Category Archives: Finance

April 18, 2025 · 17:18

A viewpoint is not a point of view

Yes, nice and confusing. But that is the meaning of this exercise. You see, I don’t agree on the point of view the law makes in this case. They have altered their point of view on the law in motion. In a setting that ran for over a decade. I don’t think they are to blame, there is no real guilt here (apparently), but the setting stands. In this I call to attention the BBC article (at https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3674nl7g74o) stating ‘Google has illegal advertising monopoly, judge rules’ I do not agree and for this I call to attention two ‘pieces’ of evidence. The first is the actor Ryan Reynolds, a person I have called more than once the craziest marketeer on the planet. The second piece of evidence is a firm named CAASIE.co, an advertisement services firm apparently in Brisbane (I thought they were in New York). These two stand out, in a pool of millions. Set in a presence of “The US alone spent almost $481 billion on marketing in 2022, with digital marketing seeing significant growth. Australia’s marketing industry is also substantial, valued at over $20 billion.” With the added “While a precise count isn’t available, the scale of the industry suggests a large number of professionals are involved in marketing roles worldwide. The demand for marketing expertise is strong, and the industry is continuously evolving, particularly with the rise of digital marketing”. Don’t get me wrong, there are good marketing teams. The bigger brands have decent teams and at times places like Coca Cola and Heineken stand out. Yet in that setting of millions of people these two stand out. Why? Perhaps marketing is seen by some as the path you take when you can’t do anything else? Perhaps these men (women too) can talk their way into the panties of the youthful ladies and they thought, perhaps I can make money out of this venturous situation. And they went into marketing, mainly because ‘sex sells’. The truth couldn’t be farther (or is that further) removed from the truth. 

And there the problem starts. You see, Google isn’t monopolising things, they merely had the proper handle on things. The marketing bulk doesn’t know what it its doing and as ‘they’ see it Google is in the way. In the early days Google (read: Larry Page and Sergei Brin) figured out a few things. As Microsoft was talking dirty to the CFO’s in the land (in the late 80’s and beyond) these two youthful young sprouts figured out that the work was done by the m inions of these CFO’s, so as they catered to the bulk of the worker ants, Microsoft was wasting its time on expensive dinners and drink parties and they got all the CFO’s and CTO’s of the Fortune 500. But these people needed their worker ants and Google had created a search system that catered to THEIR needs. So whilst these youthful young sprouts were at Stanford University, their buddies all went for the knickers of the ladies. They created a page rank system, because they saw ahead that the web was going to be a mess, millions of voices create cacophony and they cut through the mess.

So ahead we go 20 years (take or leave a year) and Google figured out that their system is gold. So they venture forward and they create Google Ads (formerly Google Adwords) and that was in 2000. Again they hit gold, although it was a natural continuation from page rank and again Microsoft wants ink on the game, but wannabe’s and spin creators can merely make shallow creation and it is seen in their product. At present known as Microsoft Advertising, holds a market share of around 3-4% of the global search engine market. This is bad news for the marketing wannabe’s as they bought the shite that Microsoft is seemingly selling. Even I saw the bing hijacking of people seeking and as Microsoft is all playing innocent, they did (as I personally see it) enable the system to be abused. It matter not, Google created a firm product and now the marketing bitches (both male and female) decided to cry fowl (intended typo) So that I the setting.

Marketing today is people who talk a lot present a lot, but as I see it, they do not know what they are doing. Merely hoping that their revenue cup runneth over and it is based on decade old settings (which is what schools rely on). At UTS (University of Technology Sydney) we had one lecture on page rank and that opened my eyes (unlikely as much as it hit Sergei and Larry), but the setting was clear. Google created the largest setting by thinking of what to do, not to wine and dine the people with money and they followed Microsoft as they didn’t realise what they were up against. The internet of things is a massive beast with plenty of horns and these are the horns of plenty.

So now we get to the ‘court case’ that the BBC gives us. So as we are given “The US Department of Justice, along with 17 US states, sued Google, arguing the tech giant was illegally dominating the technology which determines which adverts should be placed online and where” and as I personally see it, they are catering to millions of people who do not know what they are doing and they think it is unfair that these people should miss out on a business they are unlikely to understand. You see, I name these two at the start as they have figured out a few things. Ryan Reynolds created billions from understanding the world and its business (Mint Mobile, Aviation Gin, and Wrexham AFC. He also co-founded Maximum Effort, a marketing agency and production company) he figured out a few things and that sprout is a mere 48 springs old. He saw the options and turned several products in a multi billion dollar empire by engaging with an audience and telling a story in a way they remembered. The other (the wannabe’s) can scoop up a mere $100,000 dollars at a time as I see it. Let’s not forget that this man started as an extra on the X-Files, now he surpassed the main cast of that series (including the director) in several ways.

Second we get CAASIE.co, they come with “buy outdoor ads globally – from your browser”, with the byline “Self-service. No contracts. No commitments” and consider this quote “In 2007, São Paulo, Brazil instituted a billboard ban because there were no viable regulations of the billboard industry.” For decades these billboards were out there and in 2020 (a mere 5 years ago) they decided to change the premise. So as we get “They are an advertising company specializing in Digital Out of Home (dOOH) advertising, programmatic advertising, and digital signage. Their headquarters are in Brisbane, Australia”, a setting that was clear for decades but no one considered what there was and these people did, so as they gain favor and altitude by being innovative the wannabe marketeers can (for all I care) go duck themselves. 

These two examples are a clear sign that the crying marketeers need to grow up, or as the Americans say “Go big or go home” and that is noticeable on the future of marketing as I see it. Now they are all about AI and creating hypes, but that doesn’t pay for the yacht (or for diner as I see it). 

