How Republicans Are Holding You, And America, Hostage

Debt is bad. We all know that, right? That's why your parents always tell you to pay down your credit cards, why Free Credit Score Dot Com commercials warn you won't get that car of your dreams. Debt leads to losing everything you own, ending only in suicide or starvation.

So it stands to reason that debt is also bad for America. If the deficit grows, the future of America should be just as bleak, ending in the break-up of the United States into tiny, feudal kingdoms, ruled by armed thugs wearing spike studded football shoulder pads driving around in flame-throwing motorcycles.

So why, good Americans, would we raise the "debt ceiling" without first cutting spending? Republicans, good stewards of our economy who have never, ever increased the national debt, ever, ever ever, are asking that question. And they're also answering that question, refusing to raise the debt ceiling unless austere measures are taken by those out-of-control Democrats.

There's just one problem.

The debt ceiling is not the same thing as the national debt.

Let that marinate for a moment. "National Debt" and "Debt Ceiling" both have the word "Debt" in it, so to an unintelligent person, they may look the same. But they're not.

"National Debt" is how much we're in the hole. "Debt Ceiling" is how much we're allowed to borrow.

While a higher debt ceiling means more borrowing, and therefore, a higher national debt, this DOES NOT MEAN THAT KEEPING THE DEBT CEILING AS IT IS REDUCES THE NATIONAL DEBT OR KEEPS IT THE SAME.

In fact, it actually causes the opposite to happen.

The U.S. is at the debt limit now. And that means it can no longer borrow money. We've established that the government now runs a deficit, and has very large debt. So if it can no longer borrow money, that means it can no longer pay its bills.

According to Slate:

The Treasury would no longer be able to issue new bonds, meaning that the United States would eventually start failing to pay its bills (like Social Security payments) and to service its outstanding debt (paying bondholders interest). The world bond market would likely panic, raising borrowing costs for all individuals and businesses. Moreover, the United States' borrowing costs would never fall as low again—investors would never fully trust the United States to pay back what it promises.

That's just the first stage. Then the stock market collapses to Great Depression levels. Millions are laid off overnight. The U.S. is no longer the world's superpower. We're Greece.

In other words, the apocalypse happens now.

With businesses failing and millions out of work, the U.S. tax base shrinks. Not only can the government not afford to pay anybody, now, it doesn't even have the money to keep the lights on in the Capitol building.

The United States breaks up into tiny, feudal kingdoms, ruled by armed thugs wearing spike studded football shoulder pads driving around in flame-throwing motorcycles.

This is reality. It's undisputed. Failing to raise the debt ceiling will be a catastrophe that will permanently end America as we know it.

And the Republicans are threatening to do it.

Hmm. Maybe these guys are on to something.

It's the equivalent to threatening a bank robber with a nuclear detonation if he doesn't put down the gun. Sure, a nuke would stop the bank from being robbed, but... you know... the bank's kind of a moot point after the mushroom cloud.

Debt is bad. We all know it is. But there are better ways to force the government to take it seriously other than threatening the extinction of the United States. There's better ways to reduce the national debt than reducing our country to ashes.

It's time to tell the Republicans to put down the nukes already.

If You're Looking For An Apartment In NYC...

June is a popular move-in time in New York City. It's tough to find a place that will perfectly suit your needs and isn't being fought over by hundreds of people. But if you've always dreamed of living in the heart of Soho, in your very own "artist's one bedroom," with eat-in kitchen, exposed brick, amazing city views, and "A shower big enough for a few of your friends", I've found the place for you-- 7 Spring Street:

Fabulous Funky Artist 1 Bed- SO MUCH Charm and Character

Be the only one to live in in a 1 bed in proper Nolita for $1600 a month

Located: on Spring between Bowery & Elizabeth

Features:
– Shared patio and yard
– Amazing city views with parks gardens and patios
– Bedroom fits a king bed
– Antique original moldings and doors
– Exposed brick throughout
– 5th floor walk up with means drenched with direct light
– Eat in Kitchen
– Built in book selves
– A shower big enough for a few of your friends – it’s actually bigger then the eat in kitchen… this is a classic RARE TO NONE. No one has a shower quite like this shower.. BE THE FIRST. You could set up a small dining area in the shower… Must see to believe.

