Substack Audio Blog

Why Isn't LinkedIn Easier to Use

Recently I have been traveling and while I normally keep logged in to …

Thom Hartmann Another Fool with Foolish Ideas

A friend of mine sent me an article by Thom Hartmann that was …

How America Created Present Day China

In 1912 the Qing Dynasty that had ruled China for some 268 years came …

Why Do High Tax Champions Hate Tariffs

President Trump is using tariffs as a negotiating tool with foreign …

Should We Worry About Government Waste and Fraud

I am trying to understand the outrage by Democrats and people on the …

Should The U S Shut Down The Postal Service

Should we still have a United States Postal Service (USPS) and if so, …

Has Socialism Performed Better Than Capitalism

A friend of mine sent me another Instagram post from Jason Hickel. You …

Lowe's Versus The Home Depot – Lowe's Wins

Early in 2024 I decided to remodel my house, including adding a second …

What I Did When I Discovered my CEO Committing Fraud

In late 1990 I was hired as the chief financial officer of a small …

Who is Worse Spectrum or Frontier

Spectrum is the brand name used by Charter Communications to market …

Jason Hickel Another Fool with Foolish Ideas

A friend of mine sent me an Instagram post by Jason Hickel. For those …

Yes, Some Cultures are Better Than Others

On a recent trip to Costa Rica, I stayed at the Tangeri Hotel in Jaco …

On a recent trip to Costa Rica, I stayed at the Tangeri Hotel in Jaco Beach. This hotel is a beachfront hotel in a great location. My experience at the …hotel was not the best. The internet service in my room was terrible, I could not get hot water from the sink in my room for two days, and service in the restaurant was mediocre (even though there were few customers). Breakfast was included and one of the menu items featured something that came with sour cream. However, when I asked for sour cream with my omelet, the server charged me an additional $3.50. Further the friend traveling with me told me he had been told when he checked in that no guests were allowed on the property. I wanted to have a real estate agent meet with me, so I checked with a lady at the front desk. Sure enough, she confirmed that no guests were allowed on the property in no uncertain terms.

This incident reminded me of another time I stayed in another hotel in Costa Rica. I was staying in a beach front hotel, and I had some issues with my room. The sheets on the bed were the wrong size for the bed, and every time I got in bed, within minutes the sheets would come off and would be lying on the mattress cover. I took my complaint to the front desk. Nothing was done. I complained again. Still nothing done. I complained to the housekeeper. Still no action. Finally, I went to the front desk again. A new manager was on duty. I explained the problem to him. Right away he contacted housekeeping and then he came up and supervised while the housekeeper found the right sized sheets and made the bed.

Over the course of a couple of days I watched this young man, and he seemed super-efficient, organized, and effective, compared to his counter parts. I bumped into him in the restaurant getting coffee and I asked him if he was the owner. He laughed and shook his head. So, I said, “Well, maybe one day you can buy your own hotel, you certainly are a great manager.” He told me that would never be possible. You see all the hotels were owned by a small group of rich people, most of whom owned the land for generations. He explained that none of them would ever sell to him, and if on the off chance he did find someone to sell to him, no bank would ever finance the transaction, and no investors would ever put money up to help him get started.Show More

Is Bank of America Collecting My Phone Contacts for the US Government

A friend owed me a few dollars from when we went on a ski trip …

Do Increases in Minimum Wages Result in Higher Prices

In August 2024 Governor Gavin Newsom of California touted on …

In August 2024 Governor Gavin Newsom of California touted on California’s website that the increase in minimum wages to $20 an hour for fast food workers did not result, as …some predicted, in a decrease in jobs. In fact, statistics showed that total employment in the fast-food industry increased.

I wrote an article pointing out that the statistics quoted by Newsom do not differentiate between existing fast-food outlets and new fast-food outlets. Why is that important? It is important because any fast-food outlet that has been opened since the legislation passed, was already planned prior to that legislation passing. Major fast-food companies can take three to five years to open a new location and once the company has entered into a ground lease, building lease, and/or construction contract to build or open a new fast-food location, the company can’t simply renege and cancel those contracts midstream. I also spent considerable time searching the State of California’s website to find the information on employment at existing locations versus new locations, but I was not able to find it. I wonder if that information was intentionally omitted, or if they simply did not bother to collect that information.

Now a study by Michael Reich and his colleagues are not only echoing the claims of Governor Newsom but go even further to claim that the increases in wages were not all passed on to customers, but a significant portion were absorbed by the “high” profit margins of the restaurants. The study says “…about 62 percent of the law’s higher labor costs were shifted to customer meal prices. That, it states, suggests “that restaurant profit margins ….absorbed a substantial share of the cost increase.” The study is being widely quoted in the main-stream media as proof that increasing minimum wages does not directly translate to increases in prices at the cash register. In other words, we can force business operators to pay their employees more, but those clueless business operators will just sacrifice their profits rather than increase prices.Show More

Why Capital Gains Tax is Wrong

We hear the subject of capital gains tax frequently discussed in the …