Leveraged Intelligence

Breakfast – American Style

Part of the continuing Blogger’s Consortium series with simultaneous posts on the topic being done by Ashok, Grannymar, Magpie 11, Maria, Marianna and Ramana – in alphabetical order.  This topic was brought to you by Ramana … and, in case you ever just want to go see what these characters are doing, note that they are in their own links section on the left from now on.  No place to hide … 

I couldn’t believe it when Ramana said that this week’s topic was Breakfast.  Breakfast?  Why didn’t you just say mud.  I was immediately uninspired – until I got hungry, that is.

American’s love their breakfasts and here are some typical breakfasts:

The good old stack of pancakes.  Call them flapjacks if you are feeling poetic.  Slap a little butter on them and drizzle some syrup over the top.

We fill them with nuts or fruit or make them whole wheat or buttermilk.  Run some maple syrup on there and you’ve got yourself a mouth-watering start to the day.

Their close cousins are waffles and you can have your fill of either or both at the International House of Pancakes – implying they are not ONLY American!

Next, we need a little protein.  Don’t imagine that the next is served after the pancakes.  Oh, no!  Right along with them.

Bacon and eggs!  Note that it can also come with sausage (bangers in England, Magpie?) and I think they just put the tomato on in this picture to be cute.  It would more often have some toast thrown in.

The bacon or sausage might be replaced by ham, so we are quite versatile in how we involve the pig.

The bacon or ham and eggs breakfast gives rise to one of the most famous comparisons that American football coaches give their players to push them through the agony to the ecstasy, “Boys, do you know the difference between a chicken and a pig in a ham and eggs breakfast?  The chicken is involved – but the pig is committed!  I need you boys to be committed!”  And, we probably should have been.

In any case, the important part of this section of breakfast is that it should have protein, taste and plenty of grease to raise your cholesterol to the highest level possible!

None of this is worthwhile without a “cuppa joe”, some java to start the day.

I like mine with a little cream, no sugar.  Real men like it black!  Of course, these are the same real men who were committed.

Carol and I both like a really dark roast.  Don’t serve us pee water.  And, as much as I like to drink tea, I still like to start my day with coffee.  It’s more important than the protein, grease and carbs.

Breakfast isn’t quite the same without the morning paper.

My wife and I both sit at the breakfast table with a newspaper or will trade sections.  Sunday’s in particular where we have all kinds of special sections.  She might do the word jumble while I read the sports.

And we are quiet and at peace.  The kids haven’t called yet …

Sometimes, though, breakfast is a social occasion and we have many coffee shops offering “Breakfast Served All Day.”  Not one breakfast lasting all day, just that any time you want you can order one.  We usually order an omelet for some reason at these outings.  They have lots of specialty omelets, most of them 3-egg omelets.   Many places have a whole menu page devoted to various kinds of omelets and bottomless cups of coffee.

The real attraction though is that eating breakfast is relatively inexpensive, at the beginning of the day when you have good energy – and it takes awhile so it is great for socializing!

This picture I first used over at GL Hoffman’s blog with a guest piece on writing a conversational blog.  Viewing a blog as a coffee shop is a perfect metaphor for a conversational blog.  If you look closely, you will see that the tiny icon associated with the Leveraged Intelligence blog is a coffee cup and that is meant to refer to this setting.

One thing you might notice that I have left out of the above is pastry.  Mostly, that is just a personal preference.  I don’t particularly like to eat pastry for breakfast, although it is quite common in America to do so.  Pastry doesn’t “stick to my ribs” the way I like a breakfast to do.

Is it my personal habit to eat breakfasts like the above?  No.  These are breakfasts that I enjoy, but they are the exception, not the rule.  I might make up pancakes and eggs on Saturday or Sunday morning, especially Saturday before I get around to do my yard work.  But, this is my more habitual weekday breakfast:

Otherwise, how would I maintain this carved physique?  I like to have the more extravagant meals as the exception and then stay healthy and lighter by the rule.  I will eat this or a bowl of oatmeal, some yogurt and, of course, coffee.

But, what I eat for breakfast really isn’t the key for me.  Breakfast is a word describing a break from the nighttime fasting while sleeping.  But it is also a break from the nighttime withdrawal from the world of 3 dimensions (or 4 counting time) to the world of magic.   I love to sleep!  I love to dream!  And, when I get up, I go through what I can best describe as a reentry process.

So, breakfast for me is not so much a meal as an event.  What is it for you?  And what are some of your favorite breakfasts?

Re-Inventing the American Dream

America, like the rest of the world, is very challenged right now.  We find the legendary American Dream in serious jeopardy, in danger of becoming historical artifact.  Worse, our attempts to return to former prosperity is fraught with perils, somewhat along the lines of the above cartoon.  At times, the solution is worse than the problem!

Unfortunately, we have allowed these concerns all too often to throw us into so many considerations that we are suffering paralysis by analysis, over thinking every step, afraid to step off the curb.  We need to return to the way of thought that has made this country vital and progressive, the hope of humanity – legends in our own minds!  We are first and foremost creative thinkers and inventors and the best of innovation has not come from corporate conglomerates, it has come from the people.

