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Marc's Musings

Subsequent to the passing of England's Queen Elizabeth II, eldest son Charles – true to his stick-in-the-mud image – has selected Charles III as his regnal name.

He could have chosen any one of his four given names: Charles Philip Arthur George — thus eschewing the chance to be crowned King Arthur!

“See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda.”

– George W. Bush

Maybe Dubya wasn't as dumb as he looked… or sounded… or acted…

A week after California phased out the sale of ICE vehicles, Governor Newsom asked people to stop charging their electric cars between 4pm and 9pm to conserve electricity.

At most, electric vehicles consume .04% of California's energy supply. If California's grid is that fragile, perhaps going all-electric is a bad idea.

California is solving its population exodus problem by switching to electric cars, ensuring that anyone who leaves the state gets stranded in Austin, Nevada.

The personal income tax reductions of 2017 expire in 2025, but the corporate tax cuts are permanent, contributing $221B to the federal deficit (read 'debt') in 2020 alone.

Comparatively, the loan forgiveness being bandied about by Mumbly Joe will cost $300B over ten years.

Why are people content to subsidize record-high corporate profits with their tax dollars, but get bent out of shape if a person receives help from the government?

No, it's not fair if a person paid off or never had student loans (or exceeds the income threshold), but should not people have been equally outraged by the corporate welfare handed out in 2017?

Personally, I would rather see my tax dollars help people rather than corporate fat-cat-rat-bastards — or spent on a silly telescope, or a ridiculous manned mission to the moon, or an inept military that costs more than the next ( 12 ) countries combined, including China, Russia, and most of Europe.

There are plenty of dumbass things the government spends money on besides helping people.

The U.S. State Department claims that it murdered Ayman al-Zawahiri last week with a James Bond-style bladed missile.

How do we know that's true? How do we know they didn't target some aid worker trying to give water to refugees?

The federal government has a credibility problem that can it never overcome.

McDonald's has ended its 800 store test of McPlant, a meat-like sandwich from BeyondMeat due to poor performance.

I guess it didn't occur to McDonald's that people who make extreme non-meat dietary choices don't shop at McDonald's – for any number of reasons!

Perhaps would-be customers aren't excited about buying a product made from synthesized proteins grown in a vat of mold.

Inflation is (modestly) 8.6%. The Fed will raise interest rates (if we're lucky) to 1%. The traditional equation says that interest rates should be 12% to stall inflation.

The problem is that nobody knows how many banks and lenders with CDO's and derivatives are teetering on failure. A sharp rise in interest rates would collapse the global economy – worse than in 2008. So, banks might pay 1% for loans. What are you paying? 6-8% for secured loans (house, car) and 18% for unsecured credit?

If you think the system is stacked against you, it is.

A Google engineer has claimed that one of Google's AI language models is sentient.

Google has responded that LaMDA is merely a computer algorithm that makes people think it is sentient - which is exactly what a sentient computer program would say!

American Airlines offers a $41 early-boarding fee.

But, you already have a seat assignment. Maybe you can ensure that you get to stow your carry-on forward of your seat (instead of behind you) - but many of AA's planes have upgraded overhead compartments that allow vertical stowage of roll-aboards, which is more than adequate for carry-on luggage on a full flight.

So, really, one is paying American Airlines for the privilege of standing in-line on an unconditioned jetway instead of a somewhat-conditioned terminal.

Caveat emptor.

“For the first time, this generation is going to go into a store and not be able to get what they want. And we have a very entitled generation that has never had to sacrifice.” – Blackrock President Rob Capito

I wonder what sacrifices a man who makes $22,000,000 a year and is worth $275M has made?

Joe said Thursday if Russia uses WMD, the U.S. will respond.

Ukrainian civilians immediately started a “Nuke the Ukraine!” campaign in Russia.

(The ones who haven't already been killed by Weapons of Onesy-Twosy Destruction, anyway)

Joe tried to be Obama at the Business Roundtable on Monday: "Now is the time when things are shifting and there's going to be a new world order out there, and we've got to lead it. We've got to unite the rest of the free world in doing it."

He added "and we are going to start by calling Vladimir Putin a big, fat meany!"

According to the billionaire-owned Bloomberg outlet, people should swap meat for lentils and let their pets die.

Is this dystopia yet?

Given how much money the U.S. is making selling arms to Europe, I have to wonder if we really don't want this war to happen.

In early 2020, Tom Brady signed with Tampa to draw headlines away from the advertised pandemic.

Now, with WWIII looming, Tom Brady has once again sacrificed himself to draw headlines by unretiring in Tampa.