Just can’t figure out which problem is it.

Today’s madness is brought to you in part by the Kardashian family, our President, Africa, Representative Duncan Hunter, and a host of other human beings and human institutions.

And before I get started since it applies somewhere in all this, of all the Plutocrats, despots, etc we could have found to destroy this country, how did we end up with Trump? You do not hear President Putin of Russia or President Xi Jinping of China acting the fool like President Trump. Trump acts more like a third world despot than a first world leader even for a plutocratic dictator of a major power.

And with that note; we all hear the terms third world problems, or first world problems, today I am going to add two new terms. We have affluenza problems and one percenter problems.

Affluenza you may recall is a term the defense used by a family thought they were wealthy and felt their son should be not guilty of killing some people because of his DUI because he just didn’t grow up in an environment where he understood the consequences of his actions, or some such nonsense. This is not an affluenza problem, but some people think it is. There are no real affluenza problems, this is a term I am going to use to describe how bad people can behave who think they have wealth, but really are barely above upper middle class and one bad event could probably put them back into reality. They probably will not accept it, but it can and will happen.

So, today’s example of an affluenza problem is Representative Hunter from Southern California.  He is fighting his indictment about abuse of campaign funds. Apparently to maintain a certain lifestyle his family wanted he is accused of using some of his campaign funds. Now, let’s be fair, he is indicted not convicted. He should be considered innocent till proven guilty. Yet, I lost total respect for him today even though he served in the Marines and in Desert Storm. He just lost all credibility with me. Why?

First, the better half and I have been blessed with wonderful events, good times etc, and, we have had bad things happen to us, made mistakes, bad decisions, yet every morning or every discussion is a we discussion. No matter what happened we experienced it together, it was our blessing, it was our fault. Representative Hunter in an article I read this morning threw his wife under the bus and backed up multiple times. Not only did he act like he was unaware of what was going on, if anything was going on, if it was, she did it. That is low, that is lower than snake low. Even Mr. Cohen who has a host of other affluenza problems went State evidence supposedly to protect his family and at least leave them some assets. My God, the self-described fixer for Donald Trump had more decency than this Congressman from Southern California. Okay it was one article, but sheesh if anywhere close to his feelings the man needs to be put away for a much longer time than what his crimes might. Who knows, maybe she will step up and admit everything and it was all her fault, but to come out publicly and just say I was unaware of what she was doing, do not point fingers at me. That is the stuff that hurts the soul deep.

Again, there are no real affluenza problems, there are people who have an affluenza problem. They cannot understand reality because their perceived self-importance hinders their ability to act and think rationally.

There are first world problems, yet they are of the fixable nature. And these are more pronounced with the ever-growing wealth gap, wage stagnation, diminishing healthcare for the dollars people are spending, education debt, decline in savings, etc. Soon there may be a new category of problems somewhere in between first world problems and third world problems.

Generally, though you can think of first world problems as your water heater busting the same month you had two flat tires or other car repairs during back to school month. This is fixable. It is going to cause stress and some adjustments, but most people in the first world can work through this, may take longer for some over others, but workable.

So, what is a one percenter problem. Affluenza problem is a problem, yet it is created because of bad behavior. And in many cases can create real problems for someone else. One percenter problems are self-created problems. The Kardashians are the best example. They do not have one problem at all. Everything that can happen to them is fixable. They create their own self perceived problems. One percenters are so out of touch with reality that when something goes bad they think it is a problem. It isn’t. It is just their perception. High crimes such as murder are a problem for all people, yet for one percenters, they are treated so differently that they do not experience the difficulty of the problem that everyone else does. It literally is not a problem, it is an inconvenience. And yes, I said that, and it is scary, yet true. You know you are a one percenter when you must tell people you have a problem. The concept of the problem is only in their mind. As the saying goes: “I wish I had their problems.”

