Post #6896 J

 Pandemic Report

The latest CDC weekly stats:

Some hints we may be peaking the summer surge, although you might see a blip over this holiday weekend. For those who follow me on Twitter/X, you may already know this week I got my Moderna KP.2 2024/2025  COVID-19 update. I normally get my generic meds from a well-known drugstore chain (it has to do with a price incentive from my prescription drug coverage). (For years, I used to go to Walmart for my generics where my out-of0oicket costs might be something like $10 for 3 months of a prescription. Plus, it was like a 2 for one trip--I could pick up some groceries or do some other shopping.) So I got an email or text this week, suggesting I schedule my shots (which I hadn't done there before), including a hint the new unspecified COVID shots were in stock. For context, after my initial 2 shots in another county auditorium type setting, I went (until last fall) to Walmart which was a scheduling hassle, not to mention it seemed to take forever for them to get the new shots in stock. It wasn't just that but I was using the same Walmart, now about 9 miles away. So I think last year I went out to a vaccine portal while I was waiting on Walmart, and I found another drugstore about a mile from home last year and used that. Ironically, I thought I went to the same government portal this past week and I couldn't find the locator functionality. So I easily scheduled a visit (within a day) for 2 shots (i.e., my annual flu shot). And then I got a text showing full list price (like over $400) for the schedule shots. What the hell? I thought it was covered by my health insurance. For some reason, they didn't have my health insurance on file, just  my prescription plan. Based on my earlier experience, I still wasn't convinced they had the newly approved shots in stock, but if not it had been nearly 11 months since my last shot and I was worried about waning antibodies. But yes, not only did they have the new doses, but Moderna, which I read somewhere would be available next month and I've reported that in past posts. I think the lady who administered the shot heard from a colleague at a different chain that they had just gotten their Pfizer shipment. Some nuances--they no longer issue vaccine cards, although I got full vaccine confirmations by email, and they no longer require you to wait 15 minutes before leaving. She said they mostly based that on paperwork where I reported no shot allergies, etc, No side effects to the shots other than a bit of a sore shoulder.

Note the new vaccines are fully approved for 12 or older and emergency use authorization for younger minors. "We’ve continued to see patients get admitted to the hospital with COVID, the majority of whom are unvaccinated...most people who were hospitalized had not received last year’s updated shot, according to CDC data... research has shown that cardiac complications, including myocarditis, were significantly higher after a COVID infection than vaccination for both males and females in all age groups.” By the way, I may have confounded terminology in past posts: "booster" refers to "more of an earlier vaccine of the same formulation" whereas update refers to a tweaked, different formulation. 

"At least one estimate suggests that as much as 2.5 percent of the population is infected with Covid."

The latest celebrity COVID infection is DC mayor Bowser. "Many who attended DNC in Chicago have since tested positive for COVID". Other relevant news items of interest include:

• A new COVID variant, XEC, is appearing on the West coast. It isn't enumerated in the most recent chart above yet.
• Novavax, a protein-based vs mRNA vaccine, has been granted emergency use authorization for ages 12 and above
• Obesity raises the risk of COVID infection by a third. (Since I am obese, this personally concerns me.)
• Long COVID patients are at risk for Alzheimer's like brain changes
• "Myocarditis is a heart condition where the muscle of the heart is inflamed, which can cause chest pain and shortness of breath. In severe cases, myocarditis can weaken the heart, leading to blood clots that can cause strokes or heart attacks. This condition is a rare, but serious side effect of mRNA vaccines for COVID-19, particularly for young men. It’s also associated with COVID-19 infections. Myocarditis From COVID-19 Is Much More Severe Than From Vaccination " 
• A recent study shows that fibrin. a blood protein affiliated with clotting, "binds to both the virus and immune cells, creating unusual clots that lead to inflammation, fibrosis, and loss of neurons."
• COVID relief fraud continued to nr prosecuted:
• A Wisconsin man got sentenced for a year over $150K EIDL fraud
• An Ohio mother/daughter, state agency employees, released almost $2M of COVID unemployment funds to relatives or acquaintances were charged. 
• A NY businessman pleaded guilty to EIDL/PPP fraud
• A California restaurant owner pleaded guilty to more than $4M in SBA, EIDL and PPP fraud 
• A Florida SWAT member was sentenced for $20K PPP loan fraud
• Richmond VA school bus drivers have been hit with a wave of  COVID leading to delays in school transportation 
• OAS refers to a kind of bias in immunity response; we are no longer COVID "virgins" once infected or vaccinated against a variant. This has an impact on vaccine development. Researchers have designed a relevant mosaic 8 vaccine, more of a multipurpose vaccine against "multiple different types of sarbecoviruses, including SARS-CoV-2 and its variants."
  
