And all that good stuff - 2011 reflections

As another wondrous year winds down to an end, it is time once again for me to write my insanely long year end reflection blog post to commemorate the glorious year that is about to end in less than eight hours as of this writing (hello run on sentence!) 

First things first, this time of the year is all about people planning their New Year’s resolution to better themselves as a person for the year ahead. Now, I can easily beat the dead horse in rambling about how most resolutions go to die when the second week of January rolls around, but that defeatist attitude is apparently not welcome at a time like this, so I shall not. 

2011 RESOLUTIONS

Instead, I will brag about the enormous success that was my own New Year’s resolutions for 2011. Granted some may call it cheating to only have THREE resolutions to keep, but whatever, do not lay the blame on me for being actually responsible enough to set goals that is somewhat achievable. My advice is instead of having a list of resolutions a mile long (think I saw on the social networks someone working on a list of 50+ (!?)) and being satisfied you will only hit a few in the new year, have a few that you know the likelihood of achieving is great, so that when you do succeed in all of them, it is a much greater satisfaction.

Anyways, here are the thee New Year’s resolution for 2011 that I victoriously accomplished: 

• 1. Blog consistently
• 2. Be able to read Korean script (한굴 hangul) at normal speed
• 3. Stop being lazy - most of the time

sidebar: if you think I am just pulling these out of my ass, I kindly refer you to my  blog post, in which all of the above was proclaimed.

Allow me to elaborate further. If you are reading this right now, you would undoubtedly know that this is a my personal blog. For the year 2011, I wrote a grand total of 42 blog posts (and my posts are not short by any stretch of the imagination). While this may not challenge the output of blog articles of my previous years (a post a day was pretty common back in my Facebook notes days), when accounting for the amount of work and other stuff I had to do, overall I am pretty satisfied with 42 blog posts for the year. Of course I aim to break that record next year (2012 New Year’s resolution #1!)

I happen to have another blog - my photography blog, and that also got updated frequently in 2011 with pictures and articles related to my photographic endeavors. So it is indeed fair to say the 2011 New Year’s resolution of blogging consistently have been quite successful.

As for reading Korean script at a normal pace (I feel like I must reiterate, this is read and read ONLY, does not mean I understand it completely), well it was a just a natural growth process as I continued to watch Korean tv shows. The more I watched, the better I got at it. For sure I could have just completely ignore the Korean and instead read the Chinese subtitles that accompany the videos (Chinese subtitles because my brothers and sisters over in the great nation of China sub the shows usually by the day after it broadcasts in Korea), but why rob myself of the educational opportunity if I don’t at least attempted to learn the orignal language of shows that I watch every week all though the year?

Sidebar: the best thing about Asian television programming as compared to American is that there are no such thing as reruns. There is fresh material and new episodes week after week. Makes you think what kind of bull shit it is that you need to wait months between seasons of shows (or even when they take their usual holiday breaks throughout a season’s run). 

The caveat of “most of the time” that was stipulated in the stop being lazy resolution was that old habits are indeed really hard to die. My entrepreneurship teacher always say that entrepreneurs by nature are lazy, so with that obvious flawed logic I take with me the entitlement that I can be lazy once in a while and everything will still be completely alright. Of course the resolution was to stop being so lazy that it will be impede me in whatever I was trying to accomplish, and on that front I think I did pretty okay. Though It is incredibly hard to quantify and show just how not lazy I was in the year 2011, merely spewing off a list of accomplishments would seem highly narcissistic. But alas resolutions are ultimately for the person himself, so my own satisfaction in a non-lazy 2011 shall suffice.

My emotions in regards to my 2011 New Year’s resolutions can be best summed up by this well known internet meme: 

MUSICALLY SPEAKING

Like most people of my generation (the most awesome generation for sure), I am a big part of the whole music fanaticism and how music is my life kind of thing. 2011 saw my iTunes library swell past the 12,000 mark. While that pales in comparison to the true music packrats of the world, I am still young so eventually I will be in the league of those people because as each year roll past the collection will only swell further.

