Showing posts with label national debt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label national debt. Show all posts

A great iPhone App  

Posted by Rob Barton in , , , , , , ,

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Posted at my new blog App-lesauce:


By: iPhone FLOSS
Site: http://www.iphonefloss.com
Release Date: June 2, 2009
Click on the icon to download app.




Being a part-time political blogger(read amateur) myGovernment is one of the more amazing apps that I have come across. It will live on my iPod long afer I have forgotten about other "favorite" apps. The scope of the information that you can get from this app is amazing.
The app is divided into four tabs: Congress, Bills, Spending, and Community.

Screenshots:

screenshot1screenshot2
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The Congress tab lists all of the members of congress separated by House and Senate. Clicking on the name of the representative gives you quick links to call, email, mention on Twitter, or post a comment in the built in community. Clicking on the blue arrow next to the name gives you all contact information, Info Stream, which is a list of websites in which the rep participates(website, youtube, facebook, etc.). You will also get any committee assignments for the rep and any recent news activity.
The Bills tab functions just like the Congress tab. Clicking on a bill will allow you to get sponsor info, the full text of the bill, a Twitter mention button, and a comment button for the community. The blue arrow provides you with a link to the bill text, sponsor and co-sponsor information, and the history of the bill.
The Spending tab allows you to see spending by state, congressional district, or contractor. (I could never get the contractor info to load, though. Clicking on the state or district allows you to contact the representatives, or Twitter mention on the spending of that district/state. Clicking on the blue arrow gives you a breakdown of how much the district/state is spending, who the representatives are, and for which contractor the money was spent.
The Community tab lets you see and post messages/replies to the community forum.
This app is full of information for citizens to make informed decisions on election day. It is also a good tool for the poilitcal bloggers out there. I will give myGovernment a 10 out of 10.

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Here a Hundred Million, There a Hundred Million  

Posted by Rob Barton in , , , , ,

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Every where a hundred million...

President Obama is asking every department to cut $100 million from its budget. An article over at The Heritage Foundation has an excellent graphic of what $100 million looks like next to the porkulus bill and the even more enormous federal budget for 2010.

I just wanted to give some more comparisons to show how minute these cuts really are:

$100 Million is to $3.69 trillion as the population of Wyoming is to the population of China.



$100 million is to $3.69 trillion as Earth is to the sun...




...if the sun were 342 times as big as it is now.

$100 million is to $3.69 trillion as a sockeye salmon is to a blue whale.




Laid end to end, $3.69 trillion in thousand dollar bills would circle the earth 2.34 times.

Laid end to end, $100 million in thousand dollar bills would run for 9.46 miles roughly the distance from the White House to Falls Church, Virginia.

If the government found $100 million to cut every day, it would take them over thirty years to pay off the current national debt.

The current share of the national debt for every man, woman and child in the United States is $36,558.

The $3.69 trillion 2010 budget is equal to $12,056 for every man, woman, and child in the United States.

A $100 million dollar cut would equal 32 cents for every man, woman, and child in the United States.

To paraphrase Heritage, asking the government to cut $100 million from its budget is like asking a family bringing in $100,000 to cut out one cup of Starbuck's coffee. Not per day, per year.

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