DumbFinancial White Guys

Let's first get one thing on the table. When I'm in China I say" Wo ai Meiguo, danshi wo xihuan Zhongguoren." This translates as "I love America, but I like the Chinese people." Since my wife is, originally, from Nanjing, people have no trouble believing this.

I have a belief that I slightly understand the way China works on its east coast. When I'm there, I stay with my wife's family, which helps me understand more than if I was staying in a Holiday Inn in Shanghai. However I would never make predictions on the Chinese economy.

However, there are a lot of dumb financial white guys who tell us what's going to happen in China every day on Bloomberg or CNBC. The only guy I would ever listen to on China is Jim Rogers, who once lived in Dalian.

For example, these people mispronounce the common name for the renminbi. They say u on for the Yuan. The correct pronunciation is u en. If they can't correctly pronounce the name of the currency, why should they be trusted.

They sit on Wall Street, without any meaningful Chinese experience, and talk about an economy in transition, which has some segments of capitalism, but is full of SOEs. The state owned enterprises get the majority of financial assistance in that country. It would be as if America owned General Electric, IBM, and Safeway. Sounds confusing, doesn't it. However that doesn't keep these "bai ren" (white guys) from explaining China to us every day. One Barrons commentator predicted Alibaba's stock price would drop by half. I watch it climb every day. I'm tired of listening to dumb financial white guys who have no idea how insufficient their information is.

A Great American Hero

Today, as the ninth Benghazi committee looked for ways to politically injure Hillary Clinton, I was fascinated by the questions asked by Rep. Tammy Duckworth, a Democrat on the committee. As I hurried to find out more about her. I learned she was the first female double amputee from the Iraq war and the first female double amputee elected to Congress.

Tammy Duckworth  lost both her legs and severely injured her arm while flying a helicopter in Iraq. Her mother is Thai, but she was following her father's family tradition of serving in the military, which began before the Revolutionary war. Her dad was a Marine and she has not only done her father proud, but also makes us feel good about the kind of heroes our country produces.

I was not for the Iraq war, but I stand in awe of this woman whose incredible drive and patriotism is an inspiration for all of us.

In 2013 she was elected to Congress and she plans to run for the Senate in 2016.

She also makes me humble about my disability. The next time I decide to complain I will picture Tammy Duckworth rolling her chair around Congress, helping drive our nation forward, and stay quiet. She is a true American hero.

Is Integrity Dysfunctional for a Politician?

Does having integrity hurt you politically? In last night's Democratic debate Bernie Sanders said he was tired of hearing about emails. This of course gave Hillary Clinton a boost.

Most people have decided that while it was laudatory, it hurt Bernie Sanders politically. It certainly didn't prevent Hillary Clinton from going after Sanders' mixed record on gun control.

Sanders knew it was politically unwise, but he said it anyway.

All of a sudden, I respect Bernie Sanders as a human being, much more than many others in the Democratic Party. Certainly Joe Biden has done enough sleazy things over time, that it disqualifies him for the presidency.

What do you think? Is integrity dysfunctional in 21st century America?

We Don't Care

We, the undersigned, don't care if your child leaves for school and doesn't come back. We don't care if she is lying in a pool of blood on the floor of her schoolroom. We feel that by second grade you should be taking your child to a gun range to teach her/him how to shoot. By third grade your child should be going to school armed. This way when "stuff happens" your child has a chance at survival.

Jeb Bush

Ben Carson

Carly Fiorina

Donald Trump

Marco Rubio

Ted Cruz

Good Job Brownie

There are seven students in Oregon who will never get to hold their grandchildren in their arms. They will never find out what they could become with an education. A psycho mama's boy took their future away from them. He asked  them if they were Christians and then blew them away.

When they asked Jeb Bush about it, he said "stuff happens."

"Good Job Brownie"

This was supposed to be the better Bush.

Dubya did a lot of stupid things, but at least he was likable.

I can only conclude that the whole family has no common sense. I'm pretty sure we don't have to worry about a Bush Clinton fight for the presidency. We're not supposed to have an aristocracy. I think every family should get only one chance to screw up our country.

By the way, Jeb restated it by saying "things happen."