• Meta/Facebook's Zuckerberg confirmed that the White House during the pandemic pressured his company to censor COVID misinformation.
• Novo Nordisk's Wegovy, its popular weight loss drug, in a study, reduced risks of cardiovascular events and the risk of dying from COVID by a third

Other Notes

The excess blog hits seemed to trend lower through the week. The newer essays, although over a dozen or two pageviews, haven't done as well. I will have published the most posts in a month this year in August (although well below my high in other years). Twitter/X is going much the same; I haven't had a "viral tweet" in a while and the count of my followers is slightly negative over the recent past,

I am getting increasingly annoyed at voicemail systems. Increasingly, it's next to impossible to get to a live customer agent. One example I hinted at above in discussing my pharmacy's text response to my scheduling 2 shots. I was texted full list prices as if I was uninsured. I was confused because they had my doctors on file, all aware of my insurance coverage. I thought at minimum they might have asked about health coverage if not on file. So the problem was I had the local pharmacy number  but there didn't seem to be an option to talk to someone live. I really needed to know whether I needed to reschedule or cancel the appointment and check vaccination coverage with my insurer. Somehow I finally got a  live person on the line, and she told me to show up with my insurance card.

Then just this morning there was another glitch with my cable service and/or Internet service; this happens maybe every 3 weeks or so. I suspect most of the time they're doing unspecified maintenance work. Usually they go through a series of (user-caused) issues, like tighten any connections, reseed power connections, etc. So quite often on the cable side, it might be a single network is garbled. This morning it seemed every channel was affected. Now usually this is more of a nuisance; my cable service has a Fire app where I can watch my channels via WIFI on my tablet. Obviously I prefer to watch on my bigger TV screen. But usually I do all the usual things before I ever call the cable service. This morning they wouldb't let me go to an agent: they basically said to go to the portal and hung up. I think the picture finally stabilized while I was trying to figure out what to do in the portal. (Maybe they coincidentally finished their maintenance.) But it's really arrogant. In both of these examples, I've never seen a voice system or portal  replicate a live agent.

While writing this post, I watched WWE's follow-up to SummerSlam, Bash in Berlin. Only one title change: the women tag champions where the former champs (Belair & Cargill) regained their title. I didn't think they would book a change in the men's belts, especially in front of Gunther's home crowd. But then they booked McIntyre to lose in front of his UK home crowd. I think I was somewhat disappointed they didn't turn Kevin Owens heel against Rhodes despite telegraphing that. And I also expected Belair to turn against Cargill .

Post #6895 M: Will Kamala Harris v. 2008 Defeat Trumpism? ; Kennedy Endorses Trump; Obama Betrays Biden (Try Not To Cry)

 Quote of the Day

Listen or thy tongue will keep thee deaf.

American Indian Proverb  

Will Kamala Harris v. 2008 Defeat Trumpism?

Kennedy Endorses Trump

Obama Betrays Biden (Try Not To Cry)

Choose Life

Musical Interlude: Duos

"Just You", Sonny & Cher

Post #6894 M: Stossel Interview: RFK, Jr; Trump V. Kamala on Inflation; McClanahan on The Appointment Speech

 Quote of the Day

The highest reward for man's toil is 

not what he gets for it 

but what he becomes by it. 

John Ruskin  

Stossel Interview: RFK, Jr

Trump V. Kamala on Inflation

McClanahan on The Appointment Speech

Choose Life

Political Cartoon

Courtesy of Tom Stiglich via Townhall

Musical Interlude: Duos

Sonny & Cher, "Baby Don't Go"

Post #6893 Rant of the Day: Trump's Unconscionable Social Security Platform

 There are a number of topics where I've repeatedly posted and/or tweeted on. One that immediately comes to mind involved allegations over Trump's first impeachment; Biden took undue credit for getting Ukraine's corrupt chief prosecutor Shokin fired; Shokin argued Boden was motivated by son Hunter's board seat with Burisma, which Shokin claimed he was in the process of investigating.

Another topic is social security (and to some extent Medicare). To me, it's important as I begin to approach retirement age as a Baby Boomer: I don't have any vested pension, and my own retirement savings have taken hits with stock market corrections, most recently in March 2020, fairly near the bottom  when the market was in a pandemic freefall maybe a third to 40% down. 

The basic facts should be familiar: basically about 15.3% on the first $169K of earning earnings. (the 2.9% for Medicare is uncapped). Note: half of the payroll taxes are deducted from an employees wages; the employer half comes from pretax benefits in total compensation. The programs are operated on a pay-go basis, meaning current program beneficiaries are paid from current payroll taxes. (To some extent Medicare also requires a monthly premium from beneficiaries for part B (provider vs hospital).) Also, part of social security may be taxed depending on the magnitude of other beneficiary income. So those amounts get added to payroll tax receipts for funding relevant program costs. Any surplus funding goes into low-interest federal debt (which yield far below, say, stock index income/gains). Any relevant interest income may also be applied against current program costs.

So the problem is the giant Baby Boomer generation has started to retire (if you look at early retirement of 62, roughly 2008). An aging workforce and longer lifespans in retirement narrows the ratio of active workers per beneficiary. In essence, the lower payroll tax income and higher aggregate beneficiaries basically flipped the switch from surplus to deficit. And what happens at that point? The government has to liquidate some of its reserve debt. It's been having to do that for some time now. Medicare will probably exhaust its reserve by 2031 and social security by 2033. If and when the reserves exhaust, we'll probably see benefit cuts of up to say, 11% to Medicare and 17% for social security

 Courtesy of PGPF

Note: the Baby Boomer apocalypse has been known for some time. In fact, George W. Bush tackled social security reform as a top priority early in his second term. His basic problem was trying to push a partial privatization; the Dems argue that letting workers invest on their own is  like operating a casino. They also fearmongered a funding gap as the funds for personally directed investments were no longer available for pay-go, Even  GOP legislators were unwilling to touch the third rail of American politics.

