It's Been a Very Good Year

As this article in The Telegraph forwarded by my son-in-law indicates, despite everything, 2014 was a very good year. Sure, it was the year of Ebola, ugly racially-charged killings by cops, monstrous barbarity by the animals that call themselves ISIS, extreme economic disparity between the haves and have-nots of the world, ongoing wars in Africa and the Middle East.

Nevertheless, as the article points out and despite what the mass media screams everyday, the world is more peaceful than at any time in history. People are living longer and genocide, autocracy, and terrorism are actually in decline.

In America, I suggest you turn off Fox News long enough to read this thematically similar article by economist and Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman, who points out that, contrary to popular belief, about 10 million more Americans are covered by health insurance than were covered a year ago, thanks to Obamacare. Also, the growth in the cost of healthcare has gone down and the national health exchanges are operating nearly glitch free.

Also, strides have been made in immigration, climate change, and employment. We've witnessed powerful economic growth, strong gains in manufacturing, housing, and the stock market. Ebola was handled well and became a non-crisis in the U.S. and we didn't get ourselves involved in any more stupid wars. Not a bad year for a "failed" presidency!

Of course things are not all rosy, of which we're constantly reminded by the news media. But as the year ends, please take a moment to consider all the things that went right in 2014--arguably the best year the world has experienced in quite some time.

10 Things I Hate About Listicles

1. Listicles are a cheap way to get unworthy clicks on the Web.
2. It takes virtually zero writing or journalistic talent to do them.
3. They're among the worst Web time sucks outside of stupid cat videos.
4. They're irresistible even though clickers usually end up disappointed with their content.
5. No great ideas can be boiled DOWN to exactly 10 points.
6. Bad ideas cannot be boiled UP to 10 good points--padding abounds!
7. It sickens me that this sorry post will probably get the most hits ever on my blog--because it's a listicle!
8. The word itself is offensive and dumb--sounds like a certain male body part.
9. While people are wasting time on listicles, they could instead be reading my novel.
10. Listicles require 10 things and I can't think of 10 things for this one.  

Perfection is Over-Rated and Counter-Productive

We had our kitchen redone about six years ago—refaced cabinets, new tile floor with heat pads and dual thermostats, new fridge and dishwasher. It was all done about about the time my wife lost her job, which constituted half the family income, but that’s another story, another post. We have a half-bath off the kitchen, from which I removed the sink, toilet, lighting fixture and other bolt-ons so my wife could put up new wallpaper. It took her a year. Our lavatory is 4-feet by 4 feet. The wallpapering job looks perfect because my wife is a perfectionist.

            I am not a perfectionist. I’m not so bad that I can claim that for me “good enough is my very best.” I frequently sweat the little things, but seldom if ever sweat the tiny things. My wife takes pride in sweating the tiny…the infinitesimal… the molecular. She is one of those people who take on the look of disturbed pride as they describe themselves as perfectionists. The fruits of their labor, I do admit, are often good, but generally infrequent and well overdue on delivery. In the process, perfectionists tend to endure a constant misery and fear of underperformance while creating a hell of outlandish expectations imposed on partners, bosses, and underlings.

            “But I can tell the difference,” is the perfectionists’ lament, even when there is no difference perceivable to even the trained eye. And even when there is, I’m a believer in the glib retort, “Perfection is the enemy of the good.” Just get on with it. I have written four fair-to-good novels. The perfectionist is still working on his first. And working and working and working with no end in sight.

            Now, when it comes to surgery…

I Don’t Take Credit for My Kids

From a parenting standpoint, my wife and I have been very fortunate. We have raised two bright, well-adjusted, beautiful and passionate daughters, ages 28 and (almost) 21. They enjoy stable relationships with excellent guys and both couples face bright futures.

Yes, this may sound sickening and smug. And I would be the first to admit that my wife should be the one taking the most credit for their development, since she spends more time with them and had the most impact on raising them. But given all that, we’ve learned that it’s important to understand your limitations as a parent.

