Music Monday: Back to the pre-Parrothead Jimmy Buffett days
Posted By RichC on October 9, 2017
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How many different kinds of critters?
Posted By RichC on October 8, 2017
While trying to keep the raccoons from “moving in” as the weather cools, I’ve been a little too successful recently. The past weeks score has been 2 raccoons, 2 opossums and a cat (second time for feral cat). This guy sure can jump!
I was going to comment that we’ve seen an increase in number of critters since Tootsie died, but as I recall, she was always proudly bringing something home too. Between deer rutting and damaging our trees, skunks in my traps and coyotes bounding through the neighborhood, I suppose trapping another feral cat shouldn’t be too surprising?
So what is your plan for social security and retirement?
Posted By RichC on October 7, 2017
A friend of mine is receiving his first social security check this month and so I’ve been doing some reading on the subject (it is a long way off yet for me … 
just in case readers had me already over-the-hill!) 
One of the biggest concerns for those nearing retirement and doing calculations is that Social Security may not be there. I have to admit, it is definitely something I think about since the retirement age has already moved up from 65 to 67 and to make matters worse, Brenda and I are at the tail end of the boomers which will likely see social security surpluses exhausted. Will there be enough workers willing to pay "extra" into the system to keep checks flowing as we are planning for now?
Contrary to the belief that workers and employers pay into a "trust fund" where your FICA withholdings is put in a "lock box" for retirement (sort of like personal retirement accounts), the reality is that about 85 cents of every dollar goes to supporting current retirees. The additional 15 cents of every dollar is then used by the federal government and replaced with an IOY special-issue Treasury bond. In other words, all money paid into the system is spent. Social Security is a "pay-as-you-go" system. So those of us paying in now, depend our our children and grandchildren to keep paying in "at high enough rates" to support those of us looking nervously forward to retirement.
Obviously there are a few at the tail end of productive working who will not survive without the system and plenty "planning" for or currently paying their expenses with social security checks. The current and soon to retire are a very large group and all coming onto the system and all planning for their Social Security and Medicare – let’s not go there right now (YIKES). The positive is that the Boomers (born between 1946-1964) aren’t the largest generation contrary to conventional thought. There are actually 15 million more in the Millennial Generation (Gen-Y), born between 1981-1997. If combined with Gen-X, between 1965-1980, then there are actually enough continuing to pay payroll taxes for the long term to support social security. Also, here is where expanding the legal immigration can really help out (especially young immigrants and perhaps the Dreamers … food for thought if you struggle with how to handle the 12 million or so illegals).
That’s not to say Social Security is solvent. Far from it, but politicians and those who vote will have to address the funding crisis soon. One way or the other, we’ll need to come up with an equitable way to keep the system going, unless we are so far gone that Soylent Green becomes a reality?
This is the year 2022. Overcrowding, pollution, and resource depletion have reduced society’s leaders to finding food for the teeming masses. The answer is Soylent Green (a 1973 Charlton Heston movie).
Tech Friday: Another security breach along with a price increase triggered my reevaluation of Lastpass, SmallPDF and Evernote
Posted By RichC on October 6, 2017
As a free user and then paying Premium LastPass customer for years, the 2017 price increase inched out of my comfort zone this week. It is not that the password managing product with added features is bad, it is just that the significant price bump ($12 to $24/yr) leaves a sour taste in my mouth. Priced at $12/yr was tolerable and I would have likely continued it, but doubling the price if I’m not using all the features is hard to swallow (encrypted storage would be nice if I need another cloud service).
In that same realm, I’m a paying customer of Evernote and the PDF converting product Smallpdf that I’m cancelling; they both renew this month. SmallPDF is a great timesaver for a couple of work related projects, but at $48/yr … it is overpriced for my needs (PDF conversion and compression can be done in other ways). I’m sure the companies struggle with how to set prices for their services, but consumers need to evaluate the ongoing cost of lightly used software and apps too.
Evernote is a full featured archiving product that if used might be worth the $69/year — but in my case it just duplicates other ways that I clip and save content. It is not my "go-to" app for saving notes and articles. *Evernote’s partnership with the Wall Street Journal for clipping WSJ articles is great though!
