I keep telling people that the debt obligations of our country including all the big ones like Social Security, Medicare, Federal Deficit, State, County & Local pensions, etc. are more than all the wealth on the planet but even I was surprised when I saw the latest calculation. You see, some enterprising folks on Wall Street ran the numbers and the story was published yesterday. Instead of being the lead story for the whole week, it was on Drudge for a few hours and then was bumped to the recycle bin.
If you thought politicians spend like drunken sailors, I can assure you that the boys in Crackerjack Uniforms only spend their own money, not that of your great grandchildren, yet to be born.
Total potential debt for the U.S. by one all-encompassing measure is running close to 2,000% of GDP, according to an analysis that suggests danger but also cautions against reading too much into the level.
AB Bernstein came up with the calculation — 1,832%, to be exact — by including not only traditional levels of public debt like bonds but also financial debt and all its complexities as well as future obligations for so-called entitlement programs like Social Security, Medicare and public pensions.
Putting all that together paints a daunting picture but one that requires nuance to understand. Paramount is realizing that not all of the debt obligations are set in stone, and it’s important to know where the leeway is, particularly in the government programs that can be changed either by legislation or accounting.
Graphic from CNBC
The article then goes on to say that we shouldn’t worry because we can afford the payment on the credit card.
The key is not always gross dollar amount but rather ability to pay.
I hope Dave Ramsey blows a gasket when he reads this. I can picture him saying, “The borrower is the slave of the lender.”
Dave Ramsey–Card Cutter
“Globally, we have become over-reliant on borrowing as a solution for everything. Political excuses abound for why it doesn’t matter, which just clearly isn’t the case,” said Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a bipartisan committee of legislators, business leaders and economists that counts former Federal Reserve Chairs Paul Volcker and Janet Yellen among its members.
“We are quickly approaching a situation where we have dug ourselves a debt hole which is doing going to have profoundly negative effects on the economy for probably decades going forward,” MacGuineas added.
I corrected typo in the above quote–editor
The article concludes with this wishful thinking:
“First, you start having politicians level with voters instead of promising freebies. Second, you recognize that the time to do that is when your economy is strong,” she said. “When people were arguing for more borrowing they should have been doing the reverse. We’re still not in recession. It’s time to put in long-term strategies.”
who will pay the Reaper
Folks, we have hundreds of trillions of dollars in debt obligations and yet we go merrily along thinking as long as the sun rises that everything will be OK. Remember my opening, we owe more money than all the wealth created on the planet. Someday this merry-go-round of debt will stop and then who will pay the Reaper? The emperor has no clothes and as long as we all agree then everything is OK, right?
Elk Grove, CA Recently the City Council unanimously approved the 5G wireless installation and tower placement application from AT&T.
Members of the Elk Grove Tea Party ran a vigorous campaign to oppose progress by buying ads on Facebook and sending those newfangled email messages to the city’s leaders voicing their opposition. In addition, they spoke at several Council meetings during the public comment section of the meeting and then promptly went home to bed. Some even set their VCR’s to record the meeting on the community access channel to play at their next monthly meeting. Just because they lost the critical vote with the Council, they can’t let the issue go. Not when lives are at stake.
During this hearing, various speakers shared their concerns regarding potential negative health issues related to the installation of new wireless technology.
One of those speakers, Pamela Marquez, told the council that research regarding health impacts from small cell antennas is being ignored.
“The telecoms, the FCC and the city of Elk Grove continue to ignore research that clearly demonstrates we will be harmed by this 4G/5G technology,” she said. “The only real question is ‘Why?’ Is it ignorance, is it malevolence or is it just about the money? Whatever the reason, they clearly do not care about the health or the public.”
These cell antennas are sometimes 48” high by 14.6” in diameter. A better name for them is Close Proximity Microwave Radiation Antenna – Wireless Telecommunication Facilities (CPMRA-WTFs).
“My personal reason for doing this is I believe that humanity is threatened,” says Sandi Maurer,a member of the activist group EMF Safety Network, which lobbies to reduce people’s exposure to electromagnetic fields.
With the approval of 5G by the Federal Communications Commission and lacking any court precedent, the Tea Party is having difficulty making their case.
