ECONOMY IS GOOD

President Obama will turn over to President-elect a good economy* with prospects of getting even better if Trump doesn't screw it up with a big personal tax cut as he threatens.  (See my 2010 piece on the Effectiveness Of Taxes)**

Nor is the economy struggling much, based on last week’s reported data. October housing starts jumped 25% from September, with help from a big rise in single-family homes; jobless claims for the week ended Nov. 12 dropped to 235,000, the fewest since 1973; and retail sales had their best two-month stretch in at least two years. Combined with Trump’s stimulus plan, there is the potential to drive economic growth toward 3% or more, says Jefferies economist Thomas Simons. “The fourth quarter is starting to show what the real strength of the economy is,” he says.*

I am in favor of Trump's infrastructure plan, but doubt he will get anywhere near the trillion dollars he asks for.  A problem with the government programs is that the biggest amount of money is in the first year and then there are complaints that the Civil Service  is dragging their feet, but it takes some time to ramp up (You can't issue contracts over night, for example).  As President Obama said, there is no such thing as a shovel ready program.  Then the program is over in three years when the program is finally ramped up and in high gear.  Then it is time for a new program much different so everyone has to reshift grears and start over.  Wash, rinse, repeat.  No drying.  If you are going to work for the Federal government, you have to accept you are a political football.

* http://www.barrons.com/articles/stocks-rise-almost-1-on-solid-economic-growth-1479537677?mod=BOL_hp_we_columns
** http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2010/05/effectiveness-of-taxes.html

ITEMS WITH THE MOST PAGE VIEWS AND MY FAVORITES - IV

An eclectic blog (November, 2009, through December, 2014) with sections on Biography, Commentary (General, Economics and Investing), Fiction, Health Care, Oil and Gas, Politics, Photographs, and Poetry (Children's Poems, General, Health, and Space Poems) and (new) Poems By Others: http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2011/07/reunite-gondwanaland-2009-june-2011.html  As of the end of 2014, the blog contains 419 items.

In the new Poems By Others Section, Ogden Nash's poem Fossils garnered by far the most page views overall:  423 with 72 of these added in the past year [http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2013/01/fossils-by-ogden-nash-poem.html] as the blog bears down on 25,000 page views.  No posts in 2014 obtained as many as 200 pages views.  The year 2013 saw two pieces that moved into 200 page views category: My Maternal Grandmother (Biographical) with 220 page views [http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2013/10/my-maternal-grandmother-biographical.html] and Working Underground: My Rational Self and My Emotional Self with 210 page views [http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2013/01/working-underground-my-rational-self.html]. Previous items with more than 200 hits are: You Are So Lucky (Biographical) with 266 page views [http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2009/11/you-are-so-lucky.html] and Muammar Qaddafi And Me (Biographical) with 223 page views [http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2010/12/muammar-qaddafi-and-me-biographical.html]. The former was no doubt popular because of the Great Japanese Earthquake of 2011 and deals with my first three days in Japan in 1965. The latter was popular because of the overthrow of the Libyan dictator Qaddafi.

There are 13 others with 100 to 199 page views, one of which is biographical, a new one, The Tea Cup Seismograph on August 12, 2014 (145 page views) [http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-tea-cup-seismograph-biographical.html], and The Break Even Price Of Fracking Oil on October 8, 2014 (193 page views) [http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2014/10/break-even-price-of-fracking-oil.html].

