Tuesday morning March 8, 2022
I sit transfixed watching what madman Putin is doing to Ukraine and its wonderful people.
I can’t stop crying. I feel helpless. I hate feeling helpless.
Over two million women and children have left their husbands, their fathers, their uncles. They will likely never see most of them ever again.
What insanity is this?
Hence I’m repeating …
Ways we can help the Ukrainians:
+ Send money to World Central Kitchen (WCK). You see them on TV from Ukraine all the time.
When the refugees started, WCK started distributing hot meals at a border crossing in Poland as families arrived. Now, they’re delivering meals to hundreds of locations in Poland, Moldova, Romania, Hungary, and even in Ukraine with the help of dozens of partner restaurants. They told me they’re preparing for this to be one of their largest relief efforts to date. I’ve sent money. For WCK, click here.
+ Send money to International Rescue Committee The IRC is on the ground in Poland supporting displaced children and families with vital supplies. I’ve given them money also. Click here.
+ Book yourself an Airbnb in Ukraine. You won’t use it but it’s a good way of getting money in. On March 2 and March 3, guests from around the world booked more than 61,000 nights in Ukraine, according to an Airbnb spokesperson. More than half of those nights were booked by Americans. For the story, click here.
+ Email and call your congresspeople to support The Banning Russian Energy Imports Act, which would prohibit the purchase by the U.S. of Russian crude oil, petroleum, liquified natural gas, and coal. By continuing to buy their petroleum products we are helping them finance their Ukrainian war.
+ Email and call your congresspeople to speed humanitarian aid and military armaments to Ukraine. This week important bills are in Congress. They need a push.
+ Tell your employer company to cut ties with Russia, as many have already done, including Apple, BP, Shell, ExxonMobil, Volkswagen, Netflix, MasterCard, Visa, Airbnb, Dell, Spotify, BMW, Mercedes Benz, Boeing, Coca-Cola, and Pepsi.
+ Reduce your own energy consumption. Turn down your thermostat. This is important. If we cut off Russian oil imports, prices at the pump will go up. More inflation will prompt the Fed to raise interest rates rapidly, and could plunge the American economy into a recession. Although the link between energy prices and the economic cycle is far from one-to-one, the recessions of the early nineteen-eighties, 1990, 2001, and 2008 were all preceded by a spike in the price of oil and higher interest rates.
+ Call your friends in Russia. Tell them what’s really happening. Many of them believe it’s a “special military operation” to “denazify” Ukraine, that only military installations are being targeted and civilians are safe. Many family members in Russia refuse to believe that Russian soldiers could bomb or shoot innocent people, or even that a war is taking place. That’s what their state media is telling them. There’s no other media left. The Kremlin has tightened freedom of speech laws, shut down what remained of Russia’s free press. And many journalists, fearing long prison sentences of 15+ years, have fled Russia.
+ Do whatever you can to get yourself and your family off oil long-term – with solar, wind, geothermal energy, etc. Oil is used by many bad countries to finance their bad ways – think Saudi, Iran, Venezuela and Russia, etc.
+ Open your house to Ukrainians when they arrive, as they will, soon.
+ Don’t buy any Russian products. Not that there are many to buy. Most “Russian” booze is actually made here.
+ Beg your friends and relatives in Europe to pressure their governments to send food, medicine and military aid to Ukraine. As fast as possible.
One of our great presidents tells a wonderful Russian joke
I’m sorry about the huge losses in our stockmarkets yesterday and continuing, less violently, today.
This is not a “Buy-The-Dip” market. This is most definitely a “Cash-is-King” market. I’m at 41% and feel I should probably be at least 50% in cash. Funny gainers today: CVX, Airbnb, Tesla and TSCO. Impossible to predict.
See you tomorrow when I stop crying.
— Harry Newton
