American exceptionalism

The free market works best when corruption is kept at a minimum. Other than that the big complaint is the fact that capitalism allows for winners to win really big. Sports figures, rappers, other entertainers make millions. Extreme example was Floyd Mayweather who earned $250 million for one fight. Others earn fortunes through innovating new ideas which led to new business. Prime example is Jeff Bezos who started Amazon 22 years ago and now employs 700,000 people and is worth $100 billion. The biggest winner in the free market system is innovation. Most of everything new comes out of the United States and here, one of the best examples, is the polio vaccine but the greatest invention, maybe of all time, was the transistor that was developed by American scientist in 1956. America is not only the greatest country in history, it has made the rest of the world great. The defeat of communism, Nazism and fascism in the last century in just one example of how the world has benefited.

Halloween

Is Halloween dying and if so why. When I was a child, maybe seven or so, I went with my mother to her friends house. She was wealthy by our standards and had on her coffee table a small bowl with cubed shaped light blue mints. I was gazing intently at them and she offered me one and I thought is was the greatest thing ever. Another time a second grader named Leo came to school and he had two pieces of bubble gum and we all envied him. When my wife was growing up on the farm at Christmas her dad would bring how a chunk of hard candies and they would break it apart and each one got a piece. The point is that a piece of candy those 70 plus years ago was a big deal. Today all households have candy on hand year around and getting a treat on Halloween is not the thrill it used to be.

Jews today and past

Attacks against Jewish people  accounted for 58.1 percent of crimes motivated by anti-religious bias last year, a 4-percent increase from 2016, while anti-Muslim crimes were down. Anti-Muslim offenses accounted for 24.8 percent of anti-religious hate crimes in 2016 compared with 18.7 percent in 2017. Anti-Islamic crimes continue to remain at historic levels. There are 3.6 million Muslims and 4.2 million Jews in the United States. While these acts against Muslims are relatively new, the Jews have had to contend with this for 4,000 years.

Baghdadi

On Morning Joe today the second story was about the killing of Baghdadi. Saying it was a good thing but the President revealed too much information about the attack. It is a bit odd when press people complain about too much info. Then they discussed the fact that the President did not inform the democrats in advance of the raid. Trump got a lot of positive press from the successful completion of this event but if it had gone bad like the situation that President Carter faced, in his failed attempt to free the embassy hostages, the story would have been quite different. All it would have taken is a leak to the enemy and they could have turned the whole thing into a disaster. There have been so many examples of placing party ahead of country by both sides, would someone have been tempted to leak these plans. Some are surprised that it was not leak anyway.

Safe space

With the onset of safe spaces on college campuses, some say it is an attack on free speech. In 1977 a Nazi organization decided to march in a Skokie, IL neighborhood where a large number of Holocaust survivors lived. Many protested but conservative and liberal groups agreed that this group had the right to protest. The case went to court and the first amendment was upheld and the group was allowed to march. The purpose of the free speech part of the first amendment is to protect speech that is deemed unacceptable. Today some want to outlaw what they consider to be hate speech. While the use of a word like nigger is considered crude, hurtful and wrong, it is protected speech. Many campuses have refused speakers using the excuse that their speech may lead to violence. Using that excuse will allow the censoring of any speech the college deems unacceptable.

Revenue tax

A former head of the student loan program is concerned about the $1.6 trillion in student loan debt and has proposed a tax on corporation revenues. In the past corporations have been taxed like individuals on earnings but a tax on revenue is much like Senator Warrens wealth tax. A corporation would pay this revenue tax even if they lost money. He proposed a one percent revenue tax and for a company like Apple whose revenue is $220 billion that would be a tax of $2.2 billion.

America is wrong

There is a large group of Americans, perhaps numbering in the millions, who are disappointed with the country. They feel that the country is headed in the wrong directions. These people will not stand for the national anthem and will not salute the flag and it extends to students. Many do not trust the police and this has spilled over into the military, where defense spending is seen as taking money from social programs. They see other citizens as polluters and companies as putting profits ahead of climate change and this leads to anti capitalism and a desire for more government control of business. Free speech is under attack, as many words and phrases are deemed unacceptable and this leads to a distrust of religion in general. Phrases like under God and in God we trust are suspect. The income gap, which is best seen in minorities, fans the flames of racism and pushes the idea of equal out come vs equal opportunity. This then blurs the line between legal and illegal immigrants. The concept of the redistribution of wealth is the answer to their prayers.