So what sparked this rant? I was watching FNC (something I don't do often but occasionally CNN's leftist bias annoys me). when a fearmongering Trump campaign ad targeting seniors on social security played. It made several points:

• It argued that unauthorized aliens would siphon off senior entitlements
• It swore off any cost-saving reforms, like deferred eligibility, COLA adjustments, means-tests, etc.
• He's promising to end taxation on benefits.

The unauthorized aliens allegation is provably false. By law, they are ineligible for benefits. "The IRS estimates that undocumented immigrants pay over $9 billion in withheld payroll taxes annually. Undocumented immigrants also help make the Social Security system more solvent, as they pay into the system but are ineligible to collect benefits upon retiring."

Nobody has argued to cut monthly distributions. Some Republicans have put some other reforms on the table to stretch existing cash flows. Nobody to date has proposed raising payroll tax rates. Dems want to remove the cap on wages for payroll taxes.

About 80 cents of each dollar you pay in Social Security taxes goes to the old-age insurance fund, the rest to disability. In 2023, those taxes — called FICA for people with wage-earning jobs and SECA for the self-employed — brought in more than $1.2 trillion, accounting for 91.3 percent of Social Security's revenue, according to the most recent annual report from Social Security's board of trustees.

The rest of the revenue comes from these sources:

$66.9 billion from interest on money that the trust funds invested in federally backed guaranteed securities

$50.7 billion from federal income taxes people paid on their Social Security benefits

$147,000 from reimbursements to the trust funds from the U.S. Treasury

I didn't see the drawdown in reserves in the above clip. I went to the SSA trustees:

A 2023 annual deficit of $41.4 billion decreased the asset reserves of the combined OASDI trust funds to $2,788 billion at the end of the year. 

So, in other words, just like his first-term tax reform, he is not explaining how he'd going to get the $67B in revenues to pay for his bribe for higher-income senior votes. Remember, the employer half of payroll taxes came out of pretax benefits  

Okay, now let's briefly remember Trump's record on social security reform:

• Like Obama and Biden, he really didn't want to spend political capital to fix the program. I don't recall the exact quote, but he effectively said, "The reserves will dry up on another POTUS' watch." The problem is, we aren't paying our fair share today for the benefits we're getting next decade. We need to fix that sooner than later.
• During the pandemic he called for an unpaid-for payroll tax holiday. That would have required a drastic drawdown on reserves, hastening the day of reckoning,

In sum- Trump has provably lacked the leadership needed to fix this crisis, one involving the largest cost drivers of the federal budget. He's just another pandering political whore, trying to buy votes.

Finally, note as a libertarian, I am opposed to the government monopoly on retirement services, and there is no constitutional basis for individual entitlements. If I could I would privatize them. But I am a political realist. I would set up a major compromise which would phase in modest tax increases, allow diversification of reserves, increase the income cap for payroll, and implement earlier cited program reforms. I would become the most hated man in America, but I'm capable of getting the job done

Post #6892 M: Dumb BLEEP of the Week; Lawrence Lepard on Sound Money; To Serve, Protect, and...Fish for Cash?

 Quote of the Day

The three great essentials to achieve anything worthwhile are: 

Hard work, 

Stick-to-itiveness, 

and Common sense.

Thomas A. Edison  

Dumb BLEEP of the Week

Lawrence Lepard On Sound Money

To Serve, Protect, and...Fish for Cash?

Choose Life

Political Cartoon

Courtesy of Henry Payne via Townhall

Musical Interlude: Duo

Captain & Tennille, "Do That To Me One More Time" And this is the final performance for these artists

Post #6891 M: The High Cost of Kamala's Price Controls; Are Democrats the 'freedom' party? ; 800K Jobs Revised Away

 Quote of the Day

We know what we are, but know not what we may be

William Shakespeare  

The High Cost of Kamala's Price Controls

Are Democrats the 'freedom' party?

800K Jobs Revised Away

Choose Life

Political Cartoon

Courtesy of Michael Ramirez via Townhall

Musical Interlude: Duos

Captain & Tennille, "You Need A Woman Tonight"

Post #6890 M: McClanahan on The Democrats as a "Pitiless Machine"; How American Voters Got Dumb; Free VASECTOMIES at the DNC

 Quote of the Day

Dependent people need others to get what they want. 

Independent people can get what they want through their own efforts. 

Interdependent people combine their own efforts 

with the efforts of others to achieve their greatest success.

Stephen Covey  

McClanahan on The Democrats as a "Pitiless Machine"

How American Voters Got Dumb

Free VASECTOMIES at the DNC

Choose Life

Musical Interlude: Duos

Captain & Tennille, "You Never Done It Like That"

Post #6889 M: Stossel on Kamala Harris’s Track Record; Young Americans “Spiraling”; Joe Biden's Speech at The DNC

 Quote of the Day

The gem cannot be polished without friction, 

nor man perfected without trials.

