Dells start delivering $6.25B to America's kids and media hides under the bed; House Democrats vote for court-packing (accidentally); DOJ learns to read; and how to make the robot stop biasing; more.
Kids from all walks of life love to see an account that has their name on it, a balance, and a mind to watch it grow. There is nothing more pro capitalism, anti socialism and anti communism than a child learning to save money and become independent. It teaches them the power of money and independence. Trumps idea of setting up these accounts for American families children is a slap in the face to democrats and the DSA. It’s sheer brilliance!
Next, reform child labor laws so that kids can work for someone not their parents, at a young age. I'd vote for 10 years old being old enough, but I'd be happy if 14 was the start.
My first jobs were between ages 11-13. Granted, growing up in a farming town farmers knew there was a plethora of de-weeders in the local youth. I spent two years working whenever I wanted to for one of the many local farmers, AND DelMonte. No pressure, if you wanted pay you showed up at this time and place and the farmers used who showed….it was a standing invitation. We all knew when and where and there was no shame if you didn’t show for a while (like when I had significant exams, I wouldn’t work as much …)
I babysat too. That helped with some boredom.
By 13 I had built enough of a reference pool to my reliability the local coffee shop hired me as a waitress and agreed to train me. I worked through my entire high school years for them (along with other summer jobs when school was out). That led to me being able to waitress throughout college to pay for my share that scholarships didn’t cover. At times I was working 40 hours a week in college, and it didn’t emotionally destroy me because those muscles had been developed when young.
I didn’t lose my childhood. I had plenty of down time for proper, silly fun. It developed a work ethic in me early on that gave me the ability to survive working so many hours while in college.
I sort of tried to protect my kids from those stresses during college, thinking I was helping their ability to absorb more of their teaching, but that created less ability to survive the real world upon graduation. My youngest son had to carry a couple odd jobs anyway in college and due to that he easily transitioned into adult life after graduation. Not so with my older.
I always tell the kids, I’m only really good at what I was made to do as a kid.
Some of the chores I was thrown into when I got
married were too much to bear. Planning and cooking dinner EVERY night?!!?? I’d rather move the house over a few inches. 😆 Laundry, vacuuming, weeding, all those things I’d always done — were fine, and I was typically on top of them, but that daily dinner thing was EXTRA. 😆
You are SO correct about work ethic!! As the eldest of five kids I have and always had a tremendous workload! At almost 80 yrs. now I still have the idea but my body is letting me down!🥱🥱
I’m 80 also and get so disappointed that my 80 year old body can’t do what my 30 year old body did. It’s discouraging but I count my blessing that I’m able to still to accomplish so much. Got to keep moving!
Juju, this is what is missing!! Many kids today walk, no, SIT around in a fog, this lays it out succinctly. The difference between your children shows that. Start early, when they read “The Little Engine that Could”, and build on that. Tech isn’t regressing, and ingenuity shouldn’t either. I started early too. Cut apricots for a farmer at 12, babysat etc., my brother washed cars, then detailed them, and it grows from there.
My sister and I started babysitting many years ago when we were in junior high school. Believe it or not, our names and phone numbers were published in the local newspaper! We got paid 50 cents and hour and there was no such thing as a tip. When we watched children for 3 1/2 hours we got $1.75. I babysat for as many as 4 children at a time. It was hard work but I did earn enough to buy myself a sweatshirt. Can you see parents putting their daughter's names in the local paper now! Things were a lot different in the 60s. I sure would not put my grandchildren's names out there now days.
When we were in the "babysitter needed" demographic, we always paid our sitters well above the going rate locally. This guaranteed that we could call one of our regular sitters any time and if they couldn't do the job themselves, they could afford to sub-contract it out. Oddly, we NEVER had an occasion where we had to alter OUR plans...
I didn’t advertise, but I babysat enough hours at 50 cents an hour to buy multiple pairs of Pappagallo shoes in every color back in the 70s. Some parents tipped me too so that sped up my savings. That is a misnomer—their generosity sped up my spending!
In high school, we used to have a two week break during harvest so that teachers and kids of all ages could work the harvest or babysit for the parents who worked, or whatever. In recent years I understand the state has banned working under the age of 16. Those jobs paid for all sorts of things I wanted to do and have. BTW, I am speaking of the state I think you are from, GregWA.
We live in a prime agricultural area of NW Washington, noted for it's quality raspberries, strawberries and blueberries. When we first moved here in the late 80's, most all the local kids worked in the berries every summer, starting as young as 12. That's where the kids learned how to work and the value of the dollar. Most all of our local adult friends attested to this as well, that they worked in the berries, even starting as young as 7 or 8 ( way back when).
Then the state (you know, the democratic socialist republic of washington, small caps on purpose) thought they had a better idea, and regulated all our kids out of a wonderful character building job opportunity. More and more migrants (probably a lot of them illegal) flooded into the area and now what are many of these kids doing? Nothing! Except scrolling and gaming and looking for ways to be entertained. Sadly I have a couple grandsons ( ages 14 and 12)like that: I offered them work this summer at $15/ hour. (with the opportunity for a significant raise if they proved themselves) That lasted about a week and a half. It was hard manual labor, and I was working right along side them (I'm 76, so not exactly a spring chicken!) They took more breaks than I did! One rule I did have was that I confiscated their phone while they worked for me.
I must say it was a disappointment that they could not see the value of what I was offering. I could have found enough work for them to keep them busy for at least a month or more.
Teach them to work at a very young age, the earlier the better, and have them work for others...the best lessons in life are caught, not taught! A strong work ethic helps little Jonny not to become a little socialist!
I think our idea of “letting kids be kids as long as possible” has gotten us to the place where we’ve turned 20-something’s into children. It’s not good.
In the past year, I’ve tried to hire a bookkeeper five times. The applicants I get are abysmal. The actual employees I’ve hired aren’t much better. Everyone is coddled and no one wants to work.
I believe life is hard but we’ve tried to make it seem like it isn’t. Letting kids be kids as long as possible places more emphasis on comfort than responsibility.
Through all of human history until within the last century, children have worked. And they have produced. And the ones who survived were strong, strong enough to create a world that can pretend the world isn’t a hard and dangerous place. But that’s not reality, and it’s extremely dangerous not to live in reality.
I've thought this as have you for my whole life. And how kids are deprived of making money and learning useful things which support life. The government and its confederates of lawyers, judges, insurance companies, the work rule, the presumption if not the actual fact of owning our own business makes a full integration of good habits and assumptions into the work place virtually impossible.
Nice to see you again here. And I've always appreciated your good sense and the way you formulate, order your thinking
I said Children NOT 20 year olds. At 18 you are an Adult. Let children be children ie No sex Ed in kindergarten. Age appropriate. I think starting a job at 16 is early enough.
Yes kids need to be kids as long as possible. But they also need to be taught how to work and learn responsibly. All kids need to start learning this at a young age waiting tell 18 or 21 is too late. I was making money cutting grass at 12. It was a very good learning experience and thank my parents for it. We are having too many young people not knowing how to do anything.
From my personal experience starting ”work” as a 13-14 year old back in the ‘60’s, I second Rickytikki. With very flexible hours, I worked for pay doing misc. yard work, staffing a BSA camp, delivering newspapers**, scooping ice cream, etc.
I got quite an education listening to widows during / after tending their yards, trying to collect $3.50/mo from evasive adult readers, various interactions with satisfied/unsatisfied adults and peers. It was a wonderful learning experience (admittedly not always fun) and very satisfying knowing I always had my own little bit of cash, and learning how to budget my very modest spending.
(** Interestingly in “Bourbon for Breakfast” by Jeffrey Tucker, he notes that delivering newspapers is still completely exempt from the federal child labor provisions under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).)
I appreciate that Susan and yes, our first instinct should always be to protect children. But the second instinct is to prepare them for happy, successful lives.
I'm not talking 40 hour work weeks, just an hour or so after school, on some days, after homework is done! And maybe a Saturday morning cutting lawns (after we deport all the guys doing it now).
The reason: it teaches a lot. showing up. negotiating with an adult. being rewarded for doing a good job (the lawns I cut often gave me a tip! my newspaper route customers also tipped most of the time).
Children also need to learn how to contribute to the running of the home: taking the trash out, cleaning up their stuff instead of just dropping on the floor for a parent to pick up and put away, maintaining their bedrooms, etc.
I started babysitting at 12, so I get that. I just don’t think kids should work at a younger age at regular jobs. Babysitting, newspaper routs, mowing lawns all great earning activities.