Each piece I have written is like a child and I love them all, but it is common that some children are loved more than others. My personal favorite continues to be the Effectiveness Of Taxes from May 7, 2010 with 116 page views (up from 62) [http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2010/05/effectiveness-of-taxes.html] followed by Basics of Bureaucracy from July 26, 2011 with 129 page views (up from 127) [http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2011/07/basics-of-bureaucracy.html].  Important new additions to this small list of personal favorites is Is The Atmosphere An Infinite Sewer? from February 11, 2014 with 47 page views [http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2014/02/is-atmosphere-infinite-sewer.html] and The Plight Of American Workers from May 22, 2014 with 22 page views [http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2014/05/plight-of-american-workers.html]. In the first one, I point out why decreasing taxes on individuals is an inefficient way to stimulate the economy. I liked this so much that I refer to it in three other pieces. In the second one, that was written many years ago, I give some real rules of dealing with bureaucrats in a humorous fashion.  In the first new one on the atmosphere I also conclude that global warming is indeed occurring and that the atmosphere is not the infinite sewer that many believe.  In the second new one on American Workers, it is explained why the Golden Age of the American worker may be over.  It deserved 10 times the attention it got.

Let me give two Honorable Mentions. I wouldn't say this is a favorite of mine, but it can be important to some, i.e. Preferred Stock Investing from November 27, 2011 with 194 page views (picked up 7 more hits in 2014) [http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2011/11/preferred-stock-investing.html]. I have invested for about 60 years, but never got involved in preferred stocks until the last decade. I would also like to mention one poem Upon the Second Anniversary Of Apollo 11 from January 9, 2010 with only 12 page views, the first landing on the Moon [http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2010/01/upon-second-anniversary-of-apollo-11.html]. Normally a couplet or more just pops into my mind and I construct a poem around it (An example is So How About An Asteroid from July 20, 2011 with 76 page views) that contains my favorite couplet: Who could possibly be annoyed/About the study of an asteroid. The Second Anniversary of Apollo Eleven, however, was little noticed which I thought was too bad as this was the first time I sat down to compose a poem from scratch.

ITEMS WITH THE MOST HITS & MY FAVORITES

Reunite Gondwanland was started in November of 2009 and grew to 114 items by the end of 2011. It is a eclectic blog with sections on Biography, Commentary (General, Economics and Investing), Fiction, Health Care, Oil and Gas, Politics, Photography, and Poetry (General and Space Poems). A table of contents can be found at: http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2011/07/reunite-gondwanaland-2009-june-2011.html. Though this Table has a June date it is kept up to date. As of the end of 2011 there was a total of 5,965 hits.

The items with the most hits are: You Are So Lucky (Biographical) with 222 hits [http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2009/11/you-are-so-lucky.html] and Muammar Qadaffi And Me (Biographical) with 212 hits [http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2010/12/muammar-qaddafi-and-me-biographical.html]. There are six others with 100 to 199 hits , none of which are biographical. The former was no doubt popular because of the Great Japanese Earthquake of 2011 and deals with my first three days in Japan in 1965. The latter was popular because of the overthrow of the Libyan dictator Qadaffi.

Each piece I have written is like a child and I love them all, but it is common that some children are loved more than others. My personal favorites are Effectiveness Of Taxes [http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2010/05/effectiveness-of-taxes.html] with less than 100 hits and Basics of Bureaucracy [http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2011/07/basics-of-bureaucracy.html] with 114 hits. In the former, I point out why decreasing taxes on individuals is an inefficient way to stimulate the economy. I liked this so much that I refer to it in three other pieces. Alas the reading public did not agree as to its great value. In the latter that was written many years ago, I give some real rules of dealing with bureaucrats in a humorous fashion.

Let me give two Honorable Mentions. I wouldn't say this is a favorite of mine, but it can be important to some, i.e. Preferred Stock Investing with 131 hits [http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2011/11/preferred-stock-investing.html]. I have invested for about 60 years, but never got involved in preferred stocks until the last decade. I would also like to mention one poem Upon the Second Anniversary Of Apollo 11, the first landing on the Moon [http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2010/01/upon-second-anniversary-of-apollo-11.html]. Normally a couplet or more just pops into my mind and I construct a poem around it. The second anniversary of Apollo Eleven, however, was little noticed which I thought was terrible so this was the first time I sat down to compose a poem from scratch.