So as I see “US district judge Leonie Brinkema said in the ruling Google had “willfully engaged in a series of anticompetitive acts” which enabled it to “acquire and maintain monopoly power” in the market.” Is wrong by at least half a continent (a mile seems so shallow), so as I see it, when did the law start catering to village idiots? The fact that there are thousands of voices doesn’t make this clever. Reynolds and CAASIE were clever, they were very clever and that is a setting that CAASIE can enjoy, you see when they get access to the stage where the Google Ads people use CAASIE as the global interface to get global visibility, CAASIE will grow a lot more and what will the marketeers do to get their slices of pie? Cry a little more? Since when did we cater to the stupid to give value to this world?

The is the setting I see and as I see it the larger folly of US district judge Leonie Brinkema, so their goes her “willfully engaged”, Google walked a path for decades and that thought paid off and as I see it, Google was not catering to CAASIE, CAASIE found its own niche of global needed marketing. These two settings (Reynolds and CAASIE) show that there was space and these are raking in the billions (CAASIE not yet) but they can get a lot more by expanding into the UAE and Saudi Arabia, optionally Bangladesh and Indonesia as well. A setting that will iterate in new areas and that was something that a player like Microsoft never understood. My evidence in that statement is the fact that they lost marketshare 6 times over.

So the viewpoints of Google, Ryan Reynolds and CAASIE are not points of view, they are intentional strides in the Internet of Things and their views of how to make money. A lesson a lot of marketeers never learned in the first place. Although they got their collection of panties n their trophy cabinet, something I never ever had, but I decided to remain innovatively engaged. So as I had the ball several times from DARPA, Ubisoft and Microsoft (optionally Amazon and Apple as well) I can relax to see these departments of Justice (globally) fumble their balls and as things go from bad to worse I can giggle (not Google) from the sidelines. How the stage is the play of things, something Shakespeare figured out in 1623.

Have a great day whilst you ponder the wisdoms I left here with two hidden snags, the clever people out there can work out what I left for others to find. Have a great one.

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April 16, 2025 · 23:37

Food for thought

I knew I saw it correctly, or at least I think I did. Greed is eternal and it is always on the edge of what others think is ‘creatively sneaky’ or merely ‘adaptable innovatively wealth bringing’ it is what we can see (to an extent) as the new ‘nouveau riche’ or what some call “people who have recently acquired wealth, typically those perceived as ostentatious or lacking in good taste” and I would add to that part ending with “in good taste” with “in good taste and lacking proper ethicality” because as some will deflect “insider trading” it might be harder to prove as insider trading is hard to reflect on settings that are a mere speculation of a situation and that is where we get to the article that USA Today gave us on April 14th 2025 (at https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/04/14/marjorie-taylor-greene-stocks-trump-tariffs/83087826007/) and that is where I get to my article ‘The fifth branch’ (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2025/04/08/the-fifth-branch/) which I wrote nearly a week earlier on April 8th where I wrote “The entire tariff setting never made sense, unless it was by design and tariff on a Mc Donald Island (with only one CIEIO) and a lot of penguins, so that the President can claim medicine imbalance. In the meantime unknown ‘friends’ of his when the markets are at their lowest, buy what they can.” With the added “Even at 1% that is 30 billion and I doubt they will make that much, they will make enough to have their dream retirement at 40-50, something they never thought possible ever. But there you have it and the larger setting is that when the dust settles most offices cannot investigate as too many offices has lost their staff. A weird but not impossible setting.” And now almost a week later we get ‘Marjorie Taylor Greene bought stock before market jumped on Trump tariff pause’ with the subtext “Less than four hours before pausing for 90 days the individual nation tariffs on April 9, Trump told his followers on Truth Social, “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!” The White House said the post reflected the president’s responsibility “to reassure the markets and Americans about their economic security.”” I don’t sound so crazy now, do I?

So when we consider “That same day, Greene − one of Trump’s closest allies in Congress − bought between $10,000 and $150,000 worth of stock in companies such as Adobe, Apple, NVIDIA, Palantir and Cummins. The day before, on April 8, Greene had purchased another $11,000 to $165,000 of stock in Amazon, FedEx, JP Morgan Chase, Lululemon, Nike, Qualcomm, Tesla and other companies. She also sold between $50,000 and $100,000 worth of U.S. Treasury bills.” Doesn’t it sound nice? So, how much money did she make? And how many others followed that example? The new ‘Nouveau Riche’ are likely to be all MAGA Americans, what a way to throw the new directions into a less credible direction? And this gives me pause to consider a much darker setting for America. You see, if Russia and China figured this out, then they see that the America administration had become greed driven and that is a very predictable setting. I saw this a week before the papers (USA Today) caught on and when did the others catch on? So what do China and Russia have planned? As this plays out they could set the premise to a larger scale, merely as I foresaw that Greed is predictable. So as we also get “Members of Congress have up to 45 days to disclose any stock purchases, which means other members of Congress may have also bought or sold stock shortly before the president changed his tariff policy but have not yet disclosed it.” And as I see it the statement of “The purchases, made public in a federal disclosure on April 11, come as Democrats call for an investigation into whether Trump participated in insider trading.” It is my believe that the laws might not suffice as the law never considered a President setting the premise we just saw. So was President Trump the fool, the baboon (as some call him) or was he deceitfully clever? I let you decide on this and make sure you realise that these market crashes were seemingly set in motion to change the power of money where it wasn’t before. 

And before you call me crazy, I predicted this danger before it happened and as USA Today now gives us, it apparently did happen.

So have a great day and realise that some will have a great day at the expense of others. In the meantime I gave Canadians three days before I wrote ‘The Fifth Branch’ in the story ‘A political game’ (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2025/04/05/a-political-game/) where I give the Canadians a free idea to create a video game and as such one person (or one team) gets a chance to create a video game. A game that might make them some money the old way, through innovative thinking. No markets needed to be manipulated. 

So have a great day and as I end my midweek in 29 minutes. Vancouver still has 18 hours to make the most of their midweek.