Kids are not computers. You can’t program them or command them to act in specific ways. Some perfectly attentive parents turn out children who become psychopathic killers, drug addicts, and various other forms of low life.

You probably know people like that—those who went to all the PTA meetings, parent-teacher conferences, were active in Boy/Girl Scouts, chaperoned at school functions, coached little league, monitored homework assignments, endured endless college campus tours, etc. Yet still their kids ended up serving time for robbing liquor stores.

Yeah, some parents just have bad luck. So, going back to my opening sentence, my wife and I have been very fortunate. We have self-motivated children who seem to love us very much—so what more can you ask?

But I’m thinking there’s more to it than just good luck—what else did we do? First, here are things we didn’t do:

• ·      We didn’t volunteer as much as other parents in our kids’ school and extracurricular activities
• ·      We didn’t hover over them when it came to homework and grades (and they still did well at school)
• ·      We didn’t force them to participate in activities that didn’t interest them
• ·      We didn’t have a say in the friends they made or the men they married (or are about to marry)
• ·      We didn’t force them to eat their vegetables
• ·      We didn’t stifle them in any way.

What we have done is encouraged them in all their endeavors. We always listen to them and offer suggestions, but never impose our solutions on them. We’ve exposed them to as many different experiences as our time and budget allowed with the hope of providing as rounded an experience as possible and to impart an appreciation for the great variety of life.

At no point did we expect to raise a dancer, an athlete, a musician, a scientist, a doctor, a whatever. But the idea was to lay out the possibilities and let our children discover their passion on their own—that’s not something we could do for them.

Personally, I am an attentive, though fairly hands-off, parent because I think this approach leads to more independent thinking—plus it saves me lots of time. My wife is more involved, but she is also is a firm believer in letting her kids discover their own path.

I’m not saying this is the best way to raise kids. But it worked for us. 

What My Home Made Bagels Look Like

My Bagels

Man is NOT a Rational Critter: A Screed

Many believe that what separates modern humans from their prehistoric ancestors is our rationality. BUT IT AIN'T TRUE! Humans are not rational creatures--they are ruled by intuitive beliefs, if not outright superstitions, tribal ideologies, and emotions. In other words, we're not so evolved from our caveman days. Some American examples:

The US ranks last in healthcare outcomes, life expectancy, infant mortality, and chronic disease care versus every other first world economy. Cost of care is the only thing that U.S. is ranked #1-- and by a long shot.  Here's proof and more proof. What every other country surveyed has in common is a universal national healthcare system. 

Now a rational person would think that maybe a national healthcare plan might not be a bad idea in this country, since other nations have shown that it would cover everybody, reduce costs, and improve outcomes. But when Obamacare came along and took some baby steps to create a more inclusive healthcare system, many raised a hue and cry based on pure ideology and unfounded emotion that this new system would somehow compromise our freedom. 

In other words, Americans were saying that they would miss the freedom of being denied insurance due to pre-existing conditions, their age, or their occupation. They would miss the freedom of losing all their assets as a result of a serious illness or injury and they would miss the freedom of paying higher premiums under the old system because their insurance companies were being forced to pay the emergency room expenses of people who couldn't afford their care because they took advantage of their freedom not to buy health insurance.

Sure, Obamacare has its flaws,namely the unnecessary added expense of the role played by insurance companies as the middle man, but that's part of the politics. But a rational person would probably say that a plan that results in more people getting more coverage a step in the right direction. 

Then there's climate change. The science is proven and a rational person may think that maybe we should try to move away from fossil fuels if we care to sustain the human race beyond the next few generations. But we are not rational. Otherwise, why do so many people profess a belief that climate change is a myth and that burning coal and oil is just fine. Even the government continues to subsidize the oil industry at almost three times the rate as green energy.

But I would call that a belief of convenience. Why believe in something that would force us to alter our lifestyle--a tax on carbon, more fuel-efficient cars, a larger commitment to mass transit, larger subsidies to renewable resources. Paraphrasing Upton Sinclair, people will believe anything if their paycheck and lifestyle depend on it. 

