Wage Growth Is Returning

The average American is finally starting to do good again.   As the following chart ahows in inflation adjusted dollars there was very little wage growth.  since 1964 and most of that, if not all came before 1974.

 We are now seeing wage growth to go with job growth.  Unemployment is low and we are seeing some significant wage growth. Yes, we have some inflation, but despite the doom and gloomers who want you to think things are terrible, most think it is not structural but the result of some temporary factors.

  Some inflation is good for the economy.  We certainly don't want it to go out of control, and we don't want to repeat the stagflation of the 70s where prices went up but wages didn't.

          

Not Terrible News

 When I watch economic analysis on TV or read articles, I wonder how stupid do they think Americans are?  If prices go up for say beef, we will buy more pork and chicken.  I'm aware there was an initial surge in prices as we saw demand return to pre-pandemic levels and supply couldn't keep up, but with the exception of the very poor it was a manageable problem.   I don't see inflation getting much worse, in fact I expect it has probably peaked from my personal observation.  Gasoline and most food has recovered from their highs and while still higher than the pandemic lows, not getting worse.

I guess the statistics will verify or not verify that, and the year over year comparison will remain high.  I am more interested in the month over month which tells you the current state of prices.  

We seem to be in a labor shortage and that might impact demand as wages rise to attract workers.  Increased wages will end up as increased prices. This might be an artificial labore shortage that will end soon, the causes are still being determined.  Even then it can be solved fairly easily once we get past the pan-demic issues.

It might not seem like it but Omicron is the variant we needed to end the Pandemic.  While easily spread it seems to be milder than the others and will help to transition the virus into an endemic disease like the flu.  Since it is so infectious and often apparently very mild it will assure herd immunity.

Yes, it might still be deadly for some, but so is the flu.  The answer is get vaccinated which greatly reduces the risk.  

Tax More or Spend Less?

 If you think about our nation as a shared asset where we all live together, we will simply have to decide what amenities we want and how to pay for them.

We have tapped a lot of equity to maintain our lifestyle and if the interest rate goes up or the loans get unpopular, we are all in trouble.

Ideally, we would have enough income to pay our expenses.  That has not been the case for quite a while and doesn't seem likely any time soon.  Luckily, we have the ability to borrow to make up the difference, but it doesn't seem like a policy that can go on forever.  We are running a Ponzi scheme on our citizens and borrowers, paying them with money we get from future victims.  

The prudent course of action would be to increase revenue and reduce expenditures.

We don't want to do either of those things really, so we simply keep borrowing.

This type of economy is not really capitalism although capitalism is the source of the actual income we get.  I guess the good news is that the government doesn't stick the money in a vault and forget about it.  It circulates and stimulates a lot of economic activity.

Money given to employees and others, such as social security recipients is generally spent rather quickly generating economic activity that benefits us.

So in a state with a large number of federal employees, such as Virginia or a large number of military bases or a large number of Government programs, the payments are a significant source of economic activity.

Other programs, such as Social Security, are also big sources of activity.  

The only money not subsidizing our citizens is money spent overseas. If we slow down the spending we will hurt the economy, fairly significantly in some cases.  So maybe raising revenue is the better answer?

Who Is Getting Subsidized?

 People who don't agree with you have the right to vote just as much as you do.  You may have decided they have views that are wrong and erode your rights, but they still get to vote.

Attempts to stop them from voting either by making it a little harder or throw technical difficulties in their way is really just undemocratic.

Trying to manipulate the system so that some votes count less than others, while an old game, is also undemocratic as well as unfair.  Now, in deciding the future of our country fairness may not be the most important thing, but it does say something about our character.

This country should be making sure every citizen is treated equally.  When Rome was the dominant power during it imperial days, one of the things that generally helped it citizens was just that.  Being a citizen of Rome protected you to some extent.

While Rome had Provinces and we have States, citizens should have equal protection anywhere in this country.  

The allegations of voter fraud are really just a manipulation designed to help one side hold onto power.

Think about some old Westerns where Ranchers tried to prevent sheepherders from having a say, because the sheep made the land unsuitable for ranching.  I gather sheep graze the grass too deep preventing it from recovering.  If you watched those movies and I feel like there were a number. most of us sided with the sheep herders, at least I thought we did.  Maybe we were a nation of Rancher sympathizers?