And now for third world problems. These exist. People suffer through disease with no health care, natural disasters with no federal emergency fund, despots that commit genocide, or turn on their own people consuming resources for themselves while their people suffer. People are hungry, destitute, live in squalor, no clothing or shoes even when freezing, life honestly sucks for them.

We can do better has a human race, but we need to prioritize what are the problems, yet until we overcome greed and corruption in the first world, these people will suffer. And what amazes me, is no one in the first world needs to give up anything. Okay maybe some time and I am not talking about volunteer work time, even though that can be helpful. I am talking about the time for us to hold our leaders accountable to how we treat the world.

Solving third world problems will not be easy yet solving them benefits the whole. If people have a better, life it is shared. Stronger economies across the board helps with trade, education, jobs, sharing of ideas, democracy. Heck, it makes being a tourist more fun. It makes being a human more fun. You share in everyone’s culture and life. Creativity is fostered because everyone has a chance to contribute. The best answers going forward are developed. Raising people up by giving them a fighting chance to be successful should be our goal. We cannot give handouts, we can give a hand.

To help the whole planet takes all of us, yet we are letting opportunities pass us by. We need to stop the decline of Western Civilization so to speak and apply ourselves to fulfilling our destiny given to us by our forefathers. It is good to be successful. It is not good to ignore others lack of success. Time we redirected who we are back to a path that creates success for the whole. There are no other problems than the ones we ignore the most.

Whhoooaaaa nellie

Or hold your horses as they use to say back in the day

So how much of a euphoric hangover do you have this morning? Much news yesterday. I haven’t looked at the news yet today, somewhat timid about looking. The President is in uncharted waters for him so let's see what happens. He is going to lash out maybe fight back.

I still stand by my feelings he is committing treason against the Constitution, yet none of what happened yesterday addresses that. The Republicans just won’t stand up for us right now and the Russians are still on the attack, especially if what Microsoft said yesterday is any indication.

Also I heard one quick hit on something about Christopher Steele and a libel suit that seemed to be good news, but I didn’t see any details and this story seemed to have been buried behind the other news.

I have a feeling the next bit of major news will be slow in coming. We receive a bombshell report and then weeks of waiting.

It is deep breath time and see what the day brings.

And soon I will have my annual Cowboys prediction. I am still thinking on it because I cannot get a feel at all on the team this year.

So much insanity, so little time again and again

Greed and Plutocracy are not the American way, or at least the American way I know and love.

Some people though are working hard to destroy this country. I was talking to someone and they were thinking that sooner or later the alt right and the elitists are going to clash. I do not know. They have been using each other for a long time now. They do not advertise it, but I think most of you have already seen this marriage of convenience. Fox news has been the conduit of this relationship for a long time.

I have to go slow. The anger was welling up to uncomfortable levels the last few days. I know I am not saying anything to new to get started.

One article out there today was that Stephen King, the author, had another tweet that did something or other to the President, He was outraged or something. And this is one of the reasons I am mad. Everyone is outraged on twitter or whatever social media, but when you say let’s do something about it…..crickets….

People seem dumbfounded by any call to change. So many people agree there is a problem, yet getting people to attack it is worse than pulling teeth. People get teeth pulled, but getting together to do help make their lives better is crazy. And this is all over the place.

Senator Sanders was on TV the other day with his “socialist democratic” platform. And he was asked don’t you think you are causing yourself some extra work by labeling it socialistic, he said no and gave details on the platform. I disagree. He is causing himself problems getting his message out by using this label. Some of his platform is not bad sounding, somewhat unrealistic, but not bad sounding. He shouldn’t label it with a term that turns off much of middle America. He did make a good point when he said the Democrats need to be in all fifty states, not just the East and West Coast. That is part of their pretentious problem, they ignore middle America and treat it with disdain. And people wonder why Trump gets away with all his tweets about fake news etc.  Many Americans have felt under appreciated by the media for a long time now. It isn’t because the news is fake, but Trump has directed their anger well.

