equation and guesses a few birthdays. How does he do it? He’ll tell you. Sit back and enjoy:
Oooops, who would have thought it would take me another month to get back here. Well, here is my excuse. My dad went into intensive care in the hospital, and I quickly jumped over to Germany to visit and take care of him for a while. Yes, of course, there is Internet in Germany as well, but I just was not in the mood.
Despite that, the situation in the hospital required some attention. Not that the hospitals are not well equipped, but there is something to say to the fact that hospitals in Germany are vastly understaffed these days. It was an eye opener, and will result in another blog post soon. Anyway, I am back, so expect some more content soon.
Yesterday on my way home I listened to the NPR radio show “fresh air” hosted by Terry Gross. Financial reporter and New York Times columnist Gretchen Morgenson was there for an interview about the current financial crisis on Wall Street and why it happened, who did it, what happened, where the impact can be seen and felt, how it came to where we are and how it might be solved, and whether that could be real relieve or not.
I have to say, after watching Cramer for a few days in a row now, reading the WSJ, and digging through various sites on the Internet, I thought this was probably the best summary I have heard so far. I highly encourage you to spend the 40 minutes and listen to the interview, as the $700 billion bailout come out of your pocket if you are here in the U.S. and the crisis has most likely affected you already, no matter where you are.
