In the Navy, the announcement would come over the 1 MC (Main Circuit), to “Stand by for heavy rolls”. This was not dissing the boys in the galley but rough weather topside. Whether in the North Atlantic or the Gulf of Siam, this usually meant high winds and pretty heavy seas. Luckily, I was never seasick. Right about now, I may have that record tested. 

Chaos,maelstrom,pandemonium,madness and havoc might describe our state of affairs right now. Both here in the US of A and the world at large. Rather than wringing my hands, I can’t say I was not expecting this. Just not quite the speed and force of this 25 foot wave. 

We had lost our way long before the Donald. Out-of-control debt. Throwing money at education, disease, entitlements and space dreams,like as John McCain used to say, “drunken sailors”. Drunken sailors? Not a chance.  Old people of Congress and even Presidents long past their prime. Constant adding to the payroll without any thought of trimming previous extravagances. Obesity in words and actions. We needed a crash diet. 

I would like to think there was another way. Ok, boys and girls of the Beltway we need to shape up. Let’s have a committee draw up a list of priorities. Then we can look at each individual problem to be solved and have input from at least 20-30 jurisdictions that might be affected. Then we will send that to committee and then if the leader of either houses deems it to be of importance, it will be brought  to the floor for a vote. Oh yeah,the prez can then veto all this fine effort because his cousin in Dubuque, Iowa will be put out of work. 

Then to accomplish all of this we need a new group to oversee, get office space and have their own set of hoops to go through. Wait. We will now have protests, sit ins, and unions will go on strike. Left and right media will bring everything to a rapid boil and Voila we are back to the drawing board. Silly? How about our vain efforts to shut down useless military installations or obsolete weapons systems. Don’t forget snail darters and National Parks that have been proclaimed with no money to administer them. Insane? You bet it is. 

Globally, we have been the world’s policeman. We fought in Afghanistan and Iraq to the tune of $8 trillion. That is about 25% of the tab we as a nation have to pay sometime. Worse was the fact the world made hay while we were nation building. We have been getting screwed but not tariff-wise as His Hairness would tell you. We have been the doting parent to a fairly spoiled group of nations that are more than welcoming of our largesse but have no interest in helping share the load…for the most part.  Go gett’em, Uncle Sam. We are all behind you !

In another vein, let’s look at this dirty little secret called immigration. Papa Joe was asleep or accommodative to all sorts with very little control. The crazy part is we need immigrants, but from a garden hose, not a fire hose. There is this little thing called E Verify which is pretty efficient. An employer just has to put the name in and it comes back instantly whether this dude or dudette is legal. It has been around for thirty years! 

Why not use it? Well, there are a couple of problems. First is if I run everybody through the system then I will wind up with a few to no workers. Secondly I might have to pay them a going wage to work in the fields or meat packing plants.They could only work so many hours. Then I can’t be competitive. Ok then let’s just ship them to those left leaning cities. Effective but costly. Estimates are that Denver with 42,000 illegals could be spending  $250-300 million on illegals when everything is totalled. Immigration has been begging for reform since 1988.

There are multiple conclusions to all of this.The first and foremost is, I am not a Trumper but you do have to look hard at all of this. Both the Executive and Legislative branches have been complicit for at least the last 30 years. Republicans and Democrats alike.Bureaucracies have ballooned. The last time the budget was balanced was in 2001. And we keep raising the debt limit. 

 American business has bilked the system. The WSJ has recently cited various health insurance companies for overbilling and phantom billing. Wall Street has gotten wealthy from carried interest. There are loopholes galore that exist because the advantageous and vague wording is lost in a gigantic omnibus bill. 

And we, the American people have sat idly by. We keep reelecting bums who serve our own interests. You know if everyone paid their taxes we would not need an IRS. We slip and slide while saying,”well everyone else is doing it”.  We believe and encourage outright lies. We attribute everything to fake news or semantics. We look the other way. There is an excuse for everything. 

I don’t like the Orange Man’s take no prisoners philosphy. But do you honestly think anything will get done without shock therapy? The system is broken but we have not trained nor encouraged mechanics. We have had it so easy and now the bill is coming due. On the open seas, you know the front will pass and can make your way to calmer seas. It is right there on the radar or satellite. Right now, both of ours are broken. 

The “Righting Moment” of a ship is the tendency to return to an upright position as the vessel rolls. If you go beyond that the ship capsizes. Let’s hope we don’t go past ours. Sadly,for now there are heavy rolls ahead. Hang on tight.

As always 

Ted The Great 

Factoids:

The “carried interest loophole” refers to favorable tax treatment for certain compensation received by private equity, venture capital and hedge-fund managers. They pay long term rates rather than short term. That cost us around $2billion a year. We wouldn’t venture have to fire anyone. Beleive it or not the guardian angel who won’t let any changes happen? None other than Chuck Shumer. 

