10/16/24

Some Thoughts On TARIFFS

Tariffs — a tax or customs duty imposed by a country at its border on goods imported from another country — are wildly misunderstood and have come into the lexicon since their use by the Trump admin and during this presidential election campaign.

They are not wildly understood, sort of like calculus, differential equations, and how doorbells work. Let us reason together, dear reader.

Traditional reasons to impose tariffs

Tariffs have been traditionally used (and taught in business schools) in the following situations:

 1. Tariffs are used to protect strategic industries — industries with national security implications — such as high tech, steel, or aviation.

 2. Tariffs are used to protect fledgling, startup businesses during their period of incubation and infancy, again, often technology related.

 3. Tariffs are used to punish bad actors such as China for its theft of technology, its use of slave/prison/child labor to manufacture goods, and to offset low environmental standards.

Pretty straightforward stuff, no? But, there’s more. Continue reading

09/3/24

Reagan – The Movie

Last night I went to the movies — probably haven’t been three times since the beginning of the Pandemic — and watched Reagan, the movie about . . . wait for it . . .  Ronald Reagan our 40th President.

I was in my thirties and out of the Vietnam Era Army in the 1980s when he was President so I was intimately familiar with his presidency, but not his entire life. I learned a few things.

Continue reading

08/11/24

Former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard Is Not A Terrorist — Or Is She?

Every once in a while you discover a report of government activity so outrageous you have to check, doublecheck, and re-check its authenticity because it is that bloody outrageous. This is one of those stories.

Cut to the facts, Big Red Car, we have a tee time

OK, dear reader. Here are the facts:

 1. The Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Agency have apparently placed former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard on the Quiet Skies terror watchlist. 

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04/25/24

America’s Pathetic Poison Ivy League Colleges

America’s prestigious Ivy League schools — Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University, Yale University — have lost their luster amidst a woke leftward lurch that has built for decades.

The chickens have now come home to  roost, America. Isn’t that the truth, Harvard? Continue reading

03/15/24

Women Athletes Finally Sue the NCAA Over Transgender Athletes

It has taken far too long for female athletes to hold the NCAA accountable for its absurd policies as to transgender men competing in women’s sports as “women.” [That’s sort of an awkward sentence, but I felt like I had to say it that way to be clear.]

This is a class action suit — meaning it is on behalf of all women college athletes — and is centered on Lia Thomas, a mediocre 6’1″ male swimmer at the University of Pennsylvania who transitioned to “womanhood” and then became a champion “female” athlete.

Thomas emerged as a NCAA Women’s Division I Champ in 2022 winning the 500-yard freestyle and named as an All-American in three events (meaning Thomas posted one of the 16 fastest times in those events). Continue reading

03/11/24

College Sports Are On The Road To Ruin

I have always hated the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletics Association) as being a heartless bully and arrogant, arbitrary oppressor of athletic talent that favors the blue blood institutions in every sport. They are also wildly expensive, rake in a ton of money, and have built a financially extorted dynasty that is second only to the British royal family.

The NCAA, however, is not what will exclusively kill college athletics.

There are four things:

 1. The NCAA and its feudal fiefdom;

 2. NIL — name, image, likeness — the ability for a college athlete to be compensated by lending their name, image, likeness to third parties typically in an endorsement marketing capacity;

 3. Unions — there have been a number of unsuccessful and, now, successful attempts to unionize college athletics, typically an entire team, such as the Dartmouth men’s basketball team. Here is that story:

Dartmouth Men’s Basketball Team Votes to Unionize

 4. The transfer portal Continue reading

02/27/24

Pure Philanthropy

In this era of massive self-aggrandizement and virtue signaling, it is heartwarming to relate a tale of pure philanthropy and goodness. We all need a bit of good news, no?

What’s THE STORY, Big Red Car?

The story goes like this:

Sandy and Ruth Gottesman lived happily in Rye, New York. Sandy was a finance professional and a protege of a chap named Warren Buffett who started a company called Berkshire Hathaway.

Sandy got in on the ground floor with his pal Warren and invested in his fledgling conglomerate, Berkshire Hathaway, resulting in a highly successful and lucrative fortune that Sandy managed well.

In 2022, Sandy passed away at age 96 leaving his wife Ruth with a fortune and spare instructions:

“Do whatever you think is right with it.”

Continue reading

02/6/24

The Quest for Stability

As I view the world today — domestically and throughout the globe — what we are engaged in is a universal quest and longing for stability.

It manifests itself in sleepless nights, a roiling gut, that sense of a tight iron band across your chest, the notion that ‘yes, it does make your ass look huge,’ and extreme flatulence. You know the feeling.

WTF is stability, Big Red Car?

Stability means a steady or consistent condition upon which we can individually and collectively base our decisions and expectations about the future. It inspires confidence and assures us that we can attack the future with a sense of balance, support, and predictability. We can live our lives in peace.

Stability allows us to marshal our energy for the future and not flame it off on the past or to constantly gird our loins for the next bit of chaos.

Continue reading