Is Bernie right this time?

"I have been watching and reading about AI recently. Not how it works - that is above my paygrade. No, I have been reading about how AI will affect the workforce. Our workforce. A recent article I saw on YouTube said the changes due to AI will first be felt in 2025 (next year)." 

Bernie Sanders, our favorite socialist in the Congress, has come up with another hair brained scheme which he would like to make into a law. Mandate a 32-hour work week and get paid for 40. What a knucklehead idea! What mush! Or is it? The world is changing, the workplace is changing, and we are changing. Maybe Bernie is right this time. 

I have been watching and reading about AI recently. Not how it works - that is above my paygrade. No, I have been reading about how AI will affect the workforce. Our workforce. A recent article I saw on YouTube said the changes due to AI will first be felt in 2025 (next year). We could end up losing over 25 million jobs to automation. From there, it only gets worse. By the end of the decade (six years from now), Goldman Sachs predicts that over 300 million jobs in the US and Europe will be gone. 

I have not told this story for a while. When I was in high school, I went to a state-wide youth conference. The topics were education and the future. Some geeky kid from the south side of the metro, and an interesting take on our future. "Leisure time", he ranted about. We will have so much leisure time, we won't know what to do. As I went through life, and at times was busier than a beaver, I thought about that kid. Where is all this leisure time, I would think? Well, now it might be coming - and fast. 

My wife and I are now fully retired, so this four-day work week will not affect us at all. But it will affect our kids. And our grandkids. My most paramount thought I have had about the future as of late, is much more grandiose. We need to be educating and training our young folk how to live in this brave new world which is coming. And when is it coming? It is already here.

Many of the new jobs that Joe Biden claims have been created due to his "Biden-omics" are only place holders. Many of them will be gone in an instant. New jobs, many of which have not yet been invented, is where the action will be. Where the future will be. The question is, how do we train for something we know so little about? That is the $64,000 question.

The new "Roaring 20's" got off to a slow start with the pandemic. But now it is picking up speed - and lots of it. By the time we get to 2030, our world will hardly be recognizable. Stay tuned and buckle up. Things are about to get very interesting. 

 

What the what is going on??

"Will there ever be news so bad it will cause the market to tank? Maybe Biden getting re-elected. That is as bad as it gets." 

Yesterday, the market had a very good day. Want to know why? Me too. There was a time not too long ago, when there was some "disruption in the force", that the market would reflect that hiccup. Not any longer. What am I muttering about? Let's just look at yesterday from an economic and geopolitical standpoint.

Item One - Inflation is ticking back up again. Joe Biden wants us to do cartwheels that inflation is no longer 8%. But it is still over 3%. That means that goods we buy are 3% higher than last year. And soon, many goods will be 20% higher than when Biden took office. For most families, that is a back breaker. 

Item Two - With inflation ticking up again, the chances of the fed lowering rates are going out the window. In fact, if inflation goes up much higher, the fed might actually raise rates again. What does this mean? The price of a house is 20% higher than when Biden took office. That is maybe a good thing if you are selling. However, the mortgage rate is still over 6% rather than 2.5%. That is a bad thing if you are buying or selling. Bottom line? The housing market is slowing as more and more people cannot afford to move up into a more expensive home.

Item Three - Yesterday, was the long-awaited Special Council Herr hearing on Capitol Hill. The subject was Herr's Biden report. Too bad it was yesterday, as it shoved the other hearing off the air. And that hearing was very important. All the intelligence chiefs were testifying about the current threat level in our country. You know, because Uncle Joe destroyed our borders, and let everyone from all over - in. Bottom line? The threat level has never been higher, and it will be a miracle if some bad actors don't take advantage of our vulnerabilities. Thanks a lot Biden - this is all on you. 

Item Four - If our internal threat is not enough right now, Vladimir Putin thought it would be a good time (sensing Biden's weaknesses), to tell the US we are due for a nuclear war. I know, I know - Putin has done that before. But one day, it might not be a bluff. It might be the real thing. And then everything stops. Nothing else will matter. Life will not go on. But don't worry - Biden put a 1% increase in his 2025 budget to counteract the Russian threat. Big whoop. 

