Opus 2026-289: Hello, Real World

One of the words that kept popping up as I was shopping the other day was “free”.  Personally, I get a little offended by such a silly concept.  There’s an acronym which basically translates, “There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch.” (TANSTAAFL)  That’s one of the great truths of life.

Nothing is free.

So the challenge becomes trying to figure out where you end up paying for it.  The item that set me off was a 5G phone.  I would conceive that you might actually get a physical communication device without having to write a check for the device, however, when you read the fine print you find that you have to subscribe to a certain phone service or some other commitment.  They make their money on that end.

Anytime I see the word free I wonder what I’m gonna be paying for, how I’m gonna pay it or who else is going to get stuck with the bill.

Another concept that I learned long time ago is you get what you pay for.

Consider that free advice.

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-015: Big Box Suicide

I am about ready to totally give up on shopping in person.  I went out this week looking for something.  The only store in the area that I thought might have it is Best Buy and I went in optimistic.  I was looking for a small MP3 player.  The one I have seems to be malfunctioning.  I had bought it at Best Buy a few years ago and figured I could replace it there.  I even stepped out of my comfort zone and as soon as I got in the door, asked a person who seemed to be standing there looking for people to help where I could find the MP3 players.

Then the difficulty began.  First of all, she didn’t seem to know what I was talking about and started showing me some expensive, complex devices, which were on a shelf nearby.  I pulled out my old MP3 and showed it to her and then she finally got the idea.  She didn’t know where they would be in the store.  It turned out, after she went to her handheld device and did a search, that there weren’t any in the store.  They had a lot of choices online, but nothing in the store.  Then she helpfully told me said I could look around if I wanted to, maybe I would find something.

She tried.  She wanted to be helpful.  Once she understood what I wanted she knew how to find out.  There was nothing she could do.

This is at least the second time that I have gone to Best Buy looking for things which used to be on the shelf and the only place they seem to be available is online. I also noticed that there seem to be a lot more room to walk around.  Fewer shelves.  The shelves that were there had a lot of gaps on them.  I found myself again wondering why I bothered coming to the store.  I wonder if the young lady waiting to help me understood that when the big box closed her job would be gone?

I’m a dinosaur . I like to pick up something that I’m interested in, turn it over, heft it a few times, and make my decision.  You can’t do any of those things online.  You don’t even know if the picture they are showing is the object for sale.  I really don’t like having to print out a label and drop it off at a location where it can be returned.  I know that seems to be the way the current generations do it, but I don’t like it.

I may have to just bite the bullet and accept the fact that I’m going to have to get used to it.  I’m sure that I can do it.  I’ve ordered things online.  I have returned things that I ordered online.  There’s a lot more variety but a lot of returning also .

The choices in shopping are getting slimmer when it comes to going to stores.  I wonder how much of this is because of things like inventory taxes and property taxes which make it hard to keep a store open.  I wonder how much is because people are shopping more online.  I wonder how much of online shopping is because the big stores are committing suicide.

I guess we can use the buildings for homeless shelters if nothing else.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-591: The Cost of Christmas

I keep hearing about how people can’t afford to pay their rent or to put food on the table and so forth.  Even people who should know better are complaining about how tight things are.  I feel their pain.  Most of the things I buy in the grocery store have gone up in price.  So far though, I can still afford what I want and need.

I was looking over the Costco ads for their great bargains this week and toward the end of it, they had various offerings in the area of meats that would be appropriate for a Christmas feast.  I think the lowest price I saw was $17.95 a pound.  It went up from there.  Not exactly a cheap dinner.

I must say I have in the past had some of their better cuts when my son was doing the shopping.  Prepared properly, which to me is burnt to crisp, they were really delicious.  And since my son was paying, it was worth every penny of it.  If I had been paying, we would have been satisfied with cheese sandwiches.

And that’s the point really.  When we have family over for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner, is the point to have family over and to celebrate together?  Is the point to show off how much we can spend on food?  Is the point to exercise or gluttony?  Obviously those are not fair questions because you already know the answers, at least the ones you would give in public.

