History

The criticism of the educational system usually centers around the three R’s but something is also lacking in social studies. It is said that history repeats itself so students can learn from history. A 2025 survey found that 62% of Americans aged 18-29 have a favorable view of “socialism”. Here is brief history since WW 2. Following World War II, Korea was liberated from Japanese rule but subsequently divided along the 38th parallel, with the Soviet Union occupying the north and the United States occupying the south. This division led to the establishment of two separate states in 1948. The north with an area of 122,000 sq miles and the south with 100,000. The south had 21 million population and the north 9 million. The country was somewhat like the US in that the north was the industrial area and the south more agrarian. Russia and China poured development money into the north while the south languished with a GDP per capita of $64. More than half the people suffered from absolute poverty. The north pursued a communist government while the south was democratic. By 2024 the GDP per capita rose to $36,000 in what has been called the Korean Miracle. Meanwhile the communist north economy only grew to $1,700 per capita. The Korean people were the same in both north and south in culture, history and religion. The difference is free market capitalism. China had been a poor country for thousands of years with most people just surviving and at the end of WW 2 became a communist country. The great Mao revolution took place in the 1960’s and 70’s when 50 million people starved to death. The government then opened the door to the free market. The GDP in 1990 was $360 billion and grew to $1.2 trillion in 2000. Then China was allowed into the World Trade Organization (WTO) and was opened to the worlds markets and the GDP surged to $18 trillion in 2024. The free-market economy can survive even under a communist political system. When people are allowed the fruits of their labor they work harder and smarter. The central planning communist governments take away the freedom of the individual and leads to a preferential treatment of a few in leadership positions. In 1960 the population of the USSR was 200 million but only 15 million belonged to the communist party and they had the best apartments, cars and other benefits. Like George Orwell said his book entitled “1984”, under communism everyone is equal but some are more equal. After WW 2 Germany was divided into East Germany under communism and West Germany as a democracy. Both sides were devastated by the war and by 1955 had started the slow process of recovery with the West having a GDP per capita of $3,000 and the East at $2,800. By 1990 when the wall fell the West was at $23,000 GDP and the East at $9,600. At that time Germany was reunited under the democratic West and today the GDP in $53,000.

Europe trade

Early reports suggest that the new trade deal with Europe will help lower the trade balance between the US and Europe which currently stands at $130 billion. Under the new agreement the US will charge a 15% import tax on goods coming from Europe and Europe will not have an import tax on goods coming from the US but Europe will still maintain its VAT which is 17% to 27% depending on the country. Other things being equal this will lower the trade deficit.

AI

One of the more dangerous areas in AI is something called predictive analytics which uses historical and current data to forecast future outcomes and trends. A simple example is a school where the teachers meet to discuss a particular student whose actions set off alarms. He may be the kind of student who will try to shoot up the school. On a larger and far more significant level is a company who collects large amounts of data and uses that to predict the future behavior of some individual or group. This can easily be misused. For example, a government who wants to silence some person can collect information which indicates this person is planning some kind of terrorist act and they then arrest him. The real story is that his speech is a threat but the cover story is that he is arrested because he is a terror threat. As more data is collected the opportunities for misuse increase.

Good jobs

The basic economic policy of the democratic party is income and in some cases wealth redistribution. Ten percent of the wage earners pay 72% of all income tax while the bottom 50% pay 3% with 76 million families paying no income tax. The policies are designed to take money from the top and give it to the bottom in the form of public assistance programs. This puts the government in control of who gets what and when. It leads to some low-income people becoming dependent on the government. Most everyone understands the need for a safety net for those who for reasons beyond their control need help. The discussion centers around the needy and those who are scamming the system. In a recent example, changes were made to Medicaid. One interpretation is that millions were cut from Medicaid. Many of these are able bodied adults who could maintain their insurance if they agreed to work 20 hours per week. Others are losing coverage because they don’t know how to fill out the paper work. What these programs need is oversight by congress to prevent abuse but congress turns this over to groups who have a vested interest in keeping the programs going and growing. Some of the wasteful spending has recently been exposed but it is only the tip of the iceberg. The bureaucracy has become so large it is unmanageable. The emphasis must shift from providing benefits to providing good paying jobs so people will not need public assistance. Bringing back manufacturing jobs is a start in this direction.