The health argument is hard to take to court because the FCC has sole discretion over whether the emissions of an electronic device are safe, a right unquestioned by any current court cases or pending federal legislation.
After consulting with their medical experts and despite knowing the hazards of 5G wireless, members of the Elk Grove Tea Party have devised an ingenious way to illustrate the danger to an ignorant general public. After extensive research they have released a set of instructions to build a 5G transmitter with common household items. Tea Party members are seeking volunteers to deploy 5G devices in their own homes.
We here at Really Right have received an advance copy of the plans which we would like to share with you. These plans are still being beta tested and may have further refinement before mass publication.
The following was secretly recorded at their last Executive Board meeting and released to one of our chief correspondents.
5G transmitters are described as being about the size of a pizza box. While warming some leftover pizza, that’s when the idea came to me.
After consulting with Steve, he used to be in the Air Force during the Vietnam War and knows all about radar, we decided to use a radar range (microwave oven to you youngsters) to mimic the long-term exposure to a 5G transmitter. 5G transmits at 40 watts while a typical microwave is about 1,000 watts. Using simple math, 1,000 divided by 40 is 25; thus, one hour of exposure to a microwave is equal to more than a day being near a 5G tower.
The radar range at our assisted living complex will only allow us to program up to 999 hours of cooking time. This works out to 24,975 hours of exposure to a 5G tower. Roughly, three years in no time at all. Heck, in a few months we can prove that 5G is bad and long before those greedy corporations even put up any towers in town.
So far, these are the instructions.
Place microwave in an area that you spend lots of time in like near your favorite chair by the TV. Place it on a low table so you won’t hurt your back while moving it into position. This also allows it to be lower than your hearing aids.
Remove the front door. This might void your warrant but remember that you are sacrificing for the children.
Remove door from microwave using drill or sawzall
It is important that the machine thinks the door is shut. You can break off the latch part of the door and shove it in the hole or place a non-conductive material in the hole to override the safety mechanism of the machine. If the light stays on, then you need to adjust the safety mechanism until the light goes out. Remember, microwaves don’t play well with metallic items. We tried screwdrivers and that didn’t go so well.
Bypass door safety using non-conductive item such as wood or plastic
Turn machine on high for 999 hours.
Now that you have started the experiment, you can take a nap in the chair.
As a bonus experiment, Janice suggested that you put a houseplant closer to the microwave as an early indicator that harmful affects are occurring. She prefers succulent plants due to their higher water content. Steve thought this was a good idea too.
irradiated succulent plant
Our national stop 5G organization has requested that we please send weekly updates so they can track our progress. Their website is www.hemlocksociety.org Look for the link on the left side for 5G self-reporting.
We here at Really Right have also learned that thanks to a generous award from Verizon to the Elk Grove Tea Party, the first five people to livestream the experiment simulating AT&T 5G will get free and safe 4G Wi-Fi for life.
Everyone seems to be playing fantasy football this year so I figured it better try my hand. Every team seems to have a theme like favorite players or something, so the troll had his own ideas. This team is likely to never ever get beat, we will explain later.
First we like to build our team like the Raiders or Cowboys, with no regard to morality. You see choir boys don’t win championships, and there is a direct correlation between arrests and winning!Repeat offenders are welcome, we have zero standards on this squad!
Here is the team:
Raider Troll
QB1 Ben Roethisberger: multiple women have accused him of rape, he was never found guilty. QB2 Jameis Winston: accused of rape in college, DA, US Atty, and local judge declined charges. Accused of sexual harassment in the NFL, again never charged. With that kind of elusiveness he is a great fit.
Houston Oiler Troll
RB1 Kareem Hunt: Punched 2 women, 1 in college 1 last year in the pros, we was the best RB in the league until he was suspended. RB2: Joe Mixon: Hit women in college, breaking her jaw. Imagine what kind of pain he can dole out to opposing defenses! RB3 Adrian Peterson: Beat his kid with a switch putting him in the hospital, sounds like a guy for us! RB4 Ezekiel Elliot: Look at his record, speaks for itself, I haven’t seen an Ezekiel do that much damage since the Old Testament! RB5 Le’veon Bell: Got DUI, told cops I didn’t know you could get one from drugs, then in court told the judge he still uses everyday. My kind of guy, strong back, weak mind.
