Stupid Talk Needs to be Called Out as Stupid Talk

Let's face it, when it comes to social media a lot gets said, and a lot of what gets said is dumb. Hell, I won't fail to admit that I have probably said some dumb things in my time on social media as well. Still, if I say something dumb someone usually calls me out on it.

Not that I always agree that what I said was dumb, mind you. Nonetheless, we call things for what they are.

Take this statement made on Twitter, now X, by Barb McQuade wherein she said, "I think a strong case can be made that Trump committed 5 counts of manslaughter on Jan 6 by recklessly causing the unintended deaths of others."

That's dumb.

Granted, I may be a little bit biased on my opinion of the whole January 6th, so-called "insurrection," in that I don't agree that the events occurred as so many believe they did.

Do I think it was an orchestrated and planned event to serve as a distraction from a possible real examination of what happened with the election in 2020? Yes. As a matter of fact, I do. But I don't want to digress. I simply want to point out my bias.

Including my bias as a Trump supporter then and now.

If there is one thing that we can all agree upon, for whatever it is worth, it is that January 6th was an unpleasant event in our history. For a lot of reasons. Still, to suggest that Trump caused it, I believe, is a real stretch of the imagination.

People, with individual intent decided on that day, provided it was not a planned and orchestrated event, to act in a manner that could at best be labeled as inappropriate, and perhaps even unfortunate. Smooth transition of power has always been a tenet of our system and on that day that tenet was challenged.

The deaths that occurred on that day were also tragic and unfortunate. But to suggest that Trump should be held liable in any way for them is ludicrous beyond imagination. Were the people who stormed the Capitol Trump supporters? Who knows? But again, does it matter if they were?

If we were to take Barb McQuade's comment seriously, we'd have to consider other events in our history and assign similar culpability. In all fairness, right?

Do we go back and hold Barack Obama to account for his decision to initiate Fast and Furious that resulted in the death of a U.S. Border Patrol agent? Do we take a look at what happened in Benghazi when Hillary Clinton was serving as Secretary of State, an event that killed four Americans, and hold her accountable for those deaths?

And by the way, there is some reason to suggest maybe she should have been accountable. But even I will admit it is a bit ridiculous to suggest it. Same goes for Barack Obama and Fast and Furious.

Or what about Joe Biden? Should we, according to Barb McQuade, hold him criminally liable for the actions, or lack of actions he took which led to the death of multiple Americans on the tarmac in the withdrawal of Afghanistan?

All of these ideas are, to my mind, clutching at straws. 

The bottom line is that when things like this are said, they are said out of pure hatred for the person those things are said about. There is no real basis for the comments. And frankly, there's no thought behind them either.

It's the old forest for the trees argument. You either see the one tree you want to focus on and dismiss the entire forest for potentially having similar trees, or you have no interest in the rest of the forest. Only the one tree matters.

Clearly Barb McQuade does not like Trump, so of course she's going to make a comment like that. But she has to understand what she's really saying. She can't simply dismiss all the other bad things that have happened and target the one she perceives as having been perpetrated by one man she dislikes or disagrees with. 

And people should call her out for it. As I did, commenting back on her post. And as I have done here.

Like the way I write or the things I write about? Follow me on X at @jimbauer601 or on my Facebook page.

The Walmart Absorption Effect

Let's face it. No matter where you spend your money, there is going to be a rather significant portion that is going to ultimately wind up in the cash register at Walmart. Why is that? Because for all the haters, the fact is that most people actually shop at their stores.

This is why it just makes sense to own Walmart stock.

If you eat out at a restaurant, the waitress will likely spend a portion of her income at Walmart. Same goes for the dishwasher, the bus boy, and even the guy who trucks in the supplies and food for the restaurant.

They will all spend a portion of their money at Walmart.

Go to a gas station for a fill up and a Coke? The cashier will likely be spending a portion of their paycheck at Walmart. Spend at The Dollar Tree or Dollar General? I bet the workers there will spend a portion of their paycheck at Walmart.

The fast-food worker? They are going to spend a portion of their paycheck at Walmart too. From food stamps to social security checks? A large portion of that money will also be spent at Walmart.

Everyone shops at Walmart even if they tell you they don't because let's face it as well, Walmart simply offers everything under the sun at a value that even the die-hard haters can't pass up.

Beyond that, one has to admit that despite Walmart being a retailer in the retail sector, it is as diversified as stocks can be when you really get down to it. Because it carries pretty much anything under the sun. Call it an ETF of sorts that holds some sort of value in Unilever, Proctor & Gamble, Georgia-Pacific, Colgate-Palmolive, Kraft Foods, and any number of other companies both public and private.