And going back to Trump he needs to be impeached, but not for the collusion issue, even if it truly exists. Well, that is impeachable, but there are harder and more pressing issues.

And it is not because of his character, his lies, his vile behavior, his under the covers racism, that is for him and God to discuss one day.

He needs to be impeached because he is attacking the Constitution. And I know I am not the only one that feels this way. Everyday his actions are a direct attack on our founding document. The best document written by man and he chews it up and spits it out on a daily basis. He swore to uphold it and he is failing it. This is impeachable. Enough of our Congress is part of the plutocracy/greed machine that he won’t be impeached. The vast majority of our Congress though is scared. Flat out scared of the biggest bully on the block. Speaker Ryan abdicated his responsibilities, Sen. Flake is quitting on the fight, others just duck and cover hoping they aren’t noticed. It is a terrible shame. Trump by all accounts doesn’t care either. His attacks on our institutions, our government, his outright lies, our values, individuals, etc proves he should never be President. Yet the pretentious left discounted half the country, the Democrats did nothing to improve education, the Reps and Dems let the middle class decline so now we have a despicable, characterless, narcissistic, greedy, POS President that needs to be impeached because he is attacking the Constitution.

And certain people in this country spent decades cultivating a group of people to convince them to believe greed is good (remember the movie  line) and we do not know what we are doing so we need someone to tell us how to live. And they are now well conditioned including people in Congress that this is right and good. People sit around and wait for crumbs from the bones to fall down on them from the elites and think it is good. They worship this crap. Tell them differently and you are unamerican. They are the people (another movie line) that were shouting out the window I am mad as hell and I am not going to take it anymore. It was good they were mad, heck it is still good. The problem was their anger was mischanneled by the wrong people. They are getting screwed by their own anger. And their anger is so deep and entrenched now, why, because they were ignored for so long, that they blame the people that ignored them (and somewhat rightfully so) over the people who are taking advantage of them. If I tell you who the bad guys are enough you are going to believe it; especially if I tell you, you’ve been wronged and you are good. People like to be flattered, not talked down to.

And the pretentious left keeps piling on to their own stupidity. If you try to tell people that a person they like is bad you are going to have to work with them to get them to realize it. Human nature is if you like a person or relate to them, even if it goes against your own values, they will still protect that person over others accusing them of whatever. Even if they know somewhere deep in their hearts the person in question is wrong, they will still first protect. Why we are wired this way I do not know, but we are. Trump’s base isn’t going to quit on him because someone says he is bad. They are deaf to the noise from the media because the noise from the media is what has hissed them off for years. Trump tells them they are important, he even talks down to people, but laces it with flattery. The media is telling the same people they do not count because they support Trump. Certain people on Fox are telling them they are right, they were discounted as people and they need to stand up with Trump to protect their “interests”. Unfortunately it is not their interests, but the greed and plutocrats interests, but hey that is not important right now, because for now they think it is their interests. The brainwashing continues.

All the while Trump attacks the Constitution daily while his “base” thinks he is attacking the bad people who have ignored and forgotten them. He has tied the destruction of our government and our Constitution into the groups they are hissed at historically. It is working like a charm for him, the alt right, and the plutocrats. The question is will the elitists get tired of him or realize they have bigger problems if Trump takes over and starts making demands on them. Or will greed consume them so they support Trump (his tax or actually Ryan’s tax bill for example) to the point where it is too late for them and we get an actual revolution in this country or another civil war and everything they have is torn apart by the fighting.

Again anger is welling up inside me greatly so I cannot see straight, and I am doing what I say shouldn’t be done and talk down or act like I know more than others. Yet, I believe we need to take strong action to rebuild a better base than Trump’s and get him impeached or out of office and start the work we need to keep this country great.

The plutocrats and the greedy do not care about you, the Constitution, our lives, our way of life, but they have convinced a fair amount of our neighbors that they should be in charge even to their and our detriment. So why when I bring up doing something, whether on this blog, other forums and even in person with people, I get …..crickets…….

