Wondering on Wednesday 4/3/24

Ready... Set... Wonder!

I saw an article in The Week about 'passive investing' - using index funds to do the work for you, or for your 401(k). The Week, if you aren't familiar with it, presents news items with multiple viewpoints from different media outlets. Here's a bit of the piece on index funds, with my emphasis added.

A market doesn’t work if everyone just “sits back and watches their money grow,” said Katie Martin in the Financial Times. It sounds “a little snobbish” to rail against passive investing, “which has unlocked wealth for millions of people who otherwise might not be active in financial markets at all.” But several recent studies have found that indexed stocks have begun to “show lower sensitivity” even to major economic shocks than their non-indexed counterparts. That turns investing from a process of “seeking out, rewarding, and profiting from successful companies” to a “circular bet” on more money flowing into the market.

The article came out before Trump Media and Technology Group (DJT on the Nasdaq)  went public with a value of some $8B, even though the company has ridiculously poor financial performance.

Is this the kind of company you'd 'seek out and reward,' I wonder?

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Perhaps as many as half a million folks in California got a raise this week, as the minimum wage for most fast-food workers - and only those workers - increased from $16/hour to $20/hour. The raise stems from a bill signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom last fall, and comes a few weeks after workers formed the California Fast Food Workers Union.

Generally, I'm not a fan of politicians singling out a category of workers and changing their minimum wage without adjusting the minimum wages for other low-paid workers, but I don't wonder why politicians do it.

What I do wonder is why so many people think it's OK for the government to make a random distinction between a fast-food worker and a day-care worker, a home health aide, or a janitorial staffer. And I wonder why, when the politicians do this for some but not for all, people are so comfortable telling the other workers to 'just go ask for a raise,' or 'organize and fight for themselves.'

And, of course, I wonder how the pols come up with the convoluted rules they apply. This law applies to "restaurants offering limited or no table service and which are part of a national chain with at least 60 establishments nationwide. Restaurants operating inside a grocery establishment are exempt, as are restaurants producing and selling bread as a stand-alone menu item."  

A shoutout to anyone who can make this make sense. I sure can't.

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This one has me scratching my head with wonder. I was not aware that there's a thing out in the Interwebs asking, "Who actually eats at Arby's?" And, until this morning when I saw this article that Arby's is going to give "skeptics" four free sandwiches this month, to try and convince them how good the food is. According to the company's Chief Marketing Officer, the chain is "putting our money where our mouth is," and that April is

the perfect opportunity for any skeptics out there to try any of the sandwiches they've been eyeing.

There's just one catch: the 'skeptics' who have been "eyeing" the sandwiches have to be enrolled in the company's rewards program to get the free sandwiches. Call me skeptical, but I wonder how many of the free sammies are going to go to existing rewards members, not to new customers?

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It seems 'the right' found itself in a bit of a snit over Easter Sunday. It seems that 'the left' has attacked Easter with the same zeal as it fights the war on Christmas. First, President Biden dared recognize the annual Transgender Day of Visibility, celebrated annually on March 31st. That's a bad thing, it would appear, when Easter also falls on March 31st - at least according to House Speaker Mike Johnson and the other usual suspects. But that's only half of the problem. 

The other issue? A ban on religious Easter eggs at the Biden White House. I kid you not.

...guidelines for the contest in which kids submit decorated eggs for a White House display specify that the art "must not include any questionable content, religious symbols, overtly religious themes, or partisan political statements. 

There's only one problem: the guidelines don't belong to 'the left' and they don't come from the Bidens. They come from the American Egg Board, which has had the same rules since the 70s. And that means former president Donald Trump attacked Easter using one of the exact same weapons as President Biden used.

So, what am I wondering here? With all the effort 'the right' puts into manufacturing wars by 'the left' against Christian holidays, I wonder why they don't put even one iota of effort into attacking the very un-Christian, unreligious, unpleasant, unpatriotic Easter 'truth' posted by their fearless leader. 