VW

As the US economy grows, companies around the world are planning on increasing their US production and the new tariffs will accelerate this process. Using Volkswagen as an example. VW is planning on doubling its Tennessee facility’s capacity to 600,000 units per year. VW backed Scout Motors is building a $2 billion EV plant near Columbia, SC. In 2023 VW produced 2 million cars in Germany and only 150,000 per year in the US while exporting 350,000 cars to the US. VW is closing three of its ten VW plants in Germany. Even though Germany has dropped its tariffs on US auto imports the number of exports to Germany will likely not increase since they still have a 19% value added tax (VAT). All European countries have a VAT and until that is resolved exports to Europe will not increase. One of the main reasons to introduce tariffs is to reduce the $1.2 trillion trade deficit. This is accomplished by having foreign companies produce more of the exports here in the US. This avoids the tariffs. Under the new plan the tariffs on import of cars to the US will increase from 2.5% to 15%.

Gas exports

US natural gas exports have doubled since 2018 and most of the increase is going to Europe which stopped buying gas from Russian when the Ukraine War started on Feb 2022. Since 2016 the US has built 8 natural gas export facilities with 8 new sites under construction and a dozen more have receive approval. The US is the worlds largest natural gas exporter and that will double in the next three years. In 2024 these exports contribute $50 billion to the US GDP and support 222,000 good paying jobs. During these years the cost of heating the average US home using natural gas has remained steady at $600 per year. The increase in natural gas production was largely due to fracking for oil. Natural gas is the cleanest of all fossil fuels and using this for transportation would reduce CO2 emissions by 30%. This would reduce US CO2 emissions to 1960 levels when the population was 180 million vs today’s 330 million.

Tariff imbalance

Japan has made a decision to align with the US on economics. They are a country with deep respect for their elders and find themselves with too many old people and not enough young people. The birthrate needed to maintain the population is 2.1 births per woman and Japan is stuck at 1.2 and dropping. Their solution is to manufacture and sell products in other countries, particularly in the US, then return the profits home to care for the elderly. These changes will help reduce the trade imbalance with Japan which is currently $68 billion. South Korea is another country facing the same problems and their trade imbalance is $66 billion. South Korea has a 10% tariff and a 15% VAT while the US had a 2.5% tariff on some goods from South Korea. Trump is using the same strategy on South Korea that he used on Japan. He is proposing a 25% tax to start the negotiations. Other countries are on the list for tariff negotiations. This is the situation that the US has faced for many years resulting in a $1.2 trillion dollar trade imbalance.

Hard sell

The big beautiful tax bill renewed the Trump tax bill of 2017. A family of four earning $80,000 in 2016 paid $4,752 in federal income tax. After the tax reduction bill the same family paid $2,229 for a savings of $2,523 per year. The savings for wealthy families was more as it is the case when you have a progressive tax system. If this bill had not passed this tax savings would have disappeared as everything would have reverted back to pre-2017 times. This bill is unpopular and the job of the republicans was to go back home and sell the bill. This will be tough because the town hall questions will be about Epstein and the Obama interference in the 2016 election. On the other side the democrats instead of talking to their constituents about their plans to improve the economy by redistribution they will be getting questions about how they plan to go after Trump. Even if they could get past their Trump bashing, they would still be bogged down by woke stuff. The republicans have the easiest task. They could just release all the info on Epstein and forget about the 2016 election. The democrats have a harder sell since they have too many people who are tangled up in unpopular cultural issues. They have to go back to their basics of taxing the rich and offering benefits to the non-rich.

Japan trade

Japan produced 9 million cars in 2024 and sold 4.4 million in Japan and exported 4.6 million but only 1.4 million to the US. Japanese companies produced 2.8 million cars in US facilities. This will likely increase to avoid the new 15% tariffs imposed in Trump’s latest deal. He threatened 25% but reduced to 15% to seal the deal. Japan will invest $500 billion in the US to build cars here to avoid the 15% tax. They also agreed to open their markets to a wide range of US products including cars.

Gain

Trump is considering removing the capital gains tax on the sale of your personal residence and a second home. The current limit before taxing is $500,000 for a married couple. This change would only help the rich since the average couple would not have more than a $500,000 gain.

