In Search of the Perfect Investment

I spent the last few days trying to figure: What is Trump hoping to win with his Trade WAR with China?

I hear four things:

+ Even up the $500 million trade “deficit.”

+ Stop them stealing our IP.

+ Cut subsidies to many of their uneconomic manufacturers.

+ Open China to more American businesses, e.g. credit cards. Drop the partnership rule.

For the first three, time will change them. To wit:

+ As they get richer, they’ll buy more of our stuff. Trade deficits don’t mean much. We have a huge Treasury surplus with them. We sell them Treasurys. We don’t even have to deliver a physical product. We just take their money.

+ They’re inventing their own IP. It’s time for us to steal their electric car and solar panel technology. I bet it’s better than ours. Last year’s technology is last year’s technology.

+ We also subsidize many industries, — from energy (oil and gas) to farming. Our leg to stand on is weak.

Maybe he can bully them into opening China to more American businesses, like credit cards and banking? It’s worth going for.

My analysis is more simplistic. Trump wants a second term.

The best political appeal is to foment fear and to position yourself as the only person who can solve it and give us all a happy life. It worked the first time. It will probably work the second time, i.e. 2020.

A recent posting on Quora wrotel:

I live in Tennessee and have been both southern and conservative all my life. I am surrounded by people who think he (Trump) is second only to Jesus Christ himself. In fact, they have posted memes showing a ghostly image of Jesus carrying Trump’s bags into the White House.

Because his base simply refuses to acknowledge any evidence that suggests Trump is anything other than the savior of America I predict he will again in 2020.

You can find the entire discussion on Quora. Search forWhy is America so anti-Trump?

Chinese politically correct (?)

Chinese billionaire and Alibaba owner, Jack Ma, attended a company mass wedding on Friday, telling employees they should be having lots of sex to mirror the exacting work weeks demanded by the firm. Ma also encouraged the couples present to have children. “The first KPI (key performance indicator) of marriage is to have results. There must be products.

What are the products?

“Have children,” Ma said.

Ransomware is rampant

The bad guys hack your data and lock all your files up. You can’t get to anything … unless you pay them money. They prefer bitcoin because it’s untraceable.

You have two choices: Pay them the bitcoin and get your data back. Or recreate your data from backups.

Most are paying the ransom. Hint: You can bargain them down.

There are two “solutions:”

+ Keep extensive backups — preferable off-line.

+ Employ someone who will make your system hacker-proof. Good luck with that one.

For more on this, watch a recent 60 minutes. Click here.

My friends (and I) are now afraid of flying on Boeing planes

Boeing management is obsessed with profits and the company’s share price. they should be obsessed with aircraft safety.

It’s very depressing.

First, read this — hint, it’s long.

737MAXArticle

Second, watch this piece from 60 Minutes Australia.

I should have kept my Boeing short longer. I covered too early. The stock is way down. And frankly deserves to fall a lot more. I’m disgusted at Boeing.

Eurovision Song Contest 2019 starts today

Israelis performers welcome you to Eurovision. It’s a great video. Nice scenes of Israel, too.

Useful stuff (you’ve heard before)

+ Backup. Backup. Backup. These days I use FreeFileSync and an external flash drive.

+ Check. Check. Check.

+ Say NO. NO. NO. NO. Practice in the shower.

+ If your PC is giving you “out of memory” messages, increase your pagefile.sys file. Real easy.

+ Buying a new laptop? Wait a few months. The new microprocessors coming out of Intel are twice as fast as the ones we’re all using today. Trust me on this one. I’ve been measuring Intel speeds for years. This year will show the greatest speed bump in eons. That bump won’t help Intel stock, which I don’t recommend.

Skechers GOGAMAX

These things are the most comfortable “shoe” you ever will wear. They come in a million colors, cost nothing and are available from everyone and their uncle, including Amazon, Zappos, Skechers, etc.:

New York buses now have WiFi

Remarkably, it’s very good WiFi. They also have cell phone charging plugs too. Here’s yesterday’s bus driver. He insisted that his picture be displayed “all over the Internet.” He looked super cool. How many bus drivers do you see wearing a tie? I didn’t have time to get his name.

The lodge in the Oregon wilderness

Go here this summer.

This is the view on the second day of a five-day backpack to Minam River Lodge. The lodge is located in a designated wilderness area within Oregon’s 2.3-million-acre Wallowa-Whitman National Forest.

You can read the entire writeup in the Washington Post. Click here.

Friday is Grandparents’ Day at Sophie’s school

A Jewish grandfather takes his grandchildren to the beach. They’re playing in the sand when suddenly, a massive wave comes and pulls the smallest grandson out into the water.

Panicked, the grandfather prays to God. “Oh God, please bring him back! Please let him live!”

Suddenly, an even bigger wave bursts out of the ocean, setting the little boy down right at his grandfather’s feet.

The grandfather scoops him up, hugs him.

Then he stares up at the sky and says, “He had a hat.”

Harry Newton, who still hasn’t lost the hibiscus, but did win at tennis yesterday. Meantime, if you don’t yet believe in Climate Change, check out what’s happening with heavy rains and flooding in the mid-west. My Houston friend, Al Moran, reports

Houston just experienced another devastating amount of rain, and many low lying areas were flooded yet again. It was not as bad as Harvey, but it was bad for those low lying areas that flooded again. … During Harvey, 37.5% of the properties that flooded were in 50 and 100 year Flood Zones.

My friend lives in a 100 Year Flood Zone in Houston. He hasn’t been flooded — yet. He continues to have Federal Flood Insurance.

Many in Washington believe that shooting wars are good for being re-elected. I’m watching Iran. I’ve been there. It’s a gorgeous country. Or was before the shahs got their hands on it. They stay in power (40 years and counting) because they have the military which has been paid off with huge bribes — like running the biggest and most profitable businesses and owning the best land. By the way, the Iranian enclave in Los Angeles is super successful. Iranians are super-talented.