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April 16, 2025 · 05:43

Mislabelled fear

That is what I saw when I took notice of the news in the Guardian called ‘US’s $2.36tn tourism business fears ‘Trump slump’ over tariff turmoil’ (at https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/15/trump-tariffs-tourism-business) we might look at “Warnings emerge even as effect of economic and political turbulence on the foreign visitors to the US is hard to define” I disagree, you see, slices from UK (69 million), Australia (26 million), New Zealand (5 million) are now avoiding America mainly because of the Canada (51st state) issue. We took offense and even as I yearn to see the Epic Universe, I have decided that if I do get to pick a vacation, I will choose Warner Brothers Abu Dhabi over Orlando. I know that Warner Brothers will still see my money, but in this case 70% will go to Miral, a United Arab Emirates operator. In that same trend many will seek out Euro Disney, Parks in Tokyo and a few other places. And this is not for a mere year, this is for the duration of the Trump administration. Some insults are just a little too much to bear. Oh, and the Canadians with their 40 million people are also avoiding America. I didn’t think that it amounted to 5%-10% of $2.36tn but that could be because America insulted a little more than just the Commonwealth setting. Perhaps others see the weak American setting, perhaps the stage of the Ukraine is equally as upsetting as the Commonwealth setting. America has been kicking the wrong legs, just as interest payments of a 36 trillion dollar debt is due, America loses a lot more income. As such there is nothing that is hard to define, it is the cost of doing business and that part is becoming increasingly hard. 

So this fear is mislabeled, the proper labelling is seen as the price of insulting people, the price of neglecting people and as we see Europe taking additional steps like the fear of espionage on their people by Americans, we need to see that this will take years to undo, especially as Orlando just launched the biggest park in human history, 110 acres (45 ha) in the park itself and the overall size is 750 acres (300 ha), which comes at a cost of $7.7 billion to build, which is stated to be one of the largest and most expensive theme parks in history. Now consider what it takes to get this going, the hotels, the retail stores staff and such costing a bundle in its own right. So as we see the $2.36tn and the 10% lessened revenue and a slice is on that part. Epic Universe will do ok, because it will have millions of Americans wanting to see this place, and the use of influencers was well played, they all showed a place that nearly everyone wants to see. As such the lessened revenue will be felt all over America. Because those wanting to see Epic Universe will take their share from the other places. And that is merely one place. A mere fortnight ago we were told “Several nations issued travel warnings about potential safety risks in America, including Japan, Australia and Canada” others will take notice and that is the larger setting for America for now. So what will Comcast Corp. do? Put it all in a bad bank mortgage and loan and write it off? That would be the economic player will do, as such America will lose a hell of a lot of taxation these several years. Another part of the equation shown in a simple setting. What will happen? That is not for me to tell. But that is the setting that the Guardian is seemingly overlooking. 

So as we are given “Warnings that international tourism to the US could be hit by Donald Trump’s effort to re-engineer economic and political relations with the rest of the world are slowly emerging.” With an added “The Las Vegas Visitors and Convention Authority said last week it was projecting a 5% decline in room tax revenue for its upcoming budget – a decline that may reflect Trump’s trade disputes with Canada and Mexico. Those countries account for 2.6 million visitors to sin city, or half of international travel trade.” As such these two countries account for half the international trade? It seems that America created its own downfall, as I personally see it. And as we see the trend evolve, we need to understand that next year that trend will continue and as Europe, the Commonwealth and others will seek other paths to joy like Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Paris (EuroDisney), London,  Beijing, Tokyo and other places, the losses for America will add and add. 

They wanted to overwhelm the tourist industry and due to political pressures, they merely shown the other places that they might be more desirable. As such, the problem wasn’t hard to define, the Americans merely needed to look into themselves and the problem will exasperate. Consider these places and how they rely on international students to get cheap labour, as the BBC reported last week “Marco Rubio says US revoked at least 300 foreign students’ visas”, and that will have a trickle effect on those still seeking international student visas, they are more likely to seek education from other, non-US places. And the top 50 of universities has plenty of offers on the table for its pending international students. This might seem little, but plenty of business rely on the next batch of international students. So as you are sitting in a theme park hoping for a quick coffee, think again, they might be down a number of staff members because this is a short term impact, the term of summer and that is about to hit all the places that rely on the new batch of international students and with them gone their hiring approach needs to change fast. 

All these elements can be foreseen, but are these places taking notice? America is going through huge changes at present and that place is not ready to face the serious impact of the political pressures they tried to set to other nations. These nations are now retaliating in other ways and Canada seeking other location, other drinks and other choices was a mere first step. With Europe joining their homegrown defense spending, America will lose more and more. All this I put in my blog over the last 3-5 years. Even without President Trump the signs were clear, now they are merely escalating revenue losses and that is impacting America in a few ways. Tourism is merely the latter step, but this is the more visible one. It trickles down to nearly every level of the population, still, that might prove fruitful for people who had been unable to find a job. Still the report of a loss of $118B – $236B is not nothing, add to that lessened defense spending and the people not coming now, will hit tourism the clearest, but this loss will go into nearly very level of the American industry and that impacts small businesses a lot more than foreseen. 

This is merely my view on the matter, but I have been writing on these dangers for some time. Have a great day.