Fairness Act

On January 5, 2025, just before he left office, President Biden signed into law the Social Security Fairness Act. This was a bi partisan bill with the house voting 327-75 and the senate 76-20. Prior to this time people who received both a government pension and social security had their benefits reduced but that is no longer the case. The bill was made effective back to Jan 2024. It will cost $20 billion per year for the 3 million effected or $6,700 each. This is one step toward reducing the income gap. Two groups will be most affected. Teachers in states like Illinois who did not participate in social security and federal government employees hired before 1987. Since 1987 all government employees no longer participated in Civil Service, which was a defined benefit plan, and were required to join The Federal Employees Retirement Plan, a 401K type plan. The new law affects two parts. The windfall elimination provision (WEP) and the government pension offset (GPO) Example. Jane worked 30 years under civil service and was not covered by social security. She also worked ten years in the private sector covered by SS. Her civil service pension is $3,000 per month and she is eligible for $900 from SS. Under current law the WEP would reduce her SS from $900 to $500 and no spousal benefit because of the GPO. Under the new law she gets the full $900 from SS and becomes eligible for a spousal benefit of $2,000. Total SS she receives is $2,900. This will increase her SS benefit by $2,400 ($2,900 minus $500). The spousal benefit is the 75% of her husband’s SS which in this example was $3,000 per month

Webb

As the globalist system is exposed, one of the leading antagonists is a 33-year-old woman who looks 15 named Whitney Webb. She does her work by researching public records and only publishes what are considered facts and she lists her sources. She has an uncanny ability to remember names, places and events and puts them all together in book form. She connects the dots in a manner that allows for the reader to grasp complex arrangements between seemingly unconnected groups. By merely organizing different factors she can draw a clear picture of how things come together. She recently finished a two-volume book of 1,000 pages just on the Epstein case. The book is filled with factual information but impossible to read. The connections to various people and other entities are so vast the reader cannot keep up with all the participants. This full story will likely never be understood, so news people will take parts, mostly out of context, and push their agendas and has normally is the case, the readers will seek out what they want to believe.

Downs Syndrome

Early detection of Downs Syndrome is considered by many as the canary in the mine. Currently two/thirds of Downs babies are aborted in Western countries and in Demark the number is 100%. The list of other diseases that can be determined in vitro is growing with names like Cystic fibrosis, Tay-Sachs disease, Sickle cell anemia and Huntington’s disease leading the pact. In today’s world 85% of abortions are for non-medical reasons but as technology of in vitro testing improves health reasons may compete with economic reasons. In 1932, author Aldous Huxley wrote a book entitled “Brave New World” where citizens are environmentally engineered into an intelligence-based society hierarchy. The novel predicts scientific advancements in reproductive technology which will allow abortions to advance society. Many books were written during this time offering suggestions on how men could become like gods by weeding out the weak to promote a better life for all. The latest move in this direction is assisted suicide.

WEF

The World Economic Forum (WEF) meets once per year in Davos Switzerland. Participants include around 3,000 leaders from over 130 countries, featuring more than 350 governmental leaders and numerous business executives. Notable attendees will include heads of state and influential figures from various sectors. Here is their stated purpose We bring together government, businesses and civil society to improve the state of the world. These people promote global programs such as the United Nations and its sub groups like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) also known as the World Court. The use of the word world explains who and what these people represent. It can best be seen in action under the guise of Globalism which for fifty years has transferred wealth from the working people to the upper income groups. Many countries are moving toward nationalism and away from globalism and this is upsetting to those who attend Davos. In the last meeting Trump sent a video speech to the group where he announced Trump says will always put America first at Davos forum This is the antithesis of globalism.

World power

The many layers of the Epstein case represent a history of modern America. At the top is the sexual predator who provided young girls and woman for exclusive clients. Rich men can always get women but they need some place safe away from the press. The next layer threatens the first layer in that the identities of these men might become known. Closely following is the involvement of various intelligence agencies in the US and around the world, most notably Israel. Finally at the deepest level is the globalist. These are the billionaires who promoted world government with them at the controls. It is at this level where the rubber meets the road. Exposing the illegal activities of these oligarchs, would be the start of attacking the wealth and income inequality problem. These people were wounded when globalization came to an end and the people in Davos lost power but this is just the beginning. The only chance that the little people have in challenging this powerhouse is by way of independent media. It starts with the young people who get their information from pods and ignore the legacy media. On the other side are the billionaires of industry and Silicon Valley, the bureaucrats, the news media both TV and print and educators. The press will concentrate on the sex hoping that will take off the pressure to protect the globalist. If these people are exposed the country will feel that justice has prevailed and those running the world will be spared. One other way to help the people can be found in the current emphasis on nationalism. If each country starts to act independently it will thwart the plans of the globalist who want world wide control.

