by invoking the visuals of "lynching," Trump dog whistles road map to a landslide victory.

Imagine being a minority, angry at Trump for reasons beyond words, yet unable to articular the anger into words. Trump has called the process used against him "lynching."
Will you be more likely to express anger at Trump? How will the anger be depicted now that it's been framed as "lynching?"
Halloween is coming. How many reports of "Trump hanging from a display" will there be?
The news cycle has been easily 90% negative towards Trump from the day he announced running in '15. He had vastly poor polling numbers, yet he won the general election.
Here we are in 2019. What has changed?

Impeachment means infamy,right?

Donald Trump doesn't seem to feel shame as long as whatever it is gains him fame. The trivial impeachment of Bill Clinton probably enhanced his place in American History. The latter being able to leave office on his own while having a booming economy, despite a hostile congress.
I'm not here to judge Clinton, but the Lewinsky scandal was something bizarre considering Kennedy had an affair with Monroe... so Clinton definitely cheapened the presidency.
So far, the matter regarding Ukraine certainly seems to be a bust as much as Russia was a bust.
The advocates for impeaching Trump aren't going to lose him any votes. Seriously, they're all disgustingly corrupt, deranged or vile compared to those who went after Clinton. They're feeding derangement. All one needs to do is put together truthful dossiers of each of them to highlight minor aspects of their lives that be construed as being the antithesis of what they claim to represent.
For example: Elizabeth Warren made a small fortune buying and flipping foreclosed homes. Kamala Harris put petty criminals behind bars. Mayor Pete has a corrupt police force.
Bigotry exists. I was open-minded towards Obamas until I was made aware of their hospital connection. Given my background, I find hospitals to be very corrupt institutions. Going negative won't win votes, but it will poison the well for those you attack if you hit upon a single issue that strikes someone in a way that cannot be overlooked.
Trump is a very shrewd politician. His attack style is a subtle rope-a-dope. Sure he punches those that don't directly punch him, but he tends to egg on and let those attacking him to choke on their own words until their initial message gets lost in the weeds.
Trump's failed campaign promises can be dismissed if he's impeached trying to fulfill them.
There's a whole year+ until the 2020 election, so a lot can be done between now and then... the Access Hollywood tape leaked too early for the faux outrage waned before election day.
HRC chimed in regarding the impeachment... she must feel free to do so since she survived scrutiny of the supposed "quid-pro-Joe" relating to the Clinton Foundation along with the fallout of the Benghazi timeline.
Notice the Bushes and Obamas have been quiet regarding the recent "scandal?" Are they avoiding the spotlight?

Franken/Stein 2020

Disgraced "comedian" Al Franken is back?
Given the re-emergence of eco-warriors need to make their cause seem dire, and the fact that current DEMOCRAT leadership cares more about impeaching a sitting president, I don't see Franken's return to "airwaves" as insignificant.
If you read anything about AF of late, you know he is/was very bitter about being forced to leave the Senate for groping women as a comedic figure.
He cannot return to the party. There's no place for him when you consider those running for POTUS are primarily former Senate colleagues who at best washed their hands of him.
The logical place for him to end up is in the GREEN PARTY, though Jill Stein will probably be a 3 time loser for the party but has name recognition from the Russia inquiry and such... thus her logical place would be VP, just as Weld thinks he can be POTUS for "never trump" republicans after failing as Libertarian VP candidate.
Joe Biden is toast. Warren and Sanders are anti-science...according to Booker, but Booker is running out of money. Booker probably just trying to get scared people to donate to him.
Warren and Sanders scare people like Howard of Starbucks.
Franken being from a state that Trump could potentially win would be enough reason to thumb his nose at everyone and get Trump re-elected.
I think the Franken/Stein ticket would be cool to see.

I actually support "nanny state," sometimes.

Bicycles sharing the roads with cars should mean bicycles having same rules as cars, or at least motorcycles.
I usually don't agree with the mayor of NYC, but I think there may be something to licenses for bikes.
Whenever I'm driving my work truck, I notice roughly 1 out of 10 drivers of cars NOT wearing a seat belt. I think they're idiots. People drive so poorly, and seat belts save lives by preventing people from flying through the air and landing with great impact... just as any accident with a motorcycle seems to be fatal due to such instances.
I've noticed almost every time I encounter a bicycle on the road, the rider is just asking to be it hit by veering into the whole road rather than staying close to the shoulder/bike lane.

Trump should initiate laws for Home Health Care Workers

Back when I was a career center director, I became aware of Home Instead. One of the medical assistant grads I was assisting with her job search let me know I didn't have to call her much like a parole officer does, for she had a job paying MINIMUM WAGE that essentially was "field related."

One of our sales reps said she'd worked weekends for Home Instead. She said it was easy money, for she refused to do clients with incontinence. She got paid to be available for them when they were sleeping, so she slept as well.

