Day: December 11, 2023

What Price Happiness?

Closing Thought–11Dec23

Can we put a price tag on our happiness?

Some will say you cannot put a price tag on happiness….but apparently you can.

Most Americans (59%) think money can buy happiness, and a new survey on the subject even puts a number on it. On average, Americans say they’d need about $1.2 million to achieve happiness, according to the survey by financial services firm Empower. The figure breaks down in interesting ways depending on age groups, with millennials needing the most at nearly $1.7 million and those in Gen Z the least at just under $500,000, per CBS News. Boomers need about $1 million, and Gen Xers a bit over 1.2 million. In terms of gender, women would be happy with $880,000, and men want nearly $1.5 million. Some other findings:

  • Salary: Americans want hefty salaries. On average, they said a salary of $284,000 a year translates to happiness, with men ($381,000) needing far more than women ($183,000). Millennials cited a CEO-like mark of $525,000, Gen Z $128,000, Gen X $130,000, and Boomers $124,000.)
  • Retirement: People on average plan to retire at age 63, with Gen Z the most ambitious of the bunch looking at age 54. Still, the latter figure is up from 49 last year, suggesting that inflation is causing people to adjust their goals, per a news release on the survey.
  • Cup of coffee: The spending flexibility that comes with having enough money is cited as a prime source of contentment. For example, 62% of millennials say they are willing to spend $7 a day on a cup of coffee because of the enjoyment it brings.

I do not need a million bucks I can be happy without money and I have done it in the past and I shall do it again if the need arises.

With the numbers in I ask the question again….can we put a price tag on happiness?

What say you?

I Read, I Writer, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

We Have No Idea

Most of my regular visitors know that I think the War Department’s budget is way too high…..basically because the War Department has no idea where the money is or where the purchases have gone…..

The War Department has failed yet another IG inspection……

The Pentagon failed its sixth audit in a row last month.

And “failed” is putting it generously. The department actually received a “disclaimer of opinion.” According to the Government Accountability Office, that means “auditors were unable to obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a basis for an audit opinion.” So the outcome is more like an “incomplete” than an abject failure.

But semantics aside, one major reason the Pentagon keeps failing audits is because it can’t keep track of its property. Last year, the Pentagon couldn’t properly account for a whopping 61% of its $3.5 trillion in assets. That figure increased this year, with the department insufficiently documenting 63% of its now $3.8 trillion in assets. Military contractors possess many of these assets, but to an extent unbeknownst to the Pentagon.

The GAO has flagged this issue for the department since at least 1981. Yet the latest audit states that the Pentagon’s target to correct insufficient accounting department-wide is fiscal year 2031. In the meantime, contractors are producing weapon systems and spare parts that they may already possess — an incredible waste of taxpayer dollars.

The F-35 program is a great example. The Pentagon technically owns the global pool of spare parts for all variations of the F-35, but the program’s contractors — mainly Lockheed Martin and Pratt & Whitney — manage those parts. According to the GAO, the Pentagon relies on contractors to record the “cost, total quantity, and locations of [F-35] spare parts in the global spares pool.” The department has estimated that the value of F-35 parts in the possession of contractors is over $220 billion, but the GAO reports that this is “likely significantly understated.”

https://responsiblestatecraft.org/pentagon-audit-2666415734/

Think about that….if you had a business and your employees had no idea where 61% of you inventory was….would you keep them on after 6 straight failing reports?

Looks like these toads spend money just to spend money….another great trait of the War Department….no accountability.

Is the inventory really missing or did some toad pocket the cash earmarked for the inventory?

Plus if all this concern for fiscal responsibility and no one in Congress sees concerned about this ‘missing’ stuff…..why is that?

Just wondering.

Turn The Page!

I read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”