From Rich To Richer

Anybody can do it if Donald can. Hard work and free enterprise made Trump what he is today. What that is, is is open to interpretation. It's certainly not an Horatio Alger tale.

Excerpted from: The Self-Made Myth: The Truth About How Government Helps Individuals and Businesses Succeed. http://www.alternet.org/story/156234/exposing_how_donald_trump_really_made_his_fortune%3A_inheritance_from_dad_and_the_government's_protection_mostly_did_the_trick

Trump was born in New York City in 1946, the son of real estate tycoon Fred Trump. Fred Trump’s business success not only provided Donald Trump with a posh youth of private schools and economic security but eventually blessed him with an inheritance worth an estimated $40 million to $200 million.

He understands and relates to the working men and women of this great country so get off food dstamps and get to work.

Paul Hunter budhunter@frontier.com

Forgetting History

Over the years many of my Republican friends have expressed wonder that the party of Lincoln, the creator of the Emancipation Proclamation, has failed to maintain its place in the political heart of the black electorate. After all the deep south Democrats were rightly viewed as the party of racial oppression via jim crow laws. What happened?

A case study of the causation:

Under pressure from the post war civil rights movement Democrat President Harry Truman, following the lead of President Roosevelt, began to raise civil rights issues as a national issue. This of course raised the political ire of the southern democrats and resulted in the formation of the Dixiecrat (southern “states rights”democrat) party.

The then Democrat Governor of South Carolina, Strom Thurmond, was chosen to represent the new segregationist party in the 1948 Presidential election.

This quote from a Thurmond campaign speech best typifies the attitude of the dixiecrat party and the beginning of the end of the democratic control of southern politics. “I wanna tell you, ladies and gentlemen, that there's not enough troops in the army to force the Southern people to break down segregation and admit the Nigra race into our theaters, into our swimming pools, into our homes, and into our churches.”

Later Thurmond was elected to a Senate seat as a Democrat but as a result of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and he along with other southern democrats switched parties.

Paul Hunter  budhunter@frontier.com

Stock Market Gambling

Is trading on the stock markets a zero sum game? The answer is no, it's a negative sum game.

Why is this so?

A zero sum game is like a friendly poker night where each of seven players brings $100 to gamble with. When the game ends with some winners and some losers the most that can be taken out the door is the original $700. There is nothing added to the original sum. No new group wealth is created.

If on the other hand the seven gamblers go to a commercial poker game where the “house” takes a small portion of each pot (game), less than the original $700 sum goes out the door. Substitute stock broker for the “house” in this simple scenario and hopefully the point s made.

Paul Hunter budhunter@frontier.com

Water, Water Everywhere and Nowhere

In 2014 it was determined by this observer that the city was losing an unaccounted for 130 million gallons (MG) of treated water per year.

The city water department blamed the loss on leaking old pipes, inaccurate meters and other miscellaneous causes.

The department's consultant, Aqua-line Leak Detection Services* was paid an estimated $12,000 to do a treated water leak analysis in March-April of 2015.

In their final report dated 4/9/15 Aqua-Line made the following assertions:

a. “Once leaks are repaired, the city will be saving approximately $475 per day in water production costs alone.” based on costs of $1.50 per thousand gallons. “Savings will most likely be higher, as our water loss estimates are somewhat conservative .”

b. Leakage summary includes “discovered and repaired” supply side leaks totaling an estimated 210, 000 gallons per day (GPD). Or, 6.3 MG per month.

c. Discovered but not yet repaired leaks (as of 4/9/15) totaling 52,000 GPD or 1.565 MG per month bringing the total discovered loss of 7.865 MG per month.

The repaired leaks alone should have reduced the water loss by 75 MG per year which represents a major portion of the previous years unexplained loss.

By comparing the same months of pre-repair in 2014 with post repair months of 2015 we should be able to notice the results.

April 2014 loss 47MG; 2015 loss 48MG

May 2014 loss 49 MG; 2015 loss 48MG

June 2014 loss 49MG; 2015 loss 48MG

It appears from this small sample that instead of the expected savings of 7.9MG per month (assuming all repairs have been made) the city is saving 1 MG per month. At 1.50 per thousand gallons production cost the net cost of the loss is an estimated $123,000 per year.

The water department responded to questions concerning the discrepancies in the report by the Mayor and Council's water committee chairman by repeating the same answers from the year before and added the comment that the consultant may have had overestimated the size of leaks.

*not accredited by the Better Business Bureau

Paul Hunter

budhunter@frontier.com

Kids and Guns.... Again

To paraphrase Wayne Lepew's NRA, “Guns don’t kill people" to “Chlidren kill children” with guns.

From the WASHINGTON POST July 30^th

One moment, the kids were playing in a second-floor apartment at Benning Terrace. The next moment, D.C. police said, a child had a gun in his hands and it fired, turning innocent summertime play into tragedy when a bullet struck 3-year-old Dalis Cox in the chest.

The girl, who liked bikes, Elmo and playing on her father’s tablet, died at a hospital about 90 minutes after the shooting Wednesday night.

Columbus, Ohio August 11^th

4-year-old Ohio boy accidentally shoots sister, 3, in back of neck

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — A 3-year-old girl is recovering at Nationwide Children’s Hospital after being accidentally shot by her 4-year-old brother.
Investigators say the mother was home with the children. The boy got access to a loaded gun and fired it, hitting the girl in the back of the neck.

Posted by Paul Hunter

Political Pox

When the conservative movement brought the red state bigots and evangelicals into their tent they created the Donald Frankenstein juggernaut. While the N word and the Q word are not are not used publicly, they are thought by these poor exploited souls. When concerned and empathetic human feelings are denigrated as “political correctness” where are we headed as a nation?