49er Troll
WR1: Josh Gordon: We wrote about him in this space, major drug guy, criminal to boot. WR2: Tyreek Hill: Beat his girl 2 separate times, then had her lie to the police about it. He knows you need a fall guy this day and age. WR3 Antonio Brown: A late trade by us, threatened to beat up his teams GM, in addition to a litany of other character “flaws” a late steal. WR4 Desean Jackson: A major thug, but a needed veteran leader.
Redskin Troll
TE1 Aaron Hernandez: He is still alive, just chilling with Elvis and Tupac. Brings a killer instinct.
Bronco troll
Kicker: Carli Lloyd: Not a criminal but the team said she would be a delight to be around and a definite asset in the locker room.
Armed Chief Troll
This team will beat you on the field, in the parking lot and just to prove a point, beat your girl as well.
Obviously this is a troll blog, but it goes to show the amount of all-stars in the NFL who are very bad people. Let’s see how we do this year!
Greetings folks, I’m taking a break from food reviews as my sodium content has put me almost into “Johnnie Does the ER” levels. So we wanted to report on a conversation with the naïve we had over the past couple weeks with our old friend 90-Day Calendar Guy.
Here are the conversations and my commentary.
The Togo’s experience: So 90-Day Calendar Guy comes into the office and is raging like a great ball of fire, claiming “have you been to a Togo’s lately?” I responded, “negative.” Apparently, he was craving a hot pastrami so he went to Togo’s and was in stunned disbelief that the sandwich was $12. I’m assuming he ordered the large. He complained about how they had to “microwave” the meat and it was a long wait for the sandwich. He remarked, “Only 2 people were working and it was lunch time!” and again he lamented the price. So he said he only ate the meat and threw the sandwich away and walked off in disgust, writing a bad Yelp review to boot. All afternoon he remarked 8 years ago it was $6!
Johnnie Does: Here is the problem with this; he, like usual, overlooks reality as he lives in fantasy land. Where to start? Ok, first you cannot really have hot pastrami sitting in a bin as health department laws make it so you have to throw it out if it’s left out too long. Frankly I prefer them making it fresh as opposed to scooping it out of a vat. I’ve never heard anyone complain of them making it to order (i.e. fresh) but I guess it’s a 90-day thing where profit is above all else? In addition, I’m more grossed out by the extreme amount of grease in the bin they “cook” the pastrami in, but to each his own.
Now on to the comments about pricing and hired help, this sums up his true naïveté. In regard to price, maybe pay attention to the minimum wage…its $11 an hour here. In regard to hired help, well it makes no sense to have extra people standing around twiddling their thumbs at $11 an hour. Service may be a buzz word, but profit is the bottom line and you may need to sacrifice service to make a couple bucks more. The bad Yelp review? No one cares dude. You have already proven your Yelp reviews are pointless as you lit up Red Robin yet visited them again a week later. Get a clue dude!
Amazon is ripping off USPS: 90-Day Calendar Guy ordered something from Amazon.com and when it showed up, it was a pair of shorts inside a USPS bag, inside another USPS bag, inside another USPS bag, inside a USPS box. He said you cannot trust the government to do anything! Saying someone paid for these bags and the USPS lost money. He proudly proclaimed USPS is being ripped off by Amazon, and he told everyone within earshot. Imagine if this guy was a professor, what original thoughts he has.
Johnnie Does: USPS gets ripped off by everyone, it undercharges and over promises. Why do they deliver on Sundays for Amazon only? At a subsidized rate to boot? This has been going on for years, it’s not new. In addition, 90-Day Calendar Guy watches more TV in a week…oh, and cable TV to boot, than I consume in a month. My point being, of all the people that should know aboutPresident Trump calling this out 2 years ago, it should be you.
Yet you claim it’s an original idea? You claim to be a bigger Trump supporter than anyone, yet you miss something like this? Maybe it’s because Sean Hannity hasn’t reported on it yet. Trump has been calling out people/corporations ripping off the taxpayers for the longest time, just now you are catching on?