One of the great fallacies in this nation is that the big cities and immigrants take money from the rest of the country.  It's really the opposite, the cities pay much more in taxes than the rural states. 

Federal Taxes Paid by State vs Received - Are You Giving or Getting? (howmuch.net)

Moving Forward or Reliving the Past?

 The problem we have in this country today is that we don't share common goals.

That is a bit of an overstatement, we generally agree that sick people should be treated, people hurt in natural disasters should be helped, unarmed defenseless people shouldn't be gunned down and everyone should have access to education and employment.

I'm sure we all agree that we don't want the planer to become unhabitable in low lying areas like much of Florida because the Glaciers melted around the world.

What we don't agree on is how to achieve these goals.

I should also point out that too many of us simply only care about themselves and their immediate families.

So while we may agree that sick people should be treated, some feel that this is primarily their own problem.  Help should be provided as a last resort and the fact that it may cost them everything they have to pay for care is just a bad break.

Even if you believe this and feel that those who went to school got good jobs and have health insurance should be protected, what should the others do?  They can't go back in time and redo certain life decisions.  

If you are a Christian, are they the prodigal sons who get feasted once they see the error of their ways? 

Decisions and Leadership

 I know that we tend to reserve resolution for the New Year but it's the day after Christmas, we have an ongoing pandemic and it's Sunday so just seems like a good day to reflect.

We don't live in a perfect world and if we are honest we never had a perfect leader.  It would be impossible to please everyone and be a leader because a leader needs to make decisions and decisions mean there are multiple choices.

In making a decision you have a number of choices or leadership styles.  One is to try to please the people who are nosiest or what I call the squeaky wheel approach.  It might silence the wheel but if it dosn't fix the reason is got squeaky it will just keep happening.  It is probably the easiest approach and can get you some short-term success.  No one likes the squeak so doing something is usual popular.  Of course, uninformed reactions have drawbacks. If you consider the actions we took after 9-11.  Yes, we had some success, but we were involved in 20 years of war and the consequences still trouble us today.

The second choice is to consider the future impact of your decisions and make sure the immediate ones fit.  The problem with that approach is deciding what the future should look like.  This is where true leadership comes into play.  For example, do we want better income equality?  It may seems like of course we do, but some would argue that unbridles greed is the real motivator of progress.  Much of the world's progress is related to the profit motive.  If you take it away will progress stall?  The answer is debatable and just based on what seems like common sense you don't want to totally eliminate it nor should it be unbridled.  Is it OK to be a slum lord or use child labor?  

Teaching that decision is important and selling the rest of us on your views is leadership.

Merry Christmas

 I want to wish everyone who celebrates Christmas a merry and happy day.  I also extend those wishes to everyone whether they celebrate it or not.  

From what I can tell the date is pretty arbitrary, but it is as good a day as any other.  

Happy Holidays to all!

Irreconcilable Differences?

 Let us consider two families.  One is a socially conservative one that believe in "old fashioned" values.  They don't want to be blamed for historical injustice even if they might have ancestors who were complicit, but they didn't own slaves or hang anybody.  They believe that abortion is wrong because a fetus is just an unborn baby.  They don't want their children to be transgender or even homosexual and want them to become the next generation of them.  They like hunting and own some guns which they also use for target practice.  They don't see any reason why the life they grew up in has to change and why their children should be exposed to things they don't agree with.  No one is trying to make them do anything they don't want to although they feel like some are.  

Consider a second family, deeply entrenched in progressive values.  They think all people should be free to decide how they want to live.  Women should decide whether they carry a pregnancy to fruition or not and hey should be medically supported either way.  The Government needs to provide every resident certain basic rights, including life (health insurance) liberty (the right to vote freely) and pursuit of happiness (education and retirement support).  People should be able to realize their potential despite the circumstances of their birth and the accumulated wealth of their parents.  

Of these two who is oppressing who?  Both feel threatened by current events and the divisiveness is growing.  

