Walmart dividends

This is a calculation I made several years ago and I sent it to the Walmart head office but did not hear back from them. They are reluctant to do this since their market strategy is based on everyday low prices. Walmart USA has about 1.4 million full and part time hourly employees. If they each received a $10 per hour raise based on a 40 hour week the cost would be $28 billion dollars. Walmart US sales last year were $332 billion. If they raised their prices by 8% they could give these people the $10 per hour raise. The question is would the average Walmart shopper be willing to pay $324 for a $300 TV if they knew that the extra cost would go to wages for the hourly employees. This would increase their wages from $14 per hour to $24 per hour. Walmart world wide profits after expenses were $9.8 billion in 2018, $13.6 billion in 2017 and $14.7 billion in 2106. Walmart pays a $2 dividend on its 3 billion outstanding shares and the rest is retained for investment in the business.

Blacks and Trump

Durning the 80's and 90's when the democrats controlled both the house and senate by wide majorities they were accused of being soft on crime and so they set about to increase the penalties on drug crimes and Senator Biden led the way. Comprehensive Control Act: This 1984 law, spearheaded by Biden and Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-SC), expanded drug trafficking penalties Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 This law, sponsored and partly written by Biden, ratcheted up penalties for drug crimes. Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988 This law, co-sponsored by Biden, strengthened prison sentences for drug possession, Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act: This 1994 law, partly written by Biden and signed by President Bill Clinton, imposed tougher sentences In spite of this Biden is considered a friend of the black community and Trump is the enemy yet today Black unemployment is the lowest ever and wages among the low income groups are rising. In addition Trump signed a sweeping criminal justice measure intended to reduce the number in prison and this helps Blacks more than any group. Black voters are becoming aware of these things and a recent Emerson poll showed Black support for Trump at 34%

Mayor Pete

Watching Mayor Pete's candidacy unfold is mindful of Mitt Romney. Although most would not admit it many voters were not comfortable with a Mormon being president. In today's PC society many people must keep their personal thoughts to themselves lest they be accused of some type of phobia. There are voters who would be more than uncomfortable with a man in the White House with a man for a spouse. They may not express these concerns in polls but in their hearts they face a dilemma and in the privacy of the voting booth their real feelings will prevail. It is great that Pete is running as a ground breaker but it may take another generation.

Better paying jobs

Words like socialism and communism are tossed around with abandon but what is really going on is the plan to share assets. Karl Marx said, from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs. That sounds eerily like redistribution of wealth. This would work in a rich country like America but in time it would fail or as Margaret Thatcher said, socialism works great until you run out of the other guys money. The emphasis should be on getting good paying jobs for people so they could pay their own way and not on the government giving things or to quote Bill Clinton, welfare should be a second chance not a way of life. Few things in life will help a mans self esteem like a job that allows him to pay his own way. Few things in life can hurt more than not being able to take care of yourself. People can promote changes to narrow the wealth gap without throwing out the whole system and the best way is to increase wages for the lower income groups. Bringing back manufacturing to America is a good start and fixing the gap in test scores would be a good second step.

Senators and money

The senators running for president came out yesterday saying how poor they used to be and here is what they are worth today. Micheal Bennet $16 million Cory Booker $1.5 million Kamala Harris $6 million Joe Biden $15 million Amy Kloberchar $1.5 million Bernie Sanders $2.5 million Eliz Warren $12 million They all seemed to be a little embarrassed about their current financial status. There is nothing wrong with being financially successful but does this give the impression that the way to get rich is to become a senator. Poor Mayor Pete is practically broke but of course his hasn't yet made it to Washington.

Clinton foundation

The tax records for the Clinton Foundation for the year 2014 are on the net and for those who want to see they are at https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/311580204/201523209349313827/IRS990 I have looked them over carefully and found the following: Income $178 million Grants $5 million Salaries $35 million Other expenses $50 million.... see page nine of the form 990 Income less expenses $86 million so one half of what was collected went to charity whereas 89% of Red Cross money goes to charity

Seniors working

Without much ado a subtle change is happening in restaurants. What used to be teen starting jobs have been taken over by retirees. Many people after a few years of retirement look for something to do outside the home and restaurants are now recruiting seniors. They have better people skills, know how to dress properly and can be counted on to be there on time. Seniors can generally work longer hours and are not restricted to weekends. While many work to get out and meet people many also work to supplement their incomes. It is a win-win. Many of these seniors have worked their whole lives and work is what they do.

