Republicans: Economic Failures

 Well, today's already started out better than yesterday.  The sun is out.  Yesterday we had clouds throughout most of the day.  The sun didn't make an appearance until late in the afternoon.  On cloudy days I'm rather a meh person, not really wanting to do anything.  Of course, I had to zip off down to Lebanon shortly after the crack of dawn and that screwed up my scheduling as well.

I did get some writing done yesterday, but mostly I just wanted to nap, and read.  

There were 3 areas of my floor that I patched with plastic wood and tried staining with one of those stain pens.  Well, it didn't work at all.  The patched areas looked dirty, and the polyurethane finish didn't help, so I sanded them down and bought some real stain.  Pricey, but it looks much better.  

When I was down at the VA yesterday, one of the nurses told me about Phoenix Animal Rescue, telling me a number of breeders who have puppies that don't sell send them there.  So, when I got home, I checked out their website.  There were a number of puppies there, but there was also an 8 year-old female Boxer, and I suddenly felt so sad.  That's a terrible age to be rescued.  For Boxers, that's the age the medical problems start showing up.  I feel terrible that has to happen to that little lady.

And for those who have long term memory failure, Republican presidents always leave the economy in a mess.  Which of the 3 Republican presidents on this list passed Trickle Down Economic packages that failed?

I'll give you a hint.  George H. Bush was not one of them, though he inherited an economy that was a shambles because Trickle Down was failing so badly.  Giving tax breaks to wealthy individuals and corporations will never be successful at stabilizing the economy because those people and groups are only interested in their own bottom line.  At the first sign of a problem they beginning cutting their expenses (mostly payroll expense) to save their bottom line.  Of course, they're still getting those tax breaks.  The only president on this list who actually took away those breaks away from corporations was George H. Bush and it cost him his bid for re-election.  At a campaign rally while running for his first term, he infamously made the comment, "read my lips, no new taxes."  Of course, the economy left to him by Ronald Reagan was in such a shambles, Bush desperately tried everything.  The bottom line?  Never trust a Republican with the economy.

Why Trickle Down Fails

 Yesterday was nice!  Rather than the predicted clouds, we had sunshine and temps were quite comfortable.  Things have cooled off a bit, and the prediction for next few days is partly cloudy, partly sunny, and temps in the mid to upper 70s (F).  Of course, I have to work today, but tomorrow and Wednesday should be nice.

I went down to York yesterday and had an enjoyable lunch with my friend Betsy.  She's a bit older than me, and we often joke about our ages.  I understand that most of you probably don't understand the age thing yet, but you will.  When I was growing up, most people retired at 65 and then waited to die.  Nowadays, many still retain a part-time job.  For some, that's because they need the income to offset their Social Security, but for others it's a way to socialize, to get themselves out of the house.  We have a number of 80 year-olds working at the store, not one of whom is a cashier.  Nope, these people work in the aisles, pulling product from the overhead to restock the shelves, and provide customer service to shoppers.  That's part of the funny thing.

I got an email from Audible, they're having a site-wide sale starting June 17 and have paused the Q & A process for The Body on the Lawn until after that date.  If I want, I can have them push it through to take advantage of the sale, but I'm going to be running a promotion anyway after it comes out, so I'm just going to sit and wait.  The world is not going to end if it doesn't get released next week.

And rather than getting a loveseat for the writing room, I'm thinking a large chair might be better, something like this.  There's still enough room for myself and dog, isn't that nice?

I saw that Republicans are again going to push tax breaks to corporations and wealthy individuals as part of their election package for 2024.  For those who don't know, this is called Trickle Down Economics.  They've pushed through Trickle Down 3 times, and every single time it has started failing after a short period time.  It lasted the longest under Reagan.  By the time he was leaving office, however, it was well into its death throes.  While it does initially pop up the economy, neither the corporations, nor the wealthy, invest enough of their tax breaks to keep it healthy.  Payroll expense is a terrible thing for corporations, and when it comes to creating and keeping jobs, or hitting their financial goal, money's always going to win out. The problem is that all those people they hire don't spend enough money to keep the buckos rolling in, which means companies begin to slowly cut their workforce and cancel those orders for durable goods.  They're still getting their tax breaks, which is all they cared about in the first place.