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Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry (R-MAGA) is unhappy that LSU's women's basketball team wasn't on the floor for the playing of our country's National Anthem (not to be confused with "America's most recognized patriotic anthem," Lee Greenwood's God Bless the USA) at their Elite Eight appearance in Albany on Sunday. 

So unhappy, in fact, that he wants the state's Board of Regents to create a policy requiring student-athletes "be present for the National Anthem or lose their scholarships." He even managed to bring his mother into the mix with his tweet on the subject, which said, in part,

My mother coached women's high school basketball during the height of desegregation, no one has a greater respect for the sport and for Coach Mulkey. However, above respect for the game is a deeper respect for those that serve to protect us and unite us under one flag !

Landry apparently doesn't know that college athletes in his state, and others, typically aren't on the court or field for the anthem, which is played several minutes before the game starts. And he apparently doesn't know that they haven't been, for many years. And he apparently doesn't know that the Regents have nothing to do with scholarships. 

It kind of makes me wonder whether he gave this whole thing any thought at all, or if he just shoots from the lip like the guy who endorsed him for governor.

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Oh - in case you're wondering, here's the current status of the GoFundMe to raise money to help the former president pay his judgments. I'll continue to report on this each week, but for now, it looks like it's gonna take a while.

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What's on your wondering mind tonight?

Wondering on Wednesday 3/20/24

Ready... Set... Wonder!

Huh... A billionaire can't pay his bond, and can't find people to help him; I wonder how that happens? And I wonder whether at least some of the companies that won't help aren't helping because they simply don't want to be involved with him, rather than because they really can't help him? I'm also wondering, a bit, why the family doesn't tap their Russian connections, where they used to get 'all the money they need' for the business, or why Jared doesn't message his BFF, the Saudi Crown Prince, for help?

Speaking of help, the GoFundMe to raise money towards the penalty has crossed the $1.5M threshold, with over 26,000 donors contributing to the cause. I really wonder who contributes to something like this - it takes a special kind of person to want to donate money to help a billionaire meet his legal responsibilities, I think.

Dartmouth men's basketball players voted to unionize earlier this month after they were deemed to be employees of the school by a regional National Labor Relations Board office. Needless to say, that prompted a whole lot of discussion on what this means more broadly for the NCAA: how will athletes be paid, how much, and would it be only for their season, or for the entire year, what about NIL, and so on. 

Me? I can't help wondering what the $3.6B in scholarships given to 180,000 DI and DII student-athletes is for, if it's not payment for their services?  

And since we're talking about the NCAA, I also wonder why it insists on opening Pandora's Portal of Program Doom before the seasons are officially over? It happens with football, and now basketball. What on earth is the point of encouraging players to end their season before their season ends?  

Finally, I wonder whether NCAA executives have considered changing careers?  They would make, um, "perfect" additions to pretty much any political office, right? They have all the critical experience: they know how to grab as much money as possible from sponsors and donors, make ridiculous rules that even they don't understand, ignore how those rules impact their constituents, and wait for someone else to fix the mess for them, like they're doing with NIL. If that's not a perfect fit, I don't know what is. 

Back to the billionaire. Donald 'Orange Jesus' Trump, a man alleged to have shared our national secrets with members of his residence/private club, is now eligible to receive national security updates as the presumptive Republican nominee. Given his propensity for blurting out whatever the hell crosses his mind, creating alternative facts at the drop of a hat, and his um, alleged inability to differentiate what's his and what's government property, I'm wondering if we should limit what's shared to only weather forecasts with national implications.

Think about it: the forecasts are specific as to locations, risks, potential damage, and populations impacted. Depending on the situation, forecasts even include global modeling. Surely, they should count as 'national security,' right? I wonder - only a little bit, though - what else a narcissist like the OJ would need. Shouldn't knowing how many of his followers, how many "real Americans," are in the path of a storm, or at least within the Cone of Uncertainty sponsored by Sharpie, be enough? 