In some cases, the differences are irreconcilable. If you believe abortion is murder, you simply can't condone it.  Certainly, we have willing parents who desperately want to adopt who can't right now or have to go to foreign countries. It doesn't quire work out that way, in real life, as these might not be the babies they want to adopt.  Further, the mothers lose fundamental rights if we treat them as incubators.  

The solution might be better sex education and more availability of contraceptives, but that might be construed as interference in one's values.  

It becomes more problematic when society and schools teach your children thing you don't agree with.  

I suspect over time it will resolve itself much like issues of the past faded away.  It just is disruptive for a time.  

Being Persistent

 Everybody is aware of the fable about the race between the Tortoise and the Hare.  I suspect most of us consider it unrealistic, and that the Hare would win most of the time.

Certainly, in a simple race it does seem so but I think you have to consider the fable differently, where a winner is not so easily determined.

Think about the phenomena of overnight sensations.  The thing about most of them is that while they got famous overnight, they spent years and years working hard.

The one thing that most winners share is persistence.  Trying and failing over and over again until the one time you succeed is the real moral of that fable.  There is no guarantee of success, but we hear about the ones that succeed and not about the ones that fail.

Being focused and single minded goes a long way toward success.  Being like the Hare and resting on your laurels is not.

With such a long time as a Senator and with his determination, I don't think a single setback is the end of Biden's agenda.

There are already signs of another effort.

It is the theme of many a movie or story where the hero gets battered down and appears defeated until he just doesn't quit and eventually prevails.

Sometimes it's not over when many think it is.

News Reporting

 How do you explain the fact that while the economy is booming, many Americans think it is in trouble?

The only real sign of concern is that gas prices are up from a very low pandemic base and demand had overtaken supply for many items.  

This has resulted in some price increases which are characterized as the highest inflation in 40 years.  That may be statistically true but remembering the condition from 40 years ago that inflation was driven be a lack of supply not too much demand.

Transitioning out of the Vietnam war economy, while switching to a greater import economy led to certain issues which resolved themselves in a few years as Americans found service industry jobs.  Those were the conditions that eventually led to the rust belt.  Probably the biggest indicator was that we had high unemployment to go with our inflation.

We have no real unemployment today and in fact we may have a worker shortage.  Any supply shortages we have are minor issues related to ramping up production to meet quickly rising demand.  

Yet the news shows the supply issues the inflation issues, while reporting on the labor shortages and business changes related to the great resignation.  The impact is that there are problems at every turn.  

If you have ever worked in a business, you know that they are always faced with challenges.  However, running out of a product because you didn't order enough is much different than being stuck with inventory you can't sell. One is going to lose you real money while the first is simply less profits.

We have a free press but to sell in today's market they have to report issues. Not that this is new, it is still news when a man bites a dog, not so much when the dog bites the man.  

We don't have a lot of men biting dogs but the news might make you think we do.

Work for Progress

 One of the conflicts we seem to have in this nation is the conflict between the common good and individual good.  It just sems like we no longer take the common good into account when it conflicts with individual desires.

That is too broad a statement and clearly many still strive for the common good, but the numbers do not lie, we have a large unvaccinated percentage of our population who refuse to get vaccinated or follow guidelines about mask wearing for individual reasons.

Perhaps some of those simply don't believe that these efforts work but what they tend to say in ublic is generally couched in their right to decide what they want to do, not what is best for everybody.

When John F. Kennedy told us to see what we could do for America, not what America could do for us, it resonated with young people.  I'm not sure it would today.

Consider the fact that in a congress facing a number of complex issues as we climb out of the pandemic recession, almost every significant vote is along party lines.  

We will continue to get battered by various problems unless as a people we can work for the common good.  

Level The Field

 I don't know for sure that negotiations on Build Back Better are really dead, some things considered dead are resurrected.     Let's assume that it is dead its a setback but not a catastrophe

To some extent the plan is designed to help with the inequitable distribution of wealth in this country by making certain benefits enjoyed be out better off citizens available to everyone.  

These goals will not vanish, but the delay could be a problem.  Some act like the time table is very limited because of potential losses in the midterms.  

Of course if we can pick up a sear or two in those mid-terms it would robably get the package passed.  Most of the provisions in the package are popular with the public and it might be easier to pass them individually except for the filibuster. 

