Eat in

I took my grandson to baseball practice about a 40 minute drive from here and while I was waiting for him I got a newspaper and went to McDonalds to read and do the puzzle. I was sitting near the front and a young couple with two kids, about 8 and 10 came in. I didn’t hear what they ordered but the bill came to $25 and I got to thinking about my home made vegetable soup. It costs me $10 and it makes 6 quarts or about 200 ounces or 50 cents for a ten ounce bowl. If I add to that two pieces of whole wheat toast with butter, an 8 oz. glass of whole milk and an apple the whole thing costs $25 for four meals. These people could eat a much healthier meal at home for four nights for the same price as one night out. They would have a family meal around the kitchen table where they could talk about the days activities without interruption. I can make other meals for the same price. Meat loan with potatoes and gravy, carrots , buns and milk. Same with roast pork. Many families live from pay check to pay check and they could eat healthier and cheaper if they wanted to change their eating habits.

Medicare booklet

Today in the mail I received my annual copy of the, “Medicare and You”, booklet. It is 152 pages of insurance information printed in color telling me all about Medicare. I have no idea what this cost but I have a pretty good idea of how many will read this booklet and it is very few. I spent 25 years sitting across the kitchen table in people’s homes, talking about such matters as insurance and from my perspective I don’t know anyone including myself who will read this booklet. On top of that I can predict that if some brave soul did decide to read it they wouldn’t get much out of it. On rare occasions I would come across some person who knew that Part A was for hospital and Part B for doctor but that was about the extent of the average person’s knowledge of Medicare. So the question comes up, as to why the government is sending this booklet out, to the 39 million Medicare recipients, if only a few will read it and even fewer will understand it? The answer is that congress feels they are doing their duty of informing the citizens about Medicare. I believe this shows they are out of touch with the ordinary citizen

Disparate impact

As Eric Holder leaves office one of the things he has used more than others is the doctrine of disparate impact. Normally when discrimination occurs there is a specific individual who has been adversely affected and the Justice Department steps in to challenge. With disparate impact there is no specific individual involved but there is statistical evidence that discrimination exist within a group. A typical example might be hiring practices in regards to gender. Suppose a police department shows no specific prejudice against females but total employment indicates that only a small percentage of women are hired. Often times the so called 80% rule used. Suppose a company hires 70% of the men who apply for a predominantly male job but only 30% of the women who apply. The ratio of 30/70 indicates that women were hired at 42% of the rate of men and since that is below 80% the government could bring a case against this employer. Holder used this process many times against police departments, schools and cities. I will not argue the logic of such methods but will point out that when you look at the rate that conservative groups were challenged by the Internal Revenue they definitely did not meet the 80% rule but no challenge was issued by Justice.

Walmart checking

Because of all the new banking regulations in the Dodd-Frank banking bill, banks now are charging extra fees for checking accounts unless you keep a large balance which leaves out most poor people. This leaves the poor without access to checking so Walmart has stepped in to solve the problem. The retail goliath on Wednesday announced it would offer customers checking accounts with no minimum balance and no fees for overdrafts or bounced checks. Those who get a direct deposit of at least $500 every month -- a floor that includes many people receiving government benefits -- will have the $8.95 monthly fee waived. Last year the law changed and now requires that social security checks be direct deposit and many low income elderly pay heavy fees to maintain their account. These people will likely switch to Walmart.

Guns

One of the hot items the past few elections has been gun control but it has faded to a non-issue status. In the past the anti-gun people had said all they were asking is that guns not be purchased at flea markets. It is their contention that more guns mean more gun crimes. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms said that only 2% of guns used by criminals were purchased at flea markets so this kind of cooled down this issue. In addition other data shows that guns may not be the problem that some people say. Over the past 20 years homicide rates have declined by half and during this same period the number of guns owned by Americans increased from 220 million to 300 million. 20 states now have conceal and carry laws and some say this acts as a deterrent to crime.

180 for Obama

When President Obama was elected many people were thrilled with his new, why can’t we all just get along, approach and after he apologized to the Europeans for American arrogance, they gave him the Nobel Peace Prize. Six years later reality has set in and his speech yesterday, aside from the reference to Ferguson, MO, sounded like George Bush. This, of course, upset both parties but the Democrats have muffled their dissent.