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April 15, 2025 · 10:24

The clever get the advantage

That was always the setting to be envied, when the bullies come calling, the last breath is given to the clever people. In this the NY Times gives us (at https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/14/us/harvard-trump-reject-demands.html) ‘Harvard Says It Will Not Comply With Trump Administration’s Demands’ and I was skeptical at first, but as we see “Harvard University said on Monday that it had rejected policy changes requested by the Trump administration, becoming the first university to directly refuse to comply with its demands and setting up a showdown between the federal government and the nation’s wealthiest university.” My skepticism comes from the setting we saw last year when the Guardian gave us “Minouche Shafik, the president of Columbia University, appeared beleaguered and uncertain as one Congress member after another assailed her over her institution’s supposed inaction to stop it becoming what one called “a hotbed of antisemitism and hatred”.” For universities to let anti semitism unanswered and the setting of “who became Columbia’s president last July, into changing her testimony after she earlier told the Democratic representative Ilhan Omar that she was not aware of any anti-Jewish demonstrations at the university.” Which is a massive problem at the first setting as I see it. Now that Harvard sets a new line, they could massively profit by that standard. So as we see “Harvard’s response, which called the Trump administration’s demands illegal, marked a major shift in tone for the nation’s most influential school, which has been criticized in recent weeks for capitulating to Trump administration pressure.” We see two advantages for Harvard, the first first being that the wokiest woke people (whatever that means) will take their money out of their previous donation university and basically had it to Harvard (the people who openly hate President Trump might do the same), the second advantage is the academics who were unsettled by the federal ‘guide lines’ are likely to make a move from place previous to new place Harvard. This will name Harvard more renown than ever before and I reckon (a mere speculation) that these academics might increase the distance between Harvard and whomever has places 2 through 8 and in the academic world that matters (a lot). 

Is it right? Well, I think that the federal setting should not have gotten involved (but that is a personal view), I do believe that if a university is guilty of crimes than that is a different matter, and as most law student have been cast in the reading of the Nuremberg trials and the acceptance of illegal orders the setting for Harvard was (blatantly) simple. Don’t think it is a simple setting, because Harvard has the most money at present (read: the richest), other universities are a lot more dependent on Federal funding and that makes it a hard sell for a lot of them, but perhaps the setting that Harvard now has given the rest of America, others will follow. 

We can only hope.

In other news I just saw that Canada had to bid farewell to Gerry McNamara at the age of 90. As a wannabe goalie I give a heartfelt goodbye salute to this actual former goalie and former General Manager for seven seasons of the Toronto Maple Leafs. And I give my condolences to his family, friends and former team mates. And below we see Gerry McNamara at a slightly younger age

Have a great day and enjoy the end of the pre week today, midweek tomorrow.

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April 10, 2025 · 12:08

New short term thinking

The news hit me somewhere yesterday. I got it by means of a LinkedIn mention, and it gave me reason to pause. Here is one version of that news (at https://techwireasia.com/2025/04/microsoft-pauses-key-builds-in-indonesia-us-and-uk-amid-infrastructure-review/) with the mention ‘Microsoft pauses data centre investment in Indonesia, US, and UK’, and here we see the byline “Microsoft pauses or delays data centre projects in the UK, US, and Indonesia.”, it is my view that they cannot afford this setting. You might have heard the American expression, “Go big or go home” and I think that Microsoft is about to go home. You see, I have forever had the clear opinion that there is no AI. I call it NIP (Near Intelligent Parsing), the setting that if too many start accepting the setting that I was always right (which comes from the clear setting that there is one AI station and it was given to us by Alan Turing) the people will realise that there is no AI and it comes down to programming and a programmer. That setting puts Microsoft in hot water for a lot of heavy water (to be poured over their heads). And lets be clear, a side you can confirm with mere logical thinking. A data Centre is a long term setting. No matter what you put in the White House (by some called the village idiot) whatever this administration is, it is short term and a data centre is long term and that so called hype around their AI should never waver. You see, this short term action (read: knee jerk reaction) implies short term planning and that is where they all get into hot waters. Why did you think that I made mention that Google needs to put a data centre in Iceland and consolidate their thinking into geo thermal reactors? (Reactors might not be the right word). A setting where ceramic tiles (or cylinders) surrounding new constructions that is not unlike a nuclear reactor, but the reactor is all around them, not Uranium rods, the Lava (or Magma) is the powerful and as it is merely bleeding the radiation, the fuel never dissipates and never ending energy is theirs. For all these parties looking of creating data centers (as far as I can see around 50 in total globally) they will all require energy and as one data centre takes energy close to a amount a small city does, we will get energy issues a lot sooner than we think.

Did Microsoft think this through? Pretty sure they did and their conclusion is that they cannot spend billion on data centers. So at the same time as we are given “Rivals Oracle and OpenAI ramp up investments”, I come to the conclusion that Microsoft can no longer afford the bills their ego’s committed themselves to. Feel free to disagree, but they set out this AI ‘vibe’ and own 49% of OpenAI, so why close down their Data Centers whilst they ‘own’ one of the ramp up partners? They are figuring out that they are too deeply committed. And as the world realizes that NIP is not the same as actual AI, they fear what is coming next.

So you decide what to make of the stage of “Microsoft has acknowledged changing its strategy but declined to provide details about specific projects. “We plan our data centre capacity needs years in advance to ensure we have sufficient infrastructure in the right places,” a Microsoft spokesperson said. “As AI demand continues to grow, and our data centre presence continues to expand, the changes we have made demonstrates the flexibility of our strategy.”” As I see it, it is an answer, but not the one that touches on this. I come with questions as ‘What growth?’ All this sets the need for some lowered activity, not pausing, unless you know what comes next and there is a larger setting with Oracle, Tencent and Huawei, I know there is a Swedish centre as well but I forgot the name. All these are ramping up, but Microsoft is pausing? That makes no sense unless there is another reason and my thought of “They can no longer afford it” takes another gander and when we consider that they paused “North Dakota, Illinois, Wisconsin, the UK midlands and Jakarta, Indonesia.” That implies something is going on and when we combine this with “Microsoft cuts data centre plans and hikes prices in push to make users carry AI costs” (source: The Conversation, March 3rd 2025) these elements together implies (imply, not proven) tells me that there is a funding setting for Microsoft. Combine that with the lovely voiced fact of “OpenAI brought in US$3.7 billion in revenue – but spent almost US$9 billion, for a net loss of around US$5 billion.” (Source: the Conversation) we see another failed setting and that failure gets to be bigger. As Amazon, Google, Oracle, Tencent and Huawei steam ahead getting larger data centers and ready long before Microsoft is there means less revenue for Microsoft. I did say that they could go big or go home? I reckon that Microsoft already lost 6 times on front settings and they lost to Amazon, Apple (twice), Sony, Adobe, Google, and IBM. I should add Huawei to that list but they already bungled that setting before Huawei became an actual competitor. A simple deduction from little stupid old me. 

