"If you're so smart ..."

    “If you’re so smart …”

   “If you’re so smart, why aren’t you rich?”  This is the quote most often used by the simple majority of our nation’s population.  It implies major stupidity on the part of the questioner.  The best example of this is the Trump Monkey, Elon Musk.  Jumping around on a campaign stage with a chainsaw in your hands and a MAGA cap on your head does not indicate “smart”.  No, being the richest person in the world is a better sign of insanity.  Extreme wealth is an indicator of greed and greed is a rapidly growing epidemic in America, the major symptom of which is squirreling away nuts for an imaginary winter.  Greed is the malignant form of the survival instinct, not an indicator of smart.

   We only have thirteen billionaires living in, as President Trump would say, “The Shit Hole State of Arizona,” in which I reside.  Thirteen isn’t very many, but the state’s government and education system still runs (as do all other states in America) to the music of money.  What started as a game for students to relax with, basketball is now the guiding force of the University of Arizona.  Basketball brings in money and education is generally a cost.  Please remember that the stated purpose of a university is to educate and yet our basketball coach has an annual salary of $3,700,008 and the President of The University (the head of education) is salaried at $1,016,018 per year.  That is to say that the chief educator earns less than a third of what the top coach makes at our university.  This is certainly in line with our nation’s interest.  Would the average Arizonan be more enthused by winning an NCAA Championship in basketball or the hire of the world’s brightest physicist to head the Physics Department at The U?  What about money’s influence on government.  I spent a couple of years as The Arizona Motorcycle Dealer’s lobbyist to the Arizona Legislature.  Financial power is the primary influence on the creation of legislation.  Does money write “smart” legislation?  The answer to that question is, “Only if a benefit to the wealthy happens to benefit all.”  That doesn’t happen very often.

  “Our government is the best government that money can buy.” and I guess that we can all be proud of that.

Cheers, Old Buz          5/18/2025

Iambloggerbuz.blogspot.com 

MAGA Board of Directors:

 

MAGA Board of Directors:

“Donald Trump is my guy.”

 – Vladimir Putin

 

“Donald Trump is my guy.”

- Victor Orban

 

“Donald Trump was my guy.”

- Jeffery Epstein (Honorary, in Absentia)

 

“Donald Trump is my guy.”

- Kim Jong Un

 

“Donald Trump is my guy.”

- Xi Jinping

 

“Donald Trump was my guy.”

-Michael Cohen (Founding Board Member, resigned)

 

 

Trump can be your guy too.  Join the MAGA Team. – Old Buz

          “Judge me by my friends.” – Donald J. Trump       

Is Joe Biden Too Old?

   Yes and no.  Yes, he is too old to run our country (as is Donald Trump).  No, one can be too old for life, for that defines its end point.  Joe Biden is no longer fit to  be the president of our country.  Donald Trump never was.  This is not a political blog post.  It is an attempt to look at job qualification without bias.  At the age of eighty-three, I feel qualified to state an opinion on this issue.  The federal court system sees me as too old to be a desirable jury member.  I was at the age of seventy relieved of this burden.  A wise decision from our federal court system and there are far too few of these in recent history (ref: Citizens United, Roe vs. Wade, Gun Regulation and Presidential Immunity). 

   Back to the point.  As you well know, with age any muscle will tire and weaken.  I am six foot eight and can no longer slam dunk a basketball.  It also takes me much longer to write a blog post.  In verbal debate, where I once shined, I am very mediocre.  With age comes gradual death.  It is the simple mechanics of wearing out.  Probably a good thing.  It happens.  Joe Biden would have been a better president at the age of fifty than he is capable of being at the age of eighty.  When he does his energetic trot as he enters a stage, he is unable to recognize the elderly shuffle that he is displaying.  Brains are muscles too.

   Half of the citizens of the US (The Democrats) need to offer the nation a younger and more agile (physically & mentally) candidate for the position of President.  No candidate should be legally allowed to run for office when past the required age of retirement.  Normally in our country this age is sixty-five. 

   It is only a matter of time before the aging Alpha Wolf loses his last battle and this normally doesn’t go well for the future of his pack.   If the DNC prevails, Joe Biden with run against Donald Trump.  The only hope is that an aging good man can prevail over an aging bum.  But, beware of the electorate.