Sad to think that Vox.com blames slavery for the low wages. People are only willing to pay for services they can afford. Unfortunately, 24 hour care, even at minimum wage, is costly to the average person. There's an unskilled labor force willing to work for "slave wages."

Throwing out cliches about women and people of color being valued less only re-enforces the notion they are worth less.

We spend tons of money on housing prisoners. Google the numbers and you'd think we were paying for a Ivy League education rather than confining someone away from society.

No one knows how much illegal immigration actually costs.

The big China trade war "problem" is the decline in soybeans being sold there, yet we still have 40 million Americans struggling with hunger?

How much does it cost to ship soybeans to China? How much does the US Government pay to feed its hungry poor?

Think of the environmental costs involved when immigrants come to the U.S. from countries without washing machines or A/C in every house.

Trump could propose his own "Green New Deal" which infuses an "America First" agenda, but unfortunately could be embraced by Environmental wackos like the dude who shot up the El Paso Walmart. 

Is Charlie Sheen still alive?

I started to think about a movie in which Charlie Sheen appeared... so I wondered if he's still alive.
I was thinking about Richard Dawson  randomly one day only to hear of his death the next. Same goes for the fellow on M.A.S.H. who was replaced by the guy with a moustache.
Meh. Life being a simulation would explain a lot.

recession?

What exactly has Congress done to stave off a recession? Feels like 2007 all over again in the sense that Speaker Pelosi is meh about everything but taking out the President.
Most people will blame whomever they feel like blaming as long as they are on the other side, which is why having a split government actually favors Trump's re-election.
What has Pelosi and Co. done since being in charge of the purse strings?
I expect Trump to change a little, but enough to make opposition to his narrative to seem deranged or simply too"un-American."
He can highlight the trade war on American products espoused by deranged members of the "resistance" who think boycotting xyz and threatening violence against supporters of those brands as being more problematic that troll farms buying dubious ads on Facebook during the '16 campaign.
Having a recession now is too soon to swing an election against Trump, he has the means to fight back by pointing to a "do nothing"congress.

predicting events 2 months in advance

Back in June, I threw out the idea that my gold mutual fund could easily increase in value by $5... to $24.59. I said other things, but I'm a hedger more than a gambler, so I made trades before my target price was met.
It's impossible to time the market. I sold off 95 shares prematurely, it seems, but I still made a profit... just not as much. I moved the goal posts to what my break even amount would be to $29.67. I feel it's a lofty amount considering Brexit in 2016 didn't push it that high, though it had been $43.10 back on 9/27/2012.
Do I see another 20% jump within the year as possible? Yes.
The "trade war" with China hasn't really hurt the economy, yet interest rates were cut last week. Meanwhile, Boris Johnson will be in charge of the UK government as it navigates the Brexit stuff that May never completed.
If you don't remember 2012, well, the economy was doing fair... but the fiscal cliff was looming.
I've been tempted to sell, almost daily. I've not succeeded in stopping myself enough, but I have been good of late.
My gut tell me that I could hold out for $29.67, but my brain says the market can bounce back. and kill off the gold rally. The hedge has cut my potential losses by accepting actual gains of 20%, and hoard cash in case it dips or invest it in a mostly stable monthly dividend yielding fund. The latter makes more sense since I can't do a quick re-buy after selling without paying a penalty fee.

patience is hard

I've been very active with my 401(k) and IRA... and I know I should not be. I should tweek quarterly at most, yet I monitor ups and downs daily.
I really want to unload the mutual fund I bought back when I thought the world was coming to an end, but I don't want to take a true loss. It's a hedge to keep since I know it once was double or nearly triple its current value, but I really don't want to hold on for another 6 years when I have other options that are growing via dividend and capital gains regardless of what the markets says the mutual fund itself is worth.

$2K incease in Fidelity IRA in last 12 months

Gold is doing something while the markets are being randomly good and bad.
Gold can go up a lot from where it is now (doubling isn't too crazy, considering my mutual fund is way under the $43.10 I once bought it), while the market the fund is within is at it's top.
I have watch lists of mutual funds that give reliable dividends and capital gains. I'm shifting towards quarterly yielding ones from a single monthly. There are a few monthly yielding funds I'm testing to see which is the best long term.
I have also researched a few semi annual dividend yielding ones that interestingly fills in the June gap missed by the  April-July-October-December funds, but gives a certain dilemma in December. 
I am hopeful of adding $2k in my IRA by the end of the year. A 10% gain in 6 months is beyond my control, but I'm watching. I'm tired of holding gold that can vary too frequently without any guarantee of growth.

