Personal Economics 101

By JIM GERAGHTY, National Review Here’s an observation about the Republican presidential primary: Every now and then, I’ll hear someone express a preference for a candidate with the words, “I like what he’s saying.” I don’t want to disparage anyone’s criteria for picking a candidate, but I will note that saying things that you, the voter, like to hear is really just about the easiest part of running for president. You don’t have to actually do anything; you just toss out a bunch of ideas and repeat the ones that get the most applause. Anybody can show up and promise, “I’ll do this,” or “I’ll do that.”  And the candidates who are really unprepared for the job think it will be easy. There’s only so much a president can do with executive orders, given that the next president of the opposite party can rescind such orders with the stroke of a pen. To really enact lasting changes, a president must be able to persuade Congress to turn his agenda into law.  The job of the president is...

I rarely comment on politics, but some issues should be commented on, as it affects the state of the Union.  Jan 6 is worse than 9/11. Vaccines stop the virus cold. CRT is a hoax. What CNN and MSNBC in 2021 wanted to believe.  The Biden presidency has produced an uninterrupted string of disasters: the Afghanistan withdrawal debacle, the Texas border crisis, inflation, an explosion of gun violence and murders setting records in Democrat-run cities, failure to produce an adequate federal response to the delta and omicron waves of COVID-19. Again, Jan. 6 was a riot, involving assaults on Washington and Capitol cops and the disruption of a formal congressional procedure to validate the electoral vote victory of Joe Biden. But was Jan. 6 really the planned coup, the terrorism, the sedition, the armed insurrection, the attempt to overthrow the U.S. government? Was Jan. 6 really comparable to Pearl Harbor and 9/11, during each of which 3,000 Americans went to their deaths in an hour'...

By Allison Schrager Bloomberg Opinion Printed in Stars and Stripes The infrastructure bill moving through the Senate takes more than 2,700 pages to lay out $1 trillion in spending. Many aspects of the plan will be popular. Americans love infrastructure; who doesn’t want nicer airports, roads, bridges, clean drinking water and access to cheap broadband? In theory at least, we not only enjoy better infrastructure, it’s an investment in our future — making the country safer, more resilient and boosting growth. But many of the potential economic benefits will be undermined by the nearly 60 pages of the bill dedicated to “Build America, Buy America.” Buy America requirements have been around since the Great Depression and are often a feature in U.S. infrastructure plans. They require that government-funded projects use domestically produced materials and are completed by American firms with American workers. This latest incarnation is similar to others before it. There are, of course, many ...

 Dr. Jordan Peterson, in this brief 10-minute video, explains personality, extroversion, liberals, and conservatives, and why we need both. But maybe not at the same time. 

It looks like Democratic-led campaigns against new voter laws are beginning to lose their appeal. Even some liberals are now questioning their tactics. I keep hearing that Republicans are trying to "suppress the vote," yet in reading the proposed new laws and those already passed, I find no evidence of this. In some cases, voting has been made easier.  I have to conclude that Democrats want wide-open voting, with no requirements for ID, or any checks to prevent fraud similar to their open borders policy. Yet 72% of Americans in a recent poll support voter ID requirements. To say that requiring a voter ID is racist or discriminatory is to say that minorities are not capable of getting or having an ID. That sounds racist and is, of course, a lie. The campaign against Georgia's new law’s specific provisions has been just as dishonest, as well as in West Virginia and Texas. Democrats leaned heavily on false claims about a provision barring food and drink handouts to people v...

By Victor David Hanson, Ph.D. Stanford University Ed Bastian made $17 million in 2019 as chief executive officer of Delta Air Lines, Georgia’s largest employer. Bastian just blasted Georgia’s new voting law. He thinks it is racist to require the same sort of ID to vote that Delta requires for its passengers to check in. Yet most Americans believe voting is a more sacred act than flying Delta and, moreover, may have noticed that Delta has partnerships with systemically racist China. Also, a recent Associated Press poll showed that 72% of Americans favor requiring photo ID to vote. The most privileged CEOs of corporate America—those who sell us everything from soft drinks and sneakers to professional sports and social media—now jabber to America about its racism, sexism, and other assorted sins. The rules of cynical CEO censure are transparent. First, the corporation never harangues unless it feels it has more to lose—whether by boycotts, protests, or bad publicity—than it stands to gain...