Combined with the "rethinking" of online services is the security aspect of it all. I’m already uncomfortable with cloud-based services collecting my data and storing my content … and due to the number of breaches we continue to read about, having more at risk doesn’t help. Besides the recent Equifax fiasco, Yahoo disclosed just this week that their earlier announced security breach of 1/3 of accounts (1 Billion users) was actually ALL 3 Billion accounts … that is "every single Yahoo account."
We need to rethink how we protect our information since it is obviously not safe in someone else’s hands.
Nothing like disasters and tragedy to test a new president
Posted By RichC on October 5, 2017
One may have thought that the divided nation after the election and political chaos in putting together an administration that worked well together would have been the biggest challenge for the unconventional President Donald Trump when it comes to being POTUS, but after the last 30 days you would be wrong. The president has faced not only three major hurricane strikes on the U.S. and territories, but now the deadliest shooting in our history … and all about the same time.
I know my opinion is debatable from those who dislike (or despise) President Trump, but his administration’s handling of Hurricane Harvey in Texas and Louisiana, Irma in the Virgin Islands and Florida and Maria in the USVI and Puerto Rico exceptionally well. Never would have thought the U.S. would have had so much devastation in such a short time. Those being critical as to the president’s and government’s response to these natural disasters are not seeing clearly.
As if the three natural disasters were not enough of a test, the Las Vegas shooting this past week required President Trump to be comforting and compassionate, all the while deflecting hate from the anti 2nd-Amendment left. Trump arrived in Las Vegas Tuesday after a trip to Puerto Rico on Monday. As someone who supports our president, I’ve been somewhat tepid to applaud his off the cuff words/tweets and style (also supported President Obama, but critical not of his style, but of his liberal policies and philosophy).
During the Route 91 Harvest country music festival outdoor on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, 64 year old Stephen Paddock opened fire from the 32 floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. He sprayed the crowd of about 22,000 attendees with a variety of weapons he had hauled up to his room. The shooting was planned for at least several days, although a motive is not known at this posting. Hundred if not thousands of rounds were fired in the 15 or so minutes it required for the police to make it to his room, at which time the shooting had stopped. Prior to breeching the hotel room door, Paddock killed himself. The mass shooting left 59 dead and 489 people injured. Acts of heroism abound as stories of people covering others with their bodies and citizens helping each other. Without those heroic acts, no doubt many more of the injured would have been fatalities.
We as a nation once again mourn a senseless killing that at this time makes little sense. Citizens quickly run to their predictable political position while "some" leaders look to capitalize on such a tragedy to use emotion as a trigger for change. Right or wrong … there are few ideas likely to stop individuals intent on killing whether they use guns, bombs, poisons, planes or everyday trucks and cars.
Which corporations stand to benefit the most with a 20% tax rate?
Posted By RichC on October 4, 2017
A little bit of research highlights which of the Dow 30 companies benefit from corporate tax reform and which one are currently better at working the existing complex tax code.
Company Ticker Median effective income-tax rate – past five reported quarters
- UnitedHealth Group Inc. US:UNH 40%
- Home Depot Inc. US:HD 36%
- Verizon Communications Inc. US:VZ 34%
- Walt Disney Co. US:DIS 33%
- McDonald’s Corp. US:MCD 33%
- American Express Co. US:AXP 32%
- Wal-Mart Stores Inc. US:WMT 31%
- Visa Inc. Class A US:V 29%
- 3M Co. US:MMM 28%
- Caterpillar Inc. US:CAT 28%
- J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. US:JPM 28%
- Goldman Sachs Group Inc. US:GS 27%
- United Technologies Corp. US:UTX 26%
- Apple Inc. US:AAPL 26%
- Travelers Cos. US:TRV 25%
- Boeing Co. US:BA 24%
- Procter & Gamble Co. US:PG 23%
- DowDuPont Inc. US:DWDP 22%
- Intel Corp. US:INTC 22%
- Exxon Mobil Corp. US:XOM 21%
- Coca-Cola Co. US:KO 21%
- Cisco Systems Inc. US:CSCO 21%
- Merck & Co. US:MRK 21%
- Johnson & Johnson US:JNJ 19%
- Pfizer Inc. US:PFE 18%
- Chevron Corp. US:CVX 14%
- Nike Inc. Class B US:NKE 14%
- Microsoft Corp. US:MSFT 12%
- International Business Machines Corp. US:IBM 10%
- General Electric Co US:GE 1%
Source: FactSet
As for S&P 500 companies domiciled in the U.S for at least three of the five most recently reported fiscal quarters.
