Wow. Glenn, a law professor at University of Tennessee, and publisher of the popular blog Instapundit, had his Twitter account closed. Reynolds is a helova nice guy, knows a lot of things, and writes interesting stuff that gets widely read. His politics are middle of the road to conservative, but perfectly rational and well supported.
For Twitter to ban such a man speaks VERY poorly for Twitter.
Thursday, September 22, 2016
The Donald's robo callers are working hard
They been calling me once, sometimes twice, a day for weeks now. At least it shows the Donald cares about the upcountry. Me, I 'm going to vote for Trump, so calling me doesn't help him much, but it doesn't hurt either. I wonder what the robocaller costs compared to the TV advertising that Trump isn't doing much of. Least ways I haven't seen much Trumpery on my TV.
These come on my land line. Wonder how it works on the cell phone only millenials. Like none of my three children have a land line.
These come on my land line. Wonder how it works on the cell phone only millenials. Like none of my three children have a land line.
Tuesday, September 20, 2016
Federal deficit. The undertable tax
The federal deficit is easy to understand. The feds have a lot of expenses, paying the bureaucrats, paying the troops, paying social security, paying medicare, paying for the armed forces, and on and on. Last year outgo was like $15 trillion. Income from taxes was a lot less. Say $12 trillion. To keep the checks from bouncing, Uncle Sam borrowed $3 trillion.
Actually, Uncle doesn't borrow the money, he prints it. Works like this. Uncle sells US Treasury bonds (soundest investment on the planet). Bond buyers give Uncle money in exchange for bonds. Thing is, T-bills are near as good as money. Granted bonds aren't accepted down at Walmart, but, the bondholder can turn bonds into cash with a simple phone call to his broker. There is a market, open every business day, and a sell (or buy) goes thru within hours. So, a man with a big wad of T-bills in his safe deposit box feels as wealthy as a man with the same amount of cash. My college economics course called bonds "near money". And printing near money is really the same thing as printing cash (real money).
So, what's wrong with printing money? As more and more money is printed, the value of the money goes down. US money today is only worth 10% of what it was worth when I was a kid. Gasoline used to be 28 cents a gallon. It's nearly ten times that today. Comic books used to be 10 cents. Last time I bought a child a comic book it set me back $4. Ice cream cones used to be 5 cents. More like $2.50 this summer.
What this means, is anything saved over my life time is only worth a tenth of what it ought to be.
That's the undertable tax. It nails us all.
And neither The Donald nor Hillary are talking about cutting the deficit. Hillary is talking about increasing it a lot. Vote for Trump. Don't get fleeced.
Actually, Uncle doesn't borrow the money, he prints it. Works like this. Uncle sells US Treasury bonds (soundest investment on the planet). Bond buyers give Uncle money in exchange for bonds. Thing is, T-bills are near as good as money. Granted bonds aren't accepted down at Walmart, but, the bondholder can turn bonds into cash with a simple phone call to his broker. There is a market, open every business day, and a sell (or buy) goes thru within hours. So, a man with a big wad of T-bills in his safe deposit box feels as wealthy as a man with the same amount of cash. My college economics course called bonds "near money". And printing near money is really the same thing as printing cash (real money).
So, what's wrong with printing money? As more and more money is printed, the value of the money goes down. US money today is only worth 10% of what it was worth when I was a kid. Gasoline used to be 28 cents a gallon. It's nearly ten times that today. Comic books used to be 10 cents. Last time I bought a child a comic book it set me back $4. Ice cream cones used to be 5 cents. More like $2.50 this summer.
What this means, is anything saved over my life time is only worth a tenth of what it ought to be.
That's the undertable tax. It nails us all.
And neither The Donald nor Hillary are talking about cutting the deficit. Hillary is talking about increasing it a lot. Vote for Trump. Don't get fleeced.
Monday, September 19, 2016
Detroit should be selling cars, not computers
Wall St Journal had a long article on the miraculous electronical features coming in new cars. New cars might allow you to lock or unlock them with your phone. Or schedule outrageously expensive service visits to your dealer, wave-your-hands controls to replace touch screens, rear view TV, and automatic remote controlled valet parking controlled by your phone, automatic driver wake up systems, and over-the-air software patches.
I don't want my new car to have any of this stuff. If the car will unlock for my cell phone, it will unlock for car thief cell phones. I never take my car to the dealer for service, the cost is outrageous. I want real physical controls, that I can feel in the dark, not touchy feely screens or wave your hand in the air and something happens controls. Rear view mirrors work all the time, TV camera's fail, especially after a fender bender. I wouldn't dare allow a microprocessor to park my car, one screwup and I have a repair bill and a lawsuit.
Electronics, be they car borne, pocketable, smart phone, Ipad, smartwatch, or plain old laptop, are only useful after a lot of loading of contact info, phone books, music, email, programs, photographs, software, and whatever. Once I have spent the time to load all this stuff into the electronic gizmo, I want to take it with me, into the client's office, into my office, into my home, to the beach, anywhere. And electronic gizmos go obsolete faster than cars do. Might want to get the latest gizmo without buying an entire new car. And, I'm not going to spend the time to load up a built-into-the-car system that I cannot take with me.