Updated on April 7, 2021 Woke Capitalism Strikes Again in Georgia If the problem of “woke capitalism” wasn’t apparent before, the battle over Georgia’s new election integrity law has drawn it out into the open. The law, which adds voter ID requirements to absentee voting, extends some early voting, and places some restrictions on activist activities at polling places, has been billed by Democrats and President Joe Biden as Jim Crow 2.0 . Regardless of the merits of the law or the offensive absurdity of comparing it to the actual rampant voter suppression under Jim Crow, it’s clear that opposition to the law is coming almost entirely from the left. Read full article... 1 Investor With 1 Share Can Call Out Corporate Leftism  You can’t just pick up the phone and take on one of the most powerful CEOs in the world. Or can you? It could be that easy if you own just one share of stock in a publicly traded corporation. It’s a David-versus-Goliath strategy that conservatives don’t use eno...

Following in the footsteps of Marriott (NASDAQ: MAR ), JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM ) and Citigroup (NYSE: C ), a growing number of big businesses have decided to suspend or review their campaign donations in the wake of last week's riot at the U.S. Capitol. The storming led to five deaths, including one police officer, prompting many C-suite executives to take action. There is widespread anger in the business community at what they see as a challenge against any disruption in the "peaceful transition of power," or the democratic stability on which business depends. Pausing all political spending: American Airlines (NASDAQ: AAL ), Archer Daniels Midland (NYSE: ADM ), BlackRock (NYSE: BLK ), Boston Scientific (NYSE: BSX ), BP (NYSE: BP ), Charles Schwab (NYSE: SCHW ), ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP ), Facebook (NASDAQ: FB ), Google ( GOOG , GOOGL ), Kroger (NYSE: KR ), Marathon Oil (NYSE: MRO ), Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT ), Union Pacific (NYSE: UNP ), U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB ) and U...

Investors hear this: If the Senate falls to Democrat control, along with the House and the presidency, we could well see the END OF THE BULL MARKET in stocks and to a lesser extent in bonds. Higher taxes, especially on corporations, are bearish. Ditto for doubling the capital gains rate as Biden proposes. That’s a bold prediction, I admit. But let’s be clear, this bull market in stocks – which began in March 2009 – is very long in the tooth by historical standards. In fact, it has been the longest and strongest in history. And we all know it will end at some point. With literally EVERYTHING on the line in these two Georgia Senate races, we are about to see a political spectacle as never before. George Soros and other billionaire Democrat donors are basically writing blank checks to their Senate candidates. I just hope big GOP donors realize what they’re facing and will be ready to pony-up as well. The bottom line is, Senator Perdue should win his race, thus maintaining Republican contr...

The biggest lie of all -- if there is such a thing -- was on oil and gas, when he stated that he has never wanted to ban fracking or move the U.S. from oil and gas.  Biden let his mask slip and declared war on oil and gas at the end of Thursday’s debate. This was perhaps part of the most damaging portion of the night for Biden. During the discussion of climate change and renewable energy Biden made the declaration he wants to transition away from the oil industry. But his accusation towards the president is bogus. Billions of dollars are paid out annually to renewable energy concerns, including solar and wind power. Lost in the discussion, as Joe Biden claimed explosive job growth would be realized in his green power program, is how dozens of renewable energy companies all failed during his 8 years in the White House, with the aid of huge government subsidies. And when he challenged Trump to show it on tape, Trump did just that. Here's the tape:  Here's a sample of other lie...

It seems things have gotten a bit upside down. I have been confused about the hostility of family and friends. I look at people I have known all my life... so hate filled that they agree with opinions they would never express as their own. You can't justify this insanity. We have become a nation that has lost it's collective mind!  Somehow it's un-American for the census to count how many Americans are in America.  Russians influencing our elections are bad, but illegals voting in our elections are good.  It was cool for Joe Biden to 'blackmail' the president of Ukraine, but it's an impeachable offense if Donald Trump inquires about it.  People who never owned slaves should pay slavery reparations to people who have never been slaves. People who have never been to college should pay the debts of college students who took huge loans for their degrees.  Immigrants with tuberculosis and polio are welcome, but you'd better be able to prove your dog is vaccinated...

