A NEW YEAR…A NEW BEGINNING (HOPEFULLY)

We, at anothersview.com, welcome back all our faithful readers and we hope many more to come. The year 2025 was a difficult year for the average American citizen. We watched as America’s leadership faltered repeatedly to accomplish goals consistent with our national purpose. We saw the imposition of world-wide tariffs–the largest tax increase in our history. We saw our president violate the US Constitution he promised to “preserve, protect and defend” on January 20th. He abandoned all of his campaign promises like promising affordability, keeping us out of foreign wars, deporting only the “worst of the worst” immigrants, insuring domestic tranquility (by assigning ICE and the National Guard to “blue states only’), and so on. Even the weather turned on us. Wildfires due to drought conditions, followed by atmospheric rivers that caused landslides, plus the usual mixture of hurricanes and tornadoes plagued all parts of the country. But that’s all behind us now and we look forward to a new and positive beginning in 2026. We can’t control weather but the upcoming elections provide us with the opportunity to flush the GOP members from Congress, impeach Donald Trump and begin the re-building process. So, take a deep breath and let yourself smile at the prospect of a huge national recovery.

LEADING OFF WITH A BIT OF LEVITY

Enjoy a moment of lightness as you fli the pages of January.

• THIS YEAR I RESOLVE TO BE LESS AWESOME…SINCE THAT’S REALLY THE ONLY THING I DO TO EXCESS.
• MY NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION IS TO DO MORE READING SO I TURNED ON THE SUBTITLES ON MY TV.
• I WAS GOING TO QUIT ALL MY BAD HABITS FOR THE NEW YEAR BUT THEN I REMEMBERED THAT NOBODY LIKES A QUITTER.
• I MADE A NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION TO DRINK MORE WATER BUT SO FAR I’VE ONLY GOTTEN TO “DRINK MORE”.
• THIS YEAR I’M RESOLVED TO LEAD A BETTER LIFE. NOW ALL I HAVE TO DO IS FIND SOMEONE WHO WILL TRADE LIVES WITH ME.
• THIS YEAR’S RESOLUTION IS A GUARANTEED “KEEPER”. NO DIETING ALL YEAR LONG.
• AN OPTIMIST STAYS UP ALL NIGHT TO SEE THE NEW YEAR IN. A PESSIMIST STAYS UP TO MAKE SURE THE OLD YEAR LEAVES.
• A WOMAN TOOK AN AFTERNOON NAP ON NEW YEAR’S EVE. WHEN SHE WOKE UP, SHE TOLD HER HUSBAND “I JUST DREAMED THAT YOU GAVE ME A DIAMOND RING FOR A NEW YEAR’S PRESENT. WHAT DO YOU THINK IT MEANS?” HE REPLIED “AHA, YOU’LL KNOW TONIGHT!” AT MIDNIGHT HER HUSBAND HANDED HER A SMALL GIFT-WRAPPED PRESENT. EXCITED, SHE OPENED IT QUICKLY, BUT THEN WAS EVEN MORE SURPRISED. IN IT WAS A BOOK ENTITLED “THE MEANING OF DREAMS”.
• A MAN WHO HAD TOO MUCH TO DRINK DECIDES TO WALK HOME ON NEW YEAR’S EVE. A POLICEMAN STOPPED THE MAN AND ASKED WHERE HE WAS GOING. “I’M ON MY WAY TO A LECTURE’ THE MAN REPLIED. THE COP SCOFFED AND AND SAID “WHO GIVES A LECTURE ON NEW YEAR’S EVE?” THE MAN ANSWERED “MY WIFE”
• I CALLED IN SICK FROM MY JOB ON NEW YEAR’S EVE. WHEN I CAME BACK MY MANAGER YELLED AT ME FOR MISSING WORK. I TOLD HIM HE WAS WRONG. I DIDN’T MISS IT AT ALL.

And if that ray of sunshine didn’t lift your spirits, remember the old Latin saying

“ILLEGITAMINI NON CARBORUNDUM” meaning “DON’T LET THE BASTARDS GRIND YOU DOWN”.

AN EPSTEIN UPDATE WITH COMMENTS

Since our last observations the plot has thickened considerably. Millions of more documents have been found–apparently Kash Patel, Pam Bondi and her stable of inept lawyers couldn’t/wouldn’t find all this new info until Congress demanded a 100% release by December 19th. The DOJ is violating the deadline passed by all but one member of Congress–totally bi-partisan. And no one seems to know how to bring them to act legally. Is no one above the law? So as we go to press, Bondi, Blanche and Patel are delaying the release of mountains of info that could clear or convict our president of being a child sex predator. If you were the president and knew you were innocent of crimes on the eve of mid-term elections that could cost your party its majority in Congress and get you impeached–WOULDN’T YOU INSIST THAT ALL DOCS BE RELEASED IMMEDIATELY? This president hides, delays, distracts and seems to confirm that he desperately wants to prevent any release of unredacted files. DRAW YOUR OWN CONCLUSION.

