#1 I have just assumed that because gasoline is $3.47 per gallon in Columbia and $3.13 per gallon in Hallsville is because the President of the United States just really likes those folks in Hallsville!
#2 I am married to a marketing expert who would probably assist you in promoting your blog pro bono!
While I certainly enjoy your political posts, especially this year, when we are flailing towards another useless election; I love it when you take us on a journey about other things you are passionate about, i.e. music, travel, family :). But you've got me hooked regardless of what you write about :).
Dave, great perspective. 2 things: not that I love oil companies (but do invest in them, and energy ETFs) they did post record loses during the pandemic as well. So there is another part of that story. And like it or not, we need them to keep our county running.
The second thing is it is easy to nature how well a country of state is running by how many want to enter or exit. Many come this way, very few leave, however that is changing.
People are getting tired of living in CA because of taxes and what they do with the tax money. They are leaving in droves and I was one of them. I’m a resident of NV now.
On a national level, people are moving to Portugal and Spain. Some other European countries as well and Australia (very expensive). This is a new trend. Americans don’t see this as the best place any longer. My feeling is the DMC is picking up power each cycle and what they are doing with the tax funds is not in agreement any longer and people are tired of watching it erode.
Like you, I love America and what she stands for most of the time. I’m here to stay but the trends are what they are, it is alarming. Regards, Jim
Again, all very well stated. (One very minor correction: Colombia also sells gasoline by the gallon, but I have no idea why. Their current prices mirror that of ours.)
As for your question about growing readership, I wish I had the answer. I've been writing on Substack for perhaps a year and my readership hasn't grown much beyond the original mailing list I submitted. I've started posting on a site called Medium, which seems to have a very large reader base, and you can post for free. The free version limits you somewhat, especially if you see other writers that you'd like to read. Many articles are available only if you subscribe for $5 per month. That subscription does, however, give you the opportunity to post 'free' articles for everyone, but also post articles only available to other subscribers. You can also join groups that post work similar to yours. IF you want to get paid for your articles, you essentially set up an account, fill out tax forms, set up your financial institution for payment, etc., as if you were a paid contractor.
Is Medium worth it? I have no idea, but it does offer the possibility of remuneration and perhaps more growth.
David I look forward to reading your post. I really don't know how I found out about your post. One showed up in my inbox and since I have known your mother for over 30 years I opened it and have enjoyed an honest and balanced discussion of issues. On Facebook my comments have appeared pro Trump and I have of course been blasted. When in fact, I really don't like the guy but everyone's arguments are so bias and comments taken "out of contence" that I naturally take the other side to try and balance things out. I have always found your posts "balanced". You always have stated where your bias was and tried to present a balanced argument. And you have clearly stated your research and facts. I almost wished I had had you as one of my professors.
I believe I've mentioned before that my father was career Air Force and that I started school in Cardiff Wales UK. We lived in England for three years and before I was eight I had visited at least a half a dozen countries. Then of course I joined the Navy after college and was again given a chance to "live" overseas. I've seen first hand the "ugly American". I believe this came into being because of WWII. We do not realize how devastated Europe was by the war. It wasn't till the 1960's that we could really say they recovered from the war. That's 15 years. For those 15 years America was the only country that had anything. We won the war for everyone. If it wasn't for us Hitler would have been the supreme ruler. And we became like Trump. And as tourist traveling overseas we showed it.
In most things there is no right or wrong, just difference. Which side of the road you drive on isn't right or wrong, just different. When there wasn't any cars on the road, you didn't need to worry about it, but with more and more cars you had to chose which side for orderly traffic flow. As population increases, more conventions must be establish in order for us to live in relative harmony with each other. Everything is an "experiment". Simply put, how can we get 8 billion people to live in harmony, while providing a reasonable standard of living. Right now we don't have an answer. And to be honest, I'm not sure we ever will, at least not in my lifetime.
I find your blog insightful. After traveling the world, much of what you say is true. You can pick an American out of the mix international generally by their clothes and their noise. We are incredibly loud.
If you were to write about something next it would be interesting to read about the international impacts of the ongoing conflict between Iran and Israel. Some are saying it's the next world war, while I have read others are saying we have already started by proxies wars years ago.
The truth is that I feel less informed about international relations than any other sub field of Political Science. I took some courses in it (as required) and I try to follow folks such as Richard Haas and David Ignatius, observers I trust. But I just never feel confident that many of my views related to international relations are valid. That's the reason I'm always hesitant to comment on, for example, the situation with Iran and Israel.
I will say that we have fought proxy wars with Russia since that country was the Soviet Union. In fact, as an undergraduate I wrote a paper on Vietnam as such a war.
I sure wish I had some idea where all of this was heading. I'm not optimistic at this point.
