This is a cautionary tale about a beautiful state in our beautiful country. When God was making the world, he saved his very best work for that part of it that we now call California. California, if it stood alone, would be one of the most envied countries in the world. It’s natural wealth is staggering. California has abundant water from the Sacramento River that flows from the Cascades and the San Joaquin River that...
Not far from my house is Mustang Doughnuts, home of the best glazed doughnuts I have ever had. And if you leave the house when I do, when the little hand is still on the five, the doughnuts are fresh and warm and without question one of the most amazing indulgences of the flesh available without a prescription. I have no business eating doughnuts. There’s no defending them. They are trans-fat-laden cholesterol bombs that raise...
With the summer being so hot if you’re not happy with your electric bill, I have an idea that will dramatically lower your cost. When you get your July bill, just don’t pay it. Or, just pay what you feel comfortable paying. That way, you can tell your spouse that you have significantly lowered your home cooling cost for July. You’ll be a hero. For a little while. Of course, you won’t be such a...
With respect to the Michael Jackson story, the Drudge Report the other day had the best headline. It read, “Michael Jackson: Never Can Say Goodbye.” I really feel like our celebrity-obsession crossed some line in the past two weeks and I believe Bernard Goldberg when he says we have become the ‘United States of Entertainment.’ And while we were all absorbed with the never-ending news coverage and retrospectives and downloading ‘Thriller’ to our iPods, Congress...
The ancient Greeks called the sun, the star closest to the Earth, Helios. They thought the sun was a god. There was a time when we called the biggest of our celebrities stars, and thought of them as gods. The sun-as-god, celebrity-as-god parallel is closer than you think. Let’s explore it. Let’s start with the first of two stars to burn out yesterday. Farah Fawcett was the smaller of the two that we lost but...
President Obama has stated that his number one domestic agenda priority is a radical overhaul of our health care system. The various proposals being discussed are projected to cost well in excess of $1 trillion over the next ten years. It should be obvious that we can’t afford such “reform.” But the debate over costs misses what I think is a very important point. If you listen to KTBB at all, you hear segments we...
If you just had a child graduate high school and are now 11 weeks away from the start of college, turn off the radio. You’re not going to like this. I was recently given a tour of the brand new facilities at a major university. I’m not going to say which one because you die-hard alums that flock your Christmas trees the same color as your alma mater’s football jerseys will bombard me with your...
How do you feel about Barack Obama effectively being the chief executive officer of General Motors and voting 60 percent of the stock? I hate it. I wonder what Milton Friedman would say. Milton Friedman was a celebrated economist whose views on taxation, monetary policy and business regulation informed the likes of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. Mr. Friedman was in Asia and was taken to a job site where workers were digging a canal....
President Obama’s pick for the Supreme Court said in a speech in 2001 the following: “I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.” Hasn’t lived what life? Do you have to be female and Hispanic in 2009 in order to be authentic? Does that mean that male and black no longer...
It’s graduation season and that means commencement addresses. Recently President Obama spoke at the commencements of Arizona State University and the University of Notre Dame. All across the country, distinguished alumni and other major and minor luminaries are speaking to the Class of 2009. A common theme in commencement addresses is that graduates, armed with degrees that frequently cost more than all but the very nicest homes, must leave college and go forth to serve...
Weekend before last, I attended the annual shareholders meeting of Berkshire Hathaway. For those of you not familiar, Berkshire Hathaway is the company headed by legendary investor and perennial competitor for title of wealthiest man in the world Warren Buffet. The Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting has been called “the Woodstock of Capitalism.” Unlike most annual meetings, the Berkshire meeting is an event. More than 35,000 people, mostly middle-aged, middle class owners of as little as...
You have probably never heard of Thomas Lauria. I never had until yesterday. But if he is to be believed (and I believe him), then our government has taken a huge step toward gangster-style thuggery and we should all, Democrats and Republicans, be very afraid. Thomas Lauria is a lawyer who represents a number of investment banks that hold the senior commercial paper of Chrysler Corporation. Senior commercial paper is what you and I would...
“…in the good Providence of God, apparent failure often proves a blessing.” — Robert E. Lee It is often said that we in America take our freedoms for granted. Our founders assured us of freedom to worship as we see fit, freedom to speak our minds, freedom to pursue our dreams, freedom to own the fruits of our labor and freedom to criticize and, if necessary, change our government. If we take these freedoms for...
This is the last in a five part series on things that I would do today to be assured of a stronger, freer, more prosperous America 25 years from now. Our previous installments have dealt with radically overhauling the U.S. tax code, reasserting the role of fathers in a stable society, returning control of schools to the neighborhoods and communities that they serve and getting our national energy policy right by reducing the role of...
This is the fourth in a five-part series on things I would do today in order to be assured of a stronger, freer, more prosperous America 25 years from now. In our previous three installments we have talked about overhauling the tax code, reasserting the role of fathers in a stable, free society and repairing the public education system. Today, we’re going to talk about energy. My daughter loves Cheez-its crackers. She came by that...
This is the third in a five-part series on things I would do today to be assured of a stronger, freer and more prosperous America 25 years from now. Two weeks ago, we talked about dramatically overhauling the tax code. Last week we talked about seizing upon the historic fact of Barack Obama’s election and his successful marriage to Michelle to re-establish the legitimacy and necessity of fathers. This week, we’re going to discuss schools....
This is the second of a five-part series on the things that I would do today in order to be assured of a stronger, freer, more prosperous America 20 years from now. Last week we discussed a radical federal income tax overhaul. This week we’ll revisit a topic we’ve discussed on previous occasions and I beg your forgiveness. But this is important and it can’t be left out of any plan to improve our nation....
Because our country is in pain like many of us have never felt, I’m going to spend the next five of these broadcasts talking about what I would do today to assure a stronger, safer and more prosperous America 20 years from now. I am going to start with taxes. We should never go like sheep to the slaughter when it comes to paying taxes but all too often we do. Quick, what percentage of...
The market has been dropping like a stone, incinerating trillions of dollars worth of wealth in the process. To begin to understand why, let’s go to the grocery store. I love the grocery store. The grocery business is so intensely competitive and the margins are so razor thin that you have to be very, very good at what you’re doing to succeed in grocery retailing in America. As a consequence, our grocery stores are just...
I hate talking numbers. If you’re not careful, talking numbers in a forum such as this can become a crashing bore. But the times dictate a conversation on numbers and I’m going to do my best to keep everyone engaged. Let’s talk money. We’re going to play a little time and money game. Imagine that you are spending money at the rate of one dollar a minute. But instead of moving forward in time with...