Student debt

The idea of canceling student debt is being challenged. Statistics show that having a college education will increase your lifetime earnings by about one million dollars. Forgiving the debt means transferring the debt to all working people at $13,000 per person. The people who are going to make the extra money will have their debt paid by those who will be making less. Add to that, all of the people who paid their own way, many by working while going to school, and those who have already paid off their loans and ask if this is right. From a political standpoint 40 million people have college loans and 300 million do not. 60% of the loan holders are from families with incomes about $75,000. Many people with loans are young and tend not to vote. Will this bring them to the polls. Probably if your meet them at the polling booth and cancel the loan as they finish voting. Has anyone in the White House thought this through?

Truth

I have felt there was something missing in the Biden White House and now I know what it is. They need someone who doesn't think like they do to bring a different viewpoint to their ideas. The recent development of the Disinformation Governance Board is the case in point. Reminders of the Ministry of Truth from 1984 are popping up all over the Internet. If anyone had questioned this idea it would have failed to pass muster. The whole idea just begs for someone to compare this to dictators around the world both past and present. Then as if to add insult to injure they chose Nina Jankowicz to head up the new agency. She embraced the Trump/Russia collusion and said the Hunter Biden laptop story was Trump propaganda. It defies logic to think that the citizens would want to put the federal government in charge of truth telling.

Biden do over

Here is a do over for Biden. He comes into office and announces that the US will maintain and increase its supply of oil and natural gas. He will complete the XL pipeline and push for more natural gas pipelines to the east coast where he will accelerate the building of new liquid natural gas facilities to offer Europe an alternative to Russia and allow India and China to replace their coal with natural gas. He would leave Afghanistan by first removing the people then the equipment and lastly the soldiers and keeping control of Bagram Air Base. He would leave the southern border as it was with the remain in Mexico plan and making Mexico close their southern border with Guatemala. He would promote the police departments and encourage local governments to properly fund the police. He would not whisper, I just gave $1.9 trillion dollars but instead withhold such excessive spending to prevent inflation. He would not sign on to the Paris agreement as it is just for show. He would not bargain with Iran since they are known liars and terrorist. He would not just keep the import taxes on China but increase them to promote a buy American program. He would promote nuclear power across the country. He would now have positive poll numbers and the world would be on the way to reducing CO2.

Border

Secretary Mayorkis testified that the border was a mess when he took office and he has gotten control of the situation. "We inherited a broken and dismantled system that is already under strain … only Congress can fix this," Mayorkas testified. "Yet, we have effectively managed an unprecedented number of non-citizens seeking to enter the United States." He can say this because unless you watch Fox News you may be unaware of the problems at the border. This subject is rarely covered by most of the media. While the border situation has been a problem for many years it is now exacerbated by fentanyl and the numbers of illegals crossing is at record highs.

Covid relief

In 1998 the big tobacco companies settled a law suit and sent $250 billion to states to be used for problems caused by using tobacco products. This money was used for all sorts of things having nothing to do with tobacco things like literacy and agricultural programs. In the past year billions were sent to states for Covid relief and much was spent on things unrelated to Covid things like hotels, ski resorts and ball parks. In less than two years $ 4.5 trillion dollars in Covid was sent out and it is impossible to keep track of all that money in such a short period of time. Between 2020 and 2022 the national debt increased by $7 trillion dollars. Now some are suggesting that the government add another $1.7 trillion to the debt to cancel student debt

immigrants

As countries develop people tend to have fewer children and the United States is no exception. To maintain a growing population the country needs immigration. The US has historically been the place where people want to come. The US should have a program to take in 2 million immigrants per year and do so using a merit system. The door should be open to all countries but based on the needs of the United States. Immigrants should be able to be self supporting when they get here. These potential citizens have the best chance of success if they have certain qualities starting with fluency in English. They should be young, under 40 and healthy with certain skills. The country needs people who are trained as teachers and in health care, people with constructions and technical skills. There is also a need for unskilled workers who will take lower paying jobs but if they are proficient in English have the opportunity to move up the ladder. While the United States has 4.5% of the worlds population we have 20% of the worlds immigrants. Immigrants have been the backbone of America since the beginning and will continue to be so in the future but the country can afford to be selective. Just has we have a citizenship test we need an immigrant test but most of all we need an immigration policy that promotes the above ideas.

Greenies

Many feel that the new green deal is more of a social program to redistribute wealth as opposed to solving the problem of climate change. A recent push by the far left group to cancel student loan debt adds credence to the claim. What has student loan debt have to do with climate change. Could the $1.7 trillion in debt that they want to transfer to the government be better spent by climate programs. As more and more of the green deal is exposed it becomes more and more obvious that it was always about social change. This kind of bate and switch makes it difficult for people who were taken in by this scheme to change their minds. People who had legitimate concerns about the climate are now having to face the fact that these greenies were really all about redistribution of wealth.

Twitter bias

In case anyone was in doubt about the bias on Twitter take note of what has happened since Musk bought the company. Big Twitter accounts on the left are losing followers and those on the right are gaining since the Musk buyout was sealed. Ted Cruz gained 40,000 and Michele Obama lost 20,000. Much of the gain can be attributed to lifting shadow bans. This is a program that blocks followers from seeing tweets without the tweeter knowing about it. If Musk gains control he will likely reveal the algorithms used by Twitter and many feel they will show bias.

GDP

The US economy declined by 1.4% in the first quarter. The GDP is $23 trillion and there are 9 million people who could work but have chosen not to work. The average worker makes $60,000 per year and if these 9 million were working they would add $540 billion to the economy and that is 2.4% of GDP. The result would mean that the first quarter GDP would be plus one percent instead of negative 1.4%. People must be encouraged to return to work and a good way to do that is higher salaries.

Paying for the war

The press is praising Biden for how he has unified NATO to fight for Ukraine. What is not mentioned is that the US is providing ten times more aid to Ukraine than all the other countries combined. I'm sure that they love the US for that and are delighted to cooperate with the US. Compare that to Trump who went over there and berated those same countries for not paying their share into NATO. Who do you think they will like the best, Trump or Biden. To further aggravate the situation many NATO countries are still buying oil and natural gas from Russia which is funding the war.

New math

It is no secret that many students are having trouble understanding math. To make matters worse some experts are using math to explain gender differences. Here is an excerpt from a book by Eugenia Cheng a mathematician on how it would work. To set up this “removing by adding” metaphor, she discusses mathematical notions that have done similar things. For example, she argues that by introducing the concept of i — the square root of negative one — and the accompanying notion of a complex plane, we may have temporarily made things more confusing, but we get so much clarity from it (the geometric understanding of the nth roots of unity, for example) that the added complexity pays off. It adds clarity even as it adds a dimension to our thinking, or to her point, perhaps because it adds a dimension to our thinking and gives us more room to move. Now I am familiar with high school math, things like imaginary numbers (i) and complex planes using i but I have no idea what this lady is saying. Please do not introduce this stuff to high school math and please ask these experts to quit trying to help. Instead find a way to help students to add fractions.

