What Caught My Eye Today

Personal Wealth - The fine folks at Forbes have released their annual list of billionaires. Ay Caramba! Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim is the world's richest person ($53.5 billion) (Rat bastard), knocking Microsoft founder Bill Gates into second spot ($53 billion) (Capitalist pig). It is only the second time since 1995 that Gates has lost the crown. Investor Warren Buffett came in at No. 3 with $47 billion. I hope you choke on it. There are now 1,011 billionaires, compared with 793 in 2009 and 1,125 in 2008. May they all be struck down by lightning. The average billionaire is now worth $3.5 billion, up $500 million from last year. And the number of women on the list rose to 89 from 72 last year. For the first time, China is now home to the most billionaires outside of the United States. The top homes to billionaires are New York with 60 and Moscow with 50, followed by London with 32. There are 55 countries represented on the list with billionaires from Pakistan and Finland making appearances for the first time. Contrary to what many people might think, I bear no ill will toward anyone on this list. I'm sure they all worked very hard and are entitled to just compensation. Besides, I'm all good. Just this morning, I was fishing through my pockets and found a 5 sport. I'm living the high life.

Greece - Clashes between riot police and rock-throwing, masked youths broke out during a demonstration in Athens by tens of thousands of striking workers protesting austerity measures that the Greek government has said it has no choice but to implement. In plain English, austerity is when a government reduces its spending and/or increases taxes to pay back creditors. In other words, when governments find themselves in the awkward position of having to live within their means. The debt-ridden country is under intense pressure from both markets and the European Union to reduce its deficit from 12.7% of economic output in 2009 to 8.7% this year. While public anger has grown, it has been mitigated by a general understanding that something must be done to pull the country out of a crisis that has made its cost of borrowing skyrocket. Here's an idea. I did some checking (shocking, I know). Greece has an annual GDP of just under $382 billion. 8.7% percent of that just over $33 billion. That dude, Carlos Slim could easily cover that and have a nice tax deduction to boot. Presto. Problem solved.

Auto Defects - Perhaps you have heard about those minor defects that seem to be plaguing Toyota with increasing frequency. A Toyota executive said the company is "mystified" by a report that a California man's Prius gas pedal became stuck and caused the car to speed out of control on a California freeway. Of course they are. The driver quickly became the face of the Toyota gas pedal scandal after he called 911 to report losing control of his Prius earlier this week. His car reached nerve-rattling speeds of 94 mph before an officer helped bring it to a stop. Federal investigators are looking into the incident, and Toyota officials said they have talked extensively to man about the episode. The senior vice president of automotive operations for Toyota Motor Sales, said all Priuses are equipped with a computer system that cuts power to the wheels if the brake and gas pedals are depressed at the same time — something the man was doing. "It's tough for us to say if we're skeptical. I'm mystified in how it could happen with the brake override system," he said. Dude, it's called faulty software. Happens all the time. This why I say that software should stay in computers. Last time I checked there weren't many 3,000 pound computers barreling out of control down the interstate.

Healthcare - Conservative talk-show host Rush Limbaugh said this week he’d go to Costa Rica for medical treatment if Congress passes proposed reforms to the US healthcare system. Not a bad choice, actually. Boyfriend clearly did some homework on this one. Costa Rica has one of the longest standing socialized healthcare systems on the planet. Everyone is required to pay into the government-run health system, whether they use it or not. Life expectancy in this little Central American country surpasses that of the United States and at one point, back in the early 2000s when the World Health Organization rated countries’ general health, Costa Rica ranked higher (No. 36) than the U.S. (No. 37), despite spending 87% less on health care per capita. So here's the rub against Mr. Limbaugh. He clarified his comment about leaving the United States, after "the liberal media" celebrated his vow of self-imposed exile, viewing healthcare reform as a way to rid themselves of the conservative talk show host. "If I have to get thrown into this massive government health care insurance business and end up going to the driver's license office every day when I need to go to the doctor, yeah, I'll go to Costa Rica for treatment, not move there." Oh sure, the liberal media is at fault for Mr. Blowhard's comments. Should we assume, based in his logic, that Mr. Limbaugh's thoughts are being supplied to him by that same demonic "liberal media"? Dude, they're having fun with you. What, you've never taken advantage of any missteps of your liberal counterparts? Grow a backbone, you wuss.