So whatever you do, you might look into the trust you gave Microsoft and see that you are not left with an empty shell. Oh, and to prove that I am not anti-Microsoft you need to know that they did corner the spreadsheet market (Excel) and the flight Simulator market. Microsoft did some things good, but when it comes to the spin setting of vibes they need to reassess their situation.

Have a great day, it’s midweek now. I am happily in the next day.

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April 9, 2025 · 16:30

A danger possibly foreseen

That was on my mind this morning. It was brought to the surface by the actor John Cryer (the famous duckster as well as a surgeon in NCIS). He referred to an NPR broadcast.

And the article (at https://www.npr.org/2025/04/08/nx-s1-5356476/social-security-new-rules) gave me pause. I had seen this before and after a few minutes and a ‘eureka’ moment I came up with my article ‘Utter Insanity’ (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2021/10/04/utter-insanity/) where I (read: Reuters) came up with “That could spare the United States a default, but would force other cuts, possibly in areas like Social Security or military pay.” I had come to that conclusion before that ion a few articles I mention there. It comes to ‘blows’ with “It is the relentless boasting government approach towards “My Credit Card is too big too refuse!” Yet that is at this point exactly what is going to happen next week Friday” and that moment was avoided with millimeters to spare. And now? Now we get the timeline change in a few ways. NPR gives us “Instead, they will have to seek services online or travel in-person to a local Social Security field office, which a new analysis from the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, or CBPP, found amounts to a “45-mile trip for some 6 million seniors.”” Here I do not completely agree with NPR, even though they talk in my street of the equation. The added NPR setting is “More than 4 in 10 retirees apply for their Social Security benefits by phone, as do most spouses who are eligible for benefits,” researchers wrote. “So do the substantial majority of bereaved family members who are eligible for benefits following the death of a worker.” This is a valid setting, however, the American administration has valid issues with “Agency officials have said these new measures “will further safeguard Social Security records and benefits against fraudulent activity” by creating “stronger identity verification procedures.”” I agree that they need to stop Fraudulent settings, but that might not be the best way to go about it. For one, the people with clear settings because they moved to Costa Rica or another warm place where their dollars has a better spread is one reason and there are plenty of places to do that and they fall into a dark gap of nothingness. 

So I am a little on the fence with “Beginning on April 14, Social Security will perform an anti-fraud check on all claims filed over the telephone and flag claims that have fraud risk indicators,” they wrote. “We will continue to conduct 100 percent ID proofing for all in-person claims. 4.5 million telephone claims a year and 70K may be flagged.” I agree a better setting needs to be found, but in clearness the American administration has a clear point with optional Fraud. The clarity is seen in the numbers and if there aren’t any, the question becomes why isn’t there a better documented stage? I for one am in the setting that consulates and embassies need perhaps half a dozen more people in certain places to do that work. Too bad America let go over 30,000 federal employees. Perhaps that was an unforeseen blunder of mega (or is that MAGA?) proportions. 

The fact was that I saw this in 2020 and whilst there were references in 2019 going back to 2014, they were partially the same but founded on different facts. So it might seem the same, but it is not. NPR has given a rather large spotlight on something that starts next week and that will have people buzzing in all kinds of panic modes, because retirees that face this will panic and that is on the administration of THIS government, no one else.

So what is the solution? Well, I have a few ideas, but why do the work for people who are making 7 figure numbers. Let them prove their value or perhaps they might be made redundant (too save a few coins in the process). Oh, and before you think I am merely stirring the pot of panic (not entirely incorrect) I decided to give a few ideas another thought like the Google Data centre on Iceland. You see, before 2022 I had an idea, I reckon it was around 2010, I thought (in light of a few Venusian settings. I saw that there that we get “Venus has an extremely hot average surface temperature of around 867°F (464°C) due to its dense, carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere and a strong greenhouse effect, making it the hottest planet in our solar system.” As such I thought (a partial solution that these sulphur batteries might be actively recharged (and happily ignoring other needs), but for unmanned recon it could suffice. So in the meantime we get 

“Also in 2022, Researchers at Drexel University produced a prototype lithium-sulfur battery that did not degrade over 4000 charge cycles. Analysis has shown that the battery contained monoclinic gamma-phase sulfur, which has been thought to be unstable below 95 degrees Celsius, and only a few studies have shown this type of sulfur to be stable longer than 20 to 30 minutes.”

Yet in a volcano rich environment (like Iceland) these lava pockets might be the stage for thermal interaction and the lava (or magma which is a technical setting) flow could recharge almost indefinite. So we have power and as cooling might not be the issue, water is still needed to cool other stages of a plant like that. Fortunately the Greenland Sea (or North Atlantic around the polar circle) is plenty cool (read: cold), so could these two elements unite to give data centres the steps they need to become energy independent? You see, everyone needs more power, so power will cost more and more and we have Iceland in the North and New Zealand in the south, yet New Zealand doesn’t have thermal energy (as far as I know) so a different solution is needed there.

But the setting is still about social security (I got blown off track). So whilst the people are screaming for fraud setting, are there any clear numbers on how many are using social security for fraud (I am certain it is done), but are they overthrowing the system for 10-50 cases? There are 6 million seniors at risk. The question becomes how do the military deal with these cases? How many retired veterans does America have? Would their system be good enough to be adapted to the senior citizens of America? If the Military needs more staff to deal with this, I reckon that at least 20,000 people were fired and need a new job and as most embassies and consulates have military presence adding a few logistical people might be a better solution. Was that investigated? 

I reckon all good questions, but who has the answers? In the mean time Google needs to create data centers with independent power solutions, because the (around) 50 new data centers that seem to be coming all over the world will draw power dry to a dangerous level, being the odd one out will give them a leg up over anyone else. And perhaps they have a better solution than I just phrased. I am not the best, but I remain trying. That’s more than I can say for a lot of high paying people in the American administrations we see. 