I understand when Trump says we need immigration reform, we need to drain the swamp (we do), we need better infrastructure, that these are rational sounding ideas and any hard working American would want certain things, but some of us know this is all part of Trump’s charade. We must fight back with real change ideas and give most Americans a fighting chance for a decent life. Or we can all kiss our country goodbye via Trump’s rear end.

Many of you have heard the phrase.. (and all this has a point)

..I wanna be like that person when I grow up. I don’t think it is a great idea to be exactly like whoever you choose and I know most people are really referencing it that way.

What they are saying is I want to achieve what the person has; I want to have their values; I want to make the impression that person has made; or,

Some people say it jokingly, others with sarcasm, others in ridicule, yet it has some meaning to someone in whatever way you reference.

I am a person that does not want to grow up, so I usually do not worry about who I want to be. And in some ways that may be a problem. Everyone should look up to someone, I do not think I have found that someone. My Dad and Mom split when I was very young and I didn’t get to know my Dad well. I respected my Dad and wish I knew him better, unfortunately he passed away while I was finishing up college. And there have been no real positive influences in my life, however, I feel good about what I believe and my values. So my values are the only positive influence around for many years. Now my family is my positive influence. My kids and better half do real well in life. No one is rich, but they do well.

So, where does that leave me? And ironically one of the Supreme Court decisions I rant and complain about may be my answer.

Citizens United.

As I said before my values are important to me. Now I am still closer to the sinner side of the saint to sinner scale, but I still stress my values to myself and to others. I am sure some of you readers have felt a bit of it on occasion. The issue is what I am going to do with my life?

How about start a super pac? Yeah, that is the ticket. Get some billionaire to give me millions to sit around on my back end complaining about the world. Or???

Actually create one with a purpose.

As you know I brag about not voting for a Democrat or Republican except for a few friends in local elections since 1980. And I emphatically believe we need new major parties. The Republicans and Democrats have failed our country. And it is fun to sit around and post trivial craziness on a blog, yet maybe I should I actually put some of this energy to good use. Or even more energy to good use.

So dear readers I would like some feedback on this idea. I know most people do not comment except for people wanting to sell stuff so I delete those. If you do not want to comment, my email is in the profile section of this blog. I could put it here, but if I make you make an ounce of effort it shows you might have an actual interest.

The goal would be to create a super pac to buy advertising time to create information on independent candidates, some third party candidates, but spend the majority of the time speaking to Dems and Reps are just parties that have come about; there is no requirement we vote for them. And speak to some of the history of attempts by people to create new parties and independent candidates. Another priority would be to show what has happened over the last few decades and show the decline in rational policy that is beneficial to the whole country and more specifically middle class. The messaging would include how Dems and Reps maneuver the system to keep them in power and why that is wrong. More points might include creation of new messaging, show alternative policy ideas from various groups, what responsible governance might produce, what better education means, and more. Also have research and stats on a website with other information that shows why the current policy models are failing us.

The main goal is to build an audience through concentrated advertising to lobby the American public that we need new parties. And use the same platform to start recruiting people to form a new party. Citizens United allows the creation of a super pac to basically overwhelm the other super pacs using their influence to create the laws that are hurting our society, economy, and country. The main tool that is destroying us becomes the same tool that moves us forward and helps us get the ruling overturned or new legislation that overcomes the problems and hidden or dark money ruling our government.

We may never get one party that completely overwhelms the Democrats or Republicans, but we can create a strong enough major party that takes away their dominance and opens the door again for us that Citizens United and our current system has closed on the people.

So comment or email me even if you want to say I am crazy (I already know that), just so I can get an inkling of any interest out there. I know there is some. I have seen others comment in other forums, but action is still very limited. Maybe we just need some place to start.

You can call me crazy for fun, but if you make hateful comments I will delete them.