I'm seeing it. I don't believe it.

Sort of reminds me of another place...

It's hard being a Realtor.

UPDATE: The price just dropped $50. And the new listing does not highlight the group shower.

Just A Quick Thing To Think About Before We Start Blaming Pakistan

It's pretty hard to believe the Pakistani government knew nothing about Bin Laden's whereabouts, given he was living next to their equivalent of West Point. But before we start questioning U.S. aid to Pakistan, lets draw on a little bit of history here.

U.S. aid was responsible for pushing the Soviets out of Afghanistan. Ironically, some of this money went to Osama Bin Laden, then a young, anti-Soviet jihadist.

Then, the U.S. pulled its aid to Afghanistan. Since the Soviets were defeated, the U.S. mission was deemed complete.

What was left behind was a war-torn, battered country with fractured leadership. Into the void stepped the Taliban. We know what that led to.

There are, no doubt, corrupt elements inside Pakistan. It's the chief reason why Obama approved the special ops mission inside Pakistan's borders without letting the Pakistani government know about it first. It's been well-established that the Pakistani intelligence agency and the government are as leaky as the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant.

But the reality is, the leakiness of the Pakistani Intelligence community exists because of its reliance on double agents and actual terrorists for information. They operate by letting the little fish go in hopes of catching the big fish. They operate effectively by gaining the trust of real terrorists-- which can sometimes mean leaking information that helps the bad guys.

And then, there's the most obvious challenge the Pakistanti government and their intelligence forces face. A good percentage of the people living in their country don't care much for America, and don't care much for a secular Pakistani government. Imagine if America let Iranian troops carry out operations in Boston, Massachusetts because some guy responsible for terrorism in Tehran was allegedly hiding somewhere near Fenway. You think Americans would be like, "Yeah, sure!"?

The Pakistani government has a tenuous hold on power. And maintaining that hold means presenting a certain face towards its populace. It must not look like a weak, subservient sidekick to American ambitions.

Ironically, the only way they can maintain that powerful facade is to fund themselves with U.S. aid. Their people cannot afford higher taxes without rioting and bringing down the government. As such, if the police, soldiers, and intelligence community are to be paid money to fight terrorism, they must be paid with funds acquired elsewhere. Like from the American government.

Without these funds, the security structure of Pakistan is left to fall apart. And instead of merely hiding out in Pakistan, terrorists begin operating there-- on a level they've never been able to before. The Pakistani government is overthrown-- and in its place, a group much like the Taliban institutes Sharia law. Bin Laden's dream--of an orthodox Islamic terrorist state-- becomes a reality.

Did the Pakistani intelligence services know where Bin Laden was? Well, here's West Point. Do you know who lives in every single one of those structures? Every one? Anyone live in the neighborhood want to take a shot? And keep in mind, this is America, where we're very nosy about our neighbors. I can think of about 20 buildings in my neighborhood in New Jersey which seem mighty odd.

Much has been said about Osama's mansion sticking out... but the area is actually very populated with mansions. Many have security. Osama's house may have seemed odd... but it had been there before most of the mansions in the area were built there. For all many neighbors knew, it could have been a intelligence services installation. It's not like they would have seen people walking around wearing "I'm With Osama" t-shirts while installing vinyl siding.

Yes, it was close to the Pakistani "West Point," but that may have been the precise reason Bin Laden chose it. Where was a place in Pakistan that would provide the U.S. with a more difficult target: on the western border, rife with terrorist activity, or a place where Pakistan's military leadership is trained? Which one would be the place the Americans would be less likely to look-- and more hesitant to bomb without Pakistani permission? The proximity does not suggest that the entire Pakistani government was involved in some elaborate Bin Laden protection scheme. Rather, it suggests that Bin Laden was worried about isolating himself in a place that would be exposed to an American air strike.