Government truth

The government is so concerned about misinformation in the news that they are setting up a program to oversee this activity. It is called a disinformation board and will be headed up by Nina Jankowicz, a Russian disinformation expert. This is not a good idea but they made it worse by choosing a woman who has previously questioned the validity of the Hunter laptop calling it a Trump campaign product. She also told NPR that she shudders to think about more free speech on social media platforms after Elon Musk bought Twitter. This idea will never pass muster in the courts.

GDP

The GDP figure for the first quarter was released today and surprised the expects with a negative 1.4%. The question arises how can you have a negative GDP with an unemployment rate of 3.5% and the answer is that there are 9 million people who are able to work who have chosen not to work. These workers could have added to the GDP but chose not to for various reasons. When you chose not to work you are not counted as unemployed. The labor participation force is at 61% instead of the 63% it was two year ago. Many of these people took early retirement.

White males

Trump became the enemy of the democrats which is expected but in time this animus shifted to Trump supporters and the shift was not about policy but about personality. It was all about name calling things like deplorables, homophobes, xenophobes, racist and so on. Now that Trump is fading away the new enemy is, "straight white Christian males". This phrase is popping up across the liberal media and will grow as November approaches. This eliminates the need to talk about the border, crime, inflation and bias in the press and allows them to once again concentrate on personality. One reason why Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is being attacked is that he represents Trump policies without the tweets which means all that is left to attack is the fact that he is a straight white christian male.

Supreme Court

In 2015 a high school football coach knelt down on the field and prayed silently to himself and was fired. In 2016 a pro football player knelt down during the National Anthem and he was not fired. In both cases large numbers of people praised both men. The Supreme Court is about to hear the case of the coach and many feel he will get his job back.

New car sales

One of the nails in the coffin of Sears was the emphasis that was place on buying insurance for the products they sold. Sales people were making money on these insurance sales and customers did not like it and they went elsewhere. New car sales are going down the same path. At the car shop sales people spend too much time trying to sell extras on a new car and people don't like it. The car dealerships have developed a reputation of causing potential customers to become uncomfortable and that opens the door to a company like Carvana who sells directly to the customer. The Internet has changed the way many companies do business and new car sales may be the next.

I never paid much attention to Twitter until now that it is in the news. Today I found out that 98% of Twitter employees contributed to democrats The top donors from Google, which owns YouTube, pushed 94% of their total 2022 political contributions to Democrats, as did 99% of Twitter employee donations, the records show. Many well known conservatives including Trump have been banned from Twitter but Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Louis Farrakhan and Nicolas Maduro the dictator of Venezuela are still on. Of course the most important censoring occurred with the Hunter Biden story which many feel could have effected the outcome of the last election. That story was banned even though it turned out to be true but the Trump/Russia collusion story was allowed on even though it turned out to be false. This happens when individuals are allowed to determine truth for the rest of the public.

Housing

If you looking to become a first time home buyer you best hurry up. The Fed hinted that the next three rate increase will be half percent each meaning that the 30 year mortgage rate which has increased to 4.5% over the past year will go to 6% by fall. Houses increased in value by 20% since 2000. The $300,000 house you could have purchased two years ago for $1,109 per month will be $2,158 this fall. This will likely push many out of the market.

San Fran

San Francisco must be careful. San Francisco’s population plummeted by more than 100,000 residents from 2020 to 2021. They may be following Detroit which was a thriving city of 2 million in the 1950's but started to decline in the 1960's and today stands at 700,000. As people left the city the tax base fell and this snowballed. The current demographics stand at 48% White and 33% Asian American and the income gap is higher than any other city. The tech industry with its disproportionate number of Asian Americans adds to the income gap. City and state taxes are high and one half of one percent of the tax payers pay 40% of the tax. Low and middle income groups avoid most of the income tax but get hit with sales tax. The pandemic has accelerated the move toward working from home and this allows many high tech workers to move further away from the city. This could snowball and end up like Detroit.

Stock market alert. For those young enough to be in the market here is a hot tip. Apple stock goes up and down on a somewhat regular pattern. Date Value 11-18-2021 $157 01-03-2022 $182 01-26-2022 $159 02-09-2022 $176 08-08-2022 $154 03-29-2022 $179 04-26-2022 $157 Today is a buy

Student debt

Biden's approval rating among those 18 to 29 has fallen from 61% to 41% which puts pressure on Biden to cancel student debt and offer tuition free community college. This will make $1.6 trillion of student debt available for spending and will aggravate the inflation problem. Community colleges will start raising tuition as soon as the government starts to pay adding to the government debt. All of those students who paid off their debt will wonder what happened. When the government backs risk it is called a moral hazard. This is what leads to banks being called too big to fail. When people start to believe that if they make investments that do not pan out the government will reimburse them for their loses and this leads to higher risk taking.

Now that Musk has purchased Twitter the new media is suddenly concerned about billionaires owning the media. According to the NY Times 15 billionaires own Americas new media companies. The question remains why did it take so long before this became big news. In the past the only complaint was against Rupert Murdoch who owns Fox News. It appears that ownership of news media is only a concern when the owner is not a liberal. Some say that is because that liberals stick to the truth as opposed to disinformation found in other areas. Others say that truth is in the eye of the beholder. Many feel the more news sources the better and the first amendment allows anything that is not illegal to be published leaving it up to the individual to determine what is their truth.

Fossil fuels

Joe Biden declared climate change the “number one issue facing humanity” and vowed a national transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy that he says will create millions of new jobs. This is from January of 2021 shortly after Biden took office. Biden’s orders direct the secretary of the Interior Department to halt new oil and natural gas leases on public lands and waters, and begin a thorough review of existing permits for fossil fuel development. This is from a letter to Biden signed by 30 environmental groups Biden, April 14, 2021 We, the undersigned organizations, respectfully petition you to stop the proliferation of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) export facilities Democrats were all for this transition but many now see that there was not a lot of thought given to how this would be done. Did anyone considered the damage to the planet by mining rare earths and lithium. Did they realize that wind and solar need backup. Did anyone ask as to how airplanes would fly. Did anyone lay out a time line as to how quickly this change should take place. Did anyone even mention nuclear power. This was always more about social change than climate change.

Musk takeover

The saga of Elon Musk gets more interesting by the day. Understand that the board of directors of Twitter have a fiduciary responsibility toward the stockholders. This means they must put the interest of the stockholders first. Now it turns out and this is quite unusual that the board members do not own stock in the company. Musk makes an offer that will increase each stockholders value by 30% over night but the board turns down the deal. They are more concerned about their jobs than they are about the stockholders which is a breach of their responsibility. Musk has said that the company is poorly managed and they know their jobs are gone if he take over the company. They are now between a rock and a hard place. If they fight off his takeover bid they keep their jobs but risk getting sued by the stockholders. If they agree to his take over they are out.