If I were putting on a dinner for Christmas and felt like finances were tight, I would have no problem in making a big pan of chili with hamburger and frozen vegetables.  Add to that crackers from the discount store and if I was really feeling frisky maybe some cheese.  If the right people were there with the right attitude, it would be a glorious celebration of the incarnation.

Think values not value.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-586: GIGO Grows Up

Most of the younger generation would understand the concept of GIGO.  For those of you who are not involved at all with computers it still makes sense:  Garbage In; Garbage Out.  It’s no big mystery.  You can’t make bread with rancid flour, rotten eggs, and expired yeast.  Well, you might be able to make it, but no one would buy it or eat it.  That is GIGO.

Why it is that they don’t seem to be able to make the transition to another acronym, I don’t know.  What acronym?  EIRO.  I assume you’ve never heard this one before because I just made it up, but you your gut know it:  Effort In; Results Out.  I have a really hard time believing that intelligent young people who enrolled in college with a major in, say, womens’ studies, partied for four years, borrowed a lot of money believed they were somehow going to go out into the workforce and make enough to fulfill all their dreams right out of the gate.

I understand that there are exceptions to the basic rules of life.  In times of high unemployment and few opportunities there are always going to be a few who will rise to the top and excel.  In times of great opportunity and employers going out and trying to drag people off the street, there will always be people who will sit around saying they can’t find a job.  Those are the exceptions.  Most of us fit into that massive clump of humanity in between.

One of the mantras I’ve been hearing recently is about the average age for buying your first home.  I can’t remember right off what the actual number is but it’s much higher than it theoretically was during our youth or our parents generation.  Every time I hear that I go back in my memory and remind myself that I was 40 years old with two children before I bought my first home.  We had it paid off by the time I retired with my wife as a stay at home mom.  I kind of scratch my head and wonder what are they griping about.

One of the principles of economics is supply and demand.  One of the principles that I heard in a advertisement when I was young was “You get what you pay for.”  That’s true in life generally.  If you want to take the easy road and party on the way then don’t expect to have a mansion waiting for you at the end of the day.  If you want to borrow through the nose assuming that you will either make so much money paying it back will be easy or else the government will do it for you, you deserve whatever poverty you end up in.  If you are buying expensive phones, eating out at expensive restaurants, having food delivered to your door and expecting your checking account to balance, I have a bridge in New York I would like to sell you.  The problem with that is you couldn’t afford it.

Are times hard?  Yes.  But you forget the times have always been hard.  No one can expect to move out into adulthood and immediately start living at the standard which your parents provided when you moved out.  They went through hard times, or at least most of them did.  They grew in the process.  Hopefully they learned the magic of delayed gratification.  And unless they’ve done something really silly, they’re probably going to be OK in retirement.  The same principles will apply to the younger generation.  The one thing they don’t want to consider is that it doesn’t happen overnight.  Another thing they don’t want to consider is that the world does not owe them a living especially in the style to which they want to become accustomed.

Tighten your belt.  Put off buying that new phone.  Drive your old car for a couple more years.  Fix meals at home.  Use the public library.  The results may astound you.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-523: On the Street: Shopping Trip

Part of my plan for today is to go to a local mall and just walk around and see if there’s anything I want to buy.  I’m not counting on it.  I can usually do an entire mall in about 15 or 20 minutes.  I don’t buy shoes.  My feet are too big.  I don’t buy jewelry.  I have too much common sense.  I don’t buy a lot of things, but I enjoy walking around every once in a while and seeing what’s there.  Last time I was at this mall, they had a sign as you went in.  That said they did not want anybody in the mall who was carrying a concealed weapon.  I turned around and walked out.  That was enough.  I knew they didn’t want me.  And I feel very insecure were law-abiding citizens are not allowed to arm themselves for their self protection.  As I drive through the parking lot, it looks like I’m not the only one that has this idea because there’s only one car in the parking lot and it’s possible that it’s been stalled there overnight.  I’m going to get out and go up and see if it’s still open.  I’m not sure that posting that sign was a good idea for their business.

If the sign is still up and there’s any opportunity to talk to management, I will point out to them that I can’t spend money if I’m not in the mall.  It’s kind of like playing golf when you’re putting.  You can’t get it in the hole unless you get to the hole.

...

