https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerto_Rican_government-debt_crisis Puerto Rico experienced a debt crisis in 2014, and there are some major misunderstandings about its causes. First of all, the triple tax-exempt bonds made the situation better, not worse. By being triple-subsidized Puerto Rico was able to offer a lower interest rate compared to competitors which saved the commonwealth money. The debt crisis …
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Where to go from here
It’s pretty obvious to me that the major point of Trump’s agenda is to ensure Russia colonizes Ukraine again. NATO has traditionally waited for America’s lead on security issues since we are the largest member. However, we comprise less than 50% of NATO’s population and less than 50% of NATO’s military expenditure. It looks to …
Design a government
There are several steps to designing. your system of government and most countries use a unique form of government. Out of 136 democracies listed on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_electoral_systems_by_country 106 countries use a completely unique system used by no other country. So using only the features currently used by a government, and only considering democracies, here are the …
A post-NATO world
With Donald Trump as President effectively allying himself as president, it gives the world a very different global political structure for the next 4 years. The first impact of this is US alliances, which expand across 5 continents and the US is the cornerstone of the global democratic world. As I described on Wednesday, there …
SAVE Act
Read the text here: https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/22/text/ih78 Every system that determines citizenship is based on a chain of trust. Once a citizen has proven they are a citizen once to get a document, that document should be proof of citizenship. However, the law is no longer written to recognize this. For starters, it is already a felony …
American Mutual Protection Pacts
The United States is the most defended country in the world, and not just because our military is the largest, but through our network of alliances we are protected by the militaries of all of our allies combined. We have mutual protection pacts with countries on every continent except Africa, and our alliances have overall …
Gas prices
Let’s think about the total impact on gas prices over the budget of the average household. You have an average income of around $55,000, so let’s be pessimistic and say you make $50,000 per year because the math is easier. You drive a car that gets around 30 miles per gallon, you live 10 miles …
A short history of Moldova
Maps are taken from https://www.oldmapsonline.org The Principality of Moldavia was the westernmost part of the Mongol Empire from 1241 to 1346. Events before then are not important for understanding how Moldova became an independent republic from Romania. Before then the region was occupied by Turkic peoples. After independence, the Principality of Moldavia was formed in …
More on visa policies
As we see here, GDP per capita is a major factor in determining the travel freedom of citizens of a given country. Citizens of countries that have a GDP per capita under $1000 generally have very limited options in terms of countries they can travel to visa-free. Citizens of wealthy countries with a GDP per …
Party Vote Trifectas
So I have a spreadsheet where I have recorded the partisan alignment of the federal government and how Americans have voted for the President, House, and Senate. This data is from Wikipedia. If you navigate to the Organized table this is as easy to understand as I’ve figured out how to make it so far. …