ICE

Hamas has chosen a method of fighting that is common among terror groups. They mix in the fighters with the people of the community and thus innocent people are hurt and killed. The sanctuary cities do something similar. Instead of holding criminals in jail and waiting for ICE to pick them up, they are released into the community where they mix in with the citizenry and when ICE goes after them others who are not convicted criminals get arrested. Then when that happens the press parades these people out front showing how some whose only crime is being here illegally are being rounded up for deportation. This was the plan from the start. When different law enforcement groups refuse to cooperate with one another problems

China

In the US people have many ways to invest their money but in China things are different. Most savings go into local banks who in turn loan it out to local businesses. Over time different ways of investing outside the country have arisen but the government quickly clamps down. People thus resorted to real estate. For years it was much like the US in that real estate values were increasing rapidly and so more Chinese invested in more real estate. After purchasing their own home, they would get small groups of people to pool their resources and buy a second home. As long as values kept rising this strategy worked but soon the country was over built and prices began to fall. The housing boom was not only over but the market was glutted. Many of the second homes are now worth only ten cents on the dollar. The number of country people streaming into the cities has stopped and for the past 30 years the population has been on the decline meaning demand for houses is down. Older people who were depending on selling real estate to finance their retirement are now faced with poverty in their last years. Because of the demographic changes in the past 30 years there are now too many old people and too few young people so it is difficult for the workers to provide for the retirees.

Common sense

Trump claims his administration is about common sense but what does that mean. Here are some suggestions in no particular order. Note this is about policy Secure borders Safe neighborhoods Reshoring American industry Free and fair trade Paying only the fair share to world organizations Promoting immigration based on merit Bringing a peaceful settlement to the Ukraine War Bringing Saudi Arabia in line with other Suni countries Only two genders No gender surgery for children Promoting the best qualified Equal opportunity over equal results Deporting convicted criminals Setting up a path to citizenship for migrants Backing police Strong military Nuclear energy Reduce waste and fraud Education and wealth gaps

Schools

The US spends more per student on education that most European countries. In 2019 the cost in the US was $15,500 per student which was 38% higher than the $9,600 spent in Europe. This is according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) a testing group established in 1961. The Program for International Student Assessment (PIAS) established in 2000 shows European countries often out perform the US in areas like math and science. The US ranked 28th out of the 37 OECD member countries in math and 12th in science according to 2024 results. All of these countries mainstream students with learning problems. The US is the only one of the 19 nations where more than 50% of the employees in the schools are not teachers. This occurs because the US provides many services that other countries do not, for instance, children travel on buses to school. The US also includes lunch programs and counseling that may not be included in other countries. Here are two examples of districts in this area. District 194 12,000 students with 1675 staff including 684 teachers District 196 29,200 students with 4,000 staff including 2,100 teachers In the US the average is 15 students per teacher vs Europe at 13. One of the differences is that the US has more teachers for special education. The biggest problem in the US is the test score gap between White and Asian students on one hand and Black, Hispanic and Native Americans on the other hand. If this can be narrowed it will affect not only education but other life problems as well.

Press coverage

One of the complaints that the press had about Biden was the lack of communication. He held very few press conferences and was not available for questioning. Trump is just the opposite as he is ready to talk with the press on a regular basis. Today Trump took questions from the press and he was not covered on MSNBC or CNN but was by Fox. The other stations covered the plane crash and they provided the same information over and over each hour.

Fed rate

The inflation rate has been declining since the high of 9.1% on June 2022 to the present 2.9%. Over this time the fed rate has been coming down. It held steady from July 2023 to Sept 2024 at 5.38%. Then the fed cut the rate to 4.88% following up in Nov 2024 to 4.63 then 4.38% in Dec of 2024. Since inflation is still on the decline the fed was expected to cut another .25% but they held steady.

Gaps

Businesses across the country have their lobbyist to act on their behalf. The people’s representatives in congress are supposed to be the lobbyist for the people but they have been coopted by the bureaucrats and this leaves the citizens without true representation. Government has joined forces with business, academia and the press and the result is the income gap. In today’s world even the citizens are being divided by education and income. The two biggest problems facing the country today are the wealth gap and the education gap. Many hope that Trump will be able to change this but that remains to be seen. He defeated his group enemies composed of the bureaucracy, academia, social media, Silicon Valley, Hollywood and the legacy media in the election but campaigning is different from governing. The relentless attacks on Trump will continue and his only ally will be the voters. Will they finally be overwhelmed by the pressure from the establishment or will Trump show enough progress to win their loyalty. Will the promised new high paying jobs be forthcoming

Medicare for all

The move toward national healthcare, sometimes called Medicare for all is gaining momentum. The vast majority of people on Medicare are happy with their plan. The arguments generally center around cost. In 2024 the US spent $4.9 trillion for total healthcare cost. Medicare $1.0 trillion 66 million people $15,000 per person Medicaid $ 872 billion 80 million peoples $11,000 per person Private healthcare $1.5 trillion 165 million people $9,000 per person Obamacare $ 125 billion 20 million people $6000 per person Drugs, out of pocket and third party payers for the remaining $1.4 trillion. Employers pay 75% of the cost of healthcare for employees. If they continued those payments to the government the additional cost for national healthcare would be $375 billion per year. This would include coverage to the 28 million Americans who are currently not insured at a cost of $13,000 per person. The cost for current Medicare recipients is high because these are older people where morbidity is higher. The availability of coverage for all will mean additional usage and therefor cost.

Deep Seek

Deep Seek, a new Chinese version of AI has hit the tech world with a bang. Everyone who follows tech innovation knows that the mythical teenager working in his mom’s basement can upset the market and this has happened with Deep Seek. A good way to understand what is happening is to go back to the early 1970’s. At that time if I wanted to present a retirement program to a potential client, I would gather information and send if off to New York where a large mainframe computer would analyze the data and in two weeks return to me a program to present. In the early 80’s small computers called PC’s became available and I could print out the programs right in my office in a few minutes. The PC’s were never as good as the mainframe but they were all I needed for my work. The new Deep Seek is to the big AI as the PC was to the mainframe. It is not as good but plenty good to do most jobs. As time passed the PC gained more capabilities and so will the Deep Seek.

