Inflation Reduction Act

August 7, 2022 – Inflation Reduction Act.

Don’t write this down! I will remind you later.

However, you will be reminded when you notice that your price at the pump for gasoline increases by the $0.16 per gallon.

And reminded, when your cost of natural gas goes up 4% to 6% because of a tax included.

And reminded, when your cost of electricity feels the impact of the $1.10 per ton of coal.

And reminded, when your cost of all products are affected by the reduction of greenhouse emissions to 31% to 44% from 24% - 35%.

And reminded, when the cost and availability of all purchased products are affected by 15% tax imposed on corporations making $1 billion or more in income.

And reminded, when an IRS agent comes calling because of the increases expenditure of $80 Billion destined to the IRS for “increase enforcement, operational improvements, customer service, and systems modernization”. Note, that expenditure is 6 times the current rate of $12.6 billion.

A promise. I will add more reminders as time goes on.

August 12, 2023

Sorry I haven’t been more attentive. I will try to do better in the coming year.

You probable have noticed the effects I predicted a year ago. It can be summed up in the inflation rate being over 6.5% and still rising.

Today, the administration, with a flourish of “Save the Environment”, has effectively increased our dependence on foreign energy by declaring an area the size of President’s home state as public lands, restricting access to the source of American uranium. From where does it come now?

Sources and percentage shares of total U.S. purchases of uranium in 2021 were:

Kazakhstan35%
Canada15%
Australia14%
Russia14%
Namibia7%
United States5%
Five countries combined (W)10%

So the US now gets 95% of its uranium elsewhere. With a new plant about to begin operation in Georgia, we can expect the consumption to go up!

Remember our sources of energy, which promised to make us energy independent under the previous administration? We now are dependent on other nations because the current administration has cut off sources by stopping Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) drilling and the Alaska pipeline project.

Should our energy imports be cut off we become dependent on eagle killing windmills and solar panels.

To the readers.

If you voted for the majority party, please educate your self. You, not the party, bear the responsibility of this bill and the subsequent damage to the economy. We are on the verge of losing our country because of this and like bills passed by this congress.

If you didn’t vote for any reason, you share the responsibility with those in the previous paragraph. I realize that voting for the lesser of two evils is still evil. However, we don’t stand a chance if we allow the most evil elected.

If you voted for the minority party, thanks! But we need to do more. Suggestions are welcome.

June 24, 2022June 24, 2022

Employer's Rights

Matthew 20:1-16

Laborers in the Vineyard
“For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard.

And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went.

Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’

And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.’

And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius.

And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ But he replied to one of them,

Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go.
I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you.

Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’

So the last will be first, and the first last".

I think that, mistakenly, ministers of the protestant churches tend to emphasize the last verse, that in green. Yes, it is important. But no more important than the preceeding two verses!

June 23, 2022January 17, 2024

Was Jesus a Capitalist?

What did he say?

Most Christians know that Jesus illustrated beliefs via parables. This belief can best be illustrated by Matthew 25:14-30. I will attempt to bring it up to date using an investor.

Matthew 25:14-30
“For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away.
He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more.
So also he who had the two talents made two talents more.
But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money.
Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.’
His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’
And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here, I have made two talents more.’
His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’
He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground.
Here, you have what is yours.’ But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest.
So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

The Investor
There was an investor who was taking a trip to an area where he couldn’t see the stock market results. His practice was to invest in start-up companies and purchased stock to help them get started.
He selected three companies in which to invest. From the first, A, he purchased 500 shares at $10 per share.
From the second company, B, he purchased 200 shares at $10 a share.
And from the third company C he purchased 100 shares at $10 a share.
When the investor returned, he checked on the value of his investments. He found that the first company’s stock price had increased to $50 per share. The investor, impressed, decided to purchase more stock from company A.
The stock of company B had increased to $20 per share, and the investor purchased more stock from the company.
The stock of company C remained at $10 a share. The annual report kept reminding its stockholders that it was protecting their hard earned cash with programs that had nothing to do with growth. The investor sold his shares in company C and listed it on the “Do Not Buy” list in the newsletter he published for his customers. He took the $1000 and purchased another 20 shares of company A.
In the real world of “Wall Street” such transactions may not necessarily be as obvious. One stock I hold has doubled even during the pressure on the stock market during the last year.
There is even a stock TMFX that uses its criteria to select start-ups and small cap companies so one can purchase shares of it and it acts as a mutual fund for those types of stock.