Iranian nukes

With the news being dominated by ISIS most people have forgotten about the Iranian nuclear program. In 2006 negotiations between Iran and Europe broke down over a disagreement on the number of centrifuges Iran could have. Iran had 500 they were using for research and wanted to increase that to 3,000 and the Europeans disagreed. Presently Iran is negotiating with the United States and they have 19,000 centrifuges of which 9,000 are active and they want to increase to 190,000. It is obvious who is winning in these negotiations. Many are worried about this but as I have stated in the past I am not. I don’t believe that Iran really wants a nuclear bomb but they just want to stir the pot to keep the price of oil up. I say this because back in 1944 the US using far less sophisticated procedures created enough U-235 to make a bomb in a couple of years. Iran has been working at this for 20 years and still don’t have enough enriched U-235 to make a bomb. Maybe I am just an optimist but what other explanation is there?

Climate change march

I watched with great interest the people who were marching to promote climate change just prior to the United Nations Climate Summit. They were a mixed group coming from various parts of society with different backgrounds. Some were ordinary citizens who have been influenced by groups trying to move away from fossil fuels and most of these did not research the issue on their own but accepted what they were told. Others have a financial stake in the issue, people like former Vice-President Al Gore. Many, however, have their roots in the old cold war days. These people are the anti-Reagan, pro-Gorbachev citizens who oppose the free market system of governance. They are similar to the Occupy Wall Street people who were marching a couple of years ago. They were a product of the cold war and when the Soviet Union collapsed they migrated to the environmental cause. They were the “better red than dead” group who became the “new red is green” people. Many of them are liberals who are financially OK but who see big business as the villain that is trampling on the little people. They prefer the Marxist principle of, “from each according to his means, to each according to his needs”. They see the climate change issue as a way to bring big business in line with their way of thinking and that is putting people ahead of profit. This is an admirable goal but the new young managers in business already realize this and are moving in that direction. They see this as the right thing to do and understand that moral commitment to the community will enhance profits. The Summit is a paper tiger since China and India are not participating and the United States will lead the way to cleaner air as the movement away from coal and oil to natural gas continues and eventually the use of methane hydrate and finally to hydrogen. The pathway is clear and when those who have a vested interest in opposing capitalism get out of the way the problem will be solved.

War President

As the war in Syria unfolds many past misconceptions are being uncovered and the truth is coming out. The country is almost united behind The President’s new move into Syria. Most of those opposed are liberals who have always said that conservatives are against everything Obama does because they don’t like him or worse because he is black. Now these evil conservatives are backing The President because they like his policy and that is what it has always been about….policy. The President has a chance to regain some of his lost popularity but it requires a complete change in attitude on his part. Instead of being the guy who ended wars he must become the guy who started a war against an evil enemy and defeated them instead of just saying the war is over and coming home. Using the forces available to him and the backing of the American people he can drive ISIS out of Iraq and let Assad deal with them in Syria. Will he come out with the same enthusiasm he has for minimum wage and lead the world to a victory over this loathsome enemy or will he tippy toe around the issue trying to maintain his image of Mr. Nice Guy. War is not nice. It is a dirty business and he will have to get his hands in the dirt to succeed.

Preemption

When President Bush 43 was in office he proposed what was called, preemptive strike policy. He was roundly criticized for this and was called a war-monger. The concept was simple and sensible and when those who objected went home and thought about it for a few days they just dropped the subject. The policy said that if there was an imminent danger to the United State the government had the right to make a first strike. The other alternative was to wait until attacked before responding. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bush declared in an aggressive new national security strategy Friday that the United States will stop any adversary challenging America's military superiority and adopt a strike-first policy against terrorist threats "before they're fully formed." It appears that President Obama has made use of this policy on his attack against ISIS in Syria. I wonder if he will be considered a war-monger. I thought this was a good policy when Bush proposed it and it still is a good policy.