Sean Hannity & Donald Trump
In short, he has turned into a hot take machine, the world has passed him by but he is too scared to admit it. A hamburger used to cost $.25, but how much were the workers making? What was the cost of ingredients? I happen to enjoy Togo’s hot pastrami, but I haven’t had one in a while, too pricey, low quality. My advice…too bad it will never be heeded, cancel cable, go to reputable websites for news. Cable/TV is poison, it inhibits your ability to think clearly.
Johnnie Does
BTW we have exciting series about who has the best chicken sandwich coming soon, and we are officially reviewing the salsa bar Monday! That little minx better be ready.
Two stories caught my attention today that are different but related. The common thread is the decline of our country due to departing from the principles of our founding. The first story is from Fox News and I do take issue with the author, as I hope to explain below, and the other is thought provoking.
That question has been asked lately with respect to President Trump’s planned use of federal funds to construct 175 miles of sporadic barriers along portions of the nearly 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico common border.
After Congress expressly declined to give him that money, Trump signed into law – rather than vetoed – the legislation that denied him the funds he sought and then spent the money anyway.
The question regarding presidential power has also been asked with respect to Trump’s imposition of sales taxes – Trump calls them tariffs — on nearly all goods imported into the United States from China. These are taxes that only Congress can constitutionally authorize.
And the question of presidential power has been asked in connection with the presidentially ordered mistreatment of families seeking asylum in the United States by separating parents from children – in defiance of a court order.
This question of presidential power is not an academic one. Nor is it a question unique to the Trump presidency, as it has risen numerous times before Trump entered office. But the audacious manner of Trump’s employment of presidential powers has brought it to public scrutiny.
The Judge also goes on to mention the War Powers Act and other powers ceded to the President by Congress.
Signing of Declaration of Independence
Analysis and Commentary part 1
In principle, I agree with the Judge’s concerns. However, as the Judge also points out in his article, the government has been cut loose from its Constitutional moorings for about the last hundred years. We have flipped the Constitution from a national government of enumerated powers (government allowed to do only those things specifically mentioned in the Constitution) to one of virtually unlimited power where only those things specifically forbidden by the Constitution are not allowed.
The Judge also points out that “power abhors a vacuum” and “I have written before that the Republicans who rejoice in this will weep over it when a Democrat is in the White House.”
To which I respond, “Hey Judge, why in the heck do you think we hated eight years of Obama so much? He was using Executive Orders and government regulations for all sorts of illegal and immoral things.”
What I hope Trump will do is undo Obama’s Executive Orders—which he has been doing—and then, unlike Obama, get the Congress to codify his actions into law to put them beyond the ability of another President to undo by Executive Orders. Hence my hope for Trump’s reelection and Republicans to take back the House in 2020.
Folks, I hate the idea of Executive Orders, continuing budget resolutions, and judicial legislation. We have a severe case of all three because Congress will not do their Constitutional duty.
Frankly, I would be OK with Congress rescinding some of the extra Constitutional powers of the President, but only if they are will to do their job. Truthfully, I don’t have any confidence in either Party being willing to truly govern.
I think we are rapidly moving to rule by either an aristocracy or dictatorship. The viability of the two party system is coming to an end. Again, I assert that Trump will likely be the last Republican President ever. The Democrats have put their thumbs on the electoral scales to such an extent that a Republican winning a national election will be mathematically impossible any more. The Republican Party has run its course and will never be an effective political force in American history once Trump leaves office.
The story slug line sums it up “Bill Federer recounts eerie similarities between ancient city, modern America.”
Federer takes a survey of reasons that the Roman Empire fell and it sounds eerily like today’s news.
Roman Senate
The article dedicates several paragraphs to each of the following topics:
open borders
loss of common language
welfare state
violent, sensual entertainment and sex-trafficking
church withdrawal from involvement
birth control, planned parenthood and fewer children
immorality, infidelity and loss of virtue
class warfare
high taxes
out-sourcing
exploding debt and coinage debasement
deep state, establishment politicians
defense cuts and over-extended military
loss of patriotism
terrorist attacks
The article is long but for those that care, this is an ominous warning of what lies ahead. I implore you to read it in its entirety.
Analysis and Commentary part 2
Judge Napolitano raises three points to whack Trump: the border wall, tariffs, and immigration. I wish to respond briefly to all three.
