Attitude Adjustment

Comments (Archived):

1. If you don’t reevaluate your life, your values, how you work, what your government should be for us, the qualifications of elected officials and the absolute need to rethink our health care system, this pain would be ill used.

   1. .Does it take a pandemic to trigger that?Do smart people do those things constantly? I tend to think that is the case.While one may not like the failed outcome, it is hard to suggest that the Obama admin didn’t attempt to “rethink” the health care system, or HillaryCare before him.Both were noble ideas, but with huge structural blunders and incredibly poor execution. You can want to go to the moon, but somebody has to build NASA to execute it.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

      1. You can still be smart and not present. You can be graspy, grabby, greedy, craving, and still have a degree from Harvard. Enforced time outs force us to get back to reality.

         1. .If you are not present, then in my view, you are not “smart.”Certainly one can be well “book learnt” and a poor specimen of the species. You can further use your smarts for bad v good.I like to think I have never abandoned reality for a single second of my existence. I may reason to bad opinions, but I have been involved in the issues of the day since I went to college.One of my father’s favorite sayings was, “Get involved in the issues of the day.” He went on to say something about “shoveling shit in Louisiana” which was a favorite of Patton’s.We have a fairly strong slice of America who is not tethered in reality and a lot of them are in the US Congress.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

            1. I guess I meant present in the sense of being aware of one’s physical sensations, one’s mental, emotional and instinctual patterns as they’re firing in real time, in the moment. Its a lot of work!

      2. Agreed 100%Systemic issues with our overblown Federal Government, supported by lifetime politicians that are bought and sold with ease.Growing worse every decade.Not at all a Democrat vs Republican issue at all.Way deeper than that.

         1. .Agreeing with you more than you agree with yourself, the problem is that politicians demand to be rented — thereby reserving to themselves the prerogative to change their minds if a higher rent is offered.It is not only Dems/Reps, it is universal including the Deep State.We need term limits and a streamlined government that is incredibly small and lean.Look at the magnitude and sheer size of the government mobilized to deal with COVID19. It is gigantic.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

      3. Arnold’s statement ‘rethink our healthcare system’ similar to ‘find a good lawyer’. A very broad statement that has no meaning as far what is going on now. Remember Bud Fox in Wall Street? How are you going to increase sales (says Gecko) ‘MARKETING’. Oh great we will just take that out of the vending machine and we have ‘marketing’.Big picture thinkers (not saying Arnold is one I don’t know) love to paint these broad strokes but usually don’t think in terms of the actual execution ie ‘somebody has to build NASA to execute it’. Lot’s of steps in that process.Very ordinary mediocre people (big thinkers don’t realize this) handle the small things that often would lead to success.Here is an example. Building that I am in sends around all sorts of notices about things we should be doing covid related. Buries everything in an email not realizing that people probably won’t read it and if they do maybe not everyone occupying a place will read it (kids, spouse and so on). So I email the manager and say ‘hey there should be notices that say ‘only 1 person in the elevator at a time (if not related) and also that they should program the elevator (they can) to not stop on the way down (to insure nobody gets on, if possible).What do they do? They post one notice at the base of the elevator scotch taped up (and easy to miss). They put nothing in the elevators and nothing on each floor with the same message. How easy would that be do to? But they didn’t. Why? Well because they don’t think in details like that. (And other things they do confirm this.). They do the easiest thing with no attention to detail and quality. The board doesn’t know enough to even keep on top of this. Well that is people how they are. They basically suck on the details. All ideas but poorly executed. Now I am forced with writing back and telling them to think a bit but not do what is easiest.

2. I cannot wait to see what happens to dating and romance. I literally gave up on dating last year. I turned off all my online dating apps and removed them from my devices. This was after a long period of several years of finding out that a majority of men were interested in having multiple partners and no commitment. I had written in my profile that I was only interested in people who were interested in a meaningful, committed relationship that would have the potential to lead to marriage. I got hardly any responses once I added that clause. And, in some cases, I had men write to me saying I had ridiculous expectations. Of the few men I did meet, most of them disappeared after 1-2 dates when it became clear that I wanted to “date,” that I wanted to take my time to find out about who they were and how we interacted with each other. Some came right out and told me that they weren’t interested because I was unwilling to have sex with them immediately.

   1. I think mentioned this already but my daughter told me she had a few dates with someone a month ago (roughly) and it looked promising. At first they were talking on the phone but then they ran out of things to talk about (because only topic appeared to be Covid related). So now they aren’t talking at all. It petered out. My feeling (knowing what I do) is that’s a good thing. If you need daily events and (what do they call it) experiences? in order to have a conversation then you stand a chance of maybe not having a great relationship. This doesn’t mean that you have to share the same things you like (or job) so you can talk about it. Just that there is more life to just discussing where you ate or where you are going to go and so on. Life is not a constant vacation or fun things it’s everyday things and you have to be able to relate on that level. For example I an have a conversation with you about this and if we were out on a date I’d talk for hours. You may or may not agree with me but we wouldn’t run out of things to discuss I am sure.Other dates she had were with a guy she thought liked her but when she described the dates I could tell he was just using her. For what? Well he had a job selling meat to fancy restaurants. So part of the job was visiting the restaurants. She described that and I said ‘he just wants someone so he doesn’t have to dine himself’. And of course that was what it turned out to be. Another guy was the son of a well known internet entrepreneur in the travel industry. Very wealthy. I told her it wouldn’t last I could tell just by a few tell tale signs (I predicted the last breakup she had in a similar way could just tell by the fact the guy wasn’t eager to speak to her every day or check in..) In the end? He just wanted to have another girl to fool around with. Total slacker.I had written in my profile that I was only interested in people who were interested in a meaningful, committed relationship that would have the potential to lead to marriage.I know I have told you this before but those guys are out there. I am one of them but of course I am spoken for. But what I heard from women was pretty much what you were saying. I didn’t personally waste any time with any date (after the first one) that I felt would not lead to a long term relationship. There was no point to me if there was not that goal there I would be wasting my time I felt.As far as dating the only thing to me that was a total turnoff was a woman who made it clear right up front that her kids were first and I even had a woman that said her dog would always sleep in the bed. You read dating profiles and all sorts of things (this was years ago) become an issue. Why ‘children first’ (sounds counter intuitive, right?). Well I am not chopped liver. I don’t want to hear that our entire life together is going to totally revolve around your children and that what they do is a ‘get out of jail’ card for how our time will be spent. Yes I know they are important and yes I know I am second. But to have someone say that as if it’s not obvious is really no different than any extreme position someone takes. I don’t consider what you said (personally to me) an issue. And they mean it and think somehow that’s going to go over well?With kids (I have them as well obviously) sure they are important. But in a dating profile why do people have to state that in that way is what I never understood. My current wife, well, I knew we were compatible when she not only didn’t say that but was willing to put her own needs (ie being with me) in a rational way which said ‘the kids will be fine if I am happy’ (hard to describe exactly). And we are married now for almost 10 years.Here is the point: There is somebody for everyone out there. You just have to keep plugging away (I told you this before I know I did). You are only looking for one person. I got who I am with after the typical wrong experience because I was at it every single day constantly and did not give up. (Also to my wife’s credit she intro-ed me to her kids in 3 weeks most therapists professionals say that’s a bad idea…)

3. 1918 Spanish flu led to the 1920-21 recession….and then the Roaring 20’s.1957 Asian flu ( which clearly needs better representation, it gets no respect ) led to the election of that ole supply side tax cutting “Let’s Get America Moving” icon (actual campaign slogan), John F Kennedy. Once his tax cuts hit, the 1960’s had a streak of 106 months of growth & was the decade of The Jet Set ( let’s fly to Europe, baby.)It is not like AIDS eliminated one night stands either.Hang in there – you’ll be eating out this fall, designer masks will be a big deal next winter & you’ll be off to Europe by next spring.This too shall pass.

   1. ?

   2. The black plague ended feudalism and paved the way for an unprecedented amount of granting of individual rights and freedoms…

      1. .I am always skeptical about the aftermath of the Black Plague because I read so many differing accounts of the deaths and concentrations.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

         1. Well I mean, fair enough, but does it matter how many people died? The result was still that it ended feudalism.

            1. .Yes and no. I have seen numbers from 20-60% on deaths and bubble diagrams that show Germany not being greatly impacted.In the history of the US and its founding the presence of a German feudal system wherein the ordinary man could not own land gave rise to enormous German mercenary armies that were rented out to people like English Kings who sent them to places like the American Colonies to put down rebellions at the point of a bayonet.Had there been no feudalism, these men might never have become mercenaries.We scrappy Americans defeated them, captured them, and sent them all to Ohio to expand the frontier. Because in Ohio, the new US allowed them to own land as they expanded the frontier and killed off the Indians. Washington saw this as a thing when he made the decision not to kill POWs.When one goes to Columbus, Ohio, one can get, in German Town, a genuine authentic wiener schnitzel that rivals anything in the Fatherland.The point is the Germans remained a feudal society.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

            2. This article says about 30-40% of people died around Europe. Although I still think Italy was higher. https://www.historyextra.co…

   3. I wouldn’t be so quick to hustle recovery along. I haven’t read this article yet, but it looks interesting. The jist is that the cities and states who went all the way with recovery efforts after the 1918 pandemic had a faster economic recovery than those who did a half-assed job of it and tried to jump back in the game too soon. http://news.mit.edu/2020/pa…

   4. .Most Dems and lefties have no recognition that John Kennedy, the beneficiary of an incredibly successful investor father/crook, was a tax cutter and supply sider par excellence. He makes Reagan and Trump look like pikers. That was who the Dems were in that time. They did not hate business.Part of the Roaring ’20s was World War I. Once the boys had seen Paris, they could not be kept down on the farm.And Prohibition — 1920-33. People don’t focus on the impact of Prohibition in American society because it is so poorly thought of. The USA banned production of alcohol. That really happened.Prohibition — a Constitutional Amendment passed overwhelmingly by both the House and Senate and ratified by 46/48 states — was only a ban on production, importation, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages.It was not a ban on making your own or drinking your own beer, wine, whiskey. When the Feds confiscated liquor and stopped people from drinking, it was not because it was illegal to drink, but because the booze was illegal.During Prohibition all kinds of diseases related to the liver and poor social behavior — alcoholism — disappeared. When drinking returnd, all these diseases returned.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

4. Young people will forget about this shockingly fast and remember it as an annoyance in 2020Middle age people will be all over the map, depending on where they live, how healthy they are and what happened to them job-wiseOlder people – 65+ > likely to be a big change. They will stay in isolation much longer – for good reason and older communities (like in Florida, where I live) may change substantially.

   1. .Young people have not even bothered to acknowledge it and have exposed an incredible vein of not caring and cluelessness.Middle aged people will recall the economic impact and will be the first in line to get flu shots that will now include a COVID19 element.The elderly will see it as another trial in a life that has seen a few. They will yawn, check their portfolios. Live vicariously through their grandchildren.Almost nothing will change except for hand washing, hand shaking, and flu shots. A lot more people will get flu shots. Last year it was 170MM flu shots. When they include COVID19, it will be 225MM.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

5. For me I am less interested in what white rich privileged people think or reflect upon and more interested in if this drives them into ACTION. In Anand Giridharadas’ book, “Winners Take All” there is a moment where a white heiress admits she does not pay her fair share in taxes and hascharities to offset that – the line that resonated most was – “You don’t want to be the only rich schmuck paying taxes.”Going into the financial crisis of 2008, Generation X was roughly the same age as millennials today, but had on average twice the total assets that millennials have now when all bank accounts, stocks and loans are added together. This NY Times article lays-out the pain young adults are enduring https://www.nytimes.com/202… – – – Do the rich care about these people? About this generation? There has been white noise for years about how bad student debt was becoming, but the wealthy truly did not care.In a country still searching for explanations of the last presidential election – it is hard for me to think of anything better designed to burn down the business-fundamentalism-market worship-billionaires are great mentality than the failure of the fake billionaire,Donald Trump.You know the tide is changing when the Financial Times editorial board writes, “Policies until recently considered eccentric, such as basic income and wealth taxes, will have to be in the mix.”https://www.ft.com/content/…I really hope the US starts to embrace the idea of UBI and a wealth tax – otherwise all the reflection in the world is truly meaningless.We can no longer leave the most vulnerable behind. And we need a real healthcare system – one that is not tied to employment.

6. https://media1.giphy.com/me… Are you Staying safe during the pandemic? I am plus I have feeling someone is to blame theoretically for all of this. now i cannot give up my information as its to valuable so If you wanna help me kill this virus as it needs be I would greatly appreciate any help , mental or physical. Now if your gonna be immigrated due to this virus dont bother because your not gonna be around. Better yet stay in touch here and i will talk yall later.