So have a great day and while I have my ice water, I will dream of becoming a Goalie at 63, still preferred with the Toronto Maple Leafs, but Iceland will do as an alternative choice (I doubt they need me, but there you have it, I can be delusional too).

Toodles

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April 8, 2025 · 09:50

The fifth branch

That happens, even as I wrote about crossroads there is always that one intersection that has a fifth branch. The road often ignored and the road avoided, but it is there. So up first is the admittance that what you are about to read is fictive, a pure cog of my brain and optionally nothing more than the thoughts of a conspiracy theorist. And to make matters worse (for me) is that the setting go Google yesterday wasn’t completely coincidental. I wouldn’t mind taking Sergey Brin for a ride (something he didn’t ever deserve) for the simple matter of gaining $15 million. The man has an estimated value of $121.2 billion, so at the setting of him losing 5%-15%, avoiding that to hand me a $15 million (and a job) is not beyond me, I have no idea how to do that, but here comes President Trump and that story begins. 

So yesterday I got to the idea that making money of short selling stock. To do this you need a really stupid idea that will shed the markets. In this we see that over the last 48 hours the markets lost around 10 trillion dollars. So what happens when this is design? The entire tariff setting never made sense, unless it was by design and tariff on a Mc Donald Island (with only one CIEIO) and a lot of penguins, so that the President can claim medicine imbalance. In the meantime unknown ‘friends’ of his when the markets are at their lowest, buy what they can. Another party hands them the money and President Trump claims his 70%, these people will still get 30% and when you have nothing any slice of 3 trillion will do. Even at 1% that is 30 billion and I doubt they will make that much, they will make enough to have their dream retirement at 40-50, something they never thought possible ever. But there you have it and the larger setting is that when the dust settles most offices cannot investigate as too many offices has lost their staff. A weird but not impossible setting.

And the people will claim I am mad, consider that I wrote from the start it is all fictive. I will leave it to the willing courtesans (called media) to connect the dots I placed over the last week and try to cash in on their digital dollars. As for Iceland? Well when the ships (read: governments) sink due to warmongering and China has had enough reasons, issues might rise and then we see that Iceland and New Zealand are the only two safe places on the planet. I chose Iceland as with their volcanoes and hot springs they have foundations on energy production. A nice pickle I avoided didn’t I?

Anyway escape your doom with my fictive imagination and take solace in the knowledge that if this is proven true that President Trump and his gang of extras will quickly evade to Russia (the only country who didn’t get a tariff) and America will see such anger it never saw because the entire American army, the secret service and others do not have the manpower or the ammunition to stop 200,000,000 angry Americans. 

Not a bad play write even if I say so myself. So next stop more creativity for me.
Have a great day and remember the Kjötsúpa (Icelandic Lamb soup) in Reykjavik is apparently phenomenal. 

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April 6, 2025 · 20:39

The color of grass

The CBC just alerted me to something that kind of slipped my mind. There is no reason why it didn’t was on my mind, mainly because I do not harvest for headhunters. But when I saw the story, I thought that it would make a lot of sense. The story (at https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/us-scientists-canada-1.7502527) gives us ‘Top American scientists just lost their jobs. Canada is rolling out the welcome mat’ the byline of this story is “Manitoba, B.C., Ontario looking to recruit top scientists from the U.S.” You see, as we read and know from the last few months “Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is aiming to cut 20,000 jobs at agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).” So here we have Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway and Germany seeking specialists of all kinds of people and as they were shown the exit by America, others will look happily to bolster their own sides with people that they couldn’t get before. As such Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will be getting several Christmas hampers, optionally a dozen this year. Even if he is under orders, there is nothing like governmental gratitude from these nations. Of the sidelines. I can advise these governments that the Hampers at Fortnum and Mason (at https://www.fortnumandmason.com/international-delivery-category) are the best.

As such we see an inverted version of the grass is always greener on the other fellows grave. We now (mostly the Commonwealth nations) are the greener grass. So as we see “One example: Dr. Madhukar Pai, the director of the McGill global health programs, told CBC News he’s expecting a record number of applicants for a new tenure-track job in his department, opening in the coming weeks. It’s a field hit especially hard amid sweeping cuts at the U.S. Agency for International Development that are slashing life-saving programs across the world tackling diseases like HIV and malaria.” As well as “Scientists overseeing cancer research, vaccine and drug approvals, public health and tobacco regulations are also among 10,000 already laid off. Public health experts say the mass firings could have catastrophic impacts for the U.S. and the world.” Here I say that it s more the US then the rest of the world. This is the first instance of an American brain drain. The second setting was the market crashing over the last two days, making these people accept other locations a little sooner than accepted. As we see that ‘Trump tariffs wipe $5 trillion off Wall Street’, we also need to realise that some of these people are hurt in their finances and they seek a way out of the uncertainty. So these people are roaring to be the first with a decent contract under their belt. So as we see “Kevin Griffis, a former CDC communications director, resigned in protest two weeks ago after three years at the agency. He said the mass firings were widely felt and could have unanticipated consequences. If the agency needed to hold a press conference today about a major public health threat, “there’s no one who even knows how to run the sound anymore. Because they fired the studio team,” he said.” That case alone will speed China to remove whatever options the other players have. With that setting consider Dr. Fauci joining a Swiss medical enterprise, and according to Kevin Griffis when Americans do not know what to do when a health crises arrives. So when the next ‘covid’ arrive, the people can rely on the treatments through President Trumps ‘advised’ Hydroxychloroquine, but when that fails? What then. Canada can get a setting to be the next best thing to the CDC, then there is the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), and they are a little tired of the American tariff game and could slap a nice 25% tariff on that. The settings for America go from grim to deep black soon enough. Even now we get headlines like ‘Elon Musk backs ‘free trade zone’ between US and Europe’ (source: Al Jazeera) and that is merely for openers.

