Tidbits Political Quotations
To Accompany the May 28, 2020 Edition of Tidbits
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/2020/Tidbits051420.htm             
Bob Jensen at
Trinity University




My Latest Web Document
Over 500 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/
The published national debt is a lie
Here's the real federal debt ---
https://www.truthinaccounting.org/about/our_national_debt

Debt to GDP Ratio by Country 2020 ---
https://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/countries-by-national-debt/

Human Population Over Time on Earth ---
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUwmA3Q0_OE 

MIT's Links to Covid-19 Trackers Around the World ---
https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/05/07/1000961/launching-mittr-covid-tracing-tracker/

Johns Hopkins University:  Updated Map and Table on the Number of Coronavirus Cases for Every Nation ---
https://www.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6
Accuracy is subject to wide margins of error for every nation and varies greatly between nations.

Covid019 in New Hampshire ---
https://www.nh.gov/covid19/

The best maps for comparing counties and towns in your state are provided by your state. For example, here's the map showing the distribution of cases for New Hampshire counties and towns ---
https://www.wmur.com/article/new-hampshire-coronavirus-map/32009329#
 


 

 Here's a humorous and serious TED talk that seriously argues why the world needs billionaires

https://www.ted.com/talks/harald_eia_where_in_the_world_is_it_easiest_to_get_rich
 

Why did Cuba abandon its socialist/communist dream of equality for everybody?
The Guardian:  This was the egalitarian dream of Cuba in the 1960s: For years in Cuba, jobs as varied as farm workers and doctors only had a difference in their wages of the equivalent of a few US dollars a month.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/jun/12/cuba 

 

Here's a somber and serious Guardian article on why the Cuban model of income equality for all is a disaster ---
Fidel Castro says his economic system is failing ---

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/sep/09/fidel-castro-cuba-economic-model

 

The Singapore Dream:  How Singapore's richest man went from welding in a factory for $14 per hour to owning a $17 billion hotpot restaurant chain ---
https://www.businessinsider.com/life-of-singapore-richest-man-from-welder-to-hotpot-billionaire-2020-1

 

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/

 

The True Meaning of Memorial Day Isn’t a Three-Day Weekend ---
https://www.ozy.com/news-and-politics/the-true-meaning-of-memorial-day-isnt-a-three-day-weekend/78579/?utm_term=OZY&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DailyDose%20%282020-05-25%2016:37:44%29&utm_content=B

 

Kobe Bryant:  We need to make the most of every minute we have ---
https://www.newsweek.com/i-wont-take-see-you-later-granted-148449

 

Hermann Weyl born in Hamburg, Germany. He wrote, "One may say that mathematics talks about the things which are of no concern to men. Mathematics has the inhuman quality of starlight---brilliant, sharp, but cold ... thus we are clearest where knowledge matters least: in mathematics, especially number theory." ---
http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Biographies/Weyl.html
Also see Mathematical Analytics in Plato's Cave
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/TheoryTAR.htm#Analytics

 

And nevertheless conclude that the optimum amount of restriction of immigration is zero point zero, zero, zero? Amazing. Economics are generally skeptical models that yield corner solutions ---
https://www.econlib.org/do-you-talk-about-it-in-open-borders-yes/
Jensen Comment
To the list of questions I would add "Do your talk about the Tragedy of the Commons?"
The problem with open borders is somewhat related to the economic problem of "The Sharing of the Commons" where giving everybody the right to use a free resource leads to everybody losing that resource. At what point will allowing billions of people share in the free medical care, free college, and other scarce resources ruin it for everybody ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy_of_the_commons

 

History of United States Immigration Laws ---
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/FMfcgxwGCkZzrvQkcFbRplBPwBFwmFDs

 

Open immigration can’t exist with a strong social safety net; if you’re going to assure healthcare and a decent income to everyone, you can’t make that offer global ---
Paul Krugman
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/724654-open-immigration-can-t-exist-with-a-strong-social-safety-net

 

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

 

