The shell game that is investing in SpaceX ETFs: https://www.wsj.com/finance/investing/spacex-etf-invest-4cb93783?st=YysD6V . Risk management in an inflated market: https://www.wsj.com/finance/investing/what-you-should-do-about-the-stock-markets-giant-problem-f4ca338e?st=wup55E Their recommendation is TIPS (bought directly, not via ETFs) Be wary of private/alternative investments, especially because you cannot sell at will - only when they allow it - which is generally at times when the returns... Continue Reading →
Where not to live, So Cal edition
https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/5065c998b4b0462f9ec3c6c226c610a9/page/Compare-old-and-new-LRA-FHSZ Go to the link, zoom in, and look at the new hazard zones for your place of interest. Then you will understand why virtually all insurance companies have left SoCal.
New observations regarding Covid’s long-term effects
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/10/well/covid-long-term-health-damage.html "Small studies have suggested that over 10 percent of people hospitalized with a Covid infection had lung scarring and other issues two years later. Covid can lead to chronic gastrointestinal problems, like reflux, constipation, diarrhea and abdominal pain. These issues can last for months or even years. In a 2024 study, researchers estimated that... Continue Reading →
Back Up Everything
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/14/business/personal-data-backup-musk.html?unlocked_article_code=1.x04.kCgC.PqauR-a8U2Dz "But don’t just download your history of paying into Social Security or freeze access to your credit files because of the politics of now. Back up everything important, everywhere you can. Do this at least once a year or so. It’s just good hygiene. Having multiple copies of all of the things that help... Continue Reading →
CA Fair Plan gets 1B bailout; insurance and climate discussion “misleading” (not)
Insurers continue to "not renew" (drop) customers. Homeowners increasingly choose self insurance (no insurance) over paying huge premiums, which are set to increase even more as California Fair Plan will receive $1B from California insurers, half of which can by law be passed onto customers. Warnings of housing price impacts due to rising insurance costs... Continue Reading →
Perspective on continuing the TCJA (Tax Cuts and Jobs Act)
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 →
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 →
Insurance: Nowhere to spread the risk, part II
The tsunami is rising in CA. Our rates have tripled and the coverage hollowed out; the list of removed line items from our policy was a document 100's of pages long. As Insurers Around the U.S. Bleed Cash From Climate Shocks, Homeowners Lose https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/05/13/climate/insurance-homes-climate-change-weather.html "In 2023, insurers lost money on homeowners coverage in 18 states,... Continue Reading →
Alarming Ocean Temperatures (NYT)
Hurricane Season Could Have More Than Two Dozen Storms, NOAA Says https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/23/weather/noaa-atlantic-hurricane-forecast-prediction.html?smid=nytcore-android-share ‘Alarming’ Ocean Temperatures Suggest This Hurricane Season Will Be a Daunting One https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/04/climate/ocean-temperature-hurricane-forecast.html?smid=nytcore-android-share
A Message to the Ag Industry about H5N1: Bovine Veterinarian
https://www.bovinevetonline.com/news/industry/message-ag-industry-about-h5n1 "On April 23, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reported it had detected “viral particles of H5N1 avian influenza” in pasteurized milk available for purchase at grocery stores. Russo is quick to point out this doesn’t mean the actual virus is in milk. Rather, it’s the genetic material known as RNA. “I think... Continue Reading →
Ocean Heat Has Shattered Records for More Than a Year – NYT
"Dr. Schmidt pointed out that when scientists put together their estimates so far of how much the volcanic eruption, the reduced shipping pollution, El Niño and climate change should warm the planet, the numbers don’t add up. “There could be still something missing,” he said, like other sources of aerosol pollution having improved more than researchers... Continue Reading →
ASF Swine Flu
This conspiracy theory (or movie script) is writing itself. The timing so close to COVID 19 is interesting. From https://www.medicinenet.com/swine_flu/article.htm: (Clickers beware, this site is full of ads and its awkward grammer has AI feels) "However, in August 2018, China first reported a new swine flu outbreak in pigs in Liaoning province. The pig flu... Continue Reading →
Queen of the Universe
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2024/02/01/fox-maga-taylor-swift-conspiracy-trump-2024-election/72414573007/ "A survey by Morning Consult said 53% of American adults are Swift devotees. There are almost as many men as women, almost as many Republicans and independents as Democrats. And they include baby boomers, millennials, Generation X members and young adults from Generation Z. An analysis of Google Trends data for 2023 found that Swift had dominated... Continue Reading →
Jackie and Shadow lay an egg
Our local Big Bear bald eagle celebrities, Jackie and Shadow, have laid the first egg of the season! Hatching expected in approx 35-39 days. Last year's eggs sadly were not fertilized and thus no chicks rewarded Jackie's epic egg sitting, literally up to her neck in snow in one of the coldest and snowiest winters... Continue Reading →
Insurance industry has nowhere to spread the risk
Next Door confirms that So Cal homeowners insurance is next to impossible to get now. Forget what was true a year ago. "Despite some concessions from regulators, insurers are bracing for a tough future. Allstate’s Wilson said that everywhere in the country is at some risk from increasingly severe weather. “There is no place that’s... Continue Reading →
Jerome Powers, played by Montgomery Burns
Steve Goldstein's Simpsons spoof of Jerome Power's press conference is just money. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-jerome-powell-press-conference-as-expressed-through-simpsons-gifs-c3c964a2?mod=home-page When your audience searches in vain for new information... And strong, actionable positions... That would give consumers hope... But instead we are left with just tea leaves... You might get more out of just going outside and conversing with the squirrels instead.... Continue Reading →
WearyTravelers.net 