If you don't think Trump is responsible for inflation....

 

If you don't believe that Trump's actions are causing inflation, look at the sale price of this dress.  Normally, it has been selling at Target for $50.99.  Today, it is listed for $76.49.  What has changed in the past week?  Not much.  But what has likely happened that Target's warehouses (or those of an intermediary who sells on Target's website) has just received a new shipment of these dresses, and has marked them to their current profitable price.

Let's assume that it is Trump's tariffs that account for the price hike.  Do we have a domestic industry large enough to maintain a price-competitive supply chain?  I doubt it.  Opening up our market to cheap Chinese goods 35 years ago destroyed much of American industry, its logistics and supply chain.  And we don't have what it takes to bring it back.  

Sadly, we never had a transition for those workers being displaced by cheap overseas labor.  Our capitalists acted as, if by magic, their consumers/workers would find other work so that they could afford to buy goods produced by cheaper labor.  For a while, this happened, as displaced labor was limited to a few rural towns.  But more and more people were affected over time, and both blue and white collar workers have been affected by these misguided policies.

No, I am not arguing against competition.  Instead, I am arguing against opening the doors to competition without a clear path for labor to have its needs taken care of.  European nations would never allow this to happen to its labor force, as they do not want social unrest and alienation.  They believe in a well educated people, with regular access to a relatively under biased news media still focusing on presenting objective truth to its consumers.

Trump has taken advantage of the 1st Amendment to the Constitution in ways our founding fathers couldn't conceive.  Political lies have been protected by the courts, and Trump has never been anywhere close to telling truth to his followers.  He lies, knowing that his cult will ingest anything he says.  In short, he is Orwell's "Big Brother" to his followers, and can do no wrong.  To the rest of us, he is an autocrat who has broken all social conventions, and has few checks and balances to stop him from destroying America.

So, why are tariffs so important?  In short, they are sales taxes on the economy.  They only serve to slow things down.Is this dress worth 50% more than it was a week ago?  No.  Could the price hike have been caused by the recent Iran war?  I doubt it.  There is no clothing industry of note in the Middle-East. But there is one in Southeast Asia and China. And their industries are being affected by Trump's tariffs and his war.

The prosperity of nations depend on constancy and predictability.  For generations, farmers knew that they'd plant crops in the spring, tend to them in the summer, and harvest them in the fall.  To increase yields, farmers have added fertilizer to their land for ages, much of it now being derived from Middle-East oil products.  Now, much of the fertilizer supplies we'd use are no longer available because of the war.  Many of the markets for American farm products no longer exist due to Trump's trade wars.  And yet, many in the rural states have yet to signal that they want this buffoon to be removed from office.  The infallibility of their cult leader overrides objective truth.  People are afraid of reality.

For those not part of Trump's cult, we see his cruelty destroying the friendships between America and its friends.  Canadians are largely avoiding the US, as well as tourists from many other nations.  Trump's Gestapo (read: ICE) rounds up people solely based on skin color and puts them into prison camps without due process.  Trump's CBP agents at our borders often harass travelers with proper documentation, and have put them into prisons as well.  Why should any nation want to be friends to America, much less help it in an illegal war?   Losing tourists from these nations is causing economic problems for many tourist areas in the US, and I don't see this happening soon.

This leaves us with a declining American workforce that has to suffer with increasing inflation.  It will take a generation or two to undo what Trump has damaged - it it can be undone at all.  If I were young, I'd have already left the US for countries which protect labor better than we do, inform and educate its people better than we do, and protect freedom better than we do.  But I am old, and stuck on America's roller-coaster.  For the rest of us, it will take come time for America to collapse.  And it is time for those with marketable skills to leave America.  Just be careful choosing where to go to.... 

 

Taxes, taxes, and more taxes.

 

Twas two weeks before tax day, and all through the house.  Two ladies were stirring, both seeing an empty purse. One purse got emptied, the other got filled. No, I'm not going to continue with working those lines.  But they illustrate the differences between RQS's position in life and my position in life.