Booming Syria

During the run up to the 2012 presidential election Vice-President Biden warned that if elected Romney would into Syria. He also suggested that Romney would change our position with Russia from cooperation to confrontation. It now appears that if the US had entered Syria on the side of the anti-government forces in early 2013 things would look better today. It also appears that the US should have stood up to Putin early on. The Presidents mode of operation is to wait and think things through before acting but like General Eisenhower said, most battles that are lost can be attributed to two works, “too late”. Military experts conclude that the US will not rout ISIS in Syria without ground forces and The President has ruled that out so what kind of positive outcome can come of this? There will be no victory over ISIS in Syria but there can be a victory in Iraq. With the help of US bombing and tactics along with the part of the Iraqi army that is willing to fight, the Sunni’s in Iraq who helped fight against Al-Qaida in the surge and the Kurds in the north, ISIS in Iraq can be surrounded and defeated.

High cost of healthcare

My wife was in the hospital for four days in July. She got very ill overnight and I called an ambulance to take her to the emergency room. They put her on oxygen and intravenous since she was dehydrated. They put a detector on her figure and that indicated low oxygen which they diagnosed as pneumonia. They took chest x-rays to confirm this. They put her on antibiotics and took samples for blood work. In a few hours she was moved to the hospital where she continued on IV and oxygen. The next day a physical therapist came in and walked her around the room for about 15 minute and this was done the next two days. To check her heart they did an eco-gram, an EKG/ECG. The bill for these four days was $22,600. Here comes the part that surprised me although it shouldn’t have. When I told people the charge they responded with a kind of ho hum, wow. I got the distinct feeling that I could have said the bill was $226,000 and they would have responded in the same way. This is the result of what happens when insurance pays the cost. The cost doesn’t matter. As long as we have a system that uses the third party payer the cost will rise faster than inflation. With Obamacare’s high deductibles people will start paying out of pocket and this will help to control cost.

Ray Rice

As the domestic violence case against Ray Rice unfolds the players union is now fighting to have him re-instated. The union wants him back, the team wants him back, the owners want him back and Roger Goodell wants him back. I wonder if he will be back

Modern slavery

The present day United States is bringing back slavery but this time it is by popular demand. During the hay day of the Roman Empire the big sport was watching gladiators fighting it out in the great arenas of the day. Some gladiators were volunteers who risked their legal and social standing and their lives by appearing in the arena. Most were despised as slaves, schooled under harsh conditions, socially marginalized, and segregated even in death. Today over 70% of the players in the NFL are black and if you look at starting lineups the percentage is higher. Eliminate the kickers and the percent goes up. Recent studies have shown that there are serious life time health problems associated with the game and over time this will have a profound influence on who the future players will be. Mothers who read the reports of damage caused by head injuries are moving their boys away from the sport. There is a good chance that in the future the game will be played by minorities, mostly blacks. When that day comes we will have the Roman aristocrats, mostly white, sitting in the stands watching the gladiators, mostly black, bashing their heads together in the arena, field.

Ground troops

Former President Bill Clinton has joined a long list of experts claiming that the United States cannot win a ground war in Iraq and so we should not send in ground forces. He says that the people in the area must use their ground forces and the US can offer air and logistical support. I like this idea and so does everyone else but the interviewers never follow up by asking what happens if the local people don’t want to use ground forces?

Death panels

Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, one of the key formulators of Obamacare came out this week saying he wants to die at age 75. He pointed out how the loss of creativity, the increase risk of disability and the high cost of medical care associated with the last years of life are reasons enough to die. When I read this a couple of things passed through my mind and the first was how old is this guy and he is 57 which means he sees 75 as somewhere down the road. While Dr. Emanuel has always opposed terms like death panels, he is well aware that rationing is a necessary part of lowering overall health care cost and was a part of the Obamacare he developed. It involves counseling elderly people regarding end of life treatments and includes panels of experts to set up types of treatment available for various situations. While most people do not like to hear this, it has been going on for many years and will continue. The reason is obvious if you think about it. The country cannot afford to give all medical care available to every person so rationing is the result. Will the superrich still receive all possible care? Yes, but most of us do not fall into that category. I have said before that Obama care will lower the cost of health care by using rationing and high deductibles both of which make sense.