Cheers, Old Buz     July 7, 2024

Iambloggerbuz.blogspot.com

“In the final analysis, time is all that each of us has to spend.  Spend it wisely.”       – Old Buz         

The Free Market & You

 

   I have a great interest in Hong Kong.  Their people are the #1 readers of this blog, with the US in a close 2^nd.  Singapore is in 3^rd position.  The low life that was our 45^th president says that there are great benefits to being a star.  The statistics show that if there were a thousand people in my front yard in Hong Kong, one of them would have read my blog, while in America it would require a million folks in the front yard for there to be two reads.  This, for me, would be a reason to consider moving there.  So naturally, I researched real estate values in Hong Kong.  A 1500 square foot townhouse sells for three to five million dollars there.  This effectively removes the top middle income folks and those below them to obtain reasonable housing.  I do not consider 3 bedrooms … 3 families reasonable.  In Hong Kong a recent college graduate with a family moves in with his parents.

   I believe that Hong Kong offers an opportunity to view the canary in the mine rendition of The Free Market Economy in real estate.  The “affordable housing” words are fast becoming an oxymoron in coastal America and even desirable inland cities.  I took a little over two decades for Hong Kong to fall off of the cliff to insanity.  I believe we Americans can do it faster.  Hell, we already have a pretty good start in removing affordable housing from our thriving commercial locations.

   Why is Free Market (greed) such a strong driving force in an economy?  Please revisit my Golden Goose Economy post.  Those who enter the economy are generally interested in personal income.  Those who are driven by success and are successful at obtaining their goals generally have the malignant form of survival instinct, greed, as their north star.  This driving force places profit above reason.  Those who have this trait, our successful financial leaders, are willing to destroy the society in exchange for personal financial gain.  Do I sound like a God Damn Commie here?  I am not.  I spent my business life as a motorcycle dealer.  I’m a Capitalist.  I tried to keep my customers happy and myself, my employees and my family happy as well.  I believe that these goals give more satisfaction in the long run than greed offers.

   My home (1350 sq.ft.) was built to sell for $17,500 in the 1970s.  My wife and I purchased it for $144,000 in 2002.  The present market value is twice that.  What will it be in another two decades?  Look to Hong Kong for a clue.  At some point in time an “effective government” (another oxymoron) will have to step in and stop the insanity.  Good luck with that taking place.  “Gold Rules.”

Cheers, Old Buz          June 23^rd, 2024

Iambloggerbuz.blogspot.com

 

The Free Market:

“We will not fully appreciate the value of water until an Elon Musk or a Jeff Bezos owns our water company.” – Old Buz

A Hero

  When a young man joins the military and goes off to a foreign land to kill strangers, we call him a hero.  If one of the strangers happens to kill him, we call him a fallen hero and remember him on Memorial Day.  The young man travels to the foreign land with the blessing of his country.  He carries the nation’s flag with him and wears the nation’s uniform.  His target is the uniform of the enemy in that foreign land or its civilians.  This sounds crazy to me, but to most it is called patriotism and is applauded.  Their strongest argument would be: “Well, that’s the way it is and the way it always has been” or “What about Hitler and World War II?”

   To answer “That’s the way it is and the way it always has been” I would say, in the early 20^th Century women did not have the right to vote in America.  In 1919 that was the way it was and the way it had always been, but it didn’t make it right or just.  Today we sell war weapons to civilians with little or no regulation.  Seventy percent of our population would like to see effective gun regulation, but “that’s the way it is.”  If it is wrong, why not correct it?

   Now for Hitler.  If the young men of Germany had been capable of individual thought, they would not have put on the uniform or picked up the weapon.  But their heroes are the same as ours.  They sacrifice for God & Country.  The question is, does God truly ask for that sacrifice and does Country have a right to ask?  Did our young men have to respond to the actions of the young men of Germany eighty years ago?  Of course they did, but the leader of Germany made some bad choices and the population needed not to comply.  As a pacifist I am asking for individual moral rudders to steer the ship.  It would be a better world.  Is there any chance that individuals will stop mindlessly following their leader into war?  Probably not.  So the hero will always be willing to travel half way around the world to kill or be killed by a stranger.  “That’s the way it is.”