So whilst the Commonwealth replenishes their shorts on medical experts, America need to wonder what else they could lose. I am still of the mind that America is near to implosion moment of their debts and shutdowns are likely to happen, when that does, these first ‘evaders’ are is a much better position than any other American, even now as the 5 trillion write off hits the entirety of the tech corporation, some will make it, some others will make massive losses taking their home selling efforts almost essential and the billionaires who relied on their Bitcoin, need to realise that this currency is still a few percentage points. So Sergei Brin (all-father of Google) had $142.2 billion, now at 7% less, he seemingly lost 9.95 billion, not that much overall, still more than the 5 billion annual I had reserved for his firm as additional revenue (he dumped the Google Stadia, so that was that) and as Jeff Bezos seemingly lost 13.51 billion, my IP could set him topside in around a speculative 2 years. It is all relative as I see it. Still, this is not about me. As America is losing the handles on the world thought essential services, others will step in to make a move for themself (and I am no different). You see, as the issues evolve, we see scientists that were in unshakable positions, were suddenly shown the door and now as we see “Canadian provinces are already trying to attract American health experts suddenly out of a job. Manitoba is “rolling out the welcome mat” for U.S. trained doctors, nurses and researchers affected by the cuts, said Minister of Health Uzoma Asagwara in a statement to CBC.” And this is only the beginning. As some other fields are shown the cutdowns, we see other ventures all over Europe and even in the Middle East, they are smiling and wringing their hands as fields of opportunity are given to them. The Hollywood fires gave rise to the Dubai Media Group now getting their hands on several lucrative projects. No this is in no way the fault of President Trump, but these small kicks can become a lot bigger. They are not related, but these separate items can become related. As health scientists have possible connections to pharmaceutical corporations, the impact to the larger stage will be visible in less than two years, so consider that in two years the revenue now (which is expected to be $605-$635 billion on medicine in 2025) gets down by 20% (speculative number) in 2027. So what happens when $121 billion goes to other places (like Europe)? So we have Defense (2022-2026) went to China and Europe (close to 90 billion)  now presumption on pharmaceuticals $121 billion less, and the Middle East are now aiming for $10 billion handing that to others and taking that out of America. So how many hits can the American economy endure the loss of of revenue in added fields of revenue again and again. At present (as I personally see it) America needs to pay interest on 36 trillions, which is a little over 2 trillion, all whilst the tax revenue is around $4.92 trillion (2024), so 50% is out on paying the interest of outstanding debts. Do you realise the issues America faces? And now Canada has a first jab at the fired experts in healthcare on several levels and in several disciplines. So how was the tariff game a bright idea? 

And as America loses more and more it is (as I personally see it) nicely on its way to become a third world country, the first in the western world. And I am not surprised as I predicted this as early as June 8th 2014 in the story called ’17 or 70 trillion?’ (At https://lawlordtobe.com/2014/06/08/17-or-70-trillion/) when I wrote “My issue is not just with the US debt levels, it is also about the ‘blasé’ approach economists are throwing at the people stating that things are not that bad and that it will all work out. That part is a figment of THEIR imagination, because for things to resolve, actions must be taken and none are getting taken at present (or in the near future for that matter). My biggest issue with the Article of Chad Stone is seen at the end. His quote “Lowering the debt ratio comes at a cost, not only risking the recovery if it’s done too fast but also in burdening businesses and households with larger spending cuts, higher taxes or both to stabilize the debt ratio“” I foresaw the dangers 11 years ago, not to this degree, but the setting was clear and as the people are now vacating the sinking ship, the seas become heavy for America and they basically almost capsized the boat themselves. A larger setting is connected and even if we are ‘in denial’ that there is a problem, the people are seemingly rising up all over the United States and Europe with their ‘Hands off’ calls. ABC Australia is giving us ‘Thousands protest against Trump and Musk in ‘Hands Off!’ rallies across US and Europe’ (at https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04-06/thousands-rally-trump-musk-hands-off-protests-across-us/105143038) the American setting has usually been ‘The best defense is a good offense’, I do not disagree, yet I am more on the stage of Julius Caesar (Italian army, 65 BC) he states “the first stage is to protect yourself from enemy retaliation” a better setting and as I see it America has left itself open like never seen before. The (slightly less rich) friends from the American administration are now seeking their own save spot, the enemies are enticing former American friends and I warned of that in the years before 2025. Now we see another nail cast into a coffin named ‘defaulted’ And this is not the end, there is every chance that the defense industry will see its own setting of people seeking early retirement and the market crashes will make them seek other shores, their money is in danger of losing the bulk of its value. Will the markets get back? I feel certain they will, but will they recover enough and soon enough? That becomes the question. To write off over 5 trillion is not easily fixed, that much is clear. The next setting are the tariffs, America needs to cancel them for Europe and the Commonwealth to say the least, that might stem the flow of brainpower, but that is a presumption by me. The opponents of America are battering America’s walls and they did mostly this to themself. 

As such I am on the side of Canada, our Commonwealth brother. And if Manitoba, B.C., and Ontario gets their hands on excellent health experts, then I say “Hurray for Canada” and I raise my cup of coffee to them (no beer in my fridge). 

So you all have a great day and if you are on the board of scientists at the CDC, consider the lakes, excellent trout and pike fishing. The air is clean and the people are mostly friendly (not too much to Maple Leaf friends), they revere the Winnipeg Jets. So that’s all for now and see you all on the flip side.

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April 5, 2025 · 16:09

A political game

You know the setting for President Trump with his tariffs are out there. As only 4 hours ago we got word (via Reuters) that another $5 trillion has been wiped of the markets (at https://www.reuters.com/markets/global-markets-stress-graphic-pix-2025-04-04) we saw another piece of news at NBC (at https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/nintendo-switch-2-pre-orders-us-delayed-trumps-tariffs-rcna199729) giving us ‘Nintendo Switch 2 preorders in U.S. delayed because of Trump’s tariffs’ and my cogs started to think. The population of Seattle is around 4,018,762. Now if only 10% wants to get a Nintendo Switch 2 (I reckon that number is much higher) we end up with 400,000 Washingtons wanting that novel contraption and as such the option for Vancouver to get an additional 2 billion in revenue seems clear. And a smuggling game emerged from my brain. The setting is around the interstate bridge ad connect that to a classical game named Frogger and the setting is near complete.

