If you live anywhere in the the FERN storm zone you are home today, Sunday, January 25, 2026. So we thought we’d pass along this edition of www.anothersview.com while you have time to surf the net. We’ll fulfill the promises we made in our previous postings and add a few more observations.
PHILOSOPHY & RELIGION: THE PERFECT PERSPECTIVE
For thousands of years philosophers have tried to explain the most basic existence facts. Aristotle, Socrates, Plato and every philosopher since have tried to describe “existence”, where and how the human race started, what happens when we die, etc. They’ve all failed. Spoiler alert: we don’t have the answer either. But maybe–in the grand scheme of things–that’s the way it should be. Maybe those answers aren’t important. Maybe they just distract us from the real meaning of life. We suggest that living among other fellow human beings is the essence of existence. Whoa–too deep? Well, think about it. We live in a world with over 8 billion others and, instead of relating to their life trials and tribulations, we worry about philosophical answers. Maybe–just maybe–the people around us should be the focal point. In a huge city, think New York or Chicago, hordes of people are all around us every day and they seem to fade into obscurity because there are so many. But, imagine yourself on a deserted island and you see footprints in the sand–like in the novel Robinson Crusoe. Remember how overjoyed Crusoe was when he discovered he was not alone. Now, imagine how different the world would be if we all reacted to all the people we encounter like Crusoe did. Imagine the joy, respect, concern for welfare, etc. Isn’t that what all religions preach? Love of fellow man, you are your brother’s keeper, etc. So we conclude that philosophers may have guided us down the wrong path. They wanted to dissect the basics of life when actually life is the point of existence. How we make the journey is as important as reaching our destination. In fact, how we live determines our destination–if you are of a religious attitude. A philosopher will analyze why chocolate tastes good; but maybe just enjoying it is the real message.
THE LATEST ON THE TRUMP CIRCUS
- Greenland; we predicted that Trump would do a TACO (Trump always chickens out) on the Greenland push. He now says he has the concept of a framework of a deal with the Secretary General of NATO, Mark Rutte. The most glaring error is that Denmark and Greenland were not part of that discussion. This is like the Trump-Putin peace talks over Ukraine without Zelenskyy. Secondly, details are totally lacking except that Trump got indefinite access to adding more US military presence. He had that already so the big flap of taking over Greenland by any means necessary was totally unnecessary. Again, our president makes a fool of himself. He did succeed in embarrassing himself, his supporters and the US with a rambling non-sensical speech at the NATO conference. He’s already taken back several of his “loose cannon” statements. You won’t be hearing “Greenland” again.
- Canada struck a deal with China to buy millions of dollars of Chinese electric vehicles. Trump didn’t like that so he’s decided to punish Americans with a 100% tariff on all Canadian imports. We import about $413 billion worth of trade from Canada annually. So all of those imported products will essentially double in price. That’s how your president exacts revenge against China–by doubling your cost on $413 billion of Canadian goods. Makes sense? Further detail: Tesla sales in Canada dropped 60% in the last quarter. Canada is clearly replacing the Tesla product with Chinese imported EV’s. (Check our January 18th blog posting for a comparison of price and range between Tesla and BYD-Chinese models.)
- The greed grab continues. Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law has laid out a resort development on what is now called “The Gaza Strip”. He is actively promoting a Riviera-type settlement on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea. The only problem is that millions of Palestinians call that small plot “home”. Quietly, Trump is working with his Saudi friends to re-settle the Palestinian people to another arid region somewhere in the Sahara. After all, one desert is as good as another–right? Now we know why Trump is standing by Benjamin Netanyahu as he continues to bomb Gaza. Israel is simply clearing the land–and killing some of its people so Kushner can more easily make Mar-A-Lago East a reality.
ELECTION MANEUVERING
Mid-term election campaigning is about to begin and the “you-know-what” is about to hit the fan. First let’s consider the GOP disaster. As background, several off-year elections have been held this year. In all but one, the Dems have easily prevailed. And the one they lost showed a clear swing of votes towards the Dems. Secondly, every GOP town hall has been a near riot. Shouting, demonstrations, ugly signs, etc. had convinced GOP Speaker Mike Johnson to advise all his colleagues NOT to do townhalls. And now we have polls showing a huge downturn in Trump support. So, imagine you’re one of hundreds of GOP candidates up for re-election. In your Primary election you will have difficulty defending what Trump has done and you will suffer from his growing unpopularity. But your opponent has no such allegiance. He/she can refute and state their positions without needing to be a Trumper. How many incumbents will lose to in their Primary–because of Trump? Now let’s take that scenario to the November General election. Many GOP candidates who win their Primary will not have the luxury of incumbency and they will be facing a Dem who opposes Trump. This will clearly cost the GOP control of the Congress and result in a Trump impeachment. Beyond that event, Congress will exert the real power in 2027 and 2028. Always remember, the super wealthy votes are far fewer than everybody else’s votes. If election rigging or takeover is prevented, the Dems will represent us going forward.
