the tindog coffeehouse

I’m a little stressed right now.

In fact, truth be told, I’m pretty stressed most of the time. Usually about work or finances or my insanely long commute or the $2000 in medical bills I still owe from when I broke my leg and spent three days in the hospital.

Of course, I’m not alone. You’re stressed, too, admit it. Everyone is. It’s unavoidable. Stress is a by-product of modern-day life in America, and it’s largely caused by one thing: fear. Whole industries are built around this fact. Take the news media, for example. It used to be that the role of the media was to report the news. These days, though, it’s all about inciting fear in order to boost ratings. Think about it. When was the last time you heard a news anchor say, “Coming up, a new report shows no significant link between jet skiing and lung cancer.” No, instead it’s more like, “Coming up, why you’re going to die tomorrow unless you watch our news broadcast right this second. Seriously, YOU’RE GONNA DIE, PEOPLE!”

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Source.

Last month I pointed out how The Dallas Morning News told us that Texas had simultaneously both gained and lost jobs.

Now we get the sequel.

First, we find out that Texas employers hired 41,700 new employees in October (a number almost identical to the jobs lost a month before). But then in another article (also from the DMN), we find out that Dallas-Fort Worth “lost about 60,000 jobs in October compared to a year earlier.” Both stats, conveniently, come from the Texas Workforce Commission.

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The Dallas Morning News would like you to know that 1100 jobs in Texas have either been saved or created because of federal stimulus money. Hooray! They would also like you to know that Texas lost 44,700 jobs in September.

Wait, wha?

Have we gained jobs or haven’t we?

See, this is why you should never let politicians do math.

Previously:
‘Stimulus’ spending could cost Texas 171,900 jobs

From Time:

What’s more embarrassing: That 44% of the U.S. thinks Jon Stewart is America’s most trusted newscaster or that Iowa thinks Katie Couric is?

A couple of interesting posts from über-blog Boing Boing on the economy:

First, a sobering look at the cost of the recent government bailouts, which have exceeded $4.6 trillion if the Citigroup bailout is included. (Original blog post here.)

Crunching the inflation adjusted numbers, we find the bailout has cost more than all of these big budget government expenditures – combined:

• Marshall Plan: Cost: $12.7 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $115.3 billion
• Louisiana Purchase: Cost: $15 million, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $217 billion
• Race to the Moon: Cost: $36.4 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $237 billion
• S&L Crisis: Cost: $153 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $256 billion
• Korean War: Cost: $54 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $454 billion
• The New Deal: Cost: $32 billion (Est), Inflation Adjusted Cost: $500 billion (Est)
• Invasion of Iraq: Cost: $551b, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $597 billion
• Vietnam War: Cost: $111 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $698 billion
• NASA: Cost: $416.7 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $851.2 billion

TOTAL: $3.92 trillion

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