My Three Credit Card Stories

 The first time I ever attempted to get a credit card...was in March of 1980...at McChord AFB's single bank on base.  

It was a 6-minute conversation.

I had been a member of the bank for 3 months, and wanted to get a card.  The lady looked over my numbers and then said....well...the best she could do was a card with roughly $850 of limit, and a yearly fee of $75.

What I was making at the time?  $637 a month (before taxes/social security).  I gulped over the $75 fee, and just said 'no thanks'.

The second time I ever attempted a credit card....was the summer of 1987.  I was now in the $1,200 a month range on military pay.  

Oh yeah, by this point....they were willing to offer me a card with zero fees, and a limit of $8,000.  Yeah, way over logical sense.

As you looked around in this era....probably one out of three military folks were in serious debt issues, and no real control over spending.  

Around six years would pass, and the Air Force now wanted to sell everyone on NCO Club membership, and a credit card to be part of their gimmick....with the monthly charge coming off this card.

It seemed like some propaganda crap....getting people hyped up, and you noticed over the next year or two....more folks got into deeper debt issues....over this stupid club card.  

Ten Bits Of Advice On Travel

 1.  If you feel sick/ill on a trip....go get doctor/clinic advice from the hotel staff.  Don't ask some local taxi driver for a recommendation.

2.  If on a trip with temperatures mostly above 80 F for the day....start the day with a purchase of a bottle of water.  If above 90 F, get the larger size water bottle.

3.  Once you establish your travel plan, the airline deal and the hotel selected....don't skip the airport-to-hotel plan or the hotel-to-airport reservation.  

4.  On your carry-on bag for the plane....carry enough clothing to get you by for the 1st 24 hours at the destination....just on the odds of your bag getting lost.  

5.  Don't carry a $1,500 camera around for normal shots of the trip....get a simple $250 Sony camera.

6.  There are certain countries (particularly in Asia) that put a lot of spice into food.  You might want to remember that.  In countries like Denmark, it's the opposite.  

7.  If a resort offers a drink-inclusive deal....meaning they provide beer, wine and some type of cocktails....just be aware that they won't be premium quantity.  That wine by the 3rd day will taste like pure grape juice, and the cocktails will be so weak....that gulping down ten drinks in an hour won't get you drunk.

8.  On long extended trips....some hotels offer a washer-dryer room (meaning you can do your own laundry).  Most don't offer this situation.  You might want to plan ahead and ask this question....if staying ten days in Rome, or Madrid.

9.  Resorts that offer dinner buffet as part of their package....usually offer a wide-variety of foods.  If offered, it's usually worth the money.

10.  Most hotels have a map of the city to give you (free).  If you ask nicely about no-go zones....they will use the red-pen and mark the map.  This might be handy to know.  If they mark it....trust in their knowledge.  No-go zones exist for a reason.

The Migrant Realization

 I sat and read through a NY newspaper this AM....migrants in both Chicago and NY City...are starting to talk that after their effort to arrive in America, and be settled in....they now realize that some other places  in the world (beyond Chicago/NY City) are more acceptable/modern.

They didn't insult NY City/Chicago....they just felt....they were sold 'half-dead-mule' (as we would say in Alabama).

I sat and pondered over this.

My first trip through NY City was a 18-hour situation in 2007 (Roosevelt Hotel situation).  Between that and JFK Airport....I felt the city was pretty crappy.

My second trip was a 10-hour walking tour in 2011.  It was a fairly negative impression.

Finally, in 2016, I took the wife there (German situation).....for six days.  At the end of it, the wife said to me....'it's kinda old' and then suggested that it was mostly not worth the money we paid for the 1st-class tickets and accommodations at the Roosevelt). 

The subway system?  It's worst of any country that I've been to.

Yeah, it's oversold and crappy.  I would imagine for some of the folks....they might see it as nowhere near the level of Mexico City or Lima, Peru.  

Will they leave?  I doubt it.

Ten Humble Thoughts

 1.  If you were a traditional Democratic voter....it just seems like enthusiasm and hype...are trending less and less.  I don't blame Joe Biden singularly.  It just feels like you've watch a dozen Marvel movies, and heroic climatic 'endings' are getting to a lesser point each month.  

2.  It's just odd....almost everyday, I hear some 'Hitler-this' or 'Hitler-that'.  It's like it's 1946 and the guy is lingering on everyone's mind still.