Of course, people in Europe are no more rational than the U.S., though they have better healthcare and climate policies. Their economies remain in the dumper because they continue to follow policies that have proven time and again to cause or worsen recessions--and they follow policies based on emotion, superstitions, and ideology. 

A rational policy based on past history of strategies that have worked would call for fiscal stimulus that would spike demand and help lift these economies off the canvas. Even a limited stimulus in the U.S. had a positive effect in the U.S. in 2009, and a great effect in the early 1930s and 1940s. But again, people do not make decisions based on rational thought.

After all, why do so many people still go to church and pay tribute to some invisible phantom in the sky every week? Is that the behavior of a rational creature or is it more like an expression of the fear-fed superstitions characteristic of our prehistoric ancestors?  

Read Any Good Books Lately?

I get that a lot. People who know that I write tend to be curious about what I read. Then they’re usually appalled when I recommend something that is exactly not their taste.

I read all kinds of stuff—a wide variety of fiction, mostly literary, and I particularly like authors who experiment stylistically. I also like humor and writers who are masters of mainstream storytelling and character development.

I’ve also taken an interest in biographies and histories, especially when it comes to areas like economics. I’ve read several books that have tried to explain what went wrong in 2008 that caused world economies to crash until finally I think I have a good handle on that. Here’s a short list of books that I’ve read recently that I recommend:

• ·       The Patriarch: The Remarkable Life and Turbulent Times of Joseph P. Kennedy. Sweeping biography with great insights into the rise of the Kennedy mystique.
• ·       The Art of Fielding. A story about a brilliant college shortstop who gets the throwing yips, but a whole lot more—engaging on every level: character, themes, emotions.
• ·       How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia. Falls more in the experimental fiction category—an absorbing tale about a young man’s rise and fall and final reconciliation written in a form an instruction manual. Brilliant!
• ·       Angle of Repose. An epic tale about the civilizing of the West, by Wallace Stegner, among the great American writers.
• ·       After the Music Stopped: The Financial Crisis, the Response, and the Work Ahead. The most coherent explanation of the financial crisis out there that even I could understand. Written by a famous economist and former assistant chairman of the Federal Reserve.

For a more exhaustive list of recommended reads, check out my Goodreads page.

Too Much Information

The internet hasn’t made finding a good restaurant, a good hotel, a good book, a good lawn mower any easier, in my opinion. Sure you can find reams of comments, suggestions and ratings for almost any consumer product or service on various websites, which should be a huge improvement over the pre-internet days when word of mouth, a family friend or relative, and a few consumer magazines were all you have to go on.

But the pendulum has swung the other way. Now we have too much information. Taking a trip to Miami? Should be easy to find a good hotel, just check out Hotels.com and read the reviews. Problem is, reviews are all over the place. For every great review a hotel receives, you have customers reporting horrible experiences.

Same thing with restaurants and books. My latest novel has been rated five stars to one-star on Goodreads.com, so you don’t gain much from that. And be especially suspicious of highly-rated products and services with just a few reviews—chances are they’re planted by the purveyors (not mine, of course!).

In the end, we’re still on our own. Too much information via the internet horde is just as bad as not enough information. Consumer Reports is still the gold standard of ratings vehicles, but unfortunately you have to pay for it. Otherwise, we’re back to trusting the opinions of friends and family and the local theatre, film, and restaurant critics.

Will the U.S. Become the Next China?

It’s more than a little disturbing to me when assessing the potential outcome of a radical right wing takeover of the U.S. government, especially if a Republican wins the next presidential election.

We could suddenly be thrust into a situation in which an emasculated EPA and the reversal of environmental laws would remove any restrictions to carbon pollution, resulting in the increased fouling of our air, water, and land. We’d be living in a country in which the oil and gas industries could operate at will with little federal oversight, thus increasing the risk of catastrophic spills, the destruction of vital underground aquifers, and unrestricted emissions of greenhouse gasses.

