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Food for thought. (See 1 below.)
And:
Two of my friends speaks out. (See 1a and 1b below.)
Finally:
Another perspective on climate: https://issuesinsights.com/
The market continues to be disturbed by several basic factors:
a) the failed resolution of the China tariff issue.
b) Uncertainty over The Fed's next interest move.
c) The current inverted yield curve
d) Growing talk about a domestic recession.
e) Continued weakness in Europe
Obviously, the market is going through a correction and I would stand on the sideline until the washout is over.
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Dick
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1)Free people are not equal. Equal people are not free. (Think this one over and over?) Makes sense!
The definition of the word Conundrum is something that is puzzling or confusing.
Here are six Conundrums of socialism in the United States of America :
1. America is capitalist and greedy - yet half of the population is subsidized.
2. Half of the population is subsidized - yet they think they are victims.
3. They think they are victims - yet their representatives run the government.
4. Their representatives run the government - yet the poor keep getting poorer.
5. The poor keep getting poorer - yet they have things that people in other countries only dream about.
6. They have things that people in other countries only dream about - yet they want America to be more like those other countries.
Think about it! And that, my friends, pretty much sums up the USA in the 21st Century. Makes you wonder who is doing the math.
1a)
Allen West: ‘There Has Never Been a Clearer Choice’ than 2020
By Jim Hayek
Former Rep. Allen West (R-FL), a star of the Tea Party movement, is joining forces with a pro-Trump super PAC to ensure the president is reelected in 2020.
West, who served one term representing Florida’s 22nd congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives before moving to Texas, told Breitbart News in an exclusive interview he was compelled to act because of how far Democrats have moved leftward.
“The next election is critical, without a doubt there has never been a clearer choice between two different and opposing philosophies of governance,” he said. “The line has been drawn between progressive socialism and constitutional conservatism.”
“Either we abide by our Constitution and the rule of law, or we allow Democrats to trash it, institute their own rules, and take away our individual rights and freedoms,” West continued. “More and more people are understanding that is what this election is all about.”
In order to enlighten individuals about those consequences, West is teaming up with the Committee to the Defend the President, a pro-Trump super PAC, to help educate and register one million new voters in Pennsylvania, Florida, Michigan, and North Carolina ahead of 2020.
A significant portion of these new voters will be those who may not necessarily identify as conservative but “believe in securing our border, believe in the Second Amendment, are pro-life, and pro-military,” as Ted Harvey, the group’s chairman, told Breitbart News in June.
“We’re going after people that have been disenfranchised in the political process for one reason or another,” Harvey said at the time.
The Committee plans to build on the success it has seen over the past few election cycles. Formerly known as Stop Hillary PAC, the group spent more than $6 million during the 2016 presidential election, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Most of the money was spent on targeted advertising highlighting former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s handling of the Benghazi attacks.
After the election, the Committee transitioned to fighting off what it saw as an organized attempt by the left to derail the Trump presidency.
Harvey previously said:
When we saw Democrats throwing a national temper tantrum after the election—literally the very next day having organized uprisings all across the country to discredit the election and the incoming administration—we decided to dedicate ourselves 100 percent to defending the president and his agenda from the left-wing media and Democrats.
Those efforts have been multifaceted, ranging from media campaigns informing voters about Trump’s accomplishments in office to targeted ads countering the the Democrats’ call for impeachment.
It’s most high-profile effort, however, came in 2018, when the committee invested in races across the country to see Trump’s allies elected. One of those successful efforts took place in Tennessee, where the committee spent $1 million backing Marsha Blackburn’s campaign for the United States Senate.
The committee plans to utilize the lessons from those efforts to help Trump and the GOP sweep to victory in 2020. For that goal to be achieved, West said it would take a “strong ground game” that starts with the average American and ascends higher.
“Everyone used to somewhat ridicule Barack Obama for being a community organizer, but that’s exactly what we have to do,” West said. “We have to build from the ground up, this cannot be a top-down driven strateg. It needs to come from the people.”
