My Interest In Economics

 At some point in the late 1990s....someone I worked with (in the intel-vault business) had been working on a finance-related degree, and brought in a dozen tapes with Milton Friedman.  I agreed to take to take one of the tapes home for the weekend.

In the end, I had watched all of the dozen tapes they had, and over the next year....I probably consumed four books on pure economics.  

If you'd introduced me to Milton Friedman back in 1975 (in high school)?  I might have gone onto some university program....instead of the Air Force

A dull topic?  Oh yeah....but here's the thing....if you make economics into rocket science, it is absolutely crap and boring.  Friedman knew precisely how to relate various topics to the normal guy on the street....continually telling you that it simply wasn't rocket science.

I can sit today and read over agricultural reports, stock market analysis, futures, derivatives, failed banks, and understand the bulk of what is going on.  But here's the odd part of this 'path'....it's after college that I get into this topic, and it's all on a reading/viewing schedule of my own choosing.  Yeah, I've probably near 500 man-hours of my time into it....with no degree earned in the entire process.  

Yeah, just a hobby....more or less. 

Ten General Rules I'd Suggest In Life

1.  If it feels like indoctrination....it probably is a point you want to find the exit to the room and leave.

2.  There's good beer, and bad beer.  Don't waste time or thirst on crappy beer.

3.  If you are listening to a politician, and after three minutes....nothing much of what they say....makes sense, then mute the rest of the news piece.

4.  If your co-worker isn't married or has never been married....don't seek marriage advice from them.

5.  Some days....just a cup of coffee and a cupcake....will brighten your day.

6.  The quickest way to failure in life.....is just riding the 'wave' and never laying out your path or direction.

7.  Simple debt (say in the $10,000 range) is easy to pay-off.  Massive debt (beyond $50,000)....will drag you along for 10 to 20 years.

8.  If you make something into rocket-science....it's a 50-50 chance that it's not really pure rocket-science.

9.  If you are living in a ghetto-town or ghetto-neighborhood.....making no effort to leave....you must enjoy the lifestyle and trend.

10.  If no road-map exists for where you want to go in life.....make one.

Ten Things I've Noticed in 2026

 1.  If you were hooked into premium coffee places....paying $5 for a 'superior' coffee....the customer base is less.  

The 'system' has reached a point where if you were into the coffee and they were charging $6 to $7....folks won't buy the product.

Same for burgers....pizza....ice cream...etc.

2. All this TSA-non-payment-of-salary.....it will reach a point where they quit, and airports start to shutdown. 

If you asked me on timing...I'd say the first airport is probably about 10 days away.

By mid-April?  I'd assume five  to ten airports marginally operating.  If you said I needed to be at the airport six hours prior to the flight to get 'checked-out'....I'm not flying. I suspect 80-percent of people are this way.

3.  AOC spoke up this weekend and said: Republicans are "radicalizing and exploiting young boys" and pushing them towards a "masculinity that requires the domination of others who are poorer, browner, darker, or a different gender than them."

I paused over it....to be honest....young boys have been radicalized for twenty centuries minimum.  

Also, to be honest....if you were a dumbass, or low-IQ person.....you probably were begging for someone to exploit you.

4.  If you wanted any medical procedure, and talked-up the idea of 'cash'....not insurance paperwork-crap....about 90-percent of clinics/doctors....would be willing to talk and discuss 50-to-60 percent off....if you charged it to your credit-card or paid them in cash.

5.  I am convinced...within two years....one out of ten folks (mostly those ages 15-to-20)....will always ask AI if a decision has to be made.  AI will have to support the idea....or they won't do it.

I'm not saying its a bad thing....but risk-taking is going to collapse like a rock.

6.  Just a gut-feeling....those upper-dimwit-level CNN hosts....about 80-percent of them are probably gone by the end of April.  

Them getting podcast audience....maybe one out of three will give it a 'go'.

7.  Just browsing Georgia state Republican-chatter.....I'd say about 50-percent of GOP-office holders....are going either to jail, or be fired...by spring of 2027....for election fraud/corruption.