Since the Senate majority leader represents a large coal-producing state, one can envision the lifting of all coal plant pollution restrictions, thus hastening the climate change processes that could soon plunge Miami, New Orleans, New York City and other coastal areas underwater and destroy essential croplands in the West and Mid-West.

From a financial standpoint, a radical right-wing takeover will probably result in the scaling-back of most banking and Wall Street regulatory controls, allowing these institutions to again run roughshod over the U.S. economy, which is their natural tendency as they insatiably pursue profit. Naturally this will lead to an eventual financial collapse, an inevitable bailout by American taxpayers, and perhaps another Depression.

The radical right will also get rid of Obamacare, resulting in the millions of Americans currently insured through the exchanges or through the expanded Medicaid program either to lose their coverage and face potential bankruptcy as a result of illness or injury or face radically higher premiums. And, ironically, the cost of healthcare will actually go up if the ACA is abolished.

Finally, a radical right government with the ability to further politicize the U.S. Supreme Court, will appoint ultra-conservative ideologues when certain superannuated justices retire, which could result in outlawing of abortion for any reason, remove all campaign finance restrictions, and rescind any employee protections opposed by corporate interests, including the right to form unions.

Long story short, we would become China. In its single-minded quest for economic growth to placate a restive populace, China has become the most polluted country on earth. People in Beijing, which is ringed by coal-fired power plants, and Shanghai, walk the streets with surgical masks over their faces.

Some days the air is so foul they can’t even leave their homes. Clean and safe drinking water is nonexistent in most places due to a lack of regulatory controls and rampant government pay-offs from polluters. But to its credit—and driven by circumstances—China is also making the world’s biggest investment in green energy.

Since Chinese citizens do not have a national health care plan, they save much of their income to pay for catastrophic illness and injury, but they would be quickly bankrupted if medical care cost a fraction of what it does in the U.S.

And, the oligarchs do well in China. Government officials and their well-connected friends reap most of the rewards of a rapidly growing state, with precious little trickle down to ordinary citizens. Sound familiar?

Conditions in China have much in common to circumstances that are turning the U.S. into one of the least egalitarian countries in the developed world. Sad to say, these trends will likely accelerate under a radical conservative regime that now dominates both houses of Congress and the Supreme Court.

The difference between China and the U.S. is that the conditions under which the Chinese people live are promulgated by a totalitarian regime. We in the U.S. don’t have that excuse—we have freely elected the buggers who are hell-bent on destroying our quality of life!

  

Thoughts on Guacamole: The Definitive Recipe

I love guacamole. I love guacamole with my Friday martini. And like my homemade bagels, I like my homemade guacamole much more than restaurant and store-bought executions. Flavor has something to do with it, but so many people overlook the importance of texture in foods.

I like lumpy. Lumps in food like mashed potatoes and guacamole are like little bonus packets of amplified flavor. They titillate the tongue and are a relief from the tedium of smooth. Even when the flavor’s not bad, I’ve never warmed to the spackle-like texture of most restaurant and supermarket guacamoles.

So here’s how I do it.

• ·       Scoop out two very ripe avocados (a little brown in the flesh is okay).
• ·       Gently mash in a bowl until lumpy-smooth.
• ·       Add some chopped cilantro leaves (I like a lot of cilantro); half a medium tomato coarsely chopped (the less ripe, the more finely it needs to be chopped); a long squirt of lime juice (bottled is fine); two minced garlic cloves, a squirt of sriracha (as much as you can stand), salt and pepper to taste
• ·  Stir it all up—the different colors and lumpy consistency are quite beautiful.

Serve with tortilla chips and well-chilled super-dry Beefeaters martinis. Or for you non-drinkers, a nice lager will do.

That’s it. I’ll post a photo the next time I make guacamole—it’ll spark excessive salivation.