Having 12,000 plus songs at my finger tip (not in my pocket, because my old 5th generation iPod can’t possibly hold that much songs, even if I compress them to hell) makes for a great personal juke box for the man cave, but that’s about it. I honestly would be lying if I told you I actually listened to each and every song (some haven’t even got one play!). Out of the 12,000 plus songs, only about 1,400 of it gets into the regular rotation. 

Since this blog post is about reflecting on 2011, how to do it for music? Well this year I discovered the wonderful app that is Last.fm. It allowed me to keep track of all the songs I have played for the the entire year, no matter on my Mac, iPod, or iPhone. This newfound convenience and power allowed me to discover just which songs throughout the year have been most played. If music connects with the feelings of a person like we all think it does, then the most played songs of 2011 ought to reflect pretty darn well the overall vibe of my 2011. So here is my top 10 most played song of 2011:

• 1. Owl City - The Saltwater Room
• 2. SHINee - 누난 너무 예뻐 (Replay)
• 3. Girls’ Generation - Echo
• 4. 4minute - Bababa
• 5. SHINee - Hello
• 6. 周杰倫 (Jay Chou) - 她的睫毛 (Her Eyelashes)
• 7. 4minute - Huh
• 8. f(x) - 피노키오 (Danger)
• 9. f(x) - Hot Summer
• 10. 鄧紫棋 (G.E.M.) - All About U 

Just a whole mess of K-pop, two Chinese songs, and surprisingly an American song made it to the top spot.

PHOTOGRAPHY

2011 was a big year for my photography “hobby”, as I easily doubled the amount of the photography I have done in all the past years combined. One big factor was that I finally finished all forms of schooling (for now) back in May so half the year I was much more freed up to pursue photographic endeavors (I mainly do landscapes so having time to travel to different locales was a must). The other big factor was my work. Since March I have been doing marketing stuff for this eco-friendly stationery company called O'BON. There were numerous opportunities at work to utilize my photography skills such as product and model shoots.  

Unfortunately, for much of this year I had to use the same amount of kit I started the year with. I was so hoping I would have a new camera body and few more lenses to mess around with by now. But the whole can’t find a job in this economy for recent college graduates really screwed up the financial situation. But a photographer must soldier on, and by no means was what i already have crappy equipment (I do own the best lens money can by for my particular kind of Canon DSRL). But next year I do hope to save enough money to get at the very least a new (and better) camera body (New Year’s resolution #2!). 

I did get a new lens this year - finally getting a prime lens to go along with my walk around zoom (if you don’t get it by now, a prime lens is one that does not zoom). A new Sigma 50mm prime lens will do wonders for me in low light conditions and most importantly, portraiture! Sadly I did not get this lens until December, and have only gotten the opportunity to use it on one assignment. But I am very excited for the things I will do with it next year. Most of the stuff I have been shooting so far have been landscapes and objects, and I really hope to branch out to shooting people (the only time where it is absolutely okay to shoot people is with a camera. Oh right, New Year’s resolution #3!).

For 2011 I also did the most popular project amongst photographic hobbyist - the 365 challenge. As the name suggest, I must take a photo a day, every day for one whole calendar year. On paper it sounded like a piece of cake, but the discipline required to actually remember and continue take a picture a day was way more than I have ever imagined. Many a days I was dangerously close to forget taking a picture (a few 11.59pm shots was shamelessly accomplished). Hard to imagine that today will be the last day and the end to the project.

I am incredibly happy that I did the 365 challenge, because now I have a set of 365 photographs to look back on and reminisce about the song and dance of 2011. Those set of photographs really becomes sort of like a year book compilation. That is exactly what I plan to do with the photographs - make a book out of them. As I continue to do the project year after year (yes, the project will continue on indefinitely until I physically cannot shoot photos anymore), I will have a bookshelf full of year books, chronicling my life. 

