Angry Versus Steady As We Go

Americans are upset with Washington. Some are angry. Some are VERY angry. Donald Trump says he is angry. He says the country is a mess. He is correct!

The “establishment” candidates are all part of the Washington group that has been running this country for decades. What do we have to show for it? Low paying jobs, crumbling infrastructure, high cost college education, high national debt, local governments struggling to avoid bankruptcy, and now even the stock market is in decline. And to top that off many other nations thumb their noses at the United States.

Is it no wonder then that Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, and Bernie Sanders are drawing big crowds to their campaign events? They are talking about changing the country with some specific ideas. Now you may not agree with all of their ideas but look at the establishment candidates. It’s all about a “steady as we go” philosophy that lines the pockets of the well connected.

The base salary for congressional representatives is $174,000 a year. The typical American family income was $53,657 in 2014. You think those congressional representatives are concerned with your situation? They are concerned with their re-election and that translates to contributions from the wealthy that want to keep everything the same as it is now.

So will the angry turn out in sufficient numbers to overturn the establishment? We can only hope!

Testing Ted Cruz’s Canadian Roots

Is Ted Cruz really a Canadian? The test should be in his use of language. Canadians have some word usage that appears to be unique to them.

First there is the use of the word “eh.” Using that word changes a statement of fact into a question. It is so simple to use and anyone can do it. All you have to do is make a statement like “It is a very nice day out today.” If you add “eh” to the end of that statement, you can turn it into a question that will require a friendly reply from the person you are talking to. For example…”It is very nice day out today eh?” To which the other person will reply “Yes it is.”

Second there is use of the word “about.” Many Canadians pronounce that word “aboot.” This may not be a dead give-away since many do pronounce the word as do Americans. Make no mistake. If Ted Cruz pronounces this word “aboot” then he is Canadian.

Third is his efforts to find a toilet while in a restaurant, hotel, or other place while he is campaigning. If he asks where is the washroom, that is a clear giveaway. There are no restrooms in Canada. The signs all say “washroom.” I was alerted to this on my first trip to Canada as an adult. My wife was looking for a restroom while we were in a Vancouver mall. Then she saw the word “washroom” and knowing that my father, who grew up in Canada, uses that word frequently identified the usage.

Forks, knives, and spoons are not silverware in Canada. The word they use is cutlery. I learned that from my father and have never used the word silverware except when it really was silverware. So ask Ted Cruz how he identifies the utensils.

Coke may be soda in the United States but it’s “pop” in Canada.

A bath robe is a housecoat in Canada.

Serviette: napkin.

Zed: the last letter of the alphabet (Z).

Americans Want an Outsider to Lead the Country

The first GOP presidential debate of 2016 displayed fear. That was the opening round. Fear all Muslims, fear the terrorists, fear all Latinos, fear they will take away our guns, fear that the economy is going to collapse. Of course all the blame goes to the Obama administration. The crowd loved it.

Then we came to part two and that was the Donald Trump reasons that we should support him over Ted Cruz. The crowd loved it.

The rest of the candidates were barely noticed. Nothing they said will change their positions in the polls. We have heard their ideas before and for the most part are not in agreement with their ideas.

The media seems to think the ratings were Trump won and Cruz came in second with Rubio on his heels.

Can anyone beat Donald Trump? Probably not. He learned how to entertain the crowds on The Apprentice and that education enables him to draw in a public yearning for an outsider.

Americans are tired of the Washington crowd that makes promises they rarely keep. That is the reason Bernie Sanders is rising in the polls.

The general election will be very interesting.

Why is the NFL Moving a Team to Los Angeles?

It’s all about the money. Building a $2 Billion stadium is in the financial best interest of the NFL.

The NFL (National Football League) and its 32 teams took in an estimated $12 billion in 2014, a 14.3% jump from the previous year’s estimated total of $10.5 billion.

As of September 2015 the New England Patriots annual revenue was $494 Million. Their income $195 Million. Seats in the stadium cost $130 each. That is in a metropolitan area of 4.2 million people.

Consider the Los Angeles/Orange County population of over 13 million people. The fan base will bring even higher seat prices and merchandise sales that the Patriots can only dream about.

$$$ The NFL is a smart business. The owners of those clubs see big dollar signs. $$$

President Obama’s Aspirational State of the Union Address

No one wants to admit their errors and no president wants to tell the people that we are failing as nation.

It is with that understanding that I listened to the president’s state of the union address.

The following excerpt from a transcript of his speech tells us what he believes and really how he failed. After all his Hope and Change message in his first campaign for president was about the future. He just did not accomplish his goals. In my view he is an excellent speaker but he lacked the skills needed to achieve his goals.

Following is an excerpt from the transcript of the president’s speech. All very aspirational just as his victory speech in Chicago 2008.

