Tidbits
Political Quotations
To Accompany the July 16, 2019 edition of Tidbits
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/2019/Tidbits071619.htm
Bob Jensen at
Trinity University
My Latest Web Document
Over 400 Examples of Critical Thinking and Illustrations of How to Mislead With
Statistics ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/MisleadWithStatistics.htm
Animated Visualization of the United States’ Exploding Population Growth
Over 200 Years (1790 – 2010) ---
A Visualization of the United States’ Exploding Population Growth Over 200 Years
(1790 – 2010)
USA Debt Clock --- http://www.usdebtclock.org/
In September 2017 the USA National Debt exceeded $22 trillion for the first time
---
http://www.statedatalab.org/news/detail/national-debt-surpasses-20-trillion-for-the-first-time-in-us-history
Human Population Over Time on Earth ---
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUwmA3Q0_OE
While a
move is underway to destroy the American Dream of rags to riches (by taxing away
the riches) the Chinese dream is on the rise.
The Chinese Dream
How a Chinese billionaire went from making $16 a month in a factory to being one
of the world's richest self-made women with an $8.3 billion real-estate empire
---
https://www.businessinsider.com/worlds-richest-self-made-woman-wu-yajun-net-worth-2019-2
Top 50 Billionaires in China ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Chinese_by_net_worth
Jensen
Comment
The question for students to debate is why a supposed
communist country allows so many billionaires to rise up from poverty.
That's supposed to happen in the USA where a child growing up in deep
poverty (think Oprah Winfrey or Howard Shultz) became a multi-billionaires.
But is it also supposed to happen under communism? If
so, why?
One reason is that many billionaires can afford to pour lots of money into high risk ventures. When's the last time you heard about a high risk (think Silicon Valley) venture in Europe?
Wikiquote from Wikipedia --- https://www.wikiquote.org/
History will prove former President Donald
Trump was correct about Mexico one day funding an impenetrable wall --- to keep
out over 2 billion starving green immigrants seeking to enter Mexico from the
north.
Bob Jensen
Some Fatherly Words of Wisdom from Jack Bogle, Founder
of Vanguard Investments, to My Sons ---
https://jborden.com/2019/06/16/some-fatherly-words-of-wisdom-from-jack-bogle-founder-of-vanguard-investments-to-my-sons/
The Young
Left’s Anti-Capitalist Manifesto: Its goal is to remake our economic system —
and the Democratic Party ---
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-young-lefts-anti-capitalist-manifesto/
I have a complaint about America today, and it
is simple: we don’t love business enough ---
Tyler Cowen
https://www.econlib.org/library/Columns/y2019/Klingbigbusiness.html
"In
Praise of Cheap Labor," by Paul Krugman,
Slate, March 21, 1997 ---
https://slate.com/business/1997/03/in-praise-of-cheap-labor.html
Corruption in general has a deleterious effect
on the readiness of economic agents to invest. In the long run, it leads to a
paralysis of economic life. But very often it is not that economic agents
themselves have had the bad experience of being cheated and ruined, they just
know that in this country, or in this part of the economy, or this building
scene, there is a high likelihood that you will get cheated and that free riders
can get away with it. Here again, reputation is absolutely essential, which is
why transparency is so important. Trust can only be engendered by transparency.
It's no coincidence that the name of the most influential non-governmental
organization dealing with corruption is Transparency International.
A Conversation with Karl Sigmund: When Rule of Law is
Not Working
https://www.edge.org/conversation/karl_sigmund-when-the-rule-of-law-is-not-working
Mortgage Backed Securities are like boxes
of chocolates. Criminals on Wall Street and one particular U.S. Congressional
Committee stole a few chocolates from the boxes and replaced them with turds.
Their criminal buddies at Standard & Poors rated these boxes AAA Investment Grade
chocolates. These boxes were then sold all over the world to investors.
Eventually somebody bites into a turd and discovers the crime. Suddenly nobody
trusts American chocolates anymore worldwide. Hank Paulson now wants the
American taxpayers to buy up and hold all these boxes of turd-infested
chocolates for $700 billion dollars until the market for turds returns to
normal. Meanwhile, Hank's buddies, the Wall Street criminals who stole all the
good chocolates are not being investigated, arrested, or indicted. Momma always
said: '"Sniff the chocolates first Forrest." Things generally don't pass the
smell test if they came from Wall Street or from Washington DC.
Forrest Gump as quoted at
http://newsgroups.derkeiler.com/Archive/Rec/rec.sport.tennis/2008-10/msg02206.html
It is not that machines are going to replace
chemists. It’s that the chemists who use machines will replace those that don’t
---
Derek Lowe
Gallup: Americans Say No. 1 Problem is
'Government,' No. 2 is 'Immigration' ---
https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/michael-w-chapman/survey-americas-no-1-problem-government-no-2-problem-immigration
"If you open the borders, my God, there's a
lot of poverty in this world, and you're going to have people from all over the
world. And I don't think that's something that we can do at this point."
Bernie Sanders
https://www.businessinsider.com/bernie-sanders-says-he-does-not-support-open-borders-2019-4
Great fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite 'em, And little fleas have lesser fleas, and so on ad infinitum ---
Augustus De Morgan
Prior to 1980 what was unique about the year of his birth in 1871?
http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Biographies/De_Morgan.html
12 inspiring quotes from Martin Luther King
Jr.---
https://www.businessinsider.com/inspiring-martin-luther-king-jr-quotes-2017-1
21 oustanding Warren Buffet quotations ---
https://www.businessinsider.com/warren-buffett-21-best-quotes-2019-2
The Atlantic: The Swiftly Closing
Borders of Europe ---
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/12/europe-france-italy-immigration-border/578179/
Italian Minister tells NGO Italy doesn’t want migrants: “Our ports are closed!”