Assorted Charlie Munger Quotations ---

https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/warren-buffett-berkshire-hathaway-charlie-munger-12-best-quotes-2020-5-1029210949

 

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/

 

Walter A. Williams:  The Nation's Report Card
How are K-12 schools doing under President Trump versus President Obama?
https://townhall.com/columnists/walterewilliams/2020/05/06/the-nations-report-card-n2568167?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&newsletterad=05/06/2020&bcid=b16c6f948f297f77432f990d4411617f&recip=17935167

Jensen's Comment
Most K-12 schools were probably doing better when I was a child than they're doing today. The downhill slide is greatest in the gang-ridden schools, drug-infested urban schools like Chicago and New Orleans. Throwing money at such schools is not the answer until life at home recovers. Finland knows this, which is why Finland's dads spend more time with school children than the moms or the teachers.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/dec/04/finland-only-country-world-dad-more-time-kids-moms

 

In 1665, Cambridge University closed because of the plague. Issac Newton decided to work from home. He discovered calculus & the laws of motion. Just saying.
— Paddy Cosgrave
Cosgrave, chief executive of Web Summit, in a tweet last week reflecting on the ramifications of coronavirus.
As quoted again in a March 11, 2020 Chronicle of Higher Education newsletter.
Jensen Comment
For Cambridge students in 1665 there were no photocopy machines for lecture notes, telephone, Web sites, video/radio technologies, and other online technologies used today for online teaching.

 

Milton Friedman:  The Lesson of the Spoons ---
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2019/08/spoons-are-in-aisle-9.html
Chopsticks would be even better

 

There are over 100+ trillion reasons for the demise of Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders that the liberal media does not want to mention
Brian Riedl computed the added $100 trillion cost of Bernie's initiatives (not counting his free pre-schooling for every child,  the collapse of the capital markets, the loss of most USA pensions, and tides through open borders ) ---
https://www.city-journal.org/bernie-sanders-expensive-spending-proposals

 

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

 

The Amazon Rain Forest Is Nearly Gone ---
https://time.com/amazon-rainforest-disappearing/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the-brief&utm_content=20190914&xid=newsletter-brief
Amazon rainforest fires: Everything we know and how you can help ---
https://www.cnet.com/how-to/amazon-rainforest-fire-whats-happening-now-and-how-you-can-help-update-indigenous-tribes/
There Are More Fires Burning in Africa Than Anywhere on Earth ----
https://time.com/5665794/africa-forest-fires-amazon/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the-brief&utm_content=20190901&xid=newsletter-brief
If forests go up in smoke, so can carbon offsets ---
https://www.theverge.com/2019/9/13/20859156/forests-fires-carbon-offsets-amazon-california

 

"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

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

Also see
 

The enemy is fear
We think it's hate
But, it's fear

Gandhi

 

12 inspiring quotes from Martin Luther King Jr.---
https://www.businessinsider.com/inspiring-martin-luther-king-jr-quotes-2017-1

 

‘Never Be Afraid’: William Faulkner’s Speech to His Daughter’s Graduating Class in 1951 ---
http://www.openculture.com/2020/05/never-be-afraid-william-faulkners-speech-to-his-daughters-graduating-class-in-1951.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

 

21 outstanding Warren Buffet quotations ---
https://www.businessinsider.com/warren-buffett-21-best-quotes-2019-2
Also see
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/the-25-best-warren-buffett-quotes-in-one-infographic/

 

History of United States Immigration Laws ---
https://rapidvisa.com/history-of-united-states-immigration-laws/

Walter E. Williams:  Rotten Education Isn't Preordained:  in 2016, in 13 Baltimore high schools, not a single student tested proficient in math ---
https://townhall.com/columnists/walterewilliams/2020/05/20/rotten-education-isnt-preordained-n2569005?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&newsletterad=05/20/2020&bcid=b16c6f948f297f77432f990d4411617f&recip=17935167

Coronavirus:  The Risks - Know Them - Avoid Them ---
https://www.erinbromage.com/post/the-risks-know-them-avoid-them
Thank you Fred Loxsom for the excellent heads up

 

NY Times on Memorial Day Weekend: US Military celebrates white supremacism ---
https://www.foxnews.com/media/ny-times-memorial-day-weekend-us-military-celebrates-white-supremacism
Jensen Comment
No mention made of Colin Powell's wonderful performance at the White House's Memorial Day tribute. The liberals prefer to conduct war on racism rather than focus more on the USA's outside enemies.