Exactly, Greg! Completely agree! I did a lot of babysitting from 13 on into college actually to supplement part time jobs I had after age 16. There were lots of neighborhood kids and I was the oldest. I learned a ton! Great experience that I am so happy I had.
My kids worked summers in my dental office doing age appropriate tasks for which they received minimum wage. They had chores too of course which included doing all of the grocery shopping and some meal planning and prep once they turned 16 and got their driver’s licenses. This definitely prepared them for life on their own, as they have reported. I didn’t want my son to be one of those guys who calls his wife every five minutes asking questions when he’s sent to the store.
And by the way, I think it’s probably more important for a child to retain their innocence as long as possible, as opposed to retaining their childishness as long as possible. Forgot to add that before I posted.
Kids (well, all of us) grow when we’re challenged. It’s very important to do things that are hard, uncomfortable, or just not what one really wants to do at that time. And kids need the independence of having their own money and earning it themselves from someone that isn’t their parent, it establishes some great habits for adulthood.
At first I thought you were being sarcastic...!! Seriously, kids working - developing reliability, trust, skills, confidence, understanding of reward for effort, on & on. - are essential life acquisitions. These NEED to be ALLOWED INCREMENTALLY. It's foundational for personal growth and RELATIONAL growth!
Agree! If children have lousy parents that don't provide for them, the only things they can do to earn real money these days is to sell drugs or their own bodies. My grandfather left home at 13 and did all kinds of odd jobs as he moved west across the country, acquiring a myriad of skills along the way which served him well as an adult.
my first job started when I was 14 & ended when I was 18 - from 8th grade til the I graduated. I made $3/week playing the organ for Sunday services for a small Lutheran Church. Loved that job & the old organ I got to play, & I never missed a Sunday (even played the Sunday after our prom). When my kids were older, we were self-employed, & hired our kids to work doing small, odd jobs around the shop. When they were sixteen they worked full-time during the summer. One kiddo didn't like the work, so he found another job. They worked all through high school, & still participated in band, choir, and sports.
You’re absolutely right. My savings account was opened when I was 8. I worked a small paper route and diligently deposited more than half of my earnings each month (the rest was used for my monthly expenses rubber bands, plastic bags, string, and of course sodas and candy.) I got excited to see that balance increase. The real lesson for me came when I was about 13, my grandmother passed away and left me a small inheritance ($565.00). My father needed a loan and asked to borrow $750.00 which would be repaid within 6 months plus 5%. Reluctantly I agreed (I had plans for that money). It all worked out and I learned about how to make your money work for you. I’ve been a dedicated capitalist ever since. 😎
Amen! And the same goes for the accounts the admin just established for adults whose job doesn’t have a 401k option. Getting everyone in the market is a great way to fight the ‘capitalism is evil’ brigade.
One way to monitor the population through data centers giving kids chump stocks that can legally be absconded in the Great Taking. Their accounts can also be raided like the current Social Security System where corporations and big wings make no contribution. Kids will learn about the pitfalls of Monopoly capitalism.
Very young, I painted clothesline poles when my older sisters painted storm windows, when the adults painted the house & attached window frames. Lengthier PAID farm jobs 'at Grandma's' commenced after that, but I'd been 'helping' as young as I could help when the reward was a 'job well-done.'
Steve, the federal government already has your 'dime'. Is there some other way you want the 'redistribution' to happen? Personally I'm thrilled that my taxes will be used to actually seed a path to financial freedom rather than create more dependency on Big Brother.
I wish intelligent citizens would cease using the word CAPITALISM - it is a Karl Marx favorite. Our country is operating under a FREE MARKET ENTERPRISE brand - at least it was until about 80 years ago. Too much 'big government' intervention have almost obliterated the word "free" from our economic system. nough said!
Enjoy the Labor Day holiday fellow "C & C'ers" - and remember to NOT overcook the steaks!!
"Traces of the fertility cult that the nomadic Hebrews took over from their urbanized Canaanites, a modified version of the Sumerians, and though the prophets condemned them severely, it was never completely eradicated. There are elements of it at the time of the canonization of the Old Testament." (Child Sacrifice) History Begins at Sumer
Child sacrifice is alive and doing surprisingly well in America. Abortion is obviously a form of child sacrifice, and members of the International Satanic Cult do it regularly, here as well as elsewhere.
Why contrast it? These are all different venues for the Depopulation Agenda.
Besides, what's marginal about it? Total clinical abortions in the US in 2025 were 1,126,000. Total abortions since America made the killing of children inside the mother "legal" in 1973 are about 70 MILLION. Is that not a genocide in and of itself?
Now I haven't done the math but extrapolate those aborted children out to today in terms of future off-spring that do not exist because these babies were killed and will not reproduce. Easily hundreds of millions of Americans missing.
Folks, we're not "just being culled". We're being exterminated. And then we're being replaced. Over the last 6 years we've already seen this in operation. In 1970, America was about 90% white and 10% black, all indigenous Americans. At that time, America was still considered to be a Christian population and nation. Today the ratio of whites to the population is down to about 60% and falling. This is due to the massive invasion of illegal immigrants by the tens of millions just since 2020 that was funded and facilitated by our own Government. Rather than assimilating into the American Christian culture, these immigrants come from alien cultures hostile to Christian culture. Furthermore, these immigrants were not subjected to the bio-weapon slow death shot that has been forced on all indigenous Americans, including our children who will experience the sterilizing effects of the shot. Currently, Americans are reproducing at a rate BELOW the replacement rate. On the other hand, the illegal immigrants are reproducing at rates far in excess of the replacement rate. Many immigrant males have more than one "wife" with several children each, all supported by the US welfare system.
Now just let your imagination extrapolate these trends out into the future. Do you see how we are being replaced? If all this happened just since 1973, what will America look like in the next 50 years? Do you really think Trump is going to have any effect on this? (Here's a hint: Not one aspect of the Depopulation Program has been terminated by the Trump administration... not one. He can't change any of this. Furthermore, the mRNA killing platform is being extended to all vaccines.)
I can easily envision why American oligarchs think they need to have a digital control grid to control what will be the future population of North America. The Flock cameras will be back, even smaller and more sophisticated, all controlled by AI data centers that can track in real time every individual in the country 24/7.
Wow. Thanks for sharing these links. This sums it up for me: “ Why prescribing thirteen medications to a distressed postpartum woman should force us to question the treatment model itself.”. I hand not been following this case closely at all, only checking to see if the jury has reached a verdict. Is ANY media talking about all the drugs? Was there much questioning about it in the trial? Horrifying.
To expand on my post yesterday, I asked ChatGPT to "summarize scientific literature on the efficacy of statins in preventing premature death, omitting all studies that received funding from pharmaceutical companies or whose contributors included people employed or funded by pharmaceutical companies". The first response: "Yes. Applying your rule strictly changes the picture quite substantially."
The response: "After those exclusions, I find credible evidence that statin use is associated with lower premature mortality in people who already have cardiovascular disease or who are at high cardiovascular risk, but the evidence remaining under your filter is overwhelmingly observational rather than randomized.
For genuinely low-risk people taking a statin purely for primary prevention, the surviving non-industry evidence does not clearly demonstrate a mortality benefit. The benefit becomes more apparent as baseline cardiovascular risk rises.
That distinction is important."
It went on “Is there compelling, completely pharmaceutical-independent randomized evidence that statins make otherwise healthy, low-risk people live longer?”
The answer is no—not from the evidence set that survives the exclusion rule you gave me."
Just saw my doctor today. Although I am fit and healthy metabolically, I have some genetics working against me re my heart — high calcium score, somewhat elevated hs-CRP, some plaque buildup in one of my arteries. My doctor continues to offer me statins. I told her I will continue to address my issues with diet, exercise and supplements. Our medical schools have turned out nothing but pill pushers and advocates of other related chemical interventions such as vaccines and chemotherapy.
Thankfully it’s possible to educate yourself and refuse to blindly take these poisons.
Yes, cholesterol production is the body’s repair mechanism for problems caused by inflammation. Hopefully, my efforts to address my inflammation will be successful in lowering my LDL naturally. Artificially suppressing cholesterol production through drugs, without addressing the underlying cause, seems like putting the cart before the horse.
Interesting. Do you happen to have a link to your Q&A? The more I can find re statins, the more I can shut up my next doctor who tries to push them on me.