3.  The odds that the $375-million to be 'given' to the FBI for it's new headquarters building....will be enough? Well....I think it's mostly a joke...that somewhere in the midst of 2025...some FBI manager will report that it's already $100-million over the budget, and yet to reach the 50-percent point of construction.  

4.  I believe there are x-number of young single women (age 21) who are so polarized on politics and personal view of feminism....that more than 50-percent of them will reach age 36....still single and deep into some PTSD-like mental stage about lack of relationships or a permanent BF/husband in their life. 

5.  By 2030,  I  expect the population of billionaires in California (currently at 186) to dwindle down to zero.  It'll be a mysterious thing that state journalists can't explain, without huffing on some cannabis.  

6.  If you'd asked someone in 1980....about their level  of hatred for things....they might have cited the Dallas Cowboys, J R Ewing and instant coffee.  If you ask today.....people will cite one-hundred things by the 5th minute of conversation, and still be talking at minute sixty.  

7.   If the Nazis were around today (like they were in 1936)....they'd observe things and never mount an offensive into France, Russia or the UK.  They'd conquer the civilized world in twenty years....using Nazi-propaganda as woke material.  

8.  Scientists have come out in the past week or so....to say they have this weird theory that not only there was 'big-bang' number one, but that there was a 'big-bang' number two.  I will go out on the limb and just suggest that thousands of big-bangs have occurred, and that we probably aren't done yet (more to come).

9.  If you went down the list of insurrections since 2020....you might be shocked to note at least fifty.  Even the George Floyd riots....are listed as an insurrection.

10.  We are becoming a nation of shock-proof people....where nothing weird can shock us anymore (even having President Biden announcing some UFO-alien situation is legit, and that Hunter will be leaving the planet  as a 'agent' of the US gov't to the aliens).  

What This Moodys Comment Really Means?

 Late yesterday (Friday)....Moody’s Investors Service ame out and did a review of the US gov't financial situation.  Basically, they went from 'stable' to 'negative'.  

Their comment?  “In the context of higher interest rates, without effective fiscal policy measures to reduce government spending or increase revenues. Moody’s expects that the US’ fiscal deficits will remain very large, significantly weakening debt affordability.”

What they did was point their finger (they could have done this already in the first quarter of 2023) at the White House and say in blunt language....either increased taxes have to occur, or significant government cuts in spending has to occur.  

Hurting the markets?  I'd say on Monday.....you will start to see some uneasy feelings and people easing out of Wall Street.  

As for more taxes or budget cuts?  How?  Where?  With this group in the White House presently? 

Moodys has basically placed the whole campaign in 2024 for either Republicans or Democrats....to be about this financial problem.  Newsom able to sell his California 'skills' on this?  No.  

If there were some increase on taxation?  It'd just twist up the recession into some turbo-situation.

Selling future treasury bills?  Moodys just whacked that whole idea.  

I'd rank this Friday event as one of the three biggest events of the year so far.

Three Humble Thoughts

 1.  Having sat through the Republican debate 'crap' this AM....three observations: (1) I did speed-mute with Chris Christie.....I just don't have the stamina to listen to his BS anymore. (2) Nikki Haley didn't come off as someone that I'd trust enough to buy a used-car from. (3) Vivek slaughtered the folks on stage, that GOP 'boss' gal, and Mr Holt from NBC.  Otherwise, it was marginal entertainment.

2.  Air Force went to Congress and asked them to establish a 2-mile 'buffer-zone' around each nuke missile silo.  Heck of a lot of farm property involved.  The logic of a 2-mile zone versus a 1-mile zone?  Never explained.  

3.  All this BS over voter-ID?  You ever noticed that no one has ever done a realistic study over who lacks such an ID?  I suspect if you walked around the state of Alabama....meeting up with each resident over the age of 18....you'd find fewer than 1,000 people in the state in this situation.  

Thing About Clocks

 

I sat and pondered over this story for a while.

If you went around and viewed people....it's mostly guys over age 40, who still have a dial-watch.  Everyone else....has gone to digital numbers.  

Wouldn't shock me if one-third of kids in schools (say the 4th or 5th grade) were not capable of reading off a analogue clock.

In fact, isn't this going the same way with speed readings on cars....where it's rare to find a old-fashion speed dial?