Communism

I joined many experts in making the two big economic mistakes of the past 80 years. The first was the assumption that if countries chose economic freedom that political freedom would follow. The goal was to pull China away from communism. When they opened their society to the free market in 1978 under the “Reform and Opening Up” policy under Deng Xiaoping, the result was the movement of 500 million people out of poverty but they remained communist. Their GDP grew from two billion to 20 trillion but they remained communist. The second mistake was assuming that people would become disillusioned with communism. At the end of WW 2 there were 14 communist countries in the world and by the fall of the USSR in 1991 there were only five left. They were China, Cuba, Laos, North Korea and Vietnam. While Cuba and North Korea are barely holding on the other three are still thriving. In spite of this history, many young people in the West think that socialism is a better way to govern than free market capitalism. Here is what Google AI says: Many young Americans (aged 18–29) hold a favorable view of socialism, with studies indicating up to 62% view it positively, often associating it with equality, social justice, and government-provided services rather than strict state ownership. Socialism, according to Karl Marx is the first step to communism.

San Fran

Things often change when they go to extreme. In 2022 San Francisco recalled their district attorney Suzy Loftus because she favored a deincarceration policy which included the elimination of cash bail and refusing to assist ICE. In that same year they voted to recall the school board. In February 2022, San Francisco voters recalled three school board members—Gabriela Lopez, Faauuga Moliga, and Alison Collins—due to intense frustration over slow school reopenings during the pandemic, a controversial focus on renaming schools over education, and elite admissions changes at Lowell High School. They wanted to change the names of 44 schools with names like Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln and to change admission standards from merit to other factors to promote equity. The people voted 55% to remove the DA and 65% to remove the school board members. As of early 2026, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie, who took office in January 2025, has focused on a centrist, "law and order" agenda to drive a downtown recovery. His administration, which allies with the business community, has prioritized public safety, reporting a ~30% citywide crime decreases, alongside restructuring permitting processes to boost economic development and downtown revitalization

Buying stock

Under Trump, the US government is taking an equity position in private companies. In the past the government has bailed out companies in auto and aviation by offering loans and in other cases subsidies, to companies like Boeing, which has received $15 billion since 2000. Trump, being a businessman, has instead of subsidies, purchased stock in companies. In Aug 2025 the US government purchased $10 billion in Intel stock rather than giving them a subsidy. The stock price when purchased was $20 and today it is $43 so the government, could sell the stock and double its investment in just 18 months. There have been ten other companies where the government is buying stock instead of offering loans and/or subsidies. The most recent buy in is the purchase of ten percent of the stock in US Rare Earths, a company which is operating the only US rare earth mine in Mountain Pass, CA. Instead of just mining the company will also process rare earths. This is happening because China is using its monopoly on rare earths to negotiate in other areas like trade. It is all part of a long-range policy of bringing products back home to shorten supply chains and for national defense. The American people do not want their pharmaceuticals, among other things, made in China.

Iran maybe

What’s in it for the 90 million Iranian people. The sanctions would be lifted and Iran could join the rest of the world and increase the standard of living for all. The sanctions have restricted oil exports, isolated its financial sector and slashed GDP. These measures have caused high inflation (48% annual), increased poverty (35%), and weakened currency. Under the Shah (1941–1979), Iran experienced significant westernization, characterized by expanded women's rights—including voting and the abolition of the hijab, advanced education opportunities, and high levels of religious tolerance for minorities. Cultural life was generally liberal, featuring art festivals, modern dress, and social mixing of genders, though this existed alongside strict political censorship. Income per person is $5,000 vs $36,000 in Saudi Arabia, inflation is 48% vs 2% in Saudi Arabia. In addition, the country is running out of water. Peace could free up maximum oil sales and defense funds could be used to build desalting plants. Most important, the door would be opened to westernizing the country which means electing their own leaders who could promote cultural changes in the way women and minorities are treated. They could be enjoying freedom of speech and press. They can enjoy the freedoms they had under the Shah without the political censorship, including voting and the abolition of the hijab, advanced education opportunities and high levels of religious tolerance for minorities. Cultural life was generally liberal, featuring art festivals, modern dress and social mixing of genders. While Iran in the past also had tribes like the other Arab countries they were different in the fact that they had tribal structures that functioned within the framework of a large, central state. The people in the West, who enjoy all of these freedoms, are hoping that Iran will be able to rejoin the 21st century.

One on one

Two areas where AI will impact people and quite soon are education and healthcare. In the class room the teachers tend to concentrate on the poor performing students, leaving some quick learners to drift. In healthcare people are treated based on protocols that are designed for the average person but no one is average. In a just a few years students will all have private tutors using AI. Each student will be evaluated as an individual and the course work will be centered around that person. In medicine each patient will have their own private doctor in the form of an AI machine. The patient’s entire life’s history will be used to determine diagnosis and treatment. You will not be giving medication based on some data collected by evaluating thousands of people but rather information based in detail on you. In both situations the AI will know every detail about every individual’s situation. The Ai will have the ability to absorb all of the info and how each piece relates to each other piece. It will be a teacher and/or a physician who knows everything there is to know about you.

Better late than never

The invasion of Iran has brought the Middle East to the attention of the American public. Where would the average American choose to live if given the choice of any Middle East country. Most would choose Israel. In Israel they would have freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of religion and freedom to elect their own leaders. Women and minorities would have equal rights. In many Middle East countries, including Iran, these freedoms do not exist. None of these differences warrant invading Iran but their desire to destroy Israel and America deserves some action. Over the years they have secretly built up a formidable military force consisting of missiles and drones while they continued to work toward a nuclear bomb. Recent actions have revealed rockets that could reach European capitals and it is only a matter of time before nuclear tipped ICBM’s would be part of their arsenal. If this invasion had been postponed for another ten or twenty years the situation would be critical. Iran could then use their power much like North Korea does to threaten the West. Just as OPEC cut off oil supplies in 1973, Iran could stop oil shipments through the Straits and cause a world-wide depression. The West would find it difficult to intervene without risking a nuclear war. This was always deterred by the fear of retaliation but these leaders are driven by religious zeal and may not fear mutual destruction. The time to invade was 20 years ago but today may not be too late.

Pensions or 401K

Unions reached their peak in the US just after WW 2 when 33% of all workers were unionized. This number fell steadily to 10% in 2025. Meanwhile union workers in the public sector remained steady at 35%. During these years most private pension plans were replaced with 401K plans but the public plans stayed with the pensions. A good example of public pensions is teachers who are mostly unionized. Teacher union contract negotiators often accepted better pensions in lieu of raises and that began to change about 30 years ago. A career teacher could retire at age 62 with more income than when they were working so most retired. They realized then that they needed less money at retirement and more money when they had young families and this changed the way they negotiated. The problem is that many states now do not have enough money to pay the promised benefits and taxpayers object to raising taxes to provide retirement benefits that exceed working income. This only holds true for career teachers many of whom have 35 plus years of service. Example $90,000 salary, 35 years of service yields a pension of $6000 per month or $72,000 per year. While working this teacher pays 7.5% or $6,750 into his pension and 7.65% or $6,885 into social security for a net before taxes of $76,365 which is only slightly more than his pension. At retirement he no longer pays into the pension and social security and gets $24,000 per year from social security giving him more than $20,000 per year above what he was earning while working.