Monthly Archives: February 2020

Voting is a Responsibility

26 Wednesday Feb 2020

Posted by in Voting

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As the primary season approaches, this question is the one every voter should ask themselves: “What does the person really stand for?” Supposedly during the French Revolution a man was talking with another man when he saw a mob coming up the street. He said to the other, “I must find out what they are angry about so I can lead them.”

Do you vote for someone who wants your vote so he can represent your current concern and change when your later opinion changes? Or, will you vote for someone who really believes in something instead of being swayed by whatever the social media is running? In other words, do you vote for someone who just wants to be in office for a job and has no particular compass direction or someone with a particular point of view?

Do you want a person representing you whose main objective is to stay in office and doing whatever he is told by his party’s leadership? How about someone whose votes are changed by whatever lobbyist puts the most money in his campaign chest, or gives him the best trip to some exotic place?

In today’s world of misinformation (read lies) on social media where the Russians and others deceive voters into stupid decisions, how does one know who to vote for? Its hard work to watch interviews and to read reputable news reports to form an opinion but it’s the responsible thing to do. Good citizenship and honoring all those who have fought and died to give you the right to vote requires you to vote in every election. An intelligent and thoughtful vote for each nominee who really believes what you do is the responsible right each voter has inherited from their forebearers. DO THE WORK AND VOTE!

Putin’s Choice

26 Wednesday Feb 2020

Posted by in Russian Interference

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I am definitely not a Russian Troll or Bot nor do I have any connection of any sort with Russia so this opinion is from an honest American. Trump is a disaster to our country and his paranoia is destroying our intelligence agencies, our diplomatic relations with allies, and now our independent national law enforcement agencies. We can’t have another four years of increasingly uncontrolled destruction.

The Director of National Intelligence, Joseph Maguire, was fired because he told the House Intelligence Committee that Putin was trying to keep Trump in office. Putin was scared of hawkish Clinton and knew Trump could be easily deceived and guided. The Russians have picked Senator Bernie Sanders to be Trump’s opponent this cycle and to further divide Americans.

Why Bernie was picked to help is simple. He is just as divisive as Trump has been and is an isolationist so if he was elected, Putin will be able to continue his influence on the world stage. Trump ignores his military leaders and orders them to do whatever the talking heads on FOX dictate. Bernie will try to reduce military expenditures and cut the number of oversea bases and missions.

Bernie’s radical socialism will turn off millions of voters who would have voted to evict Trump and thus keep Trump in power. Many of my friends and relatives can’t vote for Sanders and his crazy socialist ideas. They are now faced with voting for the devil to keep Sanders out of the Oval Office or not voting for either. See why the Russians are supporting Sanders over the others?

The Nevada Play Pen

26 Wednesday Feb 2020

Posted by in Bloomberg, Debates

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Before donating to the Biden Campaign again I thought I would see a debate. At the start, NBC’s Lester Holt told the hopefuls to mix it up so five of the six went after each other instead of really being presidential. Sanders looked like he was some kind of lunatic. Warren looked like a college professor on LSD. Biden didn’t look as presidential as before and Buttigieg and Klobuchar looked like someone in training.

Only one person looked and sounded presidential. Mike Bloomberg looked like the powerful, intelligent, experienced person he is and was as Mayor of New York City. I thought he should have run in the last election as an independent but who would he have taken votes from?

Bloomberg has baggage like everyone our age especially those who have had great responsibility as he had as mayor and running a huge business. He got hit on the “Stop and Frisk” policy to cut NYC’s murders. It was a policy of profiling black and brown young adults in high crime neighborhoods. It took thousands of guns off the street cutting murders in half allowing him to encourage businesses to locate in the neighborhoods again. Another hit was non-disclosure agreements which Warren insinuated was sexual in nature but in his type of business they could be common plus they don’t involve any sexual allegations.

Warren and Sanders both attacked him as being rich. What they didn’t allow him to say is he is giving all his billions away to causes and organizations Democrats believe in. One recipient has been and will be House and Senate Democrats and the Democratic Party which supports his anti-gun and climate change goals. He was also hit about his self funding but he isn’t buying votes by eliminating college debt and lots of freebies others are proposing.

 

We Are Doing It to Ourselves

18 Tuesday Feb 2020

Posted by in Climate Change, Population

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Imagine 9,700,000,000 people on this little planet by 2050 or 2,000,000,000 more than today. The U.N. predictions are 11,000,000,000 by 2100 or twice 1995’s population. Several countries have an aging population so they are trying to grow workers with incentives. It means rushing to an overpopulated end.