Math

Some schools are saying that math is racist based on test scores where minorities score much lower. While at first this seems ridiculous there is a point to be made and it has nothing to do with racism. There is a need for scientists and engineers and math is important in that regard but schools are saying that all students need algebra and chemistry and that is overkill. In many of these classes students are baffled and end up thinking they are dumb. If a student graduates from high school and knows how to read and write down what they read, they will be OK. This is called reading comprehension and is vital in today's world but algebra is not. Let each student excel in what they do best but make sure all can read properly.

Warren tax

Senator Warren is trying to find a way to explain that taxes will go up but it will not affect net income. The increase in taxes will be offset by a decrease in health cost. The problem is that no matter how she phases it the news will report that she is increasing taxes

Hilary for pres

In the investigation into the Hilary Clinton email dispute by the James Comey led FBI charged her with gross negligence but that is not a crime. Although she did have classified emails on her unauthorized server she did not intend to do any thing wrong and was considered not guilty based on intent. The Justice Department recently concluded their report which stated that she had classified information on her private server but there was no persuasive evidence of systemic, deliberate mishandling of classified information. She was judged not guilty because she did not deliberately mishandle. With these things out of the way the path is clear for Hilary to jump into the race. Many democrats who will not criticize any of the candidates will quickly come home to Hilary.

NATO partners

Germany and the United States have a number of important things in common. The are both Western democracies, both have free market economies and both are members of NATO. How they are dealing with these various aspects is quite different. The US economy is seven times larger than Germany's and the US spends 16 times more on NATO than Germany does and that organization was founded to protect Europe from a Russian invasion. Germany has a budget surplus because they spend so little on defense and their trade policies in which they have high import taxes. The US has a budget deficit because of large defense cost and low import taxes. Germany will be doubling its natural gas purchases the end of this year when a new pipeline is completed under the Baltic from Russia. They could choose to purchase gas from the US which now supplies large quantities of natural gas to Europe. Germany is often referred to as one of our NATO partners.

New drugs

EPCLUSA is a new drug that cures Hepatitis C. Gilead has priced a 12-week regimen of Epclusa to cost $74,760. There are 3 million people in the United States with Hep C with 17,000 new cases each year. The cost would be over $200 billion but the cost would come down as more people are treated. What happens if other cures are developed. For example, 30 million Americans have diabetes and at a similar cost this would be $2.5 trillion. It quickly becomes obvious that rationing will be necessary as the drug companies keep coming up with new cures. Of course wealthy people will buy the drug no matter the cost. With the emphasis on fairness will laws be proposed to prohibit the wealthy from buying these drugs.

Facebook stock

Mark Zuckerberg, 35 year old founder of Facebook, owns 393 million shares of Facebook stock valued at $73 billion dollars. This represents 14% of the company stock. He has said he will give away 99% of what he owns. In order to escape estate tax he would have to sell the stock and give the proceeds to a 501 charity. This would cause the value of the stock to decline and the remaining stock holders would absorb the loss. In other words it would be a transfer of money from the company to the charity in order to avoid the taxes. If he were to die without making plans to give it away he would have to pay 40% federal estate tax plus another 10% for state estate tax and thus his estate would have to sell $36 billion in stock to pay the tax. This once again would be a transfer of company money but this time to the government. If a wealth tax is instituted he would have to sell stock each year in order to pay the government. All of these situations result in a weakening of the company meaning less chance to expand and create new jobs.

Change or not

On the news this AM they were discussing Biden's lack of campaign money and the expert said when you start going down in the polls the donors back off because they want to back a winner and that says it all. It seems what you stand for takes a back seat to whether you can win or not and that is the stage of politics today. This is the situation that every new comer to politics faces. Is it better to stand by my principals and lose or is it better to change my position to win. The argument is always if I lose I can't do anything so I must change. This leads to the old joke, and citizens this is how I stand on this issue and if you don't like it, I will change. In other words you say whatever it takes to win and worry about doing what you said later and the American people seem to go along. It goes back to Hoover when he said a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage and then came the depression.

Elijah Cummings

Elijah Cummings died today at the age of 68. He was famous for having marched in the 1963 movement. He was only 12 years old so he deserves extra credit.