Sex ed

Most responsible parents are willing, at the appropriate time, to explain the Birds and Bees to their children. If done properly the children can get a good idea of what sex is all about. Little short discussions can start early about age 6 preparing for the full story at about 8 or 9. In sixth and eleventh grades students have health classes where teachers who are trained in the subject matter explain other issues like sexual preference and transsexuals. This way the children get their foundation from parents who will pass on the way the family views such subjects. Asking a first grade teacher to take on this responsibility is putting extra material on their already full plate. Let them concentrate on reading and writing. Different families will have different beliefs about these issues just as they do about per-marital sex, abortion and religion. This prevents very young children from getting conflicting explanations and saves this conflict for when they are older and better able to deal with these more complicated issues.

Transgender

When a man who says he is a woman is convicted of a serious crime and is sent to prison, the ACLU says the criminal must be sent to an all women's prison. The result is that women in women's prisons are now getting pregnant by men who say they are women. These are transition people who still have male genital organs. Of course sending males who says they are female to a male prison would also lead to problems. Perhaps there needs to be a special prison where transgender people are sent. But, alas that would mean placing men who say they are women in prison with women who say they are men but would that lead to a lot of pregnancies. Would that be like a coed prison. This is what happens when you open Pandora's Box.

Fixing climate

This is an open letter to all of my friends who voice concern about climate change. While the US cannot do much about other countries we can by example lead the way and here is how. Immediately begin changing over to natural gas for transportation. Close down the wind and solar business and use that money toward developing nuclear power especially thorium plants. This will stop the poisoning of the water supply caused by mining rare earth metals and lithium. All new homes should be small and built close together with no yards. This eliminates the use of yard equipment like mowers, edgers, fertilizers, herbicides and water. People are in need of and demanding low cost housing and this can be the answer. Get rid of all toys things like 4 wheelers, motor bikes, snow mobiles and boats. As the nuke plants are brought on line the excess energy can be used to desalt sea water and vastly increase the world's food supply. The excess energy can be used to change water in to hydrogen by electrolysis and this then replaces natural gas in transportation. The country is then carbon free. Oil will continue to be used but not by burning but in the petrochemical industry. Here research should be directed toward products that are degradable. Most people who are vocal in their concern about climate change would balk at even living in a small house and giving up their toys. They talk a good story but most expect others to make the sacrifices needed to solve the problem.

Infrastructure

When Biden signed the infrastructure bill many cheered but others feared that environmentalist would interfere with the various projects. Here is a news quote. There they go again! The "they" is Team Biden. The "again" is another round of massive regulatory increases that will cost millions of hard-hat blue collar jobs and prevent any new energy pipelines, probably new utilities and virtually stop the construction of new or extended bridges, highways and tunnels.   The move will significantly raise environmental reviews of all these infrastructure type projects, completely reversing one of Donald Trump's best policies which streamlined NEPA (National Environment Policy Act) permits and timetables.  In addition to the normal environmental regs the new construction will have to contend with climate change. A final rule announced Tuesday by the White House will require agencies to assess the climate impact of roads, pipelines and other infrastructure Many expect long delays and higher cost for infrastructure projects.

MAGA

As the republicans look forward to big wins in the upcoming elections some warn them that they need more than just pointing out democrat mistakes and that is true and they have more. All they have to do is to say the are going back to the way Trump did things. They will re institute the remain in Mexico policy while they coerce the Mexican government to protect their border with Guatemala. They will refund and back up police while getting rid of the no bail concept. They will ramp up oil and gas production by removing stifling regulations and this will bring down the price of gas and slow down inflation. They will build new pipelines and natural gas export facilities. They will take steps to bring home Americans in Afghanistan who want to come home. They will not cancel student debt. They will not make a deal with Iran. They will keep the import taxes on China and increase them and in this way promote the idea of bringing jobs back home. They will let parents teach their children what parents are designed to do and help teachers to teach the 3 R's. They will push for free speech meaning all speech except that which is illegal. They will point out the folly of cancel culture. The will attack the problem of climate change with all options including nuclear. They will separate climate change from social change. They will focus on legal immigration at the expense of illegal immigration. In short they will make America great again. Of course the president can veto any legislation. True change can happen in 2024 if the republicans keep the congress and regain the White House.

Apple unions

More good news for low and middle income workers. Apple workers in Atlanta filed to unionize Wednesday, becoming the first retail employees for the tech giant to do so in the nation, according to Communications Workers of America, the union representing the employees. This may lead to higher prices for consumers but many Americans will be willing to pay more if it means higher wages. In a typical fast food business one-third of expenses go to labor, one-third for cost of good sold and one-third for gross profit. To increase salaries by 50% for workers means a $3 hamburger will go to $3.50.

Ukraine immigrants

The government announced today that they plan to bring in 100,000 immigrants from Ukraine after thorough background checks including health checks for communicable diseases and proper up to date immunizations. They also announced that they will challenge the court ruling on masking on planes and other methods of transportation. Most Americans can see how different this is compared to what happens at the southern border where millions come across with no testing. Meanwhile there are still Americans stranded in Afghanistan but they are not newsworthy.

Ground water

As the world demand for rare earth metals for electronics and lithium for batteries rises All of China's lakes and rivers are polluted to some degree. According to a Chinese government report, 70 percent of rivers, lakes and waterways are seriously polluted, many so seriously they have no fish, and 78 percent of the water from China's rivers is not fit for human consumption. China's Yangtze River, the third-longest in the world, is now so polluted that nearly half the people who depend on it are without safe drinking water. Residents along China's Yangtze River are faced with a deadly choice.Jan 30, 2020 Qiaoyu is from Qinghai Province in China, which spreads across the rugged Tibetan Plateau and contains the headwaters of the Yangtze River. Four hundred million people—more than the population of the United States—depend on the Yangtze River for freshwater. Just one example of how the west wants convenience is the use of one rare earth metal called indium which is used to make touch screens.

Message

DePauw University journalism professor Jeffrey McCall "The liberal media is now having to face the reality of a struggling Biden presidency, not because they think he is ineffective on policy matters, but only because they fear potential bad results in the midterm elections." This says it all. People have often said that politicians don't care what the people think until their reelection is threatened. This is further proof that they believe it is not the policy but the messaging. This person feels that illegals streaming across the border is not a problem, that inflation is not a problem, that crime is not a problem, that the way the country left Afghanistan is not a problem, that interfering with the energy industry is not a problem and when 70% of the people think the country is headed in the wrong direction means the people just don't understand. It is not that the country doesn't understand the message but that they do.

The Fed

The people at the Fed, both today and in the past, think they can control inflation by manipulating interest rates and creating money but they always seem to come up short. They held rates down to close to zero for 12 years while they were buying $120 billion per month of government debt. They thought they could just stop buying debt and raise interest rates to control inflation but the same government sent out trillions in free money to consumers who quickly started spending. The result is inflation and now if the Fed raises interest rates it will add to the cost everyone pays and while they say they will raise rates six times this year they probably will not since that would add to higher cost. Also they say they will stop buying debt but that will not happen because other countries will not buy it. This year will probably see continued inflation, higher interest rates and there is a good possibility of negative GDP and two quarters of that means recession. Two years ago the Fed had $4.2 trillion in debt and today that stands at $9 trillion and going up at $120 billion per month. The Fed has boxed itself in.