Here are the 10 with the highest median effective income-tax rates as relayed by Dow Jones and Co:
Company Ticker Median effective income-tax rate – past five reported quarters
- Newmont Mining Corp. US:NEM 50%
- Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. US:HPE 46%
- Nordstrom Inc. US:JWN 45%
- CenturyLink Inc. US:CTL 45%
- Aetna Inc. US:AET 44%
- Centene Corp. US:CNC 44%
- TripAdvisor Inc. US:TRIP 43%
- W.W. Grainger Inc. US:GWW 41%
- Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. US:HLT 41%
- Amazon.com Inc. US:AMZN 41%
And lowest median tax rates over the past five reported quarters:
- Company Ticker Median effective income-tax rate – past five reported quarters
- Mosaic Co. US:MOS -40%
- Apartment Investment and Management Co. US:AIV -37%
- Microchip Technology Inc. US:MCHP -35%
- Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. US:AJG -34%
- Zimmer Biomet Holdings Inc. US:ZBH -33%
- eBay Inc. US:EBAY -32%
- Boston Scientific Corp. US:BSX -17%
- Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. US:TMO -4%
- Welltower Inc. US:HCN -3%
- Kimco Realty Corp. US:KIM -2%
Source: FactSet
Poor Sense of Smell May Signal Impending Dementia
Posted By RichC on October 3, 2017
A poor sense of smell may indicate an increased risk for dementia, a new study has found.
Researchers recruited 2,906 men and women ages 57 to 85, testing their ability to identify five odors — orange, leather, peppermint, rose and fish.
Five years later, 4.1 percent of them had dementia. Of all the factors the researchers measured — age, sex, race, ethnicity, education, other diseases the subjects may have had — only cognitive ability at the start of the study and poorer performance on the “smell test” were associated with an increased risk for dementia. The study is in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
More: Poor Sense of Smell May Signal Impending Dementia – The New York Times
Looking forward to MLB Playoffs 2017 beginning this week
Posted By RichC on October 3, 2017
President Trump addresses the nation after Las Vegas shooting
Posted By RichC on October 2, 2017
What we know so far – 1PM on Monday 10/2/2017
- At least 58 people were killed and more than 515 were injured at an country music festival on the Las Vegas Strip, in the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history.
- The gunman fired for several minutes into a 22,000-person crowd from the windows of a 32nd floor hotel room, in the Mandalay Bay resort. Videos show chaos amid the gunfire, as people scrambled for cover, ran from the stage and struggled to save each other’s lives.
- Police believe the gunman killed himself around the time a Swat team descended on his room. He had checked in there on 28 September, and police found at least 10 weapons with him.
- Authorities identified the shooter as Stephen Paddock, 64, from Mesquite, Nevada, about 80 miles to the north-east. They were searching properties in his name.
- Police do not know the motive behind the shooting; the gunman had no prior record in state or federal databases, save a minor traffic violation. The FBI said they have found “no connection to international terrorist organizations”.
- President Donald Trump called the shooting “an act of pure evil,” and said he will go to las Vegas on Wednesday.
- The gunman’s girlfriend, Marylou Danley, was named as a person of interest but police said the gunman acted alone at the hotel. Danley is abroad and cooperating with police.
- The gunman’s brother expressed horror and shock, saying Paddock had no background with weapons. “No religious affiliation, no political affiliation, he just hung out,” he told television networks. “He’s just a guy who lived in a house in Mesquite, drove down and gambled in Las Vegas.”
- Nevada authorities pleaded for blood donations from people in the Las Vegas area. Governor Brian Sandoval said the scene was “basically a war zone” – “we need blood.”
President Trump has issued a proclamation ordering the American flag to be flown at half-staff.
Semi Music Monday trying iOS11 iPhone screen capture
Posted By RichC on October 2, 2017
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Desultory - des-uhl-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee
- lacking in consistency, constancy, or visible order, disconnected; fitful: desultory conversation.
- digressing from or unconnected with the main subject; random: a desultory remark.