The stores don’t open until 11:00.  It must be nice to have customers who have the leisure to sleep in.  I will move on.  Walmart will be open.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-521: What a Country

I’m in the dog food section at Walmart.  What a selection.  We have country stew, savory cuts with beef, bacon cheeseburger, filet mignon, T-bone, but no just plain dog food.  What ever happened to chicken?

I wonder how the dogs are going to get through with the EBT and SNAP cuts?

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-509: Just Say “No”

I have frequently heard people mocking Nancy Reagan for her “Just Say No” campaign against drugs.  Most of those who are mocking her were probably making some money or had some vested interest in allowing the plague to continue.  “No” is a very effective answer in many situations.

I was talking to someone recently about the war on drugs and all the money the cartels are making.  I may have missed the article, but I’m not hearing about the drug cartels breaking into homes, tying people down and injected addictive drugs into their veins.  I don’t think there are very many cases where people are forced to take drugs.

The exception would be child trafficking and prostitution and perversions of that nature.  There is obviously coercion involved, but I don’t think that’s what’s causing the epidemic.  Usually, it’s just a refusal to say no.

Refusing to say no goes far beyond the war on drugs.  It is at the root of much of our social chaos.  Debt is a destructive force in our country and around the world.  Since we live in a victim culture it is easy to blame the organizations extending credit.  It makes us feel virtuous.  It excuses irresponsible behavior.  It ignores the reality that much of the debt that is accumulated is from wanting something now instead of later.  We have rejected delayed gratification.  After all, we deserve it, right?  I remember when I was in my phase of Panara I would get the same thing every day:  A piece of baguette and coffee.  I was so regular that they would have it waiting by the time I got to the counter.  I think it cost around $3.00 at the time.  As I sat drinking coffee and doing Bible study I would look up and see guys walking by with these luscious creations that made my mouth water.  I could have afforded it but I stuck to my budget.  I am not sure they could afford it but they had a credit card.

Over the years I have had a wide of variety in my cars.  I have driven Volkswagen.  I have had several Cadillacs.  The one thing they had in common was that they were old when I bought them.  It wasn’t just the price of the car.  It also lowers the cost of insurance and license.  We put the money to thing like the principle on our mortgage.

Our kids dressed well.  That was because we had friends who passed their expensive hand-me-downs to us and we were not too proud to wear them.  I did not get hand-me-downs.  I got my clothes at the Goodwill on Rodeo drive.

Every time you say no to the allure of fashion and social acceptance you increase the long term quality of life.  It is a principle that the younger generation needs to learn.  I would guess there are a lot of older ones that need the same lesson.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-498: Socialists Don’t Sweat

Why does socialism always fail?

I believe it was Margaret Thatcher, who put it in a nutshell when she said, “They always run out of other peoples money.”  Don’t let the word money get you distracted.  Money is just something that substitutes for items that you want to trade or barter.  So let’s just say that eventually the government runs out of other peoples assets.

To most of us that doesn’t mean anything.  We have credit cards, we have debit cards, we know what it is to get something for nothing.  Or we think we get it for nothing.  We have whole generations who don’t understand the central concept of credit that eventually you have to pay it back.  I remember a discussion between Charlie Kirk and Tucker Carlson.  Charlie was explaining to him that we have a whole generation of people who somehow have used up their credit, but they can go around the credit and order a pizza on the installment plan.  And so they do.  It’s constructed in such a way that it’s outside of the normal controls of credit cards and credit but it’s the same thing just under a different name.

So these people will order a pizza with the idea that they will pay for it and four installments.  Of course, the next day they want another pizza and the next day another pizza.  Because they have no concept of earning their own way, they keep digging deeper and deeper into debt.  In the real world, they will eventually run into a wall where the pizza delivery man will demand immediate payment and since they have no assets to give him, he will take the pizza back to the store.

It always amazes me how people don’t seem to understand, but not only do they have to pay back what they charge on their credit card, but there are extremely high interest rates that are attached if they stretch it out over a period of time.  And the person who will stretch it out over a period of time because they can’t pay it is the same person that will continue charging.

