Author: thependulumswings staff

I Have Yet Another Story and a Moral Thereof

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Over the course of a business life that involved flying to US destinations almost weekly the greatest words that you can hear are “the flight’s on time.”  However packing, parking, walking, TSA, waiting, boarding, taxiing, runway, cruising altitude,  leveling off, seatbelt sign is on, small bathrooms, landing, rental cars, checking in, and unpacking wears on oneself.  That said, any and all of that is better than the dreaded words, “we are delayed due to mechanical reasons.”

It was one nondescript Tuesday morning many, many moons ago, when we were boarding for Milwaukee when the dreaded announcement came.  It was time for an undetermined amount of time to deplane.   Off to the United Flight Club room I went.   George Bush Intercontinental Airport was and is dominated by United Airlines.  And, like all major airlines that fly to and from hubs, either there are plenty of folks in the AM to fly, or if all of the flights have gone there are few.   Therefore,  the club is either packed or empty.

The terminal B club was empty.  A diet coke and a toasted bagel in hand I headed to one of the many living room/smaller areas to settle in for the wait.  As I entered I paid no attention to the only folks in the area, a couple seated one couch over from me.  As I got out the trusty laptop and booted up I looked over.  This was no couple, and the club was empty-almost.  Empty it was, except for one world famous golfer, his assistant, and now me.  There I sat ten feet from Gary Player.  Gary Player.

I decided then and there to get on AL Gore’s internet to refresh my understanding of just how big of a world renown athlete that he is.  Gary Player won tournaments the world over.  He won the Grand Slam (all four of the Majors).  He won nine majors in all.   He designed and help create over 400 golf courses the world over.  He authored or coauthored 24 books.  His foundation has helped thousands of children.  Hailing from South Africa, it is estimated that he has flown over 16 million miles.

Suddenly I felt very small.  I’ll keep to myself and answer some emails, or so I thought.

“What brings you to Houston?”  Yep.  He initiated the conversation.  I looked up.  I stammered.   “I, I, live here.”  “Oh, then why are you in here?”  “Flight delay headed out to Milwaukee.”  “I see.”  “Where in Houston do you live?”  “Um, The Woodlands.”  “Great place, I’ve done some work with them.”  “Ah yes, your golf course that you built, the one with your name on it.”  He laughed deeply.   And it was on.

And on our conversation went for a good 45 minutes off and on, but mostly on.  He excused himself as his assistant reminded him that he had a radio show interview to give.  His answers were articulate, direct, and well thought out.   Mesmerizing.

Boom Boom always told me that “everyone puts their pants on one leg at a time.”  The Black Knight, aka Gary Player, could have been the exception.  Small in stature, he is indeed much larger than life.

As the interview ended he picked right back up with me.   Sorry I took so long.”  ” No worries of course.”  “Family?”  “Yes, two kids.”  And on it went as if we were old buddies catching up.

After about an hour the desk announced that the delayed flight to Milwaukee was ready to board.  Mr. Player heard this as well.  He leaped out of his seat.  “Nice to meet you,” he said first to me.  Shouldn’t it have been the other way around?  Mesmerizing.  World class.

Oh yea, so what is the moral of the story?

Maybe Boom Boom was right.  Everyone does put their pants on one leg at a time.  At least the humble, great one, Gary Player does.  Mesmerizing.

 

 

 

Ten Piece Nuggets-The Declaration of Independence

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Two hundred and forty-three years and one day ago America, then 13 Constitutional Colonies, declared it’s independence from British rule.  But, did you know that the document wasn’t signed that day?  It was ratified.   It’s interesting trivia.  And here are some other facts leading up to and after 7/4/1776 that are a part of the Ten Piece (Declaration of Independence) Nuggets that follow.