 

Will Our Military State Fail Us?
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2020/05/will-our-military-state-fail-us.html
We're losing the Cold War with China. Can President Biden turn this around?

 

The Obama administration’s ill-fated Asia pivot did not prevent the growth of China’s military and economic power in the region, as it built artificial islands, embedded itself in key infrastructure projects, and invested in its military. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has called into question whether the United States would defend its treaty allies in the Pacific, such as Japan, with complaints about the expense. (Davidson said at Aspen that “there is no more important American ally in the world than Japan.”)
The Atlantic
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/07/china-us-war/594793/

 

LA Inmates Infect Themselves with COVID in Effort to Secure Early Release ---
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/bronsonstocking/2020/05/13/la-inmates-infect-themselves-with-corona-to-secure-early-release-n2568776?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&newsletterad=05/14/2020&bcid=b16c6f948f297f77432f990d4411617f&recip=17935167

Is this an example of failed moral hazard? ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_hazard

 

De Blasio's overspending can only discourage Congress from sending coronavirus aid to NYC ---
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/coronavirus-de-blasio-new-york-city-overspending-congress-aid

 

Dr. Anthony Fauci says staying closed for too long could cause ‘irreparable damage ---
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/22/dr-anthony-fauci-says-staying-closed-for-too-long-could-cause-irreparable-damage.html

 

Newsweek:  America Is in a New Cold War and This Time the Communists Might Win ----
https://www.newsweek.com/2020/06/05/america-new-cold-war-this-time-communists-might-win-1504447.html

 

New Zealand Gun Crime Rates Soar Following Gun Bans ---
https://bearingarms.com/tom-k/2020/05/18/nz-gun-crime-rates-soar-gun-bans/

 

CNN Was Used to Spread Lies And They're Just Fine with That ---
https://townhall.com/columnists/larryoconnor/2020/05/22/cnn-has-been-used-to-spread-lies-and-theyre-just-fine-with-that-n2569307?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&newsletterad=05/23/2020&bcid=b16c6f948f297f77432f990d4411617f&recip=17935167

 

Sweden:  The problem calls for targeted solutions by those close to the vulnerable covid-19 individuals.

https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2020/05/stockholm-citys-elderly-care-and-covid19.html

 

Nursing homes account for 81 percent of the Canada’s covid-19 deaths ---
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2020/05/canada-fact-of-the-day-2.html

 

Nursing Home/Long Term Care deaths by state (USA) ---
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ETm51GayRjlnoaRVtUOWfkolEeAQZ-zPhXkCbVe4_ik/edit#gid=435667374
I did not verify the reporting of numbers here. But note the links on the right side of the table.

 

The FDA and CDC's Coronavirus Response Is a 'Failure of Historic Proportions' ---
https://reason.com/video/the-fda-and-cdcs-coronavirus-response-is-a-failure-of-historic-proportions/

 

NYT:  Don’t bail out the states
https://www.data-z.org/news/detail/dont-bail-out-the-states

 

Deducting home office expenses:  With many now working at home, taxpayers need to understand the rules ---
https://www.journalofaccountancy.com/issues/2020/may/deduct-home-office-expenses-coronavirus-remote-work.html?utm_source=mnl:cpald&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20May2020

AOC-led push to kill Amazon's NYC move under renewed scrutiny as city faces catastrophic job losses ---
https://www.blabber.buzz/conservative-news/890154-aoc-led-push-to-kill-amazons-nyc-move-under-renewed-scrutiny-as-city-faces-catastrophic-job-losses-special?utm_source=c-alrt&utm_medium=c-alrt-email&utm_term=c-alrt-GI&utm_content=9GHGkdpWhYe83EFyZJjkFO8_21LdfGwaVfyZOKuqu1nQ.A