Racism is not normal

Many people in my generation grew up in towns that were segregated. The Blacks lived in one part of town and went school in that part and shopped in that part. It was unusual to go downtown where people might mix because most people stayed in their neighborhood. In today's world many wonder if they have racist tendency and they are disturbed if when a Black man walks in the room that is the first thing they notice about him. Relax. If a man six foot eight walks in the room the first thing you notice is his height. If a man with a patch over his eye walks in the room that is the first thing you notice. People tend to notice things that are out of the norm, things that are unusual. It is said that you can't prove a negative and thus it is difficult to prove you are not racist.

Bernie

An old joke says that a man was accosted on the street by a mugger who said your money or you life and he responded by saying, let me think about it. This is the way some people see Bernie Sanders who is taking a chance with his health to run for office. Be careful Bernie.

Kurds and Turks

Many of the same people who said that the United States cannot afford to be the policeman of the world are now bemoaning the fact that US troops will not be used to keep two Mideast groups from fighting. The Turks and the Kurds have been fighting since 1978 and will continue until one side is defeated. Situations where one ethic group is a minority in a country and fighting for independence has occurred throughout history. The majority of Kurds are Muslims but they are not Arabs. They are linguistically, ethnically and culturally totally different people than the Turks.

Trump doctrine

We are beginning to see the formation of the Trump Doctrine. His foreign policy centers around the concept of using economic power instead of military power.

Early school

California is going to start school later because students are not getting enough sleep. This is based on the assumption that you cannot dictate that students go to bed earlier. If that is the case what is to prevent them from staying up later and still being tired? My experience with university students is that those who major in science, engineering and business are early to bed and early to rise people but those who major in the arts and fine arts are late risers. If that is the case then most politicians are lawyers and late nighters and they are making the laws. This is based on anecdotal evidence and subject to the foibles of such evidence. In other words it could just be nonsense.

Trump persona

Psychiatrist Karl Jung pointed out the difference between our outer self and our inner self. He called the face we show to the public our persona. As long as our persona and who we are on the inside remain relatively close we function properly. If we say what we think unfiltered people will get upset and since we are social animals we filter to get along. If the social pressures build we can find ourselves drifting too far away and tensions increase. Politicians are one group that are subject to this kind of tension. When their core beliefs conflict with what their constituents want the problems begin. Sometimes the desire to be reelected is so strong that they move so far away they forget who they are. They feel the need to please and say whatever is necessary. This is the extreme but the other extreme can also be seen. Case in point is Trump. He is what he is or like the old comedian said, what you see is what you get. While this causes a great deal of angst in many people it is seen as refreshing by others. Too many politicians over the years have professed to be what they are not, to the point that they have lost credibility. The old phrase that they are all liars is on the minds of many. Trump is not only un-presidential he is different in these other ways and is a source of great consternation to many voters but even more so to the Washington establishment. He doesn't follow the rules and this is threatening to the bureaucracy and they are rebelling. He is a disruptive force to those career government employees and they ask why can't things be like they used to be.

Impeach or not

Impeach or not is the question. As it stands now the democrats can call witnesses behind closed doors and then release selectively what was discussed. Trump has no way to formally respond. If the house votes to impeach then Trumps lawyers can cross examine and subpoena other witnesses. They can move far and wide covering all sorts of behavior, things like Hunter Binden and it time get everything bogged down in the weeds. To vote to impeach does not seem likely at this time but rather a continuation of the current plan to just drip drip information gathered in private.

lower income and social security

Means testing social security benefits, will be like most plans to take from the rich, in that it won't be as much as most would think. If, for example all people with non- social security income of $100,000 per person or $200,000 per couple would lose all of their social security the savings would be 2.3% of all benefits or $2.1 billion. That's enough to give each American 7 bucks. While grandfathering in all people over age 50, it is time to start privatizing social security for younger participants. It is well documented that lower income individuals have lower life expectancy and having private accounts will offset this discrimination. The difference is significant as shown by a recent study. Among men born in 1960, those in the top income quintile could expect to live 12.7 years longer than men in the bottom income quintile. This NAS study finds similar patterns for women: the life expectancy gap between the bottom and top income quintiles of women expanded from 3.9 years for the 1930 birth cohort to 13.6 years for the 1960 birth cohort. This is just one more example of how low income people are discriminated against.

Big government

President Eisenhower warned against the power of the military industrial complex. In the 1920s President Coolidge warned that bureaucracy is a threat to liberty and it's not accountable to the people. George Wallace in the 1960s said he was going to throw the briefcases of the pointy headed intellectuals into the Potomac. The power of these non elected government employees has steadily increased and is now considered by some in a position to take control of our country. In the late 1880s calls for reform for the correction of abuses or errors in society grew louder in the United States. The reformers were called progressives and they had several goals for fixing urban problems, improving government and regulating business. They challenged that big government and big business were taking advantage of the American people instead of serving them.

