Something To Think About Archive

According to author and inventor Roger von Oech, “New ideas are not born in a conforming environment.”

We hope that President Trump doesn’t throw Taiwan under the Chinese bus just for the better trade deal that President Xi hinted at during his recent state visit. The administration needs to keep in mind that past promises by China to buy more American exports, like soybeans, have not been lived up to and in fact have fallen short by nearly half of promised purchases. And even if they were to do as promised, is it worth the cost of a free and democratic Taiwan? Trump needs to remember the promises made about Hong Kong maintaining its independence under Chinese rule. Two giant pandas do not make China a reliable partner.

French statesman Georges Clemenceau said: “War is a series of catastrophes that results in a victory.”

19^th Century Italian politician Camillo Benso claimed that “The man who trusts men will make fewer mistakes than he who distrusts them.”

Novelist Margaret Deland believed that “Nobody who is somebody looks down on anybody.”

Business leader Lee Iacocca said: “I guess if I had to say only one thing about management, it would be that the key is decisiveness.”

According to columnist Herb Caen, “The only thing wrong with immortality is that it tends to go on forever.”

It’s interesting and not a little troublesome to watch the opposing national parties merge at the extremes: Progressive Mayor Mamdani and J.D. Vance are both critical of Free Markets and the globalization that saw unsurpassed U.S. economic growth. And both think that the government should own or control certain commercial enterprises. Right-wing Steve Bannon, for better or worse, sides with AOC and Bernie Sanders wanting to ban data centers essential to AI. President Trump, who at one-time argued against Mitt Romney’s ideas for immigration controls, agrees with DSA Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed that we should end the filibuster, the guardrail against one-party rule. It’s upside-down world in America today.

Tennis champion Arthur Ashe said: “Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.

Remember that “No one can do everything, but everyone can do something.”

When you have to swallow your own medicine, the spoon always seems to be big.”

Consumer advocate Ralph Nader said: “I start with the premise that the function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers.”

It’s been said the “Leadership is less about what we know and more about what we’re willing to discover.”

Congress and the White House have to face the fact that ever-expanding budgets for defense, forever wars and entitlements will mean higher and higher debt limits and borrowing at higher and higher interest rates will be required to service the growing national debt. It is simply unsustainable. Meanwhile, due to Congress’ past missteps in entitlement reform, it’s been reported that Social Security will run out of cash in about six years requiring across the board cuts. Bottom line? A baby born today owes nearly $400,000 in federal debt and unfunded entitlement liabilities.

Tennis great John McEnroe believes that “…one of the hallmarks of a champion — any champion — is the ability to absorb losses and regain confidence immediately.”

Benjamin Franklin once noted that “All mankind is divided into three classes: those that are immovable, those that are movable, and those that move.”

It’s been said that running into debt isn’t so rough, it’s running into your creditors, that’s the problem.

It’s only math: The National Debt is $40 trillion. A trillion is a thousand billion which is a thousand million. So, if you taxed a thousand billionaires $1 billion or a million millionaires $1 million you would reduce the deficit by 2.5%. And then, at present spending rates, you would have to do that every 4 months just to keep up with the ever-expanding national debt. We have a spending problem, not a revenue problem.

Artist and author Charles Mackesy asks: ‘Imagine how we would be if we were less afraid.”

The latest price tag for California’s high-speed rail line that was supposed to connect San Francisco and Los Angeles is now $126 billion nearly four times its original estimated cost of $33 billion. Approved by voters 18 years ago with a 2020 completion target, the project has been bogged down by legal battles, cost overruns and politics. Crews have yet to lay a single track, even though they’ve already spent $15 billion and the project isn’t expected to be fully operational until 2040. By then we’ll all be flying in personal electric flying machines.