JOSEPH!!

 

JOSEPH!!

Mrs. C just got home from working a week-long Ballroom dance competition in another state.  This is typically a very difficult week’s work and Mrs. C is sometimes a bit snarky when she gets home.

In preparation for this suspected snarkyness, I was sure to have all bathrooms clean, dishes put away and floors vacuumed.  I even bought a new vacuum sweeper thing for the kitchen which has an easy handheld attachment for small spills which I showed off when she returned.

“Very nice, now I’m going to shower and maybe get a quick nap before bowling tonight.”

Hmmm, not too snarky…that is a good thing.

Until.

Moments later I heard a snarky yell.

“JOSEPH!!”

Use of a full proper name from a spouse is never a good thing.  I learned this, two spouses ago and it remains a constant.

Up the stair I trod.

“What’s wrong?”

“Go back downstairs and bring your new vacuum thingy.”

“What happened?”

“Your electric razor fell and spilled hair all over!”

I came a nanosecond from apologizing before it set it.

“My razor fell?  How did MY razor fall?”

“It fell as I was putting it away in the drawer.”

“It fell, or you dropped it?”

“It fell! After I dropped it; but it should have been the drawer and it wouldn’t have fallen!”

“So it was my fault that the razor fell?”

“Exactly!”

“Good to know.”

I retrieved the vacuum thingy, cleaned up the tiny mess, and put the razor in the drawer.  No need to get a win out of this battle, better to let her get the snarkiness out over the razor falling than have her find some real screw up I may have committed in her absence.

I might be a jerk, but I’m not stupid!

 

TARIFFS

 

TARIFFS

 

About 50 years ago, with the popularity of VCRs, many local stores started up a new industry.  They stocked up VCR tapes of virtually every movie ever made, and rented them. 

Now, as I recall, the tapes of most of these movies would cost maybe $25 to purchase and $3,50 to rent.

It was a great deal, and a great idea. 

Pretty soon, come Friday, families would rent several movies for the weekend. They could even rent a VCR if they did not own one.  For less than $15 you had movies for the weekend…plus popcorn!

The first local VCR rental store in my neighborhood was an investment by several local entrepreneurs.  They borrowed heavily, worked their asses off and within 6 months their risky investment was paying off handsomely.

Until…

Along came Blockbuster.  A larger, fancier super VCR rental store.

I remember my kids excitedly telling me that you could rent a movie at the new store for $1.99!

Within one year Blockbuster was the only store in the country where you could rent a movie.   Within one year and a half, Blockbuster was charging $4.99 for a movie rental. 

What looked like a great deal, and a money saver, ultimately ended up costing consumers more to rent a movie, and a lot of little guy risk takers lost their shirts.

CRANKY!!

What the Hell does all this have to do with Tariffs?

Well, for example, if China starts building cars with cheap labor in Mexico and sells them for considerably less than cars built in the US, it would be great for consumers.  Taxing these imports through tariffs would in effect be a tax on US consumers.

Except, once car producers in this country were put out of business, what might happen to those Chinese owned Mexico produced vehicles?

Much like Blockbuster rentals went from $1.99 to $4.99 in a short time, imported car prices would also take off.

We would be left with even more expensive import vehicles and destruction of an industry which was basically invented in this country.

Tariffs on some imported products are not a tax on consumers, they are a tool to stop another country from destroying our productive industries with the ultimate effect of uncompetitive long term higher prices.

When people tell you that all tariffs are bad and simply a tax on consumers, think Blockbuster.

On the other hand, I graduated 55 years ago with a degree in economics.  I had a C- average so…

THE CLOCK

 THE CLOCK

Thirty-one years ago, I received a clock from my company representing twenty-five years of service.  It is a nice clock.  It is an Atmos clock, a special clock that never needs winding as it self-winds by virtue of changing atmospheric pressure…or something…I never really understood. 

The clock looks pretty on my mantle, but it never kept accurate time, and when I attempted to adjust the speed to maintain correct time, it stopped after a few days and needed to be manually rewound.

This clock was a common recognition gift for service from many companies back when employees did not skip firms every few years as seems to be the way to move up in the world these days.

Anyway, I have seen many of these clocks at friends or family members  who managed to stay with the same firm for extended number of years.  It seems all these other clocks maintain accurate time and they run forever, as advertised. 

I figured mine was just a dud.

I do know that one key to keeping the Atmos clock running is to have it perfectly balanced.  There is a tiny level bubble thing and adjustable “feet” that assist in this delicate balancing.  Occasionally, over the years I adjusted the balance and the clock would run for a while but it would stop before I could properly adjust the timing adjustment bar. 

I pretty much just gave up on using the clock for time and accepted it as a nice mantlepiece ornament.

A few months ago, after having giving up on the clock as a time piece since the demise of my second marriage, I adjusted the balance just for the heck of it and started it up.

Son-of-a-gun the clock ran with out stopping.  It ran a few minutes a day slow, but it continued to run. 

For the last month I have been adjusting the timing bar every few days until it now keeps time within a few seconds a week of my cable box Greenwich Mean Time analog clock.

Thirty-one years and the clock now is not just an ornament but it actually maintains accurate time!

Apparently, my former wife who was a bit of a neat freak periodically dusted not just around the clock but also under it.  It seems you should not move the clock.  Using atmospheric pressure to keep a clock running requires perfect balance.

The Atmos clock is very sensitive.

Among the many reasons I have for appreciating Mrs. C, I now add to the list the fact that she does not dust the mantle.