Owning Walmart stock means you own a piece of every bit of spending happening in their stores. And likely you will shop there as well, meaning every dollar you spend will have a tiny discount attached to it when you get your quarterly dividend check.

Granted, it's not a fantastic yield at 1.47%, or $2.28 per share on an annual basis. But sharing in the profits of the largest retailer in the world that will capture the lion's share of every single paycheck that exists seems to me like a great thing to own, and I think everyone should own at least a few shares.

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The Entire Country Seems to be in Chaos

It seems to be all over the country, and even spilling into other parts of the world. Shootings, violence, unrest, chaos, fighting, and just overall angry people. Police offer some help, but police are often targets in all of this as much as anyone is. And, police are not the "figures" they once were. They are not respected or even feared in situations of violence where they may otherwise provide some calm to things.

From schools to shopping malls and retail and grocery stores, to parades and festivals, inside of state fairs and during other events—you can't even call it a zoo anymore. Even zoos have much more order and calm than all of this that's going on.

It's also the level of anger that is increasingly alarming, and typically over things that would not normally cause anger at such levels. A simple overcooked hamburger or getting an order wrong at a fast-food restaurant could launch someone into a violent tirade, terrorizing other customers and staff in ways that are almost unimaginable.

It has simply gotten out of control and seems to be getting worse, and the question becomes why is it happening and how do we fix it? What's the solution to it all? How do we restore law and order at this point? How do we restore a sense of humanity and community? Where is all the anger coming from and why the intensity, especially over very small issues?

At some point it does have to end. Because if it doesn't and only gets worse, there may come a point where there is no going back to the way things were. Sometimes once a particular disease takes hold, there is no cure. There is only treatment for the symptoms.

There is one thought that I do have, and that's a political one. Unfortunately, it just is. We have been largely polarized as a people—and dare I say that's been something of a product of the democrat party and their constant campaign to divide people from all walks of life and pit them all against each other.

Whites vs. blacks, blacks vs. Asians, rich vs. poor, gay vs. straight, trans vs. binary. Everyone hates everyone.

And let's face it. Whites have become an extreme target as well. And white seems to check more boxes. Privileged. Rich. Part of the "establishment." Supremacists. Racists. And the list goes on.

The word entitlement comes to mind as well. Another culture bred from the democrat party over many years of so-called "advocating for the less fortunate." When you breed into the minds of people the idea that they are victims of everything, everything and everyone becomes an enemy. A target. And a reason to lash out.

A reason to be angry at the world and everyone and everything in it.

Whether it's about being underpaid or unappreciated—even if these things are just a perception—the culture of the idea has been firmly planted and is creating part of the chaos. You owe me something and therefore I have the right to demand this, that and the other thing. 

I made the comment more than once on social media like Twitter that listening to the democrat party anymore is like watching that now-famous episode of Oprah when she gave away those cars. "You are a victim, and you're a victim, and you're a victim. Everyone's a victim."

Rather than promote togetherness and strength through unification, targets are being promoted as something to lash back at and attack. 

You can't have a world like that and expect it to be peaceful. You can't live in a world like that and expect it to be successful. From employees not wanting to do the job they are asked to do, feeling entitled to simply take their money and run to people demanding reparations, tuitions to be paid, free healthcare and whatever else one can think of. Everyone feels entitled to something that frankly, they are not entitled to at all.

But that's been what's been infused into their mindsets. And there's no getting through anymore. There's no logical way to logically explain why they're wrong. 

As well, beyond what the democrats have done to incite all this unrest, it is also the breakdown of the American family that I think is fueling some of this. Kids are left without any real structure. They lack guidance and principled parenting. And in many inner cities especially, kids are taught victimhood like some kids in other circumstances might be taught to stay within the lines in a coloring book.

In many instances, the kids really don't have any parents at all.

Did some of this start with the doing away of corporal punishment? Another tenet of the democrat party and liberal ideology by the way. Did it start with "everyone gets a trophy?" Did it start with every normal childhood action being "treated" with a drug? 

Lack of fear of consequences is a very real thing in this country right now. But where did that come from?

I asked before, what's the solution? And I still want to know. Because right now the only thing being explored is the apparent cause, not the actual cause. Just like with the gun argument. Is it the gun? Or is it something else? I think it's something else, but few people want to explore what that something else is and simply want to address the weapon of expression rather than what weaponizes the expression.

It is a rather depressing time, if you ask me, watching what was once a great country falling on such hard times emotionally, mentally, as a culture, and getting worse day by day. When you lose your sense of personal pride, of patriotism, of unity, of opportunity—how do you get these things back? 

Because honestly, if you think about the struggles we have today, they pale in comparison to the struggles that our forefathers went through. Times were many times more difficult, many times more unfair, many times more trying than they are now. And yet, our unrest is as great as it has ever been as though our condition were much worse today than it was yesterday. Which is not true at all. We have it easier than we have ever had it. More people are free than were ever before. More opportunities exist than ever before. 