Providint things like universal pre-K for all will help level the playing field in this country.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

Stupid Is as Stupid Does

 There are certain complaints I see about how Republicans and Trump supporters in particular are viewed as dumb by the "elitist" Democrats.  Considering one of the arguments for voter fraud as even a little valid, that if so many people believe it happened, something must have happened, then since so many of those people believe idiotic things, maybe they are dumb.

Now they may do OK on IQ tests and possibly can do well in schools, although it seems that they are terrible at math, but if you believe something without any evidence at all I have to question your intelligence.

It is not intellectually valid to demand we prove you wrong, you have to make the case.  If you believe voter fraud was rampant provide real proof, not statistical silliness.

Very few examples of voter fraud have been uncovered and most of those seem to involve people who voted for Trump.  Voter registrations are not voter fraud, if someone died and were not immediately taken off the rolls it is inefficiency, not fraud and unless a vote was cast it is not anything to do with voting.

As Forrest Gump's mother noted, "Stupid is as stupid does".  

Our country had a tradition of peaceful transitions of power even in those few instances where the outcome was in doubt.  There was no doubt this time just rhetoric and we saw an insurrection on Jan 6th.

By their deeds you will know them and that was a clear indicator.

Red Pill, Blue Pill

The biggest problem facing the world today is climate change.  It impacts everyone, one way or another, and while some might actually benefit that will be offset by the overall disruption. The problem wit climate change is that it is starting to become noticeable which might be too late for us to stop it.  We had the earlier warnings but too many ignored them, and our system is designed tp get consensus to take action.

Even now we have deniers, although I have to question whether they really don't accept the science or if they simply maintain that position for political reasons.

Perhaps the real biggest danger is the belief that there is no right or wrong just opinions.

The significant issues facing us have a right and a wrong side.  Take Covid.  Protecting yourself and others is the right thing to do.  Gettng vaccinated is the best way to do that.  Potentially you can achieve some of the same results by social distancing and isolation, but there are limits to those. Still, we see many people who won't get vaccinated. Sadly, bad information is being provided to them often by people who are themselves vaccinated.  Why they believe it is because they don't trust the Government or its representatives.

I saw some projections that with the new Omicron variant we may see horrific numbers of hospitalizations and death among the unvaccinated.  Some vaccinated people will die but far fewer.  

Too many Americas refuse to choose the reality pill and prefer to live in a fake world.  Reality has some ugly truths to deal with

Negative Spin?

 What is maybe most disturbing about our country today is the apparent belief many have that opinions matter more than facts.

They don't.  

Facts are what you should base your decisions on.  For example, almost everyone saw the video footage from Jan 6 attack on the Capitol, but we heard how most of the crowd was peaceful demonstrators or the attackers were infiltrators pretending to be Trump supporters.  Neither of these statements is supported by facts but expressed by commentators who express opinions, not facts.

They might sometimes try to make it sound factual but the anecdotal facts they cite generally wouldn't support the views they express.

We have free speech, so they get away with that, but if you believe them, you are not basing your actions on facts.

Even worse is the false opinions you see expressed on social media.  Right now, there is a concerted effort to make things look worse than they are.to sway voters for the next election.  Often there is a small element of truth but sometimes none at all.

Is inflation a real issue?  It is real but our runaway inflation is hardly really runaway.  We are measuring year over year increases where in one year we had a recessed economy because of Covid and in the next year we had a booming economy.  The fact that prices went up almost 7% between those two periods is not a big shocker, but it is real.  

Covid - In Like a Lion, out like ????

 We are seeing the inevitable virus mutations that allow it to survive and thrive.  Evolution is based on the survivors and reproducers, so the longer a variant survives and the more it reproduces the sooner it becomes the most prevalent.

The early versions were quite serious and in the absence of competition spread rapidly.  Hospitalization rate and death rate were fairly high.  Over time we have passed through a series of variants but only a few became prominent.  Delta was the first one that became prevalent.

There is evidence that Delta was not as deadly as the original although it had similar potential.  When a variant can exist in a seemingly healthy individual it can spread rapidly since that person doesn't even realize they are infected.  

As more people got vaccinated, although not enough, a variant, Omicron, appeared which had adopted more ways to infect people.  It is spreading but most indications are that it is much milder than previous variants.