Migrants

There is pressure to stop the flow of illegals crossing the border. First off it is a dangerous journey across Mexico. It is mostly desert and much of the territory is controlled by gangs and cartels. Second when they get to the US border, they must wait for the courts to determine their status. Only those who qualify for asylum status can remain and from 2013 to 2022 only 165,000 qualified. Once they are in the country, they are not allowed to work so all who are here and do not qualify for asylum are breaking the law and when they go to work, they are breaking the law again. Add to that there are many criminals. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) showing that, as of July 21, 2024, nearly 650,000 criminal illegal aliens were currently on ICE’s Non-Detained Docket (NDD) and roaming free in communities throughout the United States. This figure includes roughly 15,000 individuals convicted of or charged with murder, more than 20,000 of sexual assault, and more than 105,000 of assault: Many sanctuary states are refusing to aid ICE in finding these criminals which is not the case with citizens who are criminals. This is changing rapidly. Many who opposed deportations are now saying it is ok to deport criminals. Many now say it is ok to deport those who have been through the courts and found not to qualify for asylum. Many are now saying building the wall is acceptable.

Clean

For some people the phrase virtue signaling has one meaning but for others it is a kind of selfish ignorance that can be seen in a climate change discussion. We want clean air and water so we shut down our nuclear plants, our fossil fuel plants and we go all in on wind and solar. We close our eyes to the mining of cobalt by children in Africa, the slave labor of Uyghurs in China to build solar panels, the burying of old windmill blades in Africa, the poisoning of the Yellow River in China and the Chinese building new coal fired power plants. Through all of this we can say we are for a clean environment and that is an example of virtue signaling.

Trump

On many talk shows the question comes up, how is Trump different this time than he was in 2017. In his first term he lacked Washington experience so he relied on established republicans to propose cabinet members. He accepted their advice but what he didn’t realize was that they were part of the system he wanted to reform. They took his instructions and reinterpreted them in the ways of Washington. In time Trump could see they were not following his agenda and he began the process of changing people but it was hard not to get someone who was not part of the establishment. This time he knows better and his pick for cabinet members are people with whom he knows that loyalty comes first and that they will carry out his ideas the way he wants them to. This means the dismantling of the Washington culture and the old timers will object in every way possible along with their allies in the press. No matter the issue if Trump says up, they will say down.

WHO

The current controversy created by Trump regarding the World Health Organization can be resolved by each country pay the same percentage of their GDP. The question is why the US should pay the bulk of the cost when the group helps all members. The same can be said for all of the worldwide group like the UN and WTO. There are 163 members in this group and the US is paying 19% of the budget. In 2022-2023 the budget was $6.7 billion and the US paid $1.3 billion.

Covid

The latest report on Covid released by the CIA favors the lab leak as the source. The final conclusions cannot be reached because China refuses to release information. If it were a lab leak it would be detrimental to China so there are reasons why they would not cooperate. One of the more disturbing aspects of the Covid was how China would not allow people from the Wuhan Province to travel throughout China but did allow them to travel around the world. When things are kept secret it invites conspiracy theories and these abound.

Fired

For some years now there has been a controversy surrounding the powers of the executive branch. It started with statements like the Attorney General is the lawyer of the people and not the president’s lawyer. Now it has spread to the inspector generals. The rule is that the people in the executive branch serve at the pleasure of the president. This phrase signifies that the president has the sole authority to remove an executive branch employee from their position without needing to provide a reason or go through a formal process. Some are questioning the power of the president to remove people in the executive branch and this should be resolved. It is not normal for the boss not to have the power to discharge an employee but in the government, things never seem to be that clear.

Change

The changes that Trump is making to government are causing a great deal of consternation to many longtime federal watches. This comes from the fact that Trump thinks like a businessman and not a politician. Consider a company that is not doing well. They have always promoted from within and a culture of mediocrity as settled in and it is in need of an overhaul. The board of directors, steps in and realize that it would not be much help to fire the president and replace him with the vice-president because that is what has been going on for many years. They then decide to look outside the company for new blood with new ideas and new way of looking at old problems. They need qualified people, people who have management skills and people who are willing to take the heat that comes from introducing a new way of doing things. People are not comfortable with change but sometimes it is necessary to grow.

Obamacare

The passing of Obamacare ten years ago is a study in how politics works. The democrats had to get a majority vote in the house but they also had to overcome the filibuster in the senate which means 60 votes. At the start of the negotiations the democrats had 58 votes in the senate but after some delay the MN legislature approved Al Franken to get to 59. Then republican senator Alan Specter switched parties and voted democrat and was the 60th vote. Then Senator Kennedy died and in a special election republican Scott Brown was elected and he became the 41st vote against. The senate had previously passed a bill that was not satisfactory to everyone so they continued. When they found they were one vote short they reverted to the previous bill and sent it back to the house for approval and when the house approved then Obama signed it into law. The bill passed in 2010 but did not take effect until 2014. The reason is that it was promised that the cost would be kept under one trillion for the first ten years so the estimate was $940 billion but in reality, that was only for 6 years of insurance. Once passed the new cost was $1.8 trillion for 2012 -2022. Then by 2018 the cost was estimated to be $2.5 trillion, Keep this in mind when the government estimates the cost of any new benefit.

SSA

What is the marriage penalty under social security? Up until 1983 social security benefits were not taxed but starting that year income over $25,000 for single people and $32,000 for married couples became subject to tax. Those values, called threshold, have not changed. If they had been indexed to inflation, they would now be $75,000 and $95,000 and this is being suggested as a way to remove taxes from lower income people while still taxing those in the higher income. Take an example using today rules for a couple who are both collecting SS and have pensions. John and Mary both receive $2,000 per month from SS and both have $2,500 per month pensions. Their taxes are $9,000. If they were single and filed individually, they would each owe $4,000. If the threshold numbers were indexed to inflation neither of these groups would owe taxes. Instead of removing taxes from social security it would be better to just index the thresholds and this would remove tax on middle income people while maintaining the tax on the wealthy.

SSA

Many young people are concerned about the viability of social security and are interested in privatizing their account. This would be the final solution to the problem. When it comes to investments the caveat is that past performance is no guarantee of future results but the more data the more accurate the predictions become. The stock market has averaged 10% per year for the past 100 years. If I project out 40 years the odds are good that I will be safe. Over my work life I paid $146,000 into social security and I receive $2,000 per month for life and if I die younger any leftover money goes back to the government. If I had invested my money in the market, I would have $1.2 million and at 10% I could collect $120,000 per year for life and have the $1.2 million to pass on to my heirs.