---
https://voiceofeurope.com/2018/12/italian-minister-tells-ngo-italy-doesnt-want-migrants-our-ports-are-closed/#.XB6WCZMs_Xo.twitter
The
enemy is fear
We think it's hate
But, it's fear
Gandhi
13 of the (alleged) most famous last words in
history ---
https://www.businessinsider.com/famous-last-words-in-history-2017-10
21 of Michelle Obama's most inspiring quotes
on work, success, and relationships ---
https://www.businessinsider.com/michelle-obama-most-inspiring-quotes-advice-becoming-2019-1
19 unforgettable quotes from legendary Marine
Gen. Jim 'Mad Dog' Mattis, who quit as Trump's defense secretary ---
https://www.businessinsider.com/general-mattiss-best-quotes-2016-11
Here are the Ten Best Pieces of Advice from
2018 Commencement Speakers ---
Click Here
Sometimes the grass is greener on the other side because it's been fertilized
with more bullshit.
Anonomous
The Lucretius Problem is a mental defect where
we assume the worst case event that has happened is the worst case event that
can happen ---
https://www.fs.blog/2015/04/lucretius-problem/
The worst form of inequality is to try to make
unequal things equal.
Aristotle
The Economic Ignorance of Bernie Sanders ---
http://reason.com/archives/2018/08/09/the-economic-ignorance-of-bernie-sanders
Bernie Sanders’ New Campaign Advisor David Sirota Once Touted
Hugo Chavez’s ‘Economic Miracle’ in Venezuela ---
http://reason.com/blog/2019/03/19/bernie-sanders-david-sirota-venezuela
How many times have we heard ‘free
tuition,’ ‘free health care,’ and free you-name-it? If a particular good or
service is truly free, we can have as much of it as we want without the
sacrifice of other goods or services. Take a ‘free’ library; is it really free?
The answer is no. Had the library not been built, that $50 million could have
purchased something else. That something else sacrificed is the cost of the
library. While users of the library might pay a zero price, zero price and free
are not one and the same. So when politicians talk about providing something
free, ask them to identify the beneficent Santa Claus or tooth fairy.
Walter Williams
Every great cause begins as a movement,
becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket.
Eric Hoffer.
The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal
sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of
miseries.
Winston Churchill
Shoot
for the space in between, because that's where the real mystery lies.
Vera Rubin
https://www.brainpickings.org/2016/12/28/remebering-vera-rubin/?utm_source=Brain+Pickings&utm_campaign=f053a9c4e2-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_01_07&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_179ffa2629-f053a9c4e2-234390133
Only those who will risk going
too far can possibly find out how far one can go.
T.S. Eliot
There is a crack in
everything, that’s how the light gets in.
Leonard Cohen
In honor of his centennial, the Top 10 Feynman
quotations ---
https://www.sciencenews.org/blog/context/top-10-richard-feynman-quotations
Thomas Sowell (controversial
conservative black economist) ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Sowell
The 30 Best Thomas Sowell Quotes ---
https://pjmedia.com/lifestyle/the-30-best-thomas-sowell-quotes/
Be brave enough to start a
conversation that matters.
Margaret Wheatley
Even conversations
that are not politically correct.
That government is best which governs the least,
because its people discipline themselves.
Thomas Jefferson
Why, we grow rusty and you
catch us at the very point of decadence --- by this time tomorrow we may have
forgotten everything we ever knew. That's a thought isn't it? We'd be back to
where we started --- improvising.
Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
are Dead (Act I)
It's hard to beat a person who never gives up.
Babe Ruth,
Historic Home Run Hitter
What's sad is to witness what Syria has become because nobody gave up earlier.
And "because they're
nonstate actors, it's hard for us to get the satisfaction of [Gen.] MacArthur
and the [Japanese] Emperor [Hirohito] meeting and the war officially being
over," Obama observed, referencing the end of World War II.
President Barack Obama when
asked if the USA of the future will be perpetually engaged in war.
http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-on-americans-being-resigned-to-live-in-a-perpetual-war-2016-7
We must be willing to get rid of the
life we've planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.
Joseph Campbell
If everyone is thinking alike, then
somebody isn't thinking.
George S. Patton
And many writers have imagined for themselves
republics and principalities that have never been seen or known to exist in
reality; for there is such a gap between how one lives and how one ought to live
that anyone who abandons what is done for what ought to be done learns his ruin
rather than his preservation: for a man who wishes to profess goodness at all
times will come to ruin among so many who are not good.
Niccolo Machiavelli
If you don't know where you're going, you might
not get there.
Yogi
Berra
Happiness is like a butterfly: the
more you chase it, the more it will elude you, but if you turn your attention to
other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder.
Henry David
Thoreau
Today, humanity fabricates 1,000 times more
transistors annually than the entire world grows grains of wheat and rice
combined ---
https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2018/12/11/energy_and_the_information_infrastructure_part_3_the_digital_engines_of_innovation_jevons_delicious_paradox_110368.html
I learned long ago never to wrestle with a pig.
... You get dirty and besides the pig likes it ---
George Bernard Shaw
You can get a lot farther with a smile and a
gun than you can with just a smile.
Al Capone
From John F. Kennedy to Oprah and Steve Jobs,
here are 20 of the best commencement speeches of all time ---
https://www.businessinsider.com/the-best-graduation-speeches-of-all-time-2016-6
21 quotes from self-made billionaires that
will change your outlook on money ---
https://www.businessinsider.com/self-made-billionaire-quotes-that-will-change-your-outlook-on-money-2016-12
The Best Advice from 2018's Celebrity
Commencement Speakers ---
https://moneyish.com/heart/the-best-advice-from-2018s-celebrity-commencement-speakers/
If the end brings me out all right, what is
said against me won’t amount to anything. If the end brings me out wrong, ten
angels swearing I was right would make no difference.