  1. The Declaration of Independence (DOI) was actually written on July 2nd.  It took congress two days to debate and eventually ratify it on July 4th.
  2. The final approved text was reproduced into 200 or so copies to be distributed to the thirteen colonies.  Philadelphia printer John Dunlop did the work.  The copies are referred to as the “Dunlop broadsides” accordingly.
  3. It is believed today that there are only 26 known and authenticated copies that remain from the “original” copies.
  4. One such copy was discovered by a man who bought a painting at a flea market in Philly in 1989.  He bought the painting and the hidden gem behind it for $4.  He sold the copy of the DOI for $8.1 million a couple of years later.
  5.  The ratifying delegates actually didn’t begin to sign the DOI until August 2nd.  Some signed even later.  Fifty six eventually signed the original.  And, two, John Dickson and Robert Livingston never signed it at all.
  6. One signer, Richard Stockton, a lawyer from Princeton, New Jersey, became the only signer of the DOI to recant his support of the revolution. On November 30, 1776, the he was captured by the British and thrown in jail. After months of harsh treatment and paltry rations, Stockton repudiated his signature and swore his allegiance to King George III.   Later in life he pledged his allegiance to the US all over again.
  7.  Ben Franklin was the oldest to sign at 70 years of age.  A South Carolina delegate, lawyer Edward Rutledge, was only 26 and the youngest to sign.
  8. The original was moved from Washington in 1941 to Fort Knox in Kentucky until 1944.  This move came two weeks after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.   It was covered by 150 pounds of protective material and escorted by the Secret Service along the way.  In 1944, post war, it was returned to the national archives in D.C.
  9. There is a message, written upside-down across the bottom of the signed document: “Original Declaration of Independence dated 4th July 1776.”  Who wrote this and why isn’t for sure known.  However, in the early days when it traveled it was often rolled up.  This writing might have been used to easily identify it from its back side.
  10. By July 9th the document had reached New York City.  George Washington, commander of the Continental forces in New York, read the document aloud in front of City Hall.  A rambunctious crowd was inspired by its words.  Later that afternoon they tore down the nearby statue of ole’ King George III. The statue was subsequently melted down and shaped into more than 42,000 musket balls for the newly formed American army.

Hopefully you enjoyed your barbeque yesterday and the independence nuggets above today.

 

Border Fireworks Make For Good TV

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Happy Fourth of July!  Happy Independence Day!

Independence?  What exactly is that?  Merriam Webster defines it as “the state of independent.”  Independent is defined as “not requiring or relying on others (as for care or livelihood).” It’s also defined as “showing a desire for freedom.”

Two hundred and forty three years ago tomorrow America declared it’s desire for freedom.  And two hundred and forty three years later we have a crisis at several entry points into our fifty United States on our southern border.  It seems that the desire for freedom from those in other countries has outstripped the supply of well meaning people (border control, government workers,and volunteers) to manage the situation.  Managing it is very tricky of course.  There is the attempt to stop illegal entry, and the attempt to process those caught, and the process of housing them while they are being processed.

Apparently this crisis wasn’t a crisis though when President Trump called it just that as 2018 turned to 2019.  Back then the press and Democrats in positions of congressional leadership said that there is no such thing.  Well, well, well.  A funny thing happened from then until now.  It’s a democratic process unto itself, and a way every four years that we take advantage of our rights that the very freedom provides.  It’s the election process.

And, with that process comes the opportunity to express opinions and outrage over problems and opportunities the nation over.  So, the non crisis is now a crisis.  Ask any Democrat running for office.  Each in the last week or so has expressed disbelief and outrage over the governments failure to adequately house the immigrants and care for the children caught in the fray.   One even shrieked that the compound had run out of toothpaste.  Oh yea, and it’s better to call them “undocumented” than illegal, too.

We’ll start investigations into it as soon as next week.   Congress is very good at that.  They investigate, castigate, and threaten to jail wrong doers.   They remind those drug in to testify that they are under oath.  The truth must be told!

The problem is that the truth was told and it has been told over and over.   Those crossing are doing so illegally.  They have swamped the border and have been for many months now.  But, now, elections are near.  TV time is expensive.

But, but, but.  What if a candidate can get a hungry and gullible press member or 50 of them to follow their every step?  They can walk right up to the fences (cages as the outraged has called them) and lament about how bad a job America is doing. Those “cages” were built several years ago under the Obama administration for all of the right reasons.  It was one part of an attempt to control an out of control border situation.  Then President Obama spoke into TV cameras and said, “don’t come here and don’t send your children here alone.”  He continued,” If you do, you’ll be sent back.”   It made sense then.  It makes sense now.

Record numbers are attempting to get into the country that the party out of the White House tells you how many wrongs exist in it.

You might spend time in a “cage” and you might have forgotten your toothpaste.  But, it must not be such a bad place after all.  People are climbing over walls in record numbers to get here.   Just don’t turn on your TV till after November 2020.  It seems that a few folks have a different opinion.  It’s another freedom.  Freedom of speech.

Enjoy the baseball and the fireworks.  And, please pass the hot dogs and apple pie this way.