Fed funds

The Central Bank’s main interest rate control is the overnight fund rate. The money in local banks which is not loaned out is put into the Central Bank to earn interest overnight. When the rate is high the banks prefer to leave their money there where it is risk free. When rates come down the banks will look favorably on business and consumer loans. When the banks move money from the Fed to private, money is created and the money supply increases. The bank loans me money and I spend it and the money goes into someone else account and they spend and so on which allows banks to create money. If the money supply increases too rapidly then inflation follows because of the old rule that inflation means too much money chasing too few goods. The fund rate has declined over the past year from 5.4% to 4.4% which means more private loans which will be needed as the reshoring continues. The average fed fund rate since 1950 has been 4.6%.

Migrants

The deportation of migrants is once again in the news and it is politics disguised as compassion. According to an analysis by the Migration Policy Institute, more than 12 million people were “deported” – either removed or returned – from the US during the Clinton administration. More than 10 million were removed or returned during the Bush administration. Far fewer – more than 5 million – were removed or returned during the Obama administration Deputy Director, ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project The Obama administration doubled down on one of its worst immigration legacies: the return and expansion of family detention. Responding to a court order holding that its family detention camps violated the 1997 Flores settlement agreement, the Obama administration Friday again defended family detention as necessary to send a message to Central American families that they are not welcome here—even though it concedes that most of them are fleeing persecution. The Obama administration now argues that it needs to detain families in order to speedily deport those who are initially found ineligible for relief. Fact check The Obama administration did build the cages Trump alluded to. The facility Trump mentioned was built with chain-link fencing by the Obama administration in 2014 in a warehouse in Nogales, Ariz. The makeshift shelter was built in response to an exodus of unaccompanied immigrant children from Central America.

Math

It is common place to hear some talking heads say they are not good at math when faced with some elementary math problem. It is concerning that many of these people are lawyers and add that to the fact that many in congress are lawyers. These elected officials will now be asked to enact laws that will govern AI. The technical person assigned to explain the complexities of AI to these congressmen, better be good since having difficulty with algebra may inhibit their ability to understand some of the basic concepts such as algorithms. It is interesting to note that when the TV personalities confess to their weakness in math, they do so with a rather ho hum attitude, laughing as they explain their inability to help their teens with the math homework. This reflects back on an educational system that has long forgotten the rithmetic part of the three R’s.

Fires

For many years California has been plagued by fires followed by mudslides which resulted in the loss of life and property but this year is in the news for two reasons. First is the extent of the fires and second whose homes are being destroyed. Many rich and famous people have lost their property to the fires and this will get the attention of the politicians. Trump spent time with the leaders of LA and offered to remove all federal requirements for building homes and asked the mayor to do the same for state and local permits. This is designed to speed up the rebuilding but the question remains will there be enough construction companies and workers to get the job done quickly. Perhaps California will bring in qualified people much like they bring in fire fighters.

Ukraine

As the world stands by and witnesses the destruction of Ukraine along with far too many lives it is time to once again outline the reason for the war. The West does not want Putin to win because he will take over all of Europe and the West doesn’t want Putin to lose because he will start a nuclear war. The only option the West can see is to continue the war indefinitely. How did reasonably intelligent people get themselves in this predicament. How are so many people still willing to sit back and go along with this. The only answer is a peaceful negotiated settlement.

Trade

Trump opposes the new green deal because he sees it as a way to retribute the wealth under the guise of climate change. Trump addressed the movers and shakers at Davos and saw the same thing. They want to use the pretext of climate to redistribute money from rich western countries to poorer countries around the world. In both case those doing the redistribution will decide where the money goes and enrich themselves along the way either with power or cash or both. Trump feels it is best for the US to disengage from many of these worldwide organizations and concentrate on putting America first. That coincides with his leaving the Paris Accords, dropping out of the WHO and pushing other groups like the UN and NATO to start paying their fair share. This also aligns with his plans to bring jobs back home and place tariffs on countries who do not have fare trade agreements with the US. For example, Europe places a 10% tariff on cars from the US while the US has a 2.5% tariff on cars imported from Europe. In raw numbers Europe imports 300,000 cars from the US while the US imports 6 million cars from Europe. One European country, Germany has a surplus balance of trade of $180 million while the US has a trade deficit of $800 billion. Adding insult to injury the US is supplementing the national defense of Europe so they can use their money for national healthcare.

Argentina

History is replete with stories of poor countries reverting to socialism with the promised of income redistribution and in time ending up worse off. There is an ongoing story of a conservative take over of a failing country that has been in the news the past year and this is the election of Milei in Argentina. He was elected in Dec 2023 and promised to cut government to fight inflation and stabilize the economy. The government instituted aggressive budget cuts, spending freezes and a deregulation campaign. Consumer and investor confidence are on the rise as inflation fell from 28% to 2.8%. His approval rating is 50% despite these cuts and the fact that the poverty rate is 50%. This is only the end of the first year and so much remains and only time will tell if he is on the right track but he is off to a good start. The world will be watching.

Migrants

As the roundup of illegal migrants gets underway, some interesting situations pop into the news. The press is patiently waiting for some innocent mother with her children to be arrested but mean while other convicted criminals are collected by ICE. In Boston, as in other sanctuary cities, known criminals are in local jails but ICE is not notified even when these criminals are on the ICE detention list. Later these people are released into the community and then ICE picks them up. Trump has recently changed the law which allowed criminals safety in churches and other locations which makes them subject to the same rules regarding US citizens who are criminals. A parent who is a US citizen but a criminal can be arrested any place and sent to jail while their family remains without a parent. This would not likely spawn stories about removing parents from their families. The differences in the way illegal migrants are handled compared to the way US citizens are handled is causing some consternation among the public.

Construction

The projects under the infrastructure bill are off to a slow start and some of that is due to DEI. Often times small sub contractures cannot meet the hiring rules unable to find the qualified people. But there are other reasons. In reality, it is a fatal combination of government regulation and bad management that is killing American infrastructure plans and creating decades of setbacks. The video shows how laws such as the National Environmental Policy Act were “well-intentioned” at the time of their creation yet ultimately fail to accomplish much but delaying new construction. Trump changed the rules on DEI hiring and this will speed up many projects. The revoked order had required "affirmative action and prohibits federal contractors from discriminating on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or national origin,” according to a summary by the Department of Labor. The next step is to reduced regulations. It’s not a matter of safety as some maintain. “Better safety isn’t the reason that America is falling behind. After all, countries like Germany and Canada, build new infrastructure, much faster and cheaper than we do. And they do it without a body count,” the narrator explained.