Border Wall
Every elected official and military member in our country takes an oath that states in part “… I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic…” The core question is what do you do when your country is being invaded, your laws are being ignored and/or not enforced, and Congress refuses to do their job?The Judge rightly states “power abhors a vacuum” so if you are Commander and Chief, what do you do? Congress and the Judge would have Trump do nothing. Trump was elected on the promise to fix the problem and Congress won’t act because they want to deny Trump a political victory. Congress has chosen to break their oath for short-term partisan political reasons. Trump is acting because he feels that he needs to defend the country.
Border Wall
Tariffs
Tariffs used to be the backbone of funding the national government. It was the primary method of taxation that the founders wanted the national government to use. Once again the Judge is correct that tax policy should be set by Congress. However, there is another factor in the tariff controversy; namely, the defense of the country, which brings us back to the oath of office again. Congress has failed to protect our country from being at the mercy of other nations. This brings me back to the article from Federer.
Rome’s economy stagnated from a large trade deficit, as grain production was outsourced to North Africa.
Gerald Simons wrote in “Great Ages of Man – Barbarian Europe” (NY: Time-Life Books, 1968, p. 39): “As conquerors of North Africa, the Vandals cut off the Empire’s grain supply at will. This created critical food shortages, which in turn curtailed Roman counterattacks.”
For “grain” in the above quote, try substituting “manufacturing–including that required for national defense” and use “China” in place of “North Africa”. Here’s my rewrite:
America’s economy stagnated from a large trade deficit, as manufacturing–including that required for national defense–was outsourced to China.
“The Chinese could cut off America’s source of manufactured goods at will. This creates the potential for critical shortages, which in turn would curtail American’s response.”
Of all powers in the world, China is the largest nation that we potentially could go to war with, so how does it make sense to be wholly dependent on them for our way of life? Both Congress and previous Administrations have been OK with this dependence on foreign powers for our manufacturing and military technology. Without technology manufactured by both Russia and China, our military cannot operate. Without these two nations we have no Internet, communications, missiles, ships, tanks, guns, aircraft, absolutely nothing. We produce nothing and consume everything. This situation is nuts.
Chinese parts are used in all American weapon systems
Trump is trying to loosen the grip of China on our economy and national defense. Again, Congress is not keeping their oath of office and refusing to act in the best interest of our country. Once again, Congress offers no leadership on this issue.
Immigration
The statement by the Judge is just an outright lie. The Judge stated, “…the presidentially ordered mistreatment of families seeking asylum in the United States by separating parents from children – in defiance of a court order.”
Sorry Judge but the people in the detention facilities entered the country illegally. They could have filed for asylum in the United States without illegally entering our country. Those that enter by the front door don’t end-up in these places.
Second, no President purposely “orders the mistreatment of families”. Obama reversed the kids in cages thing that you knuckleheads keep wanting to crucify Trump for.
Oh, and a judge ordered it. So what? It’s not the judge’s job to make immigration policy or to enforce it. Many people crossing illegally are doing so with children not their own. That’s the problem with folks hopping the fence. You need to retroactively sort the bad apples from the harmless ones. Not everyone under 18 years of age is a saint, MS-13 anyone? Some adults have criminal histories and if they enter with children they will be separated. If they don’t like it then stay home.
MS-13 Criminal minors infiltrating American cities
This whole narrative is a bunch of crap. I won’t say it never, ever happened, but we are a good people and it’s not our practice to harm others—unless they’re unborn.
Conclusion
We all agree that the immigration system is broken, but again, Congress has failed to put forward a solution to fix it. Both Republicans and Democrats have simultaneously held the Presidency, House, and Senate and failed to pass a bill, thus in my mind, both parties are without excuse. Bottom line is some people would rather have the issue to campaign on than fix it. If you don’t like what Trump is doing—and like it or not, he’s the only one who is acting—then tell Congress to do their job and keep their oath of office.
I keep telling people that the Democrats are squandering their best chance to get things done that would be good for the country. Trump is willing to work with them but they are not. Whatever history says about Trump, it will not be singing the praises of Congress.