gold

I have a bad hobby of following my IRA. I have been looking toward diversifying my account into multiple dividend yielding mutual funds, but I'm still mostly invested in a gold related mutual fund. I am not the sort of person who looks at sunk costs easily. Gold was doing well when I first got into it at bargain $43.10 a share. It jumped to above $55 before sinking to $15.90 a couple years later. A couple years later, Brexit bumped the fund above $27, so I was above break even due to my buying and holding throughout the dive.  I got greedy and didn't sell it all off to break even, only to see the dip of $15.37 last year. I bought up the same amount of shares I sold in 2016 and sold off gradually after it hit upper $19. I was selling at 5 shares a day so I'm not making big returns beyond 30%, but I'm seeding my diversification towards year-round growth. Current break even amount seems to be roughly $23.50, but I'm thinking done selling until it hits $24.59. I'll hold, I've held on for nearly 7 years, I can wait out another 7, I reckon... but the chance for growth by converted to growth funds makes me want to cut chunks now that will grow quicker without having to hope for market flukes.
I read last week that tariffs have been blamed for loss of earnings made from the tax cut. Of course, the market crashed a bit a few days straight only to bounce back.
I doubt a $5 jump will come, but interest rate cuts seem to suggest gold will be  increasing in value throughout the summer.

Virgos

I don't believe horoscopes to be anything significant, but I can usually spot a Virgo.
A guy at work seems a bit like me in various ways... ways that are generic Virgo qualities, so I figured he was a Virgo. So I  asked him. He is a Virgo, barely.
I once worked at a library where 9 of 12 staff members were Virgos.
Seems too weird to be a mere coincidence...

66%

It would be funny if the KKK staged protests in Georgia over the new heart-beat law. Supposedly, 2/3 of abortions are performed on black women, which probably makes the KKK pro-choice given only 28% of abortions involved white women.

Would Alyssa Milano march with Nazis?

9 showed up for KKK rally?

I saw a few anti-hate posts on FB relating to Dayton. Evidently it was in response to a KKK rally.  The city of Dayton spent $650,000 towards the rally, though 9 showed. Seems like a lot of money for so few. Part of me wonders if the whole matter was a ruse to create a means to take funds.

when does life begin?

I have a complicated view on abortion.
My parents actually went to have my brother aborted but there was a line so they went to get lunch during which my dad talked my mom into marrying him. I heard this story for the first time while eating at the bar they choose for that lunch while my parents were visiting me at college. My brother never knew until then as well.
Three of my cousins were adopted. My aunt couldn't have kids. Two of my cousins aren't the brightest but they all have college degrees.
Before I was married, I was fully intent on marrying my wife. There was a moment when she thought she was possibly pregnant though she was on a form of birth control. I didn't think she was pregnant, but the idea was there. She wasn't ready for a child, so I would have supported her decision. Obviously she wasn't pregnant, but rather she felt weird due to the birth control affecting her. Regardless, I was willing to turn a blind eye to my feelings of pro-life.
I've been reading a lot of angst about the heart-beat bills passed in Ohio and such. Everyone seems fixated on an 11 year old in Ohio who was "raped" by a 26 year old. I use the quotes because it seems she willfully ran away to be with the guy. Not to take away from her being raped but to put context that abortion my not have been her first inclination...
My older daughter turned 11 today. If I had found out she was with a 26 year old... I would be inclined to end his heart-beat. Regardless, back when she was a heart-beat in her mom's belly, ultrasounds were sketchy and suggested she may have Down's. We met with a genetic counselor and he tried to scare us. We would have loved our daughter regardless, so we shrugged at their suggesting to terminating her heart beat.
The argument in favor of abortion is the reproductive rights of a woman are being infringed upon.
Not sure how many abortions are of planned pregnancies, but there's surely a reason for the pregnancy occurring in the first place.  I imagine alcohol may be to blame for a good number of unplanned pregnancies. Given that an intoxicated person may lack the ability to give consent, so technically, those pregnancies would be due to rape, right? Wasn't rape almost always an exception in the past? The problem then lies in that fact that the guy probably does not consider himself a rapist and the woman probably blames herself for being drunk.  The woman shouldn't be forced to have a guy's baby just because he didn't use protection, nor should she need his permission to abort his unwanted seed. Unless there's a notarized letter stating the unprotected sexual encounter was consensual, then the DNA from the aborted fetus should be ample evidence of a rape. The guy could be guilty of rape and murder thus locked up indefinitely to never cause another unplanned pregnancy again.
The threat of being charged with rape and murder should deter a guy from suggesting the pull-out method in lieu of a trusty condom.
If a woman is worried she'd be forced to charge he BF with rape... pregnency testing could be made free, and done before a heart-beat is detected.

I've never tried the "pull-out" method, I am a Trojan Man. I have yet to have an unplanned pregnancy thanks to Trojan. I think back to when we used the other means of birth control, and I find myself with more peace of mind.

cynical Christian meme

Being the descendant of a Presbyterian Minister, I had a certain worldview ingrained into my upbringing.

As a kid, I took everything for granted. I had a simple life. I was ignorant of my place in the world. My parents were teachers. They never struck me as role models for they were rather miserable about being teachers. Frankly, they didn't do much aside from sleep and teach, since we couldn't afford to do stuff.

