Just A Few Random Thoughts

It occurs to me that some words can be taken out of context.  I stated that the Federal Reserve needs to "establish more honest interest rates" from the rediculously low ones we have now.  I hope no one thought I was advocating for lower rates, because T bills are only a half a percent now.  Mom is making all sorts of money right now even with the half percent rates.  But what if T Bills paid four or five percent?  Sure Mom would be paying a lot more taxes but she's also be making boucoups bucks.  Yes this would increase interest on our national debt, but only NEW debt as of post March 2016.  All the OLD debt rates would remain intact.  I am not as concerned as Judy is about being in debt or beholden to China.  If China were going to pull the plug on our loans they would have done it by now.  Judy was silent when I raised this point to here on the phone. One area that might be to your liking, Judy, is that if I were President I would push to abolish this "quarterly estamated income" tax payment you have to send in every three months.  This is a lot of money and a lot of unnecessary paperwork.  It's giving the government free use of your money for from three to nine months.  If you end up owing the government or are deliquent in payments, you pay a tax penalty.  But if the government owes YOU money, you don't get squat in terms of interest rates.  I don't agree with the idea that there should be Zero tax on stock dividends.  This is a Larry Elder pipe dream.  I agree with Thom Hartman's statement that "Those who do back breaking work for a living such as in construction or industrial production- - shouldn't pay a HIGHER tax rate than those rich people who sit around in their mansions by the swimming pool waiting for the dividend checks to arrive.  It it were me I'd also allow tax deductions on credit cards for the average American.  Judy would no doubt tell me "Well if these people didn't go into debt they wouldn't have to pay the interest".  But I believe in an economy that is Demand deficient- - anything we can do to spur demand is a good thing.  

 I watched Mitt Romney’s speech and it’s better and more substantive and balanced than I would have supposed.  The same can’t be said for Dennis Prager’s CPAC speech however.  He said “The American Revolution is in danger of being undone?”  Does he mean the India Tea company is going to be reinstated and we will once again become British subjects?   He spoke of Christianity being a trinity even though he claims to be a Jew.  As you know in the past Dennis has had questionable views on abortion, prostitution and is just wrong as to Church teaching on the policy of Forgiveness.  Anyhow he says we as Americans list under a Trinity of ideas.  One of them is a belief in God.  In God we trust.  He also talks about how you can’t have both Liberty and Equality.  One of them has got to go, and Prager seems to side with the Southern plantation owners here.  Finally there is the notion of E Plurabus Unim.  The problem here is it’s the Republicans who repeatedly mention all these minorities they want isolated from the American main stream of opportunity such as women, gays, Blacks, Moslems, and other minorities.  He managed to pack an awful lot into a five minute speech.  Then I watched the John Kasech speech on C-Span.  He is known as “The Story Teller”.  He won against sitting democrats in the Reagan recession of 1982 and all that.  He talked about budget battles with his colligues in congress.  He then repeated this oft spoken mantra by Newt Gingrich and other republicans that “We cut the capital gains tax rate and this is responsible for the booming economy from late 1994 to late 2000 in the Clinton era.  It’s the “Newt Gingrich affect” where just the mere news the Republicans had been elected caused the stock market to take off and the economy to explode.  The cut of the capital gains tax (I looked it up) took place in 1997 nearly three years into this economic boom.  And it was cut from 28% to twenty percent.  So if you want to “repeat that tax adjustment” then I presume you now want to raise the tax rate back up to twenty percent.  Keep in mind that the income tax rates on a whole host of fronts were RAISED just before this economic boom began.  Finally I played this tape of a guy with a guitar talking about how Jesus was born of a Virgin and heralded by angels and died on a cross for our sins.   Then there was the latter we could call “The little girl and the homeless guy outside the supermarket”.   Nobody disputes that we need to bring the jobs to where the people are who need jobs.

