Finally we have bipartisan support for something! All of the presidential candidates from both parties have a stimulus plan for the economy. Nobody has come out against a tax rebate. Maybe I am stupid but doesn't giving everybody money make our national deficit much bigger? Are we cutting spending in the military, welfare, farm subsidies and earmarks? If not, where are all these money coming from? Wouldn't this cause the dollar to devaluate further? By going deeper into debt, wouldn't that mean more of our treasury bonds will be owned by countries like China? It seems like yesterday everybody says that we should save more and not go so far into debt. Now the government is encouraging us to spend more.

I know the theory is that people get the rebate, spend it and get the economy moving and then there will be more taxes collected etc. I am not sure this will work even if the money is delivered to people quickly. I for one will deposit my rebate check in the bank. I don't have anything that I need the buy right now and so why I should I spend it. I think there are a lot of people who would do the same. I think this is part of the economic cycle and we will naturally get out of the recession in due time. Maybe 2 to 3 years. We don't have a disaster situation as in the 1920's. The world economy is basically sound. The subprime mortgage problem that ignited this mess will correct itself. As people lose their houses, the people who had been shut out by the obscene price increases in the past few years will jump in and buy. The people who were not greedy and were patient will benefit. The economic engine will move again.

This is an election year so all the politicians will be for a stimulus deal. It is not a long term solution for the challenges of our economy in the future. We should be looking at the factors that determine the economic status of our children and grandchildren, like education and energy policies. Instead of tightening our belt, we look for short term gratifications from our politicians. Well. we get what we asked for.

Taking a break from the election, I am turning to the Olympics. I am thinking of applying to be the consultant for the Chinese Olympic team. I would apply to the U.S. team but I think they will mistake me for Norm Chow and reject my application. China is anxious to beat the U.S. in the gold medal count this summer and they need a person who understands U.S. sports to help them achieve their goal. Before you call me a traitor, remember that Tommy Lasorda, Muhammed Ali and Lebron James have gone over to China to help their athletes. Del Harris was the coach of the Chinese basketball team in Athens. You wouldn't call any of these people traitors, would you?

First I would help the Chinese baseball team which is way behind Taiwan, Japan, Korea and of course the U.S. I would give the hitters the same flaxseed that Barry Bonds used. This will lead to bigger heads, arms and shoulders right away. They will be hitting homeruns in no time. I will inject the pitchers with lidocaine and B12 vitamins and right away they will throw like Roger Clemens. No use to exercise your hands in rice as Clemens claimed he had done. This does not work since the Chinese have put their hands in rice for thousands of years without producing one decent pitcher.

Even with Yao Ming the Chinese can't beat the Americans in basketball. So I will suggest that a certain former NBA referee be hired for the Olympics and I will try to hook him on mahjong. Just be sure he refs the Chinese games.

Track and field is another sport that China can't compete in with the exception of Lu Xiang. So I will bring the vitamins that Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery used to use. In no time the Chinese will be contenders in the sprints.

China is good at table tennis but not in tennis. To improve their chances in this sport I will bring with me the friends of Nikolai Davydenko to the Games and have them contact the opponents of the Chinese players. It would not matter if you lose the first set, people will still bet on you!

In football or as we call soccer here in the U.S., Chinas is not competitive. But of course that is because the final is determined by elimination rounds. I will change the format where the finalists are determined by the BCS as in American college football. I will teach coaches and writers to vote the proper way. The computers in the Olympic is already being run by a Chinese company and so the other half of the equation is no problem. China is thus guaranteed a spot in the championship Rice Bowl.

There are other ideas I have that I don't have time to mention. But all is not a lost cause for the U.S. if I help China. When I return I will have the secret recipe of worm and fungus concoction that helped the Chinese women set several long distance running records years ago. I can produce this "tea" for American athletes upon my return. The secret vitamin shots of the former USSR and East Germany will also be available. American females will break all kind of records in London 4 years from now. My dermatologists friends will also thank me for the increase in acne and hirsutism among female athletes as a result. So it is win, win situation for everybody!

Even though I won't vote Republican this year I am turning my attention to the Republicans this week because they have the only primary. The Democrats have decided to ignore the Mich primay because it was moved up without the party's consent. I think that is unfair. It would have been interesting to see Clinton and Obama slug it out there after they took turns upsetting each other in Iowa and New Hampshire. But we will have to wait till South Carolina and Nevada.

In Mich. we have Romney vs. McCain in a very important state for both. McCain needs the momentum to continue afte New Hampshire and Romney need to get a win after 2 disappointing 2nd place finishes. Iraq is not a big issue here. The big issue is the economy. With high unemployment rate Mich may be a forecasting state for the general election. Remember in 92 the first Bush was expected to win reelection easily after winning the first Iraq war decisively. But the economy sunk him. It is the economy, stupid--that was the thing that concerned the voters the most. It was believed a few months ago that with the war going badly and Bush's approval ratings so low that the Democrats would win in 08 easily. But given that the surge has given Bush some good news and the possibility of the recession, the economy will probably dominate the debate soon. Unfortunately for the Republicans they are in the White House now and so will also get most of the blame for the economy if it gets worse. So the Democrats are still going to win but the economy will have more to do with who gets nominated than the war.

Eight years ago I wanted McCain for president. To me he is among the most honest of the politicians, which may not be saying much but is still important. He is one of the few that can bring together Democrats and Republicans. Thus the endorsement from Joe Liberman. The reasons why I won't vote for him this year are that he is reaching more to extreme conservatives who are not tolerant, his wrong ideas about the war, and the lack of judgment he showed when he walked the streets of Baghdad and declared it safe while wearing a bullet-proof jacket, with armed guards and helicopters protecting him. All these show me that he is losing it. But if I am still in Mich I would vote for him over Romney. Neither have any specific ideas on how to turn around the economy. Of course it is entreprenuers who create jobs not presidents. But both say that they are going to create jobs. How exactly? At least McCain is being brutally honest when he says that most of the jobs lost are not coming back to Mich. Workers will have to learn new skills to compete. Romney, on the other hand, is just pandering. He says that he will fight for every job. But how? It is just rhetoric and dishonesty. So I will root for McCain to get the Republican nomination.

Been having trouble with the computer and so have not written for a long time. Saw the big debate last night on ABC. It was entertaining with both parties involved. On the Republican side I only like Ron Paul. His libertarian views were impressive. He is obviously not going to win but at least he has stayed around longer than my Democratic favorite Joe Biden. The other 5 Republicans are all for the war which is amazing given the losses and the fact that it has no benefit whatsoever for the U.S. Paul is the only one who realizes that while there are always bad guys in the world, by doing the wrong things we are enabling them to recruit people who otherwise had no beef with us. Unless Paul is the Republican nominee I will vote Democratic this year no matter who their nominee is.

This bring up the fact that Clinton may not be the nominee. Obama has the momentum and while I thought Edwards did the best in the debate, Obama did all right as he was not hurt by Clinton's attacks. Edwards was trying to help Obama eliminate Clinton and then try to win a two man contest. This strategy helps Obama and if it works will hand the nomination to Obama. Bill Richardson was absolutely terrible. How in the world Biden finished behind this guy? With Biden out I am going with Obama. I still have trouble with his inexperience but as I said before since Brzynski endorsed him he probably has a good understanding of foreign policy. Also Bill Bradley is about to endorse him and I have respect for Bradley's intelligence. So I think that despite his youth Obama may do all right.