FOREIGN POLICY DISTRACTIONS

Trump’s foreign policy moves have several purposes–depending on which country he picks on. From Ukraine, he wants to share rare earth minerals with Putin and he uses our potential tomahawk missiles as Putin’s incentive for not prolonging the war. From, Greenland, he wants a northern route for Russia to use when transporting Russian-made goods to Asia and he wants control of the rare earth minerals in Greenland which has the 8th largest such reserves on the planet. From Venezuela, he wants to access the 303 billion barrels of oil (#1 on the planet in oil reserves) so he can repay the oil industry executives who became his mega donors in 2024. The seizing of oil tankers is just another way to exert power. We believe he accidentally commandeered a ship flying a Russian flag. OOPS! Soon you’ll see an apology and some lame excuse for releasing that ship. His comments about Colombia and Cuba will show his bigger picture of dominating the western hemisphere. BUT–MAKE NO MISTAKE ABOUT IT–ALL THESE OUTRAGEOUS MOVES HAVE ONE COMMON DENOMINATOR….TO MAKE US FORGET THE EPSTEIN FILES. Trump is willing to kill any number of people and interfere in any country on earth if it delays the Epstein reveal. LET’S NOT FORGET. MAYBE SOMEONE WILL FIND A WAY TO IMPEACH PAM BONDI WHO HAS SWORN UNDER OATH TO DEFEND OUR LAWS–AND THEN SHE IGNORED THE EPSTEIN FILE RELEASE DEADLINE LAW. CAN GUILT BE ANY CLEARER?

ATTENTION: GRAMMAR POLICE

Ok, we’ll probably offend every reader with these comments but it must be said anyway. The English language is a living language and as such it can change expressions, the meaning of words and even the voice inflection applied to everyday conversation. But when professional public speakers who are paid very well start to dismantle the basics–someone needs to hold up their hand and say “ENOUGH”. EXAMPLES: (1) the plural is never used as in “there’s a lot of reasons…” (2) the comparative case is ignored as in “this is a more easy golf course than last week’s” (3) fear of the word “me” as in “For you or I it would be…”(4) collective nouns are butchered on every media broadcast as in “the crowd are restless” (5) the mispronunciation of “the”–the commonly used word in our language. “The” is pronounced “thuh” when ever the next word begins with a consonant as in “the best way”; but it is pronounced “thee” when the next word begins with a vowel as in “the island was deserted” Try it, you’ll see that it’s much easier. . These are just some of the “grammarisms” that will change our communication pattern. Keep in mind that we don’t expect daily conversation between friends to sound like Shakespeare but simple efforts to speak the language you learned in grade school will assure that we can relay ideas to each other verbally and accurately. Otherwise this is what you’re bound to hear on some newscast ” THERE’S A LOT OF REASONS WHY THIS GOLF COURSE IS MORE EASY THAN LAST WEEK’S COURSE. FOR YOU OR I IT WAS MORE TRICKY. OUR TEAM ARE TRYING TO COPE WITH THE COURSE. THUH EAGLES ARE HARD TO MAKE ON A MORE TRICKY COURSE’. THEE FINAL SCORE WILL TELL IT ALL. Butchered, huh?

MEDICAL PLAN COST GROWTH CAUSES & REMEDIES

During our last posting we indicated that we would address the ways in which medical plan cost increases could be minimized. So let’s start where we left off then. We cause 80% of all medical expenses by living very unhealthy lifestyles. So when we address costs, we must look in the mirror and blame the image we see. Obesity, smoking, drugs and alcohol, dangerous hobbies, proliferation of guns–all these and more create a huge demand for health care. It is estimated that by 2035 obesity alone will cost $4 trillion dollars in free world countries. The first step to controlling medical costs is to change our habits. But from an employer’s viewpoint medical plans have two paths to controlling cost growth. They are cost transfer and cost avoidance. Cost transfer involves shifting medical expenses to the employee or to other insurance companies (Coordination of Benefits). Cost avoidance involves heading off the expense or minimizing it as or before it happens. Every company looks for ways to apply each method with varying degrees of success. But–despite all their efforts—costs still grow at a rate roughly equal to three times the rate of inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index. Your blog editor worked in this field for many years and was successful in reducing his employer’s cost growth cycle thereby saving millions of dollars. Space will not permit additional comments today but–stay tuned for the next posting in about a week for more ideas of how these two strategies can work together to protect the plan from eventual elimination.

TRUMP SELF-ENRICHMENT STRATEGY & BRIBING CITIZENS

By now, every rational voter knows that Trump is selling the presidency with crypto, bibles, sneakers, trading cards, and other embarrassing trinkets. But what you may not realize is how he’s re-paying his mega donors with stock manipulation. As Trump adds or subtracts tariffs he changes the fortunes of specific sectors in the economy. Sometimes he even favors specific companies by name. As Wall Street watches and reacts, his mega donors place their investment bets accordingly. He might even get a “finders fee” for his efforts. Stealing Venezuelan oil will directly benefit the oil industry executives who funded his 2024 campaign. Never mind the 130 people who died on the fishing boats to distract us to thinking drugs were the issue. They’re just collateral damage.

As for the bribing, the $2,000 “tariff dividend” you were promised turns out to be a farce. First, it was a check to everyone. Then Scott Bessent, Secretary of the Treasury, called it a tax refund. Then Trump announced he needed Congressional approval to do it. He didn’t ask about Congressional approval when he attacked Iran, kidnapped Maduro from Venezuela, imposed tariffs or violated due process, Recently Trump indicated that your income tax refund would be the source for your $2,000 dividend. Apparently, Trump doesn’t realize that a tax refund is the amount you overpaid as withholding on your paycheck. In other words, he’s hoping that his base is so stupid they won’t realize they’re just getting their own money back. But giving money away stopped him cold and provided him with an “out”. Soon you’ll hear him say “I wanted to do it but they preferred to apply it to the National Debt”. What a joke.

QUICKIES…

• As Trump’s policies destroy farmers he has offered a $12 billion bailout. This money is a very small fraction of what farmers are losing by his overall farm policy. The loss of soybean sales to China was the death blow to many. Coincidentally, Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent sold his soybean interests just in time.
• Again, as a result of disastrous policies, the Big Beautiful Bill deprives millions of people of their Medicaid and ObamaCare subsidies. A major consequence is the loss of hospital revenue causing many rural hospitals to reduce or curtail their activities. So Trump is now offering millions of dollars to each state to supplement that loss. The problem is that many people in those communities still won’t have medical plan coverage through Medicaid or ObamaCare and so won’t be able to pay for services they need from those facilities. He just doesn’t understand the basics and so we suffer another misstep for millions of Americans–and the hospital industry.
• Elon Musk was awarded the first trillion dollar compensation package. Tesla sales promptly decreased 28%. If you see the Trump plan to block electric vehicles by allowing the tax credit to expire and you compare Tesla prices to other EV’s it’s easy to see that Musk is in seriously deep water. Next time we’ll compare Tesla to his Rivian rivals so you can see how Tesla’s future looks.
• Trump was planning the tariff push to increase domestic manufacturing. As expected, that segment of our economy has suffered 11 straight months of decline. Manufacturing is now less than 10% of the US economy. What has increased is unemployment, inflation and job loss claims.
• Anyone who lets his kids listen to Kendrick Lamar recordings is failing their parental duties. His “Not Like Us” piece is full of filthy words, the “N” word and derogatory remarks. He was a Grammy winner last year and his aforementioned recording was “Song of the Year”. That is a sad reflection on the quality of “music” that our generation values. Please listen to the words and ask yourself “would my kids be willing to read the lyrics to me aloud?”

ECONOMY 101

This is a big picture observation. Our economy has taken a huge hit on purchasing power. Consider this: the loss of Medicaid and ObamaCare subsidies amounts to draining nearly a trillion dollars from the pockets of our consuming public. When we add the dollar amount of student debt repayment–money also taken from consumer’s pockets–we add another $22 billion. Heaped on top of that is a growing inflation rate and unemployment growth. Holiday sales numbers have not yet been reported as of this posting–but we think those numbers (unless Trump fudges the info) will show very little increase over last year and maybe even a slight decrease. As hospitals, manufacturers, and service industries lose revenue and layoffs (some caused by Artificial Intelligence) it becomes obvious that our economic stability is being eroded by Trump policies, financial band-aid fixes that don’t work and simple greed. Let’s hope all we have is a recession.

NEXT TIME: AN EPSTEIN UPATE, HOW TO CONTROL MEDICAL PLAN COSTS, A MESSAGE TO FOREIGN COUNTRY CITIZENS AND OTHER OBSERVATIONS ON CURRENT EVENTS. THANK YOU FOR MAKING US PART OF YOUR BUDGETED TIME.