In terms of this drive to say ‘Anybody but Trump” Donald Trump has kind of out maneuvered them in a power play.  He got all three of his rivals to endorse him should he win.  This makes all three of them look stupid.  But it wards of something worse such as an all out Republican civil war where everybody loses.  They can’t stand Donald Trump.  I honestly believe that now, and Romney’s speech is ripe with examples.  But as much as they detest him now they’ll need Trump’s constituency (voters) for their own ranks if they’re going to win in the fall, so not even Cruz the purest and fight the Trump tide.  It should be noted that with open primaries so the rage now, that droves of democrats have abandoned their own party to vote for Trump.  This explains why for every five people voting democratic now, there are eight people voting Republican.  Some of these newfound democratic voters may genuinely LIKE Trump’s policies.  He promises a lot for everybody.  But there are those who just see it as an opportunity to torpedo the Republican Party system- - - and undermine the political process and gumming up the works.  Having said that they may (strangely) be doing the Party a favor because it will prevent a brokered convention.  If any of the other three candidates remaining have any prayer of getting their party’s nomination, it will be through making a deal in formerly smoke filled back rooms.  It’s hard for me to envision any scenario where a brokered Republican Party convention could be a good thing for any political party in this modern day and age.  

Let's talk about Event Horizons.  This isn't a neon sign advertising a rock concert that can be seen from way down the freeway.  Event Horizons are "Your universe" and these overlap like the Ven diagrams Lisa Simpson is so fond of.  They are like Free Calling Zones.  Yours may encompass more area to the southwest than mine does.  A third Area Code may overlap partially with yours and mine but may encompass areas where yours or mine doesn't go.  Each of us has a slightly different Universe.  By "us" I mean a group of us who live on different stars but keep in touch.  Capish?  This "Free Calling Zone" view of viewing Universes or Event Horizons may seem strange.  Because no one locality can be said to be either truely IN or OUT of this Universe.  There is no great sign that states "You are now leaving the Universe" any more than there is when you are leaving a certain Toll Free Zone.  It took me a long time to get over this 'Absolute speed limit" thing of Einstein.  First of all if we went with the physics of Isaac Newton- one might almost suppose that light travel is instantanious, meaning - - there is NO difference between the speed of light and that of gravity.  This is the "What you see is what you get" principle.  That is if you see a distant planet around another star- - the LIGHT and the GRAVITY from that planet- - are coming from the identical place.  There is no need to recalculate, which makes things a whole lot easier for Astronomers.  Since there is no "absolutely stationary place" in the Universe (it's all relative) than no such speed limit for inter-planetary travel can be established.  Some may question whether "Event Horizon" differs from "The Universe as we know it".   Technically the question is there IS no difference here because "The Universe as we know it" is contingent on what we can measure with our instruments, and THAT is contingent on the speed of light or time for those images to get to us.  So it can be argued that - - - MOST of the universe as it NOW EXISTS is something we are ignorant of because we have no way of "getting to it".  Therefore any travel- - - of something approaching "instantanous" would necessarly denote "leaving the Universe as we know it" at least temporarily.  Better people than me have said "psychic travel is instantanious".  But suppose you don't settle for "psychic" travel but you want to get there both Body and Soul.  Well - - - Supposedly this guy who talks about magnetic pulses caused by "Cryogenic supercondivity and super magnets" can speed travel.  I can't help thinking of that Cartoon that had super magnets where it was cranked up and fire hydrants, lamp posts, and then things like cars and suspension bridges and Naval Vessles and eventually the Eifel Tower got sucked into this magnet and final UFO crafts.  This only goes to illustrate the absurdity of power by "super magnets".  We are told there are only four FORCES in the universe.  There is gravity, electro-magnetism, the Strong Force, and the Weak Force.  Strangely the Atomic Bomb is a manifestation of the Weak Force.  Those who subscribe to this theory ignore a lot of energy sources- - such as the gasoline in their cars.  If if you take that car and crash it into a brick wall- - that Impact Force is yet another form of Energy!  I think it is unwise to use words like CAN"T and IMPOSSIBLE to limit what energy sources we may develop in the future.