Rationing Medicare

Most people do not understand how Medicare rations treatment. Medicare will not cover transplants in facilities which are not approved. Approval is based on the success rate in the previous two years. Here is an example using heart transplants. Initially, the facility must demonstrate actuarial survival rates of 73 percent for one year and 65 percent for two years for patients who have had heart transplants since January 1, 1982 at that facility. If the facility wants to keep its approval they must be careful as to which patients they accept. Knowing this they will decline someone who appears to be a bad risk. An extreme example would be a 90 year old man with a bad liver. The point is the facility has a committee which will make this determination. Previous studies in heart transplantation have demonstrated higher mortality, decreased graft survival, and higher rates of rejection for recipients receiving heart transplants with Medicare or Medicaid health insurance coverage compared with those with private health insurance. In addition hospitals absorb about $50 billion per year losses in Medicare patients. They offset much of this with higher cost for private patients and this source will be lost with Medicare for all plans.

National healthcare for all

This is a note to all those candidates who are for national health insurance and are looking for ways to pay for it. For family coverage, the average policy totaled $19,616 a year with employers contributing, on average, 71 percent, or $13,927. Employees paid the remaining 29 percent or $5,689 a year. Have the companies send the government the $13,927 they are now paying and let the government dispense those funds as the government can certainly do it more efficiently. Instead of companies offering options to employees based on their needs the government will offer a plan for all like Medicare. This will allow for rationing especially in the last few years of life and lead to great savings. Gulp!

Tax exempt churches

Beto O' rourke candidate for president has put forth the idea that churches whose ethos suggest there are problems with the activities of gays should lose their tax exempt status. He will likely adjust his plan when he realizes that such churches includes Mosque.

Potty mouth

If you google the list of potty mouth presidents there are many including surprisingly Carter and Obama. Trump is more public with his impolite words. Lyndon Johnson was probably the worst since many of his remarks were racist. He frequently use the word nigger when describing blacks. Point being that once again Trump shows he is not a politician or as the media says he is not presidential.

Solar credits

Solar tax credits are non-refundable. This means you can only get the credits if you owe taxes and this eliminates the lower half of all those earning an income. Once again it is a tax break for the rich. If you spend $60,000 on solar panels you get a 30% tax credit which means you can deduct $18,000 from the taxes you owe. If you owe $5,000 in taxes that is your maximum credit. If you own zero taxes you get zero credits. Some tax credits are refundable. The child tax credit of $2,000 per child is given if you don't own any taxes.

DACA or not

Presidents use executive orders when they cannot get congress to pass laws they want. The downside is that the next president can negate these orders. When this happens the court steps in and the results show that Carter won 68% of his challenges, Reagan 75%, Bush 41 77%, Clinton 63%, Bush 43 60%, and Obama at 45%. One of Obama's orders called DACA is being reviewed by the court. The congress refused to pass this into law and now Trump is asking the court for review. Trump does not want to deport these people but wants to use it as a bargaining chip to negotiate immigration reform.

China and the NBA

The dust up with China and pro basketball ended quickly as the NBA capitulated. This follows the American companies who cower in fear whenever China speaks and this follows the US government allowing China to enter the WTO on promises they never kept. It's all about the dollar and has cost millions of good paying jobs as manufacturing moved overseas. It is time to reverse this trend.

Kurds

Foreign policy experts are facing another dilemma. The choice is to pull out of Syria and leave our allies, the Kurds, to defend themselves or to send troops to keep the Turks from killing the Kurds. Those who say we should not be the police force for the world say to pull out but others say we must stand by our friends.

Eye of the beholder

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder is a phrase attributed to an early Irish lady but in today's world of politics it can be changed to truth is in the eye of the beholder. Facts no longer matter. Opposing sides can look at the same situation and be worlds apart in their interpretations. The result is nothing can be resolved and people decide they would rather not talk about the issues. The old adage of we can disagree without being disagreeable is no longer operative.

Non-elected

For the past three years the press has denied the concept of the deep state so it was quite a surprise when a writer from the New York Times explained the deep state in a book. He could do this because he found a way to make the deep state look acceptable. He said that the deep state consist of bureaucrats who are concerned that Trump is stomping on the constitution and it is their responsibility to expose his activities. First off the author admits that there is a deep state. Second he feels that these non-elected people should keep tabs on the elected president. Over the years the bureaucracy has gained powers to the point where they feel they can bring down a president with whom they disagree.

