Improving Our Public Schools

If you really want to improve the situation, increase charter schools and make it easier to fire incompetent public school teachers (and frankly all incompetent civil servants). The best way to do that is to ban all government employee unions, given the conflict of interest generated when politicians, who owe their own jobs to union support, negotiate labor contracts with those same unions. Secondly, much of the failure of public schools is a parental problem of some parents not working with their children to make them focus on their school work. Their kids are not trying, the parents are doing nothing about it, and expect the teachers to somehow do the teaching and the parenting job. Send kids to study detention daily who are failing, and if needed to summer school to learn the material. No more "social" promotions to the next grade. Leave them back in the same grade if they fail. If it happens a second time, bring the family to Family court. Those kids may be in a poisonous parental situation and may need to be separated from the parents who have failed them.

Guidelines for a Happy Marriage

Keep the Romance alive:

- Kiss each other in the morning when you wake up and in the evening when you go to bed.

- Kiss each other when one of you leaves or returns to the house.

- Occasionally Kiss and hug each other for no reason during the day.

- Hold hands when walking together even if it's just from the parking lot to the store.

- Recognize when your spouse is very weary and/or not feeling well, and react by being extra kind and helpful.

Share Life's big decisions together:

- No financial secrets.

- Big ticket purchases are decided together as equal partners.

- Be financially responsible to live within your means, which includes building up your savings and investments, and not gripe about “things” you want but cannot afford and therefore must do without.

Disagree nicely and without resentment:

- There are no “bosses” in a marriage.

- You are not and can never be clones of each other, so expect disagreements as a normal part of any relationship.

- Your love and relationship are “permanent” and far more important than any disagreement, which normally is just a “temporary” bump in a long term relationship.

- So never yell and especially never use violence to “win” a disagreement. Mistreating the person you love and have shared so many intimacies and good times with is a loss, not a win.

- We all “snap” occasionally, so if your spouse yells at you, avoid the natural temptation to yell back. Instead, speak softly and caringly to your spouse to calm him or her down. That partner should recognize that reaction to also speak softly and calmly.

- Some disagreements cannot be immediately settled. Table those for a discussion at another time.

- Never withold your love and caring attitude due to an unsettled disagreement.

Don't be Stupid:

- Never cheat on your spouse.

- Never commit crimes.

- Never get high, drunk or stoned. Get high on life instead.

Investment Advice for Novice Investors

Investment Advice for Novice Investors

The most important point here is the age factor at which you start investing. Saving and investing in your 20s will grow to a size of 4 to 15 times more (depending on the rate of return) than if you start in your 40s or 50s. Even better - Investing a small amount one time in a newborn child or grandchild can have that investment grow by over 500 times by the time that child reaches retirement age. Start investing young and make time your friend. Otherwise, time becomes your enemy.

When it comes to IRAs, always invest in Roth IRAs. Ignore the ignorant financial advisors who recommend comparing tax rates now versus retirement. It is much better to pay a little tax now for a Roth IRA, than to pay even a low tax rate at withdrawals of Traditional IRAs that have doubled in value several times since the original deposits. Finally, most people are ignorant of smart investing and are afraid of the stock market, especially in their 20s and 30s. The stock market offers their best chance for the largest investment returns over the long run.

Take advantage of 401K plans that have company matches (usually adds 50 to 100% to your initial investment). Most are “Traditional” 401Ks instead of “Roth” 401Ks, but the company match still make it very attractive. 

Here are some tips to help the novice investor. Never buy individual stocks - they can go to zero or just stagnate far longer than any stock market, plus you are not smart enough to know when to get in or out. Buy pooled assets such as mutual funds, ETFs, and index funds and hold onto them for decades without selling. Only have a small amount to invest - The SandP 500 ETF index (SPY) is all you need (should use the ampersand symbol instead of "and" between S and P, but this system overrides it adds "amp;" to the ampersand symbol - &). It reflects the stock market trend which over the past long run has averaged 10 to 11% average annual growth or a doubling "average" every 7 years. SPY is composed of 500 of the largest stocks ( virtually no risk of all 500 going to zero), is cheap to buy (about $5 to $7 at most brokerage houses) and has the added value of being able to buy or sell it instantly during open market hours (as do all ETFs; mutual funds buy and sell prices are calculated after the market closes and if you buy them after the market closes, then your price is determine after the next day's stock market close which is why it is better to buy these within the last hour the market is open but not too close to the end). Want a technical stock market play also - buy the ETF - QQQ, which reflects the top Nasdaq 100 stocks.