Now with all that (and there was more), why in the world would the market go up over 200 points yesterday? Back in the days when up was up and black was black (and not the opposite like it is today), bad news like this would have sent the investors scurrying for the bond market. Not today.

Will there ever be news so bad it will cause the market to tank? Maybe Biden getting re-elected. That will be as bad as it gets. 

Physican, heal thyself!

"The House has already told Biden his 2025 budget is DOA. Go back and submit a real budget. Until then, we will keep doing extensions on the 2023 budget. Why? That is the way we are doing business these days. But in the meantime, Biden himself can help. He and the Biden crime family can pay the back taxes they have cheated on."

"I don't care if you make a billion dollars. Hell, I am a capitalist. But come on man, you need to pay your fair share!" Thus, speaks the man whose son is a tax cheat, his brother is probably a tax cheat, and Joe Biden himself could be a tax cheat. In other words, physician, heal thyself! Bottom line? In order for Biden's canard of a 2025 budget to have a snowball's chance of passing anything but gas, it would mean that most of us believe there are trillions of dollars out there, which could be collected in back taxes. Really Joe? 

Of all the piles of goo which have been put forward by this administration so far, this is the worst. It is a $7.3 trillion dollar budget (a mere 4.7% increase over the already inflated 2024 budget), with the promise it will reduce down our national debt. I get it - spend more money and our debt will go down. How? The IRS shaking down millions of innocents (and honest) taxpayers. Well, guess what Uncle Joe? This is not the la-la land that your mind lives in. This is a prescription for a $50T debt by 2030. 

Another thing which is wrong with Biden's budget is military spending. Inflation is 3.5%, and Biden wants only 1% more on the military. That is a cut you old fool! At a time when you have made the world much more dangerous, you want to cut our forces? Our military should be going up by 10%, with the proper offsets in all the Candyland programs you have started. This is the real world now Biden. We are low on ammo, need more ships, and have to revamp our recruiting and retention. How so? Get rid of all that DEI and pronoun training BS for a starter.

The best part of this fairy tale is Biden has the gall to falsely boast this fat pig of a budget has the ability to lower out debt by $3T over the next decade. How? Taxing the socks off of our wealthiest citizens and those evil corporations. I have tried to tell Biden this before in my blog. The wealthy don't have to live here. They can move to a much friendlier tax country. The corporations don't have to locate here. They can go elsewhere. Trump understands this - you don't. To attract wealth into our country, it all starts with the tax base. Have a lucrative tax base, the wealthy will come. Have a confiscatory tax base, the opposite will happen.

The House has already told Biden his 2025 budget is DOA. Go back and submit a real budget. Until then, we will keep doing extensions on the 2023 budget. Why? That is the way we are doing business these days. But in the meantime, Biden himself can help. He and the Biden crime family can pay the back taxes they have cheated on. Check Hunter's laptop. I am sure all the information needed is there.     

Our ubiquitous AI

"I do know this. If we were smart as a country, we would be prepping our youngsters to learn more and more about how AI works. How to program it. How to use it. Why? As they said in the old days, 'There is gold in them thar hills!' AI will be where many of the new jobs will be."

Well, that sure did not take long, did it. We were warned that in the 2020 decade, AI was going to make a huge jump. Like, it was going to be in just about everything. Here it is only 2024, and AI is starting to become ubiquitous. How much so? Last night I was watching something on TV, and there was a commercial for a cable company. The big push for this advertisement was this cable company now had AI baked into their sports shows. The AI could anticipate what the viewer wanted to see - like which angle for a play. Really? And how does that work?

Then I started to think. Is AI all that and a bag of chips, or is it a wee bit of hype also? My wife and I were due for an upgrade on our phones. It had been a while, so much had changed in the technology of the phone. Of course, the tag line was, "And - they are loaded with AI!" Again, what does that mean? What can they do that my old phone could not do? So far - I have not found it.

