Legalizing Same-Sex Marriage in Philadelphia = How To Save Philly!

In the episode of The Simpsons "There's Something About Marrying", Springfield faces the reputation of being one of the worst towns in America. At a meeting to decide how to solve this and bring back tourists, Lisa suggests legalizing Same-Sex Marriage. In turn, Moe mentions that doing so, "I can charge so much for them special drinks, like a Martini!" Mayor Quimby quickly quips, "All in favor of legalizing gay money- er, gay marriage, say "aye!" The entire crowd goes "AYE!".

Simply put, same-sex marriage = money!

An activist mayor in San Francisco legalized same-sex marriage in his city because he realized that, yes, same-sex couples should be allowed to be married. It's a simple right if you ask me, and one that Philadelphia, a city with a long history of supporting LBGT rights, should be pushing right now!

It MIGHT be possible to push it here, largely because of a few reasons:

1. Pennsylvania is, technically, not a state, it's a commonwealth. Because of that, cities are allowed to make certain rules that aren't covered by the state, no matter how dumb (age limits to run, anyone?) is they are in the City Charter.
   


2. Since the rest of the state seems hellbent on not giving us any money in the future from gambling revenues since we, as a city, have been so adamant about not wanting one, legalizing same-sex marriage makes up the revenue and then some.

Even if it isn't legally possible, this is one of the very few, very rare times when I am encouraging our leaders to break the law. This is a matter of civil rights more than anything else, and something that would make the most sense.

To those who think it's a bad idea, think about it like this: If we don't do this, we could see more empty house, more empty hotel rooms, shrinking revenue, higher taxes, and a reduction of city services and further urban decay. I'd rather have two women get married than that, thank you!

In the end, same-sex marriage would be a major boom for this city! Couples from all around the area, from New Jersey to Delaware and other states, will come to Philly for the right and chance to legally be wed! This means tourist dollars, this means people permanently moving here... this means more revenue for the City of Philadelphia, and another smart, trailblazing way to help the City of Philadelphia not only help solve it's budget problem, but also be seen as a beacon of freedom.

How Spending $1 Can Save You $400: Your Furnance and You

Back in the summer of 2008, I noticed that despite having my Central Air on and running, my house wouldn't get much cooler. I also noticed a rather large leak coming from the unit. While most people would think the worst, I basically just ignored it and decided that it was being caused by me not having a working humidifier (which hasn't worked for about 5 years now!).

Turns out I was wrong.

In all actuality, the blower, the piece of equipment in your furnace and Central Air that blows air through the house, was dead, the motor shot to hell. I hadn't replaced the air filter in the furnace for over a year, and I was now stuck paying the price. The furnace in my house is at least 20 years old, so I knew getting a new motor wouldn't be cheap at all. Worst of all, it was early October and my house gets real cold real fast (insulation here is bad, though I'm not sure as to why).

So I had to buckle down and call a Central Air guy to come out and fix it. Try telling your friends about this, especially if they don't own a house! "Man, I can't believe the motor in my central air is broken!" "Well, thank god it's winter, so you don't need it until summer!" "No, I need it now, it pumps warm air through my house during the winter." The repair cost me nearly $400, and I was actually lucky since the guy didn't have to do a lot of work and lived right around the corner.

"So why did this thing break down? Was it old age?"
"No, you forgot to put in a new air filter, so it got clogged and died."

That's the long and short of it. If you have a furnace, central air, etc... make sure you change the filter AT LEAST once every 3 months, if not once a month. My problem is that there aren't a lot of places to buy a new air filter for a furnace so it's hard and difficult to do. I finally bought some today. They wound up costing $4 a piece since those were the only ones in the size I needed, but they tend to last long and do a great job.

Hey, I'd rather pay $4 now for a filter than $400 to get my furnace fixed again!

What if the US Government Gave US The $700 Billion Bailout?

$700 Billion.

That's how much money the White House wants to give failing insurance companies and investment banks to save their businesses. $700 Billion dollars. That's the single largest government bailout in US History, and the question being raised is who's going to pay and if it will help us in the long run.

To that end, since we already know we, the US Public, are going to have to pay for this... why not just give us the money?

Yes, yes, I know; we got a check not too long ago. And, you know, $300 - $500 isn't bad. It's enough to... well, fill your gas tank, pay a bill. Maybe. Not enough for even ONE mortgage payment, that's for sure. And we all know that a large part of why this economy is so bad is because, you guessed it, a lot of loan defaults.

So how about the US Public get's $700 Billion dollars. How? How would that happen?

Well, first off, let's do the simplest part; divide it EQUALLY over the entire population. So, at about 305,000,000 people, that means we all get... $2300. Who's included in that? EVERYONE. Men, women, kids, grandparents, government workers, prisoners, homeless people, the rich... EVERYONE who lives in the US.

So the next thing we do is eliminate anyone under 18. That's roughly 80,000,000 people. SWEET! That makes it 225,000,000 people! People in prison are next! That's 2.2 million people, so BAM! They're gone, they're in jail. We're now down to 222,800,000 million.

Now, let's just say that the government deserves a bonus this year. OK, now that your done laughing, let's instead of giving the folk in the higher echelons of government the money, we give it to the people who are barely making enough cash to feed their kids, let alone themselves. Seriously, people who work in Social Security aren't exactly happy folks.