Chinese proverb  

Stossel on Kamala Harris’s Track Record

Young Americans “Spiraling”

Joe Biden's Speech at The DNC

Choose Life

Musical Interlude: Duos

Captain & Tennille, "I'm On My Way"

Post #6888 Social Media Digest

Twitter/X 

Well, Biden hasn't resigned from the Presidency. I refuse to read op-eds behind a paywall. It is a fact that the Dem mainstream leadership forced Biden to withdraw and anointed Harris without a single vote.

"Maureen Dowd" https://t.co/6gsKiGS3wd

— raguillemette (@raguillemette) August 18, 2024

The only thing worse than Trump v Harris was Trump v. Biden

— raguillemette (@raguillemette) August 19, 2024

It'll be interesting to see whether Harris gets any additional boost during/after this week's convention. Personally, I think her honeymoon is unsustainable but what's remarkable is almost any other Republican would do better against her than Trump.

— raguillemette (@raguillemette) August 19, 2024

I'm Never Trump (and Never Harris) but you have to be gullible to think a Harris rally in The Villages area of Florida is representative. Registered Floridian Republicans in the state outnumber Dems by over a million. They won't support a tax-and-spend Harris.

"The Villages"

— raguillemette (@raguillemette) August 19, 2024

I can still remember a BIL giving me a biography of the late Colin Powell, like Kinzinger, a nominal Republican. I think Bush was the last Republican he supported. I'm Never Trump but I would never let the DNC use me like Kinzinger as a useful bipartisan idiot

"Adam Kinzinger"

— raguillemette (@raguillemette) August 19, 2024

The fact is the Dem Party routinely promises voters free stuff, and Dems opposed the Georgia law disallowing Dem operatives from handing out food and drinks to voters. The reference to donuts was metaphoric. https://t.co/y0GpSX7rCD

— raguillemette (@raguillemette) August 19, 2024

I love James Taylor even though he's a Dem-wit. Trump probably never cared for his hit "Mexico"

"James Taylor"

— raguillemette (@raguillemette) August 19, 2024

Leftists are still trying to scapegoat Comey for Clinton's loss to Trump. First, Clinton's use of a private email server for government emails was explicitly against government policy. Second, the reason why Clinton lost was her unpopularity, not her emails.

"James Comey"

— raguillemette (@raguillemette) August 20, 2024

I really don't like Megyn Kelly dismissing historically black colleges. In fact, I applied to one of them for a faculty position in the 90's and have a lot of respect for their process. https://t.co/VHmCT0PaLR

— raguillemette (@raguillemette) August 20, 2024

The Church's position on IVF is not related to the evil of destroying fertilized embryos. It has to do with a natural context for marital procreation.https://t.co/fY1UpP32CV

— raguillemette (@raguillemette) August 20, 2024

Both Trump and Harris believe in unfettered spending, both of them are against trade, and both want to manipulate the economy for political gain. Both are pandering economic illiterates.

"Andrea Mitchell"

— raguillemette (@raguillemette) August 20, 2024

Of course, Trump resorts to personal attacks
on Harris. But that's always been Trump's schtick. To be honest, Harris isn't known for her consistency and fleshed-out policies. There's a reason she only attracted 3% of the 2020 Dem primary vote

"Andrea Mitchell"

— raguillemette (@raguillemette) August 20, 2024

I don't know. Dogs sniff assholes. Of course they're naturally attracted to Trump. https://t.co/DFMBPajwjN

— raguillemette (@raguillemette) August 21, 2024

What did Trump bribe RFK Jr to win his endorsement? Name him to head the FDA?

"Endorse Trump"

— raguillemette (@raguillemette) August 21, 2024

And "Happy Together" is about unrequited love. And "Every Breath You Take" is about a stalker. Yes, I used to be a fan of the Boss; his driving arrangement contributed to misunderstanding. https://t.co/UQLck7N6oT

— raguillemette (@raguillemette) August 21, 2024

Apparently I did my own share of hype. We used to do these Catholic retreats in East Texas while I was at UH. We would stop at a diner (I love diners) on the way. One of my new friends grumbled to me he thought the food wasn't as good as I led him to believe.

— raguillemette (@raguillemette) August 21, 2024

The Israeli PM is under tremendous domestic pressure to get a hostage deal done. Nobody gives a damn about Trump's self-serving reasons for opposing deals. The PM knows who is in the White House until January

"Merrick Garland"

— raguillemette (@raguillemette) August 21, 2024

Trump was convicted of paying hush money to a porn star as a business expense. He says foreign countries not Americans pay for his corrupt tariffs. Trump is a contemptible bastard who provably insulted war hero McCain. Do I believe Kelly over Trump? In a heartbeat. https://t.co/6AH1yZimsm

— raguillemette (@raguillemette) August 21, 2024

Well, the report that 818,000 job gains reported in 2023/2024 don't exist undermines the alleged successes of Bidenomics. We are paying a high price for record super-spending under Trump and Biden over the pandemic and failed Fed monetary response to inflation.