Migrants

Some people in the press have heard Trump’s remarks about deportation and they have framed a picture of herding migrants in to cattle cars and hauling them off to some Auschwitz in Mexico. A more realistic expectation would be closing the border, deporting all convicted criminals, finding 300,000 missing children, offering a path to citizenship for the dreamers and setting up a program to allow the others to get their ITIN’s. These would be changed to make working legal and after five years they become eligible for green cards. In another five years a chance for citizenship assuming then have a clean record. These people will be needed to fill the many jobs that will be created in the upcoming reshoring of business. This is a reasonable approach and one that would have been acceptable based on closing the border. Most of the people have always considered citizenship for migrants with the pre requisite of closing the border.

Europe

O dear Jack, I'm so sorry about your lovely wife! I didn't know her personally, but as I did from your e-mails. I hope that you are holding up and that health keeps you well. Eyes problems can be nasty but I hope you will keep your healt in that regard as well, as much as possible. We are all aging, and time is passing by so fast, isn't it? I am 56 now! Yes, I moved from Croatia, lived in United kingdom for couple of years, and then moved to Slovenia after my sister's husband's death, it wasn't planned, but it just happened to be this way due to my health complicatiins and surgery that followed plus smaller working dissabilities caused by really painful calcifications and bones erosions in arms and finger joints . I have apartment here in Slovenia where I live in really cool part of the city with lot of natural surroundings, very close to ski centre, and my sister is in few minutes of car driving distance, she lives there with her daughter that is 25 now. I have plans to buy property in Croatia for my sister and me to live together there, and sell my flat out in Slovenia, or maybe buy small studio for that money in Slovenia and buy small house in Croatia for rest of money. I still have to think everything through before I act. So Slovenia for now. While you left teaching because of your eye problem, teaching is what I do for past 5 years, and I must say, I love it. I'm teaching languages, mostly Slovenian, for contractors from Slovenia and abroad, so I am quite independent and luckily so far with steady income. As you know I am journalist, however, in Slovenia leftists, or let's name them with proper name - transitional communists - which are on power for last 28 years out of 33 since independence of country, have practically destroyed democratic institutions in this country and we practically live in soft dictature here. For me personally this is really hard to accept. As you know, I was born and bread in dictature, and this current government in Slovenia lead by Robert Golob is practically reinstalling communism in country again. Country is under control of old communist elite lead by last chief of communist party before independence of Slovenia, who was later also "elected" as first president of Slovenia, I say "elected" because his opponent that had over 80 % of support in people was assasined just days before elections. That old communist elite consists also from people under political influence and control of Serbian president Vucic, because of which slovenian candidate for EU comisdioner was removed over night to be replaced by person that Vucic wanted in EU parliament. Slovenia is partly controlled by Serbia and partly by ex communist elite with goal to reinstall communism in Slovenia under mask of so called "democratic socialism" to make it more acceptable for European Union. Since these forces support same progressivist ideas that EU does, EU leadership just turns eyes blind . We have effective crush down of media freedom in Slovenia with 95 % of media under control of communistswhile the opposition media are being constantly investigated and tortured by current political option. With new media law that is in preparation, they plan to fully control and limit free speech even on social media, in feer to loose next elections. Main opposition leader that was put in jail just before elections in 2014 in ridiculous politically constructed accussation (later rejected by Constitutional court) is under new politically constructed process with goal to be put in jail before new upcoming elections. It is bad. And it would be worse if between Slovenia and Serbia wouldn't be democratic Croatia, messing up with serbian and pro-rusdian apetites in Slovenia. One of the reasons why I want to move back in Croatia - many business owners from Slovenia are moving their business and residence in much more normal, politicall stabile and economically growing Croatia, is because Croatia is democratic countrym while Slovenia drowns deeper and deeper into totalitarian state. In Slovenia, communist elite controls 95 % of media, whole judiciary system, police, educational system, energetic system, and what is left from state owned banks and companies. If they will be successful with new media law, they will practically bring Slovenia back in the communist 80ies and re-instal so called "verbal delict", complete supression of free speech, because of which my dad was jailed twice in communist Yugoslavia. So much about domestic situation here. Europe will have to wake up from it's dream and stop it's woke and progressive madness, or face consequences. I understand what is Trump saying and I think that new American administration is corect in it's warnings to EU to cut with politics and practices that lead to disaster. This also means very unpleasant realisatiin for us Europeans, and that is that Putin is OUR, not American problem. Our own which we should be solving, not the USA with it's money. I'm affraid that EU elites will stay inactive regarding this problem, as they were in Balkan wars, and that Putin problem together with crazy immigrant politics will crash Europe out. Destroy it. If we don't crush leftists - and all of them are neomarxist parties, we are no longer talking about leftists as about social democratic movements of Genscher type in Europe, social democracy in Europe is dead for good decade now - if we don't deal with these neomarxist parties, then I don't even dare to thing about what will this bring to Europe not in near future, but even in next crucial 5 years. Things have to change and hopefully Trump's administration to which Europe isn't priority right now, will continue with strong support to traditionalist forces in Europe. Support to what leftists call "extreme right", which is joke, political parties like Orban's, Meloni's, La Penn's or Plenkovic's in Croatia etc., are perfectly normal democratic political parties defending national states, rule of law on national and EU borders, and keeping EU administration powers back in it's constitutiinal role. Now EU administration disciplibes state members and is interferring in inner affairs of and punishing sovereign national member states, for which EU administratiin is NOT authorised by EU constitution. Trump did put foot in big shoes, but someone had to after Democrats partically destroyed country. Will he suceed? If he will be successful only in destroying wokeism and it's suppression of free speech, and if he will be successful in destroying gender identity policies, I will call his administratiin a massive global success. Wokeist ideology is a totalitarian cancer that needs to go for good. This is from my perspective, from perspective of average American families depending on jobs and lower taxes, expectations from Trump's era might be really too high. But let us wait and see how Trump spins that wheel. Whatever comes from his administration is 1000 x better from what was there since Obama and especially Kamalas of this world took over. Apologies for misspells and typos, I have no time to correct them right nowm so I will ask for your patience and forgiveness.

Data centers

It was announced today that a company called Stargate will build data processing centers in about 20 locations. The interesting thing was that each will have its own power supply most likely small nuclear reactors. This follows similar news from Amazon and Meta. While the government is slow in developing nuclear power private industry is moving ahead.

