Beer, Macaroni, tRump's Latest Lawyer, the Phillips Curve and Hatred vs.Pity

Beer Thoughts

My favorite beer is Funky Buddah’s Floridian, a German-style wheat beer brewed locally by a Fort Lauderdale (actually Oakland Park) brewery.  I pick it up at gas stations and occasionally at supermarkets.  Some of the restaurants I visit around here even have it on their menus.  The slogan on their bottle reads “Find the goodness within.”  An added feature is when you remove the bottle cap (it doesn’t just twist off, you need an old fashioned opener), there is always a message on the cap’s inside.  Today’s message was “Seek Truth,” and with that in mind, and twelve ounces of Floridian in my stomach, let’s start today’s blog posting.

Jack Lippman

Overheard on an Island

Some Russians were sitting around talking in a café on one of the Greek islands:

How much did he stiff you for, Gregor?

In rubles or dollars?

Let’s keep it in dollars?  (Thinking to himself, Jack may put this on his blog.)

Okay, about 30 million.  It was to enable him to clean up some outstanding paper he was responsible for and which ended up in the hands of the Columbian drug people.

You mean he dealt with those people?

No, no.  He owed it to some South American Bank.  Originally, it was to finance some huge hotel in Antarctica, I think.  They had given up on his ever paying them back, so they sold it to a bad-debt broker in Bogota and he must have passed it on to the drug guys.  Nobody likes to deal with those people.  They’re animals.  The chop off fingers.  That’s why I ‘m sure he must have been hugely relieved when I lent him the 30 million to clear that one up.

But he still owes it to you, right?   You should have asked me first.  Do you regret lending it to him?

Yes, sort of, but Moscow tells me not to worry about it and keep my mouth shut about it, and if worse comes to worst, they’ll take care of me.  But I really don't want to have to do that.  Really.  That could be another big problem. Actually, I shouldn’t even be talking to you about it.

C’mon, I’m your father!  But look who’s here.

Hi, fellows.   Let me order a round of drinks.  Just got off a plane.  Waiter!  Another bottle of vodka!

They got an airport here?  I usually take the water taxi from Chios.  Where were you?

Cyprus, checking on the bank.  Those guys are crooked as the day is long.  They’re even worse than the ones in the Caribbean, Iceland or Africa.   They’re robbing me blind.

I know, I have done business with them, but it’s a wonderful way of moving money around with no real record of who’s at either end of the transaction.  Better than Switzerland. 

You know, Gregor, while I was there I bought some outstanding paper, mostly bad debts, a couple of billion worth, at a real bargain price.  One piece of it was that 30 million he owes you.  I didn’t know you gave it out to them for collection.  I paid five million for it, so if he ever pays up, I stand to make a nice profit.  Doubt that he ever will though.  I figure that’s why they got rid of it so cheaply.

That was supposed to be confidential, but, hey, how do I get paid? 

Look for a letter from Cyprus is about a week.  They'll probably offer you two or three million, take it or leave it.

Screw them.

Better than nothing, son.  Doubt if he’ll ever come through.

Look, we can’t sit around all evening.  When is that lawyer guy going to show up?   You know, the one the man who runs that big macaroni company in the States is sending.   And how much is he willing to pay for us to talk to him?

JL

The President's New Lawyer ... and he is a Doozie!

Whether or not he is being investigated, or is turning up in the investigation of others … such as Michael Flynn or Paul Manafort … the president has seen fit to hire a lawyer to look out for his interests.  Because tRump’s “regular” attorney, Marc Kasowitz,  is without Supreme Court experience nor work in the area of Federal investigations, the new addition was sorely needed.  But the president really reached into the depths of the right-wing sewer which irrigates his administration to find Jay Sekulow.  Chief counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice (hold your breath when you look up that group’s pedigree) and a long time champion of evangelical and conservative Christian causes, Jay Sekulow is a media pro who has called himself a “reasonable fanatic.” That’s just what the pursuit of justice needs, more right-wing fanaticism.  Read all about it in a great article in a recent issue of the Forward. Click right here, right now!

JL

Economic Thoughts

The Fed just raised the prime interest rate a quarter of a point (25 basis points).  That means that it will cost more, primarily for businesses (which cannot exist without credit), to borrow.  The increase was justified because the unemployment rate has dropped significantly and that means employees will be harder to find, and that should result in wages going up.  With more spendable money resulting from these higher wages, consumers should create increased demand for products, raising prices, resulting in inflation.   Businesses will need to borrow to meet this demand, regardless of the slightly higher interest rate.  

This kind of logic, whereby less unemployment results in higher wages is known to economists as the Phillips Curve.  As the preceding paragraph suggests, this can lead to inflation.  The Federal Reserve can keep a lid on inflation by raising that prime rate, which is what banks pay to get the money they lend out.  A little inflation is desirable, but too much is no good.  Then no one can afford to buy things, regardless of how much money is in their pockets.  So that interest rate is a tool to control inflation.  Raising it too high will discourage businesses from borrowing, slowing down expansion, reducing hiring and bringing back unemployment.  Keeping it too low will discourage banks from lending, with that same result.  They will just sit on their assets.  It’s something that must be finely tuned.