Borders

There may be a silver lining in the dark cloud of ISIS. It was reported that ISIS is paying Mexican Coyotes $25,000 to smuggle a terrorist into the United States across the Mexican border. Since this is significantly more than the $600 they get to bring children across they will likely jump at the chance. If they do this and the terrorist then blows up a mall or some other facility, the American people will demand once and for all that the border be sealed. This will be done with a double fence along with high tech surveillance and drones overhead and guards along the fence with orders to use their weapons to scare people away and if they are not scared away shoot to kill. Once this is accomplished the 12 million illegal aliens who are now here can be given a path to citizenship and a realistic immigration system can be developed, one where we encourage people with special talents to come to America. We are in dire need of scientist and engineers and we educate them by the thousands and then they must return to their countries of origin. We will instead change the law and allow them to remain here.

Boots or not

Even, the most staunch, Obama supporters are beginning to wonder what is going on. Back in 2011 The President said, “We’re leaving behind a stable and self-reliant Iraq”. Vice President Biden chimed in calling Iraq, “one of the great achievements of this administration”. With great fanfare The President said he promised to end the war in Iraq and he did it. It is easy to understand Obama’s hesitancy to re-enter Iraq and why there is so much confusion within the administration. He says that ISIS will be destroyed but not with US troops on the ground. Military experts across the political spectrum say that is not likely to happen. Secretary of State Kerry says we are not at war but White house after weeks of hedging says we are. Chairman of the Joint Chief’s says we will put boots on the ground if the situation warrants. Two years ago Obama was urged by his advisors to arm the rebels in Syria and he refused. Two weeks ago he was once again urged and he said they were just a bunch of pharmacist and farmers and it would be folly to arm them. This week he announced that we would arm and train the rebels and they would be our boots on the ground. Experts of every sort are saying this will not work but the congress just approved 500 million dollars to train these people. The President is under pressure to do something that in his heart he does not want to do and it shows and our allies see this uncertainty and they are questioning our commitment. The usual cadre of democrats who normally speak up when it comes to war are now strangely silent.

War effort

One of the major complaints against President Johnson during the Viet Nam War was his insistence on micro-managing the war effort. Today on the news it was announced that President Obama has said he will personally authorize any air strikes in Syria.

Imports exports

In 2010 the United States became the world’s largest producer of natural gas and next year will achieve the same with oil. Oil production next year will be 13 million barrels per day but that is below the usage of 20 million so the US will still import the difference. If the government would open the Green River Formation to drilling this deficit would quickly disappear and the US could begin exporting oil to places like China where they could use it instead of coal and reduce their air pollution. The same thing could happen in India and Africa and this would reduce world-wide pollution. Instead of paying out 700 million dollars per day for imports the US could be collecting that amount from imports while at the same time reducing air pollution around the world.

Stocks

Quantitative Easing, the Fed practice of printing money and using that to purchase bonds and toxic mortgages, will end in October. Since 2008 the Fed has printed 4 trillion dollars and using that to buy bonds has held interest rates down to the lowest levels in my life time. The main result is that money has poured into the stock market for higher yields and the market has risen 30%. This is one of the main contributing factors in the widening gap between the rich and the poor. The top 1% own 60% of the stocks and the top 10% own 85% of the stocks.

Trucking oil

Here are some recent facts published about ISIS. They are selling oil at a 50% discount. They are earning 3 million dollars per day selling this oil. Do the math. If oil is currently selling at $100 per barrel, they are selling theirs at $50 per barrel they are selling 60,000 barrels per day. They are trucking this oil to Turkey and each truck holds 10,000 gallons or 250 barrels so they are shipping 240 trucks per day. That is a 100 mile journey across open desert. I have not heard of any trucks being targeted by the US Air Force which is flying over Iraq on a daily basis.

War or not

I have to feel a little sorry for President Obama as the other congressmen are starting to treat him as they did President Bush. As he prepares to go into Syria they want to know how many troops are you going to use and where will they go and how long will they be there and how many will be killed and injured and how much will it cost and how will you pay for it? This is the new way in which we fight what we call pretend wars. Can you imagine asking General Eisenhower these questions as we entered WW 2? Ah, but that was in the old days when war was war and it was fought by generals and the goal was to win. Today we have politics running the wars and Presidents determining strategy and we can’t decide if we want to pay the cost to win. Sounds like we are in for another long drawn out affair where no one really wins until we just get tired of it all and declare victory and come home.

