My Credit Limit

I was reviewing my charges on my Bank of America credit card. I have two credit cards. A Chase card and a Bank of America card. I've had the Chase card for a very long time and it's our "online card." The BoA card is our every day card.

Since the Chase card has been around for so long, and I used to use it on business trips when necessary, the credit limit grew over time to $24,800. Don't ask me why it's such a funny number because I don't know. The BoA card credit limit was always $15,000.

From time to time I considered increasing the BoA credit limit, but I never bothered because I never felt that it was really necessary. While I was reviewing my charges, I happened to glance at the credit limit and it was $26,000. 

I didn't request this. I never received a notification that the limit was being increased. This is also a bit of a weird number. Why not $25,000?

So how did my credit limit increase by $11,000? My Chase card used to go up when I came close to, or exceeded, the credit limit. They would just bump it and send me a notice to that effect. But I haven't been close to the limit on the BoA card this year. The highest amount was $7,828.

I have two theories.

The first is that they made me change the way my autopay of the Chase card worked and I got into a bit of a kerfuffle trying to explain that I want the card immediately when it closed and not wait a month until the due. Eventually we figured out a way I could do that.

The second is I had just gotten my yearly "how are we and remember we love you" call from BoA and the agent mentioned that our use of the card had been higher than usual. I did explain that was a temporary thing because, you now, basement leak expenses and all.

In neither case did anyone ask me about increasing the limit. 

Anyway, I now have a total of $50,800 in credit limits on my two cards. I can't wait to see what this increase does to my FICO score.

The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA)

Make no mistake. The objective of the DSA is Socialism in the US. All you have to do is look at their web site. Before they change it, and they will, I captured the text.

"Capitalism is a system designed by the owning class to exploit the rest of us for their own profit. We must replace it with democratic socialism, a system where ordinary people have a real voice in our workplaces, neighborhoods, and society.

We believe there are many avenues that feed into the democratic road to socialism. Our vision pushes further than historic social democracy and leaves behind authoritarian visions of socialism in the dustbin of history.

We want a democracy that creates space for us all to flourish not just survive and answers the fundamental questions of our lives with the input of all. We want to collectively own the key economic drivers that dominate our lives, such as energy production and transportation. We want the multiracial working class united in solidarity instead of divided by fear. We want to win “radical” reforms like single-payer Medicare for All, defunding the police/refunding communities, the Green New Deal, and more as a transition to a freer, more just life. 

We want a democracy powered by everyday people. The capitalist class tells us we are powerless, but together we can take back control."

I take no position on this at the moment. But I think it's important that people understand what we're talking about here.

Thoughts on Abdul El-Sayed

Abdul El-Sayed won the Michigan Democratic Primary for Senator last Tuesday.

He is a far left so-called Progressive, and certainly has some impressive academic credentials.

He attended the University of Michigan, where he majored in biology and political science. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa with Highest Distinction in 2007 with a bachelor's degree and delivered that year's commencement speech. El-Sayed received a full-tuition scholarship to the University of Michigan Medical School, where he completed two years of medical school, and considered becoming a neurosurgeon. There he led a student medical mission to Peru and founded a student organization that raised money and coordinated community service for a local free clinic.

He then received a Rhodes Scholarship to attend Oriel College, Oxford, where he completed a D.Phil. in public health in 2011. In 2014, he completed a Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) degree at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. El-Sayed did not pursue a medical license, and instead went into public health epidemiology work.

I wonder why he decided against getting a medical license?

In 2014, El-Sayed joined the faculty at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health as an assistant professor in the epidemiology department. In August 2015, Mayor Mike Duggan appointed El-Sayed Health Officer and Executive Director of the Detroit Health Department.

El-Sayed is the author of over 100 scholarly articles, abstracts, and book chapters on public health policy, social epidemiology, and health disparities.

Like I said, impressive academic credentials. Then again, Osama Bin Laden had academic credentials as well including a stint at Oxford.

I don't like Muslims. I don't trust Muslims. Fighting them for so many years might have something to do with that so my immediate reaction to this guy is, no thanks.

There used to be these two buildings in Manhattan. Islam is both a political movement and a religion. The two can't be separated. El-Sayed supports the same people that the Muslims that flew planes into those buildings supported. We buried people after 911. We were supposed to "Never Forget." Looks like too many people in Michigan forgot.

Basically he won by promising people lots of free stuff.

He's going to pay for the free stuff by taxing billionaires. There are two reasons why this strategy never works.

First, really rich people are really, really good at keeping their money. They can afford to hire the best tax and financial advisors on the planet. Getting at their money is a lot harder than it sounds.