I do know from doing some research that the newer phones will be needed to interact properly with the upcoming Internet of Things (IoT). Maybe that is when the AI really starts to earn its salt. One of the funniest things I have seen recently is some AI software which can detect product (either in writing or art), which had an AI component to it. In other words, AI being a fraud buster for other AI which is masquerading to be original content.

My Microsoft Suite has co-pilot embedded within it. Co-pilot is AI for MS Office. It pops up all the time, even when I don't summon it. Always ready to give me a suggestion or a hint. Once in a while that is helpful. Other times - a bother more than helpful. But it is there, and according to the MS developers, co-pilot gets better, and learns more, every day. Will I eventually be sold on co-pilot? Maybe.

I do know this. If we were smart as a country, we would be prepping our youngsters to learn more and more about how AI works. How to program it. How to use it. Why? As they said in the old days, "There is gold in them thar hills!" AI will be where many of the new jobs will be. If not in programing, then how to properly use it. Training our kids for yesterday jobs is a fool's errand. Looking over the horizon for what and where the good jobs will be (and training for them), will make great nations even greater. 

Tired of AI yet? Don't be, as we are just getting started. Be aware however, much of AI is just saying those two initials together. Soon, AI will have some teeth in it, and will be a great tool for us to have. But for right now, as was said in the TV show Kung Fu - "patience grasshopper". 

Steinbeck's America - a redux

"Simply the greatest country on Planet Earth, the Great American Experiment, has played itself out. We have devolved from the fantastic to the banal. We have traded our love for each other to visceral hatred. We traded our patriotism for hedonism." 

In the words of the group Steppenwolf, "America, where are you now, don't you care about your sons and daughters - don't you know, we need you now..."

There is no doubt that John Steinbeck was a great American author. He was at his best when he tried to put his writing fingers on the pulse of this great nation. His novels on the subject of America and Americans are legion - he had a particular knack for diving more than an inch deep to see what it was which made us and this country tick. Today, we have no equal to John Steinbeck, which is our loss.

Steinbeck knew us from the Great Depression to World War II, to the Cold War. But during the Cold War, is when Steinbeck started to see a shift in this great country. We started to drift from homogeneous to tribal. And that was only the beginning of our bifurcation. If Steinbeck could see us now, his ink would be flowing, and not in a good way. 

Back in my high school and college days, I took a lot of reading and writing courses. John Steinbeck was one of my favorite authors. Living in the wilds of northern Maine when I was a sailor, I filled my off time not by watching TV (we did not have one), to reading more and more American literature. All that reading gave me a better perspective of who and what we were. I thought Ken Kessey did an admirable job about writing during the Haight Ashbury and Woodstock era of our lives, but still, Kessey was not Steinbeck. 

If Steinbeck were alive today, he might ask questions like, "America, what are you doing?" Or "America, where are you going?" Or "America, what happened to you?" Simply the greatest country on Planet Earth, the Great American Experiment, has played itself out. We have devolved from the fantastic to the banal. We have traded our love for each other to visceral hatred. We traded our patriotism for hedonism. 

After watching the disgusting State of the Union campaign speech last week, it finally dawned on me. We are just a shell of what we once were. We have gone from leaders like Kennedy and Reagan, to empty suits like Joe Biden. A leader like Donald Trump, who really turned this country around, is besmirched and reviled by his opponents. No matter who wins the next election, America will lesser instead of greater. Why? Half the country will detest the outcome.

For John Steinbeck, this is America today. Lost. Forgotten. A land built on heritage, now a land going under. It was good while it lasted, but now we are ready to devour each other.   

🎶 Where has all the money gone, long time passing...🎶

"I can see why ten million illegals are roaming our land right now. Heck, who would not want to live here? Cradle to grave coddling. Free money and free everything. Is there a crash coming? Count on it. Bunker up, prep up, because the crash is coming."   

Cheer up Earthlings! Our Republic is saved! How so? Our somewhat less than frugal government, is getting ready to have Old Yeller sign into law a "minibus". That is a toned-down version of an omnibus bill. It is worth a mere 1/2 trillion dollars, and it will fund parts of the government until the end of this fiscal year. It averts a partial government shutdown (big whoop) and will keep the lobbyists on "K" Street very happy.