If you also want to buy mutual funds, learn about and then buy a variety of mutual funds (these are "managed" assets where the manager is buying and selling trying to time the market - very hard to successfully do), including "growth" and "value" MFs, small caps, medium caps, large caps, and "general" (combination of all 3 company cap sizes). Other considerations - domestic versus international MFs, emerging market MFs, and industry MFs (for example, tech, medical, retailing, transportation, etc.). ETFs mimic many of these funds and are cheaper to buy. Very important - there are "load" mutual funds that take 5% off the top of your initial investment (never buy these - you need 5% growth just to break even) and no load mutual funds. Learn to utilize "research" tools that brokerage houses give you online to determine which mutual funds have been consistently good performers in both the short and long term. 

Roth versus Traditional IRAs and Tax Bracket Insignificance

The tax bracket both now and at retirement is totally meaningless as a decision point of whether to invest in Roth or a Traditional IRA. What matters is the amount of principal taxed. Again, a $1,000 IRA investment as whatever tax bracket is chump change (only $100 to $390 depending on tax bracket) compared to what it grows to at the time of withdrawal. For example, with a young person at age 23, given the historical long term growth rates of the stock market (an average doubling every 7 years), he/she gets to withdraw $64,000 a year for each of 42 years starting at age 65. A minimal tax bracket of 10% still dings him for a $6,400 tax payment each year for a Traditional IRA compared to less than $400 in each of the years invested. Remember, Roth IRA withdrawals are not taxed. So let's add it up on a total lifetime basis. 42 years of paying taxes upon investment of $1,000 for each of those 42 years is a maximum of $390 times 42 or $16,380. For most people, because they are not in the 39% bracket, it will be far less (at 10%, it would be $4,200 in tax). Now for the retirement years - 42 years of you and likely your heirs of withdrawing $64,000 a year in order to deplete the entire account (which is the intent of generating IRA income, plus the government basically forces you to withdraw each year, even at a measly 10% tax bracket is 42 times $6,400 each year for a minimum lifetime tax of $268,800, and possibly double or triple that for higher tax brackets. So which do you think is better - a Traditional IRA with minimum lifetime taxes of $268,800 or a Roth IRA with maximum lifetime taxes of $16,380 and probably much less than that for most middle class people? The answer should be very obvious. Don't let the Federal government become your "investment partner" which it does become with Traditional IRA investments. 

illegal Voting

If another nation or organization tried to overthrow the legitimate government of the United States by military force, all of us would fight back and kill those that tried to take away our freedom to govern ourselves. However, that is not the only way a legitimate government can be overthrown. For example, enough illegal votes from either non-citizens or citizens cheating and voting multiple times either under their own name or that of others, including dead people, if large enough in number, could also overthrow the legitimate government of the US by preventing that legitimate government from being honestly elected.

The end result is the same as a military takeover and should be viewed and treated the same – an attempt to overthrow the legitimate government of the US. The penalty should be severe - automatic execution of those who vote illegitimately.  

The Democratic Party – The Party of Slavery and Discrimination

Just remember that it was the Democratic Party that strongly supported slavery from the day of its creation in the early 1800s, and the Republican Party that freed them. The Democrats started the American Civil War to preserve slavery. 600,000 Americans were killed in the Civil War – far more than any other war in American history. When the bigots of the Democratic Party lost the Civil War, it was the Democratic Party who for over 100 years supported segregation, discrimination, and the suppression of voter and property rights for Blacks (to keep them on their former slave plantations). Democrats also joined the KKK in large numbers and were responsible for much violence and murder against Blacks. Democrats voted 100% against the Constitutional Amendment that made Blacks citizens, while Republicans voted 100% for it and got the Amendment passed.

