Silence is the most beautiful sound…and the rarest.
Author: Henry Barnard
I am a voracious reader and also enjoy writing. I often have a very different point of view than the popular one. I do see value in debate, and thought it might add to the public debate on controversial issues if I were to express my contrarian opinions. I also started keeping my poems recently (I've written little pieces my whole adult life but never kept any); and I've been a photographer now for over 25 years. So I will be adding an occasional poem and hopefully interesting photograph to the blog along the way, just to spice things up.
Biden’s Dumb Stimulus Plan
Biden’s stimulus plan that raises the minimum wage, of course, undermines jobs by making employers pay more for their least expensive employees, so naturally what these employers will do is cut some of those jobs to protect their profit margins — this is especially true in states with a lower cost of living, as in many of the states in the South. This at a time when it is crucial to stimulate job growth. What’s the word for that. “Dumb” comes to mind.
The bulk of the program is this big giveaway to state government with deplorable finances — think New York and California. In other words, it rewards bad financial behavior by state governments with the most spendthrift mindsets. Another dumb.
Finally, it gives a huge amount of money to colleges and public schools, i.e., financing an education system that is already way overdeveloped to begin with. Another dumb.
And again we have this practice of giving money to people, which is part of the program which actually does address the immediate problem, but I ask you, is it smart for the federal government to be giving money to everyone — is that a smart practice in the long run? I think not.
Put another way, is it wise for the federal government, which is already so deeply in debt, to take on such an unprecedented amount of new debt? That’s what the big giveaway comes down to — an enormous expansion of federal government debt, which is already well beyond anyone’s real understanding before this stimulus plan is even put into effect. It mortgages our children’s future and their children’s future…and their children’s future.
What would make sense here is a massive infrastructure program by the federal government. What should have been done way back in the 2008 crisis but wasn’t. Are we about to repeat history?
Uncertainty
What happens after you have a fraudulent election.
The canary in the coal mine on the election for me was Arizona — that Arizona would side with a Democrat. That’s Goldwater Arizona siding with a Democrat. Yeah, right. And pigs can fly.
Even many of the Democrats think the election was rigged.
In addition to uncertainty, you pretty much destroy any faith in future elections being at all honest, which means your sacred vote doesn’t actually matter very much. The edifice of American democracy gets rocked. Thus the new and cloying uncertainty.
Kachava
You aren’t going to find any more spectacularly nutritious ingredients than in the two products put out by Kachava. Someone has put a lot of thought into what they include.
I use both the chocolate and the vanilla versions regularly in my smoothies.
Weathered Steps, Old Friends
Steps to the back door…
Not even a fleck of paint remains…
Wood worn and frayed at the edges.
Years and years of faithful support.
Always there to help you inside,
While dismissing the harshest weather.
They still bear up, uncomplaining, under heavy weight,
But greet you happily in the morning,
And wave a soulful goodnight in the evening.
Benign Protest
The Antifa riots and incidents during the summer and fall were a lot more serious than this rather benign takeover of the Capitol building, but the Antifa rioters were given a pass, while the identified protesters of the Capitol building are being prosecuted rigorously. What a disparity! Clearly shows who controls the media. Making Antifa legit means that political violence is now the norm in American politics.
“Night on Earth”
A fascinating series on Netflix.
Storming the Capitol
What you get with fraudulent elections.
Covering Naked Calls
You can cover your naked call by buying into the stock as it approaches the strike price. If you do this deftly, you then want the stock to be called away as you will make a gain on the sale of the stock. Buy 25 shares first, then leg into the remaining 75 shares as the stock price closes on the strike price.
If you want to be sure that the stock is called away, you can buy the last 25 shares when the stock price is far into the money — you take a small loss on those 25 shares but have gains on the purchase of the first 75 shares below the strike price. This strategy ensures that the stock will be called away — you don’t want to be stuck with 100 share of an overpriced stock.
The awkward situation is when you buy that first 25 shares below the strike price, but then the stock price reverses down hard — now you are stuck with 25 shares on a declining stock. If it declines far enough and hard enough, I start to think about a naked put, which would complete the strangle.
Not crazy about rolling the naked call to a higher and later strike price as you do this with a loss for the first naked call. Hedging by buying the stock means that you get to keep all of the original premium and can even make a small gain on the sale of the stock at the strike price to boot — a win/win. But you must have the cash reserve to do this.
The risk of hedging by buying the stock is that you may be stuck with 100 shares of an overpriced stock because it didn’t hold the strike price. But you have multiple options then. Just sell it immediately for probably a small gain. Sell an in-the-money call for some downside protection if you are bearish on the stock. Or sell another out of the money call if you are bullish on the stock. There are always options with options.
Corrupt
That Biden doesn’t see anything wrong in his son having enriched himself with foreign governments through influence peddling speaks volumes about our next president’s values.
No question, the “swamp” is about to take back the government. Here comes corruption and double talk. They enrich themselves while trying to make you think they act to promote the public interest.
Funny thing how our politicians in Washington are all multi-millionaires while always pushing the “fight for the little guy” narrative. Yeah, right. Many of them come by their wealth after arriving in DC. So I guess Joe’s attitude toward easy money isn’t that uncommon. Nothin’ wrong with it, right?
Henry's Views 