Child deaths

Nine high schools in our area are going to 100 percent distance learning. This does not include K to 8 students. These young people will not go home and infect their grandma with the virus like the high school students will do. In addition it tells us that elementary teachers are expendable. This is just one more example of the inconsistencies in how the virus is handled. The emphasis has to be on the elderly. The nursing homes, eldercare facilities, hospital, clinics and all places where older people are found. Only 60 people under the age of 18 have died from the virus and many of those had underlying conditions. There are 75 million people under age 18.

Obamacare today

This is an excerpt from an article I wrote in 2014 and it is even more relevant today. As I talk with people about Obamacare, I get the same questions from different groups and by these questions I can see that there is a lot of misunderstanding and one area that needs addition explanation is deductibles. In researching this I find that 90% of articles talk only about premium cost and it is very difficult to find information on deductibles. I don’t know if that is done out of ignorance or by design but it is a topic that needs more discussion. Here is a report for the coming year. For the 2021 plan year: The out-of-pocket limit for a Marketplace plan can't be more than $8,550 for an individual and $17,100 for a family. For the lowest income groups this can be $2,700 for individuals and $5,400 for families. This does not include the cost of the monthly premium which can be reduced by subsidies. The point is that most people will have to pay out of pocket for most of their healthcare.

Expert

So often the experts say the reason the Dow went down is because the investors dislike uncertainty. Having a presidential election results tied up in controversy can be unsettling but the Dow has gone up 2,000 points since the election. So much for the experts. My favorite definition of expert is a man who knows more and more about less and less until he finally knows everything about nothing.

Amazing Trump

Trump is one amazing individual. For those who have never read Theodore Roosevelt's, "Man In The Arena", now is the time. https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/manvotional-the-man-in-the-arena-by-theodore-roosevelt/ Trump went up against the democratic party, the establishment bureaucrats, Silicon Valley, Hollywood, Social Media giants, the republican never trumpers, Wall Street, Big Pharma and the national press and just about pulled it off. The press coverage amounted to four years of character assassination with 92% negative stories. Very little was said about his policies and it was mostly about his personality. Many feel that it was the pandemic that made the difference. Trump has changed the politics of the country. The republicans now represent the blue collar working people. Trump increased his share of minority voters over the 2016 election. It appears we will have a Biden Presidency carrying out the Trump agenda. The real loser in this election was the national press. Their decision to pick a side will hurt their credibility for some time.

Election results

If the election results hold up it will be a win for the American people because it represents compromise. The democrats lose a few seats but keep the house, the republicans lose a seat and keep the senate and Biden wins a narrow victory. This means no new taxes, no green deal, no amnesty for illegals, no open borders, no second virus stimulus, no wealth tax, no impeachments, no Medicare for all, no free college, no change in Roe even though abortion disproportionately effects Blacks in a negative way and no riots in the streets. It means bringing home jobs from China especially those regarding medical supplies, a possible infrastructure bill, a press that concentrates on policies instead of ranting about personalities, a stock market that continues a slow but steady rise, a willingness to open the economy, continued energy independence with fracking and free trade with fair or no tariffs. Biden knows that China cannot be trusted and will not sign the TPP. He understands that climate change will fade into the background with a democrat in the White House. He knows that replacing fossil fuels with wind and solar is not possible with current technology so the Paris Agreement makes no sense. In the Middle East he will follow the plan to by-pass Palestine and organize the other Arab countries to work with Israel so there is no need to make an agreement with Iran. The downside is that spending $7 trillion on the virus may trigger inflation which will cause interest rates to rise and servicing the debt may harm economic growth.

Lawyers

Three fourths of the members of congress are lawyers, all in the judicial are lawyers and now it appears that lawyers will decide the election and they fight things out in the court. Everyone should sleep easy tonight knowing that these well educated intellectuals are taking care of us.

Corp taxes

The stock market has always been a mystery to me and this was reinforced by an expert who was on Fox Business this AM. He said the run up yesterday was because the market is expecting a Biden victory. The news people pointed out that Biden plans to bring back the regulations that Trump has canceled and that Biden plans to raise the corporate tax from 21% to 28%.