In the story Bartleby the Scribner by Herman Melville, when he asked or told to do something he didn’t want to, the character, Bartleby would consistently and repeatedly say, “No thank you, I prefer not to.” That’s now my approach to how to answer doctors or nurses who want me to take a medicine I probably know more about then they do. Repeating it a couple times if necessary is almost a polite (though maybe a little annoying) way to say nope!
Exactly. I've heard a lot of people say they just take the prescription and throw it away when they get home. I prefer to let the doctor know there's some pushback.
I have a paid business subscription, so I don't think I can share it. But it's pretty easy, just be very specific on your questions and keep refining the conversation like Jeffrey Tucker did.
Thanks. I need to talk to my husband about the statins he's been put on due to diabetes. He has no actual health risk.
Of course, he took 3 clot shots despite my strongest warnings, and only stopped getting boosters because he got a bad (but not needing hospitalization) case of COVID.
I have that effect on everyone I try to convince of anything, so far as I know. But I still think I need to say something.
Can we just admit that Social Security is a giant scam? The pyramid scheme takes in our money from every paycheck our entire lives, only for your money to depreciate in value by the time it's "paid back" to you in SS checks? There's already buzz that the age of "full retirement" will be forcibly raised because the government can't afford to pay back what it stole - I mean, borrowed - from us.
Trump is brilliant for creating something that allows children to begin with investments rather than forcing us to participate in outright govt theft.
Not just your money, but the employer’s matching, too. And you’re right, it’s a scam. It punishes employers for creating jobs and punishes employees for working.
Social Security is the ultimate Ponzi scheme! I wanted out of it for years, finally reached a point where I’m getting back some of that money but unless I can live until I reach 120 I’ll never get what I would have if I had just saved it on my own (without considering the amount employers had to match).
Social Security will not be around for my young grandchildren. Social Security may not be around for anybody (including my adult kids) in 10 years. Trump Account type solutions will need to replace Social Security. If not, it’s a Communist Technocracy with Universal Basic Income.
SS is essentially “not around” now. The dollar amounts are so low compared to cost of living it does not go far. I know it’s billed as “a supplement to retirement income” but it’s still pretty weak!
Interestingly my 87 year old dad, who worked for SSA for 30+ years has a federal pension worth 3-4x more than any social security benefit (as SSA employees they were not eligible for SSA benefits, because of potential conflicts, so they had their own separate pension plan).
Being called a “supplement to retirement” is a relatively “new term” up until the 90’s the government was telling folks it would cover your costs in retirement and that money was being held separately. It was always a money grab. If it was so great why are politicians exempt?
Exactly. I've got an average to above average benefit, and there is only $115 left over after our rent payment. This is a 3 bedroom apartment, but it's in one of the cheapest areas of the country.
When my husband retires we're going to be drastically reducing our lifestyle by necessity, and after one of us dies the surviving spouse won't even be able to afford to live in a paid off 1000 sq ft ranch house. It's going to have to be a much smaller residence.
Security is a government insured retirement savings account that is funded by YOU and your employer. The pols have been stealing from the SS fund for decades to plug their spending deficits in the budget.
The annual salary cap on Social Security deductions is $184,500. Complete solvency in perpetuity would be to simply lift the cap!
And keep Congress from raiding the funds in Social Sexurity for other purposes.
His Trump accounts were created with the taxpayer’s dollars! That is outright government theft!
Being that the government doesn’t have the money to fund these accounts, these kids will spend the rest of their lives paying for the interest on that borrowed money, which will compound each year.
They are different. Social Security is guaranteed for as long as you live.
401Ks disappear with every stock market crash. And then the scammers tell you "Your money is gone. You need to double your contributions until you build your nest egg back up."
Unbelievable that people fall for that. And yet.....
Mrs. RW you’re right they are different, but not for the reasons you mentioned. Social Security is “managed” by the government, they decide the amount of money that we forcibly contribute that we will receive. (Also please remember it used to be a benefit and now it is an entitlement. When in actuality it is neither it is a return of money the individual earned that sat in an account that someone else is stealing the profits from.)
While a 401k is an account you willing contribute to, you decide how it is invested and what amount of risk you are willing to accept, and you can upon retiring withdraw amounts according to your need.
Yes those accounts are impacted by the stock market both negatively and positively. Nothing in life is “guaranteed” except as the saying goes death and taxes.
Social Security is insurance, paid into by everyone, and paid out when you hit a certain age, or you die and leave a widow and orphans.
Like all insurance, you could pay into it for years, and never use it. On the other hand, depending on circumstances, you could get far more than you put into it.
It was never meant to be "invested". It was meant to be a pay-as-you-go pact between the generations, where one generation paid for the retirement of the previous, with the trust of knowing that the younger generation coming up would do the same for you.
That trust has deliberately been broken by our ruling overlords, who foster hatred and bitterness between the generations with the express purpose of getting their hands on that SS money, and also conning the gullible into believing that they too can become fabulously wealthy by handing their money over to the likes of Larry Fink for 45 years.
It's too bad that that US has come to this, but the powers that be have far more influence over the beliefs of the citizens than any old feelings of solidarity with your fellow citizens.
As my Dad said in the late 80s "This is getting to be a mean, mean country".
Stolen to trafficking children. Senator Nancy Schaefer reported that SS was used to fund CPS incentives to take children away from parents and into foster care. She was run out of office and when she put together a documentary on it, she and her husband were killed in their home before it could be released.
Agree!! I would really like them to give me all the money I am entitled to based on the average lifespan should I start collecting at 62 and I'll invest it myself. Did you know that at one time some workes, like government employees, could opt out of SS?
Sorry, Jeff, seven digits in 18 years? Not for most people: starting with $1250 (USG + Dell), growing at 8% (nominal growth - inflation), you have to put in $25000 a year to get to near a million. That's not a "modest" contribution for most families...for each kid!
But $1000 a year gets you to $42K in 18 years. And that's ok, not bad. The main thing accomplished, which I know you appreciate and understand, is it makes investors of us all.
Exactly. Electricians right now are in incredible demand and start at about 100 k a year. That’s graduated apprentice pay. That’s a capable kid at 22 years old. I’ve been through every apprenticeship there is and never made that kind of money. And I’m considering the difference in value.
And I'm pretty sure you get paid while training in some trades, e.g., apprentice electrician, even if there is some "book work", classes to take, fees to pay.
Hopefully, kids will understand that college, mid-level or not, is NOT worth that kind of money.
And it will be THEIR money...much harder to let go of if you have to count out all the 100 dollar bills and physically hand them over to someone (h/t Dave Ramsey).
I don't know about that. Look at all the 'free money' people got during the covid scam. Rarely invested. I think it is not unreasonable to think that there will be many cars purchased that weren't earned.
The donation from oligarchs isn't earned. Most will take it as 'free money'. Earned money is more tightly held on to.
You want a 19 year old buying a house? Sure in general owning a house is good, but $40k in 18 years won't be enough for most major metro areas in safe areas by then to get to even 10%.
As a parent of two colleged kids, one in the last year and the other graduated, the 'system' gives with the one hand and takes away with the other. I go back to the 1980's when new loan and grant options were being brought to parents of middle class kids to "help them pay for college". It all seemed so good. Colleges saw that though and realized they could jack the annual cost up at a rate far beyond normal inflation, and they did for years. So the net was a negative from that government intervention.
Next we went 'compassionate' during "W's" term, pushing for banks to be more 'nice' in helping people 'afford' their own homes. That ended in the 2008 financial crisis.
More "let's help the people with our government program" occurred with Obamacare. More crumbs thrown to a certain constituency that resulted in much higher premiums, co-pays, deductibles, etc. for the people (via employer payroll deduction since the 'insurance' is an employment bennie now). Hasn't gone well.
Government causes true market distortions. First via printing money, and second via programs that address symptoms and not the real issue.
If Biden had come up with the plan, people would be complaining that it is buying votes and market-distorting. An oligarch or company can choose to 'buy better public perception' with a 'donation'. An area rife with potential corruption overt or covert.
My daughter was still in college at 19. After graduation, at 22, she bought her first house. She sold it a few years later, and with the equity bought a ranch in Colorado. She and her husband did a lot of work on the property, and when he developed chronic altitude sickness, she moved like lightening and sold the animals, implements and ranch and moved to sea level--Florida--to help care for her grandparents and see to her husband's now recovered health.
Some young people are ready, willing and able to shoulder the responsibility of home ownership, and whatever else life throws at them.