Santos, not your run of the mill Pathological Liar

 Happy Friday morning!  The sunrise was on fire, which means sailors need to take warning.  According to Accuweather, we have a 25% chance of rain today.  After they pass through temps are going to drop a bit, but not a lot, back down into the 50s (F) for daytime highs.  And yes, we are just a little over a month away from winter.

I worked yesterday and let me tell you, retail was slow.  I did manage to get a bit sale, but are few and far between.  How bad are they?  On the schedule that was just written, which covers the week past Thanksgiving, I'm only working 2 days, 16 hours.  Payroll is always the expense that gets cut first because it's the biggest liability a company faces, and in retail, that's the part-timers.  Unlike me, many part-timers, especially seniors, are working to supplement their income, so losing hours is going to hurt them.  This is why Trickle Down Economics fails, because those corporations that received Tax Cuts are still getting them, however American Capitalism dictates that they also need to have 5% growth and they have no problem cutting hours to achieve that goal.

So, in spite of the fact that they're cutting hours, the great orange retailer did see fit to give me a cap for Veteran's Day.  This is why I don't wear hats.

And, of course, hilarity upon hilarity ensued yesterday when the Ethics Committee released their report on George (I can spend you campaign contributions any way I want) Santos.  I'm certain most of us thought he was just your ordinary, run of the mill pathological liar.  Ouch.  Wait, you ask, is he really a pathological liar?  Oh, my yes, I'd put him in the same league as Trump, capable of lying about everything without understanding that saying it doesn't make it true.  The difference between the two?  Trump lies in order to prove to himself that he's a god, Santos lies in order to watch the gay porn on Only Fans.  Did anyone hear me laughing when I read that little gem?  And how about the Botox injections?  I wonder how Elise Stefanik feels knowing that the world now knows the man whose candidacy she endorsed was spending his campaign dollars on floppy lips and sex workers, not necessarily in that order.

Trickle Down

 Okay, so this is the 4th of July weekend.  Last night one of my neighbors fired off a single firecracker.  Someone is a little overanxious.  I like fireworks, I just hate dealing with the traffic in order to get to a place where I can see them.  Oddly enough, I can kind of see them from my attic window, of course that would mean standing in a unairconditioned storage room where the temp can be 20 to 30 higher than outside.  While I enjoy fireworks, I don't enjoy them that much.  

Yesterday was hot.  Forecasters were predicting a likelihood of rain.  Didn't happen.  Today's they say we have a 55% chance of experiencing some form of precipitation.  I'm going to water the garden because that % is really nothing more than a medium good guess.   Temps are fine.  90 (F) is not bad.  We are in summer.  I'd rather have that then temps in the triple digits.  

I froze another 4 quarts of peaches yesterday. This is yummy, tasty stored away for the winter.

One of the things that amazes me about people is that so many seem to have long term memory problems.  I always thought there were little gray cells which specialized in documenting and possibly even categorizing things that happened for future reference.  Here's an example.  When I hear people say that Trump is responsible for the greatest economy the country has ever seen, I wonder how they could have so easily forgotten that the Republicans, under George W, also voted for big tax breaks for corporations, aka Trickle Down economics.  The economy flourished.  The stock market boomed.  Because Wall Street was going like gangbusters, the GOP started throwing out suggestions on how Americans could be moved from Social Security to something similar to a national 401K program.  There was talk, not only about how this was going to be managed, but who might manage the accounts, surely not a government agency; no one would make any money if that happened.  People don't remember this.  They do, however, remember Bush's version of Trickle Down economics failing.  Corporations began laying off people who had gotten mortgages they couldn't afford, mostly those without a fixed interest rate, and the housing market began collapsing, leading to the Great Recession.   Based on Trickle Down economics, Trump's great economy was doomed from the start.  Perhaps a more important question might be: did he know this, and is that why he wanted people to die from Covid to brace up an economy that had failure written all over it?