GRADUATION

This year I finally completed my undergraduate education from San Francisco State with a degree in business entrepreneurship. It was perhaps one of the proudest moments of my life (yet) standing up there on stage during the entrepreneurship commencement celebration, giving my thank-you speech. A culmination of two years of the hardest schooling I have ever gone through absolutely paid off in the finest of ways. Most important of which I have a circle of great entrepreneurship friends that I know will keep in touch and hang out with for the longest of time, sharing battle (and success!) stories.

The goal of the entrepreneurship program at SFSU is for everybody that is tough enough to graduate from the program to start their own business. While I still have aspirations of attending MBA graduate school (partly to appease my ultra orthodox Asian parents), I have decided in 2011 to start my business anyways. Because there will most likely be a two year gap between undergrad and grad school, it seemed prudent to start the business now, at an extremely small level, and grow it up slowly but surely. And since my business is mainly photography, I have the ability to keep it on the side and not cost me an exorbitant amount of money. Thus, junction industries was born in 2011.

The ultimate vision of junction industries is to be a digital media company, spanning photography, videography, digital design, and music. But of course that is many years ahead in the future. For now the main focus is photography, as that is that one thing I am most brilliant at (not to mention it is still a one man show at the moment). Like I said, the company will grow very slow and steady from small to hopefully someday enough of a size to fit in a warehouse loft. For now, it is just a photography blog, and a registered .com domain name. At least no one can possibly steal the name from me (knock on wood). 

As previously mentioned, 2011 was a big year for my photography in terms of volume and skill advancement. I also happened to monetize a few projects, and sold a few prints as well. Overall it was pretty satisfactory, because the goal since graduation in May was not to start making money with my photography, but rather doing as much of it as a I can and improve, without the barrier of school to take precious time away from me to do so. But I do want to start monetizing more and more projects and sell quite a few prints next year (New Year’s Resolution #4!). 

SPORTING INTENTIONS

Can’t reflect on the year without my favorite past time (of all time) - sports. I am an avid fan of my local sport teams, especially the San Francisco Giants. 2010 saw them winning it all by taking the World Series Championship, thus for 2011 there was a large amount of expectations for the team to do well and challenge for the title once again.

I have never gone to as many baseball game as I did during the 2011 season of San Francisco Giants baseball. I am too lazy to count right now, but the number of games went to is easily above 20. Anytime the tickets was reasonably cheap, it was to the ballpark I went. For baseball there is nothing quite like being at the park and watching it live (gives some modicum of truth to the traditional 7th inning stretch jingle), and now that I have gone to so many games in a season, I will never go to any less per season for the rest of my life (when possible.)  A very special shout out to the small group of friends that joined me in the fabulous entertainment that is Giants baseball. Let’s do it again in 2012 (New Year’s resolution #5!)

Unfortunately the Giants did not fare so well in 2011. The pitching was still absolutely fantastic, but the offense was just too anemic to give them enough support to win games. The lost of Buster Posey and Freddy Sanchez turned out to be unrecoverable, and towards the end of the year half the team was on the disabled list one way or another (What will forever be known as Black Tuesday). The Giants scored the least amount of runs in the National League, and missed the playoffs after winning the whole thing year before. As a fan it was a really sour note for me because the potential of the team was so great (and tangible, not just some made up hope of a fandom). 2011 season was a spectacular failure, and the great pitching was wasted. 

Still, going to so many games at the ball park was just awesome. Even when the team loses, the margin was so close that the games were for the most part always exciting. 

On the other hand, 2011 was a great season for the San Francisco 49ers, carrying with them a 12-3 record (and NFC West Division title) to the new year as one of the top Super Bowl contenders. It was a complete turn around from the previous decade of losing. New coach Jim Harbaugh was the final piece to the puzzle of a team filled with so many talented players that just needed proper guidance. I was never one of those people that railed on quarterback Alex Smith, and am happy to see him doing so well this season. NFL football Sundays have not been this exciting as they were in 2011 for the longest time.