To close with another quote from Federer that sounds eerily like today:
The Roman emperor usurped so much power, that the Roman Senate, instead of ruling Rome and defending the rights of the people, existed only to maintain their own positions. Common people were discourage from getting involved in politics.
The Durants wrote in “The Lessons of History” (p. 92): “The educated and skilled pursued business and financial success to the neglect of their involvement in politics.”
We here at Really Right like Rush but don’t listen to him very often. (FYI to Liberals, we don’t get our marching orders from Rush despite your ridiculous notion that we can’t think for ourselves. We like Rush because he believes the way we do about many, but not all things.) This is one occasion where we disagree, at least in part.
Yesterday, Rush spent part of his show talking about the recent report of Apple phones being hacked just by visiting a website with no user intervention. Rush does not dispute that it happened but the where and why are interesting. I am quoting this extensively because most of Rush’s stuff ends-up behind a pay firewall.
Now, last week there was this massive news report. It went way beyond the tech blogs. It went into the Drive-By Media that iPhones been had been hacked en masse for the past number of years. The story was put out by something called Project Zero at Google. Google has a department, a team of people that try to hunt down and find — they’re white hat guys. They’re the good guys.
They try to find malware and hacks and vulnerabilities in computers and hand-held devices, mobile devices so that the people that manufacture those devices can patch the software and continue their security.
And they came out with a story that a massive vulnerability had been found in the iPhone. And that all you had to do was visit a website. It did not name the website. All you had to do was visit a website and virtually everything on your phone was in the hands of bad guys. Your passwords, your key chain, your credit card information, your contacts, your photos, everything. They didn’t tell you which websites, and they didn’t specify the specific years, but they made it sound like it was multiple years, and they made it sound like it only affected iPhones.
And when I first read this, ’cause I don’t believe anything in the media anymore. I just don’t, folks. And Google is a competitor of Apple. I’m not sure this was a factor here, but let me tell you what this ended up being.
It was the ChiComs. It was Chinese websites. And it was every phone. It was Samsung. It was Huawei, it was LG, it was every operating system, and it was the ChiComs targeting Chinese Muslims. You had to log onto a Chinese website for anybody to be able to get into your phone. They knew this, but they only reported it as an iPhone vulnerability, and they made it look like it could be any and every website that anybody would be using every day, and it’s strickly a Chinese issue.
It’s ChiComs trying to find everything they can on these renegade Muslims, the Uyghurs, and wipe ’em out, put ’em in reeducation camps and so forth. Now, this was known, but the Google Project Zero team did not report that aspect of it. Your phone is fine for the most part. The story was way exaggerated.
Rush makes several points, some of which we knew. The Apple vulnerability was discovered by a hacker group employed by Google. This was part of the original story. It is no surprise that China is behind the exploit or that the primary mission of the cyber operation was to go after Muslims in their country; however, I have yet to see a story corroborating Rush’s claim. Out of respect, I’m willing to grant that he is probably correct on this point.
Rush’s second point is weaker to me; namely, that Android phones were similarly hacked. Apple is the one claiming their superiority in security—mobile and PC, over any other operating systems—asserting that they are the best and most secure. It is this point, that they are not, that was the focus of the story. Rush thinks this is tech media bias against Apple, I disagree. Apple should abide by the old axiom of people in glass houses not throwing stones. Apple doesn’t admit to any OS flaws, bugs, or hacks until such issues are outed by third parties. It is their argument from silence that I disagree with. They are using circular reasoning to maintain this claim. Claim 1: Since Apple OS is secure, there are no bugs, hacks, or flaws. Claim 2: Since no bugs, hacks, or flaws exist, Apple OS is the most secure. Therefore Apple can maintain that they are the most secure OS as long as they admit nothing to the contrary.
FAANG is Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Google
That China spies on its own people is nothing new. They’ve been doing that since Mao. China and other nations use our electronic gizmos to gather data on us all the time, but to what end? I’m more concerned about the censorship on free speech in this country by the FAANG companies and MS than what other nation-states are doing with my address book and lackluster text messages. The secrets that I have are not in my phone.