Did credit cards exist?

I remember how  novel it was to go out to eat with my Great-Aunt Isabel(sp?). My Auntie Bell would always take us kids out for a meal in a one-on-one situation, and she would whip out her American Express Card and the waiter would come to the table with a device which would make a receipt for her via carbon copy.
My Auntie Bell was a teacher long before I knew her. She was 9 years older than my grandma, who was also a teacher. They were stern women who could be kind. Their father was the Presbyterian Minister. 
Not sure where I am going with my thoughts, but I can safely say I find myself hesitant to calling myself a Christian for I don't practice nor have I forced my children to go to church. I lean Christian, but I'm probably agnostic given the abuses done in the name of church throughout the centuries.
I am a registered Republican in the same sense. I personally identify most closely Libertarian, but given their lacking strength as a viable party, I lean Republican.
I have nothing against people helping people, but I do have a problem with robbing Peter to pay Paul. I like the premise of the Fair Tax. In theory, it would make Trade spats dumb, but how do we do away with 1040 and such?
I'm not following the China thing, aside from seeing farmers are getting hurt. We have starving people or at least people lacking "food security," why not take care of them before worrying about exporting to the tariff bastards?
I could go on about other matters such as the "heart-beat" bills or the crisis at the border. There's got to be a compromise that will make everyone unhappy, right?
What is the argument for the "heart-beat" bill? Well, a separate heart-beat suggests a separate life. I personally feel as much for we were pregnant back in the day, we were horrified when our baby didn't have a heart beat. I imagine a good number of people who have miscarriages feel the way I do,but I also find the prospect of abortion unsettling. If a heart beat can be discernible after 6 weeks of conception, then the window to legally terminate the pregnancy is narrow.  There's always the caveats of rape and incest being excluded, which makes the uproar about solely being woman's reproductive health interesting. Unless they're carrying JESUS, these women didn't get pregnant without someone else being culpable. Maybe the method of birth control failed, or maybe some one was too drunk to consent. The latter would be considered RAPE. Woman should be able to say she was raped without having to name or identify the rapist. The DNA from the aborted fetus would be on file and can be used to prosecute its father.
Also, pregnancy tests can be given monthly to those at risk of becoming pregnant to avoid having to go the rape claim route.

I'm a week ahead of a national conversation?

Back in April, I noticed Howard Schultz news was absent, so what did I see the last few days?

• Howard Schultz Has Slowed Down His Pre-Campaign Press Tour
• GROUND TO A HALT :Howard Schultz Has Largely Stopped His Presidential Prep Work
• The Silence of the Lattés: Whatever happened to Howard Schultz?  

Scott Adams says making accurate predictions is a good way of having a viable realty-filter in a 2 movies on the same screen world. Noticing a dog not barking before others isn't exactly predicting, but it's interesting when the others in the world react as I do beyond fringe bubbles of the political spectrum. Given the interest as an afterthought candidate in MAY of 2019... Howard Schultz probably is a viable candidate everyone should fear potentially going forward with a campaign.

what ever happened to Starbucks guy?

It's interesting to see that "Mayor Pete" is still floating about the campaign wave in the same breath of Biden, Bernie and Warren. He seemed out of nowhere three months ago. I still know nothing about him, but I suppose an old Joe or Bernie veep pairing is the objective since he's not an experienced DC pol, being half their age.
Other names have thrown their hats into 2020. The staff basher from 10,000 lakes has been quieter than Spartacus... and I can't think of anyone else new beyond above and listed back in January aside from the Texas US Senate seat race loser.
Seems a lot like the Republican field in 2012 who all ran against Obama and settled with a 2008 retread.  2020 may have Harris, but 2012 suggests Bernie or Biden.

GDP

Supposedly, Chicago is to get snow in late April? Seems like a joke along with the announcement of 3.2 GDP growth after all the recession fretting during the late fall into early spring... I love this WSJ piece.

The market looked bleak at the end if the calendar year.  I don't recall why. I didn't think it was bad so I socked as much into my 401(k) as possible... My -$1,200 return is currently +$1,750 for a turnaround that has me assessing too much.

I have reallocated most of my domestic index 500 funds towards international funds. The US economy is strong, so there's leverage to negotiate tariffs. I see the tariffs impeding growth outside of the US. I don't see the mood swings ending in the US market until after Trump wins reelection.

Fake news update

I hope everyone is paying attention to how FedEx is doing after last week's fake news story. I'm not saying the stock is a buy or anything, but it's got a lot of rebound potential.
Given AG Barr's statements today along with jobless claims being down... the market should spur to highs unimaginable prior to 2016, right?

• Gold seems to be neutral today. It seems to have been going through a weird lunar cycle of peaking and dropping of late. I'm joking. I sold a bunch in February and was going to buy low in March but it bounced back higher before my IRA allowed me to buy back the mutual fund I had sold. I sold again in March, so I can't buy back for a week or so I expect it to climb again.

