Mostly about Utah
In October 2008 I visited all thirteen Utah temples. It was then that almost all of the photographs were taken that appear in this series of posts. To download a photograph click on the image to obtain the full resolution of 3264 x 2448 pixels with a file size of 3 to 4Mb.
Draper temple nearing the end of construction
In October 2008 I visited all thirteen Utah temples. It was then that almost all of the photographs were taken that appear in this series of posts. To download a photograph click on the image to obtain the full resolution of 3264 x 2448 pixels with a file size of 3 to 4Mb.
The Bountiful Temple in August 2008
Presented here are portions of Elder Daniel Willoughby’s thirty third email from the Mongolia Ulaanbaatar Mission. If anyone wishes to send Daniel a message, write it in the comments and I will make sure he receives it.
This week was great! My birthday was awesome. It was also my old companion’s birthday, Ganbileg. The whole zone came in the morning and we had cake. It was good. They sang happy birthday etc. Then I went on a split with Elder Warner (on the left in the photograph), he was in my MTC group. We went and taught English where they also sang to me. It was really fun to teach English that day because the class simply talked to us and we didn’t have to teach much. It was fun teaching lessons with Elder Warner as our language is close to the same. It made both of us happy to do more of the talking during the lessons.
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To access Waterfall Canyon, begin at the 29th Street trail head and take the trail to the left at the shelter and follow the sign. This is a moderately difficult trail with some scrambling for hikers and bikers.
Hardly anyone works on a Friday, including me, so yesterday I went on the Waterfall Canyon hike with family. Left to right below is Connie (niece), Jill (wife), Adelaide (daughter-in-law), Steven (son), Aurora (granddaughter), Susan (sister-in-law), Shauna (niece), and Rick (myself). Click on a person’s head and a photograph from the hike will appear. I had no suitable photos of Susan so hers is from a recent Parrish Canyon hike.
Watch the expression on the face of Steven (the one carrying the baby). If you ever get a decent photograph of him you should win a prize.
The rocks were not nearly so bad as it seems from this video.
It wasn’t a long hike, just under an hour. The day was not too hot so the walking was pleasant.
Adelaide, Jill, Rick, and Steven.
The following is from the Mongolia Mission Moments July 2009 edition. President Andersen wrote that “Perhaps we should stop more often to recognize the significant accomplishments already accomplished, that we might have faith to continue to improve.”
If Utah was a country it would have a GDP of $105.7 billion. This would place Utah above Qatar’s GDP of $102.3 billion but below 32 other states and 55 other nations. But what is GDP and how is it measured?
The gross domestic product (GDP), a basic measure of an economy’s economic performance, is the market value of all final goods and services made within the borders of a nation in a year. The most common approach to measuring GDP is the expenditure method. This method states that GDP is equal to the total expenditures for all final goods and services produced within the country in a stipulated period of time (usually a 365-day year). Goods and services are consumption plus gross investment plus government spending plus exports minus imports.
For a state the counterpart to GDP is Gross State Product (GSP) and is a measurement of the economic output of a state or province. It is the sum of all value added by industries within the state. Bear in mind that flows of goods, services, labor, and capital across state boundaries are not measured very accurately as compared to nations.
If Utah was a country its population of 2,736,424 would rank it above the nation of Jamaica with a population of 2,719,000. Utah ranks 34th among the states in population. If Utah were a country, and no other U.S. states were, it would be positioned 139th in population among all nations.
Fertility rate is live births per 1,000 women aged 15-44 years. The TFR (Total Fertility Rate) of a population is the average number of children that would be born to a woman over her lifetime. Bear in mind that the replacement fertility rate is roughly 2.1 births per woman for most industrialized countries.
If Utah was a country its fertility rate of 2.63 would rank above Ecuador’s 2.59 and would be higher than the world average of 2.61. If Utah were a country it would be 91st among the nations for fertility and ahead of all other U.S. states.