A passerby on the street approached me saying, “You review food for that website…. I need to know who has better tacos, Burger King or Jack in the Box.” I have never been to either establishment, nor could I believe tacos would possibly be on the menu, so I declined. This person insisted, saying “the champ needs to weigh in!” I reluctantly agreed, I figured this person was the “chief blogger” since he looked homeless and who knows, maybe these tacos were like filet mignon, so off we went.
For comparisons sake, we went on separate days, on an empty stomach drinking nothing but water. Here is the review!
We will only be scoring the tacos here, as the ambiance frankly was god-awful. In all honesty, if you find yourself in the drive thru at either establishment; hopefully, you’re in the passenger seat under the influence of something, or if you find yourself inside, hopefully it’s just to find a bathroom. If neither of these apply; well, seek professional help ASAP.
The Burger King was up first. According to the nice young lady behind the counter, they just recently introduced these tacos. I had seen an ad for them on TV where they said they were similar to Los Angeles type tacos. Such a claim is bananas for a company headquartered in Miami to say but oh well. The taco was $1 so I ordered two figuring I wanted to get a decent taste. They actually were decent sized, and for a buck I could not complain. I waited about 8 minutes so they were definitely made fresh.
Burger King $1 Taco
It had real beef, likely from a burger patty, shredded melted cheese, hot sauce and some lettuce. The lettuce was very translucent and some was brown, so I picked it off. This was actually good, the hot sauce was a great touch, likely covering up lower quality beef, and the shell was deep fried–I’m sure with the meat inside.
Jack was up next.
The tacos at Jack are kind of a cult like offering, they have been around forever and are something Jack is known for. Unlike the King, Jack is headquartered in San Diego, CA. Jack offers up 2 tacos for $1.19 so it made the ordering easy. I didn’t wait long so it did come off that they were pre-cooked, frozen, or something.
Jack in the Box two for $1.19 tacos
They were very similar to the King, slightly smaller which is to be expected at a fraction of the cost. They contained an odd looking meat paste, lettuce, hot sauce, and a Kraft single slice of cheese. It was deep fried like the BK taco. It was comparable in taste to the BK taco, and the lettuce was fresh for sure.
The verdict: based on taste alone, without a doubt, the King takes this round. The lettuce was definitely not good, but it wins out fairly easy. Do yourself a favor next time you are stoned and have the munchies, find a few extra nickels in your pocket or under the seat cushion, hit up the King, you won’t be upset. Jack’s meat paste thing was just a major wtf.
BK wins taco smackdown
PS for those of you asking why I didn’t hit up a legit Mexican joint…we don’t do that here at Really Right, we march to our own drummer. But since you may want to know, Blog Father and I prefer Del Taco because it has Spanish actually in the name and the fare is very, very, tasty for a fast food joint. Taco Bell on the other hand, I don’t trust a Mexican Phone Company to make a good taco, so I wouldn’t know. Also, any Mexican place with “run” or “runs” in their slogan should probably be avoided.
Next up, Johnnie Does Urgent Care for high blood pressure.
We had an editorial board meeting here at Really Right last week when the news was dropping about Tesla rolling out their in-house auto insurance department. We agreed to let Aaron Park take the first crack at this one, since you know, he’s an insurance agent and all. Aaron didn’t act, so we feel we must report so the people can decide.
It was announce that Tesla has formed its own insurance company, drum roll please……….. Tesla Insurance. Oh, the millions I’m sure that were burned on that one. The consulting firm that came up with that name is one of pure genius. This new division offers insurance, but only to Tesla drivers in California, which is strange, this being, well… California. You see, California has the most diverse rating factors of all the states in the union outside of Michigan. This is very puzzling.
Tesla’s insurance license with the state of California lists the automaker as a property-broker agent and a casualty-broker agent. The documents show the license has been active since August 2017.
Like the auto industry, insurance is a low-margin business, as increased competition has made the costs of acquiring customers more expensive, Krzysztof Kujawa, the chief product officer at the insurance-shopping website Gabi, said. That means Tesla Insurance may not drive profits for a company that has posted losses in all but four quarters since going public in 2010.
Correct, Tesla is now: a dealer, a financer, and an insurance company all in one. Sounds like Elon is trying to mimic the Oracle of Omaha with this take on vertical marketing.
