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Pandemics have had an interesting impact on economics throughout history. While most “experts” predict doom and gloom, there is another possibility. Depending upon your economic status, it may be bad or not.

Many times when a plague hit, predictably it was the poor who bore the brunt of it, with many dying. The Black Plague, for example, has been estimated to kill one-third of Europe’s population.

When the plague abated and businesses tried to recover, the decimation of the lower class meant that there were fewer laborers available. Although many could return to their old jobs at their old wages, other businesses, desperate for workers, offered significantly higher wages to lure them away from their old employer. In some cases, they were offered two to three times as much as they had earned in the past.

The wealthy found some of these changes alarming. In the words of an anonymous English chronicler: “Such a shortage of labourers ensued that the humble turned up their noses at employment, and could scarcely be persuaded to serve the eminent for triple wages.”

The response from the wealthy was predictable. In one case, “the wealthy lobbied the English crown to pass the Ordinance of Labourers, which informed workers that they were ‘obliged to accept the employment offered‘” for the same measly wages as before.’ This was largely ignored, of course. It would require a violent suppression to force compliance. Over the years, some societies did just that.

In the meantime, landlords were facing an oversupply of real estate and a shortage of potential tenants. Prices were lowered, and the lucky elites managed to survive on their wealth rather than relying on their income. It is debated, bot possible, that these events created the middle class.

We can only wait to see if the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic has such an effect. I suspect that will be a while, since the unvaccinated provide a breeding ground for the virus to mutate. When this occurs, the original and the weaker variants are stopped while the stronger survive and will likely be harder to combat.

Many of the ideas and the quotes in this blog are based upon the writings of Walter Scheidel, Professor of Classics and History at Stanford University, and the author of The Great Leveler: Violence And The History Of Inequality From The Stone Age To The Twenty-First Century.

Don’t worry, those trillions of cicadas are going to pop out of the ground and make a thunderous nose any second now.

Just when you thought it was almost safe to return to normal. Many people, or at least those that don’t believe that the vaccines are poisonous or contain microchips, have been vaccinated. More people vaccinated means we’re closer to herd immunity. (Have you heard about immunity? No I mean herd immunity. Etc.)

Many times I’ve thought of devious ways to get rich, but usually as the plot for a story. Other people are more direct and actually reap the benefits (if they can be called that). Recently, a Florida family was busted for–ready for this–selling 28,000 bottles of “Miracle Mineral Solution” to treat virtually every known disease, which was actually bleach. [Link]

Okay, fair is fair, it wasn’t the off-the-shelf bleach we use in the laundry. I was closer to the type of bleach they use for industrial water treatment. But, hey, it was handmade in their very own backyard shed. I assume the chlorine dioxide solution, was manufactured under strict quality control and sterile conditions. My hat’s off to them–it’s hard to maintain such high standards in a backyard shed.

They marketed their miracle solution through a non-religious church. I’m still trying to figure that part out. In any case, they took in more than $1 million from sales of the stuff.

Drinking bleach to cure COVID and other diseases. You have to wonder where they got that idea.

I’ve honestly been trying to write, but there’s so much going on that just drives me crazy and physically affects me, that I haven’t completed a blog in a while. Sorry. The spirit is willing, but my flesh is 70 years old.

I purchased one of those wrist blood pressure cuffs and wear it while I write. It’s distracting and awkward, but nevertheless helpful. As Bettlegeuse says, “Besides, this whole dead thing-it’s creepy!”

While I’m writing, I keep one eye on the meter, but since it’s on the inside of my wrist, I have to stop typing and roll my arm, to see it. Then it deflates. For the next reading, it has to reinflate and we go through the whole cycle again. To top it off, it never gives me a reading exactly when I want one.

So I do the best I can do. So here goes!

I’ve been watching the news about the Chauvin trial, Representative Gaetz, and the Trump Organization . . . .

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Oops. I gotta quit. Sorry.

Businesses today have some practices that make me scratch my head.

