Monthly Archives: December 2018

Equality Finally

11 Tuesday Dec 2018

Posted by in History, Military, Racism

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My schooling and books say General John J. Pershing, Commander of the troops in Europe during World War I. wouldn’t have spread his troops among the British and French Divisions. As usual history is written by the victors and glosses over the truth.

Pershing, like most of the Army, was racist. He ignored how the Black regiments had fought in the Civil War and against the Indians. They were considered unreliable so when Marshall Foch begged Pershing for some fresh troops, Pershing sent him all the Black troops he had. The French had thousands of Black troops from their colonies in Africa and the Caribbean. The French were glad to have them even if they didn’t understand French.

The American Black regiments fought very hard and won many individual and unit citations. After being treated as equals in France many stayed and married French women. Others immigrated with French passports to some of the colonies.

When World War II rolled around, Black Americans were put in logistics and many excelled in the Red Ball Express’s job of supplying Patton’s drives. Few of the millions fighting were Black troops. Even the ethnic Japanese got their own unit (442 Regiment) for a chance to make a patriotic reputation.

Equality didn’t come until Harry S. Truman mandated it. Now all colors of Americans can fight and die. A fine example of equality in the military is General Colin Powell. We could use more like him.

A Losing Economic Battle

10 Monday Dec 2018

Posted by in China, Economy

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Many times in history a smaller population has stood up to a larger population but not often have they won. Even those victories were short-lived. The United States has about 320 million people and our economic rival, China has almost five times as many Chinese. Our economy is based on a loose set of democratic ideals and China’s is a loosely directed model where private and state businesses co-exist.

The purpose of the current trade tariffs is to hold down the Chinese economy from exceeding ours and dominating the world’s economy as we have done for the last seven decades. With a directed economy the government can pick what industries will dominate, which will struggle, and which will be cut off from state support. Many of China’s basic industries, like it’s steel and aluminum, are run by the Chinese Army and subsidized by the government. That’s the reason they can flood the world with steel and aluminum cheaper than any corporation. Is it fair? No, it isn’t but they don’t have shareholders or worry about quarterly reports.

We support our industries with tax incentives, tariffs, and laws. We help with special financing like Chrysler in the 1970s, or General Motors in 2006. China’s way is much more direct and capable.For all of Trump’s sound of wind and fury, the United States is no longer the world’s economic driver and by assaulting our allies,we are reducing our chances of coordinating with them. All the President and his trade advisors are doing is creating a lot of bluster which may lead to a worse situation for our country in the future.

Is Any Job Safe

10 Monday Dec 2018

Posted by in Economy

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I never thought deeply of the economic impact electric cars will have on the economy until I read an article in a business magazine. They have about a third to half less parts than an internal combustion car. Ultimately that means most parts manufacturers must find other business because cylinders, fuel systems, engine blocks and crankshafts won’t be needed. Tens of thousands of workers will be out of work. The service businesses depending on those workers will close or be cut back. Less workers means less appliances sold and houses foreclosed or sold at depressed prices.

John J. Rockefeller made his money refining petroleum into gasoline for the growing automobile industry. Electric cars don’t need gasoline so the refiners, distributors, and others will reduce workers causing area businesses to be hurt. Of course we won’t need many oil well drillers either but we will have pumped most of the petroleum out by then.

Both of these examples won’t happen at once but will slowly happen over the next couple of years to a couple decades. The many ethanol refiners may have to close but the corn farmers will have billions more people to feed so they won’t be badly hurt. Gasoline stations will convert to being electrical charging stations. I bet soon or later battery packs will be more like those I have for my tools. A fill-up will be sliding the old pack out and the new one in.

I don’t think anyone can foresee how all this retrenchment will work out. Other jokers in the deck are artificial intelligence and robots. I don’t think any job or economy is safe.

Tariffs — The Truth

10 Monday Dec 2018

Posted by in Economy, Tariffs, Uncategorized

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President Donald Trump has repeatedly said he is hurting the Chinese with his tariffs. Last quarter was the biggest trade deficit with China possibly ever. Companies have pre-bought Chinese products in case Trump won’t back down on his promised raises in the tariffs. He has made it him against the Chinese government and they can’t back down so the Chinese will go to their closet of retaliations.

He has said the billions in tariffs are going into the U.S. Treasury. That is true! The money isn’t paid by the Chinese but by the American Companies purchasing the items. Companies don’t eat that money they paid to import the item, so they pass along the tariff money to the consumer–the American consumer. We, the American consumer will pay this back door tax, wiping out any minimal tax we may have gotten. The steel and aluminum tariffs cost GM $1.4 billion, not China.