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This was a day that I had to spend in Mario mode.  Our tax lady doesn't know that I am TG, nor do I want her to know.  It works out better for me that I am able to live in stealth mode when I need to, and in this political climate, it's a bonus.

Both of us were ready and out the door by 10:30, and were at the tax lady's office at noon.  Unfortunately, she has to redo my paperwork once again, so I couldn't pick up my tax forms.  But RQS was able to do so, and paid the bill for her taxes, as well sending money out to the tax man.  Once done, our next destination was RQS's place, where I dropped her off.

I left RQS's place at 1:45, and was home 2 hours later.  There were some idiots on the road, and I was almost nailed by one trying to squeeze between me and the car to the side of me.  Yet, this wasn't the worst of it.  Some person totaled his car in a fight against an 18-Wheeler.  The car's front end and roof was destroyed, while the truck and its trailer didn't show any damage. The traffic slowdown leading to the accident site wasted a bit of my time.  Yet, by planning to take an exit, I bypassed most of the traffic jam by passing it on the right, and by merging back into traffic just before the accident site which just happened to be 300 feet away from the exit I planned to take.

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Once I was home, I was in for the night.  Tomorrow, I'll be back in Marian mode, and have another nice day outdoors.

A birthday dinner at Chazz Palminteri's (a short post)

 

Tomorrow is RQS's birthday, and I wanted to take her out tonight.  (It's easier to get a good meal on Saturday than it is on Sunday at many places, and I wanted to make sure she enjoyed the meal.)

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Originally, I wanted to take RQS out to a place where we had to get dressed up a little.  But, with the weather as cold as it is, getting dressed up didn't make sense.  Instead, we both decided to dress for the weather, and drive down to White Plains for dinner.

Chazz Palminteri's place is in the heart of White Plains, NY, in an area where one must park at a garage, than on the street.  Although they have an arrangement with the hotel next door to use their valet parking, I did not want to remove my car's key fob from my handbag just to have my car parked.  Instead, I drove into the public garage nearby, parked the car (not needing to tip the valet anything when picking up the car) and walked to the restaurant.

How do I describe the food?  Well, we split an order of Calamari for an appetizer, and it was some of the best Calamari we've ever had.  The pieces were lightly battered, and cooked to the point of wellness just before the meat becomes rubbery.  It was a pleasure to eat the squid, and I almost wished I could have ordered a dinner portion for myself.  Instead, I ordered the Seafood Fra Diavolo pictured above and feasted on the clams, scallops, and lobster tail resting on a base of spinach fettuccine, YUM!  Everything was cooked to perfection!

Eventually, we left the restaurant and drove home.  It was a nice day, and something we'll do again when the budget permits. 

World Affairs: Can the Orange Monster find a way to end his war?

  

I'm hoping that this needless war doesn't come to using weapons like the one above.  It is effective, but a weapon of last resort.  Sadly, the Orange Monster has gotten himself into a war with no way to get out.  If he wanted to cut and run, he'd have only made the current Iranian regime more extremist, and more of a danger to the world.  So, we're likely stuck fighting an army of at least 1,000,000 men if we decide to put our boots on the ground.

There are conflicting claims on both sides regarding negotiations.  Are there are aren't there any negotiations going on?  As much as I can't trust Iran's statements, I trust anything coming out of today's White House even less.  Anything the current administration says has been proven to be a lie, including the words "And" and "The". Given that Israel and the US started this war while negotiations were going on, Iran has no reason to believe that we will negotiate in good faith.

I expect that we will get stuck in a war that will last for months at best.  If we pull out now, Iran can and will continue to cause trouble for us and our allies in the Middle East. They will have many scores to settle, and they won't stop until those scores are settled.  So what options do we really have?  As I see it, not many.  We will need to crush both military and civilian resistance in Iran for years to come.  Our boots on the ground will likely be fighting a guerilla war for many months, as it's now in Iran's interest to cause as much trouble for the US as possible for as long as possible.  There will be many bodies coming back to America in Body Bags (oops, I mean "Human Remains Pouches"), coffins draped by flags, men and women dying in a war which could have been avoided.