Trump

As Trump takes over the fact that he is a businessman and not a politician can be seen by the way he is approaching the job. The result is that the established republicans have been sent out to pasture and the modern democrats are out of touch with the people. He has a set of principles that guide him and like a good businessman he will change positions based on new information. He is not burdened by reelection pressure and cannot be influenced by money so the bureaucrats cannot control him and of course that is what concerns them. The life time politicians who have spent their years learning the system, which means learning how to get reelected, are now faced with a new way of doing business. The press people who have developed their insider contacts are now having to look for new sources. The lobbyist must now come up with new ways to influence the outsiders who are in Trump’s cabinet. Trump says we are entering the golden age. That may or may not be true but we are certainly entering a different age. Many will hang on to the old ways thinking that when Trump leaves they can revert but if Trump is successful the changes he brings

green deal

Most of the articles written about the new green deal explain how the cost of solar panels and windmills have come down over the years. What they rarely discuss are the problems associated with the mining, processing and disposal of the elements needed for these things. In addition, they don’t bring up what do you do for fuel for jet planes, rail locomotives, ocean liners, heavy farm and construction equipment. On top of that you need a back up for when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine. There is a start up company in California that will use small nuclear reactors to create power to separate hydrogen from water and combine that with carbon dioxide from the air to synthesize diesel fuel and jet fuel that will be carbon neutral. This cold weather allows people to see the amount of water that comes out of the exhaust pipe not realizing that twice that much carbon dioxide is sent out into the air. Along with that cancer causing benzene, volatile organics and nitrates that cause acid rain are produced. Just by switching from gasoline to natural gas the amount of carbon dioxide would be cut in half and the other dangerous products would be eliminated.

Europe

This is from my friend in Croatia in response to my question as what Europeans think of the US election. Whoa, who's mesaagedo I see in my mailbox? Hey Jack# it's so good to hear from you! How are you, how is whole family doing? All the best in 2025 to all your Novicks out there. How is Europe reacting? With pragmatism. Leftists are happy because they expect lack of support for Ukraine so that Russia could prevail, and traditionalists hope that Trump effectwill be seen in Europe in form of fall of wokeism and leftist dominance that is erosing national states by woke policies and open doors for illegal migratrations. So there is lots of hope, also lot of realism on tradicionalists side. They know that America can't be saving Europe forever while we Europeans sit on fat ass and do nothing to protect our borders from Putinists as well ad from Chinese- Russian hybrid wall. Terrorism is in rise in Europe thanks to progressive judges that ptevent extradictions and punishment of ilkegal immigrants, and there is silent rage among people bubbling, that will explode one day. Leftists are preventing right wing parties that won large majority of votes in recent elections in several EU countries from ruling countries according to people's will with political tricks and also legally by prohibiting perfectly normal political parties as "extremists". As in the USA, neomarxistic forces are blocking democratical mechanisms and are implemented virtual democracies which are in fact soft totalitarianisms. Most of us hope that Trump's government combined with efforts to strenghten free speech again and prohibit wokeist insanities will have positive effect in same direction for Europe, too. Right now, Europe is wokeist forttess with totalitarian tendencies. Nominally right wing EU leader von Der Layen is actually totally woke and left wing and in alliance with leftists parties blocks changes in costly green transition (that European households can't afford), immigtation politics, protection of ftee speech, defense ability of European union as such and many other critical isdues europeans are dealing with. Most of EU leafership is on Soros paycheck so things are getting worse here day by day regarding democracy. Immigrants are attacking domestic critics and domestic people can end up in jail even for small public criticism of state support to immigrant terrorists. I personally have high hopes about Trump's administration too. But we have to be realistic as well. How are things in the USA? From what I can see on social media platformsm extreme left is not ready to accept the vote of majority of American people. Greetings

Immigrants

As President Biden leaves office, he points out that during his term he created 15 million new jobs. In 2019 the labor participation rate was 63.5 and 168 million people were working. Today the labor participation rate is 62.5 and 162 million are working. Covid ended the longest employment recovery in history and resulted in 23 million losing their jobs. Most of the jobs created during the Biden years were people returning after Covid while many chose not to return. As reshoring gathers steam over the next ten years employment will rise rapidly. The country will need many of the illegal migrants who are here so deportations should center around criminals. Then the government should concentrate on the 340,000 missing children. In time the migrants will have the opportunity to get work permits which can lead to green cards. Legal immigrants will be needed especially those with certain skills.

Nuclear

Isiah Taylor is the founder of Valar Atomics a company that will use small nuclear reactors to split water into hydrogen to produce carbon free fuels. He met recently with Trump who offered his encouragement and assistance. Chris Wright, Trumps nominee for Energy Secretary is an MIT engineer who is CEO of a large fracking company. He is a strong advocate of nuclear power. These people have the ear of the president and nuclear is making a comeback.

Facts

Jeane Kirkpatrick was the US ambassador to the UN during the height of the cold war. The goal was to defeat communism and it sometimes found the CIA involved in overthrowing governments like Guatemala and Iran plus disrupting things in countries like Chili. Kirkpatrick famously said, he may be a dictator but he's our dictator. Remnants of such thinking remain today with ideas like he may be an oligarch but he is our oligarch or he may be a fact checker but he's our fact checker. Point is to be your own fact checker and do not trust the government.

Musk

Much like Musk did in North Carolina, he is providing StarLink to Southern California. This allows the fire fighters to maintain communication with each other. He is also supplying power trucks to give power to homes while awaiting repair of power lines. He is doing this pro bono. He also did the same for Ukraine.

Population

The next time you read about some scientist making long term predictions consider the problem of population. For years the experts said the world was heading toward over population and that in fact it was threat to world stability. Fertility rates show the number of births per woman and 2.1 is necessary to maintain a population. This rate has been declining since 1970 when it was 4.5 and today it is 2.2 and is projected to reach 1.8 by 2050. The experts are now predicting a shortage of people. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that the older people are living longer and there are not enough young people to support them.

Hamas war

Fifteen months ago Hamas made a surprise attack on Israel and killed 1,200 people and took 250 hostages. These prisoners were kept in tunnels and many have died. Following this Hezbollah attacked Isreal from the north and Iran and The Houthis started shooting rockets into Israel. Israel retaliated and Hezbollah has been decapitated, Iran has had their air defense eliminated, Syria, the way Iran sent weapons to Hamas, has been defeated and the Israelis are currently destroying the Houthis. Now Hamas has asked for an end to the war. They will release 33 hostages in return for the return of 110 Palestinians with life sentences and 1,000 Gaza detainees from Oct 7. Isreal will remove its troops and allow humanitarian aid into Gaza.