Biden and old white guys

Joe Biden has made statements that some say shows the kind of prejudice that old white guys have and I object as I do not feel that I fall into that category. He recently said that poor kids are just as bright as white kids and when Obama was nominated he said "I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that's a storybook, man." No one knows whats in a mans heart and it is difficult to prove you are not prejudice and I think everyone deserves the benefit of the doubt but lets not lump all old white guys together.

The new NAFTA

For those who remember the Bill Clinton election, who can forget Ross Perot saying about NAFTA, do you hear that giant sucking sound? Well that is US jobs moving to Mexico. The U.S. goods trade deficit with Canada of $31 billion and the $2.7 billion surplus with Mexico in 1993 (the year before NAFTA took effect) turned into a combined NAFTA goods trade deficit of $191.2 billion by 2017, as indicated in the graph above.3 This represents a 576 percent increase in the U.S. goods trade deficit with NAFTA countries. These numbers are inflation-adjusted, meaning the difference is not due to inflation, but an increased deficit in real terms. This is why both parties want to pass the new NAFTA and it looks like they will.

Fairness and wealth

Bernie Sanders says that three people own as much as the bottom half of all Americans. He says this to point out the unfairness. Let us rectify that immediately by forcing these three, Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and Jeff Bezos to sell their stock and distribute the proceed to those in the bottom half. This means to divide their $300 billion by 150 million and each person gets $2,000. This would certainly spread the wealth around but would Bernie be happy with that? Most politicians who want higher taxes assume the money would come to the government and then the government would decide who gets what. It is not just redistribution of wealth but redistribution of power and control. This money is then used to garner votes which leads to more money which leads to more votes all the while under the umbrella of fairness.

Defend at all cost

For about ten years after 9/11 I visited a Muslim chat room in an attempt to learn more about Islam and the Middle East. On many occasions the chatters would point out the dark side of America and they would expect me to defend those times but I did not. When they said there are poor people in the richest country in the world, I said they were right. The same for when they pointed out race riots and slavery. I did not feel it necessary to defend these evils because the good side of our country out weighs these times. I see the same thing happening in the US today. Conservatives try to defend everything Trump does and liberals try to defend every new idea by any candidate. There is no one that most people agree with all the time. When the news media finds a person who disagrees with his party, he becomes a hot item and ends up on all the shows. You can get your 15 minutes of fame just by disagreeing when most think you should agree.

Trump foreign policy

The Trump plan for the coming election will have a domestic program consisting of promoting the economy and pointing out that there is no free lunch. His foreign policy will center around China. Long before Trump became president he complained about China's entry into the WTO. He saw them as currency manipulators while stealing intellectual property and having unfair trade practices. It was not only China that was taking advantage of the US but other countries around the globe. He felt that free trade was good for everyone but it should be fair trade and this was not the case with the US having annual trade deficits of over $500 billion. He saw that there were 190 countries in the United Nations and the US was paying 22% of the cost. There are 29 members in NATO and the US pays over 20% of the cost. The US spend $6 billion per year maintaining troops in 80 countries and this lowers their cost for defense. The US spends more in research than any country and most new ideas, especially in the medical field are shared. His foreign policy agenda will be based on fairness.

Emissions

As of the end of 2017 the US has lowered its CO2 emissions by 758 million tons per year while the second best country was England with 170 million. Meanwhile China has increased theirs by 3 billion tons while India increased by 1 billion tons. The US has made these reductions by using more natural gas. In addition the US is now helping the world to reduce emissions by exporting liquefied natural gas(LNG). These exports have increased by 500% since 2016 thanks to three new plants coming on line in the past year. US is now sending LNG to 39 countries and the competition is keeping prices down, and helping the world to lower CO2 emissions.

Seniors

As an octogenarian, I can attest to the increase in wisdom that comes with age and I am excited to see the old white guys like Biden age 77 and Sanders age 78 are still in the lead and they have been joined by Bloomberg age 77. I am beginning to think that Trump age 72 might be a little too young for this job. I think they should amend the constitution to change the minimum age to be president from 35 to 75. After all people are living much longer. Hang in there guys and don't let those young people discourage as we seniors have got your back.

Epstein

Latest news on the Epstein case is that they have arrested the two guards who fell asleep on the job and now we can put this case to rest. The politicos are not interested in further investigation because they are not sure whose ox will be gored so they prefer to leave sleeping dogs lie. It will be interesting to see how far the FBI can go before some power broker tries to shut them down. It is often stated that we have two systems of justice, one for those in power and another for the rest of us. This case will test that idea.

