Malibu morning picture of the day - Friday, May 6, 2016

Dear Family, Friends, and Gentle Readers,

It's Friday and a storm system scheduled to roll thru So Cal. Apparently it's raining to the south in San Diego and supposedly headed north. If so, these clouds here are the northern edge.

It makes for a interesting sky when you have multiple layers of clouds like this, and the sun is low causing some contrasting shadows.  Here are 2nd and 3rd looks for you.

I hope you have nice weekend plans in store. Maybe I'll make some time and actually go see Jungle Book and catch up to the rest of America.

I was in the Cub Scouts back when the Disney's first version of Jungle Book came out. It was a field trip on a Saturday and we went to Grauman's Chinese Theatre to see it. I even remember a large display banner hanging on the theatre. They might have had a studio premier there.

When we had a field trip, I remember we always wore our caps. We also had our shirts with the sewn-on merit badge patches.

There were a few boys I recall who did not have the long-sleeve, navy blue shirt that the rest of us would wear to meetings. They had a yellow t-shirt with the cub scout logo on it. I remember thinking that the t-shirt was cool because they offered freedom of movement (important to boys).

The blue shirt was somewhat restricting, and your behavior was heavily restricted when you had it on. It was like being in a Sunday suit. Most fathers were Korean War or WW2 vets and they had certain ideas about what was called for when you were in uniform.

It was only in later years that I came to appreciate that the boys who only had the t-shirt were from families that could not spare the extra dollars on the uniform shirt, but they were not excluded from membership because of it. In fact, I remember two such boys who were friends of mine telling me that they didn't have fathers which seemed odd, but we never took it any farther than that in conversation.

I remember thinking sometimes that those boys were maybe luckier having one less gruff, sometimes mean, demanding presence in their life. It's interesting how a kid processes circumstances much different than adults.

I don't think I had the slacks. My oldest brother may have had them, and I may have had them 3rd-hand via hand-me-down. Being 3rd of 4 boys, I rarely had new clothes of my own. Little brother Greg did get new things because by 4th wearing, pants, shoes, and shirts had gotten too ragged.


Friday's Dialogue with Jo Libertarian

Yes, it's that time again kiddies. In this election year, we are asking my friend Jo, who is a libertarian to give his knee-jerk reactions to the presidential issues of the day. Today we pick up the issue of jobs, creating them, and how do we get America back to work, since that seems to be something Americans seem to think a president has the power to do.

So Jo? How does the president create jobs and get America back to work?

Well, I figure both the presumptive nominees, Trump and Clinton, do have the power to create some jobs. The president is the head of the administrative branch. So, if I were in that office and promised to create some jobs, I'd call in my accountant and see if the budget had any more capacity to bring on some more full-time help where we were short-staffed. You have to make a decision to hire someone very carefully, because personnel is unique. Personnel wind up costing more in the long run in any kind of enterprise than any materiel or supplies you might need. And they make demands too. They're cost rises every year.

I'd tell my direct-reports the same thing. Hire to meet current needs if you can fit it in your approved budget, but think in the long term about their rising cost as years go by.

And then, I'd be the commander-in-chief too. The quickest way to create some jobs there is to start a war, and then we of course need more people. I don't have to worry about the budget in that case since Congress always seems to find a way to pay for our wars. What's that? Only the Senate has the power to declare war? Yeah, that's true on paper, but how is it that every president since WW2 has had to fight some kind of war without a declaration? So, it's a pretty meaningless requirement don't you think?

So in the first case, I could create a few hundred, and in the latter, several thousand. Campaign promise kept.


But how does that "get America back to work?"

That's a ludicrous idea that a president has anything to do with that. That's such a vague idea too.


But the administrative branch controls the Federal Reserve Bank right? And what they do directly affects access to capital (money needed to buy stuff or people needed to start or grow a business), right?

The president controls by appointment, but after those guys are in place, they do whatever circumstances and their ideology tells them.

The cost of borrowing money (from Uncle Sam) has never been cheaper (practically zero interest rates), but nobody seems to be taking the money and staffing up. I'm not even sure the Fed has influence on making business people borrow money.

Now the Fed lends to banks and those banks then lend to businesses, but only to businesses that qualify under their lending guidelines, and that's fine. But if I'm a business person who has access to a lot of low-cost cash, why not just get into the portfolio lend it out in turn by buying a high-quality bond and make money that way instead of going the more risky route of trying to make something that people want more cheaply than a foreign company can?

We've got 3.5 million people in America. Surely there have to be a few of us who can come up with some thing, or some way to do things that has value and is not easily outsourced overseas? That's not something a president has any power over. I know! Donald or Hillary can have a contest, and creative people can pitch ideas, and whatever seems good, they can loan money to develop it.

Isn't that the job of venture capitalists? Or really anybody (like a bank) considering a business proposal?

That's right, isn't it? I guess that takes us back to war. Africa. let's start a war in Africa. That's a continent we haven't had much foreign adventure in yet have we? Unless you count Libya, and most American's don't.


But hey, to libertarians, other than maintaining a legal system and coordinating national defense, the government has no part in job creation. People who have enterprises that need personnel will hire when they expand, and layoff when the contract. Jobs are created when enterprises need more people to get their job done. People can have jobs if they're willing to do what they're asked at a price they can agree to. Job seekers need to be smart enough to figure out who's paying for what kind of work and then get themselves trained to be considered.  Employers need to pay enough to get and keep the calibre or work force they require. It's kind of that simple.

If all you know how to do is put a door on a refrigerator on an assembly line (turn screws), and a robot in Sri Lanka does it faster than you for cheaper, then you need to up your game and find something else. Discard the old notion that you have of what you are. You're made in the image of God. You are the pinnacle of evolution. You're living in the most free society in history. Do better. I know you can.