PUBG Players? Anyone?

Corporations need to choose a side...

IMO, you either have a vested interest in maintaining the United States as a democratic powerhouse or your only loyalty is to wealth. Choosing the former means you have to accept horse and sparrow economics is a failure. Trump is actively destroying our democratic institutions. These institutions are the only deterrent to the Russian oligarch system.

So corporate America, it’s time you got off your asses and choose a side. The people are going to remember......

My Pinterest page filled with Trump spam....

I enjoy Pinterest. This is awful. The more I report the spam, the more this garbage shows up.

The Concentration of Wealth

I'm not sure if this has been discussed previously. I'm betting it's not a new idea, but I wanted to share some thoughts about global money flow.

I'm a GenX'er and I was talking to one of my millennial partners at work about home ownership. My partner was able to purchase a town home, the monthly cost eats up most of her disposable income. 20 years ago I paid about $118k for a modest rambler in the Midwest. She paid roughly $185k for a town home. My other partners were talking about renting and how nice their places are. But my concern is that millennials have accepted as fact they will never own a home.

I see corporations buying up everything including dilapidated properties. This competition for property ownership fuels price increases putting home ownership further out of reach for millennials.

Millennials have accepted they will be saddled with student debt for their lifetimes. When I graduated from University in 1990 I owed $3k. This low number was due to a combination of help from my parents, student loans and working full time for the university; the university paid for 8 credits a quarter as part of my benefits. My concern is that millennials have accepted they will always have student loan debt.

I see inheritance as a related issue to student debt. So when the boomer grandparents die, they will likely leave whatever is left of their estate to their GenX daughters and sons. The GenX daughters and sons will then assist their Millennial daughters and sons with their student loan debt.

So in reality, if A = B, and B = C, then A= C, someone has figured out a way to siphon estate money from middle class families.

Pensions. With this one lets pretend Social Security benefits will be fixed by Millennial policy makers. Pension protections have been savaged over the last 20 years. Ultimately the push has been to eliminate the guaranteed pension in favor of the IRA and 401k. I was speaking with my neighbor a couple days ago and he told me he was informed by his Union that his pension fund went broke. He wasn't able to tell me if it was due to mismanagement or some other issue. The point being is that after putting in 20 years at one company he no longer has a Union pension. How this situation came to be is immaterial, the point is, his pension is gone.

I have to ask (generally) why would the citizenry move away from guaranteed pensions and opt for a less dependable solution?

So my question is this (and I will completely understand if folk think this is nutty), did a small group of persons in the late 1970's decide that they were going to control the world through international finance?

The reason I pose this question is because in my view attacking unions has resulted in loss of pensions and forces investment into stock markets, lowering corporate taxes has shifted education subsidies onto the individual, health care costs keep the rabble poor and the Republicans no longer seem to care about national debt, which is a subject I didn't discuss but will have long lasting financial implications.

In conclusion, I don't see the issue caused by a lack of money. There is plenty of money. My question relates to whether or not there is group of very rich and powerful people that have set in motion a long term plan that has a determined outcome. My curiosity is based on how things used to be versus how things are now and what I perceive as future trends.

Mueller Report: If someone could please explain a few things....

The Justice Department will not release the report to the public at this time. Does that mean that elected officials in the House and Senate do not have access to a non-redacted report?

If Senators and Representatives do have access to a non-redacted report, what is stopping one of them from making the report public? Or has a non-redacted report not been provided to our elected officials? For that matter, if Mueller is the courageous patriot as he has been portrayed, why hasn’t’t he sent a copy to the New York Times and Washington Post?

Why can’t someone in this government get a copy of tax returns and make them public?

This is a taxpayer funded report documenting factual information.

I don’t understand the secrecy. I cant help but wonder if this is how the Romans felt near the end....

Road bike wrist pain....

Resisting installing time trial bars. Fell a bunch last winter, any suggestions?

I will be at U of Delaware next week....

for a lacrosse tournament. Anyone have suggestions about places to see/go/eat? We've never been...

TSP
(Minnesota)

Scott Pruitt on CSPAN

Watched his press conference addressing EPA employees. He is bought and paid for. He explained that avoiding litigation will be a priority. He also spoke about the need to follow "the right" processes in formulating rules, closely following statutes and States rights.

All I want is clean air and water. I don't give two f***s how you do it pal and if it means higher taxes then so be it.

For the last week in Minnesota, IN FEBRUARY, it's been between 50 and 60 degrees. This has never happened in my lifetime. Climate change is real Mr. Pruitt, f***wit. Get on board. You're inaction will kill my unborn grandkids.

Walker trade.

One of our members to the east was needling Minnesota about our NFL franchises. I posted that we might have a terrible football team but that Wisconsin has Scott Walker. He then posted that maybe we could work out a trade?

Then it hit me like a ton of bricks.

Would the Vikings/Minnesota make another franchise/State ruining trade for another Walker????!!!!!

I find myself rolling on the floor laughing (ROFL).

Anybody else working the night shift?