QUICK TAKES

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The recent submersible tragedy is a tribute to poor planning and greed. When the Titanic sank it was a shock because the Titanic was double-hulled meaning it had two barriers to repel sea water. What the Titanic designers failed to consider was that once the outer hull was breached the inner hull became filled with sea water thereby weighting the ship down. It was a design flaw to say the least–but those designers had a plan. Unfortunately we can’t say the same for the submersible. There was no “Plan B”. They had no way to rescue that craft…o second submersible, no emergency inflatable device, no way of reaching the Titanic depth when things went terribly wrong. This whole episode could have been avoided but the contingency of failure was never considered–even with all the warnings before it happened.

Paul Householder, Ohio Speaker of the House, was convicted of bribery and sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment this month. To us this is just another case of the GOP over-reach. From Trump to Bannon to Flynn to Navarro to Stone, etc–and on it goes, the Republican Party shows desperate signs of fear of relevancy. Having lost the popular vote in the vast majority of all elections over the last 20 years they now realize that losing touch with the average voter profile is fatal to any GOP candidate. So they cheat by gerrymandering, voting law changes, using GOP-appointed judges to favor their cause and any other means available.

We hear the GOP hound Hunter Biden for his Ukraine ties, tax problems and now Marjorie Taylor Greene is showing nude photos of a drugged Biden–all efforts to reflect on Joe Biden. Think about it…Hunter Biden isn’t running for any office–he isn’t a politician. But the GOP thinks that by destroying a recovering drug addict it can somehow improve the Republican image. How reprehensible can things get!!! BTW, what ever happened to that $2 billion that Jared Kushner received from Putin? No one seems to care–especially the GOP.

If you still find yourself on the fence about climate change consider this. Two major insurance companies have now withdrawn from the Florida casualty market. The Farmer’s Group and now AAA will now severely restrict their damage exposure because of the tremendous losses incurred in that state. Ask yourself: what if that trend spreads and you can’t find homeowners or auto insurance? Insurance companies earn profits from two sources: (1) excess premium over claims and admin costs–this is called “underwriting gains”, and (2) return on invested premiums. When these two sources consistently show net losses shareholders demand action. The Florida market action may be just the beginning.

The ludicrous GOP statement of the day is something to the effect that slaves in mid 19th century America should be grateful to their white owners because they picked up skills as slaves that benefitted them later in life. Do we really need to say how incredibly wrong that statement is? That’s kinda like being thrilled when someone beating you over the head with a baseball bat stops and you become appreciative because now you’ve learned something–that a baseball bat can hurt you. Is this statement designed to make the “red states” in the South feel better about their past? Add it to the pile of “you know what”.