 

Over 4,300 virus patients sent to NY nursing homes, AP counts ---
https://www.foxnews.com/us/ap-count-over-4300-virus-patients-sent-to-ny-nursing-homes

 

Why?  Israel, Hezbollah brace for war ---
https://apnews.com/3fe4bd4659a6ab07695930b61c1a4ae6

 

Iran's Supreme Leader calls for Israel's destruction ---
https://www.foxnews.com/world/iranian-supreme-leader-calls-for-israels-destruction-in-twitter-screed-on-anti-israel-holiday

 

French police in the Paris suburb of Bagnolet have arrested four people after discovering the alleged headquarters of the city’s far-left extremist Antifa movement, where it is claimed explosives were being manufactured ---
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/05/22/french-police-raid-alleged-far-left-antifa-bomb-factory-hq/

 

What if Connecticut files for bankruptcy? ---
https://www.data-z.org/news/detail/what-if-connecticut-files-for-bankruptcy

 

 




 

NYU:  Hydroxychloroquine, Azithromycin, and Zinc Triple-Combo Proved to be Effective in Coronavirus Patients, Study Says ---
https://www.sciencetimes.com/articles/25658/20200512/hydroxychloroquine-azithromycin-zinc-triple-combo-proved-effective-coronavirus-patients-study.htm

 

Amy Klobuchar Admits Miracle Drug Hydroxychloroquine Saved Her Husband’s Life ---
 https://www.blabber.buzz/conservative-news/891476-finally-amy-klobuchar-admits-miracle-drug-hydroxychloroquine-saved-her-husbands-life-video-special?utm_source=c-alrt&utm_medium=c-alrt-email&utm_term=c-alrt-GI&utm_content=2KvkcSGywrCfXsRfotUH4XJ8Trg..A

 

Large Study Finds No Benefit — and Potential Harm — in Using Hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19 ---
https://time.com/5841545/hydroxychloroquine-covid-study/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the-brief-pm&utm_content=20200522&xid=newsletter-brief
This study may differ from the NYU study by failing to combine with Azithromycin and Zinc.

 


 

A Global Race to the Bottom: How Central Banks Are Responding to the COVID Crisis ---
https://mises.org/wire/global-race-bottom-how-central-banks-are-responding-covid-crisis?utm_source=Mises+Institute+Subscriptions&utm_campaign=a4f923f91d-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_9_21_2018_9_59_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_8b52b2e1c0-a4f923f91d-228708937

 

Quantitative Easing --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantitative_easing

 

Helicopter Money --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helicopter_money

 

Scott Pelly from CBS News --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Pelley

 

Jerrome Powell, Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerome_Powell

 

CBS Sixty Minutes
Fed Chair Jerome Powell on the coronavirus-ravaged economy ---

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/coronavirus-economy-jerome-powell-federal-reserve-chairman-60-minutes/

 

Pelly:  Fair to say you simply flooded the system with money?

 

Powell:  Yes. We did. That's another way to think about it. We did.

 

Pelly: Where does it come from?

 

Powell:  We print it digitally. So as a central bank, we have the ability to create money digitally. And we do that by buying Treasury Bills or bonds for other government guaranteed securities. And that actually increases the money supply. We also print actual currency, and we distriubte that through the Federal Reserve banks.

Jensen Comment
This printing of money is not the normal way money is created. Currency is usually printed only to satisfy liquidity (currency) demand for money that's already in the money supply such as when you write a $100 check for cash. The money in your checking account is already in the money supply. Money is created when you borrow from the bank to add to your checking account.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money#Creation_of_money

Bank money, or broad money (M1/M2) is the money created by private banks through the recording of loans as deposits of borrowing clients, with partial support indicated by the cash ratio.