 

 

I’ll Scratch Your Back

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Did you get paid yesterday?  It’s very likely that you did.  It was the end of the month.   You always and only get paid for what you have earned.  Paychecks are remuneration for the past.  Joe Biden likely got paid as well, and twice if he takes Social Security.   His checks come from the US Government.  They are a federal government pension plan check and Social Security check.  He earned them over his many years of civil service to our country based on how the system is set up.

But, he is learning rapidly, recently, that there isn’t too much civil about our country today.  And, he is learning rapidly that past performance doesn’t guarantee future results.  You have to earn it.   And, he is learning that how the system works today has little to do with how it was set up “back in the day.”

Back in the day Ronald Reagan invited Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill, an old curmudgeon, old school Democrat from Bahhhstan, down the hill for an occasional tip o’ the cup of the whiskey of his choice.  Together they would iron out their differences (compromise) as the ice was melting and get to a position where both felt good bringing back a deal to their respective parties.  And, both thought that America had won.

Even as recently as 2011, President Obama was caught on a hot mic as leaned over and told Russian Dmitry Medvedev to give him time to get reelected and he could work out a deal with them.  Medvedev promised to relay the info to Putin.  You can see it here.

So, maybe it surprised Sleepy Joe when Kamala Harris took him to the woodshed last week on the nationally televised debate over his “working relationship” with known segregationists in Congress a couple of decades back.  It shouldn’t have.  He already told us that he got that past behaviors don’t translate to today’s world or political climate.  “I get it, I get it,” he said.  You can see him explain that over and over here.

We even had the left leaning media over the weekend tell us how bad, or reckless, or unprepared President Trump was in reaching out to Kim Jung Un unexpectedly while he was in Japan for an impromptu stroll on the communist land of North Korea.

You remember “hold your friends close and your enemies closer,” don’t you?  Apparently, embraces of any sort with friend or foe are now old school.

The new school seems to be that there is only one way.  And, when a party with power decides on a path it expects all to toe the line, no exceptions, no negotiations.  So, we wonder, is Joe Biden someone who can operate in the new world order?

And, most of all, does he want to earn his way?  His demeanor daily and debate disaster last week scream otherwise.

In fact, wasn’t his time to strike when he was VP to the two term, popular President Barrack Obama?  History shows that VP’s run immediately after whom they serve under can run no longer.  Biden deferred to Hillary Clinton for some reason.  Maybe he was tired even back then.  As many commercials remind us, the aging process waits for no one.  Four years later, Joe is four years older.

Obama came from left field to win, then win again.  Trump came from right field to win, and might win again.  Biden looks and sounds more like McCain, Romney, Hillary, and Jeb Bush than his fellow Democratic nominee hopefuls.   It’s way too early to predict, but the country is in a very different place.

And, there is no back to scratch nor whiskey to pour anymore.

Get some rest Joe.

 

 

Ten Piece Nuggets-Sports

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Summer’s in.  Three major U.S. sports (football. basketball, and hockey) are out.  But the pickings are never slim with our nuggets.  Whether you dine in or take out, enjoy the ten below.