America is being led by a senile, self-aggrandizing simpleton with ADHD who doesn't have the capacity or interest to being a wartime president.  He acts as if all he needs to do is post something in his money-losing social media platform, and things will happen by magic. Hopefully, this will be the quagmire that he can't escape, and that his base will finally see him for what he is - a grifter with no class in an office he is not qualified to hold. 

 

I wasn't in the mood to do much this morning

 

Again, I woke up early today, and again, I was tired when I needed not to be.  But first....

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I was supposed to get together for coffee with one of my co-op board members.  However, I woke up around 6 am, after a not so restful sleep.  Staying in bed until 8:30, I didn't fall back to sleep, but awakened enough to get up and cook breakfast for a change.  (I have all the ingredients for a home-made version of s sausage-egg-cheese sandwich on English muffin.)  It sated my hunger, but I lost all track of time.

Why is losing all track of time important for me?

Well, there were 2 things I wanted to take care of before RQS arrives at 4:30.  First, I wanted to take a box of paper to the mobile shredder.  Since they shut down at noon, I knew I wasn't going to make it.  Next, was coffee with the co-op board member.  I wasn't ready when she called, but both of us had things to do.  So, it was a fortunate circumstance for both of us.

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Right now, I have been busy putting winter clothes into storage containers, as well as putting clothes back into my closets and dresser drawers.  I want to make some progress cleaning up my place before RQS arrives.  Now, I have a couple more hours to do so - and I'm grateful for this.

Game night was cancelled, and I was too tired to go into NYC to see a play.

 

What does Jumbo the Elephant have in common with an Off-Broadway show?  The answer is that both were meant to entertain people in NYC.

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When the day started, I had two things on the docket: Lunch with Maria, and Game night in Yonkers.  There was one problem that would cause me problems today - I didn't go to sleep until 4 am.  (I stayed up an extra 30 minutes to write yesterday's blog entry.)  So I knew I'd need more sleep during the day to recharge my batteries.

Waking up (but not getting out of bed) around 7 am, I unsuccessfully tried to fall back to sleep for another 1-2 hours before getting up.  Around 10:30, I got out of bed and started getting ready for the day.  By 12:30, I was in Cold Spring and was on time to meet Maria.  We talked about her family, including her new grandson, and issues she's been dealing with for a while.  Of course, I had a bit to say as well.  Sadly, she had to fetch her other grand kids at school, or we could have chatted longer.

Next, it was home to take a nap before going to game night.  Around 5:00, I received a text to let me know that game night was cancelled for the night.  Murder Mouth (their dog) didn't have a sitter for the evening, and he couldn't be trusted around people.  If I had known this earlier, I could have made a 7:00 performance of  Amazing Sex Life of Rabbits in NYC.  Sadly, this was not the case, and I ended up doing a load of laundry instead.

Although I would have enjoyed seeing the play, I didn't feel like I had the energy to go into the city and back today.  At least, there will be other plays I can see in the next 2 weeks. 

Lunch with a friend, and an aborted evening plan.

 

Today, I had only one thing on the docket - lunch with MSJ.   We always have a good time in our monthly meetings, but today would be a little different.  There was a little too much noise in the restaurant for me to hear anything.

But first....

I woke up to the morning sun when I'd have rather have stayed asleep.  After some time futzing with the computer and watching videos, it was time for me to get dressed and get ready to go down the hill to meet MSJ.  As usual, I wore my usual winter garb - a dress over leggings.  And I was at the restaurant at 1 pm.

It was unusually noisy in the restaurant, as several people were talking loudly to people sitting at a nearby table.  I had a hard time hearing my friend, and had to ask her to repeat herself a few times.  We talked about many things: politics, her family, my family, and my cruise related website.  She gave me a few ideas for improvement, several of which I will seek to implement in a future version of the site.

After lunch, I went home to nap - and overslept.  The idea of trekking into NYC for an off-Broadway play was squashed by the nap.  Then, my brother called - we were on the line for 2 hours.  So I ended up going to the diner for dinner, when all I wanted was a couple of pizza slices from the nearby (now closed for the night) pizzeria.  At least, I was able to enjoy some fish and chips.