Divorced dads are sickening

I just read on CNN a story about Michelle Obama saying something along the lines: America is currently like living with a divorced dad.  It's fun at the start of the weekend but by the end, you get sick and want to go home to mom.

Is it fake news? Will she walk it back? Should be interesting to hear the reactions to famous divorced dads... but a few of those like Alec Baldwin were famously bad dads and cruel to their children thus vindicating Michelle Obama.

spotting fake news

I know I blog about economic matters that may affect my IRA or 401(k) hobbies, but today, I have to comment upon an article that suggests a RECESSION is lurking.

I happen to be employed by the company in question. For those who do not follow FedEx Express news daily, the article would read with foreboding for the U.S. economy, given its title about recession, but FedEx has had almost a yearlong financial problem outside of normal economic circumstances. All you need to do is look at the price spread of its stock in the last year. It was over $260 last year then dipped to just above $150 in a 6 month period. It's currently hovering around $190 and has been gaining ground after cutting bonuses and such...

Did anyone say a recession was looming when its stock bottomed out? This article came about a month after FedEx honchos said the profit projections were way off.

Projects for FedEx Express were based upon the acquisition of TNT with an eye on the latter's reach in European markets. Problems with TNT emerged last year when it was discovered issues with TNT beyond the WannaCry Virus.

I said back in January any talk about recession would be a dog whistle attack against the sitting president. I said it was probably being made because the Russia Collusion probe was quietly running its course (and  probably would be an empty vault scenario for those gunning for Trump's scalp).

I'm still eyeing gold as an economic canary. Gold is dropping today. It has had an interesting 6 months as well. I would sooner buy FedEx Express stock than any Gold related.
 

Compared to Brexit, Trump government seems stable, doesn't it?

Gold is a barometer of stability. One day it's way up. Next day, it's up a little more, and a day later, gold's value retreats to below the value a few days earlier. Gold seems to be trending up thus far today.

Poor JEB

Read today that Jeb Bush's embarrassing performance in the 2016 primaries gave his mom a heart attack (never mind that her eldest son was probably the worst republican president since Hoover and struggled to string 5 words together without sounding special). The Obama presidency eclipsed the eldest son's absurd existence enough to have middle America give the republican brand a second look. JEB never stood a chance with the Bush name being equal to Hitler(people still have bumper stickers with Bush Lied, People Died and Impeach Bush).
Considering Bushes and Clinton preceded Obama, there's no wonder the fake Russian collusion story was strung along by the so called "deep state" and the media pundits who were in those administrations. Trump had the birther thing and was savage on all things Obama. Trump trounced Bill Clinton's wife and JEB in 2016. Given GHWB was VEEP under Reagan, one would have to go back to Reagan to Carter to not have a direct cause to be bitter towards Trump. 

gold up? sell, cautiously

After seeming to peak, Gold dipped continuously for a few weeks... and now has rebounded? Did I sell too quickly? I was ahead. I hedged. I'm going to divest some more as the new highs occur. It will be small amounts. I'm able to see the day trend, so I'll cut 5 shares at a time as long as the day is trending up, up from what I last traded off (at least until I hit the complete sell off markers).

Orange Man Bad

Mueller Time has run its course, so naturally the lack of further indictments  (cause for impeachment) means new angles of attack upon D. J. Trump. The rumors of a possible recession seem to be the newest recycled attack.
Disregard the strange coincidence of Madam Speaker Pelosi being at the helm of government spending during the start of the last recession.
Of course, Mr. Kellyanne Conway questioning his wife's boss's mental state is another mode of attack via 25th Amendment.
News pundits seem to question whether Republican Mueller truly tried or mock the portrayal of a witch hunt by POTUS. Pundits also point to the Mueller indictments and convictions unrelated to Trump-Russia collusion.
Fair comparison is the 2003 WMD situation. There's enough evidence of reasonable existence of WMDs to give Bush administration a pass, but the media had so many sources that turned out to be the same guy being quoted by different people.
The ruse that Trump colluded with Russia spawned by campaign for Hillary is oddly funny because the birther movement also had roots there as well. Oddly enough, John McCain chose to ignore the birther stuff due to his being born outside of what normal people consider U.S.A., but yet wanted to believe the dirty dossier because he was a bitter loser. 
Both Hillary and John voted to invade Iraq... thus signed the death warrants of how many innocent Iraqis?
For all the bad things we were told Trump is thinking, what has he done that's caused as much death or destruction?