Lincoln on How to Handle Criticism ---
https://www.brainpickings.org/2019/03/27/abraham-lincoln-criticism/?mc_cid=855d203b71&mc_eid=4d2bd13843
The Economist: A new kind of left-wing
doctrine is emerging. It is not the answer to capitalism’s problems ---
https://www.economist.com/leaders/2019/02/14/millennial-socialism?cid1=cust/ednew/n/bl/n/2019/02/14n/owned/n/n/nwl/n/n/na/202273/n
Four ISIS Terrorists from Iraq and Egypt Arrested in
Nicaragua on Way to US Southern Border ---
https://www.blabber.buzz/conservative-news/602801-breaking-four-isis-terrorists-from-iraq-and-egypt-arrested-in-nicaragua-on-way-to-us-southern-border-special?utm_source=c-alrt&utm_medium=c-alrt-email&utm_term=c-alrt-GI
You won't see this mentioned by the major media since it confirms what President Trump has been fearing.
Reparations for Slavery
Walter E. Williams
https://townhall.com/columnists/walterewilliams/2019/06/26/reparations-for-slavery-n2548853?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&newsletterad=06/26/2019&bcid=b16c6f948f297f77432f990d4411617f&recip=17935167
Climate Alarmists (think NASA)Caught Manipulating
Temperature Data Yet Again ---
https://www.blabber.buzz/conservative-news/603035-climate-alarmists-caught-manipulating-temperature-data-yet-again-special?utm_source=c-pm&utm_medium=c-pm-email&utm_term=c-pm-GI
US poverty statistics ignore millions of
struggling Americans ---
https://theconversation.com/us-poverty-statistics-ignore-millions-of-struggling-americans-118321
Jensen Comment
Firstly, the really poor in the USA are eligible for Medicaid. The article
argues that a family making $50,000 is poor if it does not have medical
insurance. Such a family has made a resource allocation decision not to pay for
medical insurance, instead preferring other things such as a newer car, two
cars, a larger home, etc. This article overstates its case. I have a friend from
India who says Americans really don't understand what it is to be poor.
Mayor De Blasio quietly dumping NYC’s homeless on
other cities ---
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2019/06/de_blasio_quietly_dumping_nycs_homeless_on_other_cities.html
Will pay rent for a year if they move somewhere else far away that will provide the welfare funding and services. Sounds like a good deal to me.
Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar Vote Against
Border Funding Bill After Shrieking About Treatment Of Migrants ---
https://www.blabber.buzz/conservative-news/603649-ocasio-cortez-and-ilhan-omar-vote-against-border-funding-bill-after-shrieking-about-treatment-of-migrants-special?utm_source=c-alrt&utm_medium=c-alrt-email&utm_term=c-alrt-GI
Alternate Angle Photos Show Ocasio-Cortez Really
WAS Staging Photos at Border Fea ---
https://www.blabber.buzz/conservative-news/603581-alternate-angle-photos-show-ocasio-cortez-really-was-staging-photos-at-border-special?utm_source=c-alrt&utm_medium=c-alrt-email&utm_term=c-alrt-GI
Government "Accountability" Isn't Real
Accountability ---
https://mises.org/wire/government-accountability-isnt-real-accountability
YouTube deleted 130 rap videos to help police
fight street gangs responsible for thousands of stabbings ---
https://www.businessinsider.com/uk-drill-rap-videos-banned-by-police-2019-6
The Atlantic: Democrats Don’t Want to Talk
About the Economy ---
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/06/democratic-debates-featured-little-economy/593002/
That's because their mission is to destroy the capital markets and the pension funds that rest upon the stock, bond, and real estate markets
Kamala Harris announces $100B plan for black home
ownership, tackling racial wealth gap ---
https://www.blabber.buzz/conservative-news/609928-kamala-harris-announces-100b-plan-for-black-home-ownership-tackling-racial-wealth-gap-special?utm_source=c-alrt&utm_medium=c-alrt-email&utm_term=c-alrt-GI
Giving them free health care, free medications, guaranteed annual income,
reparations awards, free food, and lower standards for college graduation just
isn't enough. The bounty for being black just keeps piling on.
Even though Kamal Harris, as with Elizabeth
Warren and Cory Booker, there are $20+ trillion (annual) reasons why Kamala
can't beat Joe Biden and Donald Trump ---
Bob Jensen
https://finance.townhall.com/columnists/johnphilipsousaiv/2019/07/03/dem-debates-what-they-said-what-they-didnt-and-who-will-pay-n2549466?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&bcid=b16c6f948f297f77432f990d4411617f
Jensen
Comment
The above estimate of $4 trillion annually leaves out a lot of promises,
especially the 2-ton gorilla called green initiatives. AOC conservatively
estimates her green initiatives alone will cost $10 trillion per year.