Being married for a long time is a great lesson in Ai context. I would never ask, “Do these jeans make me look fat?” Instead I would explain first how hard I have been exercising, weight lifting and avoiding the Blue Bell ice cream. Then I would ask, “Does this new sweater look great with these jeans?”
Surely Musk, Bezos and other similarly first rank mega billionaires can follow Dell's lead and contribute $250 to each account? The 50+ companies providing matching funds is great, really great, but it doesn't have the broad impact of giving every kid some money!
Get that startup fund up to $2500 instead of the $1250 and the kids have $80K+ at age 18...that's not "seven figures" but it's starting to get real! Imagine a kid fresh out of high screwel, training for a high paying trades job and NOT paying rent! Owning his first home--and by the way, using his trades skills to fix the place up and add a LOT of value.
It's potentially revolutionary and the MSM ignoring it is just one more bit of evidence for Portlanders how irrelevant the MSM is.
Each child will receive a stock in the space X or one of the other Musk genius things. So cross him off your list. I saw the announcement. I sure wouldn’t turn even one share of that down. My daughters in laws bought Netflix stock at birth for 6 grandchildren. Most are in college now. And their basic college is paid for. Sooooo.
Bezos has given to the Day One Fund which mostly supports causes related to homeless families and creates a network of new, nonprofit tier-one preschools in low-income communities. He has unfortunately also wasted $10B donating to "climate change" causes.
Elon Musk has donated over $1.1 billion through the Musk Foundation since 2010, with significant contributions in recent years. In 2024 alone, the foundation donated $474 million, with a large portion ($370 million) directed toward STEM education and schools in Texas. He wisely donates through charity vehicles he controls, so it doesn't get siphoned off on exorbitant salaries or Democrat Party campaigns.
Elon Musk worth $780 billion, lifetime giving $0.5 billion, 0.06% of net worth.
Jeff Bezos worth $250 billion, lifetime giving $0.1 billion, 1.85% of net worth.
So yes, they've done "something," but let's be real. No one individual can spend $780 billion to make their life better, or $250 billion for that matter. Musk could use hundreds of billions of dollars improving humanity with no effective whatsoever on him personally, but he doesn't.
The value of his investments may be better used in his hands, spent to make people's lives better and improve humanity, than to spread it around, if his current level of output and inventiveness are any indication of his ability to improve humanity. I think it is.
If Musk has not yet given as much as some here would like (not sure if I'm one of those), give him some time. He's kinda busy right now and as Maha pointed out Musk wants to know his money isn't be abused. That takes some time and attention to make sure it's right. Or you form a Foundation and before you can say "Bob's your uncle", they are funding all sorts of crap you never would.
Here's some rampant speculation, wild guessing: when Musk slows down, maybe when he's 80 or 90, maybe he'll start giving a lot more away then. And maybe he's waiting to see if Trump 2.0 sticks or if the Dems take control again and destroy everything. In which case, Musk will use his trillions to head out for Mars.
Love this line Jeff ‘Our job is not to hypnotize the model into conservatism. Our job is to cure the missing-record problem. To prepare the context.’ Thanks
Oh you lucky thing, you. We are still in the high 90's, tipping into 100's some days. And our air conditioning decided to up and quit about 9 days ago. So I could do with some of your creeping Fall, please. 😂 I believe the air guys are coming tomorrow to change out the heat pump... ching ching to the max
#RDKJR #MAHA Hey RFKJr: please end the 1992 “user fees” that enabled agency capture of the FDA. Make drug approvals trustworthy again!
“My eyes have been thrown wide open in terms of the capture and corruption of not just our federal health agencies. I would say every agency, every department of the federal government is captured by the very businesses and interests that they were designed to regulate.” Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) 9/1/2026
"the corporate press covers the biggest voluntary wealth transfer in history with all the urgency of a DMV clerk on a Friday afternoon"(before Memorial Day)
I haven't posted on C&C lately but good to read every one's comments. Healthy discourse 👍 Oh and there are still the trolls. Remember. Don't feed them. 😄😉
Investing instead of molesting has got to be better for the kids. Thanks Trump and Mr. And Ms. Dell. I know the lunatic let is pissed. After all, they love a mother who strangled her three kids and that’s the true Socialist Democratic American dream.
Kids from all walks of life love to see an account that has their name on it, a balance, and a mind to watch it grow. There is nothing more pro capitalism, anti socialism and anti communism than a child learning to save money and become independent. It teaches them the power of money and independence. Trumps idea of setting up these accounts for American families children is a slap in the face to democrats and the DSA. It’s sheer brilliance!
Next, reform child labor laws so that kids can work for someone not their parents, at a young age. I'd vote for 10 years old being old enough, but I'd be happy if 14 was the start.
My first jobs were between ages 11-13. Granted, growing up in a farming town farmers knew there was a plethora of de-weeders in the local youth. I spent two years working whenever I wanted to for one of the many local farmers, AND DelMonte. No pressure, if you wanted pay you showed up at this time and place and the farmers used who showed….it was a standing invitation. We all knew when and where and there was no shame if you didn’t show for a while (like when I had significant exams, I wouldn’t work as much …)
I babysat too. That helped with some boredom.
By 13 I had built enough of a reference pool to my reliability the local coffee shop hired me as a waitress and agreed to train me. I worked through my entire high school years for them (along with other summer jobs when school was out). That led to me being able to waitress throughout college to pay for my share that scholarships didn’t cover. At times I was working 40 hours a week in college, and it didn’t emotionally destroy me because those muscles had been developed when young.
I didn’t lose my childhood. I had plenty of down time for proper, silly fun. It developed a work ethic in me early on that gave me the ability to survive working so many hours while in college.
I sort of tried to protect my kids from those stresses during college, thinking I was helping their ability to absorb more of their teaching, but that created less ability to survive the real world upon graduation. My youngest son had to carry a couple odd jobs anyway in college and due to that he easily transitioned into adult life after graduation. Not so with my older.
Work ethic when young is so very important.
Good job! No pun intended.
I always tell the kids, I’m only really good at what I was made to do as a kid.
Some of the chores I was thrown into when I got
married were too much to bear. Planning and cooking dinner EVERY night?!!?? I’d rather move the house over a few inches. 😆 Laundry, vacuuming, weeding, all those things I’d always done — were fine, and I was typically on top of them, but that daily dinner thing was EXTRA. 😆
I always say I promised to be faithful in marriage but not to plan and cook dinner every night!!!!!!!
I thought that I was the only one like this!!!
Great summation well said! Parents of young children should take heed and start this early!
You are SO correct about work ethic!! As the eldest of five kids I have and always had a tremendous workload! At almost 80 yrs. now I still have the idea but my body is letting me down!🥱🥱
I’m 80 also and get so disappointed that my 80 year old body can’t do what my 30 year old body did. It’s discouraging but I count my blessing that I’m able to still to accomplish so much. Got to keep moving!
And farm life builds that work ethic. For us it was chores or don’t eat.
I always kinda longed to tell our three kids, “no chores; no eat!” but it wasn’t true. 😆 What are ya going to say?
“Harvest those Oreo’s kids, before the raccoons get ‘em!” We do have horses and hens but back up eggs aren’t hard to come by.
Juju, this is what is missing!! Many kids today walk, no, SIT around in a fog, this lays it out succinctly. The difference between your children shows that. Start early, when they read “The Little Engine that Could”, and build on that. Tech isn’t regressing, and ingenuity shouldn’t either. I started early too. Cut apricots for a farmer at 12, babysat etc., my brother washed cars, then detailed them, and it grows from there.
My sister and I started babysitting many years ago when we were in junior high school. Believe it or not, our names and phone numbers were published in the local newspaper! We got paid 50 cents and hour and there was no such thing as a tip. When we watched children for 3 1/2 hours we got $1.75. I babysat for as many as 4 children at a time. It was hard work but I did earn enough to buy myself a sweatshirt. Can you see parents putting their daughter's names in the local paper now! Things were a lot different in the 60s. I sure would not put my grandchildren's names out there now days.
I babysat for 50 cents an hour also. One summer I babysat the kids next door all summer. 5 days a week at 10 hours a day gave me $25 a week.
Mrs. RW
We were so blessed to have that 2-way level of trust....
When we were in the "babysitter needed" demographic, we always paid our sitters well above the going rate locally. This guaranteed that we could call one of our regular sitters any time and if they couldn't do the job themselves, they could afford to sub-contract it out. Oddly, we NEVER had an occasion where we had to alter OUR plans...