Brexit vs gold (a conspiracy)

A couple weeks ago, I mused whether gold had peaked for the year. It dropped a bit, then bounced back a bit. Brexit chaos in today's news isn't exactly pushing it up from my afternoon gleaning. Three years ago the Brexit vote itself spiked the price of gold. Perhaps there was collusion on the side of pro-Brexit types with gold speculators to ramp up the price of gold? 
Given the markets aren't stable, and it's impossible to time the markets without insider's knowledge... hedging is the only safe move I can envision making until I hit my predetermined goals.

banks aren't my friend

I have photophobia. The word itself sounds like a psychological problem, but it essentially means I have an allergy. Yes, I'm allergic to light. I don't break out into hives or swell, but rather I start to lose the ability to see clearly coupled with a splitting headache. If you've never had a migraine, the sensation is much like motion sickness while staring into the sun or trying to watch tv with light glaring on the screen.
I've looked into the matter in addition to discussing it with my doctor. My doctor said he could refer me to a neurologist, but there's no cure for it. He said to avoid the migraine triggers.
I have found that having different light sources, particularly natural light and florescent combined, I will start to get tunnel vision. My doctor gave my a couple prescriptions to help once I get a migraine, while Ibuprofen helps prevent headaches, but I'd prefer not to have medicine in me. Wearing a baseball cap with its bill pulled down, helps diffuse light. Wrap around sunglasses also help.
My wife thinks I'm weird. I've had the problem progress a bit since we first got married.  I used to mostly have trouble eating in certain restaurants like Cracker Barrel and Steak n' Shake without positioning myself to not see the lights blending, but now, big box stores, malls, gyms seem to trigger my headaches.
I've taken to wearing a hat and sunglasses as much as possible to avoid the chances of random light causing a headache. Sadly, going to a bank, I am greeted by signs which say that I must remove my sunglasses and hat for the safety of customers.  Very annoying. I feel like I'm being discriminated against though I get that banks need to take precautions against robbers. I hope that other businesses don't follow suit.  

2020 is a long ways away

It almost feels like the 2016 election still lingers, yet 2020 candidates keep throwing in their hats. The economy seems meh. Unemployment is low, but job growth has stalled. Not sure what exactly the "Blue Wave" is trying to accomplish, but they have a lot in common with the Tea Party from 2010.
People raised tons of cash under the guise of Tea Party mantras, so have the groups under the "Resist." mantra.
Mitt Romney wasn't much of a Tea Party type, yet won the nomination only to lose handily in the general election.
Would be nice if Trump proposed a balanced budget that could placate the less absurd GND elements.
Why not simply tax abortions or at least make them as expensive as delivering a live baby? Tax prostitution. Tax recreational drug use. Tax pornography.
By taxing non-essential surgeries and risky life choices, one would hope the choices would be less frequent.

RPOS twitter gold

People who criticize Mr. Trump for his avid use of Twitter seem indifferent to its use by his adversaries. I could be wrong, but Trump has willed himself forward as a result of his use of Twitter to challenge the 24-hour news cycle to not ignore him. He picks his battles and doesn't let his battles pick him. Certain people don't hold up well over stretches of time as their snarky rebuttals of legitimate criticism spirals out into alienating natural allies.

Gold vs. dollar

Has Mr. Trump made the economy better? Gold seems to be suffering against a strong dollar. Did I time my FSAGX sale well? I may have sold too little, but I view the investment as long term. I doubt I will completely divest as long as its trading under $44 given my initial buy was at roughly such. I expect to buy back the shares I sold if it dips below $17 again.

Investing is probably dumb

I told my son to learn as much as he can about stocks and dividends.
Having a 401(k) probably is the shadiest legal means to save for retirement. How many people actually know what they're doing? I don't exactly, but I look at what's offered and play with the ups and downs.
Risk management means trying to not lose more than what you put in beyond whatever is being matched by an employer.
It's impossible to time the market, so greed can be a good thing or a bad thing based on timing.
I have a hard time cutting my losses. I tend double down and wait for a bounce back to recoup some of  my losses. Patience is a virtue  that seems to be better served via a system than gut instinct. There's simply too much emotion involved. Emotion impairs decision making.

RPOS lives up to moniker

Telling people that they should be green while not attempting to live the lifestyle may be hypocritical, but to excuse the lifestyle as just "living in the world" begs the question why do you want to abolish ICE?
What a cop out. By saying the United States forces people to use AC and to fly, why should we turn a blind eye to people coming across the border who will increase their personal carbon footprint living an American lifestyle?
Hopefully, people who say they shouldn't have children because of climate change heed their own words.

has Gold peaked?

I've not talked about my Fidelity hobby in a while. To re-hash, I feared the FISCAL CLIFF in 2012, and hedged with Gold heavy mutual fund. The fund surged and was up 25% at one point, so when it dipped below my initial investment, I bought more. It dipped a lot, and I bought a lot more. I am not an economics person, so gold seemed a safe hedge to bounce back. I didn't exceed break even until BREXIT did wonders for the fund. It never got back to the price I bought initially, but I hedged it could, so I sold off  25% of the shares. Its peak in 2016 occurred, but I held on after fears Trump wouldn't succeed in navigating the economy. Gold plummeted. It bottomed out to pre-BREXIT over the summer, so I hedged and bought back the 25% I sold at a significant discount. Gold surged a bit and I had a feeling it could go higher, but I hedged last week and sold roughly half of the 25% I acquired since summer. No idea if I timed the market well, but I'm ahead from where I was in the summer, at least.  