Add to this what the $4.4 trillion that the USA Federal government currently
spends on other items (most of which are non-discretionary like Social Security
and other pensions) at you get $20-$25 trillion per year, over $20 trillion of
which will be taken from investors, thereby destroying the stock markets, bond
markets, and real estate markets upon which most USA's pension plans depend
(think CREF and CalPERS) ---
https://www.usdebtclock.org/
Acceptance rates at US medical schools in
2015-2016 reveal ongoing racial preferences for blacks and Hispanics ---
https://www.aei.org/publication/acceptance-rates-at-us-medical-schools-in-2015-reveal-ongoing-discrimination-against-asian-americans-and-whites/
Germany toughens citizenship laws for terrorists
and polygamists ---
https://www.dw.com/en/germany-toughens-citizenship-laws-for-terrorists-and-polygamists/a-49386785
City Council In Ilhan Omar’s (heavily Islamic)
District Votes to Dump the Pledge of Allegiance ---
https://www.ibtimes.com/tesla-raven-suspension-model-x-model-y-looks-totally-different-2795363
Ocasio-Cortez's 'Drinking Out of Toilets' Claim
Drastically Falls Apart ---
https://www.blabber.buzz/conservative-news/607656-photo-ocasio-cortezs-drinking-out-of-toilets-claim-drastically-falls-apart-special?utm_source=c-alrt&utm_medium=c-alrt-email&utm_term=c-alrt-GI
Also see
https://www.blabber.buzz/conservative-news/606916-texans-call-out-aoc-other-democrats-for-lying-about-detention-centers-at-border-presser-special?utm_source=c-pm&utm_medium=c-pm-email&utm_term=c-pm-GI
Armed Man Who Firebombed ICE Facility Wrote
Antifa Manifesto ---
https://www.blabber.buzz/conservative-news/615156-armed-man-who-firebombed-ice-facility-wrote-antifa-manifesto-special?utm_source=c-alrt&utm_medium=c-alrt-email&utm_term=c-alrt-GI
CNN's Chris Cuomo Defends Left-wing Terrorist
Group Antifa as 'Good Cause'---
https://www.blabber.buzz/conservative-news/605674-nolte-cnns-chris-cuomo-defends-left-wing-terrorist-group-antifa-as-good-cause-special?utm_source=c-am&utm_medium=c-am-email&utm_term=c-am-GI
Nike Pulls Betsy Ross Flag Sneakers After Colin
Kaepernick Complains Flag Patriotism is Offensive
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/leahbarkoukis/2019/07/02/nike-pulls-betsy-ross-early-american-flag-after-colin-kaepernick-objects-n2549333?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&newsletterad=07/02/2019&bcid=b16c6f948f297f77432f990d4411617f&recip=17935167
This will boost Trump re-election hopes --- as will efforts around the USA to downplay patriotism on July 4
Celebrate July 4 with an Antifa Flag ---
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=antifa+flag&ul_noapp=true
It's safe to wear an Antifa Flag on your clothing, but Antifa will break your
bones if you put a US Flag decal on your shoes or clothing ---
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Betsy+Ross+Stoclers&ref=nb_sb_noss_2
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=antifa+flag&crid=FID37JN81KAX&sprefix=Antifa+Flag,aps,168&ref=nb_sb_ss_i_2_11
Ted Cruz Gives Colin Kaepernick A History Lesson
— Explains Why His Frederick Douglass Quote Is Misleading ---
https://www.blabber.buzz/conservative-news/609305-ted-cruz-gives-colin-kaepernick-a-history-lesson-explains-why-his-frederick-douglass-quote-is-misleading-special?utm_source=c-mid&utm_medium=c-mid-email&utm_term=c-mid-GI
Left
Completely Misses The Point Of Frederick Douglass’s Speech About Independence
Day ---
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3761837/posts
KAEPERNICK DONATED $25,000 TO GROUP HONORING COP
KILLER ---
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2017/10/kaepernick-donated-25000-to-group-honoring-cop-killer.php
Colin Kaepernick Posts Frederick Douglass Quote:
'The Fourth of July Is Yours, Not Mine'---
https://www.blabber.buzz/conservative-news/609077-colin-kaepernick-posts-frederick-douglass-quote-the-fourth-of-july-is-yours-not-mine-special?utm_source=c-alrt&utm_medium=c-alrt-email&utm_term=c-alrt-GI
One of America's all-time great cop haters who hates the USA who turned cop hating into a multimillion dollar machine
One side is racist, bigoted, Nazi. Antifa opposes
racism and bigotry. Morally different universes ---
Mitt Romney
Twitter ^
|
Antifa Protesters Arrested After Attacking Secret
Service ---
https://www.blabber.buzz/conservative-news/609480-antifa-protesters-arrested-after-attacking-secret-service-special?utm_source=c-alrt&utm_medium=c-alrt-email&utm_term=c-alrt-GI
Antifa Mob Viciously Assaults Journalist Andy Ngo at
Portland Rally ---
https://reason.com/2019/06/29/antifa-andy-ngo-mob-milkshake-violence/
Portland mayor denies he told the police to stand down and let Antifa have its
way
The police union chief and the Portland chief of police have conflicting claims
regarding who ordered the police not to interfere with violent protesters
Now Portland police are trying to ban head masks and film the protests close up
Starbucks Kicked Out Police Officers Because
Customers ‘Did Not Feel Safe’ ---
https://www.blabber.buzz/conservative-news/609820-starbucks-kicked-out-police-officers-because-customers-did-not-feel-safe-special?utm_source=c-alrt&utm_medium=c-alrt-email&utm_term=c-alrt-GI
Things like this are really helping to re-elect Trump
DNC Deputy Chair Keith Ellison Quietly Deletes
His Tweet Praising Antifa Terrorists Featured ---
https://www.blabber.buzz/conservative-news/606446-update-dnc-deputy-chair-keith-ellison-quietly-deletes-his-tweet-praising-antifa-terrorists-special?utm_source=c-alrt&utm_medium=c-alrt-email&utm_term=c-alrt-GI
Antifa Plans Acid Attack on D.C. Free Speech
Rally, Promises To Blind Attendees ---
https://bigleaguepolitics.com/new-antifa-threatens-free-speech-rally-with-acid-attack-promises-to-blind-attendees/
Gun-Free London: Two men have been rushed
to hospital after suffering burns following a suspected acid attack in East
London ---
https://neonnettle.com/news/7903-khan-s-london-victims-sprayed-with-acid-in-terrifying-attack-in-capital-
When your cellmate has a penis
California Legislature Passes Bill To Put
Trans Men In Women’s Prisons, Even Rapists ---
https://thefederalist.com/2019/06/28/california-legislature-passes-bill-put-trans-men-womens-prisons-even-rapists/
Jensen
Comment
I wonder how many pregnancies and lawsuits it will take to change this
law?
