February 23, 2020
2020-02-23-Billionaires
2020-02-2 Hate the sin, not the sinner
Wikipedia says there were 621 American billionaires in 2019. I took a quick look through the list to see if they’re all as evil as the leftists in my party seem to think.
I made a quick list:
I have a good impression of these billionaires
- Bill Gates
- Elon Musk
- George Soros
- Jim Goodnight
- Steven Spielberg
- Warren Buffett
I’m not sure about these billionaires
- Jeff Bezos
- Sergey Brin
- Steve Ballmer
- Larry Page
- MacKenzie Bezos
- George Lucas
- Eric Schmidt
- Mark Zuckerberg
I have a bad impression of these billionaires
- Carl Icahn
- Charles Koch
- Larry Ellison
- Rupert Murdoch
- Sheldon Adelson
I haven’t decided about this billionaire
My takeaway
It bothers me to hear Bernie and Elizabeth demonize billionaires as if being one is some kind of character defect. Some billionaires do tremendous good and others terrible evil.
I imagine that most of them advocate low taxes on their wealth the way Bloomberg does, but that’s an effect of having that much wealth. Our personalities and values are affected by our circumstances even if we all like the illusion that we have some kind of “true self”, a fixed set of values and morals that are unaffected by our friends, family, mob, class, wealth, ethnicity, sexuality, etc.
I generally agree with Elizabeth and Bernie that the rich skew our political process in ways that increase general suffering and inequality. But I don’t think that saying that wealth is a character defect is either very accurate or very helpful except perhaps to galvanize people on the left to hate the rich.
I think that the wealthy should be much more heavily taxed on income and accumulated wealth, not because they’re evil but because it gives these individuals too much power and deprives too many others of theirs.
I think that corporations should not have individual rights because that gives them too much power.
I think that some monopolistic corporations should be broken up in some cases because that gives them too much power to stifle competition, charge unreasonable prices and influence our political processes. (I think some monopolies, particularly regulated ones, do provide a benefit that only monopolies can provide.)
My $0.02
February 23, 2020
politics
Barry Saunders
I went to Denise Allen’s exhibit this afternoon at the Carrboro Century Center, where Ms Allen gave a wonderful talk about her life and work.
In the back of the room was an African-American gentleman (for some reason, I feel like using this expression, which I’ve never used before, perhaps because it’s not quite correct to use it in this case).
After the talk I went up to him and asked him:
me: Are you who I think you are? gentleman: That depends. Does he owe you money? me: Yes! You are Barry Saunders!!
It was wonderful to meet one of my favorite columnists in person. He gave me his card and told me to subscribe to The Saunders Report, which I have done. You should, too.
Email to Barry Saunders (Too much trouble to send with images, so I didn’t)
Dear Mr Saunders,
I love finally meeting you this afternoon. I’ve subscribed to your website with Feedly.com an RSS aggregator.
Because you use Wix, your site has an RSS feed, something that many people still use. I read almost everything on the web with Feedly.
The link to your RSS feed is here: https://www.thesaundersreport.com/feed.xml. I won’t make much sense to look at it because it’s structured data to be read by programs called RSS aggregators. I use Feedly.
I love RSS feeds because they enable me to scan hundreds of sites every day. What’s more, Feedly (and most RSS aggregators) lets you view the RSS feed in several different ways.
 |
| I like this because I can see more posts at one time |
I have no way of knowing how many people use RSS, but I do know that many people do and many sites have them.
Alonside your Facebook, Twitter and Instagram icons, I suggest that you add an RSS symbol linking to your RSS feed. RSS Icons look like this.
I really enjoyed finally meeting you today
I’ll keep reading more of your stuff now that I’ve subscribed to it.
best, ge
February 17, 2020
2020-02-17-bernie-sanders
2020-02-17 Bernie Sanders in Durham
Michael Galinsky posted a video of a Sanders rally in Durham. It was reposted on FB.
