Werner's Rotten Pill: October 2009

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Three New Navy Ships (Collected from the Internet)

USS RONALD REAGAN

Seeing it next to the Arizona Memorial really puts its size into perspective... ENORMOUS!

When the Bridge pipes ' Man the Rail' there is a lot of rail to man on this monster: shoulder to shoulder, around 4...5 acres. Her displacement is about 100,000 tons with full complement...

Capability

Top speed exceeds 30 knots, powered by two nuclear reactors that can operate for more than 20 years without refueling

1. Expected to operate in the fleet for about 50 years

2. Carries over 80 combat aircraft

3. Three arresting cables can stop a 28-ton aircraft going 150 miles per hour in less than 400 feet

Size

1. Towers 20 stories above the waterline

2. 1092 feet long; nearly as long as the Empire State Building is tall

3.. Flight deck covers 4.5 acres

4. 4 bronze propellers, each 21 feet across, weighing 66,200 pounds

5. 2 rudders, each 29 by 22 feet and weighing 50 tons

6. 4 high speed aircraft elevators, each over 4,000 square feet

Capacity

1. Home to about 6,000 Navy personnel

2. Carries enough food and supplies to operate for 90 days

3. 18,150 meals served daily

4. Distillation plants provide 400,000 gallons of fresh water from sea water daily, enough for 2,000 homes

5. Nearly 30,000 light fixtures and 1,325 miles of cable and wiring 1,400 telephones

6. 14,000 pillowcases and 28,000 sheets

7. Costs the Navy approximately $250,000 per day for pier side operation

8. Costs the Navy approximately $25 million per day for underway operations (Sailor's salaries included).

USS BILL CLINTON

The USS William Jefferson Clinton (CVS1) set sail today from its home port of Vancouver , BC

The ship is the first of its kind in the Navy and is a standing legacy to President Bill Clinton 'for his foresight in military budget cuts' and his conduct while holding the (formerly dignified) office of President.

The ship is constructed nearly entirely from recycled aluminum and is completely solar powered with a top speed of 5 knots.
It boasts an arsenal comprised of one (unarmed) F14 Tomcat or one (unarmed) F18 Hornet aircraft which, although they cannot be launched on the 100foot flight deck, form a very menacing presence.

As a standing order there are no firearms allowed on board.

This crew, like the crew aboard the USS Jimmy Carter, is specially trained to avoid conflicts and appease any and all enemies of the United States at all costs.

An onboard Type One DNC Universal Translator can send out messages of apology in any language to anyone who may find America offensive. The number of apologies are limitless and though some may seem hollow and disingenuous, the Navy advises all apologies will sound very sincere.

In times of conflict, the USS Clinton has orders to seek refuge in Canada.

USS BARACK OBAMA

Details are as vague as his past, his economic policies and his credentials to lead.

But don't you worry........he has a plan!

Thursday, October 22, 2009

If Obama and his people were honest... (new and improved version!)

...he would be attaching execs salaries to balance sheets (company growth), not to stock values, or fixing a limit for the salaries. And instead of regulating salaries, he should be paying more attention to the unemployment rates.

This attitude encapsulates the worst of the worst of this crisis. But hold on a minute, please. Perhaps some people would disagree pointing out that there shouldn't be limits for rewarding the talent. But, who on earth would think the values of stocks would be skyrocketing forever? (Economists in the late 80's, the 90's and early 00's, the ones that sold the notion that it would be better to attach exec salaries and bonuses to stock perfomances - and specially Enron execs, those didn't believe in free markets or capitalism but economical and social darwinism-).

Balance sheets don't grow forever, either. But they rise slower and steadier than stocks. They do not tend to fall unexpectedly, after some political event or low market expectations. Hey, assets do not tend to dissappear right after the market crashes! A few exceptions: when the assets are stocks and bonds precisely, cooked accounting books (outright deceit) or stupid notions like mark-to-market accounting. The latter concept alone throws the accounting principle of conservadurism (not to mention the common sense): in everyday words, it is prudent to register a potential loss, but not to register a potential (and not earned) profit.

That said, what Dr. sipmac means is, this time somewhat agrees with Obama. Exec salaries and bonuses are tied up to completely irrational expectations. But ironically, Keynes never have been so utterly wrong. Long term thinking matters. Only short term thinking could sustain for so much time (ironically, again) those irrational expectations. But cutting salaries to the bone in the name of "social justice"? Plain demagoguery. You can't attract the best minds for jobs like these just for peanuts and beer money.

Company growth is a rational way to fix executive level salaries. The more you think about it, the more natural it looks. Balance sheets are the best way to measure the company growth.

It's incredible no one talks about this in the current crisis. Again, remunerations must be, more than fixed or regulated, corrected. I like that term better. The beneficiaries of this insane system will never agree to regulate themselves (It's so much money...). The market should have ended this anomaly, and in a way, it did: it crashed. But nobody realizes it this way. So, it looks fair that this time the goverment should meddle into this particular affair. But again, Obama's "social justice" attitude encapsulates the worst of the worst of this crisis. It's about human nature: absolutely nobody wants draconian pay cuts. Not even Hollywood stars.

Friday, October 9, 2009

43 Things Results - You May Want to Try!

I took the 43 Things Personality Quiz and found out I'm a

Lifelong Learning Healthy Builder