Adrian

Will Adrian Peterson benefit from the Bill Clinton experience? The Clinton legacy is that it doesn’t matter what you do in your private life as long as you get the job done. If Peterson keeps scoring TD’s will all be forgiven? The General Manager says that Peterson is a find person. This is the same guy who has fathered at least five children with four different mothers and never married any of them. Can it be assumed that he is taking care of these children financially or does he treat them like the one child who died at age two that he knew nothing about? This is the same guy who is now accused of beating his children with a stick until they showed marks. Is he a good role model for all the young boys who want to emulate him or will they too separate their personal lives from their sports lives? Something is drastically wrong here.

ISIS

ISIS was the big discussion on the Sunday News shows and two points were made. First that ISIS is a long term threat to the security of the American people and second we must rely on existing forces on the ground to defeat ISIS. Does this mean that the safety of our citizens is dependent on Arab troops currently fighting in Iraq and Syria? Is it wise for us to rely on what have been in the past not very reliable sources.?

What's in a name

The current controversy as to what to call the Presidents involvement in Iraq and Syria, centers around whether it is called war or not. Some say, what does it matter and that is how I feel but that is not the normal way that many in politics think. Why was pro-abortion changed to pro-choice, why was illegal aliens changed to undocumented immigrates, why was black changed to African Americans and so on. There are many examples of where people decided what you call something is important. My favorite example is woman becoming wo-person.

Syria

The West led by the United States may be forced to get permission from Assad before they bomb in Syria. The West has been preaching for months about Russia’s move into The Ukraine, saying they are violating international law. Will the West be doing the same thing if they go into Syria without Assad’s OK?

NFL salary

I was watching the news about the football player that knocked out his wife because I am interested in how women are treated in all aspects of life but I was floored with a surprise when I found out that the Commissioner of the NFL made 44 million dollars last year. There are 32 teams with about 1,700 players. The owners are primarily responsible for the teams so his job is just to watch over the contract negotiations between players and owners. He is also called upon to explain situations like the current one of physical abuse.

Committee chairmen

Stories abound about the possible Republican takeover of the senate but what does that mean. It does not mean that they can overturn Obamacare because The President would veto any legislation designed to do that. It takes 2/3rds vote to override a veto. What is important is that the majority party gets to appoint committee chairmen and they in turn determine what goes on in the senate. For example Harry Reid is the majority leader and he currently has 360 bills passed by the Republican congress that he will not bring to the floor for a vote. He then refers to them as the do-nothing congress. Party chairmen wield all the power.

Good students

When I was in college in the 50’s there were very few scholarships available. I didn’t know anyone who received a scholarship and I knew most of the good students in two high schools. There were no Pell Grants and no student loan programs. Most of us worked at part time jobs because we had the time and we needed some extra money for school items and entertainment. For serious students today I would recommend that they not work and spend that time doing homework. If you are a good student and work hard you can earn far more in scholarship money than you could make by working. It is true that you gain more benefits from working than just money but with the number of scholarships available it is well worth it to get the good grades needed to qualify for college help. I will agree that there are some students who must work because their families need the financial help but those are the exceptions.

Obama's dilemma

Here are two positions that President Obama holds firm. The first was established as his reason for trading 5 terrorist for Sargent Bergdahl, the American soldier who was held captive by terrorist in Afghanistan. He said that the United States does not leave one of our soldiers behind. The second position has been stated many times in the past few months when Obama says no boots on the ground. Tonight The President is expected to announce that we will continue sending planes over Iraq and in the near future over Syria. If one of these planes has a mechanical failure and the pilot has to bail out and is captured by the terrorist what does Obama do? We cannot rescue him without putting boots on the ground and we can’t leave him behind. As the king said in,” The King and I”, tis a puzzlement!

NOW

Great news, the National Organization of Women as arisen from the dead to call for the resignation of football commissioner Roger Goodell for the way he mishandled the Ray Rice affair. You recall this was the group that disappeared from view when President Clinton had his fling with Monica. At that time they faced the decision of trying to decide it they were advocates for women or whether they were an arm of the Democratic Party and they opted for party and thus like old generals they just faded away. They were not the first group to be swallowed up by politics and they won’t be the last. Maybe they can fight for women’s rights as long as politics is not involved. That’s better than nothing.