 

Currently, bank money is created as electronic money. In most countries, the majority of money is mostly created as M1/M2 by commercial banks making loans. Contrary to some popular misconceptions, banks do not act simply as intermediaries, lending out deposits that savers place with them, and do not depend on central bank money (M0) to create new loans and deposits

But there are reserve requirements that banks must maintain to limit the amount of money created by banks.

 


 

UC-Hastings Sues San Francisco Over ‘Insufferable’ Sidewalk Conditions Amid COVID-19 ---
https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2020/05/uc-hastings-sues-san-francisco-over-insufferable-sidewalk-conditions-amid-covid-19.html
The thousands of street dwellers are the homeless not presently among the 7,000+ fortunates now getting free rooms, food, condoms, cigarettes, narcotics, and booze in San Francisco's most luxurious hotels.

The vexing problem soon will be what to do with those 7,000+ secured homeless when those luxury hotels want to once again open up to rich visitors to San Francisco. Will these secured homeless get new free tents? Most of them will refuse to live in traditional shelters (that are often deemed unsafe and worse than living on the streets).
My solution is to permanently dock unused cruise ships having nowhere to go. Let the Silicon Valley billionaires pay for "passenger" condoms, cigarettes, food, narcotics, and booze.

 

 

 


 

People are furious at restaurants adding COVID-19 surcharges, as food prices skyrocket and businesses struggle ---
https://www.businessinsider.com/restaurants-covid-19-surcharges-spark-backlash-as-meat-costs-grow-2020-5

Grocery Prices Rise by 8% or More in May 2020 ---
https://www.sun-sentinel.com/coronavirus/fl-bz-cpi-grocery-prices-rise-79-percent-in-south-florida-20200513-asggkc7vjbesnmj2rl6sme6ao4-story.html

Grocery prices are rising as eat-at-home demand soars during the coronavirus pandemic ---
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/grocery-prices-are-rising-as-eat-at-home-demand-soars-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic-2020-04-07

Transportation prices are going to soar, especially when oil prices commence to climb again. You can't expect to take out the middle seats of airliners and expect them to fly at deep losses to absorb a third of the loss of ticket revenue on each flight. Our present airliners are oversized for the reduced payloads.

Why Home Prices Are Rising During the Pandemic ---
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/realestate/why-home-prices-are-rising-during-the-pandemic/ar-BB13C12S

The biggest cause of the price rises in the near future will be the printing of trillions in helicopter money circulating in the economy ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helicopter_money
Printing little bits of helicopter money at this moment would probably be a good thing, but printing trillions upon trillions will be devastating. Liberal economists like Paul Krugman keep urging us on, and the media is not warning us about the evils of inflation.

Jensen Comment
A month after the above article about grocery prices was written the latest news on May 12 is that groceries are once again taking a huge jump.
You ain't seen nuthin' yet!
Af first there was surplus supply of food when restaurants shut down. Restaurants consume roughly half the food in the USA. As soon as these restaurants commence to open up there will be a surge in food demand that will increase prices even more. Workers going back to their old jobs will find that their old paycheck amounts won't stretch as far.

Added to this leap in pricing is the printing of trillions in helicopter money support dropped off on unemployed workers and new stimulus aid for businesses, hospitals, state governments, etc. Sure the media keeps spreading lies that these trillions are going to be borrowed by selling trillions of stimulus money to investors. But the fact is that there are no investors who want to buy these trillions of dollars in new debt.

Ray Dalio --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Dalio

Trump-Hating Billionaire Ray Dalio says investors would be 'pretty crazy to hold government bonds' right now as central banks continue to print money ---
https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/ray-dalio-crazy-hold-bonds-now-central-banks-printing-money-2020-4-1029095649

Good financial advice even though it's not very patriotic

Buyers needed for added trillions of planned US government debt ---
https://www.truthinaccounting.org/news/detail/buyers-needed-for-3-trillion-of-us-government-debt

China, Until Recently America's Largest Creditor, Won't Be Funding Your Stimulus Check ---
https://www.newsweek.com/china-treasury-stimulus-check-debt-us-1499541