THE MINNEAPOLIS TRAGEDY
Trump has turned the ICE agents loose on the civilian population in Minneapolis to provoke violence. If the crowd or any individuals in the crowds commit an act of violence, Trump will invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807 and declare martial law. On the pretext of voter safety, he will attempt to cancel the General Election. He knows that the Dems will overwhelm Congress in November and he will be targeted for impeachment. His only strategy is to avoid the General election and he has hinted at that recently many times. The 2 American citizens that were gunned down in Minneapolis this month shows that collateral damage is acceptable to Trump as his desperation grows. Our guess is that he’s offered a bonus to the ICE leaders if they are successful in inciting violence. Look for more murders and manhandling of citizens as the general election nears. And if Minneapolis doesn’t produce violence, he’ll spread the ICE sword to other blue cities. He knows that he may need to defend martial law under the Insurrection Act in the US Supreme Court and he wants to provide ample proof that voter safety is at risk. This chaos is what YOUR TARIFF money is buying. ICE is the largest police force on the planet.
MISLEADING HEADLINES
Lately we’ve noticed that Gannett and other media sources are avoiding the blaming of the Trump administration for negative news. Think of it as tiptoeing through a mine field. Here are 3 examples:
- Jim Beam bourbon sales are way down. Rather than blame Trump’s tariffs (even before the new 100% tariff), a recent USA Today story indicated that the cause was a combination of a change in consumer habits and the availability of marijuana on an easy access basis. Beam has “paused” production at its biggest plant as inventories of unsold bourbon sit unsold in warehouses. The truth, of course, is that Canadian alcohol sales and distribution companies have posted “do not buy American” signs everywhere. Thanks Donald–you did it again. How do you think the Canadians will react to the new 100% tariff?
- Another recent headline addressed the hiring prospects of new college graduates. In a nutshell, it said their prospects were NOT GOOD. The only hiring sectors were health care and construction and these areas–according to the article–do not usually hire college grads. The untold message is: the manufacturing jobs are not happening at any level. And, the other sectors–including the small business zone–is reluctant to add any unit of labor in an economy distorted by incompetence, corruption and uncertainty.
- The Pentagon has announced that it is withdrawing a major portion of its support for South Korea. The current Administration believes it’s time for the South Koreans to fend for themselves. Of course, this will have disastrous results. China has always allied itself with North Korea and the current dictator regime in North Korea will attempt to take South Korea–just like we attempted to take Greenland and Putin is attempting to take Ukraine–do you see a pattern? Never mind that in 1949-1952 American military fought and many died to keep South Korea from the Communists in the North. And forget we have maintained a 30,000 soldier contingent in South Korea since that time as part of our commitment to the South Koreans. This is a new day. And Trump is willing to abandon our Far East allies if he can get something in return. Stay tuned to this–he’ll spill the beans on his devious plans as he floats some contrived story to explain his withdrawal from the South Koreans.
- The CEO of the Oklahoma Hospital Association was interviewed recently about rural hospitals in Oklahoma eliminating services or shutting down completely. He indicated that the loss of Medicaid dollars under the Big Beautiful Bill would cost his state’s hospitals billions of dollars. The Trump remedy, a bill to compensate those hospitals, will provide $223 million. His opinion is that amount is no where near enough. The Trump bill provides 1/7th of the lost Medicaid revenue. But the rest of the story is: even if the Trump money was adequate, no one would have Medicaid eligibility under the BBB and so would not be admitted to the Oklahoma hospitals. If they aren’t eligible for Medicaid THEY HAVE NO COVERAGE. So, bottom line, you might have a partial service hospital with 25% fewer eligible patients.
HOW TO SAVE EMPLOYEE BENEFIT COSTS
We mentioned a posting on the way companies could save benefit costs as we try to compete on the world stage with foreign companies that have a lower standard and cost of living than we in America have. Let’s explore:
- MEDICAL PLANS- bid out your medical plans at least every 4-5 years. Require employees to contribute based on their health status, as we suggested in the previous posting. Design plans that match the demographics of your employees so that the benefit dollars spent are more efficient. Reward employees for improving their health habits.
- DENTAL PLANS-preventive care has been proven as an effective cost control measure so REQUIRE all dental plan participants to have routine exams and cleanings in order to receive full plan benefits for more extensive work.
- DISABILITY PLANS-have employees pay the full cost of a long term disability plan so that benefits will be tax-free when/if received.
- PENSION PLANS-for all traditional defined benefit pension plans, monitor the funded ratio. This is the number reported by your actuary annually with the Valuation Report. To evaluate it from a business viewpoint use the following calculation: MARKET VALUE OF TRUST FUND ASSETS divided by ANNUAL PLAN PAYOUT (benefits and expenses paid) = YEARS IN RESERVE. If you have 15 or more YEARS IN RESERVE and no major business changes planned in employee headcount, debate any employer contribution suggested by the actuary. The YEARS IN RESERVE number says that–even if your trust fund doesn’t grow at all–this is the number of years you could fulfill pension promises to retirees. Think of it as a barometer on the financial strength of your plan and don’t let the actuary promote 100% funding–especially if you have use of the funds in other business matters. Remember, the best guarantee that your company will keep all of its pension promises is the continued existence of your company. Don’t dump funds into a pension trust unnecessarily if you have a business need for those funds elsewhere.
- NEXT TIME: PARTNER WITH YOUR EMPLOYEES FOR EVEN MORE SAVINGS
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