Health

There are many articles written discussing the problem of the national debt pointing out that this represents a financial burden being passed on to our children and grand children. While this is true there is another problem of equal concern that receives very little attention and that has to do with health. There are many chemicals in the food supply that are harmful and need to be investigated and hopefully removed. Add to that the many drugs being handed out especially to children and the overall health of the population is in jeopardy. Six in 10 Americans have at least one chronic disease, and 4 in 10 have two or more chronic diseases. Many preventable chronic diseases are caused by a short list of risk behaviors including poor nutrition.

NATO

When Trump was last in office only 6 NATO countries were spending the required 2% of their budgets on defense. After being chided by Trump this rose to 23 of the 32 members which are now spending at least 2%. In Trump's second term this will be an issue and all NATO countries will have to spend more as the US will take a less active role in world defense. Some have suggested that Trump will ask these countries to increase their spending to the 3.5% that the US spends. Even with the large increases in defense spending by NATO countries in the last four years the total by NATO is $1.47 trillion and $1 trillion of that is from the US. When the war in Ukraine ends the European countries will realize they must be more responsible for their own defense and no longer rely so heavily on the US. Under Trump many other world organizations will have to depend more on countries other than the US for support. This includes groups like the UN, WHO, WTO and the world bank.

AI

Recent reports express concern about the AI race between the US and China but if past is prologue there is no real competition. It has been China's policy to steal intellectural property and not use R&D to develop their own new ideas. America leads the way in innovation in all areas and that is likely to continue in AI. The U.S. has the world’s most robust AI ecosystem and outperforms every other country by significant margins. 

Russian oil

Shortly after the Ukraine War started the West place a price cap on Russian oil of $60 per barrel. The idea was to keep Russian oil flowing to prevent rapid price hikes but still reduce oil revenue to Russia. On January 10 this year Biden increased sanctions on Russia oil which will reduce their exports which will cause the price to rise. In addition the sanctions would effect buyers like China and India by including them in sanctions if they purchase Russian oil. Russia has been exporting about one million barrels per day and that will be curtailed which means higher world prices. This is more added pressure on the US to max out oil exports but if the Saudis don't increase exports it means higher gas prices.

Income tax

It is common to hear certain politicians like Berney Sanders say that the rich must pay their fair share when referring to income tax. The total taxes collected in 2024 was $2.4 trillion and 54% or $1.3 trillion was from individual income tax. The top five percent paid $840 billion, the top 10% paid $975 billion and the top 25% paid $1.15 trillion. This leaves $115 billion for the bottom 75% and the bottom 50% paid zero tax. Even so the income gap is still widening. Two things in the news could have a significant effect on closing the gap. The first would be not renewing the Trump tax cuts. This would bring in an additional $450 billion per year and the second would be to increase the child tax cut from the present $1,750 to $5.000. If this is approved the average family of four would pay no income tax up to $120,000 of earnings. This means that 90% of working families would pay no income tax. This would cost the govenment about $300 billion per year but that would be more than offset by not renewing the Trump tax cuts. This would be a good start in reducing the income gap.

California

It appears that there will be many homes in California that need rebuilding after the fires. Many see this as a problem since the state has the reputation of having many regulations regarding home building. I have a friend who sold his home in MN in 1971 and moved to San Jose. He said it took him three years to complete his home, a house that he could have built in MN in less than half that time. Since then the number of regulations have increased and many think it will take longer than three years to build. Because of this complication with regs, many are considering moving out of California to either buy or rebuild.

DDT

Sometimes an opportunity presents itself to evaluate the long term effects of an environmental change. Case in point. In 1962 Rachel Carson wrote a book called "Silent Spring" in which she posed the argument that DDT spray was dangerous. In partial response the EPA was born and one of the first steps was to ban DDT. One of the bettern known uses of DDT was to spray US soldiers and that prevented many diseses including typus and malaria. WW2 was the first war in history where tyhpus did not kill more soldiers than war. When DDT was banned the West was not suffering from malaria so it was not a problem. The fact that it could prevent bird eggs from harm and thus saving many birds was a good trade off but in other parts of the world and in particular Africa malaria remained a killer. Each year a million people die from malaria something that could be prevented by spraying with DDT. Over the past years many studies have shown that the negative effects of DDT are minimal. Pressures on poor countries to ban the insecticide DDT because of fears that its use would harm the environment have led to a resurgence of malaria in the world, yet the environmental impact of its use are “negligible,” a study published this week has said.

Post election

During the last election campaign the democrats spent very little time talking about issues as their efforts were directed toward Trump as a person. It appears that this will continue in the post election period but with some emphasis on policy. Many democratic governors are opposed to deporting migrants even those who are criminals. They do not want to renew the Trump tax cuts and they seem intent on continuing the war in Ukraine. Many still feel Trump wants to take away the freedoms of LGBT people and many still support unpopular cultural ideas, things like men in womens lockers.

Trump

These past ten years represent an astounding series of events. It began in 2015 when Trump announced his candidacy for president. He was an outsider and knew he could not win with a normal campaign and it was his philosophy that any and all publicity was helpful. The press saw him as a joke with some putting him in the entertainment section. He was welcomed on the TV shows as they snickered behind his back as their ratings rose. He dominated the news everyday as his unconventional politically incorrect remarks caught the headlines. Then when Trump won the nomination putting down two dozen prominent republicans the press went into panic mode. They suddenly realized they had created a monster and everything changed. The press coverage became 90% negative while the democratic party swung into high gear using some irregular tactics like Trump/ Russia collusion. Silicon Valley, Hollywood, social media and never Trumpers joined forces but they were too little too late and Trump was elected president. Even after the election the press continued their battle against Trump which culminated in his first impeachment. His first term brought a booming economy, a secure border, law and order and no wars. He was sailing toward reelection when Covid hit and he shut down the economy. This led to changes in voting laws which drastically increased the early voting and the democrats took advantage and Biden got 16 million more votes than Hillary. Trump didn't understand the importance of early voting and assumed there was some illegal activities that led to the large vote count. Biden won and quickly set about reversing the Trump agenda and this combined with the government spending to combat Covid led to inflation which peaked at 9%. Biden left Afghinistan by withdrawing the troops before the people and leaving behind billions of dollars in equipment and his approval rating slipped into the low 40's and never recovered. Biden had run as a one term, interim president but when the red wave in the 2022 mid term elections did not materialize Biden decided to run for a second term. Then Trump announced his run for a second term. Once again the establishment came alive and joined forces against Trump. This time the Justice Department took the lead in what became known as lawfare and this resulted in four separated charges against Trump which led to a felony conviction. Along the way there were two assassination attempts on Trump's life including him getting shot in the ear but he prevailed and won in spite of a second impeachment. So what can we expect from his second term. He only has one term so he must act quickly. His goals are to secure the border, bring home the industrial base, end the war in Ukraine, reignite the Abraham Accords, end the new green deal. His success will depend on the new factories using AI to increase productivity to offset inflation.