Not that it can't be deadly, people do die from the flu, but it appears that it will more closely resemble that sort of lethality.  

This is of course the predictable outcome since a virus does not have evil intent.  It manly wants to replicate itself as much as possible.  When it kills a host quickly replication ends.

I imagine it will evolve into a flu like illness that develops new variants each year.  

If You Are Woke and Angry,, Take a Nap!

One of the things that has changed a lot in my lifetime is the attitudes of young people.  Now this might go back to the old boomer saying, don't trust anyone over 30, but very few took that seriously.

For most of my life we lived in what was referred to as a youth culture.  Appealing to young consumers was a pretty surefire path to success.  Youth culture was an important element of consumer industries as the years went by.  It was reflected in our music, our entertainment and our fashion.

We had some significant cultural divides between young and old, in relation to things like gay marriage, civil rights, and other issues.  

What inevitably happens is the young become less young and the rebelliousness lessens.  The values you embrace become mainstream or you embrace mainstream values, and you are rebelling against yourself.

Maybe I'm just turning into an old fogey but some of the things that are issues now just seem ridiculous.  This pick your own pronoun is just silly.  I support every persons right to live the life they want and love whoever they want, but if they look like a male, I will probably use he, him.  If they prefer something like "they" either wear a sign of except the one I use.  

It just isn't much of an issue as I see it.  Also, this inquisitional world using social media to find old mistakes and act like they are relevant is absurd.  We have replaced Jesuits with trolls and burning at the stake with cancel culture.  The motivation seems to be to get a viral post and I gather that can pay off.  

It is probably the golden age of that now since many prominent people of today did not consider the consequences of social media 20 years ago.  When I think back to my high school and college years, I am thankful it wasn't recorded. 

I think a lot of woke people need a good nap or a time out. 

Invest In Us

 One of the hardest things to measure is whether an investment now will pay off in the future.  In the financial world there are safe investments and risky investments.  The riskier the investment the bigger the potential payout has to be.  Effectively multiply the potential investment by the chance of a payout and that needs to exceed any investment or its too risky.

There are many assessment tools in use and the simple formula above is certainly not universal, but it at least makes some sense.

It also matters if losing your money is something you can accept.  We have had crashes and depressions where even safe investments collapsed.

Investing by the Government is trickier because the payout is not just financial and not direct generally.  Does anyone doubt that the interstate highway system was worth building?  It has had a tremendous impact on economic growth which has led to increased taxes.  One can do some calculations using broad indicators but any numbers would be, at best, estimates.  However without doing the math our logic tells us it was worth it.

If you look at the current Democratic priorities, they involve investing in physical infrastructure and maybe more importantly human infrastructure.  The first one is done but the secon is still being debated.  It shouldn't be because human infrastructure is the biggest return on investment we have.

Admittedly it is hard to measure but we see how under our current structure so much of it is wasted.  Providing more children with the skills they need to create and prosper will pay off.  They will usher in the future with ingenuity and desire.  It will certainly pay off for the country. 

There is no better investment really.

Was It Climate Change?

 Well, we saw devastating tornados in December causing unprecedented damage in in a number of States.  As much as I think this is related to climate change, it certainly isn't proven.  It is another in a series of very unusual weather events that seem to happen with more frequency.

There was tremendous damage and many lives lost.  These were Americans and in one fell swoop they and their families lost everything.

If you believe God created this planet and this world as our home you might have to wonder what made him/her to destroy that part of it?  When this sort of thing happened in the bible, the prophets were quick to blame the sinfulness of the Israelites.  I'm sure some of our evangelical will do the same. 

The fact that we allow sinfulness is all God needs to punish others somewhat randomly. I guess not standing up to.

We neeed to help the people victimized but we need to realize the real problem is the damage we have done and continue to do to our atmosphere. 

The clock is ticking.

Inflation, a Tiny Issue

When I was looking at the latest inflation data the items that are up the most are energy, cars and housing with a nod to some food items.

The more relevant number for most people is the 4.9% rise which excludes food and energy.  The worst item impacting most Americans is gasoline, but we see that starting to decline.