Now let’s look at the large economy.  Ultimately, there are only a few places where assets are developed.  I have heard some summarize it as growing food and mining ore.  They generally come at the cost of sweaty labor.  That sweaty labor is delivered by sweaty laborers.  In other words, someone has to produce the wheat that makes the pizza crust.  Someone else has to produce the bricks that make the oven in which the pizza is baked.  I would guess that a majority of people think that this is done by the little red hen and that instead of saying she would eat it herself she just continues to turn it over to those who have been taking naps.

Ultimately, the sweaty laborer is going to want to be paid.  He’s going to want to be reimbursed for the effort he’s put in.  He will want some assets in exchange for his sweat.  If society takes him for granted and refuses to pay because, after all, we’re in this together, he will eventually retreat to his truck garden where he is raising enough food for him and his family, and the wheatfield will become a weed field.

Then you have a deadly domino effect that kicks in.

First, the mills shut down because there’s no grain to grind.  Then the bakery shuts down because there’s no flour to make bread.  Of course that assumes that the bakers showed up and joined the sweaty masses.  Then the store shelves become empty because nobody is baking bread.  And then the masses riot because there is no bread.  All they see is the fact that the greedy grocery store is not supplying what they need, that the politicians are not delivering on their promises, that the rich are eating cake and caviar.  What they don’t see is that there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch.

Can the socialist turn out the army to force the sweaty laborers in the field to produce grain?  Possibly for a while.  The problem is that the sweaty laborer who is being amply rewarded for his work will put in that little extra something which produces the profit margin that becomes the asset that can be passed on.  The sweaty laborer who is compelled to work by the bayonet will take a nap every time his minder looks the other way.  Being clever as well as sweaty he will mix in some sand or dirt with the grain in the bag put it on the truck and go home to dinner, if they left anything for him to eat.  If they didn’t leave him anything to eat he will get weaker and starve to death, and there will be no sweaty laborers who know how to raise wheat.

You think this is just my imagination?  Then go look at how socialism worked in the Soviet Union when they starved the Ukrainian peasants to death.  Would you want a television made in a Soviet factory during those days?  It would make a nice paperweight and conversation piece but would be pretty much useless for entertainment.

In other words, socialism doesn’t work because lazy is the default setting in human beings.  Go back and read the story of The Little Red Hen.  When it was time to work, everyone had an excuse.  When it came time to eat, everyone had their napkin around their neck and a fork in their hand.  Unfortunately the little red hen was the one who had the bread and the lazy laborers did not have an army to take it away from her.

Socialism has never worked, and it will never work because you will never get to the place where people will give you according to their ability and only take according to their genuine need.

It is as obvious as it is simple.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-408: Banana Economics

When I go to the grocery store at this present time, it seems like the only fruit that I’m willing to pay for is bananas. I think I had the choice of the basic banana at $.54 a pound or I could get what I assumed were organic bananas for $.78 a pound.  I went for the cheaper brand.  It was my choice. It was my money.

As I was thinking about bananas I started thinking about how they are grown and delivered.  My son gave me a long dissertation recently on the dynamics of bananas reaching the shelf.  It was rather interesting.  I got to thinking about the first steps of banana production.  Bananas grow in tropical climates.  I don’t know how much care the plants take, but somewhere in the chain there are human beings out caring for the trees, cutting the fruit off and preparing it for shipment.  None of those things are done in air-conditioned warehouses.  All of them require someone who is desperate enough to feed himself and his family that they will go out and work in an atmosphere that we would find repugnant.

They have no choice.  I’m just guessing here, but I would also assume that they do not have air-conditioning in their homes.  It’s possible that they don’t have running water and flush toilet toilets.  In some areas there might just be one or two electrical outlets.  These assumptions are based on stereotypes, but they work for my point.  You can adjust them as you need to.

The point is that these human beings who are also created in the image of God, just like me and you, do not have available to them the option of air conditioning.  I would guess they don’t even have the option of food unless they get themselves out of bed, go out the door and show up at these sweaty jobs.  Does the world owe them air conditioning?  Does the world owe them gourmet food?  Should everyone have a microwave?

Now bring that concept home to the United States.  I keep hearing about all these young people living in their parents basement.  I tried to think of anybody I knew that had able-bodied young adults living in their basement and in my circle I couldn’t find anyone.  I did think of one person at church who has a grandson and his wife living in an RV behind her house, which is somewhat similar.  If mommy and daddy are happy and Junior is happy and no one cares about the future of the next generation, then I have no real input.