— raguillemette (@raguillemette) August 21, 2024

We libertarians practice tolerance, even allowing RFK, Jr. and Trump to make their sales pitches to our national convention. I just wish RFK, Jr. would endorse Chase Oliver rather than failed Trump, a self-serving RINO.

— raguillemette (@raguillemette) August 22, 2024

The basic point is Big Government is intrinsically corrupt. Trump is no principled conservative. The RINO is Dem-lite. His basic argument is he can run Big Government better.

— raguillemette (@raguillemette) August 22, 2024

The Dems like private companies that know their place and follow their rules, You can run your business (better than the politically elite) so long as you fund government operations consistent with political principles.

— raguillemette (@raguillemette) August 22, 2024

Dems are blatant hypocrites. I don't like to get in the middle of partisan Dem mudslinging (a pox on both houses!), but that piece of garbage Walz is the one defining his opponents as "weird", and the leftist trolls cry bitter tears when it gets returned in kind.

"Ann Coulter"

— raguillemette (@raguillemette) August 22, 2024

I don't think I've seen anything like this obsessive tweeting about Barron's height. Yes, he has tall parents, but I hear more about his height than an NBA player's. Could you imagine the outcry if right-wingers started talking about Presidential daughters in sexist terms?

— raguillemette (@raguillemette) August 22, 2024

I can just see X/Twitter users competing for likes and retweets of Xmail messages. #sarcasm

Xmail

— raguillemette (@raguillemette) August 22, 2024

The FDA just approved the COVID KP.2 2024/2025 mRNA boosters. I'm not sure when Pfizer will make them available locally, but I for one will get mine ASAP. I think Moderna's will be available next month.

— raguillemette (@raguillemette) August 22, 2024

My latest essay looks at Harris' absurd price gouging proposal. We need real policies, not Harris or Trump's failed economics gimmicks.https://t.co/QxMXna9sHm

— raguillemette (@raguillemette) August 22, 2024

It figures that Vance would buy something with holes in it, just like his federal policies, https://t.co/OhTwsWkUJo

— raguillemette (@raguillemette) August 22, 2024

"Texas Delegate Robbed at Gunpoint Near Democratic Convention in Downtown Chicago"

Let me guess. A Dem finally paid his taxes...

— raguillemette (@raguillemette) August 23, 2024

Of course Walz is criticizing Vance's Yale degree. From which university did the Clintons earn their law degrees?

— raguillemette (@raguillemette) August 23, 2024

It figures that RINO Kinzinger references a pledge authored by a socialist. https://t.co/I7bAeJPx6K

— raguillemette (@raguillemette) August 23, 2024

This isn't to say the Trumpist Party is that much better; they merely install speed bumps on the Dem road to hell. Trump during the pandemic was like Bush in 2008: "I had to abandon free market principles to save the free market system." BS!

— raguillemette (@raguillemette) August 23, 2024

Well, self-serving RINO Trump basically has feuded with all recent nominees: Romney, McCain and the Bushes. The only thing he has in common with the old GOP is economically indefensible protectionist tariffs.

Peggy Noonan https://t.co/2WokNGjq2d

— raguillemette (@raguillemette) August 23, 2024

Hell no! This country sacrificed a generation in the process of passing the 13th through 15th Amendments. The USG did not own slaves. This country is over $35T in debt. My ancestors had nothing to do with slavery. I oppose morally hazardous transfer payments.

Reparations

— raguillemette (@raguillemette) August 23, 2024

First of all, police power is reserved to the states, not the federal government. Seven judicial activists could not rationalize a crime against humanity. Second, the intentional murder of preborn children is an immoral injustice, no matter what damnable euphemism you hide behind https://t.co/BUCaiZxZFa

— raguillemette (@raguillemette) August 23, 2024

Cherokee Lizzie and similarly economic illiterate Kamala Harris don't give a damn about empty grocery shelves or gas pumps. Biden drew down most of the strategic reserves trying to bribe voters while trying to stop new energy development off federal land. https://t.co/SA2mbskQBH

— raguillemette (@raguillemette) August 23, 2024

Being the first Democratic POTUS to lose the House in 4 decades. Being the first to lose his law license for perjury in a federal court.

— raguillemette (@raguillemette) August 24, 2024

Personally, I despise anti-vaxxer RFK, Jr. and don't regret his candidacy failing. As fellow Catholics, my family took pride in the Kennedys although Jack wasn't a very good one. But it was sad seeing RFK's family putting party over blood. They lost my respect.

"JFK & RFK"

— raguillemette (@raguillemette) August 24, 2024

For marrying the right politically ambitious lawyer and for violating government policy by using a personal email account for government emails, some of them illegally containing classified data.

— raguillemette (@raguillemette) August 25, 2024

Not even that clever partisan BS. The electoral college provides votes for each roughly equally apportioned Congressional district (with each state guaranteed one). Each state could assign that vote to district plurality winner, unlike "winner take all" CA. Not based on race.

— raguillemette (@raguillemette) August 25, 2024

Barbara's not there?