Berkshire Hathaway’s (NYSE: BRK-B) (NYSE: BRK-A) Warren Buffett argued in the company’s annual shareholder meeting earlier this year that Tesla’s decision to get into the insurance business could be a mistake. “It’s not an easy business,” he said. Buffett knows a thing or two about insurance. Not only is GEICO a Berkshire subsidiary, but Berkshire owns insurance companies that insure other insurance companies. “Our [insurance business] has been the engine propelling Berkshire’s growth since 1967,” Buffett wrote…
However, this arrangement raises a set of questions that Elon will never be able to answer, and even better I spoke to the California Department of Insurance and they couldn’t answer either. First off, Tesla has a unique reputation of blaming the driver, not the car for anything that goes wrong. They use their vehicle’s telemetry logs and recordings to back this up; as far as insuring the vehicle goes, do the claim reps have access to this or does an independent third party? Well, it won’t be a third party…so scratch that. That is disturbing. Is this a backdoor way to limit product liability? But like the Ronco Knife sales guy on QVC says…but wait there is more!
Tesla is making a bold claim that customers will save 20% over their current carrier but savings can be up to 30%!
“Starting today, we’re launching Tesla Insurance, a competitively priced insurance offering designed to provide Tesla owners with up to 20% lower rates, and in some cases as much as 30%,” the company said in a blog post.
“Tesla Insurance offers comprehensive coverage and claims management to support our customers in California, and it will expand to additional U.S. states in the future.”
I am not sure this is a great promise to put out there, as with most commercials you see on TV from other insurance carriers, such statements are heavily disclaimed at the bottom of the ad. It is a very bold claim to say you can reap that kind of savings from a company who only insures Tesla’s over larger carriers with far more exposures to mitigate their risk. This creates bad will with your vehicle owners not to mention distrust. In addition, how can you be so sure your price is that much better…. most companies offer a bundled discount with home and additional vehicles. I hope they did their research on this one, yet something tells me they didn’t.
Tesla’s capitalization structure should be called into question as well. For example, at my company: Auto/home/life/health/bank/mutual fund businesses are all separate and must have separate capital to prove solvency. This capital must be held in separate reserve accounts, and in the case of Tesla, the California Department of Insurance (CDI) will look at their books every year to prove compliance. Just to point out that pretty much every pundit in the field has major questions about Tesla’s finances. Given that the company is burning through cash, issuing additional stock, taking out high risk loans, and their only real source of income is selling climate credits, I think you have to ask the obvious question….
How will Tesla pay out claims? Remember, Tesla may have extensive info on their own cars, but what about the car their driver hits? What about injury accidents? Will Tesla only allow the vehicles to be repaired in-house, even though this violates CA insurance laws? Will they even fix claimant cars, or will they be like AAA and just say fix it yourself and send us the bill? Too many questions here for me.
Tesla owners have dealt with high insurance costs due in part to the relative difficulty of finding replacement parts and qualified body shops. AAA raised insurance rates for Tesla vehicles in 2017, though Tesla argued that AAA’s decision was “severely flawed” because it compared Tesla’s Model S sedan and Model X SUV against dissimilar competitors.
Tesla’s have long been a question mark for insurance companies, Business Insider Intelligence analysts say, due to their built-in sensors and Autopilot software. In 2017, AAA said that Tesla owners should pay more than traditional vehicles due to “abnormally high claim frequencies,” Automotive News reported in 2017.
I called the CDI about Tesla Insurance and they too were short on answers, like how they are capitalized, and their company structure (claims/underwriting/service/sales/special investigations etc.). Actually, more disappointing, a contact I have in this regulatory agency suggested Elon may have been able to put one by Ricardo Lara (the elected commissioner) because they are a “green friendly” company. Or maybe Lara owed Elon a favor after getting elected? Lara, like Aaron Park, has a policy of contributing to him first if you want an endorsement.
Final thought here, and likely the most disturbing, by the way. Look at the exposure Tesla has (there are not many) but look where their customers are all located (mostly coastal areas). What if a wildfire strikes that is similar to the magnitude of the one in Napa a few years ago? (Or the Oakland Hills fire many years ago) Such losses to a small company could be enough to wipe them out, and let’s not kid ourselves, Tesla’s are not cheap cars as referenced by their price.