Nothing like 49ers football in glorious high definition to highlight the weekend. Because unlike last year, I did not go to a live game this year. Hate to say it, but the 49ers’ stadium at Candlestick Park is an absolutely dump (it is the oldest football stadium in the league) and not a pleasant experience (world famous Candlestick weather patterns). No need to pay expensive tickets to see a football game when I get a better view from my couch at home.

AND ALL THAT GOOD STUFF

If there is one thing I take away from 2011, is that the the four pillars of family, friends, person, and work must all be in balance with each other. Meaning you can’t afford to neglect any one of them for the sake of another. I don’t think one can be happy that way, at least not at the stage of life where I am at. Sure you can solely concentrate on one aspect for a significant amount of time, and in some ways you should (some of my pals trying to start a business haven’t got the choice but to invest all their time into it), but please make sure you make it up to the other areas in due time. Especially your family. 

Anyways, 2011 was the best year of my life. That is how it is suppose to be right? I am at the point of my life where every new year should be the better than all the previous. The Chinese have saying during new years - 新年進步 which loosely translates to how you should improve with a new year. That is what I strive to do in 2012 and all the other years beyond it (insert joke about end of the world). 

State of the team - 2011 SF Giants midseason review

The baseball season is now at a third of its way through. The Giants sit comfortably (?) with a 39-33 record, six games above 500. The team is leading the surprising Arizona Diamondbacks by half a game in the NL West. By these statistics alone, the team should consider ourselves extremely lucky to be where they are.

Coming off an incredible world championship run last year, the start of this baseball season was very promising. Practically everybody that was on the championship winning team was back. The great pitching staff that posted historic numbers last September and October was still here. The clutch hitting band of misfits that made up the team last year was back. Rookie of Year winner Buster Posey was ready to stake his claim as the perennial NL all star catcher for the next decade. Miguel Tejada joined the team to rejuvenate himself by returning to the Bay Area. Super rookie first basemen Brandon Belt was ready to be the second coming of Will Clark. All the ingredients was there for a proper title defense.

Oh what a difference two and a half months make. 

The magic is still definitely there with the team. The Giants leads the entire world of baseball with their record in one run games, come from behind wins, and walk-off wins. In fact it is rare to see the Giants win a game where they have led from the start. The constant formula is the team will get behind by a couple of runs, the starting pitcher then will hold it to only a couple of runs, then in the late innings the hitters will finally comeback to tie and take the lead, lastly the bullpen shuts down the opposing team. This has been the formula for the Giant’s success so far this season. 

The pitching staff that looked absolutely rock solid last post season is still present. They are up top in all pitching categories such as ERA and opponent’s batting average. A huge amount of credit goes to the feel good story of the team, Ryan Vogelsong. Barry Zito (our 17 million dollar guy!) was pitching around ineffectively with his 83mph fastball. It was a blessing in disguise when Zito injured himself while fielding. Going to the DL allowed Vogelsong to take his spot and arguably (by stats) became the best pitcher on the team. Needless to say if it is not for the pitching staff, the current Giants team will be only as good as the Houston Astros (yes Houston, they got problem). 

Because the position players that looked so good to augment the great pitching for another title run is now a shamble of what the team started with at the beginning of the season. The beloved Buster Posey (along with defense, handling of the pitching staff, and bat) is done for the season with an ankle blown to pieces at the hands of a dirty play by Marlin’s Scott Cousins. Call me a biased homer, but Cousin had a lane to the plate. He decided instead to just pile drive right into Posey. It was nothing but dirty. It is then only justice then that since that night back in late May, the Marlins have gone 3-22, manager resigned, and Cousins is on the DL with a bad back. 