But that’s not the picture I get.  I get a picture of parents that are very frustrated with their children living in the basement and playing video games all day.  I have a solution.

First of all you need to cut off the air conditioning in that part of the house.  Air conditioning is not a requirement for life.  It may be a requirement for comfort, but it is not a requirement for life.  Secondly, and this might take some technological savvy, turn off their Wi-Fi.  This may involve simply changing the passwords.  Next put a lock on the refrigerator and all the cabinets so that they can’t raid the kitchen when they’re hungry.  If you’re really compassionate, you might put a supply of peanut butter, crackers, and a glass of water at the top of the stairs.  If you really want them to get motivated, don’t even do that.  Stop cleaning their room for them.  Stop doing their laundry for them.  In a short phrase, encourage them to move out.

Their next step might be to move in with some friends or into someone else’s basement, but eventually that will run out of people willing to support them.  The day will come when they have a choice of going out and getting a menial job and sweating in the sun or starving to death.  If they choose to starve to death, then some of the money you saved by kicking them out of the basement can be used for a nice funeral.  It’s their choice.  Everywhere I look there are people looking for help, wanting to hire people.

If all they can find his minimum wage work, so be it.  At that point, if they are moving forward and showing responsibility, parents might extend a carefully measured helping hand.  Don’t give the air conditioning, but at least give them enough to encourage them to keep working.

It’s a long way from the bananas of Central America to the Wi-Fi in your basement.  As I said, I don’t know anyone like this or have it in my circle of family and friends.  I could be doing nothing but extending a stereotype.  At the same time, someone has to harvest my bananas.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-394: Asian Kitties

As I was putting on my Crocs to go out on the porch this morning I glanced at the bottom and noticed that they were made in Vietnam.  That got me to thinking about how much of our imported production is switching from China to other locations.  Vietnam is one of them.  I wondered why I was OK with a product made in Vietnam, but tried to avoid Chinese goods.  This is doubly strange since I served in the Vietnam war and I know that there was a bit of animosity there.

We have a record of being able to make peace with enemies from previous times.  Good examples would be Germany and Japan.  I think we tend to forget some of the ambitions of certain countries because they’re smaller.  I don’t expect Germany or Japan to try to attack us.  They seem to have more than learned their lesson.  I wouldn’t say the same about Vietnam if it had the capability.

That remind me of how I saw a meme one time of a cute little cat and the point was that if the cat were big enough, it would love to eat me.  I think the same is true of Vietnam.  I think they are realistic enough to know that they are not going to conquer the world.  That doesn’t mean they don’t have the desire.

I wonder how many other countries there are that would love to conquer the world if they thought they had a chance.  One of the unique qualities of the United States is that we have never seriously thought in those terms.

Maybe it is a thought whose time has come.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-385: Headlines: Maximum Wage

The headline said some thing about NBA guards getting paid $38 million a year.  I didn’t bother looking to see what it was about.  I don’t watch professional sports.  At this point I don’t watch sports at all.  I have a life.

All I can say is more power to you.  If in the system of free enterprise the National Basketball Association teams can you forward to pay those kind of salaries and still stay solvent then go for it.  The only thing that would disturb me is if I heard that they were getting a government subsidy through USAID or some other rip off.  If there are enough sports junkies in this country to buy the products from the advertisers who pay the teams to employ these athletes then I salute them.  I have no envy.  My bills are paid, I have food in the pantry and more important, my children have turned out well.  I wish them the same sense of joy and purpose that I have.  I have a feeling it won’t depend on the number of zeros in your paycheck.

That doesn’t mean I will buy what they advertise but I would not know since I don’t watch.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-252: On the Street: New and Improved

As I walk I check for mail that might have been delivered the previous day.  As I headed out all I saw was some junk mail.  On the way back I pulled it out to file it.  Walking up the steps I read the first line of the computer simulated hand-written note.  They wanted to sell me new windows and doors.  I guess they didn’t notice we had already done that a few year ago.  

The line that got me was, “Now’s the perfect time!  We have a special new customer sale going on. PLUS, for a limited time...”

