2/6: Big Budget Flops
8:30 p.m.
• You know, I was going to bitch about Fast Eddie and his additional tax ideas, but why bother when I have other reasons to bitch about government spending -- like 2,900,000,000,000 reasons.
I don't know what's sicker. The fact this is the number being proposed or that it's not going to be enough. Party of small government my ass.President Bush sent a $2.90 trillion spending plan to a Democratic-controlled Congress on Monday, proposing a big increase in military spending, including billions more to fight the war in Iraq, while squeezing the rest of government to meet his goal of eliminating the deficit in five years.
• This caught my eye.
The living room of Sam Ard's brown doublewide trailer speaks to his short but successful NASCAR career. Trophies surround the fireplace and crowd its mantel. Plaques and pictures dot the living room walls. What's not there speaks to Ard's life after NASCAR, the two championship rings and a handful of grandfather clocks from Martinsville Speedway that he sold because "we was running short on cash." Unlike veterans of other sports, Ard has no pension to fall back on.
As the booming stock-car series built by men such as Sam Ard heads to Daytona International Speedway this week to kick off its 59th season, NASCAR remains the only major-league sport without a pension plan.
"You can drive for NASCAR, but when it's over, it's over. You get nothing," Ard said. "When you fall out of racing or something happens to you, it seems like NASCAR just forgets about you. It's your friends and the people around the race track who have to remember you and keep you going."
Other leagues have pensions. Today's 10-year veterans in baseball will receive a six-figure annual payout beginning at age 62. Even middle- of-the-road professional golfers can pile up millions under the PGA Tour's deferred-compensation plan, which puts money away for players based on performance.
An NFL player with six seasons between 1998 and 2003 will get about $2,500 a month beginning at age 55, and the NBA has a similar plan. The NHL contributes about $45,000 per year to retirement accounts for veterans. The ATP and WTA tours make annual contributions averaging between $7,500 and $9,500 to retirement accounts for each tennis player.
NASCAR's policy always has been that its drivers are "independent contractors" who bear full responsibility for their finances, health care, retirement and life insurance.
I know nothing about NASCAR, other than it makes a shitload of money. But you know what? If you're a NASCAR driver, you should know that there is no pension in place. What does that mean? SAVE your money! INVEST it wisely! Have other LIFE SKILLS besides driving really fast! Now a case could be made for the old-timers who may not have made as much money and helped turn this sport (yes, I called it a sport) into a cash cow, but that's another subject for another time. I'm talking about today's drivers making the big bucks; realize that you won't be doing this forever. Prepare for that.
Then again, if the rest of us don't save, why should NASCAR drivers?
8 p.m.People once again spent everything they made and then some last year, pushing the U.S. personal savings rate to the lowest level since the Great Depression more than seven decades ago.
The savings rate for all of 2006 was a negative one per cent, the U.S. Commerce Department reported Thursday. That means not only did people spend all the money they earned but they also dipped into savings or increased borrowing to finance purchases.
The 2006 figure was lower than a negative 0.4 per cent in 2005 and was the poorest showing since a negative 1.5 per cent savings rate in 1933 during the Depression.
The U.S. savings rate has been negative for an entire year only four times in history — in 2005 and 2006, and in 1933 and 1932.
However, the reasons for the decline in the savings rate were vastly different during the two periods.
• I saw this on TSM, but I wanted to get more news on it. Oh hell no.
Box Office Mojo is reporting that Paramount Pictures has set Thursday, May 22, 2008 for the release of the next Indiana Jones movie.
The studio is now officially referring to the Harrison Ford starrer as the 'Fourth Installment of the Indiana Jones Adventures.'
The picture maintains the Memorial Day weekend release strategy of the last two Indiana Jones movies, and it mirrors the last two 'Star Wars' movies and 'The Matrix Reloaded' with its Thursday launch.
Also currently scheduled for Memorial Day weekend 2008 is Warner Bros.' 'Speed Racer.' Two other event-style pictures have previously staked out May 2008 releases dates: Paramount's 'Iron Man' (May 2) and Buena Vista's 'The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian' (May 16).
Words can't express how pissed Indy 4 makes me. Well, not pissed that I'd go out and kill. It's about as pissed as I'll get when it comes to movies that shouldn't be made. I'm sure I'll rant about why I hate this idea someday, but I just don't feel like it right now.
12:30 p.m.
• And now it’s time for the Dr. Laura Call(ers) of the day (or whenever I feel like doing this. Chick number one: She’s living with her boyfriend and away from her parents so she’s “depressed.” The other night her and the boyfriend got into a huge fight because “he’s not there to console me.” She can’t remember what she said to him during this fight, but she knows it caused him to rip apart a wall. OK then. Chick number two: She’s asking for advice about her boyfriend who “turned Christian” early in their relationship and caught him going after 13- to- 15 year-old girls on My Space. He’s also mad at her because she’s not a virgin. And this is only in the show’s first segment.
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