In the 1960s, when the civil rights laws were passed after much violence by Southern Democrats against Blacks (and Whites) marching for its passage, 35% of Democrats voted against them to only 15% of Republicans who voted against them. Democrats did not immediately obey those new civil rights laws, with Democratic governors physically blocking Black students from entering all White colleges. The Federal government had to call out the National Guard to enable Black students to attend those All White colleges.

Since then, Democrats have been trying to overcome their sordid past by attempting to buy back the Black vote by generously increasing welfare benefits. Democratic President Lyndon Johnson described his Great Society Program (cumulative cost to date 22 trillion dollars – more than the total national debt) he was quoted as saying - "I'll have those n*****s voting Democrat for the next two-hundred years". The net result is that the Democrats have destroyed Black families and engineered massive Black poverty. 3 out of every 4 Black children are born to single parent households – the engine of poverty (28% of single moms are in poverty while only 5% of married couples are in poverty). Poverty is the engine of crime (Black crime rate, including murder, is 8 times higher than the national average). The lack of fathers has led to behavior problems causing education and crime problems out of proportion to the Black population when compared to the total population, depsite the fact that we spend on average $20,000 per public school student (twice the national average) in city areas with large Black populations. The Democratic Party is akin to a dangerous, addictive drug for Blacks. For their own long term safety and well being, Blacks need to wean themselves off of this dangerous, self destructive political affiliation.

Immigration reform

If you want meaningful immigration reform, then just do what Mexico did to stop illegal immigration from Central American nations who consider Mexico to be "rich". Mexico does not allow them to get jobs, nor go to school, nor receive government benefits, nor rent an apartment. If caught, Mexico takes all their assets and money, then deports them. Problem solved. For good measure, make it impossible for those caught to ever become US citizens or to become legal Permanent Residents, or to even visit the U.S. again. Institute this law, suspend enforcement for 9 months to allow those illegals who wish to leave voluntarily enough time to sell homes or take care of other personal matters before physically self deporting themselves. For their minor children who were born here, children belong to parents first, nations second. Therefore the minor children leave with them – no family breakup involved. Long term, change the definition of citizenship to account for modern times, especially transportation advances from 1776. Only children born to American citizens anywhere in the world and those born in the USA to legal residents are citizens. The rest are “foreign nationals” born on US soil, not citizens.

We tried Amnesty in the 1980s when we had 11 million illegal aliens. 30 years later, we have another 11 million illegals. If we again grant them the amnesty that the Democrats want today, then 30 years from now, we will have another 11 million new illegals. If you do not learn from history, you are doomed to repeat it.

Gender Pay Gap Myth

Equal pay for men and women already exists in the only comparison that matters - men and women in the same jobs with the same years of experience and educational achievements earn the same pay. That should not be a surprise - it has been US law for 50 years. Any other comparison such as one national average pay scale for each gender is a meaningless, statistical fraud deliberately and knowingly perpetrated by liberals and Democrats for unjustified political reasons. You cannot logically take part time workers and full time workers, HS drop outs and grads, college dropouts, college graduates with bachelors, masters, and PHD degrees across every field of work and average them all out to one "national" pay rate per gender and have it mean anything. See links:

The myth of gender pay gaps:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/02/01/no-women-don-t-make-less-money-than-men.html

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-gender-pay-gap-is-a-complete-myth/

http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2014/10/03/millennial-women-education-wage-equality-column/16644149/

http://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/another-bogus-effort-to-bridge-the-phony-gender-pay-gap/

Judges and the Constitution

Unless the Constitution is strictly interpreted by our judges, then the Constitution isn't worth the paper it is written on. To be able to "bend" the Constitution to suit a judge's political whims denies all of us the rights and freedoms guaranteed to us by taking away our legislative rights through the election of politicians that match our political views. Our very wise Founding Fathers, recognizing future, unseen needs to amend the Constitution gave us the means to do that through Constitutional Amendments approved by the vast majority of citizens. That is the way our freedoms and rights are maintained. Judges legislating from the bench are in essence dictators who deny all of us our rights to determine our future.