Another guy lost for the season (more likely than not, let’s be honest) was by far the second best hitter (and likely on his way to a gold glove) on the team in Freddy Sanchez. All due to a freak accident in which his hand slipped while diving for a ball, causing his entire weight to be put on his shoulder socket. What happened after that was not pretty, and all too painful.

The guy that was absolutely raking the ball, the 40 pounds lighter Pablo Sandoval, was lost due to a broken hamate bone (raise your hand if you knew what a hamate bone was before) for some 40 games. Only this past week has he come back to the join the team after surgery and rehab. It looks like it will take a bit for him to acclimate back to the big leagues and resume hitting like he was before he got injured.

Brandon Belt fizzled under pressure at the beginning of the season, and was sent down back to the minors when Cody Ross came back from his injury during spring training. As luck would have it, when Belt was ready again and called up to the team he got beaned by a pitch right on his wrist, causing a micro fracture. He promptly joins his fellow Giants on the disabled list. A list that also includes the clutch Mike Fontenot (pulled his groin.. TWICE) and speedy Darren Ford (pulled his ankle while scoring the game winning run against Oakland)

Being riddled with the injury bug is not an excuse (unless you are the Boston Red Soxs), because the rest of the guys needs to step up. Unfortunately by and large this has not happened. Miguel Tejada did not find his fountain of youth in his bat (take a pitch! try to walk! don’t be an automatic out!), though to give him credit his defense has been stellar at third. Aubrey Huff seems complacent this year after winning the world series, with numbers all around that were much lower than last year’s. Pat Burrell became the king of the useless homeruns (only hitting them during times when it did not matter). With Posey out for the season, the backup catcher Eli Whiteside not only cannot hit, but his fielding is below average.

With Tejada ineffective at short, the Giants fast tracked their promising short stop Brandon Crawford to fill in. While he had some early heroics and plays a terrific short stop, his bat has silenced these past weeks. Can’t really blame the guy as he essentially did not even play AAA ball. The platoon filling in for Freddy Sanchez in the form of Manny Burriss and Bill Hall has so far yield negligible results in the hitting department. 

That being said, there are a couple of bright spots on the team with the hitting. Nate “The Great” Schierholtz seems to come through every time in the clutch, Cody Ross has so far been consistent every since he shaken off the cob webs after coming back form the DL, and Andres Torres is still getting on base and setting the table up for the guys behind him. 

But let’s not kid our selves. The teams’ only weakness, and it is a massive one, is that it cannot hit (and score). The team has an absurd record in its favor when it scores four or more runs. Unfortunately that does not happen all too often. The team has lost plenty of games that was winnable if they could just eke out a few runs. You just cannot ask the pitching to pitch shutouts every time out, because the law of averages in baseball dictates that it is just impossible. 

The current team cannot afford a pitching or defensive mistake, otherwise they have almost no chance of winning the game. Kudos to the pitching staff for not threatening mutiny against the hitters for the ineptitude. 

So what happens going forward? First of all the team needs to be completely healthy. Posey and Sanchez is gone for the season, so forget about them (harsh). Fontenot, Belt, and Ford needs to recover and come back ready to contribute. Especially Belt, since he is the lone backup first baseman on the team, and can spell Huff when he is tired (which is often). Not to mention Belt can play solid defense.

After that, the team needs to start hitting and scoring with some regularity. The main reason the team had its run last year was because the hitting picked up. From June on last year the Giants were definitely not at the bottom of the barrel in terms of hitting (and we smacked quite a few homeruns as well). The team will need that kind of production increase again this year if we are to make the playoffs again. Do you know why the Padres faded last year and Giants took the division? They STOPPED hitting (and a 10 game losing streak in September did not hurt). Giants are in first place now, but if the hitting continues to be lethargic, Arizona will clip us. 