It must be me but I would hope that they would have a “new customer” sale going on.  I would hope that their work was good enough that they would not be trying to sell new windows to old customers.  My parents lived in the same house for over 30 years and I don’t remember them replacing any windows.  I must admit that if my wife had lived there she would have had a need for new ones but that is a mark of affluence, not need.

Be a good steward of  your resources.  May your windows never stick and your doors never sag.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-349: Firsts: Small Beginnings

It wasn’t much, only three cents.  The point is it was in the right direction.  I noticed an item in the grocery store went down in price.  You may not have noticed, but I only buy a few things on a regular basis and I have a feel for how much they cost so I was a bit shocked when I saw that the individual servings of Greek yogurt that I have been consuming went from $.72 two $.69.  I noticed when it went up a couple months ago.  And now I noticed when it went down.

Is this a signal of a massive economic recovery?  To me it speaks more than the price of eggs because I don’t buy eggs very often.  I do buy this particular unit of yogurt on a regular basis.  It’s not much, but again it’s in the right direction.

Maybe if there are enough little moves the big things will move.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-322: Fix It

One of the important discussions that I had with my son when he was growing up involved the difference between “I need” and “I want”.  At times it’s hard to know the difference, but there are some basic characteristics that are just not the same.

A need is something which, if not met, could lead to serious consequences, such as death or massive destruction of property.  I want is something that you have an emotional desire for, and the emotion tends to overcome your rational processes.  That you may need breakfast or you won’t be able to work is probable.  You don’t need Sugar Frosted Flakes.  A need is something you make sacrifices of other important things to achieve.  For instance if it’s winter your children may need shoes.  If you lived in Hawaii, that might not be a real need.  It might just be a want.  If you live in Illinois, it’s definitely a need.  However the latest cool fashion in winter boots is not a need.  It is a want.  You might go without a new coat for yourself in order to get shoes for your children, but you wouldn’t do so just to get them the latest fashion.  Or maybe you would.  Your choice.  Your money.

I’ll take that idea and extend it into the world of government payments.  Let me really meddle and talk about Medicare.  I am on Medicare, so I am qualified to be critical.  I’m basically healthy so some might consider me insensitive.  That may be true but it doesn’t overrule the logic.

Think about the things that Medicare pays for that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.  I know one lady who went in and had her eyelids lifted.  Granted, it did not cost hundreds of thousands of dollars but when are droopy eyelids life-threatening?  The question is should Medicare have paid for it?  Or let’s get to something a little more serious such as a new joint of some kind.  If you’re 85 years old, well, let’s change that to 77 since that’s what I am, is it life-threatening to have to hobble around, use a cane, and lean on a walker?  If you were young father, trying to support a family it would be one thing but to be retired and just getting around the house it’s another.  One is life-threatening; one is certainly comfortable, but it doesn’t ruin your future.  Should Medicare pay for it?

Quality of life is a consideration but it is a slippery slope.  An example of that is the issue of abortion.  Most reasonable people are willing to allow abortion to save the life of the mother.  The problem for people advocating abortion is that with modern medicine the mother’s physical life is almost never threatened because of a healthy preganancy. The reason liberals like the argument is that they redefine the term to include “quality of life” not life or death.  Thus if a woman feels she will be depressed if she has the child, that is a quality of life issue and she should be free to kill the baby.  The problem with exceptions is that we tend to think we deserve them but the other guy doesn’t.

There will come a time when we will face that fact that we can’t afford every joint replacement and eye lift.  You might want to schedule your procedure before we reach that point.


homo unius libri

Opus 2025-257: Headlines: This time it’s different

One of the recent headlines tells us that President Trump is going to write an executive order to decrease the price of prescription drugs dramatically.  Everyone cheers.  Everyone claps each other on the back.  Everyone forgets what happens when the government tries to control prices.

I think of Nixon and the price of gas.  There was never a real shortage but his clumsy attempts to control the market caused long lines and stations with no gas.  It was horrible and is the standard response to elites who know more than the free market.  Extreme inflation, hoarding, black markets and shortages are the result.