Considering how much money has been distributed for covid relief and the amount of unemployment pumped into the economy, if we faced normal inflationary pressures, it would be a lot higher.

Inflation is certainly a bit of a problem, but I fail to see how in this economy it is a crisis.  Unemployment is low, we are seeing significant increases in Social Security and pay increases have been substantial.  

If it starts to accelerate or increase out of control, we will have a problem.  We are already seeing energy cost come down.  There isn't a real shortage in food, more imported containers.

I'm sure that inflation is a problem or even crisis for some people.  When we had what looked like rampant inflation under Ford and then Carter, I remember everyone thought the sky was falling.  Well it was a real problem then but it's hardly remembered today.

Jobs solve all our economic ills, and we have plenty of them.

The right wing media will continue to talk about it but it really is a blip that we will forget about in a few months.

Right Direction But No Bull's Eye

 I like to answer online surveys.  I'm not sure why but whenever one pops up I tend to answer it.  Do my opinions about what stores I like or what I eat or anything else matter or even inform anyone, I don't know.

I assume someone is collecting this information but you also have the problem of poorly worded questions.  I took one just a while ago that asked me if I thought the country was headed in the right direction.  It was a tough one but I decided to go with yes which was the answer of only about a third of the people who answered.

Now it was tough because it could be going in the wrong direction but that is a number of directions.  The media seems to have decided that Biden represents Progressives and therefore the country is moving that way.  Certainly, compared to the previous administration it is but many progressives I hear and see think i isn't moving fast enough or far enough in that direction either.

That's why it was tough to answer.  I would like to see certain things happen that seem unlikely.  Protecting Abortion or really protecting women's right to choose is one.  To be clear, my wife and I lost three pregnancies to miscarriages, and I never would have considered abortion.  It is still in my opinion an individual choice and as much as I would tell anyone considering it not to do it, I don't have the right to impose my opinion on them.  Since much of the country and maybe the Supreme Court are seemingly doing that I feel that is the wrong direction for the country.

Similarly issues like voting rights sensible gun laws and equal protection under the law are all seemingly in danger I worry about those.  

I almost answered the question negatively but not because of anything the President is doing.  In fact I think he is doing great dealing with problems as best he can.  He isn't a radical progressive he is an American with a long history of service to this country, so I answered that the country is headed in the right direction.  

Unfortunately, it is wobbling along the way.

Every Cloud Is Lined With Black

 If you read the information on some of the financial sites, you might get the impression that a booming economy with low unemployment and some moderate inflation is horrible news that might cause the Federal Reserve to tighten up the money supply.

The CPI numbers are coming out later today d many are predicting they will be the highest in 40 years.  That sounds a bit ominous but even if they are they will be no where near where they were in the early 80s.  

I'm not convinced inflation is a real problem and since we are adjusting social security benefits by 5.9% w so be able to handle the increase.  Two of the drivers last month were energy (30%) and meat (11%), particularly beef.  Both of those were related to specific issues that at least to me seem to have eased a bit , although prices go up faster than they come down.

We are building in inflation with a tight labor market and a new way of doing business.  Certainly, many businesses, especially in those providing services, have had to increase costs because of Covid prevention measures.  I don't know what the full impact of this will be, but it won't be more than the market will bear, or they will go out of business.

It is very hard to predict today's number since the month of November seems like a transition month.  It started out with increasing energy prices but ended up with decreasing ones.  There are still some supply shortages and as I pointed out some increased costs related to preventative efforts.  

I know that much of our financial press will paint the blackest picture they possibly can. There has been a tremendous economic recovery but the financial press sees a dark lining to every silver cloud.

Easier Voting

 In today's environment we see the two parties defined in certain ways by the press and social media.  For example, I've been a Democrat my whole life and I didn't have to be woke.  I simply had to believe that the Democratic party had better policies than the other choices. 

On the other hand not all Republicans have to be white supremacists. Some are and a lot of the messaging reflects that, but the majority realize it is wrong and anti-democratic as a policy.

Man of the things covered in the media and even more so on social media is the most extreme positions.  For example, the defund the police chant during the protests last summer didn't ever mean what it sounds like. Maybe it did for some individuals but what they really meant was reduce the funding for paramilitary equipment and use that money for training and employing different skill sets so we have less incidents of American citizens being killed for no reason.