Same for me - 50 cents an hour and it didn’t matter how many children you watched. My limit was 4 kids.
I didn’t advertise, but I babysat enough hours at 50 cents an hour to buy multiple pairs of Pappagallo shoes in every color back in the 70s. Some parents tipped me too so that sped up my savings. That is a misnomer—their generosity sped up my spending!
I babysat also for 50 cents/hr and was excited to be able to buy a pair of Famolare shoes!
Pappagallo- oh my gosh what a flashback!!
Our son has 2 children, ages 1 & 2. When they go out for an evening, maybe 4-5 hours, they pay a teenaged sitter $100!!! My how times have changed!!
I used to get paid in coins 😆
@Barn- when my kids were born in the 80s, the local paper would print their names and addresses. Imagine that nowadays!
But now, babysitters get $20-$30/hr/child.
Even at 50 cents an hour, my parents never would have gotten out of the house if it wasn't for my grandparents.
Yikes!
And a lower minimum wage for minors. $17.13/hour plus employer's contributions is ridiculous for a first job scooping poop.
In high school, we used to have a two week break during harvest so that teachers and kids of all ages could work the harvest or babysit for the parents who worked, or whatever. In recent years I understand the state has banned working under the age of 16. Those jobs paid for all sorts of things I wanted to do and have. BTW, I am speaking of the state I think you are from, GregWA.
That was true of my mother’s childhood in Aroostook County, Maine, where the major crops were potatoes and broccoli.
We live in a prime agricultural area of NW Washington, noted for it's quality raspberries, strawberries and blueberries. When we first moved here in the late 80's, most all the local kids worked in the berries every summer, starting as young as 12. That's where the kids learned how to work and the value of the dollar. Most all of our local adult friends attested to this as well, that they worked in the berries, even starting as young as 7 or 8 ( way back when).
Then the state (you know, the democratic socialist republic of washington, small caps on purpose) thought they had a better idea, and regulated all our kids out of a wonderful character building job opportunity. More and more migrants (probably a lot of them illegal) flooded into the area and now what are many of these kids doing? Nothing! Except scrolling and gaming and looking for ways to be entertained. Sadly I have a couple grandsons ( ages 14 and 12)like that: I offered them work this summer at $15/ hour. (with the opportunity for a significant raise if they proved themselves) That lasted about a week and a half. It was hard manual labor, and I was working right along side them (I'm 76, so not exactly a spring chicken!) They took more breaks than I did! One rule I did have was that I confiscated their phone while they worked for me.
I must say it was a disappointment that they could not see the value of what I was offering. I could have found enough work for them to keep them busy for at least a month or more.
Teach them to work at a very young age, the earlier the better, and have them work for others...the best lessons in life are caught, not taught! A strong work ethic helps little Jonny not to become a little socialist!
Why? In my opinion children’s lives are already cut short enough. Children need to be children for as long as possible.
I think our idea of “letting kids be kids as long as possible” has gotten us to the place where we’ve turned 20-something’s into children. It’s not good.
In the past year, I’ve tried to hire a bookkeeper five times. The applicants I get are abysmal. The actual employees I’ve hired aren’t much better. Everyone is coddled and no one wants to work.
I believe life is hard but we’ve tried to make it seem like it isn’t. Letting kids be kids as long as possible places more emphasis on comfort than responsibility.
Through all of human history until within the last century, children have worked. And they have produced. And the ones who survived were strong, strong enough to create a world that can pretend the world isn’t a hard and dangerous place. But that’s not reality, and it’s extremely dangerous not to live in reality.
I've thought this as have you for my whole life. And how kids are deprived of making money and learning useful things which support life. The government and its confederates of lawyers, judges, insurance companies, the work rule, the presumption if not the actual fact of owning our own business makes a full integration of good habits and assumptions into the work place virtually impossible.
Nice to see you again here. And I've always appreciated your good sense and the way you formulate, order your thinking
I said Children NOT 20 year olds. At 18 you are an Adult. Let children be children ie No sex Ed in kindergarten. Age appropriate. I think starting a job at 16 is early enough.
Yes kids need to be kids as long as possible. But they also need to be taught how to work and learn responsibly. All kids need to start learning this at a young age waiting tell 18 or 21 is too late. I was making money cutting grass at 12. It was a very good learning experience and thank my parents for it. We are having too many young people not knowing how to do anything.
My parents had us do chores for our weekly allowance. I got a quarter if I made my bed set the table, dried dishes and cleaned the bathroom.
From my personal experience starting ”work” as a 13-14 year old back in the ‘60’s, I second Rickytikki. With very flexible hours, I worked for pay doing misc. yard work, staffing a BSA camp, delivering newspapers**, scooping ice cream, etc.
I got quite an education listening to widows during / after tending their yards, trying to collect $3.50/mo from evasive adult readers, various interactions with satisfied/unsatisfied adults and peers. It was a wonderful learning experience (admittedly not always fun) and very satisfying knowing I always had my own little bit of cash, and learning how to budget my very modest spending.
(** Interestingly in “Bourbon for Breakfast” by Jeffrey Tucker, he notes that delivering newspapers is still completely exempt from the federal child labor provisions under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).)
Exactly. Letting them be children does not mean don’t teach responsibility.
I appreciate that Susan and yes, our first instinct should always be to protect children. But the second instinct is to prepare them for happy, successful lives.
I'm not talking 40 hour work weeks, just an hour or so after school, on some days, after homework is done! And maybe a Saturday morning cutting lawns (after we deport all the guys doing it now).
The reason: it teaches a lot. showing up. negotiating with an adult. being rewarded for doing a good job (the lawns I cut often gave me a tip! my newspaper route customers also tipped most of the time).
Children also need to learn how to contribute to the running of the home: taking the trash out, cleaning up their stuff instead of just dropping on the floor for a parent to pick up and put away, maintaining their bedrooms, etc.
I started babysitting at 12, so I get that. I just don’t think kids should work at a younger age at regular jobs. Babysitting, newspaper routs, mowing lawns all great earning activities.
Exactly, Greg! Completely agree! I did a lot of babysitting from 13 on into college actually to supplement part time jobs I had after age 16. There were lots of neighborhood kids and I was the oldest. I learned a ton! Great experience that I am so happy I had.
My kids worked summers in my dental office doing age appropriate tasks for which they received minimum wage. They had chores too of course which included doing all of the grocery shopping and some meal planning and prep once they turned 16 and got their driver’s licenses. This definitely prepared them for life on their own, as they have reported. I didn’t want my son to be one of those guys who calls his wife every five minutes asking questions when he’s sent to the store.
now now..!! I'm in my 7th decade (like my Grandma did) I still MOW my own lawn, but I hire one of 'those guys' to edge everything. He IS legal.
And by the way, I think it’s probably more important for a child to retain their innocence as long as possible, as opposed to retaining their childishness as long as possible. Forgot to add that before I posted.
That’s my main point. I never meant never have a job and reap all the niceties in life from parents hard work.
Excellent point
Kids (well, all of us) grow when we’re challenged. It’s very important to do things that are hard, uncomfortable, or just not what one really wants to do at that time. And kids need the independence of having their own money and earning it themselves from someone that isn’t their parent, it establishes some great habits for adulthood.
to instill a work ethic that was lost in this country decades ago
At first I thought you were being sarcastic...!! Seriously, kids working - developing reliability, trust, skills, confidence, understanding of reward for effort, on & on. - are essential life acquisitions. These NEED to be ALLOWED INCREMENTALLY. It's foundational for personal growth and RELATIONAL growth!
Into their thirties like now?
Agree! If children have lousy parents that don't provide for them, the only things they can do to earn real money these days is to sell drugs or their own bodies. My grandfather left home at 13 and did all kinds of odd jobs as he moved west across the country, acquiring a myriad of skills along the way which served him well as an adult.
my first job started when I was 14 & ended when I was 18 - from 8th grade til the I graduated. I made $3/week playing the organ for Sunday services for a small Lutheran Church. Loved that job & the old organ I got to play, & I never missed a Sunday (even played the Sunday after our prom). When my kids were older, we were self-employed, & hired our kids to work doing small, odd jobs around the shop. When they were sixteen they worked full-time during the summer. One kiddo didn't like the work, so he found another job. They worked all through high school, & still participated in band, choir, and sports.
I worked weekends, till late, when I was 13, saving for a long-haul flight.
Felt proud to have earnt enough to buy my return flight. Took about a year.
Great experience.
The US Chamber of Commerce would love that!