As a nation, we are so much more divided than we have ever been in our past history, and it is a deep-rooted problem without a solution right now. Not only is it depressing, I find it to be downright scary. Like watching someone die before your very eyes a slow and painful, cancer ridden death, I fear we are watching the death of our great nation in much the same way. The fear is whether or not the cancer has taken hold so badly that we can't stop what becomes the inevitable outcome.

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Forget Side Gigs: The Path to Financial Freedom Is Investing

Most of the time when people talk about side gigs, what they are talking about is creating more money to spend. Sure, in their mind they may be thinking this will get them ahead. But spending can never do that, and spending—at least at first—should not be the goal.

You need to invest your money if you ever want to create wealth and actually get ahead financially.

Even carrying a simple savings account is typically not enough since most regular savings accounts don't offer much in the way of interest. You should have savings, though. It is always important to have money that is easily and readily available if you have an emergency expense that needs to be paid like a furnace going out or a major car repair.

Typically, one should have at least six months' worth of salary in a savings account for emergency expenses which, by the way, also serves as a cushion if you lose your job.

One savings account I like that gives me a fair amount of access to my cash is from Ally. Because of the Fed interest rate hikes, they are now paying 4% interest, although it has fluctuated mostly between 0.50% and 2.5% over the years I have had the account.

Even when it paid only 0.50%, that was far above the typical interest offered on a regular bank savings account.

But even when it comes to investing, you can't just blindly enter the markets. That's a sure way to lose your hard earned, and even harder saved money. Learning about how to manage your money and invest it may just be one of the most important things in life you will learn.

Why?

Because while money can never buy happiness, what it can buy is freedom. And that's a big deal. Freedom is what gets you ahead and allows you to make decisions you want to, that are in your best interests rather than be forced to make decisions because you have little choice in the process.

Investing also accomplishes something else. It reduces your need to incur debt, which saves you tons of money in the long run. It allows you to better deal with things like inflation, that we are having to deal with now. It gives you room to breathe. It also gives you more time to do the things you want to do, rather than have to constantly chase more money—using your time to do it.

Those side gigs.

We hear all about them. Working in a retail store part time or delivering food through Doordash, walking dogs, renting out unused rooms in your house or your entire house on sites like VRBO. 

These things will create extra new money. But unless you are going to invest what you earn, ultimately these things are worthless, and all they will serve to do is eat up valuable time you could be enjoying doing other more fun things.

Things that can ultimately be paid for via the proceeds from your investments. Which brings me to just one more thing that investing offers. More spending money.

Granted, it's all calculated, right? You can't just spend willy-nilly. But certainly, if your investments are producing additional income, at least some of that additional income can be used to spend on the things you want. To treat yourself. To splurge a bit every once in a while.

Take a recent example from my own situation. I bought a camper to enjoy some time with my wife on weekends and when we can take extended weekends. I didn't pay for the camper. My investments paid for it. And my investments also pay for the trips we take.

My investments pay for dinners out or having dinner delivered when we want to do it. Having saved on the things we need we now have the ability to afford the things we want. We can do more. We have more free time. And it is likely we will retire rather early. We are in our 50's and seriously considering it.

We wouldn't be able to that had we not invested. We certainly couldn't do that if we had to spend our time doing side gigs. Especially if those side gigs were only to pay for things. To spend the money earned from them.

Overall, when you think of making more money, the aim—initially—should never be to spend more money. It should be to save more money. To reap the rewards down the line rather than upfront. 

Many people claim saving requires sacrificing living. It's actually the opposite of that. When you don't save, you sacrifice your life to constantly chasing new money the hard way to replace old money you spent.

Money makes money. And the more money you have, the less work you have to do get more of it.

Like the way I write or the things I write about? Follow me on Twitter at @jimbauer601 or follow me on my Facebook page.

Evaluating Politics Has to be On the Basis of Honesty and Openness, Not Party Divisions

Let's face it, political discussions are hard. What gets in the way is either denial, defiance, or outright bias. Often times, there's just no winning—but having an open and honest political dialogue is important because so much of what happens in politics has a direct impact on our lives and even our livelihoods. 

What gets in the way as well is often not a matter of reality, but rather personal perspectives. For example, if you have someone who has always earned low wages in a fast-food restaurant or retail store, they are going to tend to view the world in a very different way than someone who is a middle-class earner. 

On top of that, in order for someone to truly evaluate what is happening politically, one has to be able to be honest with themselves, honest about the assessment, and able to step away from one side or the other and do our own homework. Because we also have to know that the media is not going to always tell us the truth any more than our politicians themselves are going to do it.