Our system is designed to point out the conflicts because it is more exciting than pointing out similarities.  People have been convinced that one party is out to take away their guns and their right to be individuals while the other people are convinced the other party is opposed to fair elections.  

Exaggerating the other Parties policies may help you win elections but then again maybe not.  It works because in our system the main winner in most elections is Apathy and getting out your vote is often the biggest problem.

Angry and upset people do vote and so both parties try to get their supporters angry and upset.

Every registered voter should be proved with an easy way to vote.  Some think this would lead to fraud, but deciding elections based on the low turnout we often see is the real fraud.

Fixing Inequities

 You see a lot of so-called Republicans raising concerns about the deficit and national debt now that we have a Democratic Administration.  These seem like legitimate concerns except of course most of the concern simply wasn't there when the previous administration was in charge.

The latest bills were designed to be deficit neutral and while that is based on estimates that can be challenged, the result would not be the numbers being thrown around.   It is also a bit disingenuous when they passed the tax break that greatly expanded the deficit not that long ago.

There are two theories of Government, one is that leaving the money with private industry and private individuals will result in better spending decisions.  Well it will result in more selfish ones and as far as industry is concerned that is OK.  However as far as infrastructure and human investment it hasn't worked.

Our infrastructure is out of date and in some cases dangerous and our human support infrastructure is never created.

Families in this country are penalized for things that are needed for them to work and thrive.

Things like day care, pre-school educations, college debt, paid parental leave are disasters to our middle class.  The real question is should the development of our future generations be a matter of luck as to what family you were born into?  It is now.

Clearly wealthier individuals have a tremendous advantage which in a merit-based system is counterproductive.

It is societies best interests to develop as much talent as possible for as many as possible.  Yes, in our current system a few have been able to do well and, in some cases, extraordinary.  

Doing well shouldn't be extraordinary, it should be the norm

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Day Of Infamy

 Today is the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese.

While we have moved into a world of conspiracies, and some believe we knew the attack was coming and let it so we could enter the war, that says more about us than it does about the actual event.

We had no doubt at the time and withing a few days we were at war with the Axis powers and looking back the result seems inevitable, at the time it didn't.

The Japanese had swept across much of Asia and seemed almost unstoppable.

The Germans had subdued almost all of Europe and North Africa.

Our industrial might would eventually result in victory but we needed a place to stage invasions and if Britain had fallen we would have been hard pressed.

Similarly in the Pacific, much of our fleet was lost and it was definitely a toss up until we won at Midway.

What is important to remember is how Americans lined up to fight for out values and how many sacrificed for our beliefs and form of Government.

One such patriot. Bob Dole, passed away this week and while he was a Republican he was first and foremost an American.

Some of our current politicians put party before country.  

Biased And Deceptive

 Every morning I watch the same news show.  It is a local show and clearly not the best but it does report things about this area that the others don't and I like the weather being more local.

For the last few months they had a feature where they reported the increase in Gasoline prices every day and listed stations where you could get bargains.  It seemed a bit excessive but prices were up from the pandemic lows and the argument was that the price increases were hurting people and they were trying to help.

Well I noticed this weekend that Gasoline was down nearly 10 cents a gallon at the local station.  I imagined this would be big news on the program but it wasn't even mentioned.  Wouldn't those hard hit families want to know and wouldn't they also want to know where the chearpest gas was?

I've also noticed they like to show the same pictures of empty shelves and talk about the supply chain issues.  I read somewhere and it seems to ring true that those are stock images used by stations around the country and not reflective of this area at this time.

Last year when everybody was panicking about the virus there were definitely things that were hard to get.  I remember being in a store in Virginia where cleaning supplies, paper towels and toilet paper were simply not available.  

However that all passed and by this year most shelves seemed quite well stocked.  There are container ships baked up at various ports and I'm sure those products are causing certain problems but when I go shopping on-line or in-person it's just not much of an issue. 

The news would make you think it was.  

I wouldn't call the news fake, just a bit biased with a touch of deception. 