Only in America would an administrative law judge
sue a local dry cleaner, claiming damages of $67 million for a lost pair of
pants ---
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2019/06/the-nonsense-factory-the-making-and-breaking-of-the-american-legal-system.html
Gov. Mike Dunleavy on Friday
cut
$444 million from Alaska’s state’s operating budget,
slashing services beyond the cuts already made by the Alaska Legislature in
order to move closer to a balanced budget without raising taxes or reducing the
Permanent Fund dividend.
https://www.adn.com/politics/alaska-legislature/2019/06/28/gov-mike-dunleavy-vetoes-444-million-from-alaska-state-operating-budget/
NYT: A Venezuelan Navy captain accused by
the government of plotting a rebellion died in custody after signs of torture
---
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/29/world/americas/venezuela-torture.html?action=click&module=Latest&pgtype=Homepage
Venezuelan Government Uses Arbitrary Arrests,
Torture, and 'Death Squads' to Keep Order, U.N. Finds ---
https://reason.com/2019/07/05/venezuelan-government-uses-arbitrary-arrests-torture-and-death-squads-to-keep-order-u-n-finds/
Republicans Fund Marianne Williamson to
Keep Her in Democrat Debates ---
https://www.blabber.buzz/conservative-news/606011-republicans-fund-marianne-williamson-to-keep-her-in-democrat-debates-special?utm_source=c-alrt&utm_medium=c-alrt-email&utm_term=c-alrt-GI
The Russian economy is at a standstill, with GDP
growth having averaged just 0.4% annually from 2014 to 2018. And Russia’s
economic prospects are unlikely to improve substantially anytime soon, for a
simple reason: Putin’s indifference ---
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/russia-economic-stagnation-prospects-by-vladislav-inozemtsev-2019-06
Jensen Comment
When it comes to guns versus butter, Putin chooses guns
Al-Qaida is stronger today than it was on 9/11
---
https://theconversation.com/al-qaida-is-stronger-today-than-it-was-on-9-11-117718
When England got rid of free college,
enrollment expanded, expenditure per student expanded, and inequality of access
did NOT increase ---
https://twitter.com/Noahpinion/status/1145783708802097152
Surge of 35,000 More African Migrants Moving Through Panama En Route to US -
--
Vermont imposes 92% tax on e-cigarettes
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3760951/posts
Jensen Comment
I wish e-cigarettes would be banned worldwide. But the trouble with Vermont is
that it's too small. Already shoppers from most any part of Vermont shop across
the border in New Hampshire (think Walmarts on the NH border) and avaidance of
sales tax (no sales tax in NH). E-cigarettes don't spoil like milk and eggs.
Shoppers in Vermont will either stock up in New Hampshire or buy e-cigarettes on
the black market that will form oferring e-cigarettes at lower prices than
Vermont stores will charge.
Kamala Harris did not grow up poor or in a black
ghetto (she grew up in Berkeley). Her mother was a cancer scientist, and her
divorced father was a successful economics professor at Stanford University ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamala_Harris#Early_life_and_education
Damning report reveals rampant sexual
harassment at US Coast Guard Academy ---
https://www.blabber.buzz/conservative-news/608501-damning-report-reveals-rampant-sexual-harassment-at-us-coast-guard-academy-special?utm_source=c-alrt&utm_medium=c-alrt-email&utm_term=c-alrt-GI
Leftists Celebrate Independence Day By Burning
Declaration of Independence, American Flag ---
https://www.blabber.buzz/conservative-news/609097-leftists-celebrate-independence-day-by-burning-declaration-of-independence-american-flag-special?utm_source=c-am&utm_medium=c-am-email&utm_term=c-am-GI
California’s regulatory code for housing is too
strict ---
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2019/07/californias-regulatory-code-for-housing-is-too-strict.html
Jensen
Comment
It's dysfunctional to efforts to increase rental housing that are accompanied by
regulations (think rent controls), taxes, and other regulations that make owning
rental property unprofitable and financially risky. Yes the government can build
housing projects, but now the government is blowing up its failed housing
projects that became centers of crime and corruption and decay caused by renters
who took no pride in maintaining their low-cost rented living space.
Just watch San Franciso, Los Angeles, Portland, and Seattle build new housing projects that will become instant slums.
Hear Wade in the Water: An Unprecedented
26-Hour-Long Exploration of the African American Sacred Music Tradition
---
http://www.openculture.com/2019/07/hear-wade-in-the-water.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29
India is battling intense heatwaves that have
killed more than 100 people, and experts warn some areas could soon be too hot
for humans to survive ---
https://www.businessinsider.com/india-heat-wave-kills-experts-areas-maybe-too-hot-live-2019-7
A Democrat congresswoman has been accused of
using taxpayer funds to send her staff into Mexico in secret to train asylum
seekers on how to get around United States immigration laws ---
https://www.blabber.buzz/conservative-news/609893-dem-congresswoman-sending-staff-to-train-migrants-to-sneak-in-to-us-special?utm_source=c-alrt&utm_medium=c-alrt-email&utm_term=c-alrt-GI
Venezuelan Government Uses Arbitrary Arrests,
Torture, and 'Death Squads' to Keep Order, U.N. Finds ---
https://reason.com/2019/07/05/venezuelan-government-uses-arbitrary-arrests-torture-and-death-squads-to-keep-order-u-n-finds/
VIDEO: 60 Teens Allegedly Loot Walgreens in
Downtown Philly ---
https://www.breitbart.com/crime/2019/07/06/video-teens-allegedly-loot-walgreens-in-downtown-philly/
This, along with soft prosecution of teens for shoplifting and looting, is why
retail stores move to the suburbs
Years ago a beautiful mall in San Antonio was closed down in large measure due
to teen violence, drugs, and shoplifting
Teen crime is running rampant in USA cities --- with no easy answers
Video: PLEASANT PRAIRIE, Wis. (CBS 58) --
Ten men were involved in the shoplifting incident at a Pleasant Prairie North
Face on June 1, according to a criminal complaint ---
https://www.cbs58.com/news/flash-mob-steals-30-000-worth-of-clothing-from-pleasant-prairie-store
NASA Sees Climate Cooling Trend (short term?) Thanks to Low Sun
Activity
National Weather Service: The Sun and Sunspots
https://www.weather.gov/fsd/sunspots
Media Ignores the 2016-2018 Cooling
Event
---
https://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2018/04/24/did_you_know_the_greatest_two-year_global_cooling_event_just_took_place_103243.html
Then why is the polar ice still receding?