Getting the number of people who work in the higher-echelons isn't easy, NOT EVEN CLOSE! There's 100 Senators, 440 people in the House of Representatives, 50 Governors! Hell, the federal government is compromised of 4 MILLION people! That means going in and trying to find who's the working slobs are and who's in the FBI and CIA. Then you have all those LOCAL governments! UH!

OK, so, for the sake of argument, we're going to say 4 Million people in this country are making lots of money a year by being a "public servant" by being President, Mayor, Governor, City council, State Rep, etc...

We're now down to 218,000,000 people.

So, let's not forget the rich! OH YES! The filthy rich folks! The TOP 1% of America who own 32% of America! So that top 1% is 3.2 million people since we're going from that top number of 305,000,000. Now, we can go on and on about where the cut-off should be for what's "rich". That's where it gets hairy. We'll just cut it off at the Top 1%. Why? Because 68% of the US population makes less than $50,000... You know what? Screw it. We're going to make sure that the top 15.73 percent, those making a wonderful $100,000+ don't get this money.

So that's 47,976,500 from the TOP number of 305,000,000. That's 170,023,500 people!

That's a pretty good number! Hell, we've nearly shaved off 135,000,000 people who can't use the cash! We're now dealing with US, the people who NEED this money the most! US, the people who can't pay their bills, afford decent health care, and the people who owe these banks the most cash.

And we just got a check for $700 Billion dollars.

That means we get... $4117.07 each. OK, round that down to $4100. That extra $17.07 per-person can go to back to the government. How much is that? $2,902,301,145! HOLY CRAP! I just found a way to save the government nearly $3 BILLION dollars!

$4100. WOW! Crap, if I had that kinda cash, I'd pay off as many bills as possible! No, it isn't a butt load of cash, but it's nothing to sneeze at. Some people don't even make that much in two months! $4100... for me, that's a few mortgage payments, all my utility bills, and any other debts I may have. Not enough to cover all of it, mind you, but a nice bit.

Now, can we honestly say that giving these massive houses this money could be better? If we're the ones who owe the money to them, if WE'RE the one's that are causing them to lose money... shouldn't we be the ones to pay it back? The government isn't going to wipe OUR debt away, is it? No, we're still stuck with those bills! But for the over 170,000,000 Americans who NEED it, the people who may not have even needed to pay taxes in their lives because they NEVER made enough cash... THEY get the money, too. We ALL do!

Me? I think this is a better idea than anything else we've got right now. We're the ones suffering the most and we're the ones with the debt. I don't see our parents more than happy to cut us a check to pay off all our bills; they need help themselves.

So start writing everyone you can about this, spread this idea like wildfire, and start getting the ears of your local government! I did all the crap work, you just need to send it out there!


REFERENCES (Because for something like this, you need them!):
Population total is an estimate based on the US Census Data.
Number of people under age 18 based on rounding down the numbers. Combined with an estimate of total population, my ballpark is pretty good. Data is here at the US Census.
The number of people who work for the US Government came from Wikipedia, but considering that the overall number is next to impossible for me to get, 4 Million is either a gross over-estimate or under-estimate. We're going to go with it since, when you account for the local governments, it does look like a lot.
The number of people in prison is based on a 2006 number. It most likely is higher.
The number of people making more than $100k a year is from Wikipedia, but those numbers are based on a TON of research.
That awesome cartoon is by Stuart Carlson. That guy rocks!

How to Clean Up your Economic Situation... Kind Of.

This isn't meant to be perfect, but just because I'm in a bit of a bind myself, I thought I would just offer folks some ideas on how to cut back on expenses and save some cash while still being able to enjoy life. It's the time of year when, after your done all your holiday shopping, your realize that you spent a bit too much on everyone and not yourself. Because of it, you could be seeing some really big credit card bills, or may face some big bills.

If so, or if you want to make sure your not in that situation, here are some suggestions:

1. Check your bills! It may seem simple or common sense, but double-check the charges on your bills! I did recently and found 2 odd things. I looked them up on-line and, sure enough, they were scams.

2. Be careful of scammers! If you went to an FYE or Suncoast recently and signed up for a "free magazine" offer, make sure you cancel them once your done with them, even if it's a debit card! I thought it would just cancel itself but it didn't. The bill will come up as TWX*MAGAZINE. Call them and cancel them if you already have them. Also, look out for FreeCreditReport.com! they charge $13 a month to see your credit score, and it's a good idea to look for another service instead.

3. Buy used and sell things you don't want. This is a good rule to follow when buying older CD's and DVD's. If there is something you've wanted for a while, see if you can get it used instead. You can save a good amount of money on it, sometimes at least half or more instead of buying it new. Sell those old CD's or movies you don't watch anymore as well.

4. Sign up for any budget services. If your electrical or gas company has a low-income plan, see if you can sign up for it.

5. Conserve Energy. Not only do you help the planet, but you help your wallet and bottom line by doing this! Turn off lights and electronic devices when your not in the room or using them, try to keep the heat down low and wear warmer clothes indoors, and open the curtains during the winter to keep the house warm.

Happy holidays!