Percentage Points

 The weather today is supposed to be great, temps in the low to mid 80s (F), slightly breezy, lotsa sunshine, and... of course... I'm scheduled to work.  Ah, well, I'm sure I'll survive.  This isn't the first nice day we have this summer, and it's not going to be the last.

And I did work yesterday, and yes, it was very slow.  I did briefly talk to an older couple about having carpet installed.  They were rather unhappy that we weren't running a 4th of July sale.  This is a serious problem with retail.  It's bad when you've trained your customer to only buy when there's a sale.  Take Bali and Levelor blinds and shades, both top of the line brands.  They both frequently run sales.  When I started designing blinds their average sale markdown was 25%, occasionally they'd do a big sale and offer 30%.  Over the years prices have gone up, but so have the sale markdowns.  Now it's not unusual for them to run a sale with 40% to 45% off, and a few weeks ago they offered 50%.  However, even at that high a percentage, customers are not getting a deal.  Yet, they see that % and jump at the deal that isn't really a deal.

 When I first made reservations to go to Greece, 3 months ago, people thought I was really excited.  Honestly, at that time it didn't even faze me.  In spite of what some of you might think, I'm not a very excitable person.  However, as my departure date draws closer, enthusiasm is beginning to build.  It's now less than 2 months away and anticipation is beginning to build.  

Of course, since the debate, there has been a small, loud minority yelling that Biden needs to drop out of the race.  While I'm not a big believer in polls, this is the first one I've seen since the CNN  fiasco, and it's surprising.

This same poll had Biden up by 1%.  While the legitimacy and accuracy of polls is debatable, I do think this one possibly underscores what most Americans think:  Trump is unfit to be president.  Nothing drove that point home more than his constantly lying during the debate.  While Biden may have stumbled, the Orange Anus spit out continuous lies and not once had to deal fact checking.  Americans don't want a liar and chief.  

Another aspect of the debate not too many are talking about is that viewership was down quite a lot.  So, who watched it?  Those same cultists who travel from rally to rally and pundits who think that their opinions are important to Americans.  Sad new for them, people may get angry at what they say, but truthfully no one cares what they think.  While the New York Times may want to use Biden's bad performance as a game changer, it isn't.  They don't understand it's not about whether he stumbles, it's about Democracy.  What will be a game changer is the Supreme Court's decision on Trump's immunity.  Republicans will be happy as pigs in shit if they give him even the slightest bit, but America will harden against him.  We do not want a king.  We do not want a Republican authoritarian government.