So lets cool our jets a bit. Bin Laden is dead. Let's celebrate. And hope that our government doesn't make any rash decisions that may lead to the birth of Bin Laden's successor.

We Got Him

It took nearly ten years, but Osama Bin Laden is dead.

His survival was the greatest failure of our war on terrorism. Now that he's been bodybagged, hopefully, those personally hit by his evil can have a measure of peace. Now, we can heal.

I know I will.

I'll sleep well tonight.

UPDATE: Allegedly, here's where Bin Laden holed up. (thanks nymag)

Yankees Season Ticket Department Screws Up Again, This Time, Worse

Who the heck is running the show inside the Yankees Season Ticket Office?

For the second time in two years, an email was sent to hundreds of Yankees season ticket holders, revealing personal information to strangers. The first time the Yankees revealed personal information, it was only email addresses... someone used CC (not Sabathia) instead of BCC, a major mass-email no-no that exposed the personal email addresses of hundreds of people (and potential spammers). This time, the Yankees employee went even further, attaching a handy dandy spreadsheet of names, addresses, phone numbers, fax numbers and email addresses-- and the seats they have in Yankee Stadium.

Deadspin first reported the details on the Yankees season ticket holders privacy breach yesterday afternoon. More than 20,000 people were affected, all in non-premium seating-- which means that once again, the Yankees management has screwed the true, blue collar fans and pampered the wealthy people who never show up to games and keep the seats around the infield empty for the majority of the year.

A call to Ken Cleary, Account Executive of Season Ticket Sales & Services, went unanswered Thursday morning. But his email to those affected (including me) indicated that "immediately upon learning of the accidental attachment of the internal spreadsheet, remedial measures were undertaken so as to assure that a similar incident could not happen again."

I assume that would mean the idiot who did this was fired? Maybe not. The original email came from Ken, the same person who later blamed "an employee."

Of course, the personal information was revealed on Monday. It took until Wednesday for the Yankees to send an apology and acknowledgment of the mistake. This is actually better response time than the last time... where they never apologized at all.

Also disturbing, the "recall message" we received shows that whoever sent the email has a huge gap of understanding when it comes to using email. Once an email is sent, you ain't getting it back, buddy. Perhaps the Yankees should use Google's "Mail Goggles."

The things one could do with this list is troubling. It goes beyond spam. Let's say you were wondering who the hot blonde was in Seat 24, Row 11, Section 235. The list could tell you that. Already, my cousin and I are joking about greeting all the people in our row by name next time we go to the stadium.

It's not inconceivable that an enterprising person who wanted to upgrade their seats for the following season could call up the people who held their desired seats, and find out whether they're re-upping for next season. If they're not, they could circumvent the Yankees and arrange to transfer the tickets.

And that's not even getting into other potential abuses. Con artists looking to scam people out of their credit cards could pretend to be Yankees reps, calling people on the list. After all, they know their seat numbers, account codes... it would sound legit to an unwary ticket holder.

Thanks a lot Yankees. It was bad enough you stuck us with a package involving multiple Royals and Orioles games, including two weekday 1:00 games. Now this.

UPDATE (May 2): Got a call back from Mario Oliveri, Yankees Season Ticket account executive. He assured me that the Yankees take this seriously, but repeated the company line that "no information was released that can't be found on Google." Except, you know, unlisted telephone numbers, those seat numbers, and the Yankees account number. He said that they've updated their security procedures, securing spreadsheet files, and making sure they ask additional information from those calling in, like "what credit card did you use to make your purchase?" When I pointed out that a scammer could ask the same thing, Mario said that everybody is aware of the situation, so they're less likely to fall for a scam.

I was hoping they'd offer something, anything, to make up for their sloppy security and revealing information that people would rather not have distributed to thousands of others. A Yankees seat cushion? A free pen? But it seems the Yanks are content to ride this one out, and if they lose a customer or two, they're not too worried about it.