You can probably think of many more comparisons of Utah with other countries. Because the United States is such an economic powerhouse the GDP comparison is the most impressive, especially when comparing a larger state. The GDP of the United States ($14,264,600,000,000) is almost as great as the next four largest economies combined, which are those of Japan ($4,923,761,000,000), China ($4,401,614,000,000), Germany ($3,667,513,000,000), and France ($2,865,737,000,000).
One last item of note. If Utah was a country it would have a balanced budget.
Wikipedia: List of U.S. states by GDP (nominal). I used the 2008 GSP.
Wikipedia: List of countries by GDP (nominal). I used the 2008 list by the International Monetary Fund.
Wikipedia: List of countries by population.
Wikipedia: List of U.S. states by population.
United States Total Fertility Rate Increases. I used the 2006 rates.
Wikipedia: List of countries and territories by fertility rate. I used the 2008 CIA TFR rankings.
Today imagine that Congress has a fit of sanity and manages to balance the budget. They do it through a combination of spending cuts and tax increases. The dollar strengthens and there is more money because of interest that is not needed to pay for deficits. Congress’s approval rating soars and they decide to balance the budget from now on because the voters love it and so does the economy.
But there is still the outstanding debt of trillions of dollars. Congress in a display of unparalleled common sense tackles this by treating the debt as if it was a 30 year mortgage. In my scenario (sadly imaginary) Congress is able to secure a 3% fixed interest rate for 30 years. In the table below is the schedule of payments. I have included other rates of interest in the event that you think 3% is unrealistic.
The dollar amount of the debt is obtained from Treasury Direct’s Debt to the Penny, which I have rounded to the nearest billion dollars. The date in the top right-hand corner is the day the debt reading was taken. The highlighted figures are the yearly amounts paid (the sum of 12 monthly payments), depending on the interest rate. All dollar amounts are in billions. So for example, $13,616 billion, which is $13.6 trillion, just add nine zeros like so: $13,616,000,000,000.
I have been periodically updating the debt reading. It is scary how much this debt is rising. Truly we should avoid debt as we would avoid a plague. The sooner we start paying our mortgage the better. Default is not an option. Refinance now while interest rates are low.
Money Photo Credit: Andrew Magill
Since Coulee Bank dropped their rewards checking rate from 5% to 4% I have been looking for another bank. There are several banks that still offer 5% on their rewards checking accounts but there is one difficulty — they all take local customers only. This didn’t used to be but gradually many banks have withdrawn from the national market. Hence I decided on a bank that is still recruiting customers nationwide (except California). However, see Updates below.
Now First Arkansas Bank & Trust offers only 4.4% (since reduced) but with one redeeming quality — the rate applies up to $50,000. For this you only need to complete the usual ten point of sale debit card transactions per month. Also the one direct deposit, ACH debit, or online bill payment per month. You have to agree to receive E-statements and sign into your online banking account once a month.
I just received an email from ProtectMarriage.com, the good folks who helped pass Proposition 8 in California. The following are edited excerpts from that email:
Just as it occurs in California, legislators in other states also ignore the desires of the people and succumb to pressure from homosexual marriage activists, passing same-sex marriage legislation. This is what happened in Maine. Fortunately, the Maine constitution gives voters the final say. Over 100,000 Mainers signed petitions to put this issue on the ballot as Question 1. A Yes vote on Question 1 this November will preserve traditional marriage and veto the legislative enactment of same-sex marriage.
The outcome of the election in Maine has profound implications for the nation. The homosexual community never been able to convince voters to support their position at the ballot box. But they have a chance to do so in Maine. Polling shows the race to be close, and our opponents have some key advantages. Homosexual activists have been working to build a grassroots organization in the state for the past five years. They have the support of Governor Baldacci, who recently headlined a major fundraising event, as well as the Democratic legislative leaders. They are receiving a massive infusion of cash and volunteers from throughout the country.