Second, there aren't enough billionaires around to pay for the things he's promising. The income tax started out at 1% on $0 to $20,000 ($640,000 today) after a $3,000 exemption for single taxpayers and a $4,000 exemption for married couples. The exemptions were enough to exclude 98% of workers.

Now look at the income tax today.

The same thing is going to happen with proposed wealth taxes. They won't be able to accumulate enough revenue from taxing only billionaires and the tax will move down first to the Upper Class, then to the Upper Middle Class and finally to the Middle Class.

They'll be coming after your saving accounts, your 401k accounts and the equity in your home before you know it. The crazy logic these so-called Progressives have is, if you earned the money, then you don't deserve it, but if you didn't earn it, then you deserve it. Besides, the only people who would vote for them are the ones getting the free stuff that someone else is paying for. 

The Fallacy of Democracy begins when 51% of the electorate figures out that they can vote goodies for themselves that the other 49% will pay for.

He also wants an arms embargo on Israel, because of course he does, he's a Muslim, and he wants to abolish ICE. We might want to rein in ICE, and get rid of the untrained recruits that Trump hired, by abolishing it is insanity.

So for the first time in my life, I'm supporting a MAGA Republican, Mike Rogers, to beat this guy in the general election.

Emily Wilson on Nolan's Odyssey

Emily Wilson, the translator upon whose work Nolan supposedly based his movie on, didn't seem to appreciate the author's work in a review she wrote for the London Review of Books.

In her review, Wilson said the movie lacked "psychological, emotional, political and ethical depth" and had "nothing convincing to say."

Ouch!

She went on to say, "I had hoped that Nolan's affinity with these Homeric themes might push him to new creative heights, and enable him to conjure more believable characters. But 'The Odyssey' features his usual combination of grandiosity and superficiality."

Double ouch!

She continued, "The film's vision is too confused, its characters too underdeveloped, to deliver what it half-promises in terms of big ideas – although it is very good at conveying big bangs and big giants."

Oh, my word!

Then she went after the script "The writing is abysmal. None of the characters has a convincing motivation for their actions or words. There are no sex scenes, and all the food looks horrible."

Double ouch with a cherry on top. Although I have to wonder why she's so concerned about the film not having any sex scenes?

Hamas Willing to Disarm?

 There's a rumor floating around the internet that Hamas has offered to disarm if Israel will stop their strikes and withdraw from Gaza.

I don't know how true this is, but, for the moment, let's assume it's true.

In any other circumstance, this might be considered victory. But can anyone really believe what Hamas says?

I would want Hezbollah and Iran included in any "peace" agreement and the stationing of UN Observers in Gaza to insure compliance.

But this could be a major step in the right direction. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

Trump Approval Rating

People keep either applauding, or bemoaning depending upon their politics, the apparent beating in the polls that Trump has been taking. I'm not that impressed.

Yet, 70% of Republicans apparently still approve of him despite a horrible economy, a ridiculous war in Iran and the constant slew of demonstrably false claims that he spews on a regular basis.

In a recent YouGov survey, when asked "Which event in U.S. history are Americans most proud of?" 20% of Republicans answered "The Election of Donald Trump in 2016." 

When asked "Which parts of U.S. history are Americans most ashamed of?" 27% said the "Election of Joe Biden in 2020." Only 20% said "Slavery." 

When asked "Who is the greatest American in U.S. history?" The highest percentage response among Republicans was Donald Trump at 24%. Second was George Washington at 19%, and third was Abraham Lincoln at 18%. 

These people have the IQ of a gnat, so I believe the 70% number.

Most of these Trump supporters haven't been more than 100 miles away from where they were born. Yet they will pontificate about how terrible places like California and New York are despite never having been there. Then they're outraged and shocked when CNBC lists 10 Red States as the 10 worst states to live in.

Market Crash, July, 29th, 2026

The market took a beating today. The Dow dropped 1,153 points, the Nasdaq 433 points and the S&P 500 by 112 points.

The funny thing is I went on the deck a little before 3 PM and things looked like therer were improving. The Nasdaq and S&P 500 were actually positive and the Dow was down about 500 points which was a big improvement from the 800 points that it was down earlier.

When I came back inside, everything had fallen off a cliff. 

I assume that was a reaction to the fed holding rates steady? If it was, then it seems sort of strange considering that the probability of that happening was in the 70% range. Why panic over something that was expected to happen?

Medical Issues, July 29th, 2026

I saw my Thoracic Surgeon yesterday and he says that there was improvement, but wants to do it again in three months.

Well, at least he seems to think that I'll survive another three months. I suppose that's something.

