What the $^@# is Wrong?

Time to debunk yet another facebook viral staus that I have been seeing lately….

If you had purchased $1,000 of shares in Delta Airlines one year ago, you would have $49.00 today! If you purchased $1,000 of shares in AIG, you would have $33.00. If you purchased $1,000 of shares in Lehman Brothers, you would have $0.00 today. But, if you purchased $1,000 worth of beer, drank all the beer, turned in the aluminum cans for recycling, you would have $214.00. Therefore the best current investment plan is to drink heavily & recycle. It is called the 401-Keg Plan!

Assuming there were no broker’s fees or taxes, it’s easy to show that this is very false, expect for Lehman Brothers, that’s true.

Aug 10, 2010 shares of Delta were 11.80 a share, so that would be 84.7458 shares.  Aug 10, 2011 1:40, the going price is 6.84, therefore that would be $579.661. (google finance)

Aug 10, 2010 shares of AIG were 40.19 a share, so that would be 24.8818 shares. Aug 10, 2011 1:40, the going price is 23.39, therefore that would be $580.99. (google finance)

Assuming you bought a 30 pack of the cheapest beer (best value for best case scenario) for $10 a case, you could get 100 cases (before taxes).  That would be 3000 cans of beer.  There are about 30 cans per pound of aluminum (wikipedia), and the going rate of aluminum is currently $1.08 per pound (metalprices.com).  So you would then have $108. 

The calculations are good as of writing this article, and will change constantly with the markets.

I’ve seen this go around people’s status on Facebook lately:

I am an UN-APOLOGETIC AMERICAN!! I pledge allegiance to the flag of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, and to the REPUBLIC for which it stands, one nation under GOD, indivisible, with LIBERTY and JUSTICE for all!! I grew up reciting this every morning in school. We no longer do that for fear of OFFENDING SOMEONE !! Let’s see how many AMERICANS will re-post this & not care about offending someone! GOD BLESS AMERICA!

While there is some debate about the term “under God” should be used in the pledge, it was not originally written with the term “under God” in it.  In fact, the pledge lasted 62 years without it.  It was in 1954 when President Eisenhower made it official to have the term “under God” inserted into the pledge.

One person on Reddit.com decided to play a subtle trick on his Facebook friend by asking them if they supported the original version.  You can see the conversation here.

One thing that will definitely tick off a lot of today’s conservatives is that the Pledge of Allegiance was originally written by a Socialist by the name of Francis Bellamy and it was written for a children’s magazine with the intention of indoctrinating then notion of nationalism in the children.  *ahem*

Here’s the original form of the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

I have seen a viral letter to the editor go around Facebook lately.  Like most things that go viral via email or Facebook, I figured that it can’t all be true.

Well, it partially is. Read the rest of this entry »

This facebook group caught my eye as friends on both sides of the aisle were joining it, so I joined it as well to see some point of views on the topic. EDIT: The linked page has since been taken down, and this one is in it’s place: Click Here Read the rest of this entry »