American history has gone through several major cycles where parties have changed. Parties have flipped which regions they dominate, the Overton Window has changed substantially in various directions, and the impact of both the President and Speaker of the House has changed dramatically over time. His Presidency also has a lot of lessons for our …
Author Archives: stidmatt
2020 elections, 1 year out
We are currently in declaration season for the upcoming elections in 2020. Elections are going to decide state legislatures, several governoships, the entire House, and 1/3 of the Senate. It is impossible to exaggerate the importance of this election. Here are my thoughts: President We have the best slate of candidates for President we could …
How to get Visa-free access to the United States
The United States is one of the least welcoming countries in the world based on our visa policy. Only Canadians, Palauans, Marshall Islanders, and Micronesians can come here without some sort of visa. Everyone else needs to either preregister for $14 or pay $140 for a ten year visa. Most people need to pay the …
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Bad investment advice
I was doing some reading this morning and was thinking about defined benefit vs. defined contribution plans and trying to find some actual numbers from a source which would know what they were talking about to show some real numbers behind which decision people should make. The article I turned to first was from Forbes, …
Does the EU work?
List of wars involving France and one of its neighbors in continental Europe, or the United Kingdom in reverse chronological order: 1945: World War II ends (74 years and counting) 1939: World War II begins 1919: World War I ends (20 years) 1914: World War I begins 1871: Franco-Prussian War ends (43 years) 1870: Franco-Prussian …
Characteristics of American homicide
As I keep working on studying the relations of which countries do and do not have open borders, the one variable in the United States which keeps sticking out is our very high homicide rate relative to other countries. It is the only variable where we are consistently doing worse than every member of the …
Bad, worse, worst, hope
Today is a day which will go down in infamy as the day which the Conservative Party of Winston Churchill finally died. Today is the day which the cheerleader for mercantilism, isolationism, and fascism ascended to the highest office of the land of Great Britain. Threatening trade routes, the free movement of people, and putting …
Issues in terms of importance
There are a lot of issues floating around in the political landscape right now, and they all deserve some level of importance. When it comes to the most important issues facing America today, here is how I think of them in terms of importance. Social justice has many aspects demanding attention as always. You have …
Bloomberg on retirement
https://www.bloomberg.com/amp/news/articles/2019-06-13/world-s-retirees-risk-running-out-of-money-a-decade-before-deathI have written a big on this issue before, and if you search my social security label on my blog you will see why I am highly critical of Americas retirement system. When designing a retirement system which works for ALL, there are a few key ideas I believe will help make something which works …
6 point economic plan to save the middle class
There are some serious problems in the current American economic system which hold the middle class back. All of these policy decisions reduce income mobility and hold our economy back. Here are what I see from my life as the biggest problems in the American system which hold Americans back: Our health care system has …
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