Defund

Misinformation in the news can mislead the public but that can also occur just by showing the truth in the news over and over. The George Floyd murder is a recent example. This murder was shown many times everyday on many news outlets and a recent poll shows the effect. Overall, nearly half of surveyed liberals (44 percent) estimated roughly between 1,000 and 10,000 unarmed black men were killed whereas 20 percent of conservatives estimated the same. The actual number was 241many of whom were armed. The result was a rise in murders in the Black community. The FBI has made it official: 2020 saw the biggest spike in murders in American history—30 percent. Black Americans suffered the most as 7,484 lost their lives in 2019 and 9,913 in 2020. Many people feel that Black on Black crime is the civil rights issue of our time but it only recently has come to the attention of the press. The murder rate was also effected by the defund police slogan. President Biden never said to defund but he did agree that money could be redirected away from police. Many who supported this, changed their minds after seeing the spike in crime.

Children

Most people are concerned about the problems at the southern border and wonder what should be done about it, if anything. One particular area concerns children. In March 14,000 unaccompanied minors were picked up at the border. How did these children make the journey across Mexico and maybe much further since many come from Central America. This past year has seen the largest wave of migrant children coming to the U.S. in modern history. In the last 12 months, nearly 145,000 kids have made it to the U.S. Southern border, many traveling alone. Many parents will not let their children walk to school alone for fear they could be harmed. What happens to children crossing 1,000 miles through unfamiliar territory.

Repeat offenders

Most people believe in offering a second chance but not a third, forth and so on. The Chicago Tribune reports that 1,400 individuals commit 85% of the crime. Police around the country complain that people they arrest are back on the street. It is not unusual to see situations where a person charged with a crime has a long record going back years. Many cities have no bail policies where offenders are back on the street the day they are arrested and all too often these are the repeat offenders.

New math is remembered as a dismal mistake and has been called one of the worst ideas of the 20th century but to many of the brightest minds in education and mathematics it seemed like a good idea at the time. Today the experts are conducting another experiment in math and it is called social emotional learning in math. These experts realize that many students have a difficult time with math so they are trying to find and easier way forward. A few years ago the idea of teaching math without injuring a persons self confidence was made light of by the joke, when Johnny was asked how much is two plus two and he responded by saying five, the teacher said that's almost right Johnny. Learning math requires effort and starts much like learning to read. You have the multiplication tables and the alphabet. You learn to manipulate the numbers to solve problems and you manipulate the letters to form words. If students learn math the way it is taught and they do not get behind they will progress through the grades. If they get behind they need tutoring to get them caught up.

Free speech

Free speech is in the news because Elon Musk is trying to buy Twitter and he claims he will open it up and not censor. Free speech is portrayed as a complicated issue but many feel it is simply allowing all speech that is not illegal. This eliminates the argument over lying or what is now called misinformation and thus removes the need for an arbiter of truth which is complicated. Most adults feel they can discern truth without the help of some outside expert. People believe this not only because they trust their own gut feelings but they have witnessed the number of times that the experts have been wrong. My favorite definition of expert. An expert is a man who knows more and more about less and less until he finally knows everything about nothing. This has a kind of mathematically thing to it.

Free speech

Here is an example of free speech working the way the constitutions lays it out. The NY Times published a special Easter message as follows: "In this time of war and violence, of oppression and suffering, I propose we pass over something else: God," he began, before claiming God is "hateful," full of "brutality," and, if mortal, "would be dragged to the Hague." Most people would not feel comfortable with this and many would be downright angry but this is the kind of speech that the first amendment was designed to protect.

Charter schools

About 3.4 million (7.4%) students go to Charter schools and this number has doubled in the past ten years. Charter schools are tuition free but run by private companies. The average public school teacher earns $10,000 per year more than the average Charter school teacher. Charter schools are more diverse with 35% White, 27% Black and 30% Hispanic. Charter schools like Catholic schools can handle discipline problems with expulsions. Public school students are rarely expelled because statistics show that if a student stays in school until age 18 they are less likely to end up in prison. This causes disruptions in the classroom and many schools have a special room where these students are sent if they act up. Often times the student stays in the room and the teacher must deal with the problem. If they call for help sometimes the principal assumes they cannot control their classroom. Teachers are in a tough spot. If the parents of the other students in the room could witness what was happening they would be upset. Some suggest camera's in the classroom but others object.

Free speech

When does a person's civic duty required them to take action. If you are sitting in a restaurant and someone at the table next to you says they are going to blow up the White House are you supposed to notify the police. If you are waiting in line and the person behind you says they are going to kill all Jews. Do you call the police. If you called what would the police say. When a person uses such language on social media should they be arrested and if so what should the charge be. When it comes to free speech the big question is who decides. Unwanted free speech is now called misinformation and censoring is call content moderation. Many agree that when it comes to speech, if it is not illegal it is acceptable. lying is not illegal.

Policy vs personality

When articles are written about former President Obama they are glowing reports about his intelligence and his warm wonderful personality. They remind the world that he gave health insurance to millions but they avoid the mess he left for the democratic party. He lost the majority in the senate and the house along with down ballot losses putting the party in the position of having the fewest number of state officials since 1920. The way the Biden administration is going the same loss to the party is on the way. Once again Joe is nice guy but policy is more important to the voters.

NY mayor

For more than 50 years Black males have committed more than half the murders in the USA and 93% of those are Black males killing Black males. These statistics were not well known because to talk about them meant you were racist and you were called racist so not much was done to reverse the trend. A few years ago a few in the press began to mention this and that is the first step toward doing something about the problem. This week the Black mayor of New York City posed the question as to where was the outrage about the recent rise of murder in the city. He specifically called out Black Lives Matter. It seems that when a White cop kills a Black man they rise to protest but when a thousand times more often a Black man kills even children they are quiet. Some say they use racial murder to make money and that doesn't work when it is Black on Black murder. When a cop kills a Black man BLM can use that to raise money and they do. Corporations can be shamed into making donations and it can be called virtue signaling when they donate. Since the George Floyd murder BLM collected billions and now everyone is asking what happened to the money. The mayor said that BLM is not concerned about Blacks being murdered unless they can make money.

Walkin around

There are news items suggesting that Biden will cancel student debt and it has already begun. The student loan debt for 45 million students is $1.7 trillion dollars. So far 200,000 borrowers who were defrauded were paid $470 million, 400,000 borrowers were paid $7 billion dollars and 92,000 public service workers were paid $6.7 billion. Polls show that young voters are turning away from Biden as only 27% of voters under 30 have a favorable opinion of the president. Some have suggested that instead of canceling all debt he should just cancel $10,000 on each loan. In many cities, most notoriously Chicago, local politicians were given what was called walking around money. Precinct committeemen would walk around their areas with a bag full of twenty dollar bills and hand them out to voters to encourage them to vote. $10,000 is a nice tidy sum for walking around money.