A sampling of policies from the Biden campaign and/or Democratic Party platform (as stated either in writing or by Party members): End cash bail  Abolish death penalty  End solitary confinement  Give government healthcare to illegals  Expand welfare for new immigrants  Expand asylum for all new illegals End border detention End all travel bans, including from jihadist regions  Amnesty for all illegals  Rejoin Paris climate accord  Eliminate all carbon emissions by 2030  Free public housing for all former inmates  Require federal reserve to end racial inequity  Universal government healthcare Zero-emissions transport nationwide  Appoint social justice prosecutors  Implement “restorative justice”  End mandatory minimums  Incentives prison closure  Penalize “absentee homeowners” to clear way for affordable housing  Dual language instruction in public schools Outlaw charter schools that earn a profit  ...

Dan Crenshaw, R-TX, speaks to Arizona State University students on socialism, taxation, gratitude, the role of government and other subjects of interest. Liberty is ordered freedom. Well worth the 51 minutes of your time. https://youtu.be/Z45r0OUS4Gg

Americans are deeply divided over the reopening of the country, and like most everything else these days, it’s political. In an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal, Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) breaks down why. “Liberals emphasize the dangers of an open society, shaming those who want to go back to work. Conservatives argue the opposite. Red states are steadily reopening, while most blue states lag,” he writes. “House Democrats believe it isn’t safe for lawmakers to go back to work, while the Republican-controlled Senate is back in session.” One explanation advanced is that liberals will do, say, and desire the opposite of whatever President Trump believes, he says. There’s also the geographic breakdown—the urban vs. rural divide, although this is not as black and white as it seems. And finally, the economic devastation of the shutdown may be felt less by the left-leaning and college-educated who are more likely to be able to work from home, while less educated, working-class...

https://youtu.be/XXMuj9axUZE Dan Crenshaw represents a congressional district covering north Houston, Tx.

https://youtu.be/3JGmKHrWKMQ 1. The young white people thought that voter ID is racist, that minorities do not have easy access to IDs, access to services and the internet, or don't have the knowledge to take advantage of the internet. 2. Blacks thought these white people were ignorant, racist or stupid (or all three). All had IDs, were willing to show them when they vote, knew how to get services, and had internet access. Go figure.

I'm not talking about the "unmasking" of Gen. Flynn, whatever that means. (It has to do with intelligence gathering methods .) Here, let's look at the issue of wearing a mask, any mask, for the purpose of "protection" against the Covid-19 virus. First, when I did a general Google search for face masks, the top 20 articles were either CDC, FDA, or other common agencies with articles on how to wear a mask, or where to buy one. I was more interested if face masks where worth the bother, based on empirical data. So I did a search on Google Scholar for some scientific papers, and the conclusion was: They (most cloth masks) are not very effective, are not worn or used properly, instill a false sense of security, but are better than nothing. So I choose not to wear one unless I'm forced to, and then I may fight back. Hear that, Costco? I'm not coming to your store. But -- if you choose to wear a mask, please do so. But do it correctly. Covid-19: W...

The House of Representatives passed the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions Act – the HEROES Act for short -- a $3 trillion follow-on relief package to the $2.2 trillion package signed into law in March. The bill passed the House on a vote of 208 to 199. Lawmakers had less than three days to consider the 1,800 pages of legislation. The math of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s latest bailout legislation, misleadingly called the Heroes Act, is mind-boggling. There has already been roughly $3 trillion in coronavirus response spending approved. The Heroes Act contains another $3 trillion, for a total of $6 trillion. This $6 trillion is more than $18,000 for every person in the United States. Or more than $72,000 for a family of four. Only a fraction of this is to pay for direct COVID-19 related health-care expenses. The bulk of it is to prop up the economy in one way or another. For example, the act provides more than a trillion-dollar bailout for state an...

Jordan Peterson warns against government power:  https://youtu.be/MwFdrGcdMnw Adam Schiff should resign: https://youtu.be/Imhbncy9RJg New York Post: Adam Schiff lied about the Trump investigation, and the media let him Just so you know: Adam Schiff, as a representative in the U.S. House, represents West Hollywood, Burbank, parts of Pasadena, Glendale, the Verdugo Hills communities of Sunland and Tujunga, as well as parts of central Los Angeles including Hollywood, the Hollywood Hills, Echo Park, Silver Lake, and Los Feliz.