8.  Just a odd mentality....some transwomen (former guys) want to proclaim that they only desire to date 'straight' guys....not gay guys.

I've tried to make sense out of this.....thinking some gay guys are trying to fake out their transwomen...claiming they ain't gay, and it seems to work.

It's hard to imagine this level of 'crazy'.

9.  From a American educational prospective....sitting in a 7th grade math class.....if you can't get such-and-such point across in five minutes....the kid turns his interest 'off'.

Looking back at my 7th grade math teacher....they would waste teaching us on something for 55 minutes....when the point should have been simplified to 8-to-10 ten minutes max.  

10.  Trump sending ICE  to fill in at airport TSA operations?

He's baiting a trap.  You suffer from anti-ICE feelings....start acting goofy or making threats....ICE detains you and charges you for airport security violations. You go to court and discover 90-days in jail is a possibility.

My TSA Experience

 I typically fly in/out of major airports.  I made the decision this year....anticipating the nature of the Congress mess....to fly in/out of Huntsville (which is a small airport).

So Friday morning....I figured it'd be a 3-hour 'problem' to get past security.

I walked in for the bag-turn-in, and no one was there.  Odd.

I went to TSA's line....one single person in front of me.  

It took 90 seconds to get past point-one.....through the x-ray machine....to the end.

Yeah, I basically had three hours to waste now...sipping $5-a-cup ice-tea.

Those stupid TV monitors with CNN coverage?  No....Huntsville doesn't feature that.

I did overhear a discussion over salmon fishing....another one over some parent telling 'Wanda-June' that she didn't need to attend some private-college, and some older couple discussing condo buying priorities while in Tampa.

Yeah, it was a low-blood-pressure afternoon.    

Four Observations

 1.  This AM, I watched 60 seconds of the View, with Sunny Hostin (co-host)....suggesting that she thinks solar eclipses, earthquakes and cicadas are all caused by “climate change.”

The problem with this....at least 10,000 women will watch this BS, and believe she's right.

2.  I noted today....some study was done in Finland....over Somalia residents there.  They figured over a lifetime....there is a lifetime burden of roughly $1-millio-plus required to support them (each) from beginning to end. There is no plus-up.

3.  I did the cross-the-Atlantic flight again (probably 40th of my life), with Delta....rather uneventful. 

What is odd...virtually all of the flight crew (stewardesses)....were age 50 or older.

The odd thing upon returning to Frankfurt's airport....I was heading to the NON-EU line for passport control, and the security lady noted my visa-card.....thereby directing me to the EU line (simple passport scan and no border control check).   Yep....I'm considered EU-status.

4. The UK Government is apparently going to offer each farmer £2,500 ($3,300) per Hectare to leave a non-produce situation in the ground or not plant....if you sign up for 3 years.

Finances

 Starting in the 2027-28 school year....the state of California will offer a new personal finance course to high schoolers and mandate/require it for graduation beginning with the 2031 class.

I paused over the story....pondering.

It's just a one-semester course.

First, you'd have to have math-skills....to grasp the fundamentals, and I'd question if more than 50-percent of California kids can reach that level.

Second, if you get into debt management.....won't the kids ask how the cities of California, or the state....can manage a failing 'mess'?

Third, won't this be culture shock....to learn you can't afford a thousand-odd dreams?

Fourth....could Governor Newsom himself take and pass the course?

I do agree....every kid ought to get 40-hours of finance understanding.....but just wonder if the state of California can teach this.

Diego Garcia 'Hint'

 This past day or two....Iran fired off a longer-range missile....toward Diego Garcia (missing widely).

So here's the thing....if you use the range shown....there's some European cities now within the range of Iran:

- London

- Berlin

- Paris

- Munich

- Rome

- Oslo

I paused over this....pondering. Probably up until  this point....they thought they were 'safe'.

Imagine a world where your whole safety concept is based off some nutcase Mullah....who might say you were deserving of a missile or two.