The carmakers ought to come up with an industry wide electronic interface that would give a third party (Apple say) electronic gizmo access to the car speakers, antennas, and DC power. And a stowage spot, a shelf under the dash, or a slot in the front seat console, or maybe a holder on the ceiling, up front, over the rear view mirror.
Last time I was on the road with youngest son and his Ipad, interface with the car speakers was flaky. All we had was a RF modulator that put the Ipad audio into the FM band, where the car FM radio picked it up and played it. Had to keep fiddling with the RF modulator as we drove. Ipad volume control was opaque, and song selection was worse.
I don't want my new car to have any of this stuff. If the car will unlock for my cell phone, it will unlock for car thief cell phones. I never take my car to the dealer for service, the cost is outrageous. I want real physical controls, that I can feel in the dark, not touchy feely screens or wave your hand in the air and something happens controls. Rear view mirrors work all the time, TV camera's fail, especially after a fender bender. I wouldn't dare allow a microprocessor to park my car, one screwup and I have a repair bill and a lawsuit.
Electronics, be they car borne, pocketable, smart phone, Ipad, smartwatch, or plain old laptop, are only useful after a lot of loading of contact info, phone books, music, email, programs, photographs, software, and whatever. Once I have spent the time to load all this stuff into the electronic gizmo, I want to take it with me, into the client's office, into my office, into my home, to the beach, anywhere. And electronic gizmos go obsolete faster than cars do. Might want to get the latest gizmo without buying an entire new car. And, I'm not going to spend the time to load up a built-into-the-car system that I cannot take with me.
The carmakers ought to come up with an industry wide electronic interface that would give a third party (Apple say) electronic gizmo access to the car speakers, antennas, and DC power. And a stowage spot, a shelf under the dash, or a slot in the front seat console, or maybe a holder on the ceiling, up front, over the rear view mirror.
Last time I was on the road with youngest son and his Ipad, interface with the car speakers was flaky. All we had was a RF modulator that put the Ipad audio into the FM band, where the car FM radio picked it up and played it. Had to keep fiddling with the RF modulator as we drove. Ipad volume control was opaque, and song selection was worse.
Sunday, September 18, 2016
The Push Polls are running for Maggie
I've gotten two telephone push polls pushing Maggie Hassen this weekend. Both poller's command of English was so poor that I had great difficulty understanding them. Lots of luck Maggie. If this is the best you can do, Kelly will beat you like a drum.
Will the Hillary-Donald presidential debate be worth watching???
I mean they both have said a lotta mean things about each other, what's left to say? Can either of them present a substantive idea that makes any real sense, as opposed to promising pie in the sky? Will the moderator try to help Hillary and bash Trump? Watching presidential debates is like watching a bull fight. You watch on the off chance to see a matador get gored. Not that you wish the competitors any harm, but if blood flows you don't want to miss it.
Saturday, September 17, 2016
John Kasich supports TPP
Kasich did an op ed in the Wall St Journal yesterday. He came out four square in support of TPP, saying that it would increase exports, create jobs, and reduce consumer prices. All good stuff. That's stuff I would like to believe.
Trouble is, Kasich said nothing about that TPP is. Does it reduce other country tariffs against US exports? How much? When? What else does it regulate?
I am OK with a TPP that brings other country tariffs down to US levels. US tariffs (except for sugar) are really really low. That's why you see so many Japanese and South Korean cars on the road, and why pretty much everything on sale at Walmart is made in China. Fair trade means other countries lower their tariff barriers to match ours.
And I am OK with a TPP that tries to lower "non tariff barriers", hard to meet safety regulations , pollution limits, and the like.
I am not OK with lowering US tariffs any further. I am not OK with using TPP to impose international minimum wages, worker safety, and worker benefit laws. Or to impose controls on money exchange rates.
Or other things that have nothing to do with tariffs.
So far Obama has kept the contents of TPP secret. It could have anything in it. I am not in favor of ratifying a secret treaty that might well hurt us.
Trouble is, Kasich said nothing about that TPP is. Does it reduce other country tariffs against US exports? How much? When? What else does it regulate?
I am OK with a TPP that brings other country tariffs down to US levels. US tariffs (except for sugar) are really really low. That's why you see so many Japanese and South Korean cars on the road, and why pretty much everything on sale at Walmart is made in China. Fair trade means other countries lower their tariff barriers to match ours.
And I am OK with a TPP that tries to lower "non tariff barriers", hard to meet safety regulations , pollution limits, and the like.
I am not OK with lowering US tariffs any further. I am not OK with using TPP to impose international minimum wages, worker safety, and worker benefit laws. Or to impose controls on money exchange rates.
Or other things that have nothing to do with tariffs.
So far Obama has kept the contents of TPP secret. It could have anything in it. I am not in favor of ratifying a secret treaty that might well hurt us.
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