There is the concept that too few people own the vast majority of “wealth”. Why isn’t “wealth” more evenly distributed among the population? The answer is simple. Some people are smarter and/or more intelligent than others.

1. Education: A good education is vital, although a doctorate isn’t required to become successful. People holding college degrees are not guaranteed success. Lots of trades people are hugely successful. Inventors, entrepreneurs, entertainers, sports figures and others without sheepskins  are among the rich.
2. Motivation: There are those who simply don’t want to put out the effort. Whether they feel as though they are doomed to failure no matter what they do (this is a well promoted message by some), or they simply feel entitled to a living (also well promoted…mostly by the “Left”), they are determined to resist being self motivated. Of course, there are also folks who are simply lazy. It is interesting how the unemployment figures never account for those who have just given up their search for gainful employment. They can do this because, as a country, we won’t let them starve. What would happen if they had to work to survive?
3. The Working Poor: Two jobs, sometimes three jobs are not enough to keep some people out of poverty. There are reasons for this. They have no marketable skills. They have more kids than they can expect to support. They don’t know how to use money and shop poorly and/or  live above their means. They have no concept of budgeting (either time or money or both). They fall for current marketing, fads and predatory schemes (Lottery? If only they knew that every time they don’t buy a ticket, they win a dollar.).
4. The Others: The truly disabled can’t work and, thus, are not part of this equation.

Continue reading REDISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH, and Obama. →

My grandson is a seven year old kid. He asked me to post something for him. Here goes:

I was interested in levitation. But, how do you levitate if there’s gravity? The only ways you can levitate are if you are floating in space. Or ate a bean cheese burrito.

I think he speaks from experience.

My (nearly) eight year old grandson asked me a question a few days ago. “Pop-Pop, what’s  out there past the universe?” Try explaining Quantum Physics, Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity and the Theory of Special Relativity to someone so young…especially when you don’t understand them yourself.

I gave the simplest answer possible. “Nothing”. He didn’t understand. I told him that there has to be something there for a “there” to be there. Since there is nothing, there would be no “time” for something to have the time to be. And something has to “be” in order to have a “there”. Simple. Right? Okay, I had to go further when he asked what would happen if he went to the “there” that isn’t there. I told him, “as long as you are there, there would be a ‘there’.” He looked a little confused. So I told him it didn’t matter and asked if he’d like a dish of vanilla ice cream. He said, “No.” I suggested chocolate. He declined and wanted to stay on the subject.

I told him that there are things we’ll never really understand because our brains aren’t smart enough. He made it clear that this might be true of my brain, but not his.

To demonstrate, I switched gears a little to the simple subject of infinity. I explained that infinity can’t be comprehended. I pointed to the globe in my office and said, “Infinity is the amount of time an airplane circling the equator would take to catch up to itself while flying at ever increasing speeds. (I didn’t get into the ever increasing mass aspect). He looked deep in thought as he spun the globe. “What if it went the other way?”, he asked. I jumped to the stalwart backup plan I rely upon when I’m flummoxed. I farted and blamed it on his grandmother. This, he understood.

We each had a dish of vanilla ice cream. He had sprinkles on his. He said, “Pop-Pop, Look! Sprinkles are round like little planets. What if you were able to squish the world down to the size of a sprinkle? Then you could put it in an airplane and the plane wouldn’t need to try to catch up to itself. It already did.” I’m afraid I looked a little confused.

I just finished watching a late night talk show hosted by Tavis Smiley. It concerned the plight of people who work…maybe multiple jobs, and remain poor. This is a subject being discussed more and more today. It always boils down to their income being too little. It seems to appear (to some) to be that simple. Just give them more money. Problem solved.

Not so fast. Continue reading THE WORKING POOR. →

It seems the U.S. voting public finds itself between a rock and a hard place. Only two viable choices for the Presidency.

Really???   Each, on their own,  poll as the most hated Presidential candidate in U. S. history. Add the two together and…WOW! Their negative, hateful campaigns are to blame.