What the Mid-Term Election Means to You

Let’s try to put a practical spin on yesterday’s Republican take-over of Congress. First, it’s safe to say that the result was more an anti-Obama vote than one based on specific policy positions taken by the candidates. After all, since Obama’s election in 2008, the Republican Party has not taken positions or offered legislation any more substantial than voting “No” on everything the Democrats, including Obama, proposed.

When you have a polarized Congress like we do today—and a Congress that can’t agree on anything other than raining bombs down on hapless Muslim territories—what is a citizen to do? It’s safe to say that it will be at least two more years of gridlock until the next election, which pretty much takes the federal government out of the picture from a governance standpoint.

So here’s what you do. Make sure you live in a state and a community that supports your values. For example, if you have children, stay out of states like Florida, Kansas, North Carolina, and Wisconsin that are making major cutbacks to education as well as other services important to childhood development.

For those who care about your children’s education, you may want to consider states like New York, California, and New Jersey (although that state has its own set of problems and there are large variations among communities).

If you care about clean drinking water, then stay out of states with loose fracking laws, like Texas, North Dakota, Wyoming, Oklahoma and parts of Pennsylvania.

If you’re not comfortable being around a lot of guns, then stay clear of Virginia, Florida, Texas, Arizona, among several others.

Most states with Republican governors and legislatures will be looking to cut already inadequate budgets, which will mean poorer schools, crumbling infrastructure, inadequate medical care for the poor, and, in the case of Kansas, the very real threat of bankruptcy.

In a nutshell, expect nothing from the new Congress and the current president, because that’s exactly what you’ll get over the next two years. All politics is local now, so pick a place to live that coincides with your lifestyle, morality, social philosophy and personal needs.

I do wonder how long a nation can flourish without a functioning federal government. A pretty long time given that we’re still here and the legislative paralysis in Washington goes on and on.  

Why the Lottery is a Good Investment

When I bought my morning coffee today I noticed that the Mega Million jackpot stood at $289 million!  That’s $289 million! Wow!

However, many say that, given the gazillion-to-one chance of actually claiming the jackpot, only complete fools would bother wasting their money on a lottery ticket.

I beg to differ, and as a registered financial adviser, I think my opinion should hold some weight. A good investment is one that delivers a benefit in excess of its cost. That benefit could be in the form of cash or some other good, such as enjoyment, knowledge or some other kind of fulfillment.

I believe a lottery ticket provides two potential streams of enjoyment:

• ·       A huge monetary award
• ·       The fun of thinking about what you would do if you win that huge monetary award

Obviously, most of us will not win the lottery, but how many of you have not taken advantage of the second benefit?

I for one make it a practice whenever I buy a lottery ticket to lose myself in a brief reverie of how much money I would win in a lump sum after the state’s cut and income taxes. I think about how I would invest the money and spend the money and alter the lives of my nuclear family to enable us to realize all our dreams and wishes.

In other words, I allocate 10 minutes of my time to dream, which I consider a cheap form of entertainment. From a monetary standpoint, a $1 lottery ticket providing 10 minutes of pleasurable dreaming comes out to an expenditure of only $6 an hour (60 minutes/10 minutes= 6 x $1= $6.00/hr.). Compare that to other forms of entertainment.

• $15 ticket for a 2- hour movie: $7.50/hr
• $100 ticket to a 3-hr Yankee game: $33.33/hr
• $50 two-hour meal at a fancy restaurant: $25/hr.
• $4 ice cream cone (takes 15 minutes to eat): $16/hr

So if anyone tells you that buying a lottery ticket is a waste of money, challenge them to come up with a more economical way to spend their entertainment dollar!

Guitar vs. Sudoku

As I progress through my sixth decade, I’ve become quite concerned over the potential of losing…my…mind. Not in the sense of going crazy, that condition is a given, but rather losing the mental capacity to focus, remember, and apply my mind to complex problems.

I’ve been encouraged to take up Sudoku by several people, since it’s a demanding way to exercise the brain and, presumably, retard the retarding process. Problem is, I don’t really like games so much—that whole subset of Sudoku, crossword puzzles, jigsaw puzzles—just puzzles in general don’t excite me.