Natural Gas: Overage of Supply and a
Shortage in Pipelines
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-u-s-is-overflowing-with-natural-gas-not-everyone-can-get-it-11562518355?mod=djemCFO
Wikipedia Users Editing Epstein’s Bio to Remove
Democratic Party Connections ---
https://www.blabber.buzz/conservative-news/611295-wikipedia-users-editing-epsteins-bio-to-remove-democratic-party-connections-special?utm_source=c-alrt&utm_medium=c-alrt-email&utm_term=c-alrt-GI
Revealed: Trump team held back dirt on
Kavanaugh accuser ---
https://www.blabber.buzz/conservative-news/610622-trump-team-held-back-dirt-on-kavanaugh-accuser-new-book-says-special?utm_source=c-alrt&utm_medium=c-alrt-email&utm_term=c-alrt-GI
AOC-aligned group targets incumbent Dems who
crossed influential freshmen ripping apart the party ---
https://www.blabber.buzz/conservative-news/611507-aoc-aligned-group-targets-incumbent-dems-who-crossed-influential-freshmen-special?utm_source=c-alrt&utm_medium=c-alrt-email&utm_term=c-alrt-GI
Nancy Pelosi Doubles Down on Ocasio-Cortez, Omar,
Tlaib and Pressley Attacks ---
https://www.blabber.buzz/conservative-news/611307-nancy-pelosi-doubles-down-on-ocasio-cortez-omar-tlaib-and-pressley-attacks-special?utm_source=c-am&utm_medium=c-am-email&utm_term=c-am-GI
Jensen Comment
This fight may hugely benefit Trump in 2020
Ilhan Omar Swipes Pelosi: You're Just
Salty Because We Are The Ones Wielding The Power ---
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2019/07/09/ilhan-omar-swipes-pelosi-youre-just-salty-because-we-are-the-ones-wielding-the-power-n2549741?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&newsletterad=07/09/2019&bcid=b16c6f948f297f77432f990d4411617f&recip=17935167
What cities have the highest rate of food stamp
usage?
https://247wallst.com/special-report/2019/07/10/cities-with-the-most-people-on-food-stamps-2/?utm_source=247WallStDailyNewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DailyNewsletter&utm_content=JUL112019a
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/
Thank you Tyler Cowen for the
heads up
Minimum Wage Employment Effects and Labor Market
Concentration ---
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3416016
Jensen Comment
This, along with most studies of minimum wage increases, ignores
the impact of job growth in the underground economy. It's especially common for
small firms (think landscapers and day care centers in San Antonio) to shift
more to the underground economy where minimum wages are sometimes paid in cash
without any benefits whatsoever, including no medical benefits, no unemployment
insurance, now social security benefits, no paid vacations, etc. Some estimates
of the underground economy claim that this economy pays over $2 trillion per
year. Authorities often look the other way, because closing down the underground
labor market locally directly impacts children and families who need those cash
wages desperately (think immigrants and refugees). Many of the small-time
employers will simply stop hiring completely if they have to pay benefits and
relatively high hourly wages. Hourly wages themselves vary with skills (e.g.,
mechanics may make $25 an hour without benefits).
Farm Subsidies Are Corporate Welfare — And
They Cost Us Plenty
https://mises.org/wire/farm-subsidies-are-corporate-welfare-—-and-they-cost-us-plenty?utm_source=Mises
Institute
Subscriptions&utm_campaign=e9fd7241c6-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_9_21_2018_9_59_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_8b52b2e1c0-e9fd7241c6-228708937
Jensen Comment
Al Gore finally admitted that the only justification for requiring ethanol in
gasoline was political rather than the sham excuses used to justify the law.
College Admissions Are Rigged in Favor of
Prominent Democrats ---
https://townhall.com/columnists/tuckercarlsonandneilpatel/2019/07/12/college-admissions-are-rigged-in-favor-of-prominent-democrats-n2549925?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&newsletterad=07/12/2019&bcid=b16c6f948f297f77432f990d4411617f&recip=17935167
Average Student Loan Debt For Law School
Graduates: $145,500 ---
https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2019/07/average-student-loan-debt-for-law-school-graduates-145500.html
WSJ: Biden Made 'Aggressive' Use Of
Edwards-Gingrich Sub S Loophole To Skirt $500k In Taxes ---
https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2019/07/wsj-biden-made-aggressive-use-of-edwards-gingrich-sub-s-loophole-to-skirt-500k-in-taxes.html
Is Democracy Doomed?
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2019/07/is-democracy-doomed.html
Farm Subsidies Are Corporate Welfare — And
They Cost Us Plenty
https://mises.org/wire/farm-subsidies-are-corporate-welfare-—-and-they-cost-us-plenty?utm_source=Mises
Institute
Subscriptions&utm_campaign=e9fd7241c6-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_9_21_2018_9_59_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_8b52b2e1c0-e9fd7241c6-228708937
Jensen Comment
Al Gore finally admitted that the only justification for requiring ethanol in
gasoline was political rather than the sham excuses used to justify the law.
Jensen Comment
I worry most about voters more interested in voting in their personal gains than
saving or spurring the economy. A perfect example, is voting is voting in USA
social spending programs of over $20 trillion per year without any viable way of
funding them without destroying stock markets, bond markets, real estate
markets, and pension funds.