If McDonalds focused its TV ads on telling viewers how horrible Burger King food is; and Burger King ran a campaign blasting McDonalds fare,  Arby’s would rule the day. After all,  they have the meat!

If you feel that voting for either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton would both be bad choices on your part, I’ll remind you of what Nancy Reagan advised people to do when they were under pressure to make a bad decision. “Just say no.”

Believe it or not, that is a viable option. We, The People, can demand a do-over prior to the election (or after). The political parties don’t rule us. We are the boss. The President, like any other elected official, is just another hired hand. And we can hire whoever the hell we want.

I feel bad comparing the two candidates to hamburgers. They are nothing like hamburgers. I like hamburgers. I like McDonalds and Burger King hamburgers. I also like Arby’s. And Subway sandwiches. And KFC. And soup. But I don’t like jock itch and that is exactly what this Presidential race feels like.

People give up trying when they believe there is no use in putting forth more effort. This can be for myriad reasons. Some reasons are clearly justified. Other reasons might include lack of imagination, personal inability to solve the problem, disinterest, laziness.

Two of my least favorite and currently overused phrases are synonymous with “I give up.” They are, ” It is what it is.” and “We’ll just have to agree to disagree.”

Number one: Things are always what they are. What is…simply is. William Jefferson Clinton might disagree with this, but it is the simple TRUTH. The FACT is: Some things can be changed for the better (or worse) if more effort is applied. Number two: Agreements can be reached when the two opposing parties recognize the FACTS of an issue, while putting their personal TRUTHS aside. This brings us to the difference between TRUTH and FACT.

TRUTH is subjective. If a man tells you his religion is the one true religion, he is not lying (as long as he believes it to be true). If a woman tells you her child is the smartest kid on the planet, she is very likely to be telling you the TRUTH. Neither of these things are necessarily facts.

A FACT is objective and is always a fact whether anyone believes it to be true or not. This is the truth. If you don’t believe me, all I can say is: I guess we’ll just have to agree to disagree. It is what it is. I give up.

And dat be da FACT, Jonathan!

I was a slow, rote learner in school…unless the lesson was demonstrated to be pertinent to me and useful in my everyday life. Then, it tended to stick with me.

One day, when I was a teenager, I met a beautiful girl. And when I say beautiful, I mean a budding super model. Gorgeous face. Sensational figure. And not at all uppity! She actually seemed approachable.

I told her I was planning to go fishing from the jetty at Jones’ Beach (Long Island). She said she liked to fish, too. I suggested, ” You should come along. I have two fishing poles and you can use one of them…”, her eyes widened and she smiled as I continued, “…and while we’re there, we could strip each other naked and have hot sex in the sand.”

That was the day I learned WHY you should never end a sentence in a proposition.

I also learned an alternate use for a bag of frozen green peas.

I enjoy the English language. Particularly when it is economical and precise.

I decided to help my 7 year old grandson create a new word this evening. First, I explained the prefix, “neo”, as meaning “brand new”. Then, I explained that the word “natal”, means “birth”. He understood why the word “neonate” means “newborn”.

Next, I explained the prefix, “paleo”, means “ancient”. Then I explained how the word “flatus” is the result of flatulence. Now we know that Pop-Pop is a “paleoflate”.

A new, precise and economical word is born. Ta-da!

My proctologist gave me a thorough examination yesterday which, if I’m not mistaken, included counting my teeth.

Donald Trump has said, publicly, that he pays as little in taxes as possible. Claim every legitimate deduction. As a business owner, myself, I must agree. It seems abhorrent to me to throw money into a national sieve just to watch it leak out in the forms of pork-barrel project expenditures and wanton waste.

Businesses are required to follow the laws and rulings of government agencies. This comes at a price and those costs are deductible business expenses. For example, my business requires an eye-wash station in case someone has some chemical or other splash them in the face. This is an OSHA requirement. The installation of the eye-wash station was a legitimate business expense and therefore deductible when claimed in filings required by the IRS.

I believe all my purchases of antiperspirant and Beano should be legitimate business deductions in keeping with EPA regulations regarding air quality. I’ll let you know how that plays out.