— raguillemette (@raguillemette) August 25, 2024

I'm a pro-life Never Trumper. But Dobbs returned abortion regulation to the states, which is the correct principle in our federal government system. You would rather have the Trump of the 2000 Reform Party who said he was very pro-choice?

— raguillemette (@raguillemette) August 25, 2024

Hell yes. Jack actually reduced top earner tax rates to kickstart economic growth, while almost all Dems today play the morally corrupt, counterproductive Politics of Envy punitive higher tax rates on upper-income earners.

— raguillemette (@raguillemette) August 25, 2024

Well, in my idealist salad days, I used to be a Dem. After I took economics as an MBA student, I became a marginalized conservative Dem. I soon left the Dems. I think young guys realize earlier with today's even more ideologically extreme Democratic Party doesn't serve them. https://t.co/gqZKOLJrv9

— raguillemette (@raguillemette) August 25, 2024

Post #6887 M: From Inflation to Recession; Tim Walz: Stolen Valor; McClanahan on Inequality as a Right-Wing Principle

 Quote of the Day

The reward for work well done is 

the opportunity to do more.

Jonas Salk  

From Inflation to Recession

Tim Walz: Stolen Valor

McClanahan on Inequality as a Right-Wing Principle

Choose Life

Musical Interlude: Duos

Captain & Tennille, "Circles"

Post #6886 J

 Pandemic Report

The latest weekly CDC stats:

The summer surge may be near the top but the test positivity rate especially is especially bothering me. Celebrity infections continue, notably Ohio Gov. DeWine (R), who had previously caught COVID 4 years ago. 

The biggest news which I earlier tweeted is that the FDA approved the 2024/2025 KP.2  mRNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna, Novavax had prepared for JN.1 vs KP.2 and their approval/rollout will emerge over the next few weeks. 

Some relevant points:

• Is natural infection equal to or better than vaccination? "For people at high risk of severe illness, experts say get the vaccine when it becomes available. That's because infection may not provide as much protection as vaccination, said Dr. Ofer Levy, the director of the Precision Vaccines Program at Boston Children’s Hospital. Protection from infection can vary based on the severity of infection, the strain, as well as a person’s age and health."
• Why should you wait for another vaccine if recently vaxxed? "High levels of antibodies present from recent infection may prevent the vaccine from stimulating new immune cells."
• Minimum waiting period since last infection/vax? "Patients who recently had COVID may consider delaying their vaccine by 3 months". Note: this guidance may be lowered for higher-risk individuals. Anibody protection starts to wane after 3 months,

The new vaccines may be available within days to a few weeks, with Pfizer expected somewhat earlier.

 

In other related news, the Biden Administration is expected to resume mail and other distribution of "free" COVID tests in about a month.

Other news items of interest:

• COVID infections were strong enough in Calvert, TX for the local schools to go on temporary hiatus for deep cleaning.
• A recent study showed increased mental illness over unvaccinated severely infected over the coming year.
• People following the Mediterranean diet may reduce their risk of getting COVID/
• Prosecutors continue to pursue related relief fraud:
• A Georgia resident was sentenced for over $1M in pandemic relief fraud
• A California man was convicted for not delivering on nearly $3M in protective glove orders and spending the money on boats and vehicles,

Other Notes

The blog continues to get roughly twice the long-term trend pageviews which I regard with suspicion. Twitter/X is a mixed bag; I don't aggregate daily stats, but I'm probably averaging 100-300 impressions. I still feel at least some political tweets are getting shadow banned.

I discovered an interesting thing about Hallmark Channel scheduling and its holiday movies. Perhaps they mentioned it in some release but I hadn't heard it promoted. On weekdays it typically runs cable movies from approximately 11 AM to 11PM EDT (with sitcom reruns the other 12 hours). Here's the interesting observation: I've noticed they've kicked off the movie schedule with one of their holiday movies.

Interesting troubleshooting via Prime Video on my TV (I have a TV Cube attached).. One day I couldn't get any content. I then tried to see if I could view content on my PC. It usually gripes if it's not running on WIFI and also if my VPN is running. So here's the point: right after I shut down my VPN, I went back to Prime Video via the cube--and now all of a sudden, I could pick up content. I'm not sure why my problem was resolved--maybe there was a coincidental Amazon outage. But I've watched Prime Video content all the time with the VPN on my PC.

Post #6885 M: Price Controls: Kamala Goes Full Venezuela; McClanahan on Do We Need Revisionist History? ; Why libertarians hate Kamala Harris' economic platform

 Quote of the Day

Be wary of the man who urges an action 

in which he himself incurs no risk.

Seneca  

Price Controls: Kamala Goes Full Venezuela

McClanahan on Do We Need Revisionist History?

Why libertarians hate Kamala Harris' economic platform

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Political Cartoon

Courtesy of Chip Bok via Townhall

Musical Interlude: Duos

The Captain & Tennille, "Come In From The Rain"

Post #6884 M: What happened in Venezuela's election? ; Ron Paul on Why Kamala’s Price Controls Will Lead To Shortages;

 Quote of the Day

A good tale is none the worse 

for being twice told.

French Proverb 

What happened in Venezuela's election?

