As a young teen, I recall vividly the scene around our dinner table at home, munching on my Mom’s wonderful cooking while listening to Walter Cronkite (CBS) or John Chancellor (NBC) detail the day’s casualty figures from Vietnam.  Phrases like, “losses were light “, or “ground was gained at modest cost”  were commonplace, and after a while, no one seemed to blink an eye.   Other than a few hippies, and sporadic college campus protests, the horrors of war became accepted;  the terrible evils that man is capable of ceased to really trouble us.   And the bottom line was that no one around the world, other than America, was doing anything to combat the horrors of Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam or Pol Pot in Cambodia.   Perhaps we can blame the absence of CNN and Fox News for our apathy, but then again, we did have Walter Cronkite speaking to us at our dinner tables each night.

Is that scenario above much different than today’s growing indifference and acceptance of random acts of terror perpetrated by Islamic extremists around the world ?   After a few days, memories and mention of San Bernadino and Paris and Fort Hood and Burkina Faso and Westgate Shopping Mall in Kenya fade away from national awareness and discussion.  And soon, the Wisconsin presidential primary will push the atrocities committed at the Brussels airport this week  to the backburner of news reporting.   And this is in a world of instant social media and immediate on-the-ground press coverage.

But unlike the late-1960’s,  America is not at the forefront of combatting the pure evil that threatens the civilized world, preferring instead to be isolationist and tolerant and politically correct toward the instruments of that evil.   “After all, it’s only a small 10% minority that is manipulating the faith for destructive purposes”.   Well folks, 10% of 1.5 billion folks is 150 million very dangerous, radicalized folks.

I don’t have a really grand or profound point or conclusion to this reminiscing about my youth,  other than to wish and hope and pray for the next American president to once again lead and motivate our civilized partners, and even some of our less civilized partners (Russia), in an effort to confront and combat the evils we view on the tube and on our computers each day.   If not America, then who ?                                               WHAT THE HECK !

In my quest to determine whether Donald Trump is the guy who will restore our nation’s greatness,  or whether he is a maniacal megalomaniac, I’ve started examining some of his “short on the details” proposals.   Today I want to talk about the exciting topic of international trade and tariffs, specifically Trump’s insistence on Mexican payment for the 1000 mile Trump wall via imposition of a 35% tariff on automobiles assembled in Mexican maquiladoras and shipped to the USA.   I happen to be the proud owner of such a vehicle (2014 VW Jetta assembled in Puebla), and I did not have such a tariff impact my ultimate retail purchase price.  And if the price had been 35% higher because of a Trump-like tariff, I would have shifted to other alternatives. First though, before examining Trump’s proposal, let’s figure out why in the world we buy cars assembled in Mexico.   Isn’t that like buying semiconductors made in  Birdsboro ?   Fifteen years ago, I watched a U.S. company attempting to teach monkeys to sort retail coupons at their processing factory in Ciudad Juarez !

Well, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), signed by Bill Clinton in 1993, certainly had the effect of stimulating trade among the three nations, but opened the door to allowing manufacturers to seek the lowest labor costs to produce their products.   Coupled with constant and oppressive wage and work rule pressures from manufacturing labor unions (UAW, URW, AFL-CIO), why wouldn’t American manufacturers choose to hire Mexican workers at $1 an hour ?      My readers know how I dislike quoting Bernie Sanders, but on the campaign trail  Bernie accurately notes the 800,000 manufacturing jobs lost since NAFTA’s origin.

So, Trump’s solution is to impose, by executive order,  a 35% tariff on fully assembled autos returning to the USA, because there is no way the Congress will gut NAFTA in this way.    What are the probable consequences ?   First, U.S. buyers would move to cheaper alternatives, and this could also be expanded to other capital goods made in Mexico.   Second, in response, the maquiladoras churning out the vehicles would lose economic viability and would shut, thus imposing an economic burden on Mexico and increasing the pressures for its citizens to “migrate” northward.   Thirdly, and most importantly, the manufacturing of these vehicles would not return to the USA, but would be shifted to other low labor cost regions of the world.   Is Trump going to impose tariffs everywhere, thus setting off inflationary punishment on the voters who just elected him ?      If you don’t solve the base problem, artificially high labor costs, there is no permanent free market solution to the problem of lost manufacturing jobs.   No one gets this.  Trump doesn’t get this.

The solution became evident this past week as I drove through the Bible belt.   There I witnessed tens of thousands of American jobs at American Kia and Hyundai factories in Alabama and Georgia and South Carolina.   Hit the root of the issue by encouraging (with tax incentives) the manufacture of more cars in solid union-free factories in right-to-work states.   WHAT THE HECK !

Who says that America has lost her sparkle, her edge , her ability to excel and dominate ?  In one field of endeavor, ice hockey, we will this year have come full circle in dominating a sport once characterized in Quebec and Montreal as their sport “pas de rivaux” (with no rivals).    For the first time in professional ice hockey history, it appears that no Canadian  team will even make the NHL playoffs.   And in hockey, almost half the teams make the playoffs !  As I gaze out my window on this blustery Winter day watching all the children shooting pucks on  our frozen ponds (actually, for all my readers in Birdsboro,   Tampa doesn’t have any frozen ponds),  I cannot help but well up in tears at how we Americans have hijacked the national sport of our Northern neighbors.   WHAT THE HECK !

Helped out yesterday refereeing soccer games at a Special Olympics event in Central Florida.   If anyone reading this hears me complain or whine about anything in the next few weeks, please reach out and give me a good swat to the face .  About the only upside I could see was the sheer joy on the face of the participants, the same joy you see in a little kid’s face on Christmas morning.  WHAT THE HECK !