Sedans and gas

In 2018 17.2 million vehicles were sold and 80% were small trucks and SUV's. Both Ford and GM see the writing on the wall and are discontinuing many car models. On average small trucks get 17 MPG, SUV's get 23 MPG and sedans get 35 MPG. The average driver drives 14,000 miles per year. If everyone drove sedans that would save 250 gallon of gas per year per vehicle or 4.3 billion gallons of gas. Americans are not willing to make this change and this says a lot about the concern for climate change.

Resign

Trump has aggravated many career government employees because he does things much differently than they are accustom to and this is particularly disturbing to those in management positions. Some of them being unable to adjust to the new ways have chosen to continue to do what they think is best and disregard the new ways. This is strange behavior to most people who are used to working in private business. In this world if you disagree with the boss you explain your differences and if there continues to be a conflict you are out. These bureaucrats must learn to either follow the president or leave but they cannot just go their own way. That is why most new presidents clean house when they first get into office.

Test scores

Minnesota test scores declined for the fifth straight year with students only 54% proficient in math and 58% proficient in reading. Minorities are much worse, in the 25% area. In 2015 No Child Left Behind was replaced by Every Student Succeeds and this is the first graduating class and things have gotten worse. The Minnesota Governor has a plan to place less emphasis on testing and more on graduation rates. Many feel this will result in higher graduation rates but with little to no effect on learning. Even though the current rates show a problem with race where 88% of white students graduate while only 66% of Black students graduate he will go ahead and try to increase rates for all students. Right now there is pressure not to suspend minority students for improper behavior and soon there will be pressure to make sure these students graduate. Once again when politics gets involved things tend to devolve.

Many people were deeply disappointed when Hilary lost the 2016 election and that is understandable. Many democratic politicians were also disappointed and that too is understandable. What is baffling is why career bureaucrats are upset but even more baffling is why the press is upset. The Washington Post the day after the inauguration said, somewhat with tongue in cheek, let the impeachment begin. One explanation is the fact that Trump vowed to drain the swamp and it seemed that he just might try to do that. The non-elected bureaucrats feel that they run the county and have to deal with a new group of inexperienced newcomers about every four years. They often refer to the new administration as the Christmas help. As Trump began to carry out his threat these people rebelled. The same is true of the press. The Washington press corps are experienced reporters who have spent years learning the ins and outs of the system and Trump has upset their apple cart. His tweets are particularly aggravating as the public often gets information as quickly as the press.

Jews

In Italy a Holocaust survivor Liliana Segre ask for the government to crack down on hate speech and she is receiving 200 social media threats each day and has been given police escort. Antisemitism has always been around but much more so in Europe. I am always amazed the way the Jews are and have been treated. Their contributions to the world are legion and include all areas of arts and science.

Path to impeachment

The road to impeachment has certainly taken a circuitous path. It started with Russian collusion which morphed into obstruction. After the Meuller hearings the committee moved to an impeachment inquiry and then to impeachment process to investigate quid pro quo which has now changed first to extortion and the latest is bribery.

Who is in charge

For over three years some people in the government have felt that Trump was not a legitimate president. Others, including many in the press, saw this as nonsense and it was brushed aside as a conspiracy theory which in time was called the deep state. That all came into question when former CIA Director John McLaughlin not only admitted the deep state was real but said, "thank God for the deep state". In his mind the bureaucrats must make sure the president is acting in a manner that they deem acceptable. The United States has a representative republic type of government which means that the people elect their leaders and these in turn hire the bureaucrats. This is what is meant by government of the people, by the people and for the people. The bureaucracy has now become so powerful that they feel they can decide who should be president. Recently Senator Schumer warned President Trump saying "Intel officials have six ways from Sunday at getting back at you".

Police

Violent crimes have been on the decline since 1990 and have dropped by 60%. There are many reasons for this but some that are discussed are the broken window concept, stop and frisk and three strikes and your out. All of these have to do with stricter law enforcement. Although listening to the news would make this counter-intuitive many feel that policing has improved. One of the biggest changes was adding more police with the number of officers doubling since 1990. More Police, Managed More Effectively, Really Can Reduce Crime Contrast that with California Prop 47 passed in 2016 that states any theft of less than $950 will not be prosecuted. This means you can walk into Walmart and run out with $600 TV and you will not be chased or prosecuted. Anything below $950 keeps the crime a misdemeanor — and likely means the thieves face no pursuit and no punishment. Large retailers including Safeway, Target, Rite Aid and CVS pharmacies say shoplifting increased at least 15 percent, and in some cases doubled. The cost of theft is passed on to others in the form of price increases. This is another way to redistribute the wealth similar to uninsured using the emergency room.