Fox

Some people want to close down Fox News because they express opinions which are contrary to these people. Some speakers are shouted down because of the same reason. Some people want to censer talk radio because they don't like what is said. This concept has spread into the words used by ordinary citizens and political correctness is limiting free speech. This is the old idea of burning books. History shows that this usually back fires. The best way to counteract what are considered bad ideas is to come up with better ideas.

Bureaucrats and war

The constitution provides for three branches of government, the executive, legislative and judicial but in time the fourth estate came to be seen as another branch of government, the fourth estate being the press. When congress passes a law it is up to the various government agencies to set up the regulations dictating how the law will be carried out. Over the past 40 plus years these various agencies have assumed greater authority culminating in the Obama administration. This was best illustrated by the EPA who wrote more than 4,000 regulations. Trump has threatened to reduce the number of federal employees, made it easier to fire these people and reduced some benefits along with undoing many of the regs instituted under Obama. The result is the rise of the fifth estate known as the bureaucracy. These are appointed federal employees who stay on regardless of what party is in control and they are not happy. They have been responsible for leaks since the day Trump was elected and some say even before. Trump has been under attack by these bureaucrats and this will continue even if he is reelected. They are fighting to preserve the status quo and see their kingdom being challenged by Trump. It has become an all out war.

Tariffs or not

Do import taxes (tariffs) make a difference. Of the 17.2 million cars and light trucks sold in the USA in 2018, 12 million were light trucks and of this number only 7,000 were made outside the USA. The reason is the 25% tax the US imposes on imported light trucks. In other words almost all foreign pick ups are made in the USA. In almost every other area the import taxes favor other countries and that is why Trump is pushing to eliminate all tariffs. Governments around the globe like tariffs because those tax dollars go directly to the governments who then use that money to give benefits to citizens in the hope of getting votes but that money comes from the citizens in the form of higher prices.

Food stamps

An ABAWD is a persons between the ages of 18 and 49 who has no dependents and is not disabled. There is a federal law that states these people are required to work 20 hours per week to keep their benefits but many states waive this requirement and about 3 million SNAP recipients fall in this category. For at least a decade, most Illinois residents who receive food stamps have been exempt from a federal law that requires them to work or risk losing their benefits. The federal government is considering a change to long-standing policy in the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as Food Stamps) that would constrain states’ ability to waive work requirements for able-bodied adults without dependents (sometimes referred to as ABAWDs).

WTO and China

China opened up its economy to free market ideas in 1978 and poverty level dropped from 88% in 1981 to 6% in 2017. During the 80's and 90's China desired entrance to the World Trade Organization (WTO) but the west refused until 2001 when China agreed to follow the other countries in regards to tariffs and international property rights (patent protection and such). China did not act according to their agreements and many objected but no one did anything about it until Trump came along. Trump, not being a politician, started a trade war with China, which he knew could jeopardizes the booming economy. Other presidents did nothing but if they were to act they would have waited until they were reelected, but not Trump. He just plows ahead.

Techies

The wealth gap in the United States and throughout the world is widening and there are a number of reasons for this least of which is tax policy. On the lower end of the ladder are the sports stars, rappers, and CEO's but at the top are the tech giants. There are dozens of young people almost exclusively men who have become billionaires almost overnight. This is most obvious in California where these young techies are worth trillions and just last year 11 new tech billionaires joined the club. Right behind this group are the hedge fund managers. The number of jobs created by these super rich is a leading cause for economic growth. The techies do it with innovation and the hedge funds provide the start up money. There are millions working in jobs that did not exist 25 years ago. If each generation could have a Steve Jobs and a Bill Gates the country would thrive.

Hamptons

This AM on TV they were interviewing farmers in a restaurant in Hampton, MN a town of 700 about 15 miles from here. The announcer said not to confuse this with The Hamptons. These two place are worlds apart. Farmers living in farm houses in the middle of corn fields and billionaires living in mansions on the beach. They were talking to these people in advance of Trumps upcoming appearance in Minneapolis.

Court power

One of the results of the fighting between parties in politics today is that the Supreme Court is gaining in influence. Since congress can't get anything done both Obama and Trump have used executive powers to enact rules and in most cases the courts have reversed the rules. The peoples house is no longer in control which means that voters have lost their power. Instead of government by the people we have government by the court.