Medical Marijuana Needs to be Legalized Everywhere

People are needlessly dying because medical marijuana is not allowed in many states. Medical marijuana consisting of "CBDs" is an ingredient that does not get you high (the "THC" ingredient in large volume gets you high). CBDs have helped many people, including cancer patients. We allow morphine in all 50 states for extreme pain management despite the fact that it comes from the same plant that the illegal and dangerous drug that heroin comes from. We need to treat the medically beneficial part of marijuana the same way and therefore legalize it. There's no harm done nor “high” obtained from true medical marijuana. All cancer, and especially terminal cancer patients, should be given the opportunity to possibly save their lives through its usage. Why would you condemn them to possibly needless suffering and/or death.

Marijuana Cancer Cure - http://thefreethoughtproject.com/main-stream-media.../ and http://www.collective-evolution.com/.../20-medical.../ and also - http://www.thestonerscookbook.com/.../cancer-institute.../ and also http://www.cancer.gov/about.../treatment/cam/hp/cannabis-pdq

Benefits of medical marijuana on video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hifOl2yXU40 and http://www.awetv.com/miraclecure/ and also (one hour long) - https://vimeo.com/82053228
CBDs – Safe, effective, and does not get you high - http://realitysandwich.com/171680/high_health_cbd_food_supply/

Usage and Morality of the Atom Bomb In World War Two

72 Years after WWII ended, it still surprises me that the issue of whether or not America should have used the atom bomb on Japan in WWII is still debated. Any fair analysis of that decision needs to be based on what was known in 1945 about the war and about nuclear bombs. Much was known about the war; little was known about the bombs. It was clear through each conflict in the Pacific, that Japan, no matter how hopeless the military situation, would fight to the last man; surrender was not an option. Even the civil population would either fight or commit suicide, rather than surrender to the enemy. Kamikaze (suicide) attacks on ships using planes, human rocket bombs, and human submarine bombs were employed, rather than surrender. The civilian population in mainland Japan was being trained to fight however they could alongside the Japanese Army the expected American invasion. They were expected and willing to fight for their emperor to the death. American generals estimated 500,000 to 1,000,000 American deaths in the invasion of mainland Japan. The number of Japanese dead was expected to number several million. The number of kamikaze planes and submarines found after Japan’s surrender indicate that these forecasts were probably quite accurate.

What’s little known or talked about is that both Japan and Germany were working on developing atom bombs and both planned to use them against the Allies. Japan had two facilities working on atom bombs, one in Japan and one in Asia. As the Allied victories placed them closer to Japan, the Japanese attempted to accelerate their atom bomb program with the intent of using them on the allied invasion forces.

When it became clear to Japan that they were unlikely to develop a functional atom bomb in time, they planned to develop and utilize a ‘dirty’ conventional bomb with radioactive material and explode it in San Francisco, hoping to kill thousands of Americans. They made elaborate plans. Japan asked Germany for and was sent 1,000 pounds of uranium by submarine. Fortunately, the war with Germany ended in May, 1945 while that sub carrying the uranium to Japan was still in the Atlantic Ocean and was surrendered to American forces. Japan had the two largest submarines ever made at the time, capable of carrying three small planes safely underwater and launching them at the surface wherever they pleased. The date had been set to drop the dirty bombs on San Francisco. It was August 17, 1945. Note that this planned date is only a few days after America actually dropped atom bombs on Japan (August 6 and 9, 1945). There was also a plan by Japan to drop carefully constructed bubonic plague bombs on our West Coast cities in September, 1945.

So when America captured the sub with the uranium in May, 1945, we knew then that Japan was working on an atom bomb. We did not know if they had or were close to a working model and we did not know if earlier shipments of uranium had been shipped to and received by Japan. Such news had to be alarming to America and its WWII allies. If Japan had or developed such a bomb, there is no doubt that it would have been used. Even if Japan was not close to a working model, a conventional war with Japan would have bought the Japanese much more time to successfully develop and use such a bomb.

