Business

In today's world many businesses realize that they must be good citizens to succeed. Doing well by doing good is the mantra. All profits are not equal, those that carry a social benefit are better. A social benefit can be achieved in a number of ways. One approach is for business to donate to worthy causes. Another is to make products that are environmentally safe. Another may set up an employee profit sharing plan. One of the most productive is to share profits by taking care of employees the same way they take care of customers. Many companies reinvest profits to grow the company and to start new business. While government can provide benefits in the form of public assistance, businesses can provide jobs. Most people prefer paying their own way over living off of public aid and for this reason government should support business.

Tesla

Large corporations are usually valued in one of two ways. The first is called book value and basically represents the value of the companies assets, things like plants and equipment. Added to that is what is called Blue Sky which is the reputation the company has in the eyes of the public. The second is the stock value. Tesla's current stock price is $700 per share but its book value is $17 per share. The difference represents the belief that people have in Elon Musk and that Tesla will sell many more cars in the future. Tesla delivered 360,000 cars in 2019 out of 17 million sold.

The Press

When the founding fathers finished the constitution they were not satisfied. They felt the citizens needed further protection against an intrusive government and so they added the first ten amendments which became known as the Bill of Rights. They led off with the first amendment that included freedom of the press. The press was to seek out and report the news and for the most part has done a good job but that changed with Trump. Over the past four years the press changed from reporting the news to becoming advocacy groups. Data shows 92% negative reporting on a president for whom half of the country voted. On many instances they were not only negative against Trump but included those who voted for Trump. This led citizens who voted against Trump to criticize those who voted for Trump. Friends turned against friends and families against families. Most of the criticism was about personality and very little about policy. If the press had stayed on policy they would not have drifted so far away from their purpose but they chose personality and some say that was to get ratings. For half of the country the press cannot be trusted. Trump knew the press was against him from the start and fought back but it only made things worse. They saw him as a joke and predicted first he would never run and second he would never win. The Huffington Post said they would put Trump in the entertainment section. The day Trump was inaugurated some in the press announced that the campaign to impeach was underway. They made their beds in those early days and then they slept in them for the next four years.

Lies and more lies

Over the past four years the press has complained about Trump lying. Here is a list of his biggest lies as found on the Internet. He has done more for Blacks than any president since Lincoln He has created the best economy in history He said guns minimize mass shootings Muslims were on the roof cheering after the 9/11 attack Mother and doctor will determine what happens in a botched abortion We have signed more legislation than anybody President Obama had a separation policy at the border I won the popular vote if you deduct the illegal voters The tax cut will cost me Biggest inauguration crowd ever Here is a list of Obama lies compiled by the Washington Post More black men are in prison than college Signed the biggest middle class tax cut in history 90% of the budget deficit is due to George Bush policies If you like your healthcare you can keep it The Capital Hill janitors just got a pay cut The day after Benghaze I said it was terrorism I didn't call the Islamic State the JV team Republicans have filibustered 500 pieces of legislation The Keystone pipeline is for oil that bypasses the US We have fired a whole bunch of people at the VA

Power

The big complaint about capitalism is the widening gap in income. The total income of the top one percent is $1.5 trillion. If that were distributed to the remaining 330 million Americans each would get $4,500. That would be $18,000 to a family of four. The question is what would make the people happier, getting the $4,500 or knowing they made things more equal. What is really going on here. The rich spend their money lavishly with their million dollar homes and the best that money can buy but these are the innovators and job creators the people who start new businesses. For many, even if you took their money, they would continue to look for new ways to create new products and services. It is acceptable to lower the income of rich people but more emphasis should be placed on increasing the income of the not so rich. The first requires government to act and the second requires private business to act. The in between solution is to have government act to help business grow and expand. In recent years government and business have partnered to help government and business. The battle lines are drawn. The proletariat vs the elite. The workers rose up in 2016 but they were squashed. Big business, big government, university elites,Wall Street, the political class and bureaucrats were joined by the press to bring back the status quo that existed before Trump. Most people prefer a good job over public assistance but those jobs will be going overseas and thus more will be dependent on government and that is just the way those in power want it.

Electric cars

The US gets 2% of its electric power from solar and 1.7% of cars sold are electric. Since 70% of electric power comes from fossil fuel these electric cars are charging their batteries with power made from burning fossil fuel. The typical electric car takes about 8 hours to charge the battery and in MN winters the distance traveled between charges is cut in half. Electric cars like other modern electrical products require the use of rare earth metals. Many wonder if politicians who have little science background understand the ramifications of replacing fossil fuels. The phrase follow the science is currently in vogue but it seems to be missing in the discussion of climate change.

China virus

In late December Chinese health officials were aware of a new Sars like virus. 27 cases are uncovered but they identify no human to human contact. Chinese health officials are reprimanded for " spreading rumors". In early January news leaks to the Chinese press and the government officially says there is no human to human contact. On January 7 the Chinese government says they knew about the virus from an early date. On January 13 the first case outside of China hits a man in Thailand who had just returned from Wuhan. On January 15 the first US case is confirmed on a man who had just returned from Wuhan. January 23 Wuhan is put on lock down but travelers are still allowed to leave Wuhan and go to other countries around the world. On January 30 the WHO declares a public health emergency after 82 confirmed cases outside of China. China stopped air travel between provinces on January 20th but waited until the end of March to stop travel overseas. The various conspiracies about China's deliberate attempt to cause problems are based on the question, if they thought it was serious enough to stop travel within China in late January, why did they wait until late March to stop travel outside of China.