RPOS vs hamburgers

I'm not sure what jobs unskilled people have anymore. Amazon hasn't completely destroyed traditional commerce of decentralized shopping by making e-commerce centralized warehouse worker centric. The likes of Sears, Kmart, Toys R Us, et cetera makes food service industry more important. Traditional food joints are fast food and cow based. What does eating less hamburgers mean to the fast food industry and its unskilled work force who hope to make $15 to flip burgers?

RPOS responds with "working for tips" as her "working class" chops

Ms. Trump has a degree in economics from an Ivy League school... not surprisingly, the same school as her father. Sure she's the daughter of a rich and famous man, thus probably an entitled brat, but she was evidently working as a teenager. Perhaps modeling isn't a real job, but it's not like she was interning for a known sexual predator who gave her daddy money for his presidential campaign.
Donald Trump may be a lot of things but pimping out his children seems to be beneath him. Yes, his older three and their spouses all went out and about during the campaign, but they were already celebrities in their own right given the success of the Apprentice.
Donald Trump may not be a great boss or father, but he gave his children actual jobs and expected them to perform for an audience to critique. If they weren't capable, then the show would have been a farce and subsequent failure.

Ivana Trump vs RPOS

Until today, I knew little to nothing about Ivanka Trump, but I read her comments about guaranteed minimum life wages. Nothing really struck me, but it's interesting that Ivana (she's a grown woman, worthy of her given name) would espouse family friendly initiatives which don't exactly skirt being full-fledged socialism yet claim a guaranteed minimum living suppresses the desire to want more. She claims more Americans yearn for more than being average and desire the ability to be economically mobile.
I could be misconstruing the sentiment, but I know how hard is it to raise a family. I have 3 children. They're expensive. Feeding and clothing them is one thing, but having to pay someone to watch them so you can pay the bills is a catch-22.  When your kids spend less time with you than they do in daycare, it's not just the cost of paying for the service but the cost of things that one can't put a price upon.
Children grow so quickly. Advocating for paid leave seems to make sense though factoring the toll on children hasn't been showcased as a reason, so much as other industrialized world nations have such policies, "why not the US?"
Regardless, having a universal minimum wages is dumb when considering the cost of living varies greatly from the coastal cities to those in "fly over country."
With Ivana being pro-family, the contrast to the fear mongering of Climate Change as a reason to promote an anti-child agenda is humorous. What's the point of pushing a "Green New Deal" for future of humanity if humans shouldn't reproduce?

Amazon and the RPOS spat

Corporate wealth fare is what was being said of NY's tax incentives to lure Bezos. I am not sure, but I don't see it as the same as when Professional Sports Team threatens to leave a city unless they get a new stadium paid by taxpayers through some bond measure.

Amazon is creating year-round jobs that ripple throughout the city into the state's coffers from the increased tax revenue. Tax payers have been leaving New York. The brunt of the Tax Reform law probably hasn't been felt yet, but a dollar doesn't go as far in New York as it does in Texas or Florida.

I'm not sure what sort of jobs are being created by Amazon... or were going to be made, but to say NY could divert the "taxes" it was not taking in from Amazon and use those dollars for existing New Yorkers is plain bizarre.

I have heard using analogies is a dumb way to make a point, but there was a time when I got a credit card offer that said I would get a free Dell desktop computer valued at $600 if I accepted the card and spent so much...

I forget the rest of details, but the idea was that the charges on the card wouldn't be paid back in-full thus allowing the credit card company earn back the cost of "free" computer in the form of high interest charges and late fees.

The idea seems insane to me for I don't pay federal taxes and I make more in cashback from credit cards than they get from in me in terms of interest or fees. 

Why the credit card didn't just give out the computers without strings attached is the same reason NY doesn't give away tax revenue it won't recoup.

Bad analogy... cause there's no money coming. Tax breaks aren't stealing from the poor if those receiving the tax breaks are introducing and spending new money that flows. The taxes not being collected are more than offset by the taxes collected by the new money being spent. It's not the same as trickle down economics for that's when existing taxes are cut disproportionately benefiting upper tax bracket types with the hope they'll be more free with their money rather than sitting on it and collecting interest.
I'm not a fan of taxes. I avoid paying taxes by not making money, much like the mythical Nero Wolfe who was taxed at 90% after he made so much and didn't feel his detective work was worthwhile at the 10% return.
I'm a fan of THE FAIRTAX. It's probably too complicated to be implemented, but the calculus of eliminating all embedded taxes and replacing it by the taxing the end product seems brilliant.

words

The government didn't shutdown again, and people are still peeved by the measure the President took regarding the wall.