Here is the long and the short of it. Back when I was working, some of my conservative comrades and I would often talk about the sad state of our free spending government. One day I came up with this analogy: A massive asteroid was headed towards Earth. When it hits, all life will cease. But we have a year before it hits. I take out every penny from my savings. I run up all my charge cards to the absolute max. I party, I travel, I buy stuff I have always wanted. I live like I have no regard for anything except the moment.

That is our government in a nutshell. Only there is no asteroid, and all this money being spent, needs to be accounted for at some time.

Thursday night Uncle Joe gave the SOTU campaign speech. Out of the blue, he said he wanted to build a port in Gaza. Huh? Where in the world did that come from. And paid for how? By us? Is there an offset? Of course not silly! Just put it on the tab. Meanwhile, the one area which is severely underfunded (our military), is getting only a 1% bump. With China, Russia, and Iran all going to town on their military spending, a 1% increase "ain't gonna cut it".  

Back to Biden's new port. Besides wondering who will pay to have this put in (lots of bucks), who will pay to maintain it? Will it belong to us? If so, how many troops will need to be stationed there? Will it be considered hazardous duty? Come on man! Stop with the platitudes and give us some facts! 

By the way, besides all the new goodies that Sleepy Joe was talking about in his campaign speech, the "minibus" bill is also brimming over with earmarks. In fact, even Diane Feinstein (who is long dead now), has some earmarks in this bill. That is just how bad it is. On the news last night, some of the worthless garbage in these earmarks which you and I will be paying for in this bill was enumerated. It would be funny if it were not so sad.

I can see why ten million illegals are roaming our land right now. Heck, who would not want to live here? Cradle to grave coddling. Free money and free everything. Is there a crash coming? Count on it. Bunker up, prep up, because the crash is coming.   

"Get the **** off my lawn!!!!

"Joe's dementia causes him to yell more and more every year. Make less and less sense. In Joe's clouded mind, America is nothing more right now than sunshine and Lollie-pops. That is, except for smaller Snicker Bars and less potato chips in a bag." 

Well, I did not watch Uncle Joe give his speech last night when it was on. I was true to my word. However, I did wake up in the middle of the night and went to turn the TV on. There it was. Being re-played. So, I watched part of it. I watched all I could take. I turned it off. I then turned the TV back on when I thought it was over, to see the pundit's opinion of this YELL FEST. Nothing to learn there. But I did enjoy seeing Katie Britt, talking from her kitchen table. No yelling there - just emotion.

I guess Joe is still going after the assault gun ban. And large magazines. I don't think this old geezer will be happy until we can only use flintlocks. He is also after potato chip and Snicker Bars makers. Seems they have "shrinkflation". In Joes cloudy mind, he wants the size of the snacks to be what they once were, and also the prices. This was all big candy and big snacks that caused this mess. Not Uncle Joe - his Build, Back, Better made everything better. No inflation under Joe's watch!

Also, last night, this good Catholic man, who is the most religious in our history of presidents, talked about his hate. He hates Russians. He hates Republicans. He hates Donald Trump so much; he would not even mention his name. Referred to Trump as only "my predecessor". That is okay Joe - soon Trump will be calling you the same thing. 

Then, thanks to MTG's shirt and her yelling at Biden, Uncle Joe was forced to say the name of Laken Riley. He sure did not want to - it caused him to go off script. It even caused him to say a truthful gaffe: "Lincoln (not Laken) Riley was killed by an illegal alien". Wow Joe! A moment of truth! Nice going MTG - mission accomplished!

All in all, it was a super waste of time, even to only watch parts of this "speech". Joe's dementia causes him to yell more and more every year. Make less and less sense. In Joe's clouded mind, America is nothing more right now than sunshine, ice cream and Lollie-pops. That is, except for smaller Snicker Bars and less potato chips in a bag. But that is all on Trump.