Cheers, Old Buz, The Pacifist      May 29^th, 2024

“I believe two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity, but I’m not sure about the universe.” – Albert Einstein

John has seen The Light

 “My point, once again, is not that those ancient people told literal stories and we are now smart enough to take them symbolically, but that they told them symbolically and we are now dumb enough to take them literally.” – John Dominic Crossan, New Testament Scholar & Former Catholic Priest                       

                                                                                                                                             

   What is John saying here?  I don’t think he is talking about The Holy Bible (both New and Old Testament), but that he is talking about any bible driven faith.  If John was a Former Catholic Priest, then his raising, or at the very least his higher education was based on Faith, not reason or logic or history.  But obviously John has come out of The Fog of Faith.  He has entered the world of the wise.  John would now be agnostic, that is one who questions and realizes that the many answers available are not provable, but can be subjected to logic, reason and data.  He has entered Thomas Paine’s Age of Reason.  It is an age of questions not answers.

   If there is a purpose for each of us to go through life’s experiences it seems to me that it would be to be aware, to question and possibly reach wise probable theories.  If there is no purpose … so be it (enjoy the ride).  It matters not what the answer to the question is.  Whatever is … is and each of our opinions has little effect on truth.    

   So what am I asking of you, if you are a person of faith?  I am asking you to give up a beautifully created delusion, capable of enriching your life or warping it (an example of this is the current news from The Holy Land).  I am suggesting honoring your awareness to a system that allows for the existence of All that we perceive.  The miracle of it All becomes available to you.  You do not have to imagine the purported parlor tricks of God for your amusement.  “We all live beneath a Miracle and we each sing our little song (the song of life).”  GOD* does not break his rules (the system or systems).  As science evolves it hopefully approaches truth.  It is a never ending journey, by design.  Join John.

Cheers, Old Buz     May 7^th, 2024

“Born an agnostic and with the help of GOD* will remain one.” – Old Buz

*GOD – an acronym (G.O.D.) for Grand Omnipotent DNA – The system (rules) guiding the Universe as researched in the ever evolving study of science. 

Hurry up sundown

    

   I believe the sun is about to set on the human experience.  This is not Chicken Little telling you that “The sky is falling.”  It is information gained from London’s CNN Business and the MIT Technology Review.  Both are talking about brain-computer interfaces.  The two large corporations involved are Neuralink, founded and backed by Elon Musk with an investment of $100 million.  The other, Synchron, backed by funding from Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos.  Synchron has already implanted its chip in 10 people’s brains and launched a patient registry to gear up for a larger clinical trial.  The justification of these cell phone based systems is to benefit those seeking a memory boost or those with congenital defects. I suspect that euphoric joy and a feeling of well-being will be added to bolster sales and influence.

   The systems currently work most effectively when a chip is implanted in the brain itself.  Not all people will be anxious to have this procedure, although the current chips are being installed by a surgeon guided robot and should make the surgery more acceptable.  Those who have had the procedure done will no longer need to carry a cell phone.  They will once again have the use of their left hand.  I believe that the chip in brain in-plant is early days technology.  “The pioneers take the arrows.”  Just as an early telephone was hard wired to a phone wire system, the early cell chip in brain will be required to turn your brain into a cell phone receiver.  In my opinion, once the language is perfected between cell and brain, only a wireless update will be required to give your brain the sending and receiving ability.  No permission required.  You will only be required to be in cell tower range or with the more expensive and effective program it will be satellite communication.  It will work at sea or in a remote forest.

   When you have Elon Musk competing with Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos for power and wealth you are looking at a world class competition.  It will not progress slowly.  All of that power and greed in one little game to have absolute control over all humankind.  We will no longer need a government to guide us along our way.  There will be no fear of a nuclear war.  All minds around the world will work well with the system.  No worries about Artificial Intelligence taking over humanity.  We won’t even notice it.  No more ethnic or religious prejudice.  No more party politics.  No more MSNBC or FOX.  What could be better?

Cheers, Old Buz                  April 20, 2024

 

“Our Planet can provide for human needs … but not for human greed.” – Mahatma Gandhi