Sunday Morning Coming Down

Greatest line until I hear something better:  "Ass down, heads up, and push forward".

This morning in Winnipeg, Manitoba the temperature was (-15 degrees F.).  It was colder during the night and I'm sure that if they could many Winnipeggers would spend the winter somewhere warmer.  My father grew up on Lipton Street in Winnipeg and often spoke about how cold it was and how difficult it was going to school during the winter and how easy it was to get frostbite. When the family moved to Miami, Florida he often said he had accomplished one of his life goals of living in a place where the winters were warm and he could golf all year long. At this time of year we who live in Florida are paid a Sunshine Dividend.

President Roosevelt in the State of the Union Speech in 1941 laid out the four freedoms that he and the United States stood for. 1) Freedom of speech and expression. 2) Freedom of worship. 3) Freedom from want. 4) Freedom from fear.  We have a way to go in implementation.  I don't think 1941 with WWII already on in Europe and Asia the good old days but it is clear that there were still ideals in this world to strive and sacrifice for.

What goes around comes around. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. A command based on words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount : “All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.” The Mosaic law contains a parallel commandment: “Whatever is hurtful to you, do not do to any other person.”   Believe in the worth and dignity of all persons, the interdependence of all things and continue to search for truth and beauty in the world we live in. 

Money follows power and the power to tax is almost the most important thing congress is supposed to do but fails to do on an almost yearly basis. Let's go back to the future and really limit campaign contributions.  It might require some level of public funding which will cramp the style of some but it might also refocus those elected to legislating, doing real oversight, and end the donor class from its overwhelming influence on policy because they fund candidates and issues through very opaque methods. We, the people didn't get much from the last presidential election so far and based on the latest round of tax reform it is unclear that enough will trickle down to deal with inequality issues and possible increases in the national debt.

Yesterday there was a special collection at church to send some money to a sister church in Puerto Rico.  I'm not sure how much was collected and the money will do some good but there are so many issues involved with fixing stuff in Puerto Rico that it is symbolic at best and keeps reminding the folks in Miami that here are folks that got slammed by Irma or Maria or Harvey and there are unmet needs in a lot of places including the fires in California. Life without electricity isn't exactly like just a weekend camping trip.  The pumps that provide water and move sewage and in the tropics refrigerates our food is something we take for granted. A local roofing companies are still busy fixing minor damage on our roofs, our condominium needs work on its emergency generator and trees still need some trimming and that may finally cost upwards of $20,000 that will need to come from reserves or a special assessment. In Miami after a hiccup you can flip a switch and there is light...

Giancarlo Stanton was the National League "Most Valuable Player".  He certainly was the MVP for the Miami Marlins as his contract was both long term and the highest on the team.  The previous owner signed "Mike" to a long term deal (13 years) that was worth reportedly about $25,000,000 a year, it was a guaranteed contract and it had a no trade clause that allowed him to pick a team should he decide to leave the Marlins.  Giancarlo had all the cards and the new owners had none. Derek Jeter/Sherman et al could not afford Stanton.  Even with historically low interest rates they could not pay for the face of the franchise as they were already leveraged to the max to buy a team that hasn't been to the post season for a decade.  They now have a comfortable stadium and what maybe a minor league roster for the foreseeable future in a city that has very rich zip codes and a lot of folks that can't even afford cable tv. Last year's 59 home runs by Stanton are ...

Bruce Sherman and Derek Jeter have unloaded Giancarlo Stanton to the New York Yankees and Dee Gordon to the Seattle Mariners.  I wonder how long it will take to unload Yelitch and Ozuna. I have been to a few games at the new stadium and it is a nice, comfortable, and convenient place to watch a baseball game. Beyond the creature comforts as a fan I'm not very sure this dumping of contracts to save is in the best interests of the game that used to be the "national pastime".

Regularly I make a couple of Key Lime Pies for dessert when the Moose Lodge has a fish dinner.   I’ve gotten good reviews and it is a good end to a nice dinner. You need per pie: lime juice (4 ounces), three egg yolks, a can of sweetened condensed milk, a nine inch graham cracker crust pie shell.  Mix the lime juice, egg yolks, and the sweetened condensed milk, pour it into the pie shell and bake it for 10 minutes at 375 degrees.  Let it cool and then refrigerate until ready to be served.  It's that simple.  You can top with whipped cream if desired. I use Nellie and Joe's Famous Key Lime Juice or Key Limes from a friend, or Realime Lime Juice.  The Key Limes seem to be a little more tart than the bottled juices.  Shopping is part of the process. 

I have no idea what John Conyer's son is like.  I have no idea what Ian Conyers is like.  But it seems according to reports that there may be two Conyers on the ballot to replace John Conyers Jr (88) who has served 52 years in the House of Representatives and has been viewed as an icon and someone who should have retired a while ago.  John Conyers Jr has endorsed his son to fill his shoes I could draw a parallel to the need for term limits. Michigan has a penchant for replacing long term members of congress with relatives lately.  John Dingell who served 60 years in office was replaced by his wife in 2015. It's difficult to drain the swamp.

John Anderson was at one time a conservative republican, a moderate republican, a liberal republican and finally an independent and third party candidate for the presidency in 1980. A fiscal conservative while being liberal in many social issues as his career in politics progressed he was a politician that defied simple labeling. His passing at age 95 was reported.  His politics were increasingly quixotic after 1980 but it is clear that he was dissatisfied with what politics has become,

Commenting on recently passed "tax reform". Senator Grassley  said“I think not having the estate tax recognizes the people that are investing, as opposed to those that are just spending every penny they have, whether it’s on booze or women or movies,” he told the paper.  I'm positive folks that are worried about the estate tax spend more money than I do on booze, vacations, or "date nights". I drink beer but the greatest majority of my money goes to supporting my family, paying for housing, food, medical care, insurance, education, utilities, taxes, gasoline, and a car payment. The good Senator has a point about spending stuff that he thinks is silly but I doubt that the average American thinks that adding to the deficit is a great fiscal policy either. Too many folks are living paycheck to paycheck as it is.

Typical Republican behavior in the realm of public finance has been to call for a "balanced budget" where expenditures do not exceed revenue and a smaller government. Typical Democratic behavior has called for more governmental expenditures to do things that governments are better able to do. The result has been very few budget surpluses and more than a few years when there was a deficit and in some of those years really big deficits like the years from 2009 to 2013 when the unemployment rate was high and many folks had dropped out of the labor market entirely. The current labor force is approximately 161,000,000 and the unemployment rate is 4.1%, while at the depth of the last recession(2009) the labor force was smaller (153,000,000), the unemployment rate was about 10%(15,300,000).  The Federal Budget deficit is smaller, but still large and no where near running a surplus.  Things are much better than they were in October 2009.  On a related front should we as a count...

Back before the turn of the century I got a bright yellow coffee mug from the Bristol Bank when I opened an account and set up a Certificate of Deposit.  The building was convenient, it didn't look like a bank building and I was pissed off at the local Bank of America that closed/moved.  No credit card just an ATM machine and a cooperative arrangement with Publix.  I really liked the mug. Bristol Bank was bought by the Bank of Florida which failed in 2007 or 2008 and with the help of the FDIC was bought by Everbank of Jacksonville, which became part of TIAA (Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association). The coffee mug has survived until Wednesday when it went missing.  Coffee in the morning without the yellow mug.  Ok, it might be in the bedroom, by the couch, hidden in plain sight.  Thursday, the mug was still AWOL and I really started to wonder if there had been foul play. I've taken it outside since Irma visited and it has spent time in the car. Did t...