So I play guitar. As mentioned in a previous post, I’m not a natural musician and playing guitar is an avocation that I do purely as a challenge and a form of relaxation. And playing guitar, especially classical pieces, exercises a variety of muscles. It develops hand, wrist, and finger strength, not to mention overall digital dexterity. And if you hold the guitar correctly, it helps develop good posture.

But it also builds your mind. Classical guitar requires the ability to read music and translate music on the page to the fret board and strings of your instrument. Not only must you figure out the structure of the passages being notated, you have to determine finger positions on the fret board and your right hand movements, which can be very challenging since the same note configurations can be played several different ways on the neck. 

All this is results in significant mental exercise, especially when you begin learning a complex piece.

So I’ll take guitar over Sudoku anytime—you get both your physical exercise and brain work in at the same time. 

And sometimes it even results in some sweet music.

Do Good There or Do Good Here

A columnist for The New York Times by the name of Nicholas Kristof uses his refined journalistic sensitivities to plead the case of the poor and downtrodden in third world countries. He’s written a book in which he urges readers to donate money and/or time to help improve the lives of these people. He often works on your sense of shame to be more proactive to his pet causes.

Certainly his heart is in the right place and there is endless misery in the world that must be addressed, but Mr. Kristof and spouse seem to home in the most hopeless and most desperate. As a reader, I sympathize for the plight of the less fortunate, but where does one begin?

For the most part, the greatest misery is found in the regions of the world with the most dysfunctional leadership, which leads me to conclude that without addressing that underlying situation, our charity will be wasted or otherwise usurped by the power structure.

Mr. Kristof is an intrepid traveler and visits and meets with the most afflicted populations in the world, so naturally he is greatly moved and inspired to call the first world’s attention to the most horrific situations. But again, with the need so great, how can our pittance of support make much of a difference?

I hate to say it, but charity should begin at home. It begins by providing education and other opportunities to the next generation, your kids for instance, before you can adjust your sights outward to volunteer time and money for the community. I believe in local first. Help bootstrap the less fortunate in your town or in less affluent areas where your contribution can make the most impact.

Yes, I’d love to provide a roof and an education to the masses of unspeakably poor and abused in the Sudan and Congo, but my humble efforts are little more than spitting into the ocean. When the system is so broken, how can we know that our dollars are well spent—or spent as well as they could be if we take a more local approach? 

Are You Cut Out For the Corporate LIfe?

I’ve had a moderately successful career in middle management at a major financial services company, despite the fact that I lack many of the qualities needed to be extremely successful in a corporate environment. In fact, the only reason I’ve survived is because I offer a valued skill set, specifically an ability to write and produce a wide range of marketing communication materials in all formats and for almost any audience.

This is a quirky skill set that’s essential to a firm offering its products and services to various audiences, but it limits the upside potential for such a person if he or she doesn’t have the other attributes needed to really climb the ladder. In fact, the following attributes, which I lack, are far more important than the ability to create a web site, write and produce brochures, produce videos, and so forth if you really want to advance into the executive ranks.

Here is what is holding me back from being a smashing corporate success:

I’m an introvert. Organizations dote on outgoing people who like being amongst other outgoing people. Those who can’t function at cocktail parties, conferences, and team-building activities don’t get very far. Plus, I hate public speaking, which is a must when you work in a group.

I’m not a team player. Organizations are all about collaboration and doing things as a team. I tend to create my masterpieces alone in my office and present them to others. When creativity is involved, adding cooks to the piece is not usually synergistic. And I want the credit when I do something well and not have it dispersed to lesser contributors. If it sucks, I’m more than willing to accept the blame.

I don’t schmooze. Schmoozing and small talking your peers and bosses and forming mentor relationships are essential to career growth. I have a physical gag reflex that prevents me from sucking up to superiors and mouth sweet nothings to people I care nothing about.

