Author Archives: tonyj126

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About tonyj126

I'm a 50+ married man who always seems to have a large backlog of work to do, but also a lot of flexibility in my schedule. Much of the work I do is volunteer or taking care of extended family members. I suffer from, as my priest calls it, "the sin of self-sufficiency," which means I can figure out how to do most things myself, and consequently, reduce the need for community to solve problems. As a logical extention (at least to me), I find myself called to comtemplate the country's and the world's woes and offer my observations. I hope someone out there will find them useful.

Trump’s Eugenics Movement

British scientist Francis Galton coined the term Eugenics in 1883 from the Greek word for “good” or “well” (eu) and the suffix -genēs meaning “born.” A cousin of Charles Darwin, Galton’s later career was concerned with improving the percentage of … Continue reading

Posted in Immigration, U.S. Politics, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Tax Policy Should be Good for the Country

The Trump Administration is considering cutting additional taxes almost exclusively for the wealthy by allowing stock market investors to add inflation to their purchase prices of stock. That hurts the country for two basic reasons. There is no economic advantage … Continue reading

Posted in Economics, Trump Democrats Update, U.S. Politics, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Tax Cuts for Whom?

That is the first part of the title of an economic working paper by Owen M. Zidar from the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago published in 2015. Dr. Zidar looked at how job growth was effected … Continue reading

Posted in Economics, Trump Democrats Update, U.S. Politics, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

President Trump Changes His Name for National Security (Satire)

It’s uncertain how he intends to reconcile his intentions with the First Amendment, but the Leader of the Free World appears to have taken a step toward limiting religious freedom in the United States. A tweet early Saturday morning by … Continue reading

Posted in Musings, Religion, Satire, U.S. Politics, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Edna Ferber

The author Adriana Trigiani turned me on to the writer Edna Ferber. Not personally – we’ve never met – but in a short passage in her novel, All the Stars in the Heavens. I discovered the novel and ultimately Ms. … Continue reading

Posted in Economics, Musings, U.S. Politics, Uncategorized, Writing | Leave a comment

Another Way to Look at NATO Countries’ Defense Spending

President Trump blasted NATO countries a few days ago for what he sees as spending too little on defense. In 2014 at the urging of the United States, the 27 NATO member states agreed to increase their defense spending to … Continue reading

Posted in Economics, Healthcare, U.S. Politics, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Feeling Un-American

For a U.S. citizen there are few words more emotionally charged than un-American. It has been used to demean political opponents and discredit those who question authority. It will no doubt be directed at me following this publication, but lately … Continue reading

Posted in Economics, Make America Great Series, U.S. Politics, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Dark Times Coming for Charities

Two proposals in the Republican tax plan could greatly reduce charitable giving in the United States: Double the standard deduction Potentially eliminate the deduction for state and local taxes This table shows the importance of the state and local tax … Continue reading

Posted in Economics, Religion, U.S. Politics, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

The Grand Old Death Party

Yesterday morning I awoke to news that the latest Affordable Care Act repeal attempt had been tweaked to give more money to Alaska and Maine in an attempt to get the votes of Senators Murkowski and Collins. Secondly, I saw … Continue reading

Posted in Economics, Healthcare, U.S. Politics, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Matthew 18:21-35 through the Filter of Three Books

Summary of the Bible Passage: A rich guy owned a number of slaves. Slave #1 owed the rich guy the equivalent of about $16 million in silver but didn’t have it to pay back. The rich guy decided to recoup … Continue reading

Posted in Economics, Religion, Uncategorized | Leave a comment