Why do we think it will be any different this time?  Is it because we are special?  I don’t think the laws of economics care about how wonderful you are.  Remember that the price of eggs went down because the government got out of the way not because Trump is a better egg layer.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-197: Family Feud

I was watching an interview with Neil Ferguson and Konstantin Kisin where the statement was made that generation Z is not able to match up and have families because of the cost of housing.  It sounds good.  It sounded good when my children bought homes and provided grandchildren.  It sounded good when I was young and the first born arrived.  I think it sounded good when my parents were young.

By sounding good I don’t mean it is true.  It means it is a good excuse.

Investigate this a little bit.  Houses are expensive but I don’t think the problem is the cost of housing.  Children are a lot of work but they are also a lot of reward.  I don’t think it is an economic problem.  It is a moral and cultural problem where a narcissistic group wants everything and wants it perfect so they’re not willing to risk mortgages, relationships and the pregnancies.  They are not willing to make the sacrifices.  They are not willing to lower their sights on the number of bedrooms and the logos on their cars.

Fifty years ago I heard how a family could not survive on one salary.  I have heard it on a regular basis ever since.  Somehow, in spite of that common wisdom we did it.  How?  Can you spell “used cars”, “yard sales”, “thrift stores”, “hand me downs” and “stifled pride”?  Today it is working for my children.

I am humble enough to admit it might not work out for everyone.  I am discerning enough to know that most people won’t try.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-160: The Cheap Capitalist

Do you get irritated by the adds that keep interrupting on You Tube?  When I do I need to remind myself that if I don’t like it I can pay the fee to be exempted.  My choice.  Your choice.  We need to stop complaining.

My contribution to free enterprise and the entrepreneur spirit is not paying for things if I can help it and still remain honest.  I’m all for people going out starting businesses offering services, selling products, doing whatever it takes to earn a living and make a profit.  I salute him.  At the same time I must concede that my responsibility is to keep them honest . That means that I often don’t buy much unless I have to.  It means I price shop.  It means I wait for a sale.  It means I realize I didn’t need it anyway.  

Some suggestions.

Use the library.  I find that the list of books I want to read keeps growing.  There is no way I can keep up.  Many of them can be read a year or two later at no loss.  Many of them I don’t hear about until they are decades old, some centuries.  Unless the book is a reference book that I feel I will need repeatedly, there is little reason to pay full price.  Libraries will also add books you want to their list of purchases.  If you must buy something start checking the Friends of the Library section, yard sales or used book stores.  I guarantee you will be able to find plenty to read.

Movies?  Wait until it comes out free on YouTube.  That may mean you have to watch a few commercials.  So be it.  Is it worth it?  If not then maybe you didn’t need to see it anyway.  And also, again, libraries.  They have aisles of things to chose from.

Add up all the money that you would save each month if you cancel the subscription services and really unnecessary things online or on the phone.  Multiplied by 12 that gives you what you save in a year.  Now multiply over your working career of 40 years and ask yourself how much would I be worth if I had simply shown a little more discipline.  Would it be a down payment on a house?  Would it mean I could stay retired when Social Security goes away?  I have no idea but I do know that it adds up.

If you must purchase, then enjoy the euphoria.  And please donate your purchases soon so that I can do my part to keep the economy going.  

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-113: Investment Opportunity

I’m thinking that there might be a lot of money to be made by offering a line of stylishly designed tin hats.  We all are aware of conspiracy theories.  Most of us are aware that conspiracy theories tend to turn out to be true.  As we look at the increasing number of people who are coming down with cancers and other physical problems that have not been on our radar, often we can see the association with the vaccines that were pushed upon us.  Recently, we heard about a death at my wife’s church.  A woman in her 40's with several children suddenly died of cancer.  It didn’t make any sense.  Then one day, my wife asked me if I remembered that young woman who just died. I said, “Yes.”  She answered with one word, “vaccinated.”

Now that is just one of the conspiracy theories that seems to be panning out to our horror and dismay.  What we tend to overlook are those people who have been wearing the tin hats for years, claiming that vaccines were causing a lot of the problems we were seeing in our young people.  The correlation between autism and vaccines is very strong.  While keeping in mind the fact that correlation does not mean causation, it certainly is an indication to do some research and digging into the data.  Such research, if it is being done, is being covered up.  More conspiracy theories that seem to pan out in the end.

