12/15/21

The Power Shift — Workers Of The World Unite — Inflation

In the changing world in which we live, even the most Old School manufacturing companies are finding themselves having to change their ways to find, hire, and retain workers.

John Deere makes farm and construction equipment and its work force is unionized under the United Auto Workers.

Production lines at Deere are hard places to work and it takes a toll on a woman’s/man’s body.

The UAW has had a hard time convincing Deere management to increase wages and the UAW would admit that for the last 20-30 years they had their asses handed to them in every contract negotiation.

Meanwhile, the company has done well with a CEO making $16,000,000, a 160% increase when compared to 2019. This is 220X the average worker at Deere.

“My name is John May and I’m doing good. I’m the Chairman of the Board of Directors and the CEO of John Deere.  Let’s play 36?”

Continue reading →

12/13/21

The Inflation, CPI, PPI, Earnings Boogie

I think everyone in the United States understands we have entered a period of increasing prices — inflation. Nobody thinks it is actually going to be transitory.

Even the Biden admin says it’s going to be here through the end of 2023 after suggesting it would magically disappear by the end of 2021. Nay, not so.

Those who are students of the economy will fairly point at the extraordinarily naïve energy policy actions of the Biden admin as a trigger point or at least a milestone.

Nobody has missed that the price of gasoline has doubled since Joe Biden took office.

Glendale, California

Continue reading →

12/11/21

Taking The Hispanic Vote For Granted

The United States is approximately 18.5% Hispanic while America is 13.4% black.

The Hispanic vote has typically been much heavier on the Democrat side than the Republicans, but this is changing.

How’s it changing, Big Red Car?

Here, dear reader, is how it is changing:

 1. In the 2016 Presidential election, Hispanics voted 66% for Hillary Clinton and 28% for Donald Trump.

Continue reading →

12/11/21

CEO Shoptalk – The Mantle Of Power

The best job I’ve ever had was as the company commander of a combat engineer company in the Army. It is like being a Chinese feudal war lord which is reputed to be a very good gig.

Company D as in Delta was in need of a firm hand having failed to pass its annual ARTEP (Army Training and Evaluation Program) for multiple years. The battalion was headquartered about five hundred miles away and I never met my battalion commander. Not sure I knew his name.

I was quite alone. Continue reading →

12/8/21

Partisanship — From Whence Cometh Partisanship In College?

I stumbled on an interesting study recently. It goes like this —

  1. Objective: survey self-identified Democrats/Republicans as well as men/women as to behavior they would or would not engage in based on their Presidential candidate preference.
  2. Sample size 850
  3. Date 18-22 November 2021
  4. Sample — college kids nationwide <<<  2/4-year community colleges, technical colleges, trade schools, public/private 4-year colleges
  5. Margin of error – +/- 3.4%

College students who would not “go out on a date with” someone who voted for the opposing Presidential candidate?

Democrats – 71%

Republicans – 31%

Women – 59%

Men – 33%

College students who would not “shop at or support a business of” someone who voted for the opposing Presidential candidate? Continue reading →

12/7/21

Rediscovering The Lessons Of Pearl Harbor

Eighty years ago today, the Empire of Japan unleashed an unprovoked attack on the American fleet at Pearl Harbor on a clear Sunday morning whilst soldiers and sailors innocently ate breakfast, prepared for church, raised the flag, and went about their business.

Two waves of Japanese bombers, torpedo planes, and fighters — 353 in all — sent America’s Pacific fleet to the bottom of the mud, killing 2,403 Americans and dragging America into a world war.

The battleship Arizona — sunk, total loss, 1,177 KIA, remains sunk at Pearl Harbor;

The battleship California — sunk, refloated, returned to service February 1944;

The battleship Maryland — damaged by direct hits, returned to service February 1942;

The battleship Nevada — managed to get underway, beached itself to avoid clogging up the main entrance to Pearl, sunk, decommissioned in 1946, shipped to Bikini Atoll as a target ship for nuclear weapons tests, sunk by Naval gunfire in 1948;

The battleship Oklahoma — sunk, total loss, never repaired;

The battleship Pennsylvania — damaged by bombs while in drydock, returned to service March 1942;

The battleship Tennessee — minor damage, repaired and returned to the fleet in February 1942;

The battleship Utah — capsized, never repaired, remains at Pearl Harbor (the Utah is often overlooked as it was not moored on Battleship Row, but was at anchor off Ford Island after returning to Pearl following gunnery exercises); and,

The battleship West Virginia — sunk, refloated, returned to service July 1944. Continue reading →

12/6/21

Jamie Dimon, Ray Dalio And The STRICT PARENT Defense Of Evil

In the recent annals of Chinese apologia stand two giants: Jamie Dimon and Ray Dalio. Allow me to elaborate.

Jamie Dimon – Chairman/CEO of America’s largest bank and billionaire

“This is my big bad wolf look. I am the Jamie Dimon, Chairman/CEO of America’s largest bank. I am a freakin’ billionaire. I take shit from nobody. Well, except the Chinese to whom I will give a belly rub at the drop of a hat, but I’m still a powerful badass, except when the Chinese tell me to jump and I ask, ‘How high?’ on the way up. Grrrr!”

Continue reading →