Capital cost

Now that 95% of the baby boomers have retired, the push for wind and solar has diminished and fossil fuels are a better option. People in their fifties and early sixties are at their highest earnings and have lots of cash to invest for retirement. This means lots of capital available for investment. After retirement they go conservative with their money and move into bonds, real estate and cash. Wind and solar use most of their cost in the building of the project and long-term cost are very low. (sun and wind are free). Gas and coal plant require only 15% of their cost up front for construction but long-term cost pay for the operation. (coal and gas are not free). The cost of capital today is 31% higher than just five years ago and thus is giving the edge to fossil fuels. This also effects nuclear power since most of its cost is up front unless the government moves some of its incentive funds away from solar and to nuclear. Interest rates will only come down if productivity goes up. New more efficient manufacturing facilities along with the new technology promised by AI could do the job.

Ten years of Trump

In looking back over the past ten years of Trump, people often ask how he was able to succeed. To the silent majority he represented someone who was opposed to the bureaucracy. His early pledge to drain the swamp caught the attention of all the people who had watched their good paying jobs disappear and the bureaucrats who fostered the changes. First off, he was not a part of the swamp but also behaved in a manor which proved he was not a politician. There were at least a dozen occasions where his remarks were supposed to be his doom but each time he was knocked down, he got back up. The more politically incorrect he became the more he gained in popularity in the working class, those who had watched elected officials do nothing while they lost their jobs. His unorthodox behavior and irreverent speech, connected with the working folks. To this day the educated White liberals do not understand what hit them. They are not interested in explaining policy only in bad mouthing Trump. If forced into a corner they will respond by saying they stand for redistribution of the wealth.

ATC

Most agree that the job of air traffic controller (ATC) is stressful and so steps are taken in their schedule to reduce stress. They work 90 to 120 minutes and then take a mandatory 30-minute break. They also get two 15-minute breaks and a 30-minute lunch break. The shift can be up to 10 hours long when the break times are included and they must have at least 9 hours between shifts. There is a mandatory retirement age of 56. They are eligible for retirement at age 50 with 20 years of service and average retirement is $40,000 and extra is granted until social security kicks in at age 62. The average pay is $138,000. There has been an ongoing shortage of ATC for years and the government is expediting the hiring process by raising starting salaries and streamlining the application process. They are also offering bonuses for those who delay retirement. The training is mostly on the job and can last three to five years. $12 billion was set aside in the big new bill to train people and to upgrade systems.

Medicaid v Obamacare

Obamacare has been around for 15 years and there is some confusion as to how it relates with Medicaid. Medicaid was started in 1965 and designed to provide medical care to low-income people, disabled people and adults with children. It did not include adults without children. It was for people whose income was below the poverty level. Obamacare was a new program that was not connected to Medicaid but did change some of the rules of Medicaid. First off it increased the income level for qualification to 138% of the poverty level. Second it included adults without children. These changes opened the door for 13 million to join Medicaid. Medicaid is free for those earning less than 150% of the poverty level. Obamacare can be free but most pay a monthly premium plus an annual deductible. Those who sign up for the Silver Plan are eligible for subsidies to lower their cost. The average person on the Silver Plan pays $50 per month and has $500 annual deductible. Both Medicaid and Obamacare must cover preexisting conditions. If you find out today that you have cancer you can sign up and you will be insured the first day of next month. This is the antitheses of the insurance principal. As a result there are many young single people, who do not sign up for Obamacare but prefer to wait until they need the service.

Compassion

It’s not unusual for people to become more conservative as they age. It is said that if you are not liberal when you are young, then you don’t have a heart and if you are not conservative when you are old, you don’t have a brain. Any honest liberal is motivated by good intentions which is directed by empathy and compassion. Sometimes they are pejoratively referred to as do gooders or bleeding hearts. The down side is that all too often the law of unintended consequence creeps in and what was a good idea turns into a problem. In politics this kind of attitude is depicted in the phrase tax and spend liberal. The goal is to develop a meaningful safety net to help those truly in need. When this is put into practice another side of the equation appears. It seems if government largess is used to help someone it can lead to dependency on public assistance. This is where the plot thickens. All to quickly, those in charge of tax and spend, discover that they have the power to decide who gets what and when and people with power want to keep it. Elected officials want more than anything to get reelected. Thus, a circle is completed when those who receive the benefits ensure the continuation by voting for those who provide the benefits. Instead of concentrated on handing out benefits their time could be more productively spent by finding good paying jobs where people would no longer need the benefits. However, if the people no longer need the benefits, they may no longer be dependent on those who distribute the goodies. Many times compassion is used to cover up an agenda that has little to do with helping others and a lot to do with helping one self.