Border

When I lived in Florida, I had a neighbor who had a business where he filed the immigration forms needed to participate in the lottery. He would advertise in newspapers and magazine around the world and he charged $75 to complete the form. He had a thriving business averaging 50 forms per week. I mention this because it has some similarities to what the Mexican cartels are doing. They advertise by word of mouth across the globe and offer for a price to bring people into the USA. One recent report showed that 4 Chines engineers paid $50,000 each to get into the country. It is estimated that the cartels make one billion dollars per month smuggling illegals into the country. Add to this the drug money and they can just about control the Mexican government. Bribes are so rampant in Mexico that the trucks being held up at the border are interfering with the bribe business.

Modern warfare

The sinking of the Russian ship in the Black Sea adds credence to the idea of a new kind of warfare. First the handheld rockets that can destroy tanks, followed up by the handheld missiles that can bring down an airplane and now a handheld rocket that can sink a ship. It doesn't make much sense to build war machines that cost millions that can be brought down by rockets that cost thousands. They say the generals always fight the last war as happened in WW 1 where ground troops were slaughtered by machine guns. Will future generals try to hold on to ships and planes. It appears the Ukrainians who have been trained by the US Green Beret are ahead of the game in the use of modern high tech weapons.

Race hustling

Jesse Jackson former presidential candidate and businessman formed Operation Push to help inner city Blacks. In 1984 he formed the Rainbow Coalition and began a program that became his claim to fame. He protested Anheuser Bush company for not having enough Black employees and discovered that he could get money that way. This was the start of what became known as race hustling. Jackson could demand payments for publicizing that a certain company was helping Blacks and this was the start of virtue signaling. It grew into a thriving business culminating in 1996 when August Bush gave the big Chicago Bud distributorship to Jackson's two sons. Fast forward to Black Lives Matter and the same process is played out. Big corporations donated to BLM to get the good press with virtue signaling. They collected over $10 billion dollars and now no one seems to know what happened to the money. They are under investigation by the SEC and each day more bad news is reported. This will be the death knell for BLM. Question is will it be the end of race hustling.

Energy.gov

Energy.gov is the official site for the government. They list three main reasons why nuclear power should be used. First is zero carbon. According to the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), the United States avoided more than 476 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions in 2019. That’s the equivalent of removing 100 million cars from the road and more than all other clean energy sources combined. Second. Nuclear land foot print is small. A typical 1,000-megawatt nuclear facility in the United States needs a little more than 1 square mile to operate. NEI says wind farms require 360 times more land area to produce the same amount of electricity and solar photovoltaic plants require 75 times more space. Third. Nuclear produces minimal waste. All of the used nuclear fuel produced by the U.S. nuclear energy industry over the last 60 years could fit on a football field at a depth of less than 10 yards! This article does not include the advantages of thorium plants and those are thorium is cheaper and more abundant, is much safer, can use up existing waste and can be built in a factory assembly line and transported on a semi truck to the site. If this is on the government sight why is nothing being done. The answer is that Secretary, U.S. Department of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm is wedded to wind and solar and probably has very little knowledge about nuclear especially thorium. In college she studied political science and French and then went to law school. Her husband is a lawyer.

Twitter stock

Often times when big business is discussed the idea that the company is responsible to its stock holders is presented as a prime issue. What happens when what is good for the stockholders is not good for the board of directors. Yesterday Elon Musk made an offer of $54 per share to buy Twitter. The stock is currently selling for $47 per share meaning the shareholders could make 15% overnight. The board is evaluating this offer. The offer was made and the stock rose $2 and will likely rise further. If the board refused the offer the stock will drop back to $45 or maybe further. Musk has 80 million followers on Twitter and they seem to think it is a good idea. Will that influence the board?

Form 990

When my son died, I set up an foundation so that anyone who contributed money could deduct it. Every year after that I filled out the proper tax form called a 990 EZ. Today a member of BLM was on TV and she said they did not file a 990 and that she never heard of it. She intimated it was something the IRS was using to go after Blacks. They raised $90 million and should have consulted a tax person.

Biden policies

I always felt that if I were president I would tell myself that I am just here for one term so I could be free to do what I felt was best for the country without any concern about re-election. While I don't agree with Biden's policies, I do believe that he is following my way of looking at things. I believe he knows in his heart that he is there for only one term and he is determined to follow policies he believes are best for the country. He is sticking by his guns as he watches his approval ratings drop. He knows that the American people are not on his side on most issues but that does not deter him. It started with the way he left Afghanistan and his anti fossil fuel policies and continued with his ambivalence on crime and then allowing millions to cross the border. He was slow to help Ukraine out of fear that Putin may go nuclear. To some it appeared that his motivation was to undo everything that Trump did and while that is the way it turned out it was not by design. Some say he is overly influenced by the left but my guess is that he truly believes that climate change is the main problem. In October of 2020 Biden declared climate change the “number one issue facing humanity”

Wapo news

The Washington Post, The unique damaging role Fox News plays in American media. They add, President Biden views Rupert Murdoch, founder of Fox News, as the most dangerous man in the world. The main complaint is that Fox presents a conservative view and that their viewers believe the reports. They feel that if the viewers watched other news sources they would see things differently. It makes sense to watch different points of view and then come to your own conclusions. It appears that the Post wants viewers to see things more like they see things and this would reduce the damage that Fox is causing. Maybe they want Fox to be more like the mainstream news media. Was the country better off when the nightly TV news on CBS, NBC and ABC was the place where Americans got their news?

Unions

Maybe the middle and low income Americans are waking up. They are beginning to take action to join forces. Worker organizing at Starbucks is on fire. What started with one store in Buffalo has swiftly spread to other locations across the country. This goes along with a recent vote by Amazon employees in New York to unionize. Inflation is adding pressure to get wages up and unions can help. Perhaps this is the turning point in closing the wage gap. Private union membership has fallen from 20% in 1980 to 6% today. Public union membership is 35%.

Ethanol

In the 1970's the need to replace lead and to increase octane in gasoline the corn ethanol industry was born. At the time there was no investigation into the effects of climate change. Today we know it adversely effect climate. Feb 14 (Reuters) - Corn-based ethanol, which for years has been mixed in huge quantities into gasoline sold at U.S. pumps, is likely a much bigger contributor to global warming than straight gasoline, according to a study published Monday. President Biden is considering reducing ethanol in gasoline which is a good move. This leaves more corn for food which will be needed since the grains produced in Ukraine are no longer available. This will lead to a shortage of gasohol and cause the price of gasoline to rise. To offset this the US must increase its production of gasoline from oil. One way to solve the shortage and also not harm the environment is to use natural gas for transportation but the people in charge either are not aware of this or are not interested. If the current push for electric vehicles was directed toward cars running on natural gas the problem would be solved. Less oil production, lower gas prices and cleaner air. While electric vehicles are the future the country is not ready but once again politics drives out science.

Musk

As Elon Musk leans toward a hostile take over of Twitter many liberals are worried that he may open it up to free speech without restriction meaning without deciding what is misinformation. The company is worth $35 billion and he could just buy it out right but another approach might be more appealing. Musk has 80 million followers on Twitter and Twitter has 800 million outstanding shares so he could ask has each of his followers to buy ten shares and then turn over their proxy votes to him. This guy who lives outside the box might just do this and if successful next turn his eyes toward other social media giants like Facebook.

