Wonky Donkeys

 

Today's Tids Issue 3,041

Opening Stuff:

 

Have you ever noticed that the love you hold in your heart never leaves?

 

Happy 375^th Birthday to Newport RI!

 

With all of this diversionary talk about billionaire donors to political parties, the fact remains that the largest single donor of all, locally and nationally, is the Union bloc.

 

With the escalation of intrusive product placement these days, I had this horrible thought of advertisers electronically casting their logos and product images on fairways and greens during Golf tournaments. You know that somebody has thought of it. How’d you like to see Tiger Woods walking up to the 18^th green through a Cialis ad?

 

The Question:

Give me five reasons why Switzerland Government is better than the US. Bonus: What are five reasons why you wouldn’t want to live there?

 

The Headlines:

--US Gives Ukraine $1 Billion.

--Putin Eases Off But Sharpens Rhetoric.

--0-Man Delivers $4 Trillion Budget; Has No Chance For House Passage; Eliminates Tax Break Fir Wealthier Retirees To Pay For Early Ed Donations, Welfare Increase.

--Boehner And Ryan Dismiss “O” Budget As Campaign Brochure; “Spending Too Much, Taxing Too Much, Borrowing Too Much…Will Cost Jobs, Economic Growth”.

--Non-Manufacturing Hiring Shrinks For First Time In Two years.

--Latest Count For Year-To-Date RI Deaths By OD Rises To 56.

--Texas Primary Elections: Former RI’er Wendy Davis Gets Dem Nod; Establsihment Repubs Gain Strength Over Tea Party.

--The Hill Compares Putin To Hitler.

 

If you have a credit or debit card with a symbol that looks similar to: ))) – Run, don’t walk to your nearest drawer of aluminum foil! A Card with that symbol is the  new wireless card being pushed to speed up retail sales., In fact Cumberland Farms (Gulf) gas around here will give you 10 cents off for using it. The problem though is potentially huge. A thief with a thirty dollar device can walk by next to your pocketbook or back pocket wallet and suck off all of your data. With another simple device, the personal data plunderer can transfer your financial life to any card with a magnetic strip, like a hotel key-card! Yikes! Hey…good news; with every flawed idea comes another opportunity for a new business– shielded wallets. Or just wrap your cards in aluminum foil. That will speed up retail sales. Ain’t progress grand?

 

An expert on North Korea talking yesterday at a lecture I attended said that that “we here and in the Pentagon often laugh about how little anybody knows about the Mysterious closed country, except perhaps Dennis Rodman”. He added amidst the chuckling that there was a significant element of truth to that.

 

There’s a long list of things that Obama and his band of wonks have switched around to accommodate various elections, like delaying the truth about Benghazi or now postponing several parts of ACA which are distasteful to consumers. So the good news is that this quintessential politician will do nothing to hurt us for at least 8 or so months. Maybe it’s a good time to my more stocks.

 

Why are there so many things in the ACA that are distasteful to the people who are supposed to be running the country through their representatives.

 

Putin’s support of Assad has a lot to do with his bold strike at Ukraine. You see, Germany and other European countries get the majority of their natural gas from pipelines starting at Russian sources. The EU is not going to jeopardize their economy’s with a too tough policy with the former KGB operative. The other large source of gas, which could be piped to Europe, would have to come up and go through Syria. As long as Assad is in power with Putin’s support, the longer Russia can block out competition in Europe. There’s always something.

 

The Tids hit it on the seams again by advocating over the years a Government that starts with the local town and works up to giving money left over to a central government for several but limited number of functions for efficiency. For instance, all defenses would fall to the big guy, but social programs would be local to the people who really know the problems of their neighbors. So what happens this week -- a new Brown U. survey comes out (It is similar to Pew study of last April) that says people distrust the federal government far more than the state government, and with the people trusting their own local elected officials most. It just makes sense. But, rational thinking continually gets rejected by voters on a regular basis.

 

If the Repubs select Las Vegas for their convention, how long do you think it will be before the first Dem ad defining the GOP as a Gamble on Progress? That‘s what wonks do.

 

Former IRS chief Lois Learner is the classic case of where there’s smoke there’s fire.

 

The Voice:

Suffered a technical difficulty so missed a lot of the show. The consensus best were Emily B and Audra McLaughlin significantly out in front with Morgan Wallen, Stevie Jo and Megan Ruger doing ok. Hey! They made it. There were many tonight who didn’t get a chair turn. I’m saying enough of the blind auditions…It’s time for the competition.

 

The Conscience: Chapter 39 continues.

      “Yes, Wu seems capable,” I added to just suck her further into our confidence. “Actually, I hear that he was partially responsible for reclaiming me from the trash heap.” I glanced quickly at Angelica who was as usual cool and understated. At least she didn’t give me those eyes that said, why would you say something stupid like that.

      “Ok, enough maudlin talk, let’s get this thing done.” Sanna reached out to take my proposal, which I held back. Noticing her frustration at being controlled I chuckled slightly inwardly, “This is it,” I added.  ‘You can change commas and anything you want that is superficial, but the essence of the offer will remain.” I knew she didn’t care, because nothing was going to hold up this sale. As I continued talking, I noticed her retrieving a sweater from behind her chair, slipping it on and buttoning it up to the neck. Angelica moved her leg to tap my ankle. I handed over the proposal. “How about a celebratory lunch,” I said, rising. “You can bring Bruno.” She grabbed the proposal with a little more violence than she might have.

      “Where are you from?” Mr. Morgan. “You don’t seem like you are from the south of the United States like Mr. Montgomery.”

      “No, I’m what the southern people used to call a damn Yankee”.  I looked at her closer now, for the first time really since I learned her true identity. Her Sally was coming out, but I don’t think she knew it. She’s one of those people who think they are so smart and in control that they don’t see their shortcomings.

      “Ah!” she said now, finally smiling, “One of those. I’ve heard about that.” She paused. “Oh, and I don’t think you would like Bruno interrupting a pleasant lunch.” Angelica had no idea what her mother was talking about.

   “ No Bruno is good, I said,” as she came around and I took her arm.

 

The Answer:

Thanks to a Guy named Dan Mitchell who once said, “Instead of supporting higher taxes, rich leftists should deal with their feelings of guilt by giving their money to me.” Reasons why Swiss is better than the US: 1. The burden of spending is lower in Switzerland (Public sector consumes 33.1% compared to US 41.1 % of GDP. 2. Switzerland has genuine Federalism (Remember the original USA) where only 1/3 of Government spending comes from the Feds verses 2/3’s here. 3. Stronger safeguards against personal security. In “S”, Gov cannot look at protected private records. Here the Feds can look at your bank account any time they want without a warrant. 4. Even with different languages and religions, the Swiss multicultural people live together peacefully. In the US the government causes strife and resentment with a system of racial spoils. 5. Gun protection is strong with every home having a fully automatic rifle. The US is strong too, but the freedom is constantly being undermined. Bonus: You may not want to live in Switzerland because it is too expensive, it would cost too much to come back for Red Sox games, you would have to watch soccer and love it, you can’t go to southern Switzerland to get warm in the winter and being a good patriot you don’t want to run away from fighting the good fight against the thieves in Washington.

 

Want to become a billionaire? Start a company. It is far and away the main reason that people get onto the biggest wealth list, way head of number 2 – inheritance. It will take forever, if at all, to make it investing in stocks. So let this be a word of caution in investing.

Spring will come, around June.