Threats

As the information about former President Biden’s cognitive decline continues to dribble out, the failure of the press comes to the forefront. Democratic leaders, donors and other backers had an incentive to cover up his decline but what was the reason why the press remained silent. One explanation was, that Trump was a threat to democracy and all means should be used to prevent him from becoming president. In other words, the press gave up on its responsibility to report the truth about Biden and chose instead to take on an agenda designed to prevent Trump from winning. Will this now remain as the position the press takes. Will they decide to sway the voters by using misinformation or withholding information. Will they justify their behavior by claiming threats to democracy?

Deporting migrants

The controversy surrounding the migrant problem is not new. Here are remarks from previous presidents. Bush 43 This Nation is a nation of laws. And we're going to enforce our laws. That's what the American people expect. Bill Clinton The solution is to welcome legal immigrants and legal, legitimate refugees and to turn away those who do not obey the laws. We must say no to illegal immigration so we can continue to say yes to legal immigration. Obama Undocumented workers broke our immigration laws, and I believe that they must be held accountable He then proceeded to deport 3 million most of whom never were adjudicated. Most people understood that no effective border laws would work until the border was secured. Now that has happened and if politics were not in the way, the plan would be to deport those who are criminals, then the 1.2 million who have been judged not to be eligible for asylum. Those that remain could then be evaluated and a road to citizenship developed. Local governments often times have criminals already incarcerated and could turn these over to ICE but instead they release them into the general population, which causes non criminals to be rounded up. Most people are aware that the path to citizenship could not be developed until the border was secure. Now that has happened and many do not want these migrants deported. This is a change from the days of Bush.

EU tariffs

Prior to Trump coming to office any products exported to the (EU) European Union paid a ten percent import tax and a 20% (VAT) value added tax. How much did a $50,000 America made car cost when exported to the EU? Example Calculation (assuming $2,000 in shipping costs): Car Value: $50,000 Import Duty (10%): $5,000 Shipping Costs: $2,000 Total for VAT calculation: $50,000 + $5,000 + $2,000 = $57,000 VAT (19%): $57,000 * 19% = $10,830 Total estimated import costs (excluding shipping): $5,000 (duty) + $10,830 (VAT) = $15,830 A $50,000 car made in the EU cost 2.5% to import to the US A $50,000 car made in the US cost the European customer $65,830 while $50,000 car made in the EU cost the US customer $51,250. In 2015, the EU exported approximately 1,155,488 passenger cars to the United States and the US sent 90,000 cars to the EU. In 2015, the United States had a trade deficit of $153.3 billion with the European Union. Much of this was with cars.

Cost of home

The news today is filled with reports that young people cannot afford to be a first-time home buyer because the mortgage rates are too high. Today the rates run 6 to 7% Home mortgage rates stayed above 7.5% from 1970 to 2000 with a high of 18%. The parents of many of these young people recall paying 10% or higher for loans. The problem is not the interest rate but the cost of homes. In 1970 the average home cost $24,000 and today the cost is $420,000. This is an increase of 5% per year. Meanwhile the average wage in 1970 was $10,000 and today is $78,000 which is an increase of 3.75%. Wages have not kept up with the cost of housing or the inflation rate for the past 50 years. This is why the low- and middle-income groups have suffered and the main reason for this is the loss of manufacturing jobs. During this time the top one percent saw their income rise by 7%. The globalization that occurred during this time, was beneficial to the rich, as corporations made huge profits by producing cheap products overseas, at the expense of good jobs in the US. Politicians in both parties ignored the working people during these years.

Epstein

A good metaphor for the Jeffrey Epstein case is where there is smoke there’s fire but in a twisted sort of way. The smoke is the sex trafficking but the fire is espionage. The titillating part is always the sex but behind that, is the working arrangements between governments and criminals. This goes back to WW 2 where the FBI cooperated with the Mafia to uncover German spies. Agencies like the CIA, the British MI 5 and the Mossad are involved in illegal activities that they want to remain quiet. J Egar Hoover was the master at this. He kept secrets on people so that he could control their behavior. Just two years ago Senator Schumer said, “Let me tell you, you take on the intelligence community, they have six ways from Sunday of getting back at you”. Even US senators know their place.