I now give you the path back to the future!  No group shows creativity exceeding the American Redneck.  And, no one is closer to the roots of the grass.  Here is the true hope of human growth, beginning with the solution to the problems of the auto industry.  Just this morning, GM was removed from the DOW blue chip stocks as it went into bankruptcy and restructuring.  Far too many of their offerings are of behemoths no one can afford.  Still, merely copying foreign competitors will never solve anything.  It is time for innovation, so I unveil for you the REDNECK CAMPER!  This is the future shown to the American Automaker.

All too often, accessories in vehicles, like defrosters in cold climates, come at a price no American can any longer afford.  I give you the inventive REDNECK DEFROSTER as a simple inexpensive solution anyone can implement.

Recreation for years has been NASCAR, Indy 500, Grand Prix.  Enough of this environmental destruction and waste of good money.  Besides, we have become such a nation of watchers, not participants, one of the big sources of obesity.  As a solution to both, I offer you the joy of REDNECK COOLER races:

Part of the major expense of American vehicles to purchasers has been the expense of transport from manufacturing to consumer.  Well, this has become so institutionalized that we don’t even consider obvious, viable alternatives like the REDNECK MOTORCYCLE TRANSPORTER.

As we learned from Katrina, those who await government protection and aid after a natural disaster are just looking to compound their problems.  Take the initiative!  You too can be safe in any catastrophic flood with the REDNECK SWAMP BUGGY!

After all these problems are solved, Americans need to take time to work on relationships.  Traveling together to destinations never before seen is a marvelous pastime in this gorgeous landscape of wonder.  And there is no better way to share the fresh air and beautiful countryside than bringing your mate with you with the REDNECK SIDECAR attached to your bike.

Then the time comes to return home for a little peace and quiet.  Americans have always loved their couches, but, again – they can become boring, ordinary, stultifying.  You can so simply upgrade them to the REDNECK TREE SWING.  Tiki torch is a nice touch, don’t you think?

It has also come to my attention via the radio that we have just opened our first Wal-Mart in India!  This is such a great move forward for our trade deficit, for now goods can go directly from China to India without that bothersome trip across the ocean.  Still, no one is seeing the bigger picture.  We can endear ourselves to the Indians even further by demonstrating our frugality.  That Wal-Mart in India can become the new REDNECK AMERICAN EMBASSY!

And…here is a special submission from India by Ramana Rajgopaul:

Interesting Article From an Indian Economist

Japanese save a lot. They do not spend much. Also Japan exports far more than it imports. Has an annual trade surplus of over 100
billions. Yet Japanese economy is considered weak, even collapsing.

Americans spend, save little. Also US imports more than it exports.
Has an annual trade deficit of over $400 billion. Yet, the American
economy is considered strong and trusted to get stronger.

But where from do Americans get money to spend?  They borrow from Japan, China and even India.  Virtually others save for the US to spend. Global savings are mostly invested in US, in dollars.

India itself keeps its foreign currency assets of over $50 billions in
US securities. China has sunk over $160 billion in US securities.
Japan’s stakes in US securities is in trillions.

Result:

The US has taken over $5 trillion from the world. So, as the world
saves for the US, Americans spend freely. Today, to keep the US
consumption going, that is for the US economy to work, other countries have to remit $180 billion every quarter, which is $2 billion a day, to the US!

A Chinese economist asked a neat question. Who has invested more, US in China, or China in US? The US has invested in China less than half of what China has invested in US.

The same is the case with India. We have invested in US over $50
billion. But the US has invested less than $20 billion in India.

Why the world is after US?

The secret lies in the American spending, that they hardly save. In
fact they use their credit cards to spend their future income. That
the US spends is what makes it attractive to export to the US. So US imports more than what it exports year after year.

The result:

The world is dependent on US consumption for its growth. By its
deepening culture of consumption, the US has habituated the world to feed on US consumption. But as the US needs money to finance its consumption, the world provides the money.

It’s like a shopkeeper providing the money to a customer so that the customer keeps buying from the shop. If the customer will not buy, the shop won’t have business, unless the shopkeeper funds him. The US is like the lucky customer. And the world is like the helpless shopkeeper financier…

Who is America’s biggest shopkeeper financier? Japan of course. Yet it’s Japan which is regarded as weak. Modern economists complain that Japanese do not spend, so they do not grow. To force the Japanese to spend, the Japanese government exerted itself, reduced the savings rates, even charged the savers. Even then the Japanese did not spend (habits don’t change, even with
taxes, do they?). Their traditional postal savings alone is over $1.2
trillions, about three times the Indian GDP. Thus, savings, far from
being the strength of Japan, has become its pain.

Hence, what is the lesson?

That is, a nation cannot grow unless the people spend, not save. Not just spend, but borrow and spend. Dr. Jagdish Bhagwati, the famous Indian-born economist in the US, told Manmohan Singh that Indians wastefully save. Ask them to spend, on imported cars and, seriously, even on cosmetics! This will put India on a growth curve. This is one of the reason for MNC’s coming down to India, seeing the consumer spending.

‘Saving is sin, and spending is virtue.’

But before you follow this neo economics, get some fools to save so that you can borrow from them and spend!!!

The Puzzle of February 12th

What is it about February 12th?  I opened the paper this morning and the theme of the day just jumped out at me.  Let me put the evidence in front of you and you see if you can find the theme:

Today is Abe Lincoln’s 200th birthday.

Today is Charles Darwin’s 200th birthday.

Today is the NAACP’s 100th birthday.

Today is Bill Russell’s 75th birthday.

Okay, reader, these are the puzzle pieces.  What is the blog theme for February 12th?