Even after we used the two atom bombs against Japan, the Japanese military leaders tried to convince their emperor not to surrender. It was their (accurate) opinion that America had no more atom bombs to use. When the emperor made the decision to surrender, some of the military leaders unsuccessfully tried a military coup to dispose the emperor and prevent Japan’s surrender. These actions show the tenacity of the no surrender attitude of Japan and its people and therefore further validate the forecasts of millions of casualties in a conventional invasion of the mainland.

When you look at the man (President Truman) who made the decision to drop the atom bomb against what was known about the war and the Japanese at that time, it is hard to dispute how he could have come to any other decision. The decision actually saved millions of lives on both sides of the conflict. We killed as many people (100,000) in one night of conventional bombing of Tokyo as did a single atom bomb. The atom bomb was more effective in ending the war and ultimately saving lives.

Finally, look what America and President Truman did after the war. We did not respond like some vengeful monster. Despite hundreds of billions of dollars of crippling war debt, America rebuilt the economies of Japan and Germany by taking on additional debt of many billions of dollars. We also established democracies in those nations that still flourish today. We took no land. We took no reparations. Those nations are free and independent. They are also our allies today, not because they had to (they were not forced), but because they wanted to be our allies.

All war is horrible. The dead and the wounded of that war, whether by conventional arms or nuclear arms were not any less dead or less wounded. If we had not used the bomb, Japan would have. All nations today are more knowledgeable of the dangers and consequences of nuclear war, particularly on the incredible expansion in number and size of today’s weapons. The situation is much different today then it was then. Unfortunately, it hasn’t been enough of a learning curve to avoid war altogether. Hopefully, it is enough to avoid nuclear war which today could easily wipe out humanity.

Student Loans

The very ease of getting a student loan plus the financial ignorance of the students have been exploited by colleges to raise tuition, plus room and board, much faster than inflation and also to expand their Administrative staffs to bloated levels while paying ridiculous salaries to "star" professors. Given that over half of college students never graduate, no student should get a college loan for the first two years. Let them go to cheap Community colleges instead (and work part time if they need to). If they don't drop out after qualifying for their junior year, then consider college loans, but put a cap on it of no more than $15,000 a year. Also, no loan unless the college the student plans to transfer to, accepts all the student's college earned credits to be transferred (otherwise, expensive colleges will deliberately reject many of the credits forcing the financially naive student to spend more time and money at the college he/she transferred to). Some Community colleges have expanded from two years to four years. Encourage more to do so. That way, many more students could graduate inexpensive colleges without the need for student loans. Now, with less demand for their services, the expensive colleges will be forced to compete for students by lowering costs to reasonable levels and also utilizing alumni donations to help students instead of constructing new buildings and monuments to themselves. Everyone benefits.

Invest in Roth IRAs, not Traditional IRAs, plus use Roth Conversions

Always start off investing with Roth IRAs from day one, never a Traditional IRA, if you qualify. It is better to pay a little tax upfront, then pay a lot of taxes decades later when you begin (and/or are required) to withdraw from your IRA (even if your future tax bracket is lower) when your investment has likely multiplied in value several times (using long term stock market averages, a $1,000 IRA investment in your 20s can grow on average to over $60,000 in your 60s – better to pay the federal income tax on $1,000 now than on over $60,000 later) . Roth IRAs held over 5 years are NOT taxed at withdrawal, and are not forced to be withdrawn, thus saving not only you but also your heirs lots of taxes too.

If your income is too high that the government will not allow you to take out a Roth IRA, there is a work around method. Take out the Traditional IRA. Next convert it to a Roth IRA and pay the taxes that you would have paid anyway if you were able to take out a Roth IRA in the first place. There is no limit on the number nor amounts of Roth Conversions. Why does the government allow this? No one ever accused our government of being smart.

