• CALIFORNIA COOL KIDS AND NORMAL FAMILIES ARE LEAVING IN DROVES. The state is a mess – “economically, fiscally, socially, educationally & culturally. But in each category there exist sufficient can-kicking options (or ‘spin’ opportunities) to soften the realities.” At least, there used to be; Now, big tech companies (including Tesla and HP), Silicon Valley mega-wealthy, and some 650,000 middle class folks are leaving the state every year. “To leave a spot often branded as paradise for its warm, sunny & consistent weather, where the entrepreneurial culture promoted a ‘dream’ associated with being in CA,” the collective catalysts simply reached a point of ‘enough!’ With income tax burden highest in the nation, property taxes averaging $10K for the “most mundane of tract homes,” costs of insurance/ utilities/ vehicle registration all in the top 10% of states, education results abysmal, crime rates off the charts, high housing prices & cost of living, along with regulations that halt contracting & business licenses for sometimes years, the situation simply became untenable for too many. “Legislators make conscious decisions sometimes,” and so do normal people.  [NATIONAL REVIEW – 4/1/21]
  • DEDUCTIBLE BUSINESS MEALS/DRINKS REMINDER: To support restaurants for majorly adverse pandemic impacts, Congress changed the 50% allowable deduction to 100% during 2021-22, for food & beverages specifically provided by a restaurant for “immediate consumption” on premises or take-out. The increased deduction does not apply to pre-packaged food or beverages purchased at a grocery, drug, convenience or liquor store, vending machine, kiosk, etc.
  • RETURNING TO A ‘RULES-BASED’ WORLD (which the new Administration has made clear it intends to pursue) is a myth. Without an overwhelming power to impose & administer it, “a liberal international order has always been impossible… The U.N., unable to enforce rules, has sunk into a complex bureaucracy of humanitarian actions designed to mitigate the pain caused by failure to fulfill that ambition… REASON: The post-cold war gave rise to Islamic radicalism, endless American wars, and the rise of China – each with the sense that what matters most is ‘Nation-State’ interest, and primary consideration being how to get its obsession. Each determines how much ‘liberalism’ is tolerated, and when instructed by outsiders as to how they ‘should’ live, ignore or often answer with insurrections… International order can exist, if at all, when it’s convenient. But the idea of return to a glorious age in which nations were ruled by laws & liberalism is a fantasy. The human condition binds humans to communities large & small to think of themselves as free, not submitting to rules they have not made, nor to political principles they did not craft.” [GEOPOLITICAL FUTURES – 4/12/21]
  • “WHAT PASSES FOR ‘RACISM’ TODAY, and essentially all of its reported rise, is explained by media exposure, partisanship, and a person’s anxiety or depression levels.  Most recent research from a wide variety of data sources and surveys show significantly that the constant beating of the racism drum has led many to see racism where they didn’t previously… It’s not about intelligence or being informed. Indeed, educational attainment made no difference to results… Much of the false perception is due to traditional news sources, with social media accelerating the problem by significantly increasing a Black person’s sense that they had been a ‘victim’ of racial discrimination and/or offended by so-called microaggressions after just reading a few paragraphs written by someone with an extreme view… This distortion of reality is not just false, it’s actively disempowering minorities, and progressive media’s mining for racism has reached a point of diminishing returns, with perceptions doing more harm than good.”  [NEWSWEEK – 4/13/21]
  • THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK:   How the progressive tax system really works:  https://biggeekdad.com/2019/02/how-the-tax-system-works/

               “Of all the frictional resistances, the one that most retards human movement is ignorance” – Nikola Tesla