Let’s start with pharmaceuticals. When a drug’s patent allows for generics to be manufactured and sold, chemists try to reverse engineer the name-brand drug. They then try to formulate a generic drug that is sorta kinda like the original. They then test the drug for safety using young, healthy individuals.

But who will actually need the product? Old people with chronic illnesses. Unless the young test participants start dropping like flies, the generic drug is presumed safe for the intended customers. If it doesn’t work for older patients . . . . well, that’s the way it goes.

Incidentally, who can afford name-brand drugs once there’s a generic available? I’m not sure, but you could probably fit them all into a single phone booth–if we still had phone booths.

On a similar note, I bought a new alarm clock. My adult children don’t use alarm clocks–they use their cell phones. They don’t wear wristwatches because they use their cell phones. They don’t use Daytimers because–you know where I’m going with this.

On the other hand, I use my cell phone to make telephone calls, text messages, and to check the Internet. I know, it’s weird, but it’s common among those of us who are old enough to no longer worry about having a date for Saturday night.

Since I don’t use my cellphone as a clock, I need a clock-clock to wake me up in the morning.

The clock I picked out has a number of nice features. It sets the time automatically using WWVB signals from the National Bureau of Standards in Fort Collins, Colorado. I can place my cell phone, which I don’t use as an alarm clock, on the top to charge it. The display is muted but visible.

However, there are a few steps to set it up for the first time. There is an instruction booklet that came with the clock. There are just two problems:

• The directions are written in that ubiquitous hybrid of Chinese and English that is a bit confusing for those of us who grew up with English as a primary language.
• The directions are also printed in a teeny-tiny font for which I need both reading glasses and a Super Trouper theatrical spotlight to see.

The free advice? Think about who will use your product when you manufacture and package it.

*With apologies to Back to the Future‘s Mr. Strickland.

Donald Trump asked his supporters to help him pay for an election recount. Unbeknown to many who donated, the form had a box pre-checked for the donation to be repeated.

Matt Gaetz has been accused of possible improprieties with an underage girl. He’s asking his supporters to send money to pay for his defense.

I confess. I, too, have transgressions and need your help.

I’m mortified, but it’s true.

In third grade the dog didn’t eat my geography project. Actually, the dog had died earlier that year and we had not yet picked a replacement, so there wasn’t a dog even remotely available, much yet involved. I made it all up because I had totally forgotten that the project had been assigned three weeks earlier, but it’s not my fault. What third grade boy can remember anything for three weeks?

Therefore, I’m asking everyone to fund my therapy to help me move on. I’ve been carrying this guilt around with me for over 60 years, so the psychological damage to my self image is immense.

Please leave your donation in a brown paper bag in non-sequentially numbered small denomination bills on my front porch.

Remember when you had to sell band candy or girl scout cookies? You asked everybody you knew to help out. Now’s the time to go and ask them again. My therapist says I need to go to the Bebe Rebozo Clinic in Bimini for extended therapy.

It’s YOUR responsibility–don’t let me down.

I’ve commented before on the internet and how people today can be devastated if they don’t meet the standards of physical perfection that they see posted by others, especially celebrities.

I was right—it’s all phony. The supposedly ultra-attractive celebrities don’t look good enough, either.

Note this article by Mark Gray:

“Kardashians threaten legal action over unedited bikini pic of Khloe: Report [1]

What could this image possibly show to create such an uproar? Was she committing a felony? Maybe she’s a werewolf and was in the midst of changing. Maybe she’s a he (well it does run in the family). I’ll let the author of the article explain:    

“The Kardashian family reportedly called in their lawyers after a private photo of Khloe Kardashian started floating around the Internet over the weekend. Soon, the photo began disappearing from the web and social media.

“The image, supposedly posted to Khloe’s grandmother’s Instagram, showed the reality TV star in an animal-print bikini. Gone, however, was the heavy editing and filters that the Kardashians are believed to often use before posting photos of themselves to social media.

“Page Six reported that the Kardashian family threatened legal action if the image wasn’t taken down. “

So, even the infamous Khardashians are not picture perfect without computerized magic—and this is after a professional makeup artist and a lighting expert had already done their thing to make her look as good as possible.