The new way of learning

For about the last 50 years US schools have been in decline. This is demonstrated by the reading and writing skills, where twelfth grader students are at eighth grade levels. The search for the solution to these problems has abruptly come to an end with AI. Here is a report from a student. I was asked to write a 300 word essay on Beethoven’s Fifth and instructed the Chat GPT to do just that. When the essay was complete, I rewrote the first two paragraphs using my style and then instructed Chat to review what I had written and rewrite the rest of the essay using my style. While students still have to learn how to read, they can let AI do the writing. When it comes to math students no longer have to learn the old fashion way, they can use calculators to solve most everyday problems, such as interest rates and time value of money. It is mindful of a pill one can take to immediately play the piano instead of spending years practicing. I would gladly take such a pill. Will I receive the same satisfaction from playing as someone who learned the old way? Don’t know the answer to that but don’t care as long as I can play the piano.

Apple

Shortly after China joined the WTO in 2021, Apple began making its new iphones in China. The Chinese offered free land, tax breaks and cheap labor. As time passed Apple invested more than one trillion dollars in China but they were not business partners they were held hostage. China could at any time take away Apple’s export license and put them out of business. Apple realized they were in an untenable position and needed a way out and along comes Trump, who threatened to put high import taxes on products from China. As Apple begins shifting iphone production to India and Vietnam, it is spending $500 billion on new manufacturing facilities in the US. China responded by placing export restrictions on Apple but the die is cast. Apple will, over time, decouple from China and many other companies are doing the same.

Democrats

Back in the 50’s the democratic party was composed of different groups including organized labor, ethnic minorities, Catholics, Jews and educators. These were considered working people. It was FDR who started the ball rolling with the New Deal toward protecting these working groups and LBJ continued with the Great Society. This was an effective strategy and the democrats controlled the congress for 65 years from 1930 until 1995 and the senate for most of those years. Things began to change over the past 30 years and that change accelerated in the Trump era. The democrats with all their power moved too far left especially with cultural issues and the working groups moved toward the conservatives. Today the democratic party is trying to move back toward the center with policies but the far left is holding on to power using emotional issues. Instead of concentrating on economic issues the left is swallowed up with anti-Trump feelings. He is a dictator who will end democracy. He is a racist, homophobic, xenophobic man who hates women. The new leaders like AOC and Mamdani are all about emotion and very little about policy. This anti-Trump policy was tried and 2024 and failed but the hangers on are still in control. If this continues the party will stand for nothing when Trump leaves office. Some new leader who is offering policy changes to help the working people must step forward. The old standby of income redistribution will be a good start but it cannot be bogged down with cultural issues.

Benefits

The income gap in the US is far too wide and getting wider. Most of the discussion revolves around increasing taxes on the rich and increasing public assistance on the poor. Another possibility is to look at the situation from the standpoint of a working person. Take the case of a single mom with two kids working full time at Walmart. Her wage is $18 per hour plus benefits. As head of household, she qualifies for $4,500 earned income tax credit, $4,500 child tax credit and $3,000 childcare credit. Her total income is $50,000. If her salary were $25 per hour instead of $18, she could pay for all these benefits without having to rely on public assistance. She owes no income tax but does pay $3,800 in payroll tax. The government could pass a law exempting the first $50,000 from payroll tax and she would have $50,000 take home pay. In this way she understands that she is paying her own way and not dependent on government aid.

Remembrance

Today marks two years since Eunice died. At first things were cloudy and the words of a song drifted through my mind. The house is quiet since you left me, there’s no love within its walls, only the lonesome sound of empty into the silence falls, other men can lose a lover, bounce back like a rubber ball, I’m just not like those others, I’m just not coping well at all. The following spring, I went back to work as a sub but an eye problem caused me to resign in the fall. Then I remembered a line from the movie, Shawshank Redemption, where the man said, you either get busy living or get busy dying so I joined a book club. Next, I joined a group where people had lost a spouse and then a group where people had spouses with dementia. Next a group of grandpas who meet every day for coffee and then I started going to the nursing home. I told the residence that I needed their help to get past my empty house. I go to my daughter’s house for Sunday brunch. I now realize that God was watching over me in those last years and how He is guiding me today. I guess you might say, that I have decided to get busy living.