  1.  The ugly Americans scored 50 combined runs in the first two London MLB games ever.  The Yankees out scored the defending Word Series champion Boston Red Sox 17-13 on Saturday and 12-8 on Sunday.  If the Brits like scoring, they got scoring.  The teams combined for 65 hits, 16 doubles and 10 homers.  Only one starting pitcher made it out of the first inning.
  2. BoSox manager Alex Cora was impressed with the 60k screaming fans, but not his team.  “It was eye opening, the last two days, from top to bottom,’’ Red Sox manager Alex Cora. “They’re a lot better than us right now.’’ The Yanks are rolling, even in Europe.
  3. MLB took a bow.  They retrofitted a soccer stadium that was more than serviceable.  They saw 60k fans stand and cheer each of the two days.  All in all it was good to great publicity for a game that often struggles to market itself.  “All of the feedback was that it was fantastic,’’ MLB senior vice president Jim Small said. “So, from a U.S. standpoint, the pitching wasn’t very good, the game was too long, but it was such a great fresh start for baseball here.’’
  4. The Yankees scorching 9-1 record in their last ten has pushed their lead over the Devil Rays to 7 games in the AL East.   Five of the six division leaders enjoy leads of 5.5, 6.5,7, 8 and 12 games.  Only the NL central is close where the Cubs and the Brewers are tied for first.   Half of the season is over.  Are five of the six division races over?   Probably not, but maybe so.  Say it ain’t so.  At least a bunch of teams are still very alive for a wild card spot.
  5.  LPGA’s Michelle Wie announced late last week that she was shutting down her 2019 season due to a chronic wrist injury.  There was no word on whether the wrist was injured when she tweeted to express her dismay via Twitter of Hank Haney’s LPGA U.S. Open remarks.  Haney tweeted out Saturday “Know what last name rhymes with Wie?  Lee!”  No, he didn’t.
  6.  How about a golf clap for first time PGA winner Nate Lashley?  On Sunday, the 36-year-old journeyman, ranked 353rd in the world and the last player to get into the Rocket Mortgage Classic, was a winner for the first time with an impressive six-stroke margin at Detroit Golf Club. He now has a job on the game’s biggest stage for the next two years. A spot in next month’s Open Championship awaits, as does an invitation to next year’s Masters among other perks. That is pretty sweet for a guy with just one previous top-10 on the PGA Tour in 32 starts.  Fifteen long and hard years ago his mother, father, and girlfriend crashed and perished in a small plane accident in Wyoming while attempting to return to Nebraska after watching the then 21 year old Nate play in a tournament for Arizona U. in Oregon.  The golf gods said, “enough already.”  Great story.
  7. The NBA free agency period is off and some teams are playing above the rim.   In a whirlwind of conversations, salary dumps, more conversations, max salary offers, and strokes of genius, several franchises saw significant transformations.   No transformation is bigger than where the Brooklyn Nets are headed however.  After years of also ran status the Nets will land Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and DeAndre Jordan.  If (when really) GM Sean Marks completes these FA signings the Nets will have exactly one player left from the 2015-2016 roster Marks had when he started that won only 21 games.
  8. Durant, baring a major medical miracle, will miss all of the 2019-2020 season with his torn achilles.  That didn’t stop the Nets from throwing max or near max money at him.  It did stop the Knicks who worried publicly about his total recovery.  One borough’s loss was another borough’s gain.  Durant at 90% is still an unselfish player who melds well with other stars and would still be an all star level player himself.
  9. The Miami Heat are believed to be very close to completing a deal that would land Jimmy Butler from the Philadelphia 76ers.  Butler was rumored a week ago to be heading to the Houston Rockets to join Chis Paul and The Beard.  Butler was rumored eight months ago to be headed to those same Rockets.  Houston you may or not have a problem with team chemistry.  But, with exactly zero draft picks this past draft and a HUGE Paul four year deal only entering year two now, you clearly have some hurdles to clear to try to hurdle the Golden State Warriors in the West.  GM Daryl Morey can feel the heat coming from one of restaurant magnet and owner Tillman Fertitta’s kitchens.
  10. However, Tillman Fertitta and 31 owners of NBA franchises may not be “owners” for much longer.   In the league office and in some team’s front offices a push is on to remove that term due to it’s “racial insensitivity” in a league whose players are 75% African American.   In Los Angeles, Steve Ballmer ,who was billed as the owner for the first couple of years after he took over the Clippers is now listed as Chairman on the team’s website.  That change occurred in early 2018.   The term “governor” is being used inside of the league office “for years now” per Commissioner Adam Silver.  “Governor,” really?  Hopefully everyone feels better.

We at least know that you’ll feel better having consumed the above.  It’s Monday, and this work week is at most four days long.  Enjoy.

Ten Piece Nuggets-Debating the Debate

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Round two of two of the first Democratic Presidential Debates went round and around last evening.  Below are ten nuggets for you consumption that cover thoughts on both days with an emphasis on last evening.  Some nuggets are heavy.  Some are light.  All are spiced just right.

