This is the Lincoln Reflecting Pool in Washington DC, a treasured landmark seen in many iconic images and films. The mad king had it drained so that the bottom could be painted blue, adding an over-saturated “ocean” color.
This is the Lincoln Reflecting Pool in Washington DC, a treasured landmark seen in many iconic images and films. The mad king had it drained so that the bottom could be painted blue, adding an over-saturated “ocean” color.


Social security is not an investment at all. It’s young people giving money to old people.
For a while, the country didn’t have very many old people, so some of the young-people tax went into the general budget (through purchase of US Treasury bills). Now there’s too many old people, and you can bet that the general budget won’t be giving them anything.


Wonder if they’ll unblock Infowars, now that it’s The Onion.


News loves to talk about Trump’s 33% approval rating, but that is 66% of the GOP. Add on some people leaving the GOP over the pedo-issue, the war-issue, or the grift-issue, and Trump should do well in primaries. Terrible in the general, but good in primary.
Just gotta watch out for 2020 republicans running as 2026 democrats.
Right: SSA buys a treasury bill, and congress gets to treat that as income for the general budget. For a long time, SSA was the largest holder of US debt. Their surplus has been falling, while the Federal Reserve has bought up tons of Treasuries every time there’s an economic crisis and have now eclipsed SSA. Fed holds about $4.5T, while Japan holds barely $1.2T
Whether you think of these inter-governmental loans as “investments,” is probably a matter of where you fall on pedantry. If I take a loan from my 401k for down payment on a house, I don’t think of that as “investing” my 401k in the house.