Tag Archives: economy

New Ramblings

Post Election Thoughts

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Donald Trump is a cancer that should be removed from the political landscape and discarded forever. The majority of Americans are sick of his nonsense and ready for sensible leadership. DeSantis is the future of the GOP if it ever wants to return to sanity.

Democrats will do victory laps for not getting blown away, but if they can’t come up with real messaging that appeals to moderates and independents, we will have a Republican president in 24. Right now DeSantis looks like the frontrunner.

The most important issue that needs to be addressed and tackled is tribalism, this insane hamster wheel we are trapped on of never allowing the opposition to have a victory, to the detriment of the whole nation. I doubt that will get better in my lifetime because the schism keeps widening and neither side will move back to the center and compromise with the other.

The coming few weeks will really test the strength of our system. Will both sides accept the races they lost and concede, or will we have another January 6? That’s the salient question. If we can have a peaceful transition, maybe tempers simmer down. If not, things might get nasty.

As for me, I’ll keep doing my thing. Neither party represents me, so I don’t put my energy behind anything except opposing Trump and that culture of hate. America is at its best when we embrace diversity and allow fresh voices to innovate and renew our economy and our communities. We still have the potential for greatness if we are able to move beyond populism and nationalism.

New Ramblings

A Brief Update

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Hedge removal

This has been a challenging year. Started out with a wicked case of covid in January, and it took until late April to feel 100%. I’ve had equipment failures galore, not to mention fuel prices and inflation. So even though business has been steady, I feel like I’ve just treaded water all year.

That said, I’m still standing. My client base has grown and my oldest son has been working with me since he graduated from high school. Having this time with him has been one of the greatest blessings of my whole life.

I miss writing in this space, and I want to make an effort to be more active here. Not sure how that will go, but we’ll see. I turn 50 in three weeks and that has made me reflective. Man, what a ride my life has been.

That’s all for now. Big tree job this weekend, so I might post an update about that. Try to be good to each other. Life is too short for all this hate in the world.

New Ramblings

Wednesday Night Ramblings – 9/25/2019

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I’ve made a conscious decision to stay out of politics for the last couple of years, but I think we are at a moment of history when a few questions need to be asked of conservatives who still support Mr. Trump. For most of my life, the stances of Republicans that I have admired most are those on states’ rights, free trade, personal accountability, and fiscal responsibility. My biggest question for conservatives is: Do you believe in and adhere to your principles, or do you support the party regardless of what principles its leaders espouse?

Conservatives claim to believe in states’ rights. However, when the state of California attempts to maintain its own standards for vehicle emissions, the president revokes that authority. Do you believe in this principle or not?

Obviously, Democrats tend to be anti-capitalism, but conservatives have always maintained that they believe in free trade. This president has done more to damage free trade and restrict it than any before him. The trade war and tariffs with China are spiralling the world into a recession. Manipulating markets and pressuring the Federal Reserve to undo the damage the trade war is doing to the economy are NOT free trade fundamentals. Do you believe in markets or not?

For the eight years of Mr. Clinton’s presidency, Republicans railed against his immorality and dishonesty. Slick Willie he was called. Mr. Trump also regularly makes false and misleading statements. Typically outright lies. He also is a womanizer. Do you believe in personal accountability or not? Why are you not as outraged by this person’s behavior as you were Mr. Clinton’s? Is it blind devotion to the party?

When Mr. Obama took office during the Great Recession, conservatives screamed from every outlet possible that the sky was falling because of the national debt and the continuation of the bailouts begun during the Bush administration. Well, under Mr. Trump, in an effort to mitigate the damage done by the trade war, more money has been given to farmers than was used to bailout GM. The national debt has mushroomed to $22 trillion dollars. Where is the conservative outrage over lack of fiscal responsibility? Do you believe in this principle or does it only matter when a Democrat is in the oval office?

My final question for conservatives is this: is there anything this president could do that would make you stop supporting him?