Midterm changes

Republicans are predicting that they will take the house and the senate in the midterm elections and if they do then what. They will not increase taxes. The will reimpose the remain in Mexico rule. They will start building the wall. They will remove all barriers needed to increase production of oil and natural gas. They will continue to raise interest rates to tame inflation. They will keep the import taxes on China that Trump imposed. They will say that parents are in charge of their children and teachers should take care of the 3 R's. They will back the police. They will increase defense spending. They will push media for free speech. They will reduce regs to jump start infrastructure. But it will all be an exercise in futility since Biden can veto any or all which means nothing much will get done until the 2024 election and then only if the republicans take the White House and keep control of the congress.

Limits on immigration

The right to seek asylum was incorporated into international law following the atrocities of World War II. Congress adopted key provisions of the Geneva Refugee Convention (including the international definition of a refugee) into U.S. immigration law when it passed the Refugee Act of 1980. Families escaping violence and persecution in Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Haiti, Venezuala, Cuba, Nicaragua, and other countries in crisis have undertaken a dangerous journey to seek safety in the United States. People arriving at the U.S. border have the right to request asylum without being criminalized, turned back or separated from their children—even during a pandemic. As a point of interest there are 233 million people who live in the above mentioned countries. In addition there 340 million Christians being persecuted around the world mostly in Africa. The top ten in the World Watch List of countries where Christians are at the highest risk are: North Korea, Afghanistan, Somalia, Libya, Pakistan, Eritrea, Yemen, Iran, Nigeria, and India. This brings the total number eligible for entry into the US is over 570 million. There has to be limits on how many can come here. What should those limits be. Who decides the limits.

Charging EV's

I was watching a show about electric cars and I was reminded of the way they sell Obamacare. In health insurance they talk about the monthly cost but not the annual deductible. On EV's they talk about the range but not the time it takes to charge. The average EV takes 8 hours to charge and this would not work for a vacation trip. In both insurance and EV's they talk about subsidies. If you buy a $50,000 EV you can get a refundable federal tax credit of $7,500 and many states offer another $2,500 and some employers offer an additional $1,000. The catch is that to get these credits you must owe taxes. Since the lower one half of all taxpayers do not owe tax they get no credits. It is much like tax credits for solar panels on your home. It is great for upper income people but not for low and middle income earners. Of course no one mentions that for most people charging the EV uses electric power produced by burning fossil fuels. This problem is eliminated by those living near nuclear power plants. Electric cars are the future but not quite yet.

Twitter

Among the strange things going on in the world today, one of the more interesting, is the recent Washington Post story where the author expressed concern about Elon Musk being on the board of Twitter. The article said that it is dangerous for rich people to have controlling interest in the free press since they could stifle free speech. The writer must not be aware that Jeff Bezos owns the Washington Post. What the writer may be concerned about is not free speech but a certain type of free speech.

New China

China was a backward county economically speaking for over a thousand years but in the last century things begin to change. First off Nixon open the Western door to China in 1972. As free market ideas came to China in 1982 and the economy began a healthy growing streak that is still going on. In 2001 China joined the World Trade Organization and growth expanded quickly. In 1970 China's GDP was $100 billion and by 1982 it doubled to $200 billion. From there is has grown to $16 trillion and in the process has moved one billion people out of poverty. The primary factor in this growth was the West investing manufacturing in China and importing the products made there. It is now time for the West to cut China free and start bringing home manufacturing as this is not only an economic concern but a national security concern. It will provide high paying jobs for Americans, shorten the supply chain and guarantee a supply of important goods like pharmaceuticals and computer chips.

Openmindedness

The time has come for Americans to start thinking for themselves. It is unbelievable that 40% of conservatives think the last election was rigged and 40% of liberals think that the Hunter case is Russian disinformation. Its time to move away from what the press tells us what is important and resolve issues based on your personal opinions. Ask yourself how you feel about the world today. What do you think about Ukraine, what about inflation, what about the border, what about crime, what about policing, what about taxes, what about spending on military vs social programs, what about education and what about climate change. When you decide what you think remain open when new information presents itself and be willing to adjust your thinking. If you are cemented into some issues and cannot change no matter what then set those aside and work on the issues where you are more flexible. If you voted for Trump or Biden you don't have to follow every aspect of their thinking. Think for yourself. If you use your life's experience along with your God given common sense you can be just as close to the truth as any expert. Discuss your views with others and listen to what they have to say. You might just learn something.

Land of dreams

"And our children are telling me that they see now more than ever that here in America anything is possible". This is a quote from the newest Supreme Court Justice Jackson. Her children do not see American as a racist country but one of opportunity for those who stay in school and work hard. Her mother was a teacher and her father a lawyer as is her younger brother. In high school she was voted most likely to achieve. She graduated from Harvard and then Harvard Law School. This all points to the importance of education and if she is a roll model this should encourage young people to stay in school. It also points out the strong influence that parents have on children. The facts clearly show that if a young Black women graduates from high school and does not have a child until married she will not end up in poverty. This is the land of opportunity and people from around the world are trying to get into the country.

Government help

Economist are now telling Biden that he can lower prices without increasing inflation if he just cancels all student debt. There is logic to this but the same logic holds for canceling car loans and home loans. A big difference is that most student loans are held indirectly by the government but car and home loans are held by private banks. To cancel student loans means to add another $1.6 trillion to the debt which is currently over $23 trillion. According to those who believe in modern monetary policy adding more debt will not cause inflation unless the county is at full employment which it is. These are conflicting ideas and no one can be sure which is right. When the government tried to help everyone achieve the dream of home ownership the bottom fell out and many people, mostly low income people, lost their homes. When the government tried to help the students, the students ended up deep in debt. When the government tried to help single moms the number of single moms tripled. Last year the government sent out trillions in cash to millions of people and that led to inflation. One Black leader, Jason Riley, recently wrote a book entitled, Please Stop Helping Us, in his plea to the federal government. The unintended consequences of good intentions are alive and well.

Black judge

Many times things are considered racial when they are in fact political. In 2003 George Bush nominated Janice Brown a Black woman to the Court of Appeals for the DC circuit court which is considered a stepping stone to the supreme court. Her nomination was held up for two years by liberals who saw her as too conservative. She was re-nominated in 2005 and confirmed and was seen as a replacement for Sandra Day O'Connor. She had such a difficult time with the Appeals Court nomination that she was by passed as it was apparent that she did not stand a chance. She would have been the first Black woman on the court. Her father was a WW 2 vet who sharecropped and then reenlisted. Her parents separated and she was raised by her grandmother until she was a teenager and went to live with her mother. She earned her JD from California State University and a Master of Laws from the University of Virginia School of Law.

Interest rates

Most retired people are conservative in their savings and investment knowing that if they lose their money they are not likely to be in a position to earn it back and that will help retirees to stay even. At the start though the inflation rate will exceed the interest rate and this could hurt. At 8% inflation a $100,000 CD will be worth only $70,000 in five years. Most CD's today are paying less than 1%. It will take a few years for interest on CD's to catch up with inflation.