Jensen Comment
Not many buyers want to buy trillions of new USA debt. So the Federal Reserve will buy it.
Hey isn't that like moving this debt from the Federal government's left pocket to its right pocket?
The least China could do is make some of our helicopter parts cheaper ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helicopter_money                                                         

One National Debt buyer dominates all others --- The Federal Reserve (think of it as a debtor investing in his own debt)
But the Federal Reserve is "printing money" in a limited way (QE is not like printing helicopter money)  to buy much of the debt under the fancy name of Quantitative Easing ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantitative_easing

Jensen Comment
There's no disaster in quantitative easing in times of recession as long as the QA is in relatively small amounts and t
he money is not being used to finance the Federal deficit ---
https://www.thebalance.com/what-is-quantitative-easing-definition-and-explanation-3305881
It helps maintain investment market liquidity and prevent runs on markets where investors want to withdraw cash (think Jimmy Stewart in It's a Wonderful Life)
However, as we get into the realm of trillions of dollars these are not small amounts by any means.

There are losers even with more limited QE ---
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-15198789
Outside investors in our National Debt get hit and become less likely to roll over their investments in our National Debt, thereby making the National Debt a bigger problem

Are there any losers from QE? QE pushes up the market price of government bonds and reduces the yield, or interest rate, paid out to investors. In other words, investors have to pay more to get the same income. 

If market interest rates are lower that depresses the value of a currency because it becomes less attractive to foreign investors. 

The US's programme of QE also kept the value of the dollar lower than it might otherwise have been, a factor not welcomed in some emerging economies. Since the end of QE in the US and with the prospect of interest rate rises there, the dollar has regained strength.

 

 


 

Detroit Goes to Work ---
https://www.ozy.com/presidential-daily-brief/pdb-327922/?utm_term=OZY&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=PDB%20%282020-05-16%2011:12:59%29#article328253

 

On May 18, workers are set to return to the Motor City’s Ford, GM and Fiat Chrysler plants in test of how other industries might come back to life. The process required the approval of embattled Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who locked down the state in March, and auto workers’ unions. Their success will depend on Mexico, where factories supply Detroit’s auto parts and are permitted to restart June 1, but where infections are surging. The American plants will begin at a quarter of their capacity, doing temperature checks of entering workers, who must wear masks and remain distant from coworkers.

 


 

The Sears Headquarters Deal Cost Taxpayers $500 Million. 30 Years Later, There’s Little to Show for It ---
https://www.propublica.org/article/sears-story-day-2-study

Jensen Comment
There are winners and losers in big tax deals like this. Silicon Valley might not have amounted to much without tax relief. Some tax deals are hard to assess as of yet, particularly tax deals for solar and wind power energy conversions.

Peoria's tax deal with Caterpillar probably saved retaining the headquarters and plant locally and thus far looks like an economic winner for Peoria. Hoffman Estates bet big on Sears which is beginning to look like a big loser --- because, unlike Caterpillar, Sears became a big loser. Hoffman Estates bet on a losing horse. Peoria bet on a winner.

Some local deals are affected by factors outside the control of local politics. For example, towns in Texas and the State of Washington benefit by not having state personal income taxes. Towns in Illinois, California, New Jersey, and Connecticut are being hammered by increases in personal income taxes that are state-wide. In some states, fiscal problems (think unfunded pensions) create huge fears among businesses when making location decisions. Tax deals for companies in those states may be good for the companies but bad for employees. Vermont is Exhibit A that discourages professionals from moving into the lowly-populated state that taxes everything imaginable.

 


 

How to Mislead With Statistics

 

Simple Solution to California’s Anticipated $54 Billion Budget Deficit ---
https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/05/15/simple-solution-to-californias-anticipated-54-billion-budget-deficit/

. . .

A 50% tax on the wealth of just Larry Ellison, Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk would solve the deficit with tens of billions remaining. A quick google search puts their wealth at:[1]

Zuckerberg $68.2 billion

Ellison $67.4 billion

Musk $36.8 billion

An emergency wealth tax of 50% on these three individuals alone would come to $86.2 billion.[2] That would leave over $30 billion more than the estimate of California’s government deficit. That extra money could be used to house the homeless, guarantee everyone food and access to medical care, finally provide a proper level of funding for the state’s public colleges and schools, lift many, if not all, of the state’s residents out of poverty, and have funds to help out in case the state experiences another round of destructive fires and/or a major earthquake.