Probably the best scenario for Trump unfolded. He ironically played that Stones song at his rallies about not always getting what you want. 

Democratic brand

Howard of Starbucks made ripples by suggesting he may run for POTUS as an INDEPENDENT. He says he no longer identifies as a Democrat, but feels Trump is dumb and needs ousted at the ballot box.
Now taking a gander at those declared for Democratic side, one can plainly see why Mr. Starbucks would go the independent route... they are all running for the batshit crazy extremists' vote or to get name recognition to sell a book.
I am biased, but I don't feel I'm being rash in my assessment, but here's what I think from what I see:

• Pete Buttigieg- Mid-Western nobody with a fake gay porn name.
• Julian Castro- South-Western nobody with a fake dictator porn name.
• Kamala Harris- some random nobody with a fake Afrocentric porn name.
• Tulsi Gabbard- upstart who pissed off the old guard by backing Bernie over Hillary and tried to get back in their good graces.
• Kirsten Gillibrand- the manhater who got Al Franken ousted from the Senate.
• Elizabeth Warren- someone who claims to hate the rich and be for the little guy yet got wealthier by buying foreclosures.

"Fake porn name" is what I call empty vessels lacking charisma with humorous names that could be used in a porn or to be a political whore and latch onto a particular demographic like LGBTETC, Latino, and AA. Seriously, the one dude has "Butt"  as the start of his surname and his first name means "rock." When I hear Castro, I think of Cuba. Cuba has excellent free healthcare, I think I heard Mr. Flint say in Sicko. I didn't know how to pronounce "Kamala" at first, but figured it sounded like "cum alla," which is funny when Harris can sound like "her ass" depending upon who is saying it.

Why I said no to an interview

Last year, I got a call about a job opportunity in my field of study. I have my resume still on sites, but I haven't applied anywhere since starting at FedEx in November '16.
The job was at WPAFB, so I knew it paid well, but I also knew it had potential to be a casualty of any federal budget showdown.
I passed on the opportunity. The recruiter seemed incredulous.
Meh. I feel validated.

Recession talk, 2020 contention, jobless claims, DJI

The year continues to slog with no real news... the partial government shutdown has not been affecting enough to matter... China trade impasse has not destroyed the economy... the Fed has paused rate hikes... Speaker Pelosi is anti-SOTU perhaps due to the potential optics of her hoard of unruly freshmen that don't reflect well to the majority of American voters... Kasich is free of the governor's mansion... documented spouse beater Senator Sherrod Brown is doing a listening tour of early voting states... live feeding from your home while drinking a beer has become a trend... snow blankets parts of America... missing abducted teenager is found alive...
The whisper campaign of a pending recession is going no where fast. The stock market has slowly bounced back after steep year-end declines. Jobless claims are down in spite of the partial shutdown where TSA and such are working without pay, thus unemployment benefit eligible?
I expect all of the early candidates to announce their bid to be president will fade. None have a pitch to be president that strikes me as being reality based, aside from not being Trump.
The thing about "chaos" surrounding Trump is that he's not really bothered by it. Sure he tweets responses to his critics but has he buckled on any controversies over his agendas? The separating of children from parents is perhaps an example... but the practice may have been a holdover from an earlier administration.
Pelosi is the perfect foil for Trump to be re-elected if he chooses to stick with it. I believe he will and step down soon after winning, just so he can play more golf. He's already beyond typical retirement age, but he's not really much of a quitter, is he?
Now, who ever comes after Trump leaves office, will the "chaos" be resolved. Trump has "chaotic" irons in the fire that he's just let sit as an impasse.
Oh, what is the timetable on Russian Collusion?
Slow news.

wall thoughts

I read someone say today that funding a border wall would be a waste of money because we have homeless veterans and an underfunded education system. Curious, I looked up how many homeless vets there were and was shocked that more unaccompanied minors are apprehended at the border than there are actual homeless vets.

https://www.factcheck.org/2018/06/illegal-immigration-statistics/

https://thedefensepost.com/2019/01/11/us-military-veteran-homeless-california/

PayPal

Took a few tries, but we transferred our Ibotta funds to our checking account. Would have done a flat $500, but we had $506.66 in Ibotta to redeem.
I don't know how anyone can say Ibotta isn't worth the time.
Sure you have to setup PayPal to get hard cashback, but PayPal is a standard these days, right?

What's with the market?

The thud of Pelosi's return has been kicked aside, it seems.
We truly live in a strange time. It's almost like somsome is steering the economic stories just enough to jolt the markets either direction.

Return of Speaker Pelosi

I bought into gold related mutual when it was dipping to pre-Brexit levels. It seems like I hedged against  another Pelosi recession.

Seriously, floating around impeachment will do wonders for the economy.