Musk

One of the more interesting aspects of Elon Musk being on the board of directors for Twitter is the fact that he is computer literate. Most of the board like most congress people have no idea what Twitter means when they defend their positions with terms like anagrams and algorithms. This will not work with Musk. One other point. Elon Musk bought $2.6 billion in Twitter stock over a three month period starting in January of this year. His stock is now worth $3.6 billion so he made a billion dollars in a few months. He may be a little nutty but he knows how to make money. Of course history is replete with examples of people who were considered a little crazy but were really just innovators. They were different.

Putin losing

A couple of weeks into the Ukraine war some suggested that the West did not want Putin to lose for fear he would resort to nukes. Now some of those fears are confirmed as the question keeps coming up as to where are the weapons. Why is it taking so long to get missiles to Ukraine. The US says they are sending weapons and Zelensky keeps saying he is not getting the weapons he needs. Is this a problem of communication and if so what is being done to correct. He was promised the bigger Javelins two weeks ago and still doesn't have them. Which story is true. Looks like Putin's new plan is to take part of Ukraine and then ask for a cease fire and negotiate to retain some of the land and Zelensky wants no part of that. To push the Russians out Zelensky needs more weapons. Does the West want to push the Russians out and allow no way for Putin to save face. These are important questions that must be answered otherwise confusion reigns.

Slovenia

In Slovenia problem is in fact that transition from communism to democracy didn't really succeed. Capitalist model was embraced, but all political systems and subsystems remained in hands of communist party. Many Slovenians, about 10 % of population, lived relatively well under communism, as they belonged directly to the ruling untouchable class - communist party. They had cars, houses, vacation houses, education abroad, other luxury that others couldn't even imagene, all for free. These people didn't have to pay for electrical bills or vacations, for example. They owned luxury as members of so called New Class. If you want to understand it deeper, Milovan Djilas published book New Class in the States, if I'm not mistaken. He was dictator's right hand but became political disdident. Another moment why transition from communism to democracy failed in Slivenia is also because Slovenian nation is small, it numbers only approximatelly 2 millions if population. To strenghten their power after collapse of Yugoslavia, Slovenian communists, now under different name, started agressive policies of inviting immigrants from ex yugoslavia, notably from republics that supported communism strongest. Large part of Slovenian population now exists from Serbs from Serbia, Kosovo and Bosnia&Hercegovina, who are the most loyal voters for communist and their political satelites in Slovenia. About 50% of population in Slovenia doesn't have Slovenian roots or they come from nationalky mixed marriages. Among them, Serbs are prevailing group. Even in Serbia they don't mention communist dictator Tito anymore, but in Slovenia you have every year public events praising totalitarian system and it's iconography and whole state leadership is present on them. It is bad, what to say. We have elections on April 24th and hopefully, majority will say no to communist beast. But nation is firmly divided around this, it is amost 50 % for commies and t0 % against commies. Two weeks ago, one of political party leaders that supports communism went to gather votes in sovereign states Bosnia& Hercegovina, and Serbia. This is where majority of their voters come from. They made sure that families of these immigrants live on taxpayers back here in Slovenia. Wifes don't have to work and get state support, so do children, for period of 5 years after coming into country. They aren't even obliged to learn language. Do who wouldn't vote commies if they can live on rich state supports?

Liars

People often want to go back and check with those experts who were wrong and ask them how they feel now. There were 51 former intelligence experts who said that the information on the Hunter Biden laptop was Russian disinformation. Turns out that Jerry Dunleavy of the Washington Examiner calls these people once per week and they all respond no comment. The 2020 lie of the year was that more than 50 former senior US intelligence officials signed onto a letter claiming that the story about Hunter Biden’s laptop and emails implying Joe Biden’s influence-peddling was Russian disinformation.

Student loans

After the 9/11 attack an attorney Kenneth Feinberg was given the responsibility to compensate the victims. He used the normal procedure of basing the award on how much the person was earning and how long they would have until retirement. This is the standard way that insurance claims are paid but then he added a twist. He subtracted from the award the amount of any personal life insurance the victim owned. In other words if you were a responsible person who purchased life insurance to protect your family you were punished for that as opposed to someone else who did not buy life insurance to protect their family. Something similar is being proposed by some politicians. They want to cancel student debt. In other words they will reward those who took out loans and are now unable to pay them back while those who paid their own way will not be rewarded.

Border problems

More than 2 million illegals crossed the southern border in 2021. Alejandro Mayorkas the man in charge maintains that the border is closed. There were also 600,000 known run getaways along with record amounts of drugs and uncounted cases of sexual abuse, child trafficking and criminals. These people who used to be mostly from Mexico now come from Central America, South America and 50 other countries. As the world finds out that the US is not able to stop the flow of illegals the problem will escalate. Now experts are predicting that the number of illegals will increase four fold if the government cancels title 42 on May 23 as currently planned. Ending title 42 is the right thing to do but other things must be done to stem the flow. Mayorkas is trying to get more border agents, more judges and more of everything that is needed to bring in up to the expected 800,000 per month instead of trying to stem the flow.

Afghan pics

It is very difficult to find news about Afghanistan. Searching finds stories like, experts decry measures to steadily erase women and girls from public life. Families are selling babies and young girls to buy food. Ukraine is in the news because Elon Musk sent his Starlink technology. Perhaps he could send that to Afghanistan but the American people might have a problem dealing with that.

Laptop investigation

The two big stories involving Russian disinformation are the Trump/Russia collusion and the Hunter Biden's laptop. As the experts now look back on how these were handled by the press the differences are stark. In the first information was published without proof and in the second information was withheld because there was no proof. The laptop was given to the FBI in December of 2019 but it was not revealed to the public until a copy was given to the Trump campaign in the summer of 2020 and then the FBI had to admit to the laptop. Then in October of 2020 the New York Post published information garnered from the laptop but it was not covered in the press and social media banned the story. As the information slowly emerges from the laptop if it involves illegal activities and these involve Joe Biden, MSNBC has already suggested a defense. They say that what is revealed is not as bad as what Trump did, he just didn't get caught. They are saying this before they know what might be revealed. So if both sides are criminals that balances everything out.

Mortgage rates

Interest rates on home loans have increased 3% in the past year and they are destined to go higher so those considering a new mortgage should act now. On a $200,000 thirty year loan the monthly principal and interest payment has increased from $739 to $1,073. If another 3% the payment will be $1,467 or double what it is today. In 1981the home mortgage rate for a 30 year loan was 18.6%.

Oil production

While Biden was campaigning he promised to promote the new green deal and after he was elected he put people, who were opposed to fossil fuel, in positions of authority. The result has made it more difficult for oil companies which many say was the purpose. New regs make it more difficult to get permits and banks are hesitant to loan money to oil companies. The Blackstone group will no longer finance oil companies. This means 500,000 barrels per day. The five year leasing program for the Gulf is ending and the administration has said they will not renew. Biden is merely fulfilling his campaign promise. This was done to satisfy the demands of the new green deal people. Some say the oil companies do not want to produce more but when oil is over $100 per barrel this is hard to understand.