I was very moved and impressed by Nina Turner’s speech starting at 2m40. Part of what impressed me was learning about FDR’s Economic Bill of Rights because FDR is one of my heroes: call me an “FDR Bro” is you want. Turner’s speech was concise and electrifying, the kind of rhetoric that I’m a sucker for. Bernie’s short speech was far easier for me to listen to than when he’s in debate mode. I think that there’s only a tiny difference in his anger register and his we-are-all-in-this-together register and I like the latter much much more than the former.
February 13, 2020
2020-02-13-ultra-processed-foods
2020-02-13 Ultra Processed Foods
Just finished a very interesting article on “Ultra processed foods” (https://www.theguardian.com/food/2020/feb/13/how-ultra-processed-food-took-over-your-shopping-basket-brazil-carlos-monteiro). Apparently a Brazilian scientist came up with the idea along with a scale called “Nova”, from 1-4. (Note: canned sardines are level 3).
And David might especially like this website of healthy low-Nova recipes: https://www.panelinha.com.br/
Here’s a database of foods worldwide.
February 7, 2020
2020-02-07-mike-bloomberg
2020-02-07 Mike Bloomberg
Posted to FB
When you see what I’m writing below, you may start yelling “Ok, Boomer!” Problem is that I’m too old to be a boomer! If your mind isn’t open enough to consider anyone for President besides Bernie, Warren, Biden, Klobuchar, Buttigieg, etc., then chalk my post up to dementia and move on.
Let me say that I have not made up my mind for whom to vote in the NC Primary next month. I started out supporting Elizabeth Warren, even giving her more money than I remember giving to any candidate up until now. I like her policies and commitment to making this a better country. I thought that Medicare for All might be okay although I tended to agree with Pelosi and Biden that fixing Obamacare - fully funding it for one thing - would make more sense. But when she said that she would take away private medical plans, I balked: (1) it’s political suicide and (2) I have Medicare now and still need my private plan - a variant of Medigap, I think - to supplement it.
I won’t go over my impressions of the other candidates except to say that the one person for whom I’m truly enthusiastic is Yang, but he appears to have no chance.
On to Bloomberg.
I still don’t know too much about him but I loved that he ran a gun control ad during the Superbowl! That takes political guts. He’s fought tobacco, sugar, guns, and more.
I suggest you start by reading The NC Case for Mike Bloomberg.
Even more informative is this report from The 1A, which is very thorough and helps explain why he’s apparently getting endorsements from many mayors around the country.
And please don’t disown me for considering Bloomberg, the way two of my Bernie friends did in 2016. We all - okay mostly - want the same sort of outcome for our country. Besides, I’m too old to know better.
Peace and love, ge
Listened to an hour or so to tonight’s debate and I’ve got to say how much I like all the candidates, some more than others, of course.
And I want to say to my Bernie friends that he is very impressive. I love his lists of issues and related topics when he answers a question. And his answers are usually some of the most direct and clear. (I do worry that he’d become another McGovern if nominated, however. And, yes, I’ve heard your counterarguments.)
Joeseph Costa
Joseph Costa I’ll start off by saying, “I’m not writing you off!” I think Mike has come to represent all that is wrong with the Democratic Party! The primary process allows for candidates to start out at the prearranged date and work through the rigors of the primary process and show intestinal fortitude and grassroot support which will demonstrate the ability to do the same through a general election. Mike has done neither! He waited until the voting portion to introduce himself therefore insuring NO vetting will take place and no proof of viable candidacy has been demonstrated! He may be a nice guy but it’s too late to invest in a question mark of a candidate who has no ground support and hope of inspiring anything except an eye roll…
Reply to Joe
Good to hear from you, Joe! Not quite sure what you mean about his not being vetted. He’s been under scrutiny and attack for years. I agree that he hasn’t experienced the joys of slogging around Iowa during primary season, but I’m pretty sure he’s spent lot of time in front of audiences.
I’m not sure what to make about the idea of “grassroots support”. How does it differ from “support”?