Oddly, however, despite reduced unemployment and an increased need for employees, wages have not really increased.  This may be due to technology changing the jobs which are available, requiring different, perhaps lower-paying, skills than were historically in demand, the outsourcing of certain jobs, the presence of low-paid immigrant labor as well as the decreased involvement of unions in fighting for higher wages for employees.  Hence, a crucial element resulting from the Phillips Curve theory, increased demand, may be missing, throwing a monkey wrench into the whole theory.  Increased demand historically causes the inflation which theoretically can be harnessed or balanced by raising the prime interest rate. That’s where I get lost.  And economists start to disagree with one another.

Okay.  Confused?  This is why I have always believed that economists are in a class with alchemists and astrologers, and since scholars in that field (Milton Friedman, Paul Samuelson) with diametrically opposing views have both won Nobel prizes, I take all of this with a grain of salt.  (I won't even get involved with Keynes and Hayek, both of whom have irreconcilable differences and loyal believers.)

What I do know, however, is that what our country needs are jobs resulting from economic growth, regardless of monetary policy.  Whether the fruits of that economic growth go to the already wealthy and the businesses which created it or to the American people in terms of real wages and benefits, including health care, is the crucial question of the first half of this century.  What starts out as an economic issue becomes a political issue, with Republicans on one side and Democrats on the other.

Both agree that economic growth benefits the American people.  Democrats tend to believe that income redistribution (though they will never use that word) through higher taxes on business and the wealthy to provide augmented government support for education and safety net programs such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid as well as what is broadly referred to as “welfare” for those who need it is the way to go. 

Republicans believe that the same goals can be achieved through the private sector, with the benefits of growth generously “trickling down” to the American public through higher paying jobs, with as little government involvement as possible.  Of course, both of these positions are over-simplifications.  Your thoughts are welcome.

JL

American Hatred - Perhaps "Pity" Would be Better

It’s a short step from political disagreement to political hatred.  Many of those who disagree with the position of the President on many issues have let their opposition blossom into outright hatred of the President.  They feel justified in manifesting this hatred because of what they view as a presidency and an administration based on lies, misrepresentation, highly questionable objectives and grounded in profound ignorance of the issues with which a nation must deal.  In their mind, these things warrant their hatred.

Similarly, Barack Obama was hated by many because of a belief that the changes he brought about were contrary to their ideas about what traditional American values were, changes which to them were alien or even subversive.  (There also may have been a racial component to this hatred on the part of some.)  Both Obama and Trump were bringing about changes which then seemed and now seem very, very misguided to their opponents, so very basically wrong that their disagreement quickly changed into hatred.  Similar hatred, with similar justifications, was directed at Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the 1930’s.  In their minds, these presidents crossed a line and were deserving of hatred.

Most other recent presidents may have been exposed to an opposition which disagreed with them, but few have experienced such bitter hatred by their opponents.  In American history, the only presidents which have been exposed to the depth of hatred with which Trump, Obama and FDR have had to deal with may have been Andrew Jackson and Abraham Lincoln.  And today’s communication techniques greatly magnify that hatred beyond the limits of previous centuries.  But in our governmental system, it is really wrong to “hate” the president, our legally elected head of state.  

I suppose that I am among those who “hate” Donald Trump.  He has told so many lies to his gullible supporters, insulted so many of his countrymen, appointed so many ill-suited individuals to important government jobs and so damaged our relationships with the nation’s traditional allies that I have felt that he deserves my hatred.

Maybe I am wrong.  Perhaps he deserves pity more than he warrants hatred.  He is what he is and cannot be blamed for that.  Here we have a born-wealthy, fairly bright man, whose entire upbringing and life experience have been in a part of the business world where ethics are not quite the same as those observed by others.  For example, physicians and lawyers follow professional codes which supposedly govern their behavior.  Even those in banking and on Wall Street try to profess belief in some sort of ethical rules of behavior.  

Real estate developers follow different rules.  If it is legal and they can get away with something, it becomes acceptable.  It is a dog eat dog world where exaggeration, misrepresentation and chicanery are the tools one carries with them every day and where successes are judged by material acquisition, and not by the benefit one might provide to others.  It has been that way for him from day one.  He even wrote a book about this way of thinking.

Are these sufficient reasons “to cut him some slack”?   Sadly, they are not when the welfare and future of America’s citizens are at stake.  But they may be sufficient to suggest that we treat the president with pity rather than hatred.

 

This pitiful man knows no better and in his mind, really believes that what he is doing is right and that his critics are wrong.  And by positioning himself with a family of beautiful people in palatial surroundings, he reinforces his convictions.  He has done this his entire life.  “Look at me,” he says to himself.  “If I were wrong, I wouldn’t be where I am today!”  And just as this approach was enough to create Donald Trump’s successful career, it also succeeded in convincing enough voters to get him into the White House.   

This has set up the president as fair game for some truly evil people to take advantage of him to further their nefarious and far from democratic goals.  Unlike Donald Trump, who may deserve our pity, they are the ones who deserve our hatred. Some of them are in his cabinet.  Many have been elected to office by people who should, but don't, know better.  Others are deeply involved in financing the causes his party espouses, the ramifications of which he might not even fully comprehend.

If we want to talk about hatred, these people harbor it for their fellow citizens, including those who put them into office!  Look at the laws they propose!  See whom they will benefit.  See whom they will hurt.  Ignore the lies they spout daily.  And I wager YOU know who they are!   Unlike the President, they do not deserve your pity. They only deserve the return of their hatred of toward YOU!  It is okay to hate THEM.  They are up to no good.

JL                

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