I still do not want to grow up, yet in the meantime I wouldn’t mind doing something constructive.

I once researched starting a new party, but the majority of the work needs to be done at the State level so some grass roots organizations need to be in place to get that started. And I will do some research on the process to start some of various super pacs or similar organizations just to see what is involved.

Cheers!

Another developing housing crisis?

Well since I normally write an opinion blog, why would I need facts etc to make a point? Maybe this time I do.

And I am not the only person seeing this problem. See this example:

https://www.slate.com/human-interest/2018/03/suburban-housing-costs-are-stretching-families-to-the-brink.html

Or here is another example:

https://www.businessinsider.com/cities-where-incomes-cant-keep-up-with-housing-costs-2017-7

And these are just two scenarios. The actual information or data balances out a bit when the whole country is measured, but the reality is housing costs are rising faster than wages and simply put: this ain’t good.

It is worse in high growth areas such as:

https://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/news/2018/07/10/toyota-hq-employees-in-plano-face-highest-housing.html

Here is the published inflation rate and projected inflation rate:

https://www.statista.com/statistics/244983/projected-inflation-rate-in-the-united-states/

here are some articles about wages:    and compare what they say about how inflation looks in the above article

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/10/09/for-most-workers-real-wages-have-barely-budged-for-decades/

https://www.epi.org/publication/charting-wage-stagnation/

Rent prices: http://www.in2013dollars.com/Rent-of-primary-residence/price-inflation

Since 2000 a quick look shows inflation in general has gone up a bit below 2% while rent specifically has gone up about 3%, while real wages have gone up well according to this next article they aren’t.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/wages-arent-growing-when-adjusted-for-inflation-new-data-finds-2018-07-17

And the author specifically refers to real wages, which calculates some of the above into what a person is earning compared to what they were earning before. It is not an apple to apple comparison, but it takes into account the point I want to make.

Inflation is going up, yet costs like housing are rising higher than inflation and wages by themselves are going up, but not enough to counter inflation and with rents and in many cases actual home prices going up faster there is a gap developing between people being able to afford to put a roof over their head.

And in growth areas rent/housing costs are rising much faster than wage growth, much less real wage growth.

The wealth gap exacerbates this because if people have less savings or cannot save at all, then any downturn in an individual situation will increase the chance they will not be able to afford housing at all.

Does our wonderful government want us to take out hardship withdrawals from our retirement plans just to live? It seems this way.

It is not about just foreclosure rates anymore, rent pricing is becoming a problem. If you cannot afford a house, nor an apartment near where you work (and let’s say near is within 10-20 miles which is broad), then what is a person to do? 50-mile commutes are not unheard of, but now you have increased gas expenses, limited transportation options, being extremely far away from your child’s school if an emergency happens, lost time due to long commutes to manage and more issues. Or what? Have two jobs just to pay the rent? A second job should be for something special or to increase your savings. If a person is working multiple jobs just to make ends meet, what does that say about where we are headed as a society?

This is not the housing crisis of 2008. This is a developing fundamental crisis of life in our country. The Republican leadership keeps saying how bad socialism can be. Okay it is bad, but if you do not do more to keep open the door of opportunity; allow people to thrive; save; plan; go to college, afford healthcare; afford a place to live and be able to eat healthily, sooner or later people will get tired of being downtrodden and wham, socialism looks good to people.

As I have always said (and so have others) a strong middle class is the backbone to a strong country, yet our leadership fails the middle class more and more. The statistics bear this out, but that is just part of the picture. Talk to people, their stories show a much harsher reality than the statistics do. If you ask around enough, you will see how many people are negatively affected by the economy right now.

Growth rates show strong growth for corporations and the wealthy, but if the rest of the country does not see the same growth problems will arise. I once mentioned that as soon as the tax rate decreases doesn’t increase corporate profits year over year, they will come begging Congress for more and this will negatively affect you and I even more. I am giving this another year before this happens. Corporations do not run their businesses very well anymore and some are reliant on number management, not growth and real profits to survive.