[1] https://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/celebrity/kardashians-threaten-legal-action-over-unedited-bikini-pic-of-khloe-report/ar-BB1fkADM?li=BBnb7Kz

I may not express my thoughts today very well–they’re beyond my ability to understand or describe.

Holy Thursday, when Jesus shared supper with His apostles. Jesus asked Peter, James, and John to pray with him, but Jesus ended up praying alone. Judas betrayed Jesus. His friends were not there when He needed them.

Some prefer to call today Maundy Thursday, which refers to Jesus’ washing the apostles’ feet and the Gospel according to John focuses on this rather than Jesus’ blessing of the bread and wine. It was a monumental expression of love. No one, not even a slave, could be compelled to wash anothers’ feet, yet Jesus did–showing humility even though He was the very Son of God.

I have to love and identify with good old Peter. He first refused to let Jesus wash his feet, but when Jesus’ explained its importance, asked to be washed all over. Jesus had to explain why that was not necessary or appropriate. Peter, the bull in the china shop, echoes my shortcomings and inspires me to have faith. His clumsiness was always due to his overwhelming love for Jesus.

This day reminds us that we do not and cannot understand the mind of God. Knowing that God is inexplicable is comforting to me. My God is the one, living, and true God–incomprehensible and more powerful than I could ever imagine and so loving that He sent His only begotten Son for me and you.

Just a quick note today.

If your kids sit glued to the television, for hours, watching shows in which the kids are talented, smart, and very attractive and adults are dimwitted dolts, take hope.

Disney, among others who churn out these shows expect to keep running and rerunning these for years, if not eons. (Don’t believe me? How long ago was Gilligan’s Island filmed?)

Sooner or later, our kids will not be able to avoid these shows after they become adults and see themselves portrayed as dimwitted.

Even better, the child actors who starred in these will have to watch their past selves.

It’s very easy to unintentionally overdose on the news. Like the drinking water in Flint, Michigan, it seems innocuous, but it c an be deadly. Too often, my best efforts to steer clear are thwarted because the news is ubiquitous although most of what it contains is either sensational or useless. For example, most cable news sources include endless celebrity coverage interspersed with the latest buffoonery from our elected officials.

Likewise, Real Buffoons of Washington, DC, a reality television show, drives me up the wall. Politicians redefine their “facts” as often as I change socks–and yes I change them daily. Yesterday’s up is down today. Although someone may have a video of one of them saying the sky is blue, they swear they’ve always described it as pink.

Filibuster is a word that gets bandied about freely. I know that it is a mechanism for the minority in the Senate to block the majority from successfully advancing a cause. In my opinion (for what that’s worth) I can’t see the filibuster as consistent with the goals of a democratic republic.

On the other hand, filibuster is a strange word and I wondered where the word came from. Was it like gerrymander, a term that grew out of and is strictly relevant to politics? It turns out that filibuster is every bit as interesting as you might expect. Merriam-Webster offers the following:

Definition of filibuster

1 : an irregular military adventurer specifically : an American engaged in fomenting insurrections in Latin America in the mid-19th century

2 : [filibuster entry 2] a : the use of extreme dilatory (see dilatory sense 1) tactics (as by making long speeches) in an attempt to delay or prevent action especially in a legislative assembly
b : an instance of this practice The filibuster delayed the voting on the bill for over a week.

History and Etymology for filibuster

Noun and Verb

Spanish filibustero, literally, freebooter

I admit, I had no idea as to what a freebooter was, so as long as I was in the dictionary, I decided to look it up, too.

Definition of freebooter

: pirate, plunderer

Filibuster refers to an insurrectionist or a pirate? Really! How interesting.

Just to clarify, we’re not talking a Disney pirate like Jack Sparrow. We’re talking ruthless people who would hunt down a ship and take its valuables, possibly including the ship itself. People like Captain Kidd, Calico Jack, and Blackbeard, not to mention those who attack ships, such as the Maersk Alabama, in modern times.

Filibuster provides an interesting etymology, if not an accidental truth.