Our fearless emperor, the one who promised to “bring us all together”, failed to attend the funeral of a Supreme Court justice, the first time in history this omission has occurred.  Did I mention that  Scalia was a conservative justice.   Since he had a free calendar, guess he was busy preparing for his huggy kissies with the Castro hoods in March.  Shameful.         WHAT THE HECK !

Within the context of a hotly contested Presidential election year, with multiple flawed candidates, I thought it prudent to quote a columnist from the Tampa Bay Times, David Brooks.  This is a fellow that I seldom agree with, but his words in today’s fishwrap rang true.

“A great nation doesn’t divide in times of natural disaster. It doesn’t choose leaders who angrily tear it apart.  Instead, it chooses leaders like Franklin Roosevelt and Dwight Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan, leaders who radiate sunny confidence, joy and neighborliness.  That is what FDR and Ike and the Gipper were able to do with their leadership styles.  With fireside chats and golf jokes, they were neighborly even in times of great difficulty and stress.  But they were also able to set an emotional tone that brought people together and changed the nature of Americans’ relationships with one another.  During their presidencies, the bonds of solidarity grew stronger and the country more formidable.  They were able to cultivate a deep sense of unity, responsibility and sacrifice.  They didn’t call for sacrifice as something painful, but as what one did for one’s friends.”

Does this passage remind you of the current crop of leadership in our troubled times, names like Clinton, Trump, Sanders, and Obama ?   I didn’t think so !       WHAT THE HECK !

WHAT THE HECK !

Since my Packers were unfortunately not invited, I wasn’t overly enthused about yesterday’s Super Bowl.  Peyton Manning and his now-rag arm, ho-hum !     But spicing up the day to my surprise was a celebration, orchestrated by entertainer Beyoncé, of the 50th anniversary of the Black Panther movement.    Good old family TV, with a human tribute to patriot (or is it pinhead) Malcolm X, and some good old fashioned black fist pumping, a replay of one of the most disgusting displays of demonstration in our nation’s history, the black power salute during the National Anthem by our sprinters. Doesn’t anybody at the NFL or at ABC bother to screen Super Bowl performances ahead of time ?    WHAT THE HECK !

Seven years ago, I realized that Republicans and Democrats (or Proglibocrats as I like to call them) are really no different.  They speak differently, but act the same in most matters.   And my metamorphosis into an “L” just gets confirmed each and every year.    As an example, since 2014, the party of elephants has controlled both the House of Representatives and the Senate, with their ascent based on promises of a repeal of Obamacare, entitlement fixes, a stronger military, and some movement toward a balanced federal budget.   And what have voters gotten for their trouble ?      SQUAT, ZIP, NADA, ZERO !     They haven’t even tried to send a bill to the White House ridding us of step one toward nationalized health care.  The clock keeps ticking toward Medicare and Social Security insolvency, and the Republicans are scared to offend voters with even a proposal or two.  Our military is weaker than at any time since World War II.    And in the 5-6 tedious Republican debates, there has been nary a word from any of the gang of 17 regarding movement toward a balanced budget.  Worthless, worthless, Republicans.        WHAT THE HECK !

Now that the X-Files have returned to the television screen, I’m having illusions that a monster is at work in my mind.   On three separate occasions during the past few weeks, I have found myself in total agreement with Hillary’s thorn in the side, Bernie Sanders.

As part of his “hang the bankers ” campaign, Bernie has for several months now beat the drum on a return of the Glass Steagall Act of 1933.    This post-Depression bill effectively separated the low risk activities of commercial banks and the higher risk activities of investment banks.   Under lobbyist pressures, and spearheaded by then-President Bill Clinton, the meat of the Act was repealed in 1999, leading to the eventual formation of financial behemoths like Bank of America/ Merrill Lynch ,  Chase Manhattan/ J. P. Morgan, and JP Morgan Chase and Bear Stearns (that last one really worked out well !)   After repeal, American taxpayers were on the hook for losses, not only from staid commercial banking activities, but for any darn financial instrument the investment bankers could concoct, instruments like derivatives and packaged sub-prime loans.   And we the taxpayers certainly paid a dear price from those activities in 2008-2009.     Now Bernie Sanders wants to reinstate Glass Steagall, and I say bully !  It’s about time !

Next, I find myself in line with Bernie’s views on guns in our country.  I respect and would defend every American’s second Amendment right to bear arms, but golly, we’ve let tolerance and the NRA to get way out of line with common sense.   There is absolutely no part of “self defense and resistance to oppression” that automatic weapons apply to.   This is unpopular with my conservative brethren, but I see no reason that anyone other than law enforcement needs a pistol of any kind.  Defend your house, target shoot, hunt deer, and resist oppression with a rifle or a shotgun.   In the hallowed halls of the Florida legislature this week and last, our elected officials have been debating an “open carry” law.   Are you kidding ?  More than half of the people I run into in the daily course of life should never hold  a gun in their hand, much less on their belts in open view.

And thirdly, Bernie thinks that corporate money pollutes the political process and simply opens the door for “bought elections”.  Of course it does, and let’s not forget to add union money and George Soros money to the evil Wall Streeters Bernie has such a hate for.    To me, the first amendment applies to people, not companies or unions.   Fund national and local and state elections with public monies so everyone is on a level playing field.

Just want to remind my readers that the above list are the only topics with which I am in harmony with Bernie Sanders.                WHAT THE HECK !