As the oceans rise and flood coastal cities, islands, and low lying countries around the world, where will the climate migrants, domestic and foreign, live? The latest estimate is at least a rise of six feet flooding most major coastal cities by 2100. Many are planning to build dikes like New Orleans. Others like Miami are planning to raise the streets and ground floors. Some countries may lose many thousands of square miles and their populations will need to go somewhere else! Where?

The migration has already started. The Syrian Civil war started because of a long term drought forcing farmers into cities. Some Pacific Islanders have started leaving their islands because their islands are getting smaller as the sea around them rises. Bangladesh is a low country that regularly floods from heavy rains in the Himalayas. Even now much of the delta is staying flooded forcing the people to leave for higher ground in the north.

For two centuries science has known small amounts of carbon dioxide over the optimal historical amount will cause the Earth to warm and the more it increases the warmer the Earth gets. So why is our government the only country not working on a national plan? All seventeen science agencies and all four branches of military are preparing for the future. Why is the far right duping people into disbelieving the facts? It’s about to hit the fan and they don’t care. Why?

Separation of Church and State

18 Tuesday Feb 2020

Posted by in Taxes

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When I was a student at Murray State University in Murray, Kentucky, one of my urban planning classes involved a study of downtown Murray. Three of the four corners were large churches which reduced not only retail sales footage on the square but down some of the side streets. As the population grew, retailers had been forced away from the square. Now little is downtown and almost all is now on the main highways west of town. During the study I interviewed the retailers who didn’t appreciate being taxed for real estate while the churches benefited from the infrastructure the churches abused. As the retailers were bankrupted the churches bought up the buildings reducing downtown tax receipts even more.

Religious groups do not pay income taxes and thus they are not allowed to promote one person over another for a political office. Several years ago the IRS started threatening some churches about promoting a person by telling their congregation to vote for the pastor’s choice. Read 501(c) (3) rules where it clearly states a religious or non-profit organization cannot promote any political person or party over another. It makes me grit my teeth when I see some political figure addressing a congregation on a Sunday morning. The church then becomes a Super PAC and not a devotional service.

Religious schools should not be getting any funding since any one taxpayer may not agree with that religion’s beliefs or any belief in a supernatural being. Would those who think Christian schools should be supported, agree with supporting a Muslim, Hindu, or some Radical Sect? Once we support one, all are entitled. That’s why we have a separation of Church and State.

Wrong Impeachment Reasons

17 Monday Feb 2020

Posted by in Impeachment

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Millions were happy Pelosi finally got on board by impeaching President Trump on his trying to force Ukraine’s President to look into Biden’s family. I wonder if she really wanted to oust him because there were many better reasons.

Here are some of the more obvious and undeniable constitutional violations. Article I, Section 6 states emoluments is prohibited and therefore a crime. Article II, Section 4 states high crimes and misdemeanors is a reason for impeachment. The crime is holding domestic and international meetings at his properties and charging for them. He has held meetings with the Chinese entourage at Mar-a-Lago. He has held many meetings with Republican leaders and administration leaders charging their campaigns or their departments. The Secret Service is charged a slightly reduced price for their full time rooms. When he was elected membership was tripled. Making the resort his permanent residence requires huge costs for years on shore and in the water.

Article I, Section 9 clearly states “No money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in consequence of appropriations made by law.” It means once a budget is passed by the House and Senate and signed into law by the President it is locked up. If changes are sought by the President the leadership of both parties in the House and Senate must approve the change. Redistributing the money is a high crime and covered Article II, Section 4! President Trump’s redistributing money from military equipment purchases and maintenance and residential repairs to build the wall over the express prohibitions of Congress is subject to the impeachment of the Secretary of Defense and Homeland Security…and the President who ordered it.

Both are slam-dunk convictions she left out!

Can It Happen Here

13 Thursday Feb 2020

Posted by in President Trump

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Our President is the most vindictive of any president we have ever had perhaps one of the most vindictive the world has had since World War II. Others like North Korea’s Kim and Russia’s Putin simply have their annoyances killed or locked away forever. Both Putin and Trump have the nuclear “buttons” nearby at all times!

Putin is cold and calculating. Trump is just the opposite which is scary. Would Trump send troops into a country that disrespected him? Would he go nuclear on Iran if Israel told him to destroy their leadership? He has an explosive, vindictive personality which can erupt over any perceived slight at any time.