I see you advocate a return to serfdom
Ummm, no.
Really? What would you suggest, Benn?
You’re absolutely right. My savings account was opened when I was 8. I worked a small paper route and diligently deposited more than half of my earnings each month (the rest was used for my monthly expenses rubber bands, plastic bags, string, and of course sodas and candy.) I got excited to see that balance increase. The real lesson for me came when I was about 13, my grandmother passed away and left me a small inheritance ($565.00). My father needed a loan and asked to borrow $750.00 which would be repaid within 6 months plus 5%. Reluctantly I agreed (I had plans for that money). It all worked out and I learned about how to make your money work for you. I’ve been a dedicated capitalist ever since. 😎
Amen! And the same goes for the accounts the admin just established for adults whose job doesn’t have a 401k option. Getting everyone in the market is a great way to fight the ‘capitalism is evil’ brigade.
One way to monitor the population through data centers giving kids chump stocks that can legally be absconded in the Great Taking. Their accounts can also be raided like the current Social Security System where corporations and big wings make no contribution. Kids will learn about the pitfalls of Monopoly capitalism.
"Brother can you spare a presidential bitcoin".
Pfffft
Carol Roth said her dad taught her ROI at age 10.
Very young, I painted clothesline poles when my older sisters painted storm windows, when the adults painted the house & attached window frames. Lengthier PAID farm jobs 'at Grandma's' commenced after that, but I'd been 'helping' as young as I could help when the reward was a 'job well-done.'
My two children got their deposits yesterday!! Praise the Dells!
🎯🎯🎯
Regarding the government hand-out portion of these accounts, why do those kids have to learn " to save money and become independent" on my dime?
Taking taxpayer's money and redistributing to other people IS socialism/communism!
Steve, the federal government already has your 'dime'. Is there some other way you want the 'redistribution' to happen? Personally I'm thrilled that my taxes will be used to actually seed a path to financial freedom rather than create more dependency on Big Brother.
If they don’t need that money to run the government then they should give it back. Or pay down the debt.
This is the worst idea ever it’s just another way that Trump is rewarding his Wall Street donors
It’s naked corruption, and all it’s gonna do is push up the price of investment assets, which will reward wealthy people the most of all
I wish intelligent citizens would cease using the word CAPITALISM - it is a Karl Marx favorite. Our country is operating under a FREE MARKET ENTERPRISE brand - at least it was until about 80 years ago. Too much 'big government' intervention have almost obliterated the word "free" from our economic system. nough said!
Enjoy the Labor Day holiday fellow "C & C'ers" - and remember to NOT overcook the steaks!!
Do Muslim children get these Trump accounts too? Are the accounts protected from parents using the money? Do illegal children get them too?
✝️✝️✝️
I will sing to the LORD as long as I live;
I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.
Let my meditation be pleasing to Him;
As for me, I shall be glad in the LORD.
Let sinners be consumed from the earth
And let the wicked be no more.
Bless the LORD, O my soul.
Praise the LORD!
— Psalm 104:33-35 NAS95
✝️✝️✝️
Blessed be the LORD, my rock,
Who trains my hands for war,
And my fingers for battle;
My lovingkindness and my fortress,
My stronghold and my deliverer,
My shield and He in whom I take refuge,
Who subdues my people under me.
O LORD, what is man, that You take knowledge of him?
Or the son of man, that You think of him?
Man is like a mere breath;
His days are like a passing shadow.
Bow Your heavens, O LORD, and come down;
Touch the mountains, that they may smoke.
Flash forth lightning and scatter them;
Send out Your arrows and confuse them.
Stretch forth Your hand from on high;
Rescue me and deliver me out of great waters,
Out of the hand of aliens
Whose mouths speak deceit,
And whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.
I will sing a new song to You, O God;
Upon a harp of ten strings I will sing praises to You,
Who gives salvation to kings,
Who rescues David His servant from the evil sword.
Rescue me and deliver me out of the hand of aliens,
Whose mouth speaks deceit
And whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.
_____ Psalm 144:1-11 NASB95
"Traces of the fertility cult that the nomadic Hebrews took over from their urbanized Canaanites, a modified version of the Sumerians, and though the prophets condemned them severely, it was never completely eradicated. There are elements of it at the time of the canonization of the Old Testament." (Child Sacrifice) History Begins at Sumer
Child sacrifice is alive and doing surprisingly well in America. Abortion is obviously a form of child sacrifice, and members of the International Satanic Cult do it regularly, here as well as elsewhere.
Abortion is marginal compared to vaccines and genocide.
In no context is abortion “marginal.”
Why contrast it? These are all different venues for the Depopulation Agenda.
Besides, what's marginal about it? Total clinical abortions in the US in 2025 were 1,126,000. Total abortions since America made the killing of children inside the mother "legal" in 1973 are about 70 MILLION. Is that not a genocide in and of itself?
Now I haven't done the math but extrapolate those aborted children out to today in terms of future off-spring that do not exist because these babies were killed and will not reproduce. Easily hundreds of millions of Americans missing.
Folks, we're not "just being culled". We're being exterminated. And then we're being replaced. Over the last 6 years we've already seen this in operation. In 1970, America was about 90% white and 10% black, all indigenous Americans. At that time, America was still considered to be a Christian population and nation. Today the ratio of whites to the population is down to about 60% and falling. This is due to the massive invasion of illegal immigrants by the tens of millions just since 2020 that was funded and facilitated by our own Government. Rather than assimilating into the American Christian culture, these immigrants come from alien cultures hostile to Christian culture. Furthermore, these immigrants were not subjected to the bio-weapon slow death shot that has been forced on all indigenous Americans, including our children who will experience the sterilizing effects of the shot. Currently, Americans are reproducing at a rate BELOW the replacement rate. On the other hand, the illegal immigrants are reproducing at rates far in excess of the replacement rate. Many immigrant males have more than one "wife" with several children each, all supported by the US welfare system.
Now just let your imagination extrapolate these trends out into the future. Do you see how we are being replaced? If all this happened just since 1973, what will America look like in the next 50 years? Do you really think Trump is going to have any effect on this? (Here's a hint: Not one aspect of the Depopulation Program has been terminated by the Trump administration... not one. He can't change any of this. Furthermore, the mRNA killing platform is being extended to all vaccines.)
I can easily envision why American oligarchs think they need to have a digital control grid to control what will be the future population of North America. The Flock cameras will be back, even smaller and more sophisticated, all controlled by AI data centers that can track in real time every individual in the country 24/7.
Or blowing up schoolchildren.
Mrs. RW
It’s being put into the atmosphere again today with this Lindsay Clancy drama: https://unorthodoxy.substack.com/p/a-strategy-of-tension-case-study
It’s the drugs. They’re the problem - but millions of Americans are prescribed them: https://unorthodoxy.substack.com/p/why-are-the-drugs-not-the-problem
It’s also a spiritual problem too. We need to recognize this: https://unorthodoxy.substack.com/p/psychosis-in-a-world-that-denies
Wow. Thanks for sharing these links. This sums it up for me: “ Why prescribing thirteen medications to a distressed postpartum woman should force us to question the treatment model itself.”. I hand not been following this case closely at all, only checking to see if the jury has reached a verdict. Is ANY media talking about all the drugs? Was there much questioning about it in the trial? Horrifying.
Add on the boosters.
#RepealThe19th
To expand on my post yesterday, I asked ChatGPT to "summarize scientific literature on the efficacy of statins in preventing premature death, omitting all studies that received funding from pharmaceutical companies or whose contributors included people employed or funded by pharmaceutical companies". The first response: "Yes. Applying your rule strictly changes the picture quite substantially."
The response: "After those exclusions, I find credible evidence that statin use is associated with lower premature mortality in people who already have cardiovascular disease or who are at high cardiovascular risk, but the evidence remaining under your filter is overwhelmingly observational rather than randomized.
For genuinely low-risk people taking a statin purely for primary prevention, the surviving non-industry evidence does not clearly demonstrate a mortality benefit. The benefit becomes more apparent as baseline cardiovascular risk rises.
That distinction is important."
It went on “Is there compelling, completely pharmaceutical-independent randomized evidence that statins make otherwise healthy, low-risk people live longer?”
The answer is no—not from the evidence set that survives the exclusion rule you gave me."
Context is King. Great post, Jeff!