Prejudice and foreign policy views ---
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2019/07/prejudice-and-foreign-policy-views.html
Liberal Bias in Academe ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies.htm#LiberalBias
Bob Jensen's threads on political correctness ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies2.htm#PoliticalCorrectness
Amazon Third Party Liability Ruling Could Have Enormous Implications for All
Retailers and Consumer Prices
Amazon could be exposed to huge risk after a court ruled that it's liable for
faulty third-party products ---
https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-ruled-to-be-liable-for-third-party-products-2019-7
Jensen Comment
This could have an enormous impact on virtually all consumer prices. For
example, suppose Walmart sells Ring front porch security cameras onsite as well
as online. If a camera fails when robbers are breaking in the front door home
owners might now sue Walmart for the value of all possessions stolen and the
murders of all occupants inside the house. The liability could be monumental
considering the millions of products sold be Amazon, Walmart, and the
locally-owned stores on main street who might now also be sued for faulty
products.
Hundreds of small town residents can now sue a hapless local Kroger grocery store that bought sweet corn from a nearby farmer who secretly used Roundup weed killer.
It's no wonder that millions of lawyers have a special reason to celebrate this July 4 holiday. A privately-owned local grocer store may not be worth much in bankruptcy, but you can sue Kroger (or Walmart) for billions.
This Amazon ruling will raise product liability insurance rates enormously. And remember that companies like Amazon, Walmart, Kroger and your locally-owned stores do not pay insurance costs and other costs like taxes. They pass their expenses along to customers such that this Amazon ruling in effect is a tremendous wealth transfer from customers like you and me to lawyers and insurance companies.
Kamala Harris announces $100B plan for black home ownership, tackling
racial wealth gap ---
https://www.blabber.buzz/conservative-news/609928-kamala-harris-announces-100b-plan-for-black-home-ownership-tackling-racial-wealth-gap-special?utm_source=c-alrt&utm_medium=c-alrt-email&utm_term=c-alrt-GI
Jensen Comment
Giving them free health care, free medications, guaranteed annual income,
reparations awards, free food, and lower standards for college graduation just
isn't enough. The bounty for being black just keeps piling on.
Natural Gas: Overage of Supply and a Shortage in
Pipelines
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-u-s-is-overflowing-with-natural-gas-not-everyone-can-get-it-11562518355?mod=djemCFO
America is awash in natural gas. In parts of the country there’s hardly a drop to burn.
Earlier this year, two utilities that service the New York City area stopped accepting new natural-gas customers in two boroughs and several suburbs. Citing jammed supply lines running into the city on the coldest winter days, they said they couldn’t guarantee they’d be able to deliver gas to additional furnaces. Never mind that the country’s most prolific gas field, the Marcellus Shale, is only a three-hour drive away.
Meanwhile, in West Texas, drillers have so much excess natural gas they are simply burning it off, roughly enough each day to fuel every home in the state.
U.S. gas production rose to a record of more than 37 trillion cubic feet last year, up 44% from a decade earlier. Yet the infrastructure needed to move gas around the country hasn’t kept up. Pipelines aren’t in the right places, and when they are, they’re usually decades old and often too small.
The result, despite natural-gas prices that look low on commodities exchanges, is energy feast and famine.
This spring, the price of natural gas at a trading hub near Midland, Texas, dropped as low as negative $9 per million British thermal units—meaning that producers were paying people to take it off their hands. (A million British thermal units is enough to dry about 50 loads of laundry.)
Elsewhere, prices soared due to bouts of cold weather coupled with supply disruptions, including an explosion along a British Columbian pipeline and a leaky underground storage facility near Los Angeles. At a trading hub in Sumas, Wash., natural gas rose to $200 per million British thermal units in March, the highest ever recorded in the U.S. In Southern California, prices went as high as $23; the average over the winter was a record $7.23.
Between the Lines
Continued in article
Jensen Comment
Although we had a few warm days over the July 4 holiday, it's July 8 now and my
furnace is once again kicking in at night.
Action on US debt limit might be needed sooner than expected Congress
might have to act on the debt limit sooner than expected, according to an
estimate by the Bipartisan Policy Center. The government could be unable to pay
bills starting in early September, the group says, although that is more likely
to occur in October ---
https://thehill.com/policy/finance/452033-debt-ceiling-deadline-could-hit-in-early-september-study
You ain't seen nuthin' yet
https://finance.townhall.com/columnists/johnphilipsousaiv/2019/07/03/dem-debates-what-they-said-what-they-didnt-and-who-will-pay-n2549466?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&bcid=b16c6f948f297f77432f990d4411617f
Jensen
Comment
The above link's estimate of $4 trillion annually leaves out a lot of promises,
especially the 2-ton gorilla called green initiatives. AOC conservatively
estimates her green initiatives alone will cost $10 trillion per year and newer
promises such as Kamala's promise of house purchases for minorities. The $150
billion expense for free college for all is greatly underestimated. It will cost
trillions of dollars annually, especially when job training is added.
Add to this what the $4.4 trillion that the USA Federal government currently
spends on other items (most of which are non-discretionary like Social Security
and other pensions) at you get $20-$25 trillion per year, over $20 trillion of
which will be taken from investors, thereby destroying the stock markets, bond
markets, and real estate markets upon which most USA's pension plans depend
(think CREF and CalPERS) ---
https://www.usdebtclock.org/
In fairness what business firms currently contribute to health insurance can be applied to Medicare-for-All but that won't begin to cover the costs of coverage for people currently not on employer medical plans (such as millions of refugees, workers in the underground economy, and other workers whose employers don't pay medical benefits). Add to this the Medicare-for-All added promises of nursing home coverage (massive cost) and medications (massive cost).
