Chanoko Mtn. Bike Duathlon #3
Granite Bay, CA
March 12, 2005
01:42:16
Official Results

An Unflattering Comparison: A Play In One Act

ACT ONE
SCENE opens with ME passing by HOUSE. It is a warm night, and music pours through the windows.
ME: What? That's not Har Mar Superstar, is it?
BEAT
ME: Oh, wait. That's Justin Timberlake.
FIN

Ten Six Gay Things I Like v.2

1. You know that song by Kylie Minogue that they always play at the gym? The one where she says if you don't give her what she needs she's going out on the dancefloor to get it? Yeah, that one. I can't remember what it's called or which album it was on. But I do know it was either on that one album she had or the other one.

2. Moopia. Can't get enough of that stuff. OK, so it's really not called moopia. It's called "marabou," which is actually a kind of stork. Feather boas are made of marabou (or more likely, artificial marabou product). But I can't ever remember the word "marabou." So I call it moopia. And now that I think about it, I really don't like marabou. I just like to say "moopia."

3. Candles. Because they flicker.

4. Rufus Wainwright (pre-rehab).

5. Lavender. I can take or leave the color. The plant (especially when in bloom) is nice enough. It's the scent that I really dig.

6. - 9. [Reserved for future use]

10. Dudes.

Click here for an interesting article on the Social Security privatization debate.

The article questions the privatization proponents' claim that, based on historical data, the stock market will return a post-inflation rate of 6.5% over the long term. The article's thesis is that if the rate of return was so certain, the financial services industry would have created financial instruments that invest in the stock market and guarantee a rate of return for investors. However, no such financial instrument exists. Regardless of what the financial services industry assumes the stock market rate of return is, they are unwilling to guarantee that return.

At this point, it seems clear to me that Social Security isn't broke, so it's interesting that the privatization proponents still argue that it is. I think there are plenty of other arguments that they can make:

1. Private accounts will, for most people, provide a higher rate of return than the "main fund" Social Security program.
2. Private accounts will boost the financial services industry by increasing the total value of privately-managed investment dollars.
3. Social Security is effectively a payroll tax, and creating private accounts is one way to reduce the effective federal tax rate.
4. The government should reward entrepreneurial behavior by reducing the federal retirement safety net.

I'm not sure that the arguments convince me, but I think they are what we ought to be debating.

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Jukebox From Hell: "Up Where We Belong," by Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes