A Wandering Mind

  Common Sense on our Debt               If Janet Yellen, Secretary of the Treasury, is correct, the United States could default on its sovereign debt on June 1, 2023. That would be the first time in our history, and by all accounts of economists and others who know what they are talking about, that would be bad. But I am not an economist, I am a somewhat simple person, so I want to write about this in terms that I can understand.                First, let's acknowledge that borrowing to pay expenditures has been a feature of the United States and its political system since the Founding. The warring colonies borrowed to prosecute the Revolutionary War. And in fact, the people who wrote the Constitution and were there at the creation, the people we call "the Founders," knew this was a problem. While Jefferson and Madison on one side of an argument,  disagreed with Hamilton on the other, Hamilto...

  My Twitter Rules               I imposed a Twitter moratorium on myself in April 2023 because I did not like the person I was becoming. I do not want to be a snarky, small-minded person who responds to petty insults and becomes angry because someone questions me. But I have thought through a set of self-imposed rules which I think will help me produce useful content on Twitter and also help me preserve my own sanity. Just a note to anyone reading this: the rules apply to me, not to anyone else. But the rules help any other readers understand where I am coming from.  WHY I NEED TO WRITE: 1. I have worthwhile things to say. I returned to this blogger site now, in May 2023. As I read my January 2, 2021 post, I realized that my thoughts are worth reading. At least they are to me. I wrote that blog post four days prior to January 6, 2021, the day Donald Trump and his followers attempted to violently interrupt American democracy in progress....

 The Final Assault will Fail               It appears that as of this date, January 2, 2021, Donald Trump has largely failed in his attempt to hold power after the Inauguration on January 20, a little less than three weeks from now. However, he has dramatically succeeded in his attempt to divide Americans, to pit American against American, to make Americans decide whether to love him or hate him, and there is very middle ground remaining. That does not mean that middle ground is not viable, nor is it invalid. However, simply put, the middle ground is a return to our Constitutional norms and the institutions that keep our society somewhat intact.                First, Trump's efforts to intimidate voters, bully voters, delay ballots, and in general suppress enough votes in key states to win the election was, thankfully, a failure. The response of Trump and his team ("The Election was Rigged") was le...

RESPONSE TO SENATOR DEB FISCHER (R-NE) Senator Fischer,       While I appreciate your response to me, I am deeply troubled by your letter, dated November 20, 2020, which is copied below. Here is my rationale. 1. In paragraph 2, you state that "more than 70 million votes cast for each party’s ticket." That is factual, but it is also somewhat deceptive. In fact, as of this date (November 21), Joe Biden has earned 79,824,643 votes, while Donald Trump has earned 73,787,805, a difference of more than 6,000,000 votes. In terms of percentage, Biden has captured 51.1% and Trump 47.2%. For comparative purposes, recent elections with similar margins of victory include the 2008 and 2012 Obama victories, the 1988 Bush Sr. victory, and the 1980 and 1984 Reagan victories. So, yes, both Biden and Trump received over 70 million votes, but the fact is Biden's victory compares with these historic landslides. 2. In paragraph 3, you say that voter turnout in Nebraska was 74%, but it was 76%....

            Donald Trump and the Military-Industrial Complex by Jim Harrold                It has been a busy week for Donald Trump. Remarks attributed to him, in which he calls U.S. military members "suckers" and "losers," dominated the news. There have been denials and affirmations that he did, indeed, say those things. There is a public record of many of the things that Donald Trump has said about people like Senator John McCain. He has a history of making crass and inappropriate comments about others. It is not difficult to believe that he would make such comments about veterans of several wars. However, on Labor Day, Trump tried to explain himself. Once again, a Trump explanation always gives us insight into what he is really thinking, and perhaps provides more insight than he intends.             When Trump says something, we should look at what he said, what he did not say, an...

What to Expect in Trump's Second Term     I mention "Trump's Second Term" here because I believe Donald Trump will do everything he can to continue in office. If the election is close at all, his team will engage in lawsuits in several states to prevent states from declaring a winner. I do not know if he will attempt to delay the official counting of electoral votes, though that would not surprise me at all. However, it is also very possible that Trump will win outright. After all, that is why we hold elections. Donald Trump is not without popularity. Authoritarians throughout history rarely just take over without the support of significant segments of the populace.   Given that Donald Trump seems particularly unimpressed by the Constitutional doctrine of separation of powers (remember, he already said that he somehow has the power to adjourn Congress to avoid advice and consent on selection of officials; he has already publicly questioned why we need judges), he wil...

          As I write this, I glanced at the Johns-Hopkins University "COVID-19 Global Cases" interactive map. As of right now (26 March, at 9:30 AM EDT, there are 487,648 confirmed cases worldwide, with 22,030 deaths. That is a death rate of about 4.5 percent. The U.S has 69,197 cases, with 938 deaths, a death rate of 1.4 percent. However, it seems clear from tracking the interactive map, the U.S. will overtake first Italy, and then China, in number of cases, in the next week or so. It is significant because China has a population four times larger than that of the U.S.           Here is the thing--we should have seen this coming. One of the benefits of American federalism is that state governors actually have power. South Korea has a much more top-down form of federalism. Thus, South Korea's government proved quite effective in testing its population for this virus. In the U.S., our brand of federalism is a lot more messy. Gover...