The Future Looks Terrible for U.S. Nursing Home Costs (currently not paid
by Medicare but paid for Medicaid recipients) ---
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-06-25/u-s-nursing-home-costs-may-get-worse-thanks-to-a-labor-shortage?cmpid=BBD062519_BIZ&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_term=190625&utm_campaign=bloombergdaily
Why Premium Grocers are Biting the Dust ---
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/07/10/death-dean-deluca-why-premium-grocers-are-biting-dust/?utm_term=.c5bf846ab5fa
Health Insurance
Even though Kamala Harris, as with Elizabeth Warren and Cory
Booker, there are $20+ trillion (annual) reasons why Kamala can't beat Joe Biden
and Donald Trump ---
Bob Jensen
https://finance.townhall.com/columnists/johnphilipsousaiv/2019/07/03/dem-debates-what-they-said-what-they-didnt-and-who-will-pay-n2549466?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&bcid=b16c6f948f297f77432f990d4411617f
Jensen
Comment
The above link's estimate of $4 trillion annually leaves out a lot of promises,
especially the 2-ton gorilla called green initiatives. AOC conservatively
estimates her green initiatives alone will cost $10 trillion per year.
Add to this what the $4.4 trillion that the USA Federal government currently
spends on other items (most of which are non-discretionary like Social Security
and other pensions) at you get $20-$25 trillion per year, over $20 trillion of
which will be taken from investors, thereby destroying the stock markets, bond
markets, and real estate markets upon which most USA's pension plans depend
(think CREF and CalPERS) ---
https://www.usdebtclock.org/
In fairness what business firms currently contribute to health insurance can be applied to Medicare-for-All but that won't begin to cover the costs of coverage for people currently not on employer medical plans (such as millions of refugees, workers in the underground economy, and other workers whose employers don't pay medical benefits). Add to this the Medicare-for-All added promises of nursing home coverage (massive cost) and medications (massive cost).
The Future Looks Terrible for U.S. Nursing Home Costs ---
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-06-25/u-s-nursing-home-costs-may-get-worse-thanks-to-a-labor-shortage?cmpid=BBD062519_BIZ&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_term=190625&utm_campaign=bloombergdaily
Health care price transparency: Fool’s gold, or real money in your pocket?
---
https://theconversation.com/health-care-price-transparency-fools-gold-or-real-money-in-your-pocket-115103
Jensen Comment
What every CPA knows that cost allocations are almost always misleading. Exhibit
A is the $2,000 toilet seat on military transport planes. Sure the military
could buy one for less than $10 at Walmart. But if it did so the $2,000 is not
going to be saved. It will simply be allocated to some other part on the plane.
Taxpayer First Act of 2019 --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxpayer_First_Act
President Trump Signs The Taxpayer First Act Of 2019 ---
https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2019/07/president-trump-signs-the-taxpayer-first-act-of-2019.html
· Accounting Today, Trump Signs IRS Reform Bill Into Law
· Congress.gov, Taxpayer First Act of 2019
· The Daily Signal, Trump Signs Law Making It Harder for IRS to Seize Money From Americans
· The Hill, Trump Signs Bipartisan IRS Reform Bill
· Law360, Trump Signs IRS Revamp Legislation Into Law
· Press Release, Taxpayer First Act Becomes Law in Major Success for IRS Whistleblower Program
· Press Release, President Trump Signs Taxpayer First Act, Including Major IRS Whistleblower Reforms
· Wall Street Journal op-ed (Jay Starkman), Congress Plays Small Ball With Tax Filing:
The Taxpayer First Act Omits Important Reforms to Make the System Simpler.· Wikipedia, Taxpayer First Act
Bob Jensen's
Tidbits Archives ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbitsdirectory.htm
Bob
Jensen's Pictures and Stories
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Pictures.htm
Summary of Major Accounting Scandals --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accounting_scandals
Bob Jensen's threads on such scandals:
Bob Jensen's threads on audit firm litigation and negligence ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Fraud001.htm
Current and past editions of my
newsletter called Fraud Updates ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudUpdates.htm
Enron --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudEnron.htm
Rotten to the Core --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudRotten.htm
American History of Fraud --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudAmericanHistory.htm
Bob Jensen's fraud
conclusions ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudConclusion.htm
Bob Jensen's threads on
auditor professionalism and independence are at
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Fraud001c.htm
Bob Jensen's threads on
corporate governance are at
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Fraud001.htm#Governance
Shielding
Against Validity Challenges in Plato's Cave ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/TheoryTAR.htm
· With a Rejoinder from the 2010 Senior Editor of The Accounting Review (TAR), Steven J. Kachelmeier
· With Replies in Appendix 4 to Professor Kachemeier by Professors Jagdish Gangolly and Paul Williams
· With Added Conjectures in Appendix 1 as to Why the Profession of Accountancy Ignores TAR
· With Suggestions in Appendix 2 for Incorporating Accounting Research into Undergraduate Accounting Courses
Shielding
Against Validity Challenges in Plato's Cave ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/TheoryTAR.htm
By Bob Jensen
What went
wrong in accounting/accountics research? ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/theory01.htm#WhatWentWrong
The Sad State of Accountancy Doctoral Programs That Do Not Appeal to Most
Accountants ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/theory01.htm#DoctoralPrograms
AN ANALYSIS OF THE EVOLUTION OF RESEARCH CONTRIBUTIONS BY THE ACCOUNTING REVIEW:
1926-2005 ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/395wpTAR/Web/TAR395wp.htm#_msocom_1
Bob Jensen's threads on accounting theory
---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/theory01.htm
Systemic problems of accountancy (especially the vegetable nutrition paradox)
that probably will never be solved
---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudConclusion.htm#BadNews
Bob Jensen's economic crisis messaging http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/2008Bailout.htm
Bob Jensen's threads --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/threads.htm
Bob Jensen's Home Page --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/