Impeachment inquiry

Here is a scenario based on unproven allegations by republicans regarding the 2016 election. John Smith, democrat is elected president in a close election. The republican dominated house believes that Smith used voter fraud to steal the election and consider him to be an illegitimate president. The congress then colludes with some higher ups in the Justice Department to present evidence to the FISA court and secure a warrant to tap into the phone conversations of one of Smiths associates who they claim is in cahoots with a foreign agent. One they listen they can then tap the phones of anyone this person talks with. After listening to dozens of people over a period of months they then have the FBI interview these people. In time these people will contradict themselves over some small detail and they will be charged with lying to the FBI which is a felon. After enough lies are exposed the congress can start an impeachment inquiry and begin to call witnesses to testify behind closed doors and begin to leak biased facts to the press. After months of this the public begins backing impeachment so congress then moves from inquiry to formal impeachment proceedings and within a few weeks votes to impeach. In the senate trial they fall short of the 67 votes needed to convict and it all ends. In the process several people go to jail, some are bankrupted paying legal fees and many reputations are tarnished. The president is defeated in his reelection bid and the whole process is put to rest until the next president is elected with a congress in the other party. The most concerning thing in this whole story is that some of the non-elected bureaucrats in Justice have worked with congress to defeat an elected president.

Bloomberg

Former NYC Mayor and billionaire Michael Bloomberg is contemplating a run for president. He could be a viable candidate since he has administrative experience running a big city and is more of a centrist. If he is the candidate you can forget all about green deal, open borders, free health care for illegals, free college and Medicare for all. As a businessman he understands that there is no free lunch. While he will not be popular with the democratic base he would have a good chance of beating Trump but can he get passed the base to get the nomination. His platform would likely contain increased taxes on the rich, lower defense spending, infrastructure upgrades and immigration reform. He would recognize that wind and solar are best utilized with homes and buildings and not for transportation. Solar panels should be built all around power plants to minimize the use of fossil fuels but be available as backup.

Wealth transfer

Some younger people complain that they must pay into social security believing they will never receive any benefits as they see SS going broke. As the baby boomers die off over the next 25 years it will be the greatest transfer of wealth from one generation to the next in the history of the world. Over the next 25 years, according to a report from research firm Cerulli Associates, 45 million U.S. households will pass a mind-boggling $68 trillion to their children — the biggest generational wealth transfer ever.

Somebody else is the problem

Wages are increasing and the biggest increase of 4% is in the lower income groups. This is while the inflation rate is under 2% and food prices are increasing at 1.5%. Fracking has kept the cost of home heating low as well as the price of gasoline and diesel for owner owned semi drivers. The middle and upper middle income groups are still driving big cars, living in big houses and pouring chemicals on their big lawns and watering the grass everyday so they have to mow twice a week and all the while they are asking the coal miners to lose their jobs and rich people pay more taxes. They want more electronics and solar panels while unaware that they are poisoning the water for millions of Chinese and most are not aware of the benefits of using natural gas for transportation. Here is a wake up call for Americans. The EPA estimates that about a third of all public water is used to water grass. In the US, lawns consume nearly 9 billion gallons of water a day, and our mowers consume 200 million gallons of gas. Add to this the fertilizers, insecticides and herbicides and the cost to the environment to manufacture these chemicals.

Power corrupts

The investigation of the investigators in Washington DC is exposing the morass that some call the swamp. To many it appears that the corruption runs so deep that most everyone who has worked there for a number of years is contaminated and does not want to be exposed. It is the old mafia threat of I'm not going down alone. It seems to be spreading over into the Epstein investigation. As long as the bureaucrats can keep the political parties warring with each other they can safely continue running things behind the scenes. These non-elected officials have become the forth branch of government and they are not about to give up their power. This did not happen overnight and will continue unless stopped by the voters. Asking these people to give up power is like asking congress for term limits.

illegal drugs

The illegal drug problem in the United States has two sides. First is the drugs like cocaine, heroin and meth that come into the country mostly across the southern border. Second is the demand for such drugs. In an attempt to solve the second, President Nixon in 1971 started the war on drugs. After spending more than a trillion dollars the results are open to interpretation which means no one knows. There has been a decrease in drug use but many say that is because tougher laws have incarcerated 500,000 for drug related crimes. All of this confusion leads some to believe that these drugs should be legalized but will that stop the problem. Many states are now experimenting with legal pot and perhaps other states should legalize other drugs and then decide on the merits. Some states have yet to legalize these drugs but do provide free needles and most states offer rehab for addicts. Most agree that the penalty for selling drugs should be more severe than the penalty for using drugs but most users end up selling to feed their habit. In short this whole thing is a mess.

