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The World is Going to Hell – Not!
$57,860,000,000,000 – that was the total U.S. household net worth at the end of the second quarter of this year, according to the Federal Reserve’s Flow of Funds Accounts calculation. The $57.86 trillion figure was calculated by totaling the value of all household assets, including homes, bank deposits, stocks, mutual funds, pensions, and equity in businesses, minus all household liabilities, including home mortgage debt, home equity loans, other consumer debts, and unpaid life insurance premiums.
The $57.86 trillion net worth is the highest total on record, up 2.1% ($1.2 trillion) from the prior quarter and the 19th consecutive quarter where a new record was set. The net worth total was 43% higher than at the end of 2001 and more than three times the total in 1988. (Source: Jeff Thredgold’s Tea Leaf economic update)
Today in Political History
October 9, 1635: Religious dissident Roger Williams is banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony by the Puritans. He befriends the Indians and settles a town called Providence, which becomes the capital of Rhode Island. (Source: NBC5)
October 9, 1767: Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon are hired to settle a property line dispute between the Penn and Calvert families. They halt their survey because of an Indian uprising just short of the western boundary of Pennsylvania and their finished work, a 233-mile long east-west line between Maryland and Pennsylvania, becomes known as the Mason-Dixon Line (National Journal calendar).
Oct. 9, 1967: Latin American guerrilla leader Che Guevara is executed in Bolivia for attempting to incite revolution. (New York Times)
Wise Words
“I never expect to see a perfect work from imperfect man.”
-- Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 85 (Source: Patriot Post)
Communications Tip
Ten Commandments of a Press Release
By Bill Stoller
Thou Shalt Be Professional
Thou Shalt Not Be Promotional
Thou Shalt Not Be Boring
Thou Shalt Be Brief
Thou Shalt Know Thy Recipient
Thou Shalt Use The Proper Tense
Thou Shalt Think Visually
Thou Shalt Tell A Story
Thou Shalt Not Bear False Witness
Thou Shalt Know Thy Limitations
(Source: Public Relations)
Andrew Jackson and the Mormons
Brigham Young praised the courageous Jackson: “The administration of Andrew Jackson was as good as that of any one that ever occupied the presidential chair.” While he was President the Saints were driven from Jackson County, which had been named in his honor. (From Mike Winder’s Presidents and Prophets: The Story of America’s Presidents and the LDS Church)
National Politics
Best Stories From …
-- New York Daily News: "Iowa's first-in-the-nation caucus is looking more and more like a last chance for the Democrats seeking to halt Sen. Hillary Clinton's march to the party's nomination."
-- Washington Times: "State movements to draft Al Gore for a presidential bid are strengthening, with his fans from Iowa to California pledging not to give up and saying they are undeterred by the former vice president's insistence that he won't run."
-- New York Times: "In an unusual political season that seems to offer up a presidential debate every week or so, the Republican debate [today] is expected to offer something new: Fred D. Thompson. ... Many have been wondering how Mr. Thompson, a former senator from Tennessee, will do. By his own admission he is 'a bit rusty' when it comes to debating, and he has said he hopes he will be able to 'hang in there' with the other candidates, including Rudolph W. Giuliani, the sharp-tongued former New York mayor, and Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, who is known for his polished delivery."
Lighter Side
(Source: James Taranto’s Best of the Web on OpinionJournal.com)
Say What?
"You can't say that. You can say what you didn't say because if you say what you didn't say, then y'all print what is said. That's how you got me on the Bird stuff. Whenever you say something, it just twists it."--New York Knicks coach Isiah Thomas, quoted by the Associated Press, Oct. 6
Favorite Headlines
It Really Is the World's Biggest Bookstore
"Boy, 3, Found in Amazon; Lost 11 Days"--headline, Associated Press, Oct. 6
'That'll Be $27.50'
"Man Charged After Cutting His Tongue Out"--headline, Associated Press, Oct. 5 |