  1.  For better or worse, the Democratic Party’s center is now further left than ever.  When the ten hopefuls were asked last evening to raise their hands if their healthcare plans included free medical care for “undocumented” immigrants, ten of ten hands were raised.  Joe Biden looked to his left and right and then figured it was a good idea to follow the crowd.
  2. Sleepy Joe took shots across the bow from Sanders, Stalwell, and Harris.  Three times he was given thirty seconds by one of the five MSNBC moderators to retort.  In none of the three did old Joe seem prepared.  Twice he stopped in mid sentence and said, ” I see that my time is up.”  One wonders, after last evening, if indeed Joe’s time is up.
  3. Right after the debates when the candidates and their “spin handlers” look for microphones to continue driving home what they stand for, Biden spent time talking to a few supporters from the crowd.  When he finally did answer two questions from an unidentified reporter he was somewhat awkwardly pulled away by his wife.  He said something half audible as he left the mic that sounded like, “that’s my wife and I need to go.”  Agreed.
  4. This morning’s New York Post front page has a picture of the ten hands being raised by the candidates answering the medical question above.  The bolded font headline rephrased the question as “Who Wants to Lose the Election?”  Did we mention that the party’s center has shifted left?
  5. Kamala Harris’ shot at Biden stemmed from his resistance decades ago to support school busing to eliminate segregation.  She dramatically used her upbringing in the moment explaining that as a second grader she was in the first generation of that very heated time in America, and what it meant to her.  Clearly she had prepped very well for the moment and delivered her consternation at him flawlessly.  She was kind enough to say that she didn’t believe he was a racist all the while pummeling his legislative past.  Biden looked like he needed smelling salts and a standing eight count from the moderators.
  6.  Winning in debates can mean a lot of things to a lot of candidates.  For example, former HUD Secretary Julian Castro, an evening prior, went from “who?” to “that one impressed me, let me hear more.”  On to round two he goes.  Ditto for Tulsi Gabbard.  On to round two she goes.  For entrepreneur Andrew Yang, it meant advancing his thought of offering $1,000 to each family each month for a cool cost of $3.2 trillion dollars.  He did this while wearing no tie to the proceedings, and speaking for a grand total of three minutes of the 120 minute debate.  A man of few words, afterwards he had no comment on where Yin was.  In to the round file he goes.
  7. But, the clear winner in BBR’s eyes and ears over the last two nights was Senator Kamala Harris.  She commanded the stage with two men to her right (Bernie and Joe) that had way more experience on a stage as big as this.  Her command of the spoken word is darn good, with pauses and inflection interspersed at the right time and in proper doses.  In short, she looks capable of being in it for the long run.
  8.  Mayor Pete Buttigieg certainly held his own.  When he speaks he brings logic and sincerity along for the taking. His answer to the police shooting mess (regardless of how you see the matter) his South Bend town is in was well crafted given the low ceiling.   It’s a really crowded field.  And, at 37, he is short on experience in public service and private employment.   But, given where Obama and Trump came from and where they landed, the White House, the mayor’s campaign will be interesting to watch.  Maybe he’s a 2024 or 2028 guy.
  9. BBR looks forward to the next round when hopefully the money has dried up on half of the field so that real debating can begin.  MSNBC tossed plenty of softballs at plenty of beer league players.  It’s time to go to the next level.  After all, someone needs to ask the field how these candidates intend to pay for all of these promises.  Free healthcare, free college, free community college, college debt forgiveness, unlimited immigration, and a free chicken in every pot sounds quite expensive.  Bernie might already be shaking a tin cup as commuters arrive on Wall St. this AM.
  10. It’s awfully early to predict.  However, an avid reader of BBR put $100 on Donald Trump to win the GOP nomination three years ago at 17-1 when The Donald was still nicknaming Jeb Bush as Low Energy and Marco Rubio as Lil’.  It’s great money if you have that kind of vision.  We don’t know what Kamala Harris’ odds on gaining the nomination are at this moment.  But, we suspect Vegas lowered them a good bit after last night.   They should.  Polls aside, she looks like the one galloping to the front to us.

Get some rest Joe.

 

 

Lefty and Shorty Debate the Debate.

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

If Lefty and Shorty were still with us their early morning banter might have gone like this.

Lefty and Shorty sat quietly in the still, humid, summer night air.  It was after 2 AM on their graveyard shift and cars were nowhere to be found.  Lefty- Why did we stay open 24 hours Shorty?  Shorty- So that we can discuss how the first of two Democratic Party debates went last evening.  It was a graveyard for many nominee hopefuls.

Lefty sat to the left of Shorty.  Imagine that.  Shorty sat on the shorter of the two “halves” of the 55 gallon drum. Imagine that.  Each were cut down to size and retrofitted with a soft cushion top.

Lefty- So you watched the two hour debate?  Shorty- Most of it.  I was flipping back and forth with the Commodores.

