All my math is fuzzy.
1> Gas
This says there are 42 gallons in a barrel of oil. At 144 dollars a barrel, that 3.43 a gallon. Sounds like the rest is refining and retail mark up, transport, that kind of thing (and tax of course).
But then it says there are only 23 gallons of petroleum for gasoline in there, which puts gas at 6.26, which it isn't. This says you can get 44 gallons out of 42, which is nice work if you can get it, sound like alcemy to me. If you knew the answers to these simple questions this would be interesting.
2> The Stock Market
The Dow Jones Average is 11,147. 11,147 what? Shares, cookies? Points? Mexico's exchange is 31,975. See? Are they richer? Do they have more because there are a lot of peso to the dollar?
3> Penis Size
This has to be a joke. Look the the Y axis. It says circumference in inches. Did they mean centimeters? The circumference is entire length all the way around. If you took a 7 inch piece of sting, when it's flaccid, and then made it into a circle, that would be one big burrito (is that why the Mexican stock market is bigger?).
4> Pregnancy
Is it 9 months or 10? Seems like 10.
5> Gardening
I've heard all over the place that people are planting more vegitables because of hard economic times. Seed sales increase with bad economics.
Someone said they save $1500 a year with a garden. But in these articles I see people buying wood, making raised beds, maybe even buying topsoil and who know what other stuff. And seeds are not that cheap.
I have a garden. I get vegetables out of it. I do not see much change in food spending. We still buy orange juice and a lot of crap we could live with out. (Okay, also spaghetti... maybe some ice cream but very little... and some coffee, but that's a necessity, and 100 dollars worth of other crap I can't even remember). We would probably be healthier if we spent less because we would have to eat the vegetables and nothing but the vegetables but that is not how it seems to work.
You know what saves a lot of money? Eating the food in your neighbor's garden. And that saves time and leaves enough room in the yard to get a pool.
6> A Pool
Why would anyone in upstate New York get an inground pool for $17,000? You can join the pool down the street for $350 a year family membership. It would take 48 years to pay $17,000, and maintaining a pool isn't free. Plus, all your friends are at the pool and you can drink beer there and the kids can play in the kiddie pool and you make the life guard watch them. Much safer than a pool at home. There are only 3 or 4 months to swim up here anyway.
6 again> Credit Card
Stick your frequent flier miles where the plane don't go. Why should you get a cut on every goddamn transaction? I'm paying straight up cash money.
6A> Property Taxes
Okay, who likes taxes you say? Well, the property tax is particularly grating and terrible and drives me bezerk (and makes me poor). If I own a house worth 300K but only "own" half of it, why do I have to pay all the property taxes? Why shouldn't the bank pay half? And if my net worth is less than the assessed value of my house, which it may be, I am paying tax on my wealth but at a rate higher than 100 per cent while a billionaire with a 35 million dollar house is paying tax on 3.5 per cent of his net worth.
And one town has a shopping mall. The customers come from all the towns in the area but only one town gets the commercial tax and so one town has a lower property tax rate than another. A struggling city with an expensive and difficult school system will have a higher rate than the neighboring rich suburb.
And if you move to a town for it's schools and pay some outrageous property tax you might well have to move out when you retire... not to mention that you will not have a diverse community of young folks with no kids, older people... you get all the same: families. That taxes the tax base more and drives the property tax higher and exacerbates the problem.
Not fair to the poor (in cities with little tax base), not fair to the middle class (who pay a tax of wealth in excess of their own net worth), not fair to farmers (why should a farm pay a tax every year to own land: does a printer pay a tax every year to own a printing press?).
Stupid tax and I have to pay about $1000 a month. I pay more in income tax but I am not complaining about that one (only on what is done with the money afterwards).
The property tax goes for pretty good stuff: school and roads and local institutions. The income tax goes for dumb stuff: war, debt service...
6B> Children
Three? You got to be kidding (see number 4 above).
Well, that will do it for this episode of Will does math.