 

This type of tax should have no impact on the lifestyles of the super-wealthy. Recently, they appeared to be able to get by on “far less.” Zuckerberg’s wealth was put at $46 billion at the end of 2015 and “just” $4 billion in 2010, less than 6% of what it is today. In 2015, Musk’s wealth was estimated at $13.2 billion, not even half of what it is now. After the tax, the net worth of the super-wealthy would still be excessive.

Continued in article

Jensen Common

An extreme wealth tax such as that suggested above is not so simple as the article naively makes it sound. California needs cash and none of the billionaires mentioned above are sitting on tens of billions in cash or gold or any other investments that are easily cashed in at market values. They're sitting mostly on common stock in the companies they control (Facebook, Oracle, Tesla, Boring, and SpaceX, etc.). Stock prices are set by supply and demand at relatively small amounts of daily trading. Forcing these huge shareholders to quickly dump 50% of their enormous holdings would send share values plunging to a point where these billionaires and their companies no longer have the wealth envisioned in the above article.

Secondly, the author of the above article assumes that these billionaires will passively accept a 50% tax on all their wealth. If such legislation in Sacramento approaches reality those billionaires will be long gone from California and may even move their companies out of state. The naive author of the above article does not investigate why Sweden and France experimented with and then abandoned much more modest wealth taxes on their most wealthy taxpayers as the wealth taxes were discovered to be counterproductive on the economies. 

Thirdly, California would be sending a message that there is no longer a California dream of becoming a billionaire with new ventures in the no-longer Golden State. Instead the message would be to start new ventures iin more business-friendly states that still offer an American Dream.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Britain's wealthiest man and a key Brexit backer, has decided to leave the UK and live in Monaco ---
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/jim-ratcliffe-brexit-uk-richest-man-monaco-move-tax-haven-eu-leave-a8484211.html

Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Britain’s wealthiest man and a key Brexit backer, has decided to leave the UK and live in Monaco.

Despite his previous claims that the UK would be “perfectly successful” outside of the European Union (EU), the billionaire has chosen to leave the country of his birth and move to the principality, whose residents do not pay income tax, on the Mediterranean coast.

Sir Jim, founder and CEO of the chemicals giant Ineos, was named as the richest man in Britain in this year’s Sunday Times rich list, with an estimated fortune of £21bn.

Continued in article

The Achilles heel of the dual income tax : the Norwegian case ---
https://ssb.brage.unit.no/ssb-xmlui/handle/11250/180583

The dual income tax provides the self-employed individual with large incentives to participate in tax minimizing income shifting. The present paper analyses the income shifting incentives under the Norwegian split model in the presence of technology risk, and it concludes that the widely held corporation serves as a tax shelter for high-income self-employed individuals. In addition, real capital investments with a low risk profile are means to shift income from the labor income tax base to the capital income tax base for the high-income self-employed.

OECD:  Recommended Tax Reform in Norway --- Phase Out the Wealth Tax
https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/content/paper/5k9bls0vpd5d-en?crawler=true

Tax Reform in Norway

A Focus on Capital Taxation

Norway’s dual income tax system achieves high levels of revenue collection and income redistribution, without overly undermining economic performance and while paying attention to environmental externalities. It treats capital and labour income in different ways: capital income is taxed at a single low rate, while labour income is taxed at progressive rates. However, effective tax rates on savings vary widely across asset classes. The favourable treatment of owner-occupied housing relative to financial savings should be reduced, preferably by taxing imputed rents at the standard 28% statutory rate. The wealth tax implies very high effective tax rates on savings, indicating that it either gives rise to tax avoidance or significantly inhibits growth. The government should investigate the issue and, if the growth-equity trade-off is too unfavourable to growth, phase out or lower the wealth tax. To restrain tax avoidance by the wealthy, the base of the gift and inheritance tax should be broadened. Overall, the reform package recommended in this paper would improve the allocation of capital and increase work and investment incentives. It could be designed to be broadly neutral in regard to income redistribution and public revenue.

