Vote

Back in the day when affirmative action was popular some states used redistricting to increase Blacks in congress. District lines were drawn around Black populations and voters elected Black candidates. The Supreme Court ended affirmative action in 1997 when it upheld a lower court decision in California and this quickly spread to other states. The recent court decision in Virginia that reversed a state redistricting plan was based to some degree on the drawing of Black areas. Redistricting has gotten out of hand in recent years with state congressional representatives not matching the states voting records. Here are two examples to illustrate the point. In California 43 out of 50 districts (83%) voted for Harris who got 58% of the vote while in Florida, Trump won 20 of 28 districts (71%) and got 56% of the vote. Redistricting has skewed the popular vote.

Home ownership

Going all the way back to the 1930’s the Home Owners Loan Corporation set up what were called residential security zones, in 142 cities marking Black and immigrant neighborhoods as risky. In the 1970’s the FHA required a 3.5% down payment on a 30-year fixed interest loan. They also followed the 28 rule which meant the principal and interest along with the real estate taxes and home owners’ insurance and PMI could not exceed 28% of the borrower’s gross income. At that time 30-year fixed mortgage were 5% so person who wanted to purchase a $55,000 home which was the average home price in 1980, would have a monthly principal and interest payment of $1020. Real estate taxes added $70, homeowner insurance another $25 and PMI at $28 for a total of $1,143. This meant you had to have an income of $4,082 per month to qualify for a loan. In 1980 only 6% of households had that kind of income. Buyers often put 20% down and purchased starter homes at lesser value than the average. The average income in 1980 was $1,750 per month which meant they only qualified for a house valued at $25,000. The 28 rule kept people from getting in over their heads. I bought a $10,000 home in 1959 with $400 down and a 4.75% rate for 30 years and my monthly payment for everything was $90. My income was $260 but I worked 60 hours a week and that brought it up to $390. Studies were conducted during the 1960’s which showed that Blacks were disproportionately left out of the home mortgage market. When a person came into the bank to apply for a loan and didn’t meet the 28% rule the loan request was denied. In time the loan officers consider these applications a waste of time and began to draw a red line around Black neighborhoods and told people over the phone not to apply based on their address. This resulted in the passage of the Fair Housing Act of 1968 that prohibited racial discrimination in lending. While this meant that all applicants had to be accepted only a few qualified. Then in 1995 Clinton passed the Community Reinvestment Act which provided incentives for banks to offer loans to lower income people by relaxing the strict requirements. This opened the door to the American dream for many Blacks as they became eligible for home loans. When the mortgage crisis hit in 2008, Black and Hispanic communities faced significantly higher foreclosure rates, with reports suggesting up to 30% of their homes entered foreclosure, compared to 11% for white homeowners. Bank examiners would check the percent of loans given to minorities and if they were not high enough the banks were threatened with penalties.

Covid today

Now that some of the political heat about Covid has subsided, it is time for a review of some of the factors that turned out to be of little importance and in some cases not true. Getting the vaccine did not prevent getting the disease and this should have been obvious because that is the case with all vaccines. The same goes for spreading the vaccine after being vaccinated. Stay six feet apart was a rule based on no evidence of efficacy. This meant that half the students had to use home schooling because classroom size was limited. Closing schools when the risk to children was far lower than the normal flu risk saying they were protecting teachers. Children routinely expose teachers to many health hazards. While a surgical mask may be effective the paper masks used by most were not very effective. They interfered with communication and were a severe inconvenience in very young children. People were told to stay at home and were also told to go out in the fresh air Many people were banned from social media for saying things that were deemed misinformation when in fact they were true and others were allowed on social media to disseminate things that were not true. This is always the risk when the government tries to limit speech. The origin of the virus remains controversial because it has become political which means it may never be known. This is not the way science should work. Fear was used as a motivator to enforce many regulations which later proved to be unnecessary. This often happens with emotional responses.

Women of Iran

Over the past five years when the number of migrants crossing the southern border began to increase, many Americas were filled with compassion for these people who were fleeing countries where they had no human rights. These crossing have stopped but a new human rights group has appeared and deserves some attention. There are 50 million Iranian women who are living in human bondage as second-class citizens. Will the American people offer the same compassion for these women? Will there be public demonstrations to show solidarity with these women. Are they not as important as Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter? Here is a quick reminder of just a few of the inequalities suffered by Iranian women. Men have an automatic, unrestricted right to divorce, while women must meet strict, difficult legal conditions to initiate divorce. Mothers retain custody of children only until age seven; thereafter, guardianship automatically transfers to the father or paternal grandfather. Girls can be legally married at 13, and younger with paternal permission. A husband can legally prevent his wife from pursuing an occupation he deems against "family values". Women are largely barred from becoming judges and holding the highest political offices. A new, harsher "hijab and chastity" law introduced in late 2024 significantly increases penalties for non-compliance, including long prison terms, travel bans, and fines In many legal proceedings, a woman's testimony is equal to only half that of a man