UN

I have felt for years that the United Nations was an ineffective organization. In regards to them complaining about the way the Russians are treating the Ukrainian people Former Bush speechwriter Marc Thiessen told Fox News that there is not much the United Nations is able to do because nearly half of its security council's permanent membership – the states with veto power -- are complicit in "crimes against humanity." In addition Russia and China have veto power and can stop any changes they deem to interfere with autocratic government. This power that Russia can use has thwarted any thing the UN can do to help Ukraine. There is a clear anti Jewish sentiment in the UN. There are 193 countries in the UN and the US pays 22% of the cost. Representatives from very poor countries come to New York and stay at the finest hotels and eat at the best restaurants while they dither away the hours at UN meetings while their people back home go hungry.

Climate report

A major new scientific report offers a road map for how countries can limit global warming, but warns that the margin for error is vanishingly small. Last year, fossil fuel emissions worldwide rebounded to near-record highs after a brief dip as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. This is a lengthy report covering the evils of fossil fuels. Here is the only mention of nuclear. First, countries would need to clean up virtually all power plants worldwide that generate electricity for homes and factories. That means relying more on wind, solar, nuclear, geothermal or hydropower. Bill Clinton said 30 years ago we must use all sources of carbon free power. Nuclear is the 800 pound gorilla in the room and no one seems to notice. This report could have been a new beginning for nuclear but it didn't happen. There can be no serious attempt at solving the problem of global warming without putting nuclear at the top of the list.

Pre pandemic

Profound changes occurred during the pandemic. Pre-pandemic the inflation was under 2%, the border was secure, lowest unemployment in history for Blacks, Hispanics, and women, low crime rates, pro-police governments, low taxes, energy independence and rising real wages. All that has changed.

Smoking gun

The rumors abound that Hunter Biden is about to be charged with criminal activities. Adding credence to the rumors the Washington Post and the NY Times are getting ahead of the curve by printing stories about Hunter's dealings with China. No evidence has led to the President but Hunter's business partner Tony Bobulinski was allegedly told that the President had no worries because of plausible deniability. To convict a president you need a smoking gun something like the Nixon tapes or the Clinton blue dress.

Green by 2035

President Biden campaigned with a promise to make power plants carbon free by 2035 and no one in the press questioned how this would be done. That means no coal or natural gas fired power plants. Then in the first days of his presidency he rolled back Trump moves to encourage fossil fuel development, he closed off shore drilling including Alaska and shut down the Keystone pipeline. He was to be the anti fossil fuel president by going green with wind and solar and the press never questioned how this would be done. The best shot of meeting this 2035 goal is a warp speed program to develop thorium nuclear power but no one ever mentions that. No one questions the harm to the environment by producing millions of solar panels and wind mills

Chicago mayor

In response to the high crime in Chicago. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said, there are too many young people in this room that feel unloved, and we need to change that if we are going to change the trajectory of their lives. This is a moving away from blaming racism and a step in the right direction. Most of the juveniles who are car jacking come from broken homes. They do poorly in school and lack the skills needed to get good jobs. Many are on track to end up in prison because dropping out of school is the first step. Who wants to sit in ninth grade class reading at a forth grade level.

The city of Minneapolis and the state of Minnesota will split the $350 million dollar cost to rebuild the city after the riots. The riots lasted for three days in May of 2020. So far 12 people have been found guilty and sentenced to prison. Many were arrested but those charges have been dropped.

Tax policy

Part of President Biden's tax proposal is to tax unrealized gains. For example if you buy stock at $100 per share and next year it is worth $200 per share you have a gain of $100 whether you sell or not. So if you don't sell and then the stock goes down to $100 per share do you get to take a $100 loss on your income. This up and down is something that happens on a regular basis. Did the people who proposed this understand what they were doing. Not too long ago the same people were saying they were going to double the capital gains tax starting January 1st but fortunately they didn't do it as that would have caused a huge sell off at the end of last year.

China jobs

The news these days is filled with stories about how US companies are held captive by China because of the profits generated in their Chinese investments and this can cause some hypocrisy. A recent example is Disney a company that has a $5.5 billion dollar investment in the Shanghai theme park. China provides no anti-discrimination protections for LGBT people, nor does it prohibit hate crimes based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Disney is upset with Florida because of a state law that forbids teaching first graders about transsexualism. Many other US companies find themselves in the same predicament. This is just one more reason to bring jobs back home.

Move on

Moveon.org is a liberal political action group and it is named after a very effective strategy. When faced with a political problem throw in some road blocks and drag it out for as long as possible and in time the public loses interest. Later when the truth comes out just say that is old news and move on. Two recent examples are the origin of the virus and the Hunter Biden laptop. When the Covid first struck some felt it came from the Wuhan lab but within a few weeks many experts came forth saying it came from bats. The story of the lab source was quickly squashed. “We stand together to strongly condemn conspiracy theories suggesting that COVID-19 does not have a natural origin.” Investigators were told not to open Pandora's Box. As time passed more and more evidence came forth suggesting the lab source and reasons for covering up arose. The US was conducting gain of function research in the lab The same procedure was follows in the laptop case. Experts came forth saying it was Russian disinformation and years later it was found to be authentic. The strategy worked because in both cases the press just accepted the explanations without any further investigation. Even now as both cases have come under scrutiny most of the press are not interested.

Central planning

Back in the 1980's economist were predicting that Japan would overtake the US as the world's biggest economy but it never happened. Today the same people are predicting that China will overtake the US. Others see things differently. China's population is on track to decline by 50% by 2024. As the drive for globalism lessens and nationalism gains strength China's favorable balance of trade is in jeopardy. While China has allowed free enterprise since 1985 the government still controls overall production and central control never works. There are whole cities in China designed for a million people that sit empty. The government kept building to provide jobs and now the people cannot afford to live in those cities. Currently there are over 100 government sponsored mega projects going on and most will not provide a return on the investment. They are building to provide jobs without concern for the end product. This is what happens to central planning.

Amazon workers in New York have voted for a union. The slow demise of private sector unions has hurt the low to middle income people and this may signal a turn around. While no individual should be forced to join a union the concept of unionism is good for workers.

Pelosi oil

The governments attempt to lower gas prices is getting entangled with climate change to the point where one is competing against the other and the result is difficult to understand. If the goal of oil companies is to make money they should produce more while the price is high but they are somewhat stymied by various regulations. Environmentalist prefer the oil to come from the strategic reserve or foreign countries rather than oil from the US. Burning oil adds CO2 regardless of where it comes from but they see it as a setback in their plans to lower US oil production. Here is a quote from Pelosi. And one of the things that I would say is that we want to fight inflation.  The price of oil is an indicator – the price of gas at the pump is an indicator.  Putin has exacerbated it.  But we cannot allow the fossil fuel industry to use this as an excuse to reverse everything we're doing to save the planet.  One of the things I think that the President may say – I don't have this as a fact – is that we will use the Defense Production Act to speed up diversification so that we're not so dependent on oil.