Lefty- What do you mean?  You were watching an old school concert, too?  Shorty- No.  The Vanderbilt Commodores won the NCAA Baseball National Championship.   Lefty– Oh.  OK.  I guess two straight hours with ten wanna be’s is indeed taxing.  Shorty– Don’t bring up taxing.  I heard it enough last night.  And, “straight” is an insensitive word.

Lefty- What did you think of the MSNBC and NBC broadcast?  Shorty- It was fine except when they had technical difficulties and had to cut away.  That was weird.  Lefty- The hot mics went cold and the cold mics ran hot.  Shorty-Climate change?  Lefty- Oh please.  Shorty- Was it the Russian interference they have all been talking about for two years?  Lefty-Oh please.  Shorty-Maybe Nadler can add it to his list of questions for the July 17 Mueller testimony.

Lefty- Ahem.  So what did you think of the polling leader in this first group, Elizabeth Warren?  Shorty- Well, at least when she spoke she did so in her native (American) tongue.  Lefty- Huh?  Shorty- Well Beto and Booker decided to spend half of their ten minutes of fame practicing their Rosetta Stone Spanish.  Lefty-It was televised on Telemundo as well.  Shorty– Don’t they have closed captioned translating English to Spanish?

Lefty- Good grief.  Moving on, how about Ohio Rep Tim Ryan?  Shorty- If Tim Ryan fell in a forest and no one heard it, would it be sound?  Lefty- This is going well. Shorty-Saving Rep Ryan isn’t coming to a theater near you soon.  Lefty- Did you like any performance?  Shorty- I thought NY Mayor Bill DeBlasio stood tall.  Lefty- Interesting.  Shorty- He must be at least six foot four, and he proved that he is no paper straw man.

Lefty- Former Maryland Rep John Delaney seemed reasonable.  Shorty- He did.  He just looks too much like Tim Conway.  Dorf on debate.  Lefty- You’re irascible Shorty.  Shorty- At least I don’t look and sound angry about everything like Booker.

Lefty- Did anyone do well through your jaundiced eyes?  Shorty- Former HUD Secretary Julian Castro did.  Lefty– Finally some progress.  Shorty- Progressive.

Lefty- How did Washington Governor Jay Inslee do?  Shorty- Who?  Lefty- I guess not so well. Shorty– Was he the one near the far right end of the stage that kept raising his hand?  Lefty- That’s him!  Shorty-  He must have wanted to be excused to go to the genderless bathrooms provided.

Lefty-  This is your last chance.  Did you find it odd that in two hours not one shot was taken at front runner Joe Biden?  Shorty- He likely would not have heard it anyway.  He was probably sleepy eyed by then.

Shorty– One debate in, and America is so done with seven or so of these hopefuls.  Lefty- And, for now, I am so done with you.

Bernie Isn’t (that) Crazy.

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Alice Cooper called it.  “School’s out, for summer.”  But, soon, Rodney Dangerfield and others will return.  “Hey, I am going back to school!”  And, when they do they need to bring their checkbook, and then some.

No one disputes the following.  One, the cost of a four year public college/university education in these 50 United States has spiraled out of control.  And, two, the debt that undergraduates and post graduates have incurred is huge at 1.6 trillion dollars and mounting by the moment.

Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren and a few others have led or joined the battle cry to make college tuition free and/or forgive the outstanding student debt.  Each plan to do so essentially redistributes wealth from taxpayers to students and is fraught with inconsistencies.  More later.

But now, we ask, have you ever heard of Sallie Mae?  SLM Corporation (commonly known as Sallie Mae; originally the Student Loan Marketing Association) is a publicly traded U.S. company that provides consumer banking loans.   Its structure has changed dramatically since it was set up in 1973.   At first, it was a government entity that serviced federal education loans. It then became private in 2004 and started offering private student loans.

The company’s primary business is originating, servicing, and collecting private education loans.  Sallie Mae previously originated federally guaranteed student loans originated under the Federal Family Education Loan Program and worked as a servicer and collector of federal student loans on behalf of the Department of Education. 

So, the U.S. government started Sallie Mae.  It then decided the task too tall for itself and allowed it to privatize.  And it’s now government workers who are crying loudest about the soaring student debt.   And, they should.

We took a peak at Sallie Mae’s (now Navient Corporation, the largest servicer of federal student loans and collector on behalf of the U.S. Dept of Education) “generous” loan offers and terms there of last evening.  What’s our conclusion?  You might as well charge your education on your Visa or MasterCard.