I resent authority. I’m usually smarter than those in charge and since I’m self-motivating and self-guiding, my bosses usually can’t tell me anything about my performance that I don’t already know.

I have zero leadership skills. Leadership is big in corporations—they look for future leaders. Don’t look at me—I hate supervising people, have no desire for power, can’t do the “rah-rah” thing without suffering bouts of reflux, and, of course, my personal goals always take precedence over corporate goals.

Devoted to the company mission. You must make your company’s goals your personal goals. I’m way too self-centered to care about the company’s mission. If I do my job well, then the company directly benefits. That’s the order of importance for me.

So, if any of my negative traits apply to you, you will not be happy in the corporate life. You’re better off starting your own thing, since unless you’re willing to become the corporation, you will never go far in the corporation.

Ebola? You’re Worried about Ebola? Oh Puhleeze!

Sure, Ebola is a frightening disease and a grisly way to go. But did you know that you are 23 times more likely to die from a lightning strike than contracting and dying from Ebola? Consider:

NUMBER OF DEATHS IN THE U.S. FROM:

Ebola:  1 in 2014

Lightning strikes: 23 (2013, NOAA National Weather Service)

Skateboarding: 30 (2013, skatepark.org)

Helicopters: 133 (2012, helihub.com)

Guns: 30,000+/year (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

Vehicle-related: 33,561 (2012, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety)

Drinking: 80,000+/year (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

Smoking: 480,000+/year (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

Really, aren’t there better things to worry about? 

France and Italy Finally Step Up

It's supposed to be the eurozone, not the Germanyzone, which is something that France, Italy and other member countries are finally realizing. Eight years of economic mis-rule by Merkel and her ilk in Germany has Europe teetering on the brink of deflation and a third descent into recession since 2008.

Isn't that enough proof yet that austerity, budget reductions, and cutting back on government spending is a sure way to economic disaster in the face of today's negative demand enviroment? It's death by wayward ideology!

So it's heartening to see that France, Italy and the European Central Bank are finally rebelling against Germany and its austerity gangs by finally talking about stepped up government spending to stimulate their economies, put people back to work, stoke demand and actually lay the foundation for sustainable growth.

"We need to show that Europe is capable of investing in growth, and not only in rigor and austerity," said Matteo Renzi, Italy's Prime Minister. Here here! Europe's economy is as large as the U.S.'s, so a European stimulus helps international trade in the U.S. as well and may finally snap the Western world out of a slow-to-no growth treadmill that we've been on for the last four years.

It may just happen, because even Germany--the eurozone colossus-- is spiraling towards another recession, so it may finally be receptive to some stimulus itself. This is not the Weimar any more. Inflation, rather than being an evil, is actually needed in times like these.

There are certainly times to tighten the purse strings. But now is not that time! Let's go out and fix some roads, build some bridges, and hire more teachers. 

The Internet of Evil

It’s difficult to overestimate the evil and underlying immorality rampant in the world today. How is that for a grand, encompassing sentiment? What's with the proclivity to take the short-cut, to steal and otherwise acquire what one desires through illicit means? 

Like many things, this tendency is magnified by the Internet. Just as our Narcissism and shallowness leap to the fore on various social networking sites, our human urge to sabotage, undermine, and steal is magnified by the stealth and convenience of the online world. 

I’ve always felt that community and religion help keep those aspects in check—community because it’s easier to be exposed and humiliated for such behavior, and religion because of the ever-present punishment of the Great Inferno. 

But the anonymity and scale offered by the Internet reduce the chances of being caught and religious belief isn’t as much of a deterrent to the tech-savvy for some reason. Thus, our sinister natures come to full flower in the constraint-free world of the Internet. It’s an infinite red light district of scams, boondoggles, con games, vandalism, voyeurism, and sex.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but when no controls are in place, it makes it much easier to run roughshod over positive social norms. It does make me wonder the degree to which our character is inherently malevolent and destructive. It would seem, when left to our own devices, a predominant choice would be mayhem. 