Two countries

With apologies to Dickens, the West is facing the Tale of Two Countries, the US and Europe. Starting in the 1960’s both embarked on an anti-nuclear path led by Greenpeace and environmental groups like the Sierra Club. This was followed up in the 1980’s by the climate change scare. The use of fear as a motivated would be the primary strategy. Next came the Green Deal where wind and solar would replace fossil fuels to save the planet from an existential threat. Unelected bureaucrats joined in the fray by creating a mountain of new regulations promoting the carbon free plan. Europe jumped out ahead of the US and can be used as an early warning signal caused by the danger of acting emotionally without a long-range plan. Europe had already been on a path different from America which gave them shorter work week, earlier retirements, longer vacations and more government benefits. They touted their national healthcare as proof of their advanced society. They halted nuclear development, increased regulations, refused fracking and went all in on wind and solar. These changes resulted in utility costs of four times higher than the US, a 20% value added tax (somewhat like a national sales tax), a GDP per person of half the US and a cut in defense spending. Today Europe is deindustrializing as their industries move to China and the US. The population was in rapid decline so they let in foreign migrants too fast and too quick and they are now undergoing a massive deportation plan. They find themselves buying natural gas from America and buying military equipment from the US to help Ukraine fight the war against Russia. The US on the other hand started the same way in the 60’s but at a slower pace. The American people were not so easily manipulated and asked questions. Recall when Ross Perot talked about the giant sucking sound of US jobs moving to Mexico. People questioned the facts around climate change and many were not convinced that wind and solar could replace fossil fuels. Before Trump ever ran for office, he opposed the sending of manufacturing jobs to China (globalization) and he recognized that America must become energy independent and that the bureaucracy had become too big to control. His mottos of drain the swamp and new green scam alerted the people to the folly of replacing fossil fuels with wind and solar. Today, the US is in the process of reindustrialization as trillions of dollars pour into America. Those who have been in control are threatened by these changes and fear their loss of power. They do not challenge the new policies but instead bring in new fears like threat to democracy or a new king. When Trump leaves office the new America with a thriving economy will begin to replace the fear.

I hate war

The date is December 1, 1941. The war in Europe has been going on for a little over two years and Hitler is winning. FDR wants the US to enter the war and save democracy as it struggles against fascism. Following the Constitution, he meets with a joint session of congress and ask for a declaration of war. The congressmen have questions. How long will it last? How much will it cost? How many will die? The president slowly lays out the war plans. He says there will be more than one million casualties including 420,000 dead. He says the cost will be $5 trillion in today’s dollars. The war will last four years. Many women will leave their children to baby sitters so they can work in the factories. There will be rationing of things like sugar, gasoline and tires. Citizens will plant garden Famous Quote: "I have seen war. I have seen war on land and sea. I have seen blood running from the wounded... I have seen the dead in the mud. I have seen cities destroyed... I have seen children starving. I have seen the agony of mothers and wives. I hate war s to save food for the soldiers. Then he said, take all of this information to your home people and explain to them what will happen and then after you have heard their thoughts, come back here and vote. I will be in the White House awaiting your decision. I am not going to commit all of those lives. That is your job under the constitution. In 1936 while running for reelection and Hitler was taking power in Germany, FDR gave his now famous war speech. Five years later he went to war. Woodrow Wilson campaigned on keeping the U.S. out of World War I, with the 1916 slogan "He kept us out of war" helping him win reelection. Two months after he was inaugurated the US went to war.

Intel

Most people remember the slogan, Intel inside, back in 2000 when Intel was the world leader in chips. Instead of continuing to develop new chips they rested on their laurels, a big mistake in any industry and especially in the tech world, and lost their leadership position to Nvidia. In early 2024 the company regrouped under new management in an attempt to turn things around and so far, they have been successful. They recaptured some of the Apple market that they lost and Musk is using their new chip in his, “Terafab” factory in Austin, TX. In less than a year their stock has risen from $21 to $120. As a part of their turnaround the US government purchased 433 million shares at $21 on Aug of 2025. The value of Intel is somewhat similar to Tesla in that it is mostly Blue Sky. Intel property, plant and equipment is valued at $105 billion but is market value (stock) is valued at $600 billion. Tesla’s property value (assets) is valued at $60 billion while its market value is $1.4 trillion. The stockholders have faith in the long-term success of each company but in the high-tech world, things can change overnight. It is a high risk, high return business.