So let’s talk about the future, and four big questions that I believe we as a country have to answer, regardless of who the next president is or who controls the next Congress.

First, how do we give everyone a fair shot at opportunity and security in this new economy?

(APPLAUSE)

Second, how do we make technology work for us, and not against us, especially when it comes to solving urgent challenges like climate change?

(APPLAUSE)

Third, how do we keep America safe and lead the world without becoming its policeman?

(APPLAUSE)

And finally, how can we make our politics reflect what’s best in us, and not what’s worst?

Yes, the economy has recovered from the worst recession since the Great Depression and yes we are militarily very strong but most Americans are unhappy with our place in the world.

Barack Obama was not our worst president but he was far from our best.

Goodbye to America’s Middle Class

Forget about the poor and the rich for just a few minutes. Think about the middle class. The range of the middle class varies by state. According to Pew Research Center in the middle class shrunk in every state between 2000 and 2013. The highest median income for that group was $72,483 in Maryland and at the low end in Mississippi it was $37,963.

Here is the real shocker. Household median income reached $48,474 in 2012 but in adjusted for inflation dollars Americans reached an income of $48,655 in 1978. The median income in 1978 was $13,234.

Pew Research writes: “The hollowing of the American middle class has proceeded steadily for more than four decades. Since 1971, each decade has ended with a smaller share of adults living in middle-income households than at the beginning of the decade, and no single decade stands out as having triggered or hastened the decline in the middle.

Based on the definition used in their report, the share of American adults living in middle-income households has fallen from 61% in 1971 to 50% in 2015.”

Which presidential candidate is likely to change this situation? The answer is no one. While Bernie Sanders rails against big business he has not offered any solutions.

The Low Pay for Low Skills Lie

No one wants to be poor and no one wants to ask for aid from welfare offices. Unfortunately some people simply lack the abilities needed to successfully attend college. In fact some people struggle to graduate from high school. That is the reason we have a population of poor adults that will always have an income barely above the minimum wage for their entire lives.

In a world where high tech skills are the driving force and innovations that are eliminating many low skill jobs, the least able in society must accept simple jobs that do not provide a living wage.

Those poor people may be hard working but there simply is not enough family income to pay the cost of food, clothing, housing, and the other basics that the rest of us take for granted. Society’s solution is welfare.

The argument given by so many people against raising the minimum wage is that the jobs they do are not worth any more than that low pay.

Thus we, society, are subsidizing all industries that employ minimum wage personnel. We are giving them welfare. Society makes the poor feel even worse about their condition by requiring them to apply for welfare, present food stamps to markets, and other degrading actions.

The solution is to require employers to pay a “living wage” for the lowest skill jobs. Those people in that category would no longer receive welfare aid. The only people receiving welfare aid would be the mentally and physically handicapped. What about single mothers with young children? Require employers to provide child care either on site or through payments to child care facilities.

Of course there would be a chorus of objections to the cost burdens placed on employers. The answer is that society is currently paying the bill through welfare payments and that translates to higher taxes.

Conservatives who object to subsidies should be happy with reduced government size and Liberals should be happy to know that even the least able in society will receive a living wage.

2016 Politics Starts at the Rose Parade on January 1

What a campaign year it will be! The politically passionate started by dragging politics into an event that tries to avoid race, religion, and politics. They just couldn’t stop those passions for even 2 ½ hours.

After the last float left the Rose Parade’s starting line, a skywriting plane soared overhead. Attendees pointed and laughed at the plane’s message: “America is great. Trump is disgusting. Iowans dump Trump.”

Not to be outdone supporters of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders followed behind the last float at the Rose Parade, carrying banners and shouting “Feel the Bern!”

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Our Wish for You in 2016

May peace break into your home and may thieves come to steal your debts.

May the pockets of your jeans become a magnet for $100 bills.

May love stick to your face like Vaseline and may laughter assault your lips!

May happiness slap you across the face and may your tears be that of joy.

May the problems you had, forget your home address!

In simple words …………

May 2016 be the best year of your life!!

Theodore Roosevelt’s ideas on Immigrants and being an AMERICAN in 1919

‘In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin.

But this is predicated upon the person’s becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American…There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn’t an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag… We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language.. And we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.’ Theodore Roosevelt 1919

He advocated the compulsory learning of English by every naturalized citizen. “Every immigrant who comes here should be required within five years to learn English or to leave the country,” he said in a statement to the Kansas City Star in 1918. “English should be the only language taught or used in the public schools.”

He also insisted, on more than one occasion, that America has no room for what he called “fifty-fifty allegiance.” In a speech made in 1917 he said, “It is our boast that we admit the immigrant to full fellowship and equality with the native-born. In return we demand that he shall share our undivided allegiance to the one flag which floats over all of us.” This information from Urban Legends