The Obama Gift Registry to raise funds---Does this mean "Julia" is getting married?

I thought this was from the minds of the people at The Onion, but it is real.  I found it funny and wonder when the "Gravy Bowl" lobbyists will be out in force. 

Gravy Bowls are a consumption expenditure and is that not what we are tying to jumpstart?

So, the campaign is asking people to forego current consumption ("Gravy Bowl Stimulus") so they can (1) take a tax deductable donation (a dreaded "Tax Expenditure") that only higher income people normally take, and (2) make a speculative investment that has a 50-50 chance (according to polls) of success at this time.

Does anyone else see the irony here?  (Not being political, just cynical)...

Source: BarackObama.com

Here is the link to the video of "Julia" I mentioned in the title. It is a presentation of how a fictitious person grew up with the help of government benefits/programs....

Nice graphic showing the connection between Education and Inter-generational income mobility. Get into school kids, any school!!

The US Dept of Treasury just published a paper (HERE) and it included this graphic.  I modified it a little to explain/illustrate specifically the effect education has on children from the lowest income brackets and how it promotes upward intergenerational income mobility.  If you read and understand what is in the boxes you can figure out what is going on in the other income quintiles as well.

Note: It should be "45%" in the box on the left.

Source for this posting; The Economix

Nice graphic showing world-wide energy consumption by source. You "Greenies" are going to pass out, so pull your bike over to the side of the road before looking...

This graph (HT: The Conversable Economist) shows world consumption of energy by source since 1986.  There is good news and bad news and good news and bad news.

Oil consumption has been relatively level even though population and economic growth in developing countries have increased (good news).  However, the consumption of coal has increased (bad news), most likely in response to the population and economic growth increase. Natural gas, a cleaner fossil fuel, has come on line lately (good news). 

Look closely at the Orange area. That is for "renewables"--wind, solar, etc.  Increasing, but still a very small part of the overall energy picture. 

Like it or not, we are going to be dependent on dirty fuels for a significantly long time. If our policies don't reflect that then we are going to be in an economic funk for a long time as well. 

If you are young and looking for a place to settle where the economy is likely to thrive in the future, you need to look at these rankings...

Where is the economy doing well now and potentially in the medium and long term?  The rankings below are enlightening.  Take note of the States that appear several times across the measure.  Those are the places to be.

""And here are the top 10 future boom states, with some awfully familiar names at the top. For this category, the authors looked at different types of job growth, the education level of each state’s young workforce (25-44 years old), the median income for a household of four adjusted for cost of living, as well as a few secondary data elements.""--Source: Economic Modeling Specialists International

Below are rankings of States by various measures of what would be called factors condusive to doing business/promoting commerce.