Bread alone?

 So, my alarm went off this morning and I chose to ignore it and sleep a little later.  Sometimes that is nice.  However, I can also see how sleeping late might turn into a bad habit.  When I finally go into partial retirement, I don't want to be one of those people who stays up all night and then sleeps away the day, getting nothing accomplished.  When that happens, you're basically turning into a rock rather than a human, or a troll.

Yesterday much was accomplished, in spite of the constant drizzle.  Bread was baked.  Whole wheat, it's sooooo delicious!  I've eaten half the loaf already.  Can one live by bread alone?

Doing a little research here, so does anyone know what kind of wine would go good with S'mores?

I made Italian pork chops for dinner last evening and they turned out anything but tasty.  I'll pluck the meat for the bones and the dogs will get a treat.

Also, my doctor's appointment is for this afternoon.  After that, I'm going to get in a ride.  It's been a while because my knees have been old age achy.  I'm debating whether I should begin dousing myself with turmeric since it's an anti-inflammatory. 

One of the things Uncle Joe brought up in his speech was Trickle Down Economics, that old Reagan lie Republicans have been posturing for years.  Well, after decades of failure, even Conservatives are admitting it doesn't work.  It worked a bit at first because the tax rate for some was around 70%.  However, once the tax rate drops below 54%, it turns into a gift for the rich.  This is a truth Republicans hate.  They want their base to be gullible as hell.  

And what about Florida and their voting laws.  One of the definitions of Systemic Racism is to make voting more difficult for those minority groups you don't want voting.  Yep.  White Republicans believe that by making it illegal to give out water, and reducing the number of voting boxes, and make mail-in useless, people of color will stay away from the polls.  This belief among white Republicans proves they zero understanding of people.  They will only eat white bread, saying, "to hell with the wheat, the rye, and the raison."

Trickle Down Economics explained

Why does Trickle Down Economics need to be explained, you ask?  Because there is a lot of misconception here.  Most people think that when the wealthy spend money it trickles down to the middle class whose income increases.   In return, they spend more money which trickles down to those less fortunate who, in return, also make more money.  Or, they foolishly believe that when large corporations spend, the same thing happens, creating jobs.  Quite often when people speak about the propensities of Trickle Down Economics they like to illustrate their point by using rain hitting the branches of a tree and trickling down.  In a way they are correct, rain water does trickle down but as it does it moves outward, away from the trunk and the roots.  You see trees have a drip line.

" The dripline of a tree or shrub, which runs around the perimeter of the canopy, outlines much of the root zone. Focus water there."

This means that if you're a root on the inside of that drip line you're not going to get too much drippage, it's those roots on the outer edge's of the canopy which make out.  The next time you have a rain shower go out and stand under a tree and see how wet you get.  This is how Trickle Down Economics really works.  The idea would work well if we were living in the 1950's when almost everything bought in the United States was made in the United States.  However, the minute we began importing a majority of our consumer goods that drip line started moving farther and farther away from the trunk.  In the world of 2012 it's is not just consumer goods which effect the drip line, out-sourcing jobs has taken that line and moved even farther from the trunk.  When International Paper / xpedx shut down my department and outsourced 28 plus jobs to Krakow, Poland that trickle went with them.  It's only when there is a long, steady soaking rain that the ground around the trunk of a tree gets wet.  For Trickle Down Economics to work the wealthy need to start spending money like it's going out of style; throwing a party in South Beach once a month doesn't do it.  One party a month is the equivalent of me walking into a drought stricken Oklahoma corn field and pissing on a corn stalk.  Does this give you an idea as to how many parties the wealthy need to begin throwing?