All safe (Taken with instagram)

All safe (Taken with instagram)

1 note

jstn:

360º panorama of Space Shuttle Discovery’s flight deck.

jstn:

360º panorama of Space Shuttle Discovery’s flight deck.

303 notes

0 notes

laughingsquid:

Photos Showing Progress of World Trade Center Construction

Greatest state in the Union.

laughingsquid:

Photos Showing Progress of World Trade Center Construction

Greatest state in the Union.

102 notes

laughingsquid:

Memetic Experiment In Grammar Correction

laughingsquid:

Memetic Experiment In Grammar Correction

3,309 notes

laughingsquid:

Reunion Tour by Jublin

laughingsquid:

Reunion Tour by Jublin

(Source: jublin)

472 notes

laughingsquid:

Reinventing the Nightstand

might need to make one of these.

laughingsquid:

Reinventing the Nightstand

might need to make one of these.

2,069 notes

laughingsquid:

The Raptor Is Upon Us

laughingsquid:

The Raptor Is Upon Us

7,237 notes

What fiscal emergency?

Close examination of the CBO’s projections cannot support anything resembling hysteria. The two things that have everyone terrified, Social Security and Medicare, actually look quite unthreatening.

In 2010, Social Security spending was 4.8% of GDP. In 2021, the CBO projects it will be 5.3%, an increase of 0.5 point. In 2010, Medicare spending (less premiums paid by beneficiaries) was 3.1% of GDP. In 2021, the CBO projects it will be 3.6%, also an increase of 0.5 point.

In other words, the budgetary monsters that are supposed to be the ruin of the American way of life will increase their share of the national economy by about 1%. That’s a bit less than what the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are costing us, and less than half the cost of the Bush tax cuts.

This is not a long-term fiscal emergency; it’s what you’d expect after an economic crisis. But budget hawks — and they’re not all Republicans — are trying to pass off current levels of red ink as the new normal, even though it isn’t. They’ve had it out for Social Security and Medicare — programs that work very well, cost little to run and are immensely popular — ever since they were created.

(Source: azspot)

19 notes