Medical Issues July 26, 2026

It's been a long time since I whined about my health so I figure I deserve to whine a little.

I was sick at the end of December. I mean really sick. I was hacking, easily lost my breath, running a high fever and generally feeling downright miserable. It was SO bad that I made an appointment with another doctor in my pulmonologist's office.

He took a swab and told me to get an X-Ray which I dutifully did the next day. He also gave me an antibiotic just in case.

The X-Ray was negative but the swab showed that that I had a type of flu. He told me to let it run its course.

Well, let me tell you, that course seemed to take forever. The fever went away but the hacking and shortness of breath remained. I also had this problem of food getting stuck while eating. I had this before and the Gastroenterologist did a dilation, but this was different, so I made a gastro appointment.

My Gastro guy had me schedule an esophagram. This will become important later.

In the meantime my appointment with my regular pulmonologist got push out to the second week of June which pushed it out beyond my next CT Scan and thoracic surgeon appointment which were in late April.

Things didn't go well with the CT Scan. There was an enlarged lymph node, from 8 mm too 1.1 cm, a lesion and a thickening of the lung lining. The radiologist wasn't sure but didn't think is was anything malignant. The thoracic surgeon said he thought it was all related to my flu episode.

I made the point that three months had passed since the worst of the flu and, while I wasn't feeling perfect, things had definitely improved. He hit me with the "when you get older" explanation.

I'm going to get a little sign made that says "When You Get Older," and hold it up whenever a doctor goes into that kind of explanation.

Anyway, he said to do it again is three months just to be sure. I had that CT Scan last week and the report was encouraging, but not perfect. The radiologist wants it done again in three months. I see the thoracic surgeon on Wednesday.

In the meantime, I went for the esophagram. You have to drink this foul tasting stuff but I had barely started when the radiologist started yelling for me to stop. Apparently I was aspirating the liquid into my lungs and, rather than let me drown (only kidding), he stopped the test. 

There was enough to show that I had a pocket where food was getting caught and food, rather than staying in my esophagus, was sometimes getting into my lungs. Isn't that just dandy?

The gastro guy sent me to an ENT who suggested I see a doctor that specializes in swallowing. I didn't even know there was such a thing. The problem is the swallowing guy isn't available until the end of August. He works out of Mt. Sinai and is usually in New Jersey twice a week, but not during the summer and I'm not crazy enough to go into Manhattan.

The last piece to this mosaic of chaos is I finally got to see my pulmonologist and she hit me with a triple. I got a steroid, which I think did wonders, an antibiotic just in case, which I don't think did anything, and a prescription for a nebulizer and associated medicine.

I was supposed to do the nebulizer twice a day for 30 days. But she gave me enough refills for about six months and the medicine costs $0. It really loosens up phlegm. I wonder if you can get addicted to this because when I stopped doing it in the evening I woke up the next morning choking pretty badly.

So I went back to doing it twice a day. I'll see what the thoracic surgeon says but I suspect that he'll tell me to check with the pulmonologist. Unfortunately she's out on leave and won't be available until October.

Oh yeah, one more thing. I saw the eye doctor a couple of weeks ago and she gave me prescriptions for reading glasses and glasses for night driving. I went to Warby Paker, and the night driving glasses are supposed to come tomorrow, but I haven't heard anything about the reading glasses yet and those are the ones I'm most interested in.

Bernie and the Minimum Wage

Bernie Sanders is again pushing for an increase in the federal minimum wage, which is still only $7.25. He put up a post comparing the minimum wage to the net worth of Musk, Bezos, and Zuckerberg.

I don't see what the net worth of the three richest dudes has to do with the Minimum Wage question. First of all, let's remember that 30 states already have a minimum wage greater than the federal minimum wage. Let's also remember that different states have different costs of living. Hawaii has a minimum wage of $16. I'm not sure it would make sense to make that the minimum wage for Mississippi. Perhaps we should just leave this up to the states. I'm getting a little tired of trying to drag Red States into the modern world.

Besides, the potential problem with raising the minimum wage significantly is that it could cause both Demand-Pull Inflation and Cost-Push Inflation. The first occurs when consumer demand exceeds available supply and the second when production costs increase leading companies to increase prices.

Not only could this inflation wipe out the benefits of the higher minimum wage, it will crucify seniors on a fixed pension, and hurt anyone whose wages didn't increase, leading to demands for higher wages, leading to more inflation and so on and so forth. Welcome to the "Wage-Price Spiral."

Obviously this will damper out sooner or later, sooner is good, but later could lead us into a spiral like we had in the 1970s.

Bernie, your BA is in Political Science; please talk to someone with at least one degree in Economics.