Another thing is the Giants need to find another catcher. There is a reason Eli Whiteside was never a full time starter in ANY level of baseball. His hitting prowess is below the average of major league catchers. On top of that his defense is not all that great to compensate for a limp bat (think I have ran out of fingers to count how many passed balls he had these past weeks). The backup catcher Chris Stewart is not the option either. His defense is much more solid than Whiteside, but his hitting is worse (if that is even possible). There is a reason Stewart has been bounced around from team to team. The team just need a defensively sound catcher that can competitively handle the bat that is on par with the league average. In the NL with no DH, a team just can’t afford to give another automatic out. 

Fans better thank the heavens that the pitching staff has been relatively untouched by the injury bug (discounting Zito). And they will have to remain rock solid not only in the health department but the pitching as well for the team to have any chance. Even if the offense improves, the team is still not going to blow out people on a every night basis.

And of course the magic. It may not be the way the team wants to win all the time, but the whole keep it close and we will come back late to win mentality can carry the team for the rest of the season. It has to give the team confidence (and scare the opposing team to death) knowing that they can comeback and win any game that is close because the pitching staff more often than not will keep it that way. Other than the pitching, it is the strongest notion the team can hang their hopes (and hats) on. 

Here’s to a great remaining 2/3s of the season for the beloved Giants. 

This is where the fun begins

Presented here is my little speech made at the SFSU entrepreneurship class of 2011 graduation celebration on May 20th, 2011. Congrats again to all my classmates!

Thank you Professor. First of all I would like to thank everyone for coming this afternoon and honoring our class with your presence. These past two years have indeed been extremely tough and rewarding at the same time. And to be honest, I’ve always expected to make it to this day. Because for me, once I started this entrepreneurship program, I was absolutely determined to reach the finish line. My only problem was finding the motivation to start. But thankfully I got that shove out of the plane, and here I am!

Of course, a big thanks goes out to Professor Gaglio. To quote my classmate Lee, this class changed my life. I knew you were a person to be reckon with when I saw the 30 page syllabus that was handed out on the first day of the first class. Little did we know, that was the only piece of written instruction for the rest of the semester! Professor, your hands off approach made the learning that much deeper, because we were forced to make mistakes. That being said, the workload of teaching an entire concentration by yourself must have been tremendous, and I truly appreciate what you have done for us. Thank you for giving me a college education that was many, many times over what I paid for tuition.

My parents. Sorry everyone but I am going to do this in Chinese: <Chinese> Mom, dad, thanks for the support throughout the 23 years. I will not throw away all the hope you have place in me. I am up here today because you two. Thank you. </Chinese>

To my close friends that have made it here this afternoon, thanks for supporting me throughout the years. All the chats, debates, ball games, food runs, movie nights, trips, arguments, and other various hijinks we have reminded me that I do have a life outside of entrepreneurship.

Last but last least, my beloved classmates. We did it! We finally achieved the American dream of being a college graduate with a mountain of debt. It has been an honor to go through the entrepreneurship program with you guys. I have high respect for each and everyone of you because we all know that it takes a special person to make it here today. Thank you for the support, the laughs, the learning, and most importantly, the late nights at the library annex. Please keep in touch, because not only are we the strongest network we have, but I also have photography services to sell to all of you. 

I would like to end by saying this to my classmates: its time to jump out of the plane - there is no going back. Because this is where the fun begins.

Thank you.  

Proposal: how to fix the U.S. budget

Right... like that is going to happen. You know I don't even know why the US government refers to it's budget as a "budget" - everybody knows the spending will be much more than the income! As a business major I have been taught throughout the five years in the program that budgets are suppose to be balanced (not too hard right California?), meaning the outflows have to equal the inflows. No such luck with the US government, where not since the Clinton era have we even seen a positive balance between spending and income.

But what I am saying? Deficit spending is THE american tradition. Hell I have amassed a few credit cards to attest to that fact (all paid off every month in a very Chinese manner mind you). Well clearly the problem is that the US don't pay off the money it spends on credit (except for that interest payment to the "Federal" reserve, which is mighty fat), not because it does not want to, because they can't! The current government as a business don't make a profit! Never mind the fact that the body of governance in this sovereign nation leaves all its monetary matters to a PRIVATE entity (yes, THAT "Federal" reserve). Guess who is making all the profits then? Bankers and Lawyers.