Ron Paul on Why Kamala’s Price Controls Will Lead To Shortages

John Stossel Interview: Chase Oliver

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Political Cartoon

Courtesy of Michael Ramirez via Townhall

Musical Interlude: Duos

Captain & Tennille, "Can't Stop Dancin'"

Post #6883 Rant of the Day: A Pox on Both Sides of 2024

 I want to start with a little true personal story from 2012 which may seem unrelated but it deals with economics, a key focus of his essay. Rick Santorum (R-PA) had been in GOP Senate leadership until Bob Casey, son of a former pro-life governor (and currently running for reelection), overwhelmingly defeated his reelection bid. Santorum set his sights on winning the 2012 GOP POTUS nomination. I thought a former senator who got blown out in a swing state for reelection didn't stand a chance against popular incumbent Obama, up for reelection. But Santorum scored an unlikely victory over favored Mitt Romney in Iowa and some early February primaries.

Santorum, like me a devout pro-life Catholic (with a deep respect for the traditional Latin mass), and his wife Karen have a large family of 7 (surviving) children. Years earlier Karen was pregnant with a preborn boy they named Gabriel. She noticed an issue with his mobility around the quickening, and I believe it turned out to be some untreatable congenital urinary tract abnormality, Doctors recommended terminating Gabriel, noting he was unlikely to survive long after birth. (Gabriel ended up dying hours after birth.) During her difficult pregnancy, Karen penned some poignant letters to their son, later published, and I bought a copy.

I noticed during the early stretch of the primary when Santorum was waging an unexpectedly strong challenge to Romney, Letters to Gabriel was fetching up to $1500 a copy on major auction sites. (I suspect the volume was no longer in print. No, I didn't part with my copy, although I was tempted. (The book supply issue was eventually resolved, and I believe the interested reader can even find ebook versions.)

The point is, Harris is trying to scapegoat vendors during supply/demand shocks for inflation. Note if I had resold my copy, I would have had to declare the gain on my income. Theoretically Harris isn't satisfied with the tax revenue. what about the poor Santorum fan who I would be taking advantage of with my "greed"? Note: the populist demagoguery behind Harris' price gouging gimmick is not limited to Dems/states; for example, red states Florida and Texas have relevant laws on the books {which serves to point out that the free market is nor necessarily embraced  by right-wingers.) Usually there are manipulative examples, say the sale of generators needed to cool life-saving insulin supplies..(Of course power outages happen all the time. If you need to power home medical, the time to select, buy, and test power alternatives is in advance of an outage.) We have the underlying law of supply and demand. If 2 people agree on a price under current market constraints, what moral right do we have to intervene? Price points provide a context for related transactions, prospective suppliers and the efficiencies of market competition. We don't need government bureaucrats trying to monitor prices of a vast 330M consumer market picking winners and losers in the marketplace.

The last thing we need is someone like Trump or Harris resuscitating Ford's "Whip Inflation Now" initiative  or Carter suggesting we wear sweaters to save on heating costs. Those aren't policies but political gimmicks. Biden has targeted supermarkets and pas stations . The idea that these highly-competitive thin-margin businesses were scapegoats for inflation is absurd; all were for-profit  concerns for up to decades of relatively low-inflation. If they ever had this alleged power, how did it ever start/stop? To give an example, I live in a small town north of Baltimore; I live within easy driving distance of supermarkets like Walmart, Sam's Club, ShopRite, Weis, Food Lion, Aldi, Giant, and Lidl. I can also drive to a Costco, Trader Joe's and Safeway. Local military personnel can shop at the post commissary. There are also various convenience stores, local markets, mom 'n pop stores, etc. I've also bought some foods from Amazon, and I think Amazon locally delivers fresh groceries from Weis. The point is, it's highly competitive, and shoppers have options. The law of supply and demand holds. When the avian flu hit, eggs skyrocketed to almost $5/dozen--I can still remember buying eggs before that for under $1/dozen. I didn't buy a lot of eggs at the high end of that range (I ate other things for breakfast)--but as supply normalized, eggs fell rapidly to about $1.12/dozen. Lidl probably makes some modest markup on eggs but most of that $5 cost back then reflected supply chain costs at the time. Whatever that margin was, they probably made less overall on overall egg sales. Walmart makes its profits as a retailer on volumes, logistics and turnover of discounted products (leveraging their volumes with suppliers and slim margins). Why doesn't Walmart raise its prices when competitors drop out? For one thing, it might lower sales and provide opportunities for competitors. Rockefeller built a kerosene empire by relentlessly driving prices lower. ("In fact, between 1870 and 1897 the price of kerosene fell from 26 cents a gallon to 6 cents a gallon.") 

I recall in my area Lidl opened up a new local supermarket within a half mile of Walmart superstore and an Aldi. Both Lidl and Aldi are German concept markets. I recently saw a riveting German native woman on YouTube comparing Aldi German vs. US stores. Lidl in its middle aisle might feature changing different merchandise specials--everything from gardening equipment to gadgets to clothing items. Mostly limited varieties competitively priced private label goods and a sprinkling of familiar name brands. But I use an approach similar to the YouTuber, who stocks up on basics at Aldi and gets more varieties at Kroger. For example, I typically stock up on grass-fed ground beef at Lidl, but I can usually find grass-fed chuck roast, turkey parts, or diet root beer at Walmart

We've seen these ludicrous conspiracies of pricing power and manipulation. Look, there's no doubt price competition works. For example, Google Fiber (an ISP) has competitor cable Internet providers slashing rates when it enters markets. Generic medications work (I've used them in the past). Why didn't egg producers and refineries maintain high prices, given alleged market power? In essence, competitors can drive sales volume and market share by passing along supplier price cuts.