Educate your heirs if you are leaving them a Traditional IRA not to withdraw all of it in a single year, but instead convert the entire amount to an inherited IRA. Otherwise, up to 50% or more of their inheritance may be lost in Federal and State income taxes. If they are under 59 ½, then another 10% tax is charged. For really high inheritances, the Estate tax could push that to 80% or more. A Roth IRA held 5 years or more avoids these tax issues. A Traditional 401K can also be converted to a Roth IRA (usually after your retire or leave the company). This is one time you may want to discuss with a good, tax knowledgeable financial adviser. Like most government programs, there are plenty of “rules” and mistakes can be very costly and irreversible.

For people with Traditional IRAs, there are two options to reduce Federal income taxes through a Roth Conversion. The biggest tax break would to become a General Partner for one year, then reduced to a limited Partner, using non-IRA money, in a new oil or gas well project (you can do that for as little as $20,000). You get to reduce your taxable income by 80 to 100% of the investment principal. Personally, I don't like the risk of that option (look at how much the price of a barrel of oil has changed in just a year's time recently and in the past). Also, though the chances are remote, when you are a General Partner, you could be sued for everything that you are worth (most partnerships of this type carry lots of insurance to prepare for this relatively rare possibility)

A more conservative option is to invest in income producing non-liquid assets (non-liquid for 2-8 years) within a Traditional IRA. A few months later, move it to a Roth IRA and get a “forecast market valuation” of its worth at the time of the Roth Conversion. To make it worthwhile, you need to convert in $100,000 minimum chunks each year, but don't do so much as to raise yourself to the maximum tax bracket ( or if on Medicare, exceed the maximum annual income limits which could double your Medicare premiums the following year. You will need a certified Financial Planner (not a stock broker) to help you. They are generally affiliated with either Madison Avenue Securities or VFG Securities.

Never let Politics Determine your Family and Friends

Politically, like almost all other nations, the US is a very divided nation. There are virtually no extended families out there that are either all Republicans or all Democrats or all Independents. However, one issue all sides strongly agree on is that the US is a nation of freedom and we want to keep it that way. Therefore, when you think about it logically, if you are cutting ties with family members or friends because you do not like their political views, then you are a wannabe dictator - the anti-thesis of freedom. You cannot logically believe in freedom for all and at the same time sever your ties with family members or friends who do not agree with your own political viewpoints. Learn to recognize and accept the fact that none of us are always right nor always wrong. That is an undeniable characteristic of all humans. Those who disagree with our own political views are not evil and do have what they consider good reasons for their viewpoints. Normally, there is some truth on both sides of any political issue, no matter how passionately we feel that only our viewpoint is the only correct viewpoint. People are a lot more than their politics. They earn livings, make sacrifices for others, love family unconditionally, contribute to charity, try to live a good moral life, help others when needed, have triumphs and disappointments, etc. See the whole person, not just their politics.

How does US Health Care Compare to other Nations?

An "Investor's Business Daily" article a few years ago (prior to Obamacare) provided very interesting statistics from a survey by the United Nations International Health Organization.
Percentage of men and women who survived a cancer five years after diagnosis:
U.S. 65%
England 46%
Canada 42%
Percentage of patients diagnosed with diabetes who received treatment within six months:
U.S. 93%
England 15%
Canada 43%
Percentage of seniors needing hip replacement who received it within six months:
U.S. 90%
England 15%
Canada 43%
Percentage referred to a medical specialist who see one within one month:
U.S. 77%
England 40%
Canada 43%
Number of MRI scanners (a prime diagnostic tool) per million:
U.S. 71%
England 14%
Canada 18%
Not sure why percentages were used. The latest comparison to all nations can be found in thhe following link - https://www.statista.com/statistics/282401/density-of-magnetic-resonance-imaging-units-by-country/ Note that England and Canada are so low that they are not listed in the top 15.
Percentage of seniors (65+), with low income, who say they are in "excellent health:
U.S. 12%
England 2%
Canada 6%
And now for the last health statistic:
National Health Insurance:
U.S. NO (this comparison was done prior to Obamacare).
England YES
Canada YES