American Economic Review 2019:  Tax Evasion and Inequality (Scandinavia) ---
https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/aer.20172043

Drawing on a unique dataset of leaked customer lists from offshore financial institutions matched to administrative wealth records in Scandinavia, we show that offshore tax evasion is highly concentrated among the rich. The skewed distribution of offshore wealth implies high rates of tax evasion at the top: we find that the 0.01 percent richest households evade about 25 percent of their taxes. By contrast, tax evasion detected in stratified random tax audits is less than 5 percent throughout the distribution. Top wealth shares increase substantially when accounting for unreported assets, highlighting the importance of factoring in tax evasion to properly measure inequality.

Here's a humorous and serious TED talk that seriously argues why the world needs billionaires---
https://www.ted.com/talks/harald_eia_where_in_the_world_is_it_easiest_to_get_rich
 


 

The coronavirus pandemic could cost the global economy a nightmarish $82 trillion over 5 years, a Cambridge study warns ---
https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-pandemic-cost-global-economy-82-trillion-cambridge-study-2020-5

Putting Things in Perspective
Forwarded by Auntie Bev

It’s a mess out there now. Hard to discern between what’s a real threat and what is just simple panic and hysteria. For a small amount of perspective at this moment, imagine you were born in 1900.


On your 14th birthday, World War I starts, and ends on your 18th birthday, 22 million people perish in that war. Later in the year, a Spanish Flu epidemic hits the planet and runs until your 20th birthday. 50 million people die from it in those two years. Yes, 50 million.

On your 29th birthday, the Great Depression begins. Unemployment hits 25%, the World GDP drops 27%. That runs until you are 33. The country nearly collapses along with the world economy.

When you turn 39, World War II starts. You aren’t even over the hill yet.
And don’t try to catch your breath. On your 41st birthday, the UnitedStates is fully pulled into WWII. Between your 39th and 45th birthday, 75 million people perish in the war.

Smallpox was epidemic until you were in your 40’s, as it killed 300 million people during your lifetime.


At 50, the Korean War starts. 5 million perish. From your birth, until you are 55 you dealt with the fear of Polio epidemics each summer. You
experience friends and family contracting polio and being paralyzed and/or die.

At 55 the Vietnam War begins and doesn’t end for 20 years. 4 million people perish in that conflict. During the Cold War, you lived each day with the fear of nuclear annihilation. On your 62nd birthday you have the Cuban Missile Crisis, a tipping point in the Cold War. Life on our planet, as we know it, almost ended. When you turn 75, the Vietnam War finally ends.

Think of everyone on the planet born in 1900. How did they endure all of that? When you were a kid in 1985 and didn’t think your 85 year old grandparent understood how hard school was. And how mean that kid in your class was. Yet they survived through everything listed above. Perspective is an amazing art. Refined and enlightening as time goes on. Let’s try and keep things in perspective. Your parents and/or grandparents were called to endure all of the above – you are called to stay home and sit on your couch.

Jensen Comment
Thus far in terms of deaths the coronavirus is a relatively minor pandemic. However, in terms of tens of trillions of dollars in spending worldwide and its impact on future economies this latest pandemic may become a bigger disaster than anything else in history --- a disaster that could bring the USA to its knees. Are we paying too much for health and safety?

 




Updates on Medical Insurance

 

None right now except to say that Joe Biden promises both weak enforcement of borders along with free healthcare for all illegal immigrants.

 

Open immigration can’t exist with a strong social safety net; if you’re going to assure healthcare and a decent income to everyone, you can’t make that offer global ---
Paul Krugman
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/724654-open-immigration-can-t-exist-with-a-strong-social-safety-net

 

Bob Jensen's threads on health insurance ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Health.htm

 




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/