No I am not going to talk about a private entity having more power than an elected government (it is thesis worthy), that is the not the point of today's post. As anybody that watch some glimmer of news knows, the US government is once again deadlock into passing a budget. The rhetoric is plastered all over the place - Liberals wants to do more spending and taxing, while the GOP wants to cut social programs and taxes for the rich and corporations (spending without taxing!). The following is my opinion on what congress should do regarding the budget.

So what happens when you are spending more than you earn (you declare bankruptcy!)? A sane person or business will naturally cut back on the spending and increase in the income to I don't know, BALANCE things out. Inevitably, congress will need to start looking at the US spending and start making some cuts, especially those that takes up a big chunk of the pie (yes California you have set a wonderful example). And the obvious first choice is...

Defense! Defense spending MUST be cut. Why are we still in the Middle East? Are we even winning? Bin Laden is most likely in Pakistan, and man I am telling you the US is going to go there and hunt... oh wait Pakistan has nukes okay never mind. I mean do you actually think US would actually invade Iraq if Sadam actually HAD nuclear weapons? All the WMD talk by the Bush administration was just smoke screen (probably the abili for W to finish the job his father started). As long as your country have nuclear weapons, the US will not dare to invade you! US is not really going to tolerate Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and all his farce if IRAN is not enriching their own uranium. The reason we and the rest of the world is turning a blind side to the human tragedy that is North Korea is because - you guess it, they have nukes. Ghadafi over at Libya (which is in the AFRICA and NOT the Middle East people, google maps is the best) is doing it wrong - should have gotten nukes then UN won't dare to impose a no fly zone. 

But come to think of it, what the heck have we been doing since World War II? What the heck is the US fighting for? Sure WWII had two nations threatening to imperialize the world, but what comes after that? Korea is still a divided country (thank you China), with the South being held hostage (next time ROK, you should think about building your capital city a little bit farther than 20 miles from the border you share with your worse enemy). Vietnam was a disaster. First gulf war did nothing. And now we have been stuck in Afghanistan and Iraq for close to a decade with no results. What the heck is the end game? Spreading democracy? What, is the UN chopped liver? the US have better things to worry about at home. Besides, the resent uprisings in the Middle East have proved that democracy is alive and well without the intervention of the US. STOP acting like you are the last bastion of democracy. 

So yes, pull out of Iraq and Afghanistan, and let the locals decide for themselves. The surrounding nations (and the Arab League) will see to it that whatever goes on inside will not affect anybody outside the borders. Besides, those two countries don't have nukes, so breath easy US. Don't give me the fighting terrorism rhetoric, as clearly the CIA and your local TSA agent is doing a fine job. As a matter of fact, pull our troops out of their stations in foreign countries. Get the fuck out of the likes of Japan (Okinawans hate you!), South Korea (right, because having troops there will prevent the North from provoking the South.. oh wait), and Germany (nobody received the memo that Hitler is dead and the wall already fell?). Cut back on manpower, while still invest in technological R&D to stay ahead of the game. Let most of the current troops retired, educate themselves (G.I. Bill!), and contribute to society in a more productive manner (because that my friends will raise the GDP).

Next on the list of cuts is everybody's favorite dead horse to beat on - Social Security and Medicare. First and foremost, it must be made clear that these are NOT entitlements (sorry GOP). These are setup to be insurance trusts - meaning they are self sustaining, and theoretically SHOULD NOT be part of any government's spending budget. In fact up until now Social Security inflows from taxation is actually HIGHER than the amount of premiums it pays out. You know that sizable amount we lose to those two programs in our paychecks every month? Well Social Security and Medicare is suppose to then invest that money into a portfolio of many different things to essentially "grow" the money. That is how these entities sustain themselves. They should not require any government money AT ALL. 