Fooling People Most of the Time

 I have to admit I'm often confused by things others say are common sense.  For example, CNN felet the need to fire Chris Cuomo becasue he was heling his bother.  Now if he used his position to intervene that would be one thing but I didn't see anything to show that ethical line had been crossed.  In fact I don't even think that if he had it would matter since unrelated news opinion shows are very often extremely biased in how they report things.  Had he gone on his show and said his brother was innocent, everyone would know he was biased so what would it matter?

I don't have any relatives in political office except a sister-in-law who just got elected to her school board but if I did and they got accused of something that I was sure they didn't do, I would think expressing that opinion is fine and fact maybe required.

In the 2016 election we saw how Hillery's decision to go high when they went low failed.  Nice guys often do finish last. Following a set of unwritten rules when the other side ignores them is not a successful strategy.  There's an expression about bringing a knife to a gun fight.  It's a bad idea.

Right now we see a lot of media bias towards the right.  As best as I can figure, the constant attacks accusing the mainstream media of being biased has caused them to err trying to be fair.  Facts like the election was fair or the vaccine is safe, don't need to be balanced by radical unhinged views to be fair.

I don't know where this reference comes from but there was a saying about could 30 million French men be wrong?  Yes they can.  In fact I sort of question the Abraham Lincoln claim that you can fool all of the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time but you can't fool all of the people all of the time.  

Maybe you can.

Capitalism Is The Answer

 I was watching a show where some panelists were discussing the future and whether we would remain the economic leader or us.  They were divided but what surprised me was the failure to discuss what I believe will be the determining factor.  in fact they seemed to think it favored the Chinese.

we are a capitalist Democracy and they are a Communist dictatorship.  they are much better than us of doing what they are told while we aren't. As was pointed out they are able to complete big projects faster than us most of the time.

Unless we are properly motivated.  When profit is involved we can do miracles.  Consider the vaccines developed.  The competition led to our having vaccines which work and are effective.  This was the result of capitalism.  

The great advantage of Capitalism is that everybody can benefit and not just the State. 

This diversity of opportunity leads to creativity that totalitarian regimes can't duplicate.  This release of creativity has led to our economic domination in the past and will keep us in the lead as long as we keep it.

The idea that a communist dictatorship can dominate us is,to me, ludicrous. 

Get Things Done

 Isn't it time we asked our Representatives to do their job instead of showboating?

Managing the Government and passing bills is not simple to do but simple to understand.

We have constitutional protections of our rights although some of those may be shifting.  Representatives can certainly make speeches but personal attacks on each other seem wrong.

The drama we just had over funding the Government was simply wrong.  It will happen again.

We have some major issues still facing us including the virus and climate change.  I'm not sure why we can't work together to solve them.

When your position is to oppose any solution if proposed by the other party, you don't have a solution.

That makes you part of the problem.

Voters will notice.

Heating Oil - Cheap?

 I got my first delivery of the season yesterday and I was sort of dreading it.  I was pleasantly surprised.  The bill was significantly less than some I have received and the price of the oil seemed cheaper.

I see gasoline is up but heating oil is not refined like gasoline is.

I don't want to imply the oil was very cheap, it just wasn't the horror bill I was sort of expecting.

I used to put a lot of miles on my car every week and over the last 12 years I've seen the price of gasoline fluctuate a lot.  I never really had a choice so it was what it was.  I changed cars in the middle of that period and my new car uses less gas tan my old Crown Vic did but I don't feel it makes much difference.

The current increases are coming off historic lows but are hardly the highest I remember.  Maybe I' fortunate but the difference over the years never made any real difference.  These prices wouldn't either.

We live in a world where we have media and a political party on constant attack mode.  There was a lot of criticism of the prior President but he always had his propaganda network.  I was reading a USA today story about Joe Biden's performance.  I don't read that paper since I stopped getting it in various hotels free but the article seemed to focus on the negative stories of the last year.  For example it focused on the somewhat chaotic last days in Afghanistan.  Fair enough but being out of that country after 20 years is a godsend.

Nothing about climate change or the historic infrastructure bill.  It seemed to have a negative spin to me.

 I think the greatest success of the radical right wing media is that it caused mainstream media to veer a bit right because of the constant criticism.  Reporting both sides of a story is important but if you are giving election fraud equal time, when you know it is malarky, who are you serving?