Navient loans offered today start at a 7.5% interest rate.  They are tied to a marker of interest rates known as LIBOR, plus 5%.  They are variable, can even change monthly up or down, and are allowed to float as high as 25% if the market so chooses.  That’s 25% as a high side risk!  Seven point five percent isn’t cheap to begin with.  Ford will give you zero percent financing for that new F150.  Sallie Mae and Uncle Sam want more, much more.

But it gets worse.  Let’s take a 40k dollar loan as an example.  You have three options to repay.  All start with paying either $25 bucks a month while still in school, or the interest accumulated each month of $233, or foregoing paying anything at all until you have completed your education.  Tick tock goes the interest clock from day one of course.  The choices are bad, poor, and terrible.

The structured repayment schedule over the course of the next dozen or so years costs about $500 a month at the 7.5% rate, and much more if rates rise.  The total interest is 29k on top of the 40k.   But, here is the kicker of all kickers.  There is no interest saved for paying down the principal in any accelerated manner.  There is no incentive/gain for attempting to get out of the debt.  Sign up and Sallie starts counting her coins.

There is no bankruptcy filing that exempts anyone from repaying either.  Federal laws are written to absolve you of debt incurred when you can no longer keep your head above water, except if that debt is owed to your government.  It’s the golden rule.  He who has the gold makes the rules.  Sallie collects the gold for he who makes the rules.

Making college free (and it wouldn’t be free, just paid by others) and forgiving debt (and that would just be adding to the federal debt that we all are accountable for as well) isn’t the answer.  No answer is that simple.  And no answer should only be for the selected ones who are in debt today or in school tomorrow.   It needs to be equitable.   For example, shouldn’t trade schools be “free” too?  You can’t discriminate for just colleges can you Elizabeth?

Their approach is a big band aid and is designed to garner votes from the young and naive.  The bandage needs to be ripped off of the whole mess and the root cause needs a vaccination.   Otherwise, many will continue to fall down, scrape their knees, and eventually the wound will get infected.   A great start to this would be to examine the ridiculous terms of Sallie Mae and others in this federal loan business for students.  If you didn’t save for college at least there should be an incentive to get out of debt sooner.

Maybe Crazy Bernie isn’t so crazy after all in attempting to address this.  It’s just how, not handouts, that need to be looked at and changed.  Start with Sallie Mae and others just like her.   And, like the $22 trillion dollar debt, and ballooning government, the sooner the better.

Donald, You’re No Ronald!

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

When Senator Lloyd Benson was squared off against Senator Dan Quayle in the Vice Presidential Debate in 1988, Quayle, desperate to establish himself as a qualified VP running mate, dropped a JFK reference.   Benson dropped a haymaker on Quayle, deadpanning “you’re no Jack Kennedy.“

We have resisted comparing Donald Trump to Ronald Reagan for fear of a haymaker ourselves, as Donald is no Ronald.  While each had roles on the TV screen or the big screen previous to ascending to the biggest role in all of the land, they differ in approach far more than they are similar.

Start with the hair styles please.  Ronald had a thick, dark, wavy mane seemingly woven to his head since birth to die for.  Donald has a thin, white/gray whisp that needs to be woven to his head for fear of it flying away.  Ronald was a statesman.  Donald states what he thinks and feels in non too subtle way.  Ronald had his first lady Nancy incessantly shaping his public perception.  Donald has had quite a few ladies and his first lady appears to step back and watch the bullfight from afar.

But, they have one big thing in common.  They know leverage when they see it.  And, when they see it they use it.  And, when they use it, they use it effectively.

Ronald watched as Iran held American hostages for 444 days till the very end of the Jimmy Carter’s mediocre presidency.  Mysteriously, on Reagan’s inauguration day, Iran freed the hostages.  Ronald played the good cop role on a horse in a TV western a few times.  He always got the bad guy and rode off into the sunset with the pretty woman.  Iran wanted nothing to do with this cowboy in real life.  Did Reagan’s team advance anything to Iran about the consequences of a continued standoff?  Probably.  Enough said.

Trump called North Korean dictator Kim Jung-Un “Rocket Man” in front of a United Nations gathering.  It was not very subtle.  It was the equivalent of Nikita Khrushchev’s shoe-banging incident during the 902nd Plenary Meeting of the UN General Assembly held in New York in 1960. During the session Nikita Khrushchev, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, pounded his shoe on his delegate-desk in protest of a speech by Philippine delegate Lorenzo Sumulong.  It was not so subtle.