Well turns out bonds put out by the Treasury are also considered investment opportunities in the eyes of Social Security and Medicare. Guess what happens when the government is spending more than it takes in, and are looking for avenues to cover that deficit. That's right, being federal entities they are essentially impelled to invest the majority of their portfolio in government bonds. Because it is just too easy - like borrowing money from your parents. But hey this means that not only is the US borrowing heavily from China, but it is also heavily borrowing from you the working man! The only reason Social Security and Medicare is part of the spending budget is because both are government entities, nothing more. If separated out they are both self sustainable (for the time being anyways) with actual SURPLUSES,

Not honestly going to pare down Social Security and Medicare are you GOP? Again, they ARE NOT entitlements. Cutting down these programs while still borrowing from it is essentially robbing the general public! Now do those programs need reform in order to have long term sustainability? Of course (isn't the joke that my generation won't have any Social Security?)! Stop forcing them to buy treasury stock, let them invest in a diverse portfolio (like banks!) with much higher growth potential, and the problem will fix itself. But you say wait, people are living longer and longer! Social Security in the future cannot possible cover the ever enlarging retirement population (sorry Florida). The problem is not the amount of people, the problem is the COST to sustain them. And the number one cost would be - MEDICAL! Health care cost has sky rocketed in a rate much faster than increase in income. I am willing to bet a lot of it is artificial (hello big corporate drug and insurance companies!). Congress should do something about that, and I believe everything will take care of itself.

I don't think I need to mention at length about fixing the American epidemic of being FAT and its link to medical cost. 

Last thing I want to talk about in terms of cutting spending, is idiotic government subsidies and corporate tax loopholes. Why are we subsidizing things like corn? In fact, while do we have farming subsidies at all? I understand its history, but there is no reason we should still have them in this day and age. Listen, we have enough food in the US. In fact we have a SURPLUS of food (probably the only thing we have a surplus of). That on top of the fact we are a nation of eating too much! So lets make this clear - we make enough food to feed ourselves, and yet we still have subsidies to encourage food production? I understand the reason for keeping the prices low for the general public, but honestly how bad is it going to get if subsidies are done with? People will still buy gas at $4 dollars a gallon! The need for food is inelastic.

Cut subsidies to foreign countries as well. I am pretty sure it is kind of sort of not kosher under WTO regulations. But nonetheless, worry about the home first before helping other people. You don't see corporations making donations when they are not making profits (shareholders won't like that). 

So corporate tax loopholes. This one is easy to figure out. Just go look up the profits for companies like Exxon and General Electric and compare that to the amount of taxes they actually paid. It is an outrage when the US is home to many corporations with revenue that rivals some nation's GDP, yet the US is still crying poor? These corporations should be properly taxed! If a person made $250,000 a year and 33% percent of that went to taxes, there should be no reason that a corporation will have to pay the same rate, if not MORE. Come on congress, the US GDP is still plenty robust. FIx our tax codes, tax our production correctly, and just maybe we will have enough income to support our extravagant spending.

Speaking of taxes, get rid of the Bush tax cuts. How can a nation possibly justify a tax cut when we are in such debt with a negative difference between spending and income? I understand when Bush did it, because the Clinton year brought budget surplus - Bush could not have possibly predicted that after the tax cuts the nation will be fighting two war simultaneously and go through one of the worst economic meltdowns since the great depression. But to extend the Bush tax cuts while we don't have enough money? I don't like paying taxes as much as the person next to me, but since we are a nation of entitlements (but we are not socialist nor communist, no, NEVER), that money have to come from somewhere. I don't see how raising taxes back to pre Bush levels will somehow stop people from functioning as usual. 

So yes, cut spending and raise taxes. Because you the government have no choice when a private entity controls your entire money supply, and whom you owe A LOT of money to.