His role, in particular, will be important not only as an adviser, but also someone who can combat the Democrats’ narrative.
“It’s very important that we have voices that can go out and take the offense against the progressive, socialist left and challenge them,” West said. “We cannot allow them to get away with their insidious, ideological agenda and their ad hominem attacks.”
For that offense to be successful, West asserted, the Committee and Republicans, in general, need to make inroads with communities outside of their base.
“It’s vital we take the message to traditional areas and communities that maybe would not be receptive to constitutional conservatives,” he said. “We cannot take anything for granted.”
One such area Republicans might find fertile territory is urban and metropolitan regions, which tend to favor Democrats despite decades of mismanagement.
“The left believes their control of major urban centers is a key to them taking victory,” West said. “We need to be able to point out the failures, much as the president has been able to do, that Democrats have caused in such areas.”1b)
Making Money Is a Patriotic Act
The businesses we created help Americans by providing jobs, growth, goods and services.
two of us are quite rich. We have earned more money than we could have imagined and more than we can spend on ourselves, our children and grandchildren. These days getting rich off a profitable business is regarded as almost sinister. But we have nothing to apologize for, and we don’t think the government should have more of our profits.
We believe in a well-funded government, and we understand it is our duty to pay our fair share of taxes. And we do. Some of our financially successful colleagues call themselves “patriotic millionaires” and wish to pay more taxes to the government. We tip our hats to them and hope they write big checks to the Treasury, which accepts voluntary donations.
Yet we oppose higher taxes on “the rich,” for two practical reasons. First, the evidence is clear that higher tax rates would hurt the global competitiveness of the American economy, and thus hurt all Americans. One of us lives in Florida, where there is no state income tax; the other in New York City, with the highest income taxes in the country. The Empire State is struggling compared with other states; the Sunshine State is booming.
More important, we know we can spend our dollars more wisely, and in ways that benefit our communities and our country, than politicians can.
The businesses we created have employed hundreds of thousands of Americans. Two of the firms we own we purchased in bankruptcy court, saving more than 5,000 jobs. Our companies have paid tens of billions of dollars in wages and contributed hundreds of billions to U.S. gross domestic product. They also made the tens of millions of Americans who use our products and services better off. The Home Depot lowered hardware prices across the country. Customers chose us because we offered what they wanted at a price they were willing to pay. That’s the win-win miracle of the free market.
We continually plow most of our earnings back into the enterprises and charities we support, built, own or operate. Our businesses in particular are our legacies, and our greatest passion is to ensure that they keep growing and innovating for decades beyond our lifetimes. Every additional dollar the government takes from us is a dollar less for this critical process of expanding America’s wealth and job-creating businesses.
When we look at the way government spends its money, we are frustrated by the waste and the ineffectiveness of so many of its programs, however well-intentioned. The projects we fund of our own accord deliver real bang for the buck. The schools to which we donate teach kids better than many rural and inner-city government-run ones do. Our enterprises better promote values associated with virtue and success, and they are helping cure terrible and painful diseases from cancer to multiple sclerosis.
We are forever grateful to live in a nation that promotes free enterprise, which enabled us to achieve our dreams. Both of us are sons of immigrants who came to these shores with almost nothing. No one would ever say we grew up privileged—and that is true of most other highly successful business owners we know. We made it the old-fashioned way: We had bold plans, we took big risks, and we built and invested in highly successful made-in-America businesses.
Our greatest hope for our country is that others have the opportunities we had. We are profoundly troubled by the obstacles that many millions of young Americans face today—poor schools, drugs, single parent homes, discrimination, broken and dangerous communities.
Our patriotism is measured not in how much we pay in taxes—which is a lot—but in the businesses and the wealth and the jobs we create. We wish Washington would focus on advancing policies that will allow millions of others to experience the American Dream—as we have.
Mr. Marcus is chairman of the Marcus Foundation and the Job Creators Network and retired co-founder of The Home Depot. Mr. Catsimatidis is honorary chairman of the Committee to Unleash Prosperity and owner of Red Apple Group.
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