During the impeachment several people were subpoenaed to testify. They did and now he is doing everything he can to ruin them and their families. He demands loyalty to him and him alone or else they are attacked by him. The Republicans in the House, Senate and others are so scared of him and his vindictive personality, they scarcely breathe without his approval. Such domination and fear occurs in only a few countries in the world, namely North Korea, China, Russia, Iran, and maybe two or three others.

American Presidents usually have some control over their party but never has one had complete and absolute control over their own party and millions of followers who think of him as their savior. Could they become his brown shirts? Attacks by militia on Jews and other minorities have grown in the past three years. This sounds very similar to 1930s Germany.

Check Taxes before Moving

13 Thursday Feb 2020

Posted by in Illinois Taxes

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The voters of Illinois are about to be voting on whether or not the state constitution should be amended to allow for a graduated income tax. Some people would like for us to think Illinois would be the only state with a graduated tax. My Almanac says thirty-two states have one already. Six states have a percent tax on income and three on investments only. Nine either depends on resource sales, corporate taxes, or real estate taxes among the usual myriad of others.

Texas for example, does well when oil prices are high but when the price was in the low teens, the state had almost no income and suffered greatly.

Almost all the states taxing income would cause me to pay more than people of my income would pay. The graduated rates on those states go from very low to very high quickly.

Remember all states have expenses and they must have revenue to pay for them. Illinois doesn’t have oil like Alaska and Texas or does it have minerals with western states. Florida has none but if you have ever visited there then you know you left a lot of money in ‘Florida taxes.

Illinois’ problems may be we don’t tax as much as most states and we spend too much on bad ideas. We have been looking for a place to move to for decades but we always find other states or areas are less desirable for one or the other of us.  Illinois has water, its green, few tornadoes, and no hurricanes, not too hot in summer or cold in winter. We benefited from living here so here we will stay and take vacations to places we don’t want to permanently live.

Check all types of taxes and conditions before moving to another state.

Buy Paper Products Company

08 Saturday Feb 2020

Posted by in Stock Market

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Ray Malgren is old enough to remember those famous days in the great or booming stock markets that sucked people in before the bottom fell out. This stock market rose out of the ashes of the Great Recession and its enormous financial boosts of easy money, reduced taxes and rate cuts. A lot of those efforts by Obama were not appreciated by the common people who saw the rich being subsidized while they were losing their homes and cars. It got the economy going before we dropped into a real recession. Doing it bothered Obama but America came first.

Those policies were meant to be slowly reduced so as to reduce deficits of a half trillion and to raise the Federal Reserve Funds rate back to historic normal. The sequestrian was designed to cut budget increases reducing deficits as the revenues increase.

What happened since 2016 is another tax cut and ending sequestration resulting in a twenty percent increase in the deficit each year. Last year was the first time since 2012 that the deficit had gone over a trillion and that was with the back door taxes of tariffs bringing in billions.

When the drop happens, the usual tools aren’t going to be there. The Fed rate is near zero at Trump’s demand and we have already cut corporate and wealthy taxes to less than what I pay.

The economy is based on consumers continuing to buy things they can do without. Credit card debt is the highest it has ever been. The market is frothy. When does the inevitable drop happen? I hope Ray has stock in P & G. They make the paper products people will need!

Some People Need Help

08 Saturday Feb 2020

Posted by in Financial Aid, Uncategorized

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I have been fairly fortunate in my life so I have trouble understanding a friend who hasn’t been so lucky in her life. She has lost parts of her body and it not permitted to lift more than thirty-five pounds. She recently developed diabetes and is being treated for it. She is not yet old enough for early social security but does get some disability, food stamps, and Medicaid to pay for medical costs since the company she worked for folded.

She tried for custodial work with Exelon but they require tests to be taken to push a broom and dust desks. She wasn’t given a person to read the questions so she failed the test. I thought the law required someone to read the test for a Dyslexic.

I know many people thinks $15.00 minimum wage is too high but working out a budget for her shows she has to work two part-time jobs of $9.00 per hour or one full time to break even. She thought if she could just get social security she would be okay. She won’t because she has to pay Medicare reducing her future check. She will have to work the rest of her life even with social security. Of course if she makes too much money she loses her subsidies and will be in even worse shape.

I know another lady on social security and a small retirement pension who is barely able to keep her head above water. I know others who can’t ever retire because they have spent their lives buying things they could have done without.

My parents and siblings lived through the depression and WWII which influenced my outlook on life. How will the later generations learn to save for loss of their job or health, much less retirement?