Cats!

I visited my oldest son on Thanksgiving Day. He has one of those robot vacuum cleaners that moves about the house remotely and cleans under sofas and chairs, in corners and just about everywhere a human can reach.

But when the robot ventured beneath his living room sofa to do its cleaning thing, my son’s cat, who had been watching the machine carefully and with some suspicion, pounced off of his perch and refused to let the robot escape. Each time the robot attempted to report back to the light of day, the cat would bat it back to its underground lair, essentially rendering it useless.

So humans of the world do not despair! And Terminators of the future take heed! In the coming war between the Humans and the Machines, it will be the Cats who shall save the day! (so please make sure your cats get some Thanksgiving leftovers. It’s the least we can do and the future of our planet may lay in the balance of their gratitude!)

Then It’s Settled!

President Trump visited Vladimir Putin over the weekend and he again asked the Russian President if Russia had hacked the U.S. elections in 2016. President Putin once again responded that Russia had not… and so the question is settled! As far as President Trump is concerned he has asked and President Putin has answered. Putin didn’t do it because he said so.

But U.S. intelligence agencies have long since concluded that there was Russian meddling in our elections…and that Putin was behind it all. So how can all of our intelligence agencies be so wrong? And why are they all still on the job?

However, President Trump has since clarified his position by saying: “As to whether I believe it or not, I’m with our agencies, especially as currently constituted and as currently led, by fine people, I believe very much in our intelligence agencies.”

But then the president added: “I believe that President Putin really feels, and feels strongly, that he did not meddle in our election. What he believes is what he believes.” President Trump then added that he was not interested in arguing with Putin over meddling and maintains that allegations of campaign collusion with Moscow are a hoax.

However, U.S. intelligence agencies have also concluded that the Russians interfered in the hopes of tipping the election in Trump’s favor through hacking, spreading social media propaganda and releasing emails to embarrass Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.

But the President has tweeted that this is all Hillary’s fault and that it’s the Democrats who most likely conspired with the FBI and other intelligence agencies to fix the election against him.

So in conclusion: There was no collusion with the Russian government to sway the American electorate one way or the other during the 2016 Presidential campaign except when the Democrats colluded with Russia in an effort to do just that with the help of Russian President Vladimir Putin who was definitely not involved in any way because he said so. Putin not Trump…but most probably it was Putin in our election because all of the U.S. intelligence agencies say so and they are all led by really good guys when they are not busy spying on the President. Trump not Putin. who they have been working hard to discredit.

In other news: While visiting Vietnam President Trump told an onlooking crowd of Vietnamese citizens that they were lucky that the young Donald Trump had shin splints during the Vietnam War because if he had been able to serve in the American military America would have won the war because he would have been a very great soldier, perhaps the best ever, and his mere presence would have struck fear into the hearts of all enemies everywhere and that’s what everyone is saying…

Okay, so the President didn’t really say that. I just made it up. But does it really matter what our President says anymore? And that sadly… is what just about everyone… is saying… everywhere.

What Do We Know?

Tax cuts are coming! Huzzah! But so far no one knows how much or when and recent surveys of taxpayers have shown that most American tax payers have no idea how much money they actually pay in federal taxes each year nor what percentage of their earnings their taxes equal. Do you? Does President Trump? We suspect he does but he is not telling us anyway.

However the President’s advisers have been arguing that he does not need to reduce federal spending while he cuts taxes in order to make ends meet. Just like you wouldn’t have to cut your home expenses if you lost your job or were forced to take a pay cut because, you know reduced income will stimulate your home economy just like reduced tax revenue will stimulate the US economy.

But according to a new survey conducted at the University of Chicago, Eighty-four percent of all economic experts polled disagreed that Trump’s tax cuts would pay for themselves through increased economic growth. Mostly because it’s never worked before…ever.

Still that is the plan, although it has yet to be finalized by the president and Congress… and most Americans polled believe that they will get screwed and end up paying more in taxes unless they are rich and/or a corporation. I wonder why that is? Could it be that when Asked whether tax cuts since 1980 have ever paid for themselves, no economists argued that they had?

So will it work this time? We will just have to wait and see. The average American’s wages and income have not increased in real dollars (as in kept up with inflation) in over 40 years but maybe, just maybe, this will be the year. They say that the president himself will be looking at a 31 million dollar tax savings just for himself but then again no one really knows how much if any taxes the President now pays (but that’s only because he won’t tell us).

But we do know that the average corporation in the new tax plan will receive a massive cut in their tax rate from 35% to 20%! Will you and I see a 15% reduction in our tax rate? Probably not, but don’t despair because after all, here in America, corporations are people too! and they also have to make ends meet… just like you… Huzzah!