Just saw my doctor today. Although I am fit and healthy metabolically, I have some genetics working against me re my heart — high calcium score, somewhat elevated hs-CRP, some plaque buildup in one of my arteries. My doctor continues to offer me statins. I told her I will continue to address my issues with diet, exercise and supplements. Our medical schools have turned out nothing but pill pushers and advocates of other related chemical interventions such as vaccines and chemotherapy.
Thankfully it’s possible to educate yourself and refuse to blindly take these poisons.
Look at inflammatory markers in your bloodwork. When an artery is inflamed, the cholesterol comes in to repair it, hence buildup
Yes, cholesterol production is the body’s repair mechanism for problems caused by inflammation. Hopefully, my efforts to address my inflammation will be successful in lowering my LDL naturally. Artificially suppressing cholesterol production through drugs, without addressing the underlying cause, seems like putting the cart before the horse.
Interesting. Do you happen to have a link to your Q&A? The more I can find re statins, the more I can shut up my next doctor who tries to push them on me.
You don't need an excuse. You can just say "Nope."
In the story Bartleby the Scribner by Herman Melville, when he asked or told to do something he didn’t want to, the character, Bartleby would consistently and repeatedly say, “No thank you, I prefer not to.” That’s now my approach to how to answer doctors or nurses who want me to take a medicine I probably know more about then they do. Repeating it a couple times if necessary is almost a polite (though maybe a little annoying) way to say nope!
Exactly. I've heard a lot of people say they just take the prescription and throw it away when they get home. I prefer to let the doctor know there's some pushback.
Good for you.
My question was more along the lines of educating the doctor. Similar to how Jeff is training AI.
Exactly what I did years ago! Still statin free! 😊
I have a paid business subscription, so I don't think I can share it. But it's pretty easy, just be very specific on your questions and keep refining the conversation like Jeffrey Tucker did.
Or, just copy/paste the same prompt and you should get the same response, no?
👍👏👏
We should feed the Ai copies of Dr Nadir Ali YouTube videos about statins. Nice and data heavy, but eyeopening.
Thanks. I need to talk to my husband about the statins he's been put on due to diabetes. He has no actual health risk.
Of course, he took 3 clot shots despite my strongest warnings, and only stopped getting boosters because he got a bad (but not needing hospitalization) case of COVID.
I have that effect on everyone I try to convince of anything, so far as I know. But I still think I need to say something.
Can we just admit that Social Security is a giant scam? The pyramid scheme takes in our money from every paycheck our entire lives, only for your money to depreciate in value by the time it's "paid back" to you in SS checks? There's already buzz that the age of "full retirement" will be forcibly raised because the government can't afford to pay back what it stole - I mean, borrowed - from us.
Trump is brilliant for creating something that allows children to begin with investments rather than forcing us to participate in outright govt theft.
Not just your money, but the employer’s matching, too. And you’re right, it’s a scam. It punishes employers for creating jobs and punishes employees for working.
Social Security is the ultimate Ponzi scheme! I wanted out of it for years, finally reached a point where I’m getting back some of that money but unless I can live until I reach 120 I’ll never get what I would have if I had just saved it on my own (without considering the amount employers had to match).
Social Security will not be around for my young grandchildren. Social Security may not be around for anybody (including my adult kids) in 10 years. Trump Account type solutions will need to replace Social Security. If not, it’s a Communist Technocracy with Universal Basic Income.
SS is essentially “not around” now. The dollar amounts are so low compared to cost of living it does not go far. I know it’s billed as “a supplement to retirement income” but it’s still pretty weak!
Interestingly my 87 year old dad, who worked for SSA for 30+ years has a federal pension worth 3-4x more than any social security benefit (as SSA employees they were not eligible for SSA benefits, because of potential conflicts, so they had their own separate pension plan).
Being called a “supplement to retirement” is a relatively “new term” up until the 90’s the government was telling folks it would cover your costs in retirement and that money was being held separately. It was always a money grab. If it was so great why are politicians exempt?
Exactly. I've got an average to above average benefit, and there is only $115 left over after our rent payment. This is a 3 bedroom apartment, but it's in one of the cheapest areas of the country.
When my husband retires we're going to be drastically reducing our lifestyle by necessity, and after one of us dies the surviving spouse won't even be able to afford to live in a paid off 1000 sq ft ranch house. It's going to have to be a much smaller residence.
Good for your dad!! 👏🏻
Social
Security is a government insured retirement savings account that is funded by YOU and your employer. The pols have been stealing from the SS fund for decades to plug their spending deficits in the budget.
The annual salary cap on Social Security deductions is $184,500. Complete solvency in perpetuity would be to simply lift the cap!
And keep Congress from raiding the funds in Social Sexurity for other purposes.
His Trump accounts were created with the taxpayer’s dollars! That is outright government theft!
Being that the government doesn’t have the money to fund these accounts, these kids will spend the rest of their lives paying for the interest on that borrowed money, which will compound each year.
Replace govt theft with corporate theft like they are different?
They are different. Social Security is guaranteed for as long as you live.
401Ks disappear with every stock market crash. And then the scammers tell you "Your money is gone. You need to double your contributions until you build your nest egg back up."
Unbelievable that people fall for that. And yet.....
Mrs. RW
Mrs. RW you’re right they are different, but not for the reasons you mentioned. Social Security is “managed” by the government, they decide the amount of money that we forcibly contribute that we will receive. (Also please remember it used to be a benefit and now it is an entitlement. When in actuality it is neither it is a return of money the individual earned that sat in an account that someone else is stealing the profits from.)
While a 401k is an account you willing contribute to, you decide how it is invested and what amount of risk you are willing to accept, and you can upon retiring withdraw amounts according to your need.
Yes those accounts are impacted by the stock market both negatively and positively. Nothing in life is “guaranteed” except as the saying goes death and taxes.
Social Security is insurance, paid into by everyone, and paid out when you hit a certain age, or you die and leave a widow and orphans.
Like all insurance, you could pay into it for years, and never use it. On the other hand, depending on circumstances, you could get far more than you put into it.
It was never meant to be "invested". It was meant to be a pay-as-you-go pact between the generations, where one generation paid for the retirement of the previous, with the trust of knowing that the younger generation coming up would do the same for you.
That trust has deliberately been broken by our ruling overlords, who foster hatred and bitterness between the generations with the express purpose of getting their hands on that SS money, and also conning the gullible into believing that they too can become fabulously wealthy by handing their money over to the likes of Larry Fink for 45 years.
It's too bad that that US has come to this, but the powers that be have far more influence over the beliefs of the citizens than any old feelings of solidarity with your fellow citizens.
As my Dad said in the late 80s "This is getting to be a mean, mean country".
He nailed it.
Mrs. RW
Funny how folks hate the government and trust the corporation. While government has a duty to the People, corporations do not. Sigh
Trotskyites selling compassion.
How quaint
Stolen to trafficking children. Senator Nancy Schaefer reported that SS was used to fund CPS incentives to take children away from parents and into foster care. She was run out of office and when she put together a documentary on it, she and her husband were killed in their home before it could be released.
Agree!! I would really like them to give me all the money I am entitled to based on the average lifespan should I start collecting at 62 and I'll invest it myself. Did you know that at one time some workes, like government employees, could opt out of SS?
Of course it’s a scam.
Sorry, Jeff, seven digits in 18 years? Not for most people: starting with $1250 (USG + Dell), growing at 8% (nominal growth - inflation), you have to put in $25000 a year to get to near a million. That's not a "modest" contribution for most families...for each kid!
But $1000 a year gets you to $42K in 18 years. And that's ok, not bad. The main thing accomplished, which I know you appreciate and understand, is it makes investors of us all.
In 18 years, that should cover one semester at a mid-level college with room and board.
Or training in a trade.
Exactly. Electricians right now are in incredible demand and start at about 100 k a year. That’s graduated apprentice pay. That’s a capable kid at 22 years old. I’ve been through every apprenticeship there is and never made that kind of money. And I’m considering the difference in value.
And linemen — here it’s about $22,000 for lineman school.
And I'm pretty sure you get paid while training in some trades, e.g., apprentice electrician, even if there is some "book work", classes to take, fees to pay.
Down payment on a house?
Yep, down payment on a house!
Hopefully, kids will understand that college, mid-level or not, is NOT worth that kind of money.
And it will be THEIR money...much harder to let go of if you have to count out all the 100 dollar bills and physically hand them over to someone (h/t Dave Ramsey).
I don't know about that. Look at all the 'free money' people got during the covid scam. Rarely invested. I think it is not unreasonable to think that there will be many cars purchased that weren't earned.