China rare earths

17 elements are identified as rare earth metals. They are not considered rare because they are difficult to find but rather because they are difficult to mine or more specially to mine without harming the environment. 95% of these metals are currently mined in China. The one mine in the US was shut down because it was considered too dirty. There is a group trying to start a mine in Wyoming but they are in a battle with environmentalist who seem unaware of the countries dependency on China. The mines in China are creating radioactive waste along with many undesirable chemicals and the ground water is contaminated in large areas and the poison is slowly making its way to several rivers including the Yellow river which is only 6 miles away and provides drinking water to millions.

Grandmas

On the news this AM they interviewed a woman who was referred to as a parenting expert. This brought back memories of the President Clinton welfare reform. One of the several reasons I voted for Clinton was his statement that welfare should be a helping hand not a way of life. He changed the law so that states had more control which led to the rule that after five years you were off of welfare. The problem that many faced was the cost of child care so there was a push for government paid child care and when this was rejected many used Grandmas as caretakers. To offset this they brought forth a Professor who was an expert in child care and he said that Grandmas were not properly trained to care for children. He was quickly laughed off the stage and disappeared. In defense of young parents the extended family was disappearing and they had to start reading books on how to care for children. The old days when older siblings, aunts and grandmas were around changed as people moved to find jobs so they had to turn to experts to find out how to raise a child. Most young parents learn that their mistakes are covered up by their love and that has always been the case.

Credit or not

President Obama's financial adviser was on TV today and he pointed out that since Trump is what he call a transnational person, (pragmatist) that democrats could get things done. They could negotiate and both sides could win. I was surprise to hear that until they said this guy was a businessman. What he proposed may well work in the business world but in politics its all about credit not results. If any agreements are reached politically the president will get the credit and the other side would rather do without than to give credit to the enemy.

Censors

Facebook is under attack as they are accused of using algorithms to determine what they print. Before computers, local newspapers were the biggest censors as everyday more news came across the AP wire than they could print so they had editors who determined what the readers would see. This is why many papers were considered liberal or conservative.

Investigations and such

Up until a few weeks ago the leaders in Washington were expressing vital concern about the pending disaster that would bring the world as we know it to an end. As their hyperbole fades into the background we are once again reminded that climate change is a political issue and not an environmental issue. All of Washington is now possessed with examining their navels as the devour each other with investigations as Nero fiddles while Rome burns. When they start talking about using natural gas for transportation only then will they move away from the politics but don't hold your breath.

Warren plan

Senator Warren pointed out today, that if the country goes to national health insurance, two million people who work in the insurance business will lose their jobs. This is the first time I have seen anyone admit that but that is where much of the savings comes from. Those people are the ones who do the paper work called administrative cost and if they earn $60,000 that is $120 billion dollars per year. Now if she just figures out how to transfer to the government what for health insurance she might have a plan the government can afford. Stay tuned.

Bezos and work

The story of an evil billionaire. Jeff Bezsos was born to a 17 year old girl in 1964. She soon divorced and married a Cuban immigrant. Bezos worked at McDonalds while growing up and was gifted with a good brain which he used by attending Princeton and majoring in Engineering. In 1994 at the age of 30 he started an online business selling books. For the first ten years the company had no profits and when it started making money Bezos put it all back into the business. Today Amazon is worth one trillion dollars and employs 700,000 people many of who became rich working for the company. The company went public in 1997 and the stock was selling for $18 per share. Many employees invested at that time and their original investment of $100 is worth $120,000 today. Bezos has breakfast with his children each morning and uses that time to relax and think of new ways to improve his existing business and ideas for new business. He arrives at work at 10 AM and goes home at 5 PM unless out of town. He lives in a multi-million dollar home in Washington DC but the rest of his daily routine is much like millions of others who live in the 9 to 5 rat race. His personal net worth is over $100 billion so he is not working to make more money but to grow the business and make more jobs for more people. The country could use more people like Bezos.

Impeach now

Congressman Adam Schiff is the kind of politician most people expect. He said he takes no pleasure in the impeachment of Trump but he is merely following his responsibility of oversight. If this were Congressman Trump he would have said, let's get that sucker. This is why some people like Trump and why many dislike Trump.