Free stuff

The NYC mayoral candidate Mamdani has pointed out the wide income and wealth gap and suggested that no one needs more than one billion dollars per year. While his complaint about inequality is valid his solution is not the panacea that he portrays. In NYC there are 123 billionaires with a total worth of $759 billion. If you took all of that money and gave it equally to the 8.25 million residents of NYC, they would each get $82,300. Understand this is not just their income it is their total worth. Then want would you do next year. Everyone is aware of the wealth gap but the fact is there are always too few rich and too many poor to just evenly divvy up the cash. This kind of talk while not effectively solving the problem sounds great on the campaign stump speech. The math doesn’t work out but it gives the impression that something is being done to help the poor at the expense of the rich. Mamdani has offered many benefits and when asked how he would pay for them, his pat answer is tax the rich. This is the standard approach when pushing socialism. It has been tried many times but always fell short of the promises. Like Margaret Thatcher said, socialism works well until you run out of the other guy’s money. Or more clearly as stated in Orwell’s book Animal Farm when he says, everyone is equal but some are more equal. Beware of Greeks bearing gifts.

Jews

In the news yesterday Trump was criticized for using the term shylock. This is considered antisemitic based on the character in a Shakespear play who loaned money at interest. For most of the history of Christianity, led by the Roman Catholic Church, lending money at interest was forbidden. Jews were allowed to charge interest on money loaned to non-Jews. During the first 1,500 hundred years of Christianity most people were illiterate with the priest being the exception. The Jews, on the other hand, taught their sons to read and write. As the only members of the community who were literate and could lend money at interest, it was not unexpected that the Jews would become bankers. This led to jealousy among the general public toward the Jews, much of which is alive and well today.

Free press

There are many examples of how the press has drifted from its primary goal as watch dog but there is one area where it has been doing an outstanding job and that is its attention to Trump. The press is often criticized for its attacks on Trump but that is because they have singled out this president. If they maintained this kind of scrutiny on all presidents the press would be seen as performing their obligation and not as biased. There have been too many examples of pushing an agenda as opposed to just informing the public. For this reason, the press has lost credibility. Polls show that trust in the media is at an all-time low of 31%. While most Americans recognize the importance of a free press to society, there are also worries about bias and the spread of misinformation.

Social security tax

The big new bill has a tax savings provision for retirees over age 65. Under the present law a couple with $24,000 social security on the husband and $12,000 on the wife plus $32,000 of taxable pension income will have $8,000 in taxable income. Under the new big bill, the taxable income will be reduced to $2,000. This is a help for low- and middle-income people but it is phased out for those with higher incomes.

Taxes

The US has the most progressive income tax in the world. Progressive meaning as you earn more the percent in tax you pay increases. For example. A single person earning $50,000 gross will pay $3,871 in federal income tax. A single person earning $500,000 per year will pay $144,546 in federal tax. The income is ten times higher but the tax is 38 times higher. Under the new big bill, a family of four could earn $78,000 and pay zero income tax. About half of the workers pay no income tax but they do pay payroll tax (social security and Medicare)

National debt

The pending passage of the big new bill has once again brought the debt into focus. The democrats spend a lot of time pointing out how the bill will increase the debt, already at $37 trillion. When the democrats spend money, the republicans complain vociferously and predict the end of the world. Any casual observer, quickly comes to the conclusion, that neither party is really concerned about the debt, because they both use deficit spending to get votes, which is far more important than the national debt. No individual or group wants to lose their tax advantage. Businesses love accelerated depreciation, home owners love interest deductions, poor people love the safety net and rich people love off shore accounts. It all comes down to the old adage, don’t tax you and don’t tax me, tax the man behind the tree. People don’t have the maturity to give up their tax breaks and elected officials don’t have the courage to ask them to. The only reasonable way to lower the debt, is to reverse the process that created the debt and this is to limit future spending, to slightly less than the annual inflation rate. In 75 years or so the debt will be paid. Can this be done, yes. Will this be done, not likely.