The donation from oligarchs isn't earned. Most will take it as 'free money'. Earned money is more tightly held on to.
You want a 19 year old buying a house? Sure in general owning a house is good, but $40k in 18 years won't be enough for most major metro areas in safe areas by then to get to even 10%.
As a parent of two colleged kids, one in the last year and the other graduated, the 'system' gives with the one hand and takes away with the other. I go back to the 1980's when new loan and grant options were being brought to parents of middle class kids to "help them pay for college". It all seemed so good. Colleges saw that though and realized they could jack the annual cost up at a rate far beyond normal inflation, and they did for years. So the net was a negative from that government intervention.
Next we went 'compassionate' during "W's" term, pushing for banks to be more 'nice' in helping people 'afford' their own homes. That ended in the 2008 financial crisis.
More "let's help the people with our government program" occurred with Obamacare. More crumbs thrown to a certain constituency that resulted in much higher premiums, co-pays, deductibles, etc. for the people (via employer payroll deduction since the 'insurance' is an employment bennie now). Hasn't gone well.
Government causes true market distortions. First via printing money, and second via programs that address symptoms and not the real issue.
If Biden had come up with the plan, people would be complaining that it is buying votes and market-distorting. An oligarch or company can choose to 'buy better public perception' with a 'donation'. An area rife with potential corruption overt or covert.
My daughter was still in college at 19. After graduation, at 22, she bought her first house. She sold it a few years later, and with the equity bought a ranch in Colorado. She and her husband did a lot of work on the property, and when he developed chronic altitude sickness, she moved like lightening and sold the animals, implements and ranch and moved to sea level--Florida--to help care for her grandparents and see to her husband's now recovered health.
Some young people are ready, willing and able to shoulder the responsibility of home ownership, and whatever else life throws at them.
What a terrible waste of those funds
WORD
Maybe the purchase of a computer since traditional schooling will be long gone. As will the value of the dollar, if it survives at all.
Or buy a machine gun, rocket launcher, and a bunch of MREs, since society will have collapsed.
Already got those, planning on bequeathing them to my kids, along with my horde of gold and whisky.
GregWA, what's $42k invested at age 18 at age 65? That's the kicker if there is one I think.
That all depends on one's after tax rate of return less the true rate of inflation.
Being married for a long time is a great lesson in Ai context. I would never ask, “Do these jeans make me look fat?” Instead I would explain first how hard I have been exercising, weight lifting and avoiding the Blue Bell ice cream. Then I would ask, “Does this new sweater look great with these jeans?”
I laughed out loud on this one 🤣🤣🤣
There must always be a 'correct' answer to any question a woman asks ;-)
ROFL. Ride 'em, cowgirl!
Smart lady!!! 😆
😂🤩😂
Surely Musk, Bezos and other similarly first rank mega billionaires can follow Dell's lead and contribute $250 to each account? The 50+ companies providing matching funds is great, really great, but it doesn't have the broad impact of giving every kid some money!
Get that startup fund up to $2500 instead of the $1250 and the kids have $80K+ at age 18...that's not "seven figures" but it's starting to get real! Imagine a kid fresh out of high screwel, training for a high paying trades job and NOT paying rent! Owning his first home--and by the way, using his trades skills to fix the place up and add a LOT of value.
It's potentially revolutionary and the MSM ignoring it is just one more bit of evidence for Portlanders how irrelevant the MSM is.
Each child will receive a stock in the space X or one of the other Musk genius things. So cross him off your list. I saw the announcement. I sure wouldn’t turn even one share of that down. My daughters in laws bought Netflix stock at birth for 6 grandchildren. Most are in college now. And their basic college is paid for. Sooooo.
How about Bernie contributing some of his millions? Even if its $20 per account.
Who manages these accounts? Is it Blackrock or State Street?
Whoever it is will be raking ''management fees'' off these accounts for decades.
Maybe Musk and Bezos don't want to hand over money to Larry Fink.
Mrs. RW
"high screwel" love it! 🤣
I assumed everyone knew where that's from so I didn't cite the source: the Great Rushbo! Rest in Peace!
"Surely Musk, Bezos and other similarly first rank mega billionaires can follow Dell's lead and contribute $250 to each account?"
They could, but when is the last time Musk or Bezos---two of the richest men who ever existed---did anything charitable. Let's be honest here.
You’re late to the party. They both already have. Pay attention
Bezos has given to the Day One Fund which mostly supports causes related to homeless families and creates a network of new, nonprofit tier-one preschools in low-income communities. He has unfortunately also wasted $10B donating to "climate change" causes.
Elon Musk has donated over $1.1 billion through the Musk Foundation since 2010, with significant contributions in recent years. In 2024 alone, the foundation donated $474 million, with a large portion ($370 million) directed toward STEM education and schools in Texas. He wisely donates through charity vehicles he controls, so it doesn't get siphoned off on exorbitant salaries or Democrat Party campaigns.
Elon Musk worth $780 billion, lifetime giving $0.5 billion, 0.06% of net worth.
Jeff Bezos worth $250 billion, lifetime giving $0.1 billion, 1.85% of net worth.
So yes, they've done "something," but let's be real. No one individual can spend $780 billion to make their life better, or $250 billion for that matter. Musk could use hundreds of billions of dollars improving humanity with no effective whatsoever on him personally, but he doesn't.
The value of his investments may be better used in his hands, spent to make people's lives better and improve humanity, than to spread it around, if his current level of output and inventiveness are any indication of his ability to improve humanity. I think it is.
$780 billion is the value of his investments. Would you prefer he give his investments away? To whom?
If Musk has not yet given as much as some here would like (not sure if I'm one of those), give him some time. He's kinda busy right now and as Maha pointed out Musk wants to know his money isn't be abused. That takes some time and attention to make sure it's right. Or you form a Foundation and before you can say "Bob's your uncle", they are funding all sorts of crap you never would.
Here's some rampant speculation, wild guessing: when Musk slows down, maybe when he's 80 or 90, maybe he'll start giving a lot more away then. And maybe he's waiting to see if Trump 2.0 sticks or if the Dems take control again and destroy everything. In which case, Musk will use his trillions to head out for Mars.
Like you would know
Love this line Jeff ‘Our job is not to hypnotize the model into conservatism. Our job is to cure the missing-record problem. To prepare the context.’ Thanks
That was interesting. I thought it was just about asking the right questions, but that was an oversimplification.
Good morning all. Blessed be God for He is good and His mercy endures forever.
Morning Karmy!
Morning Shayne! The weather is turning. Fall is creeping in.
Oh you lucky thing, you. We are still in the high 90's, tipping into 100's some days. And our air conditioning decided to up and quit about 9 days ago. So I could do with some of your creeping Fall, please. 😂 I believe the air guys are coming tomorrow to change out the heat pump... ching ching to the max
“You are building a trial record, not decorating the library.
The order matters. Evidence comes before advocacy. Narrow questions asked before sweeping conclusions. Audit the evidence before demanding a verdict.”
Another excellent example of how ‘thinking like a lawyer’ has powerful practical results.
#RDKJR #MAHA Hey RFKJr: please end the 1992 “user fees” that enabled agency capture of the FDA. Make drug approvals trustworthy again!
“My eyes have been thrown wide open in terms of the capture and corruption of not just our federal health agencies. I would say every agency, every department of the federal government is captured by the very businesses and interests that they were designed to regulate.” Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) 9/1/2026
"the corporate press covers the biggest voluntary wealth transfer in history with all the urgency of a DMV clerk on a Friday afternoon"(before Memorial Day)
LMAO
Even as I type this pithy comment on my Dell PC, Zohran Mamdani is seeking a way to confiscate NYC residents' Trump Account funds. Billionaires bad!!
Zohran Mamdani should be deported, along with Ilhan Omar, to Somalia.
Absolutely 💯
I’m sure. It will be interesting to analyze the numbers that leave NYC over his time as mayor. I won’t be visiting that’s for sure, Roger B.
I haven't posted on C&C lately but good to read every one's comments. Healthy discourse 👍 Oh and there are still the trolls. Remember. Don't feed them. 😄😉
Alternatively, don’t water the plants. (I am convinced that is what they are.)
I predict that people with chronic TDS will eventually look like Hakeem Jeffries. He always looks so happy, doesn't he?!!
Investing instead of molesting has got to be better for the kids. Thanks Trump and Mr. And Ms. Dell. I know the lunatic let is pissed. After all, they love a mother who strangled her three kids and that’s the true Socialist Democratic American dream.