Update from the crew at NOTEFLIX’s production of “Troubles in the Garden”: Our loving couple, Mamzelle Pinkie and The Multicolored Bluebird of Happiness are touring Tuscany and have stopped off in Florence for a morning snack. But wait! Is that a ‘New Arrival’ on the way? Wonderful things can happen when one travels.
Though the “Business of America is Business”; (-Cal Coolidge, 30th U.S. President) It’s none of your business.
- META: “What’s in a name? …Tis but thy name that is my enemy” -W. Shakespeare, “Romeo and Juliet”. Why do we quote Shakespeare today? Because FaceBook knows what’s in a name – and has changed its name to META. What a great name! We can barely remember the troubles this company brought on; under its old name.
- LTL MANAGEMENT: The new name and company Johnson and Johnson created and threw all their Talcum powder cancer problems into and then filed bankruptcy for it – so they could limit their cancer lawsuit liabilities. This was filed under a Texas law – now called “The Texas Two Step”.
- WORKISM: The belief that: Work is the centerpiece of American life, which should lead to the heart of Economic Policy. Though I am not a follower of this belief, I’ll bet the 660 billionaires, created in the U.S. during the past year and a half, go for the idea, whole hog.
- PIZZA: Dominos Pizza sales were reported ‘Down’ last quarter. The company stated this was because of the unusual upswing in orders over the past few quarters – due to the Stimulus payments. There are no more Stimulus payments, for the moment, so sales are back down to normal.
- S & P 500: Company earnings for the last quarter are frequently “exceeding expectations” and the stock market is going up accordingly. Generally, when a company ‘Exceeds Expectations’ the stock goes up. I am beginning to wonder if Wall Street’s analysts intentionally lower their estimates in order to get a little ‘bump’ in the price on Reporting Day.
- S & P, again: The companies on the S & P spent more money on Stock Buy Backs last year than they did on Capital Expenditure. CEO’s Greed not only knoweth no bounds, it exceedeth all expectations.
- DINFLATION: The new word referring to the rising cost of a meal at a restaurant.
- “ZON”: This is what those in the know (Wall Street types, for example) call Amazon when they are in a hurry to say what they want to say. “ZON” it appears, employs 1 in 153 American workers – one way or another. That is ZOMAZING. I expect “ZON” will exceed expectations over the years unless this Minimum Wage thing takes hold.
- POOR, POOR FUTURE GENERATIONS: I have been reading a lot lately about how we should take care of what we spend, so we do not burden FUTURE GENERATIONS with our debts. Well, what about how are FUTURE GENERATIONS gonna pay us back for giving them: Smart Phones (With Siri), ROBLOXs, META, and the philosophy of WORKISM. Who’s paying us back for all that??
And now a few words from MATHUZALA, our Guest Columnist:
MATHUZALA SPEAKS:
- “Your economy is strong, and muscular; but it has nothing to do with your people. It has taken on a life of its own. There are some who would keep the economy and not be bothered with the people. We recommend you start focusing on the people, but it might shake things up a bit for a while. We are here to help, of course.”
If you are interested in how MATHUZALA plans to “…improve the situation down on the ground” – go to Amazon or Barnes & Noble and buy “THE RAT PAPERS” and see what he has in mind.
NOTES FROM TUSCANY:
- It is Fall and the Americans continue to come to Tuscany. I was first here 25 years ago and I have noticed a few changes in the visiting Americans. (not in order of significance): *They dress more casually than they used to. I mean they dress really casually. *There is a tendency to avoid – at all costs – conversations that could possibly lead to ‘The Political’ situation back home. One gets the feel that it is best to talk about the condition of the grape, the olive…but not the Mask, not the proposed Voting laws, etc. ” Let’s not spoil the trip.” *Years ago, Holloween was not a big thing in Tuscany…, the day was simply devoted to the Saints…but as I’ve noted, things have changed….
Below, see a picture of some of the local Tuscan witches, scaring the tourists.
A few quotes:
- “As a general rule of biology, migratory species are less ‘aggressive’ than sedentary ones.” -Bruce Chatwin, writer, world Traveler…on speaking about the virtues of traveling.
- “People without homes will not quarrel with their leaders. This is well known among our principle men now engaged in forming an imperialism of capitalism to govern the world. By dividing the people we can get them to expend their energies in fighting over questions of no importance to us except as teachers of the common herd.” -J.P. Morgan, Banker Extraordinaire, at one time, the richest man in America. His spirit lives on.
- “No man becomes rich unless he enriches others.” -Andrew Carnegie, Industrialist, giver of the Library system to America. Maybe he was the richest man in America; I’m not sure of anything, anymore.
- “My number One piece of advice is: You should learn how to Program.” -Mark Zuckerberg, one of the world’s richest men. I wish he had told me that before I took advice from others.
Take care out there. Keep your head on straight.