Both Ronald and Trump were effective, style points aside.

“Rocket Man” is but one of many verbal jabs, hooks, or TKO’s that the Donald has thrown.  It is for that very reason that we continue to be amazed by how wrong the media continues to miss on understanding his approach, and therefore his effectiveness.  Every time he jabs, tweets, nicknames, and/or insults a foreign leader or an entire country the media screams in unison that “the sky is falling, the sky is falling.”  Except, it isn’t.

In fact it’s the opposite.  Trump threatened tariffs on Mexico a couple of weeks back and gave them a short deadline to help on their southern border controlling Central American illegal inflow, and on our southern border helping protect our illegal inflow.  Foes of The Donald said many things. “He can’t do that.”  “You can’t use tariffs to control immigration.”  “It’s unprecedented.”  “He’s offended our neighbor again.”  The stock market said, “Hold on cowboy.”  “This will wreck certain imported products.”  “Prices on imports will go through the roof.”  One Einstein even lamented, “the price of avocados will go up three fold.”

Our guess is that Donald doesn’t like avocados.  And, he doesn’t like illegal immigration even more.  So, with zero help from his Democrat friends, Donald got help on his own from his southern friends.  Mexico, after all of these years, offered immediate help.  Fifteen thousand of their finest are now being deployed on our joint border to stem the flow northward.  Another two thousand went south to do the same.  It’s amazing what the right carrot on the right stick can do.  And, Wall St. rallied once more.

And, it’s equally amazing how many people, tv commentators, and countries totally fail to understand President Trump’s motives and results derived from them. Ronald won with style and grace.  Donald wins with a hammer and a chainsaw.

Donald paints outside of the lines.  Donald is no Ronald.  But, he is Michelangelo in the art of the deal.

 

 

Who Went Where?

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Did you watch the NBA draft last evening?  We did all the while channel surfing.  We suspect many others did while texting, or cooking, or talking, or surfing that internet that Al Gore invented.  With America’s attention span far shorter than the wing span of many of these new draft pics we wonder how many of us have any clue who went to whom?

The confusion we create, to follow who went were, is on us.  The confusion the NBA creates, on who went where, is on them.

What confusion you ask?  It’s how NBA draft day trades work for teams involved, and how they don’t work for the casual viewer.  Eight of the thirty first round picks were traded last evening, or just over 25 percent.  Except the picks weren’t really traded.  Got it?  Confused?

It seems complicated actually.  And, we researched it and can confirm, it’s complicated.

In short NBA teams trade the draft rights to a player that that NBA team has just selected.  In other words when team A agrees to trade draft rights of pick X to team B for draft rights to picks Y and Z, team B does so only when team A agrees to select player Q for team B.  A multiple choice quiz follows.  Just kidding.

Why does the NBA do it this way rather than allowing team B to make it’s own selection with the pick?  It’s all due to the collective bargaining agreement(CBA), the exclusive rights it gives the team for a year, the salary cap, the timing of the NBA year, it’s salary cap implications, and the two dates of July 6 and July 30.  A multiple choice quiz follows.  No, really, we are just kidding.

What does this do to the average fan?  It confuses them.  Eight times last evening a player walked onto the stage wearing a certain team’s hat having just been drafted by them.  Eight times in eight in thirty days from now that player won’t be with that team.  He’ll be with the team who has his rights.

So, ESPN interviews the player and cannot ask what it feels like to be headed eventually to the team that he will play for.  Sometimes the kid drafted doesn’t even know that he is moving.   So, ESPN interviews the player and doesn’t ask what it’s like to be drafted by the team whose hat sits right on top of his head.  So, TV shows us one thing, and tries to explain that it didn’t happen how you see it.  And, they attempt this all in five minutes.  If you just jumped, hypothetically, from Fox News (which, as you know, is fair and balanced) and see “Joe Blow” in a Lakers hat, don’t believe what your eyes just saw.  Thanks Kirk Gibson.   No, no.  Thank the NBA.

MLB draft presentations look and feel like dedications to libraries and the trusty Dewey Decimal System.  NFL draft presentations look and feel like three day rock concerts.  NBA draft presentations look and feel like something that is hard to look at, we feel.

Adam Silver is the most progressive commissioner when it comes to embracing gambling on games.  He should roll the dice on a new CBA agreement (or timing thereof) that allows us to see who goes where when we tune in.

Otherwise, it’s too easy to tune out.