Trump is suing George Stephanopoulos (and ABC News) for defamation because Stephanopoulos called him a rapist during his incredibly embarrassing interview with Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC). In the interview, Stephanopoulos repeatedly said that Trump was "found liable for rape" by a jury, which is untrue; the jury in the first E. Jean Carroll case found that he did not commit rape under the definition in NYS law at that time. It was Judge Lewis Kaplan who determined that Trump committed rape 'as commonly understood.' 

I wonder if George has considered that he could lose this case? After all, his interview was dripping with malice, towards Trump and Mace. I also wonder if he has second thoughts about inviting a Congresswoman on his show, specifically because she publicly talked about her own rape, specifically to shame her about her political decisions? And the one I wonder the most about: did his wife welcome him home with open arms after that grotesque interview?  I sure as hell hope not.

One last little bit of wondering on this one, now that NY has changed the definition of rape to match what Judge Kaplan said people understand 'rape' to mean, is someone responsible for updating the myriad references to sexual assault in the NYS criminal code before this change goes into effect in September? Are sentencing guidelines being updated? Are DAs receiving training on how to present cases to grand juries? 

What's on your wondering mind tonight?

Wondering on Wednesday 2/28/24

Ready... set... wonder!

Ronna McDaniel is stepping down as chair of the RNC after the Super Tuesday primaries in March. I wonder if she’ll have to get permission from her family to go back to using her maiden name, which she used before Donald Trump frowned on having anyone named Romney involved in the party leadership.

Sen. Mitch McConnell announced he’ll step down as leader of the Republicans in the Senate after the November election, but will serve out the remainder of this term. I sort of wonder if he announced this so he won’t have to endorse Donald Trump? I also wonder if he’s got the courage to do the right thing and pass on making that endorsement.

Michigan Dems held a primary yesterday, and over 100,000 Dems -13% of the total - voted 'Uncommitted,' while 81% voted for President Biden. I was not surprised that Biden did the right thing after the results were announced.

In his statement late Tuesday evening, Biden thanked “every Michigander who made their voice heard today,” noting that “exercising the right to vote and participating in our democracy is what makes America great.”

A couple of things on this one. As I noted previously, I wonder why we all don't have the chance to actively vote for nobody, whether it's ‘uncommitted' or 'none of these candidates,' as they can in Nevada. Second, I wonder why the media can't help tripping over themselves trying to cement a connection between a protest vote in a February primary and the presidential election (checks calendar) over 250 days away. And then I laughed and laughed at the stupidity of my wondering.

I support the protest vote, and the protest; I often wonder if we are doing enough to pressure Israel to at least ensure that sufficient humanitarian aid is reaching the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who are guilty of nothing other than living in Gaza. And if you want to make the argument that "Hamas was elected, so everyone in Gaza must support them," I can't help wondering how you handled the whiplash of going from being an Obama Democrat to a MAGA Republican to a Biden Democrat over the last three elections... I'd love to hear about that, if you're willing to talk about it.

The Supreme Court announced it will hear arguments in April on whether or not a US president has complete immunity - up to and including going as far as having SEAL Team 6 murder a political opponent - or if he's just like any other American thug, and subject to our criminal justice system.  By delaying arguments for five weeks, they're playing into his hands, I think, and that's frustrating. I wonder why there isn't a way for the Supremes to act more expediently when the case is both critically important and significantly time-constrained, unless they're acting exactly as fast as they want to, in which case we might have to wonder about other things, right?

Donald Trump has said he’s unable to come up with the full bond amount in his NY business fraud case. He maintains he can come up with $100M, but getting to the full amount ($355M not counting the daily interest accruals) is impossible, without having to sell off properties.  And I wonder which he’d pick -  Trump Tower, with its 30,000 square-foot penthouse? 40 Wall Street? 

But wait – I wonder if he even can sell any of the NY properties? Would that count as "doing business' in NY, which is prohibited under Judge Arthur Engoron’s decision? And if he has to go elsewhere, would he pick Bedminster, where the buyer would get not only a golf course but also Ivana Trump's burial site? Trump Winery in Virginia?  Or – gasp – Mar-a-Lago, which is worth $27M (accountant valuation), $517M (Trump loan application), or ONE BILLION DOLLARS (Trump's personal opinion)?  There’s just so much wondering on this one. 