The question of the day is: Can the party rid itself of this political pox in time for the general election in 2016?

An opinion of Paul Hunter  budhunter@frontier.com

Wilmington Natural Gas Customers

Attention Wilmington gas aggregation customers.

The new supplier price for the 12 month term of October 2015 through September 2016 will decrease from 49.4 cents per unit (100 cubic feet) CCF) to 45.8 cents.

A cursory check of individual contract supplier 12 month contracts varied from 55.9 cents to 62.6 cents.

If you have any questions, please call Volunteer Energy toll-free at 1-800-977-8374, Monday through Thursday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Paul Hunter

Presidential Candidate

 Gov. Kasich Touts

An overbalanced budget

Mayors and other municipal administrators say, “look at the result”.

A Waste of Time and Money

What a colossal waste of time, money and a gift to the 10 potential selected grow sites.
From the Hillsboro paper 

1,000 marijuana plants seized

…......the search was conducted in conjunction with the Bureau of Criminal Investigation, which provided the use of its helicopter free of charge to the HCSO. Assistant Highland County prosecutors Molly Bolek and Jim Roeder also assisted in the day’s events.

[Sheriff] Barrera stated this time of year is the beginning of the season for air surveillance and called Friday’s search “a good day............”

http://timesgazette.com/news/1483/barrera-1000-marijuana-plants-seized

Posted by Paul Hunter

Thanks Henry (update)

Thanks for the memories Henry Ford. You led the work-to-consume revolution that has lasted a century, but, alas, that model is in its death throes.

World labor costs are fast coming into balance and international corporations find it more difficult to find labor at a price that will provide, along with transportation a viable return to investors.

Where do the corporations go from here? In my considered opinion automated manufacturing is the logical next step in the labor cost evolution.

The digitizers in silicon valley have been predicting the “end of work” for some time now. All's well? No it is not, because we don't have a policy,or even a think tank advocating for a new economic model to replace the work to consume model.

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/07/world-without-work/395294/

1. Youngstown, U.S.A.
The end of work is still just a futuristic concept for most of the United States, but it is something like a moment in history for Youngstown, Ohio, one its residents can cite with precision: September 19, 1977.............
2. Reasons to Cry Robot
What does the “end of work” mean, exactly? It does not mean the imminence of total unemployment, nor is the United States remotely likely to face, say, 30 or 50 percent unemployment within the next decade. Rather, technology could exert a slow but continual downward pressure on the value and availability of work—that is, on wages and on the share of prime-age workers with full-time jobs. Eventually, by degrees, that could create a new normal, where the expectation that work will be a central feature of adult life dissipates for a significant portion of society...................
3. Consumption: The Paradox of Leisure
Work is really three things, says Peter Frase, the author of Four Futures, a forthcoming book about how automation will change America: the means by which the economy produces goods, the means by which people earn income, and an activity that lends meaning or purpose to many people’s lives. “We tend to conflate these things,” he told me, “because today we need to pay people to keep the lights on, so to speak. But in a future of abundance, you wouldn’t, and we ought to think about ways to make it easier and better to not be employed.”...................
4. Communal Creativity: The Artisans’ Revenge
Artisans made up the original American middle class. Before industrialization swept through the U.S. economy, many people who didn’t work on farms were silversmiths, blacksmiths, or woodworkers. These artisans were ground up by the machinery of mass production in the 20th century. But Lawrence Katz, a labor economist at Harvard, sees the next wave of automation returning us to an age of craftsmanship and artistry. In particular, he looks forward to the ramifications of 3‑D printing, whereby machines construct complex objects from digital designs..............
5. Contingency: “You’re on Your Own”
One mile to the east of downtown Youngstown, in a brick building surrounded by several empty lots, is Royal Oaks, an iconic blue-collar dive. At about 5:30 p.m. on a Wednesday, the place was nearly full. The bar glowed yellow and green from the lights mounted along a wall. Old beer signs, trophies, masks, and mannequins cluttered the back corner of the main room, like party leftovers stuffed in an attic. The scene was mostly middle-aged men, some in groups, talking loudly about baseball and smelling vaguely of pot; some drank alone at the bar, sitting quietly or listening to music on headphones. I spoke with several patrons there who work as musicians, artists, or handymen; many did not hold a steady job.......................
(Back to the opening statement
6. Government: The Visible Hand

In the 1950s, Henry Ford II, the CEO of Ford, and Walter Reuther, the head of the United Auto Workers union, were touring a new engine plant in Cleveland. Ford gestured to a fleet of machines and said, “Walter, how are you going to get these robots to pay union dues?” The union boss famously replied: “Henry, how are you going to get them to buy your cars?”..................
Posted by Paul Hunter

There Outta Be a Law

There should be a federal law against a corporation pitting one state or city against another for how many freebies and how much money they can extract from the taxpayers. Level the playing field for the benefit of all.

Add Evenflow to the likes of NCR and the Bengals

From the DDN



Miamisburg Asked To Pay Evenflo $400K To Stay

Miamisburg city leaders are being asked to pay Evenflo $400,000 to remain in town.

City of Miamisburg economic development staff is urging City Council to approve a forgivable loan in that amount to keep the designer and producer of infant car seats and child activity centers from leaving.

Last summer when Evenflo was acquired by Chinese company Goodbaby International, Evenflo had about 400 employees between Miamisburg, which became the company’s corporate home in 2008, and a manufacturing facility in Piqua.

“Since that time, the company has confidentially been exploring relocation options,” Chris Fine, Miamisburg development director, wrote to City Manager Keith Johnson in a city memo dated July 30. “Those options included building a new facility outside the city of Miamisburg or possibly relocating the company to existing offices in Boston.”

Posted by Paul Hunter