The Chinese have put tariffs on many exports to China. Farmers have been especially hit hard. Soybeans have been hit hardest. Corn, wheat, other grains, pork, beef, turkeys, and chicken prices have dropped–Good for consumers, bad for farm communities, farmers, and businesses.  The U.S. Government is going to partly subsidize the soybeans and to a smaller amount the corn farmers, and others. The Agriculture Department just released the meat in storage numbers. They are the largest in years or ever depending on who read the release and their research. When the freezers burst our costs at stores will plummet and so will the price farmers get.

The President thinks in a time span of days and maybe weeks when he destroys markets that were carefully nurtured. China can buy products elsewhere and leave us out for years. Many industries are worried if China will come back.

Another Game of Sticks

08 Saturday Dec 2018

Posted by in International, Politics, President Trump, Trade Agreements

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The Middle East is always complicated but the death and reaction to Jamel Khoshoggi’s murder has further complicated a geo-political game of sticks. We had helped the Saudi’s in their war with the Yemen’s Houthis by selling the planes, bombs, and rockets and refueling their planes so they bomb the southeastern cities. We provide intelligence through drones, satellites, and electronic monitoring so they know what to bomb. The bus full of kids was probably our intelligence error.

The President says we can’t cut relations or sanction Saudi Arabia for killing Khoshoggi because they are our partners in the region and they are buying over $100 billion in military equipment from us. The President hasn’t stated to the world what another country can do before he will react. The question is where is the line and how will he react.

NATO and the European countries say our President is Putin’s boy. He hasn’t implemented all the sanctions Congress mandated for interfering in our election. President Trump has repeatedly said he sees no purpose in antiquated organizations like NATO, SEATO and OAS. The destruction of NATO benefits only one country – Russia.

The destruction of the trade pacts and tariffs has upset world’s trade routes, supply lines, and multi-national companies. The new NAFTA is the old NAFTA with the changes that had been planned for years. The agreements being worked on with the Asian countries is the old TPP. Without the TPP agreement China has been able to make huge inroads into Vietnam, Philippines, and Indonesia.

Geo-politics is not a game of sticks for beginners.

Climate Agrees with Projections

08 Saturday Dec 2018

Posted by in Global Warming

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The computer projects for global warming predict rising yearly world temperature–Check. More violent storms–Check. Violent swings in weather–Check. More and greater droughts–Check. Heavier rains–Check. Flora and fauna moving towards higher latitudes or altitudes–Check. Massive immigration people from tropical areas to temperate areas–Check. Forest and grassland fires–Check.

Highest recorded temperatures ever in Japan, Portugal, Spain and Southwestern United States. Highest recorded ocean levels and rising. Highest recorded rain falls in many places. Forest fires above the Arctic Circles. Ice free water is open for months between Canada, Siberia and the polar ice. Russian icebreakers go to the North Pole. Glaciers from Greenland to Antarctica disappearing or melting faster than ever. Desserts are expanding faster. Insects moving farther north and not freezing out in winters. Tundra melting and releasing thousands of years old methane. World CO2 levels higher than ever recorded in 600,000 year-old glaciers and Antarctica ice cap. Ours and other navies are figuring out how to raise or move bases.

Some people just can’t see facts and what is happening in front of them! Even the world’s major religions are behind some of the global warming studies. The Vatican funded some of the studies which is why the Pope is warning of the danger. When world’s unbiased scientists and governments say it’s happening, why do some American’s think otherwise?

The American government just released an in-depth study from all its scientific departments telling how bad global warming will be. They didn’t try to minimize the damage and gave us reality. The President, as usual, denied science.

Greed Created the Problem

08 Saturday Dec 2018

Posted by in Drugs, Gun Control

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What have we done and how can we fix it? Do all our problems revolve around billions of dollars? Money must be the common root cause of our problems. No, we can’t eliminate money. It is how wealth and power are demonstrated and it runs through the problems discussed below.

Drug abuse is a general term for over prescribed drugs like Oxycodone and Fentanyl which caused many people to move on to street drugs like heroin, marijuana, and cocaine with its derivatives. The prescription drugs have been over prescribed by doctors because the drug companies pushed them. They said they were not addictive so the companies could make more money. The cartels sell the addicts drugs when the prescriptions run out. The drugs make money from the Columbian growers to the street dealers. Legal and illegal drugs make billions.

When I was a kid, the gangs in cities would have fights over territories and slights or no reason. Their weapons were usually homemade zip guns, knives, and bats. Not its automatic pistols and assault guns. Why? – because the money goes to the manufacturers who have flooded us with weapons for their billions. The lobbyists and the NRA have made billions by conning people into thinking they are necessary for protection from the guns they sold.

The gangs selling the drugs and buying and selling the guns are an invention of our addictions and greed. We created our own disasters and we don’t know how to fix them. We don’t seem to get off drugs and we can’t seem to get over the childish fascination with guns. Our country would be much better off if we could quit our drug addiction and melt 200 million guns.