And speaking of the Engoron decision, in case you’re wondering, the GoFundMe set up to allow Americans to help their billionaire best friend pay the judgment has raised more than $1.28M from some 22K donors. 

What's on your wondering mind tonight?

Wondering on Wednesday 2/21/24

Ready... set... wonder!

I read an article about a move to teach financial literacy in high schools, which I think is a good idea. I mean. my dad set up something like that when I was a high school senior way back in the dark ages, so I'm all for it. In this case, though, banks are behind the curriculum, and I'm wondering how they'll possibly avoid trying to train customers, not just financially aware students.

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This one's such a no-brainer that I can't imagine it not moving forward, especially in an election year: there's at least one bill to eliminate federal income taxes on Social Security beginning in 2025.  In addition to getting rid of taxes, it'll change the way Social Security is funded, which could add years to the program's life expectancy. You might be wondering what I'm wondering on this one, and it's simple: Will Donald Trump tell the MAGA Campers to block this one and save it for him? Or, if it does pass, will he take credit for not stopping them from voting? 

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This one's a head-spinner: a trucker has called for boycotting deliveries to New York City, in protest of the fines imposed on Trump in his financial shenanigans case. "Chicago Ray," the trucker, tweeted

I'm just one of the many millions of Truckers who believe in God and love this Country. I stand with Trump bc Trump stands with me. Truckers for Trump ain't just a slogan, it's real.

Trump was delighted, as you might imagine, to "have so many Great Patriots" on his side, and so on.  But then, Chicago Ray deleted his original tweet, put up another one in which he stressed he was not encouraging anyone to do anything - and then deleted that one, too. And I can't help wondering, is he still a Great Patriot, or not?

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I wonder if anyone actually bought a mattress for President's Day, and if yes, which president were they honoring? 

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Do you remember where you were when you heard the news that the Klondike Choco Taco was being discontinued? I don't - I would have thought it was last year, not back in 2022 - but I do remember seeing 'make them yourself' recipes popping up on social media at the time. I suspect fans of the ice cream favorite are pretty excited this week, as we learned that they're coming back, thanks to Taco Bell and the Salt & Straw ice cream company. They won't be exactly the same though.

The new treat will feature a waffle cone filled with cinnamon ancho chile ice cream dipped in chocolate and topped with toasted brown rice. 

And, because it's Taco Bell, there'll be dipping sauces - and I'm really wondering how I lived to the ripe old age of way older than a Choco Taco, and never felt the urge to dip my ice cream in a spicy sauce. 

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Things have been a little rocky in the House lately, with Speaker Mike Johnson trying to balance the so-called Freedom Caucus, Donald Trump's campaign wishes, the imploding impeachment investigation into President Biden, foreign aid to our allies, a border crisis, a looming government shutdown, losing the Santos seat, redistricting efforts which might erase his razor-thin majorities, and most recently, three GOP committee chairs announced they won't be seeking re-election.

But Johnson might get a lifeline from the Dems: a resolution being circulated by  NJ Rep. Josh Gottheimer that would change the 'McCarthy Ouster Rules' and require party leadership to approve any resolutions to vacate the Speaker's chair, rather than allowing any member to do it.  I like this idea, but I wonder if there are enough Rs upset with the nonsense to approve such a measure, and I also wonder if Johnson's got the courage to accept such an offer. 

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Finally, I've got some information on something a lot of people have been wondering about - that GoFundMe to raise money for Trump's fines.  Many people have questioned how it didn't violate the website's policies, and the GFM folks have answered the question. 

According to the rules, you cannot raise money to pay legal fees for someone charged with a violent crime, or financial crimes - but this one, which is to pay fines after crimes have been adjudicated, is not outside the rules. Yet, anyway. 

And in case anyone's wondering, over $905,000 has been donated by over 16,000 people. 

What's on your wondering minds tonight?