Spending

A few weeks back, after Nancy Pelosi said that unemployment for the 1.3 million that ended in January be continued because it would stimulate the economy, I facetiously suggested that the government just send everyone a check. Well it is often said that truth is stranger than fiction so here is article published yesterday. Vox, the explanatory journalism site with a particularly leftist bent, has an article out endorsing the idea that the Federal Reserve literally print cash and send it to Americans to stimulate the economy. The idea was initially proposed in an article in Foreign Affairs, published by the prominent Council on Foreign Relations and written by Mark Blyth, a professor at Brown University and Eric Lonergan, a London-based hedge fund manager. The fed has spent over 3 trillion on quantitative easing and they could have sent that to us and we each would have received $10,000. I wonder why the fed spending didn’t fire up the economy as is was supposed to? Maybe the old adage that there is no free lunch is true.

Climate and methane

Article in the BBC site by their environmental correspondent state that methane hydrate gas bubbling up from the ocean and went on to say< "There is no evidence to say that these methane hydrates are related to conventional gas reservoirs, so there is no evidence to say they are a recoverable resource." This is their expert on the environment and he is not aware that the Japanese have already captured this gas and are planning on making this a usable source of energy since they must import their energy sources. The writer is Matt McGrath and he is an advocate for climate change and promotes solar and wind. It may be cynical but would he prefer not to know about this new source energy that could replace coal and oil and even capture the CO2 it produces?

Putin two step

When George Bush was planning the invasion of Iraq he garnered together 47 countries that were known as a coalition of the willing and it was laughed at by the press because only a few countries were going to provide boots on the ground and the rest were to supply money and equipment. This past week President Obama promised a coalition of the willing composed of 10 countries none of which will put boots on the ground and this is hailed in the press as a great achievement. New subject. Watching how Putin operates it seems our government has forgotten the old Soviet way of moving two steps forward and one step backwards. Putin takes over Crimea and then goes home. Next he facilitates unrest in Eastern Ukraine and says he will help those Russians who live there and part of the Ukraine is taken over and Putin says lets negotiate. He needed a land route to Crimea and he got it. Then he casually says that Karackistan is not really a country. Are they next? New subject. Here is an example of telling the truth but leaving out pertinent information. The Democratic report, released by Senator Carl Levin of Michigan, said that both liberal and conservative groups were mistreated, revealing no political bias by the IRS Here is the actual report. In February 2014, it was further learned that of the already-existing nonprofits that were flagged for IRS surveillance (including monitoring of the groups’ activities, websites, and any other publicly available information), 83% were conservative. And, of the groups that the IRS selected for audit, 100% were conservative.

ISIS and Obama

It has now been reported and confirmed that President Obama knew about ISIS last December. He was given daily reports on their progress. During that time they were crossing the desert in their Toyota trucks and had no heavy armaments, things they later captured. As they crossed the open desert they were easy targets from the air and could have been destroyed but Obama chose not to act. This lack of action gave ISIS the opportunity to attack the Iraqi Army in Mosel and capture US military equipment plus all the money that was in the banks in the city. Now The President says what can we do? The question is why didn’t we do it when we had the chance? Now it is a much more difficult problem. Even with hindsight he still seems ambivalent when it comes to taking action. He has had three news meetings this week just to finally come around to deciding that he must act but then it is still not clear. He says they are a danger to our security and promises to “degrade and ultimately destroy”. Then he follows that up by saying no boots on the ground. What if it takes boots to destroy? What is the policy?

Clean energy

Data shows that since Obama has taken office the wages of middle and low income people have fallen but the rich have gotten richer. The reason given is that we are losing high paying manufacturing jobs and gaining low paying service jobs. Obama supporters say this is not his fault but it is just the way the economy is changing. I disagree. There is an entire energy industry ready to explode but Obama has chosen instead to promote wind and solar programs that have not caught on. If he would open government lands to oil and gas exploration the economy would grow with high paying manufacturing jobs. In addition the amount of CO2 going into the atmosphere would decline as we move from coal to oil to natural gas. The President keeps preaching how much he is concerned about income inequality but he refuses to allow the energy industry to grow. It cannot be because he is concerned about climate change because natural gas is much better than coal or oil. If the government had pushed the development of cars and trucks running on natural gas instead of failed solar companies the CO2 levels would be down and the economy would be growing. Moving toward using methane hydrate by pumping it from the ocean floor and replacing it with CO2 could be the answer to climate change but still Obama looks at wind mills and solar panels. I am at a loss to explain this behavior.