Migrant crossings

The way the Biden administration handled the border has been a mystery to many since the beginning when all of Trumps policies were dumped. During his first day in office, Biden unveiled the U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021 and reversed many of Trump's policies on immigration For most of his term Biden maintained he needed congress to help him control the border but in June 2024 when the polls showed the border to be an important campaign issue he took action. Department of Homeland Security officials credit the rules the Biden administration implemented on June 4 that deny asylum to migrants who enter the U.S. illegally and require asylum-seekers to request an interview at a designated port of entry using the CBP One app. Beginning in July the number of crossings have been reduced to 50,000 per month far below the 200,000 plus average during his term. The first question that comes up is why didn't Biden take this action earlier but a more basic question is why didn't he just leave the Trump policies in force. Another problem that hurt the reelection was the $5 trillion dollars in checks that were sent out during Covid which led to inflation. Without these two issues Biden would have been reelected. Many consider these unforced errors.

Hush money

Trump is facing sentencing today regarding the hush money trial. In 2006 Trump was accused of having an affair with Stormy Daniels which he denied. His lawyer paid Miss Daniels $130,000 to secure her silence on the issue as it was brought into public attention just before his 2016 election. When Trump repaid his attorney the money was recorded as a legal expense. This hush payment is a misdemeanor but the district attorney claimed that Trump called this a legal expense to cover up another crime which was a felony. The other crime was a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election through the hush money payment. It resulted in 34 counts as follows, 11 for invoices on legal services, 11 on checks paid for illegal services and 12 for leger entries for legal expenses. The attempt to influence the election is based on the January 6 riot at the Capital building. The judge just gave his sentence of unconditional discharge which means a crime was committed but no punishment is given.

Fish

California is in the news because of fires and they don't have enough water to put out the fires. There are a number of reasons for this but one is a small fish called the Delta Smelt. The presence of the Delta Smelt fish in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta has significantly limited the amount of water available to California farmers, as regulations aimed at protecting the endangered fish species often restrict water diversions, leading to a major point of contention in the state's water rights debate; essentially, more water needs to be left in the Delta for the fish, which means less water for agricultural use. The bureaucracy has too much power. The EPA is responsible for this policy of saving the fish.

Free speech

When Rush Limbaugh came on the air in the 80's a common refrain from listeners was you are saying things that I always thought but didn't want to say or sometimes scared to say. A similar thing is happening today after Trump spent 8 years being politically incorrect and now people are starting to express how they feel. They are less afraid of being sanctioned or worse ridiculed for their feelings. It's now ok to say that Blacks commit a disproportionate number of crimes without fear of being labeled a racist. Even the comedians are awakening.

Tax credits

The average cost of solar panels for a house is $25,000. The government offers a 30% tax credit which means a savings of $7,500. In order to qualify you must owe that much in tax. For a family of four this means income of $110,000. This eliminates 65% of all taxpayers and this is the low and middle income people. The tax credit on an EV is $7,500 and the average family must earn $110,000 to qualify. The recently passed but improperly name Inflation Reduction Act provides tax incentives for manufacturers of wind and solar projects. Without government incentives there would be no solar panel or windmill companies in the US. More than 500 companies and 45,500 projects have requested registration for clean energy tax credits under the Inflation Reduction Act as of March 8, according to a tally from the Treasury Department. Why so many. The act allows for these companies to sell their tax credits to other companies. This opens the door to misuse. Here is how companies who owe no taxes can still get the credits. First Solar, the biggest U.S.-based manufacturer of solar panels, has entered into two deals to sell up to $700 million worth of tax credits. When it comes to the Green New Deal the government is encouaging the development of wind and solar companies without ever mentioning the destruction to the environment caused by the mining, processing and disposal of the materials needed for this industry. The people are only receiving part of the story.

SMR

US military project PELE is the first use of small nuclear reaators to provide power to field units. They use small fuel pellets containing uraniums 235 enriched up to 20% and are schuled for service next year. These are one to 20 megawatt reactors that can be easily moved around. This along with small reactors to power data centers is just more evidence that nuclear is the future.

Syria

Now that Syria is wide open for any and all terror groups it is time to review the 1980's war between Irna and Iraq when the West sent WMD to Iraq and he used them on the Iranian troops. Here is a partial list of WMD given to Iraq during the 80’s and 90’s. About 100 tons of mustard gas also came from Brazil.] The non-profit American Type Culture Collection and the Centers for Disease Control sold or sent biological samples of anthrax, West Nile virus and botulism to Iraq up until 1989 the Iraqi military settled on the American Type Culture Collection strain 14578 as the exclusive anthrax strain for use as a biological weapon, according to Charles Duelfer.[31]The British government also financed a chlorine factory that was intended to be used for manufacturing mustard gas.[33]Singapore gave 4,515 tons of precursors for VX, sarin, tabun, and mustard gases to Iraq. The Dutch gave 4,261 tons of precursors for sarin, tabun, mustard, and tear gases to Iraq. Egypt gave 2,400 tons of tabun and sarin precursors to Iraq and 28,500 tons of weapons designed for carrying chemical munitions. India gave 2,343 tons of precursors to VX, tabun, Sarin, and mustard gases. Luxembourg gave Iraq 650 tons of mustard gas precursors. Spain gave Iraq 57,500 munitions designed for carrying chemical weapons. In addition, they provided reactors, condensers, columns and tanks for Iraq’s chemical warfare program, 4.4% of the international sales. China provided 45,000 munitions designed for chemical warfare. Portugal provided yellowcake between 1980 and 1982. Niger provided yellowcake in 1981.[34] When the US went after Saddam they asked where are the WMD when the question should have been where did they go. The conclusion was that Saddam buried them in the desert in Syria. Are they now there just waiting to be found.

Lawfare

The word lawfare came into use during the Trump campaign. It has its origins in the election of Alvin Bragg who was elected NY district attorney in 2021 with the promise he would go after Trump.There was a charge in 2006 that Trump paid off a women named Stormy Daniels but the case had been in limbo for years. The federal authorities in NY passed on the case, then Federal Election Committee passed on the case and finally Braggs own office passed. Then in 2022 just after the midterms Biden was asked what he was going to do about Trump running for president and he said he would use what ever means allowed under the constitution to prevent that. His people said that was not related to the Bragg case. Two weeks later Jack Smith is appointed special counsel. The same day Nathen Wade Atlanta attorney meets for 8 hours in the White House. Then a federal attorney quits and goes to work for Bragg. This is a job with lesser pay and responsibility. Two months later the case is brought before the grand jury. Bragg then makes some adjustments in the law changing the charge from a misdemeanor to a felony and the jury charges Trump.