NYC Election

The recent vote for mayor in NYC confirmed the electorate split as seen in the 2024 presidential race. Zohran Mamdani received strong support from White college educated people, especially women and Asians while he lost the support of Blacks, Latinos and working people. His promises of free stuff for poor and middle-income people did not result in votes. This is called the Trump effect by some but others say it is the result of backlash against Palestinian protesters as only 20% of Jews voted for Mamdani. Others were concerned about his antipolice rhetoric along with his weak on crime policy. Mamdani won the votes of higher income people many of whom voted in a low turnout election.

Health cost

The cost of Medicare Part B is $180 per month. This is up from the $3 per month cost when Medicare started in 1966. This is an annual increase of 7% while the inflation rate during this time period was only 4%. In 1966 Medicare total cost was $3 billion and last year it was $1.15 trillion or annual increase of 10% per year. Obamacare cost $78 billion per year when it started in 2010 and last year the cost was $1.6 trillion or an average increase of 14% per year during a time when inflation increased only 2.5%. These are the reasons why it is necessary to make substantial changes in healthcare cost but no elected officials want to tackle the problem.

Insurance

One of the main concerns with the new big bill is health insurance under Medicaid. The old Medicaid did not cover adults without children but when Obamacare came in this was changed and adults without children qualified like others based on income. There are about 11 million people in this group and under the new bill they will be required to work 80 hours per month in order to maintain their Medicaid coverage. This work could include community service, going to school or engaging in a work program. Many people will opt not to go to work since Obamacare allows for coverage with pre-existing conditions. This means a person can sign up after they have a health problem and get coverage the first day of the following month. This is antithetical to insurance since it allows coverage after the event. A person is diagnosed with cancer on July 15th and they sign up for insurance and they are covered August first. When Obamacare first started in 2010 people who chose not to sign up were penalized and had to pay a penalty of 2.5% of their income when they filed their taxes. This was so unpopular that it was dropped in 2018. Today there are about 26 million people who do not have insurance but could get it if they wanted.

Loans

So far, the Trump administration has deported 200,000 illegal migrants Despite failing to deliver his promise for broad student loan forgiveness, President Joe Biden has now overseen the cancellation of student loans for more than 5 million Americans — more than any other president in U.S. history. Biden v. Nebraska: In 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision, struck down the Biden administration's earlier student loan forgiveness plan, citing an overreach of executive authority and lack of clear congressional authorization. These students will not have to back this $175 billion. Presidents have used executive power for decisions that were later called illegal by the Supreme Court but there is no going back so the president wins.

Wealthy

The new mayoral candidate in NYC says there should be no billionaires. As of late 2024, 813 U.S. billionaires held a combined wealth of $6.72 trillion. There are 150 million working families in the US and if this money were confiscated by the government and given to the working families, they would each get $45,000. While this would be a banner year for these families what happens next. It is like Margaret Thatcher said, socialism is great until you run out of the other guy’s money. Throughout history the concept of redistribution has been a theme of governments and each, including present day USA, has developed various means to equalize income and wealth. The wealth distribution in today’s USA is too large and some measures must be taken but just grabbing the assets from the rich is not the way to go. Increasing income tax rates and providing benefits for low-income people would be more acceptable. Using things like surtax and child tax credits would be a more balanced approach.

Income gap

Wealth and income inequality in the US is increasing and many feel this must change. Several approaches at attacking the wealth problem have come and gone because they are too difficult to calculate but income is a different story. The new NYC mayor candidate has proposed a surtax on income. This is easy to calculate and enforce. He is recommending 2% surtax on all income over one million. Massachusetts enacted a similar plan in 2023 using four percent. This kind of tax could be used to slow the growth in the income gap. It could be raised year by year until the gap stops increasing. Between 2020 and 2022, the number of tax returns in the U.S. with a gross adjusted income of at least $1 million increased by about 30%.

Callifornia

California has a state budget of $321 billion and a $73 billion deficit. Texas has a $338 billion budget and a $24 billion surplus California has a top state income tax rate of 12.3 while Texas has no state income tax California has a 7.15% state sales tax and Texas is at 6.5%. California gets 50% of its budget from the federal government and Texas gets 38% California’s population has been declining since 2021 while Texas has added more people than any state. Last year the population increased by 563,000. One of the main reasons for this discrepancy is that California relies heavily on income tax from very rich people, mostly in Silicon Valley, while Texas has a more diverse economy and relies more on sales tax. Adding to the problem is California’s $1.5 trillion pension debt obligations vs Texas with only $86 billion.