#1 I have just assumed that because gasoline is $3.47 per gallon in Columbia and $3.13 per gallon in Hallsville is because the President of the United States just really likes those folks in Hallsville!
#2 I am married to a marketing expert who would probably assist you in promoting your blog pro bono!
While I certainly enjoy your political posts, especially this year, when we are flailing towards another useless election; I love it when you take us on a journey about other things you are passionate about, i.e. music, travel, family :). But you've got me hooked regardless of what you write about :).
Dave, great perspective. 2 things: not that I love oil companies (but do invest in them, and energy ETFs) they did post record loses during the pandemic as well. So there is another part of that story. And like it or not, we need them to keep our county running.
The second thing is it is easy to nature how well a country of state is running by how many want to enter or exit. Many come this way, very few leave, however that is changing.
People are getting tired of living in CA because of taxes and what they do with the tax money. They are leaving in droves and I was one of them. I’m a resident of NV now.
On a national level, people are moving to Portugal and Spain. Some other European countries as well and Australia (very expensive). This is a new trend. Americans don’t see this as the best place any longer. My feeling is the DMC is picking up power each cycle and what they are doing with the tax funds is not in agreement any longer and people are tired of watching it erode.
Like you, I love America and what she stands for most of the time. I’m here to stay but the trends are what they are, it is alarming. Regards, Jim
All are valid points, Jimi. Thank you!
Again, all very well stated. (One very minor correction: Colombia also sells gasoline by the gallon, but I have no idea why. Their current prices mirror that of ours.)
As for your question about growing readership, I wish I had the answer. I've been writing on Substack for perhaps a year and my readership hasn't grown much beyond the original mailing list I submitted. I've started posting on a site called Medium, which seems to have a very large reader base, and you can post for free. The free version limits you somewhat, especially if you see other writers that you'd like to read. Many articles are available only if you subscribe for $5 per month. That subscription does, however, give you the opportunity to post 'free' articles for everyone, but also post articles only available to other subscribers. You can also join groups that post work similar to yours. IF you want to get paid for your articles, you essentially set up an account, fill out tax forms, set up your financial institution for payment, etc., as if you were a paid contractor.
Is Medium worth it? I have no idea, but it does offer the possibility of remuneration and perhaps more growth.
Thanks so much, Charles. Keep writing because I always enjoy your posts!
David
David I look forward to reading your post. I really don't know how I found out about your post. One showed up in my inbox and since I have known your mother for over 30 years I opened it and have enjoyed an honest and balanced discussion of issues. On Facebook my comments have appeared pro Trump and I have of course been blasted. When in fact, I really don't like the guy but everyone's arguments are so bias and comments taken "out of contence" that I naturally take the other side to try and balance things out. I have always found your posts "balanced". You always have stated where your bias was and tried to present a balanced argument. And you have clearly stated your research and facts. I almost wished I had had you as one of my professors.
I believe I've mentioned before that my father was career Air Force and that I started school in Cardiff Wales UK. We lived in England for three years and before I was eight I had visited at least a half a dozen countries. Then of course I joined the Navy after college and was again given a chance to "live" overseas. I've seen first hand the "ugly American". I believe this came into being because of WWII. We do not realize how devastated Europe was by the war. It wasn't till the 1960's that we could really say they recovered from the war. That's 15 years. For those 15 years America was the only country that had anything. We won the war for everyone. If it wasn't for us Hitler would have been the supreme ruler. And we became like Trump. And as tourist traveling overseas we showed it.
In most things there is no right or wrong, just difference. Which side of the road you drive on isn't right or wrong, just different. When there wasn't any cars on the road, you didn't need to worry about it, but with more and more cars you had to chose which side for orderly traffic flow. As population increases, more conventions must be establish in order for us to live in relative harmony with each other. Everything is an "experiment". Simply put, how can we get 8 billion people to live in harmony, while providing a reasonable standard of living. Right now we don't have an answer. And to be honest, I'm not sure we ever will, at least not in my lifetime.
I find your blog insightful. After traveling the world, much of what you say is true. You can pick an American out of the mix international generally by their clothes and their noise. We are incredibly loud.
If you were to write about something next it would be interesting to read about the international impacts of the ongoing conflict between Iran and Israel. Some are saying it's the next world war, while I have read others are saying we have already started by proxies wars years ago.
Thank you, Rachel. I appreciate your support.
The truth is that I feel less informed about international relations than any other sub field of Political Science. I took some courses in it (as required) and I try to follow folks such as Richard Haas and David Ignatius, observers I trust. But I just never feel confident that many of my views related to international relations are valid. That's the reason I'm always hesitant to comment on, for example, the situation with Iran and Israel.
I will say that we have fought proxy wars with Russia since that country was the Soviet Union. In fact, as an undergraduate I wrote a paper on Vietnam as such a war.
I sure wish I had some idea where all of this was heading. I'm not optimistic at this point.