Putin

When WW 1 ended, the so called war to end all wars, the American people were tired of war and wanted nothing to do with war. Fifteen years later Hitler began his move to bring glory back to the defeated Germany. He first annexed The Rhineland and then Austria. Then he recaptured a part of Czechoslovakia known as Sudetenland and then all of Czechoslovakia. Meanwhile polls in America showed that the people had no interest in getting involved in another war in Europe. To FDR’s credit he tried to get America to come to the aid of Europe but the people were war weary and refused. FDR was able to send aid to Europe but it was only when Pearl Harbor was attacked and Germany declared war on the United States that the people woke up. Here we are today watching Putin trying to bring back glory to a defeated Soviet Union as he moves against The Ukraine and the American people are war weary and polls show they have no interest in going to war in Europe. Our President echoes the cry of the people saying no American boots on the ground. He and the people have hope that things will change, our old friend hope and change has returned. President Obama began is term in office with a tour overseas where he tried appeasement by declaring the mistakes that America made in the past and promoted the idea that if we treat others with respect they will respond in kind. I didn’t vote for him because of his lack of experience and my concerns were confirmed with his plea of can’t we all just get along. Europe was thrilled and gave him the Nobel Peace Prize. He gave in to Putin and decided not to put missiles in Poland and set about ending the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. He said Russia was just a second rate power and ISIS was a JV team. The President seems overwhelmed and doesn’t have people around him who can offer him strength and guidance and therefore he seems reluctant to make decisions and prefers to play defense instead of going on offense. This is a formula for future problems that will be more difficult to deal with and perhaps even passed on to the next president.

Fast food wages

The news today is covering nation-wide protest demanding $15 per hour pay for fast food workers. I am all for this and have actually written to McDonalds suggesting that they increase the cost of their products and pass the money on to their employees. There is a story behind the story here that many are not aware of or have not given any thought to. First off upper middle income consumers are moving away from places like McDonalds and Burger King to places like Panera Bread and Chipotle. This leaves the middle and low income people as the primary customers for fast food places. Since there are a large number of people in each of these groups this allows for an effecting income transfer which will narrow the income inequality gap. It will be a transfer from those who don’t have a lot to those who have less. If wages go to $15 then there will be increased pressure on automation and the elimination of jobs. For those that remain there will be a trend to see fast food jobs as a career.

ISIS

I just saw a map of Syria showing where our intelligence people believe ISIS people are congregated and this is a gift. Recall the first Iraq War where B-52 bombers flying round trip from the United States started bombing and this was followed up with Tomahawk missiles from carriers and then fighter jets. After an extended period of bombing, ground forces entered the war and within 45 days the war was over. The real power of terrorist groups lies in their ability to hide within civilian population and this group has become so big with such good weapons that they are acting more like a conventional army and this is their big mistake and if we recognize the opportunity this presents we can destroy this army.

Small business

I have heard friends say that they wish they had to pay a million dollars in income tax meaning that they would be making 2 million. There are not many people who work for wages that make 2 million dollars a year. Those who make that kind of money in the form of wages are mostly small business owners. These are people, who knowing that half of small businesses don’t make it five years, charge ahead many times mortgaging their homes and work 16 hour days for years to finally get ahead. Now they are making 2 million a year and have 50 employees and would like to expand the company and hire more people but instead of using the extra million for growth they must pay it out in income tax. These are the people who create 70% of the jobs and most of these are full time with benefits. There are six million small businesses that have employees and this is where much of our innovation and new products are created.

Insurance supplement

Since the very first day I read about Obamacare I said the major surprise for everyone will be the high deductibles. A typical bronze plan (bronze is the least costly) for a young couple has a $400 monthly premium but a $12,000 annual deductible. When people first looked at Obamacare they concentrated on the monthly cost and didn’t see the surprise coming down the road with high deductibles. Now that they have discovered this, a whole new industry has sprung up. Insurance companies are now offering supplement policies to cover part of the deductible. The downside of this is that people will continue to use medical facilities without concern for cost and this will keep insurance rates going up at a faster rate than inflation.