Our evolved intelligence and cleverness only makes us more destructive per capita than any other beast. The Internet and how we use it does accentuate our essential beastly nature. 

In other words, just be on the lookout whenever you log on.

Things Not to Worry About

Lotsa of things of an unsettling nature are going on today.  As I write this, the stock market is down about 400 points and is rapidly approaching correction territory. A correction is a decline of at least 10 percent from the most recent market high. So if the Dow Jones Industrials goes down to 15,551, we would be in correction territory.

The thing is there’s nothing you can do about it. While the global economy picture is not great, stock prices are not at a point that they are terribly over-valued, so not many people are predicting a bear market. There have been 27 market corrections since the end of WWII and each time the market has bounced back, with the average being 115 days. 

So if you haven’t taken your stocks off the table already, leave them where they are because if you cash in now, you’re only locking in your losses. These things usually happen once a year, but we haven’t had a correction since 2011, so we’re due. This is something not to worry about.

Another thing not to worry about is Ebola. At least not in the U.S. There are many things to worry about in my home country—out-of-control Republicans, stupid gun laws that kill 30,000 people a year, abortion law restrictions that will end in the deaths of untold numbers of young women, lightning strikes that will kill a few dozen, and the lack of political movement on climate change. But Ebola, gosh, it’s killed two people in the U.S. so far—we lose that many in 30 seconds to heart disease.

And finally, back to ISIS. Let’s not worry about ISIS. They do not present an immediate threat to the U.S. Sure they’re crazy and sure our bombing missions will not subdue them—but really, are they about to set up a caliphate in the U.S.? Please, not to worry!

Finally, don’t worry about Beyonce and Jay Z. I’m sure they’ll be able to work out their differences and remain the first couple of American Pop. We all have our ups and downs. Let’s worry about those things and let Beyonce and Jay Z worry about theirs. If things do go south on them, it’ll give us more time to worry about Kim and Kanye.

Still, if you must worry about things that don’t affect you, let me know and I’ll share my martini recipe with you. It nips worry in the bud.

Think Twice About Buying That Annuity

Here’s some more investment advice: Most annuities are a bad deal. First, what are annuities? They are an investment that you make in which your gains (interest and appreciation), if you have any, aren’t taxed until you withdraw them.

In the case of variable annuities, which are the most commonly bought, you are investing in underlying mutual funds, usually stocks and bonds. The beauty of an annuity is when you retire, and “annuitize” your annuity, you get a guaranteed stream of income for life, if you so choose. Outside of Social Security and a traditional company pension, which few people have these days, only annuities can provide that guaranteed income.

Here’s the downside—cost. Variable annuities are not cheap. To get that tax-deferred benefit and guaranteed income, you have to pay for the risk that the annuity seller is taking to guarantee your money. Depending on the variable annuity you buy, that annual fee could be 3% or more—and that’s on top of the fee you are paying on the mutual funds in your annuity.

Bottom line, you could end up paying anywhere from 4% to 8% or more in fees for your annuity, which means your investments must make at least that amount each year to break even and start earning investment returns. I think that’s a pretty steep price to pay for a little added security. Most people are better off just investing in low-expense index funds and setting up a withdrawal plan at retirement.

There is one kind of annuity I do believe in—it’s called an immediate annuity. Companies don’t publicize them that much because they’re not big money makers for them like variable annuities. With an immediate annuity, you deposit a lump sum of money with the provider, usually an insurance company, and they pay you a set stream of income for life.

The interest rate on a immediate annuity is based on prevailing interest rates plus an amount based on your life expectancy—the shorter your life expectancy, the higher the interest rate, since the annuity provider won't have to provide income for as long. The big benefit is you get a guaranteed stream of money at a higher rate than if you had invested in a bond at the prevailing interest rates. The downside is you lose access to the principal that you invested, but heck you won’t need that money when you’re dead!

Let me know if you’re interested in the best way to set up a retirement withdrawal strategy.