In other words, we can't even take our guy's word for it. We have to decide for ourselves what is working and what is not, and not separate ideas by political party, but acknowledge ideas by how successful they are or aren't.

I bring this up because of discussions we have about former president Trump and current president Biden and my personal observation that I just don't think anyone is being honest with ourselves about the facts. Granted, I come at this with a little bit of obvious bias. I supported Trump and I dislike Biden, and I am also a conservative republican.

But let that not sway you from my general point here.

The thing is, sometimes there are things that are simply undeniable on an intellectual, informed level. When it comes to Trump, many of us can agree there were things he got right and there were things he got wrong. Same thing with Obama to be fair. The same goes for any president or politician we have ever known. 

Let's take gas prices. We cannot deny that gas prices were cheaper when Trump was in office and is more expensive today under Biden. I think, if we are being honest, that there are also key things that one can point to that Obama did regarding policy, things that Trump did regarding policy, and things that Biden did regarding policy that had a very visible impact on what gas prices were in all three administrations and why.

In other words, we normally hold the thought—and fairly accurately—that presidents do not control gas prices. But there are policy decisions presidents can make that do impact prices at the pump to an extent. If gas prices were to have been lower under Trump and then remained lower under Biden after reversing Trump's energy policies on day one of his presidency, then we could safely assume that something other than Trump's policies drove down the price of gas.

Regardless of what side of the aisle one resides on, it should be clear that energy policy had a notable effect on what we pay for gas. Yet on the other side, there are deniers. Their argument is simply that Obama's policies finally kicked in and by the time Trump was out of office, his policies reversed Obama's course.

It's just not the case.

The stock market is another glaring example of one's economic situation over another. And again, just like with gas prices, presidents do not control the stock market. But they can have certain economic policy that either fosters a strong business climate or hinders it. 

Granted, under Obama, the stock market did not do badly. In fact it did rather well. But it really did so, mainly, due to quantitative easing which flooded the economy with money to bolster it because the real underlying economy was faltering. It ended essentially in 2014 although a 4th round came after the Covid thing happened. 

There was no QE, essentially, during Trump's term and there were clear things he did regarding policy that helped to free up business to operate and grow. It bolstered the economy and created spending activity which also, of course, fueled market returns.

Biden's economic policy has not had the same result. Inflation aside, which cannot be entirely blamed on Biden, but certainly the trillions of dollars added to the deficit under two bills and Biden's energy policy contributed greatly to it.

There are simply things you can point to that determine why something happened. And again, we have to be honest about all of that if we want to make informed decisions the next time we have to decide who is right or wrong to get us headed in the right direction. Or to decide whether or not maybe we made a mistake. Or that we missed an important detail in our evaluation.

We cannot deny failure just because it is our side failing any more than we can deny success because it is not our side succeeding. 

When Trump was president, GDP rose. That's a fact. Even after Obama told us 2.5% was the "new normal and we would just have to get used to it." Poverty rates declined under Trump. It's statistically true. Black, Hispanic and women unemployment rates dropped to historical lows under Trump. We can't say that didn't happen. Wages rose considerably under Trump, and we cannot deny that either.

It is not to say Trump was perfect. By no means. But in order to fairly assess his presidency overall, we have to at least acknowledge what he did that worked, and if not entirely give credit to Trump for having done it, but ask ourselves why we are not holding Biden to account for the things he did differently that are not working in the way they did under Trump?

Why would we not say, "Hey, Mr. Biden, what he did in this area worked. Why not keep doing that and instead of focusing on denying what worked and changing course, instead find the things that really didn't work and work on those things?"

Trump's immigration policy worked. In fact, to some extent, Obama's immigration policy was more effective than Biden's as well. Why not keep it? Trump's economic policies mostly worked. Why not keep going with that? Say what you want about Trump's tax cut, his cuts worked much like cuts JFK made and Reagan as well made. Trump's energy policy worked. Why not keep that going as well?

The bottom line is that knowing what's happening and being honest about it serves everyone in pursuing what's best for the country at large. If we can do that, all sides win, and heck, all sides can claim the victory as well.

Both sides have good ideas and bad ideas, and we as the American people are in charge of deciding which ones are good and which ones are bad, and electing people who will do the things that work as opposed to denying them and changing course, which accomplishes nothing.

Is this a call to bring Trump back in 2024? No. Not hardly. It is simply a call to open our eyes, be honest, and listen to both sides, honestly evaluate the results, and elect the next guy to lead us based on the merit of what he offers and on the basis of what the last guy didn't deliver.

If we are able to be honest. America only succeeds if we can honestly evaluate policies that work over which party made the policy, or which side we wish had.

Like the way I write or the things I write about? Follow me on Twitter at @jimbauer601.