So Kamala Harris badly misfired in trying to frame the federal government's intervention into the economy in leftist populist terms.  The fundamental problem had to deal with too much government, not its absence. The Federal Reserve had flooded the monetary system with currency without underlying assets. The Congress and Presidency engaged in unprecedented, unpaid for spending since the start of the pandemic--net over $10T to the national debt. Serving the debt now approaches the aggregate amount of an already bloated DoD budget.

Are there things a President can do to reduce regime uncertainty, promote economic growth, and improve the daily lives of citizens? Yes, For one thing, he could declare unilateral free trade and spread trade agreements. He could scale down defense and domestic spending, get the government out of the college loan and home mortgage markets. He could reform the biggest cost drivers of the federal budget: entitlements, especially nearly insolvent senior entitlements. He could decentralize social spending to the states. He could pursue sound money policies, scale back regulations and mandates.

Harris' flirtation with federal wage and price controls is a flagrant failure to recognize their proven failure in federal policy, in particular Nixon's disastrous policies. Nixon, concerned by runs on US gold reserves given deficits driven by unpaid for spending on Vietnam and domestic spending, closed the gold window ending the Bretton Woods system. Unbacked greenbacks ignited inflation, and Nixon resorted to wage/price controls. As others have noted, "Ranchers stopped shipping their cattle to the market, farmers drowned their chickens, and consumers emptied the shelves of supermarkets.”. It would take tough Fed policy via Volcker appointed by Carter to break the back of inflation. As Sam Cooke might sing, Kamala Harris "don't know much about history".

Note that I have my own issues with Trump's failed economic policies. The only things I might defend is tax reform and regulatory reform; the former was a long overdue lowering of a globally noncompetitive tax rate. Harris' trying to raise that tax rate is like a form of economic suicide. The biggest issue I had was Trump and the GOP didn't cut spending enough. Improved growth offset some of the revenue loss. But Harris' tax increases  will have a negative effect on growth, investment and jobs. On regulations Trump needed more from Congress to rein in the administrative state.

Trump added nearly $8T to the debt and I don't see him taking on politically unpopular budget cuts. He refused to touch senior entitlement reform. He's promising to exacerbate trade wars by Draconian tariffs globally which will not only backfire again on American exporters but be passed on to Amrerican consumers, adding to inflationary pressures

There is one candidate in this race who believes in free trade, free markets, and fiscal responsibility: Chase Oliver.

Post #6882 M: Price Gouging is a Good Thing, Actually; ‘Woke’ hypocrisy is hurting businesses; Dumb BLEEP of the Week

 Quote of the Day

Keep five yards from a carriage, 

ten yards from a horse, 

and a hundred yards from an elephant; 

but the distance one should keep from 

a wicked man cannot be measured.

Indian Proverb

Price Gouging is a Good Thing, Actually

‘Woke’ hypocrisy is hurting businesses

Dumb BLEEP of the Week

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Political Cartoon

Courtesy of Gary Varvel via Townhall

Musical Interlude: Duos

"Muskrat Love ", Captain & Tennille

Post #6881 M: Is Ukraine Bleeding Out the US; Classic Stossel Campaigns vs Media; Trump and Elon's DANGEROUS Twitter Space

 Quote of the Day

A successful man is one 

who can lay a firm foundation 

with the bricks others have thrown at him.

David Brinkley  

Is Ukraine Bleeding Out the US

Classic Stossel Campaigns vs Media

Trump and Elon's DANGEROUS Twitter Space

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Musical Interlude: Duos

Captain & Tennille, "Shop Around"

Post #6880 M: McClanahan on Is Donald Trump Channeling Pat Buchanan? ; How Gold Saves The Dollar;

 Quote of the Day

There is nothing noble in being superior to some other man. 

The true nobility is in being superior to your previous self.

Hindu proverb  

McClanahan on Is Donald Trump Channeling Pat Buchanan?

How Gold Saves The Dollar

Polarization to the Walz

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Political Cartoon

Courtesy of Gary Varvel via Townhall

Musical Interlude: Duos

Captain & Tennille, "Lonely Nights (Angel Face)"

Post #6879 M: McClanahan on The United States Was Not Founded on an Idea; Interview Lina Seiche - Starting a Business; Jobs turn negative for Small Business

 Quote of the Day

He who angers you conquers you.

Elizabeth Kenny 

McClanahan on The United States Was Not Founded on an Idea

Interview Lina Seiche - Starting a Business

Jobs turn negative for Small Business

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Political Cartoon

Courtesy of Margolis & Cox via Townhall

Musical Interlude: Duos

Captain & Tennille, "The Way I Want To Touch You"