Anyway, I’m wondering if we could start a business and market the hats that the apocryphal conspiracy nuts wore made of tin or aluminum.  I’m not sure what the point of them was, what they were mocking, or what the caused the fear.  I think it had to do with blocking mysterious beams from penetrating your mind and controling your actions by wearing a tin hat.  If we had a good marketing campaign and PR people, we could probably convince the sheep who continue to vote for Democrats that this was the way to be with it and cool.  We could probably find an Italian designer to come up with new ways of folding.  We might decorate with rabbits’ feet or crystals.

There is a fortune waiting to be made, or to paraphrase an old phrase, “There’s gold in them thar tin hats.”

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-057: Balancing Act

We need to keep in mind the principles that have been espoused about responsible government and overspending.  My concern here is two of the announcements given in Trump’s great inauguration speech.  He announced that he was creating two new government bureaucracies.  He announced DOGE, and a department involving external revenue.  In the past I heard that DOGE was going to be sunset in a couple years and was going to be mainly a volunteer organization.  I was very on board for that, but it sounds like now it’s going to become just another typical government organization, throwing its weight around.  I’m all for the concept of cutting back government waste.  I don’t think we can do that by starting more government waste.

And about this department having to do with external revenue, I think that we already have the capacity to do that through the IRS.  The I in IRS stands for internal of course.  Any money which is made in this country is included.  That also includes money made by international corporations.  We don’t have the right to go into other countries and demand a tax from what happens there.  We already have the capacity.  We don’t need to expand the government to do it.

If we think that these are such wonderful ideas then I would suggest an idea that I have heard from somewhere, I don’t know where.  I think I’ve heard of several places.  The original statement had to do with a demand that for every new regulation a government imposes it is required to cancel three or four.  If we apply that to government agencies, then for each new government agency that Trump establishes he needs to dismantle another.  He has already suggested the Department of Education.  I am definitely on board with that.  There are other departments that could also could be done away with.  Maybe our goal should be to cut back to the level authorized in the Constitution.  What a novel idea.  At least in part the staffing on these new agencies can come from the ones that are being dissolved, but the total employees should go down dramatically.

Then you have the announcement currently for $500 billion for AI development.  I wasn’t aware private enterprise needed this kind of stimulus in an area where they are already doing so well.  Where are we going to get $500 billion when we’re already in the tank so far.  I didn’t read the article, just the Clickbait.

Overall I’m excited at what I see.  My memory tells me that one of the big problems that Trump has is that he likes to spend money.  As he spends it, he needs to find a way to cut spending in other areas so that the economy can recover quicker.

I have hope for the future politically. I have confidence for the future spiritually. Hopefully the two will go together.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-370: The Measure of Success

If they keep doing it, it must be because it works.  If it works, it must be because we keep falling for it.

I speak of Clickbait.  Even worse than Clickbait is the dangling promise that is never fulfilled.  There are many headlines that look interesting.  On occasion I will fall for it.  Click.  Sometimes after I click at the beginning, it seems like this is going to be interesting.  But as the short video winds on, I keep not hearing what I’m listening for.  As it approaches the end, I realize what’s going on.  They are trying to get me to subscribe to their channel by grabbing my interest with something that is worth being interested in.  They do a good job of keeping my attention.  I sometimes watch to the point that they say something to the effect, “if you want to know the answer to this puzzle, subscribe to our feed.”

Now, as I said at the beginning, if it didn’t work, they wouldn’t keep trying to do it.  The other side of that is the only way it works is that there are enough people who keep falling for it that it pays them to deceive.  In a free country they can do this.  I salute them.  If it supports them and advances their agenda in life, and doesn’t do any real harm to those of us who hang up, more power to them.  At the same time, it wouldn’t work if we weren’t so gullible, and if we did not refuse to see what’s written on the wall in front of us.

This is another form of “people get the government they deserve”.  I have family members who don’t like me saying that.  The fact that they don’t like it does not make it any less true.  We got Joe Biden.  I admit the election was stolen.  I think it was a hideous crime by the Democrats and the deep state.  At the same time they would not have gotten away with it if the people in those states did not put up with.  It shows that they did and continue to like it.

You get the YouTube videos you deserve.

homo unius libri