United Healthcare takes a perfectly healthy person and codes them for exotic diseases and receives extra compensation from Medicare. At the same time they refuse authorizations for sick people who should be paid.  Just business!

The nation’s millionaires and billionaires are evading more than $150 billion a year in taxes, according to the head of the Internal Revenue Service. Let’s just say they are off by 23% We just fired a whole bunch of IRS agents. “Psst Elon.Over here”

Winners and losers. Haves and have-nots. Yadda, yadda. We have created this world of contest, and it goes to every aspect of life. I am right,you are wrong. I have been thinking to see if this is a just for certain periods of time or is this ingrained in us? Let’s let it rip. 

DNA is a whole bunch of genes. They dictate every part of our development, growth, and function. They steer us this way and that. Let’s just say it is built into our system, and to date, it is tough to change, although there are a lot of people trying. 

Now, these cells change infinitesmally over time to adapt to one’s environment. This is not minute by minute but over tens of thousands of years.

The caveman had it a lot different than we have today but there are some who would debate we are acting like Neanderthals. Let’s at least take it as a given. 

In pure survival mode, our forefathers had to be kings or queens of the mountain, or they were goners. You invade my turf; you are going to pay for it. Someone is going to win, and someone is going to lose. A fact of life. Yet there was a further wrinkle. I not only want to survive, but I want more. I want to better my lot in life. As we became more social and communicative, we began to compare ourselves. 

Men and women want to matter. It is just that simple. How they do that is subject to interpretation. I can beat the crap out of you. I can run circles around you with my wonderful brain power. I can have tons of stuff, and my stuff is flashier and better than yours.  I can have natural sex appeal or there is some doc who will help me find something out of a bottle or scalpel to get me perfection. 

Let’s assume this is all normal. Normal means you are never going to get there. I know some of you believe in Nirvannah, but for TTG, I am going to accept my lot. It’s funny, but as you get older and older, many areas seem to be less important. It is not like I am giving up but learning to accept my limitations. Who needs the angst?

Where am I going with all of this? Today I think we have taken the concept of one upsmanship and put it on steroids. This can be government, war, golf or even a casual discussion. I don’t think we realize how much our lives are dictated by what other people think of us. Sure, we can deny it as a person or country but it matters. 

Look at Ukraine. I really am not sure if Putin is truly fearful of NATO or is still bemoaning the breakup of the USSR. He has not done very well by any standard. The only thing he has going is the nuclear missiles in his back pocket. He is pulling off the best bluff ever seen at a card table. 

Yet the Trumpster thinks the Russians have a strong hand, or perhaps he has bigger and better plans for them. Include XI, and everyone wants to be king of the hill or at least their portion of it. The sheer fact that they think the world is a chess board bespeaks their inferiority complex. That is sad. 

Let’s have a go at the budget deficit. You and I know the answer. Cut the fat,even the untouchables.  Getting elected is the biggest beauty pageant on earth. You are pretty if you get those other bastards and leave me untouched. Go after my entitlements and you are a dead man or woman. Image is everything. This would not be so unsettling if we ALL didn’t act like juveniles. Yes the bozos in DC and yes those who dwell in the Flalalands throughout our country. It’s always the other guy’s fault. Sorry, but we are all to blame. 

Going back to DNA there are two tracks here. First is we are the winner. Screw the rest of them. We have put so much into the world, it is time we worried about ourselves. I am going to berate heads of state and nations as a whole. No more living off the dole. You are low lifes. To some that makes absolute sense. 

On the other hand we can say we are making an absolute wake-up call.

You do have to help us more but we are still there. Let’s approach tariffs in an even-handed way. Let’s play fair, even though we have let you get away with a lot. That would require a lot of humility. Among nations. Among leaders. Among the public at large. 

We can be big or we can be small. Nations have to fork over more of their time and money and armed forces. Maybe we have to fork over more of our money in taxes. Maybe we have to take a long look at entitlements. That would really take a lot of big men and women. Do you think they are out there?

As always 

Ted The Great 

Factoids. 

Tariffs are a great rallying cry. In theory, if I make it more expensive for you to bring products into our country, then people will manufacture here. That’s great until we realize that we no longer get TVS for $350 bucks or clothes and food costs skyrocket.

60% of our fruits and nuts are imported.  That is outside of the fruits and nuts in California. No more guac.

Starlink connections for war in Ukraine can be turned on and off, as can reconnaissance and intelligence. We can hold back guns and dictate use of weaponry. Man,are we powerful.

Numbers can’t be substantiated, but Russia has lost at least twice as many troops in its war with Ukraine. On both sides over 250,000 soldiers have died. Almost 13,000 Ukrainian citizens have died. We call that collateral damage.