Pledge

VP Harris has come under attack for bumbling the words to the Pledge Of Allegiance. I forgive her because I do the same thing. In school when we say the pledge I get messed up because when I was in school the words, Under God, were not in the pledge so I learned without those words. Now I am never sure whether they go befor or after indivisable.

War end

As Trump prepares to take office he has received a welcomed gift from Israel. The Jews have now put Iran in a box having defanged Hezbollah, help to end the Assad regime, neutrallized Hamas and quieted the civil war in Yeman. This gives Trump the opportunity to seek out a peaceful end to the war in Ukraine. The majority of Ukrainians want to end the war and it is being championed by western interest. When this is over Europe can once again receive cheap natural gas from Russia which will help the people of Europe and keep the country from economic recession. Grain exports from Russia and Ukraine will once again fill the world markets keeping food prices down. With proper deplomacy Russia can be brought into the West and both sides will win.

Iran

Here is news from Axios today White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan presented President Biden with options for a potential U.S. attack on Iran's nuclear facilities if the Iranians move towards a nuclear weapon before Jan. 20, in a meeting several weeks ago that remained secret until now, three sources with knowledge of the issue tell Axios. The generals are getting nervous if the war in Ukriane comes to an end.

Mining

Tesla began operating a lithium plant in Texas on December 15, 2024 and will produce enough for a million cars per year. It uses the latest techniques and is environmentally clean. This is the first plant in the US to produce lithium. This could be a model for mining and processing here in the US to reduce dependency on imports.

College

Back in the day not many went to college but most were encouraged to do so. In the 1950's only 8% went to college but today that that number is 38%. Times have changed and today not everyone is destine for college but the question arises as to who should go. Anyone seeking a PhD should go along with those who desire to be teachers. In addition those looking for careers in science, engineering, medicine and law. For others it depends on their financial situation. If they have the money they can go just fot the experience while they grow up but for others they should consider job opportunities. They have to do a cost benefit determination. Is it worth it to spend $100,000 over four years when you could be earning a $100,000. Also there is a big demand for people with other skills, things like the trades. Many can make a decent living working in retail. Point is that it is no longer the case that everyone should go to college. The old rule applies of find something you enjoy and go for it.

Change

The path toward globalization began as WW 2 came to an end and the US guaranteed the safety of the seas which allowed free and open trade. It started slow but built up steam as can be seen by the US trade deficit with China which was $95 million in 1972, $6 billion in 1985 and $385 billion in 2022. During this same time period the wealth gap grew rapidly. Those at the bottom saw their wealth go from $23 in debt to $450. The middle income groups went from $50,000 to $200,000. Those near the top saw growth going from $300,000 to $2 million while the very top went from $2million to $14 million. During this time the US lost 6 million manufacturing jobs as 70,000 businesses closed. In 1970 corporate profits were $200 billion rising to 18,000 billion by 2023. To recap working people saw their wealth increase four fold while the super rich increased 90 fold. This is why the establishment wants to stay the course but the country is ready to change. The rich and powerful do not want to upset the apple cart but like it or not that is about to happen. The bureaucracy that has been growing in power and protecting the top will now be challanged. The more educated, including the press, along with those in power will oppose any change. The battle lines are set. If it weren't for politics this change would be a no brainer but that is not the case.

Afghanistan

Sometimes it's helpful to look back in recent history to see if there are any valuable lessons to be learned. Case in point is Afghanistan. The US went into Afghanistan to remove the Taliban. After 20 years when 2,500 American soldiers died, 21,000 wounded and at a cost of $2 trillion dollars the US left and put the Taliban back in power while leaving $80 billion dollars in military equipment behind. What can be learned from this experience as we enter the third year in Ukraine having spent $180 billion dollars and destroyed a good portion of the country while killing off 14,000 Ukrainian soldiers.

Social security part 3

Starting January 1, 2026 every one who turns 25 years old will have their social security money invested in a private account similar to the federal employees saving account (TSP). Every year there after all people on their 25th birthday will be automatically enrolled in the TSP. This money like social security must be withheld and cannot be touched for any reason until age 62 or later. At that time they can withdraw all or part of the fund or allow it to remain and just live off the interest. The government will have been relieved of the responsibility of financing social security and there will no longer be any discrimination against Blacks. For most people this will mean a large transfer of wealth from one generation to another and in time could build up to a sizable estate.

Social security part 2

Social security withholds 6.2% of your salary and this is matched by your employer. Of this amount 2.2% is used to cover the cost of disability and survivor benefits leaving the remaining 4% to invest. If a 25 year old person earning $40,000 per year invested this 4% plus the 4% from his employer in a private plan he could do better than social security. Federal employees have had a savings plan since 1984 called the TSP that has five savings options including mutual funds and bond funds. The stock market over the past 120 years has averaged 10% annual return. If the 25 year old earning $40,000 got a 3% annual raise and invested 8% of his salary at 10% he would have $2.7 million by age 62. Investing this at 2% would give him the equivalent of what his social security benefit would be and upon his death his family would receive the $2.7 million.

Social security part one more to follow

There are a number of reasons why social security needs to be reformed and one important reason is rarely discussed, that being, it discriminates against Blacks and in particular Black males. A Black male at age 62 can expect to live 10.8 years while a White female age 62 will live for 22.9 years. A 25 year old person earning $40,000 per year can expect to get a social security benefit of $4,600 per month at age 62. This means the White female will collect $1.26 million while the Black male will collect $586,000. This discriminatory practice can be eliminated by privatizing social secuity.

Education

The democratic party was already trending toward college grads during the Obama years Career and technical education may be facing deep financial cuts. A proposed federal budget could mean as much as a 20 percent reduction to funding for vocational programs in 2012, according to the New York Times. Obama instead seeks to increase funding for overall education by 11 percent. The Times reports that these proposed cuts are a step toward the president’s goal of raising academic standards and ultimately have the highest share of college graduates of any other nation by 2020.

States rights

Which side of the issue of states rights a person is on depends more on politics than on the constitution. Conservatives rallied for states rights on the abortion issue while democrats want states rights on immigration.