The affordability of housing whether home ownership or renting is something that needs to be addressed because once that goes, the stability of society is in grave danger. And the numbers bear out a decline in affordability is happening now. One phrase mentioned in some of the articles and in general is living wages. It is fast becoming more than that if we cannot save and build for our futures. I do not know how exactly to label this crisis, yet we are on the precipice of one.

Moneyed vs. the false promise vs. the people

I could have called it the oligarchs vs. the deranged vs. the people, but I decided to be a bit polite (sort of)

Yes, this is about Donald Trump criticizing the Koch brothers and their network and no matter what happens the people lose.

As you may have read President Trump thinks he doesn’t need the Koch brothers, yet the very next day we read press stories that President Trump wants to adjust capital gains taxes for inflation which by the way would benefit the Koch brothers and their network. And of course Donald Trump.

So what gives? It is said they have been thinking about the capital gains tax break for awhile, so was it coincidence that the thinking makes the press yesterday or could it be a back hand salvo to the Koch brothers that we are all still on the same team?

They are already working on changing the way Social security payments are adjusted for inflation to reign in growth of payments, but now the capital gains tax is supposed to be adjusted for inflation as it has historically. Minimum wage has never been adjusted for inflation, just random increases when the Democrats have a majority and get pressure to raise it.

And what happens if we get runaway inflation like the 1970’s? Or deflation? To we adjust for these scenarios? It would be a nice tax break to have sat on stock for a long time then sell after a couple of years of high inflation. Or do they get to write off a loss if the stock price has risen less than the rate of inflation? Or think about the advantage of a stock having a sharp decline for a week or so, but still up over the years, but the difference is less than the rate of inflation. You get a tidy profit and write off the sell as a loss. The only middle class people who get this advantage are mutual fund shareholders and most of those are in retirement accounts nowadays so people wouldn’t get the advantage. They have the same tax rate when they make withdrawals. The uber rich get the advantage immediately, especially Wall Street traders who can dump positions they no longer want. They already make a fortune on algorithmic trading, yeah, just add a couple more calculations into the equation and sell on dips after inflation figures are calculated in. Bad stock buys etc are fixed to the advantage of the professional traders.

So instead of tax revenue coming in for short or long term trading profits, boom it is a write off. So how long does a stock need to be held before it can be adjusted for inflation? Wanna bet it favors Wall Street? Munchin probably has the numbers already set with help from his buds at the country club.

As you know I am pretty hot and heavy about raising tax rates for short term trading profits anyway. I feel this is a great way to raise some revenue, encourage (force indirectly) Wall Street into making longer term investment decisions which might slow down their profits a bit, but gives money back to the economy because they would have to change their models to allow for better corporate growth models. And it is a tax that would be easy to adjust or drop if needed. No one is really hurt even though Wall Street would not like less profits, but really at some point the difference of a couple of hundred million in profit for some of these firms is child’s play. The longer term investments still lead to profits and possibly increases reinvestment in businesses not trading. Which is what we want in the long run anyway. Won’t solve all our problems, yet heads in the right direction. Instead we get inflation adjusted sell returns.

So the moneyed and the false promise win, while the majority of this country loses.

And as you know this is just one minute example of the reign of destruction coming down on the middle class.

And so I ask again and again, are you ready for a new major party yet? One that benefits you, not them?  What is it going to take for you to remove the false promises of Trump and the abuse of your life by the moneyed? The Republicans do not care about you no matter what they say and the Democrats will tout more and more socialist ideas because they are so unimaginative and clueless it is insane. Socialism vs. greed just don’t work and when your only two political parties have diverged into this dichotomy, nothing good is going to happen.

There are better answers and solutions are out there, it just takes people making the effort to put them in place. Thoughts?

Cheers!