Lest we forget, "Major elements ... include reducing tax rates for corporations and individuals, increasing the standard deduction and family tax credits, eliminating personal exemptions and making it less beneficial to itemize deductions, limiting deductions for state and local income taxes and property taxes, further limiting the mortgage interest deduction, reducing the alternative minimum tax... Continue Reading →
Holy Guacamole
Prepare for Guacamole to Be a Luxury Item https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/11/opinion/trump-tariffs-immigration-inflation.html?smid=nytcore-android-share "The United States, astonishingly, is no longer a net agricultural exporter. Since 2019, it has imported more food than it exported in four of six years, and 2024 is expected to have a record food deficit. Labor shortages and their subsequent costs have contributed to the... Continue Reading →
For Photo (Sweet Potatoes) – (Egypt Jan 2025)
After being squeezed and birthed out of the very crowded Khan el-Khalili market, we crossed the street via the underground tunnel. On the other side, our guide Mr A helped Mr J find his camel bone prayer beads and I got my stone beads down from 400 EGP to 250 by just smiling sheepishly at... Continue Reading →
Trip to the pharmacy (Egypt Jan 2025)
I had fallen on the stairs on the river boat and it had opened up a one inch by half inch gash that was pretty weepy. So by the time we reached Cairo I was really desperate for more bandaids. Do we take an Uber or the hotel driver? First, the Concierge says we can... Continue Reading →
A bargain (Egypt Jan 2025)
M and I decided to join forces to buy tshirts at the granite quarry. But the seller kept switching from pounds to dollars. I said I'd bought a T-shirt for $2 the day before but he shushed me as he thought M was the easier mark. At one point he took M's money and counted... Continue Reading →
Desert ride (Egypt Jan 2025)
We were absolutely not interested in the camel rides at the pyramids. They were skinny, filthy, pathetic animals, with hindquarters and tails dark-stained with diahhrea and dirt. The horses pulling the carts were in similar if not worse shape. They are all roughly treated by the handlers who take pains to not do this in... Continue Reading →
Japan, November 2024 (part 1)
(Note: in the interest of time, I'm posting this with missing pictures which I will update shortly.) For Mr A, this trip was the nexus of several pent up needs, namely a) COVID REVENGE, b) Yen exchange rate arbitrage (low-ish at 0.64USD per 100Yen), c) a long awaited return to Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea,... Continue Reading →
California Insurance Crisis, continued
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2025-01-08/california-wildfires-expose-a-458-billion-hole-in-home-insurance "The glut of homes in increasingly fire-prone places has created an insurance crisis in California, with many big insurers pulling out of the state to avoid more losses. Nearly 500,000 Californians have turned to the state’s insurer of last resort, the FAIR Plan, which has doubled in size over the past five years. The state is now... Continue Reading →
Tv shows 2024
https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20240612-10-best-tv-shows-of-2024-so-far Been reading more international journalism lately and have been enjoying the BBC, if not only for the fact that the British have cornered the market on what it means to be adult. Reserved, responsible, long suffering. And in that vein I find British TV to be quite intelligent. I've reproduced their list below which... Continue Reading →
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