In this setting we get the frog to make it to the other side. Now we change the setting to:

Here we see the interstate bridge, like frogger (now in a north south setting) we move from truck/car to truck/car, the slow vehicles get its there and the fast vehicles get us there faster. And there seems no real challenge and the blue rectangle is the part we see in the game, so the game scrolls. 

Now we get to the border, the guards move from left to right (the don’t care about the Canadian side), if the guard spots you you are royally screwed and you are out $800, if not you pass and you gain $1500. Now on the way back you get by taxi, but here you can skip from taxi to taxi as they pass, if there is a Maga cap in that taxi, it is yours and when you wear the cap for a second trip the border patrol ignores you when you wear a Maga cap. The task is to smuggle as many as Switch 2 consoles as possible. And you can team up, each their own game, but the scores are shown I reckon 2 (or 4 in true Switch 2 mode). In higher levels the guard move faster and the gaps between cars/trucks increase a little. So, we should thank President Trump to give us a lovely smuggle game. We can improve the game in many ways, like adding fentanyl shipments, which gives us a bonus bump (like times 5), so that the profit goes to $7500, however if you are caught you are stopped for 30 seconds and that is where the opponents get 30 seconds of optional gains. There are a few other things you can do, but I leave that to you. I hand over this idea to the clever Canadian with programming skills. It is an Australian ‘Gudday’ to our Canadian brothers and sisters (the she-form of the male can program just as good as the man can). 

How life can throw you a bonus? Well here you have it and there is not a Trump in sight to stop you. And as I go to enjoy the weekend now, I dream of desperate traders throwing themselves off buildings as their fortunes melted away among the trillions in market value. Trump might have stated ““Hang tough,” he urged his followers on social media. “We can’t lose.”” (Source: BBC), but the desperate and greed driven never hang tough, when the reaper comes reaping, the greed driven become suicidal. A simple lesson from life (1929 to 1939, the great depression where 7% committed suicide). 

So have a great day and when the stocks bite, pray you have a Canadian son/daughter who can program. This me having a spell of additional dark humor.

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April 4, 2025 · 23:24

When is the cure worse than the disease?

That is the question that is haunting me. I see ideas in several media and they make sense, they really do. Yet I am still haunted with the ideas in my head, realising very well that I could be wrong. So is it about right and wrong? No, in the first instance it has become about the unreliability of the press. There are too many signals out there. Then the ‘influencers’ came. With their need for digital gratification, digital reinforcement and the other settings, the conspiracy theorists. As some see me as one of those, I offer the idea that I am merely looking for evidence and that requires a reliable press, one that too often no longer exists. Whilst we look at the signals, we often ignore the spreader of the news and the channels they are moved to. 

There are noises that some republicans are deserting President Trump and stop the tariffs on Canada. It is a first setting, but is it enough?

I believe the damage was already done, and whilst you think that this is a joke, consider the other one. 

So, is the joke a mere meme? Is the meme real? Well, the data can be checked and as such why exempt Russia and not Canada? Fentanyl? The data show that Canada is hardly a bump on the scales. Then we get the classification of Fentanyl. According to the United States Sentencing Commission 86.4% were United States citizens. So what gives? According to their statistics

  • Southern District of California (229);
  • District of Arizona (177);
  • Western District of Texas (128);
  • Southern District of New York (94);
  • District of Massachusetts (90);
  • Eastern District of Missouri (90).

As such, the direct route from Canada into the US, we get from Vancouver into Seattle and the state of Washington doesn’t get to that list, which is what I would expect. It can be reached by bridge, the Interstate Bridge to be exact and it takes 130,000 vehicles daily. So as I see it, the numbers do not match the crime and the accusations. 

So what is this really about? In my version is is a distraction on how bad the finances of the United States really are. With 36 trillion in debt, the interest is about 1 trillion a year. We don’t get to much on that do we? So why slap the tariffs on the Commonwealth? The only think that kinda makes sense is that America is on the verge of defaulting its loans and it needs to prevent this, but that idea (the one I am having) is flawed. So is President Trump merely doing a distraction? The reason for this setting is that the press should have been all over this, but they are (by my reckoning) too busy for the grabbing of digital dollars. If the other nations economically collapse America stands a chance, but I agree the evidence to this is flimsy at best. But the other versions are even less likely, still they do have merit. And in all this, Russia gets no tariff? Not even pro forma? It makes no sense to me, but then I was never an economic.

On March 10th the US markets get to write off 4 trillion dollars, so when was that a good thing? As I personally (and possibly wrong) see it, when the markets lose value, the debt of America goes down as well (shake statement), or at least America gets to make deals, because when holding the debt is all that remains, the larger powerbrokers want to hold on to what they can. It gives America time to find a solution (not that there is one). As I personally see it, the real money is in Saudi Arabia and the UAE for staters, but they are the largest jewels in any crown and whilst America gets rid of any competitors through tariffs, their options open up. In the end America gets to compete with the Commonwealth, the EU and China. Three in stead of 30, it makes tactical sense. And the first issue is that all wars are set in deception following that premise the acts of President Trump make perfect sense. But is my vision on what happens right? That is what I wonder about, because I recognise that I might be wrong and the press is less help than usual.

That is merely my view on the matter and as such I stand behind PM Mark Carney and Canada, because Canada is a Commonwealth brother as are the other Commonwealth nations. So feel free to deny my vision, it is OK to oppose this or ignore this. But see what the evidence shows you and take it from there. That is all I can tell you, make up your own mind.

Have a great day, it’s almost Saturday for me (in about 40 minutes).

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