President Eisenhower, on leaving office, commented about the military industrial complex. Mr. Biden has followed suit, with commentary about the tech industrial complex. We paid little attention to Mr. Eisenhower, and likely will pay little attention to Mr. Biden. These are, however, important ideas that need to be controlled.
Bill Maher on The Daily Beast is worth watching his rant about the fires in California. He picks on everybody and makes some excellent points about how California has failed in its responsibility to its citizens. It’s worth a listen.
The Wall Street Journal had an article about a Company known as ASML, which produces a machine essential to chip making that was published on December 30th, 2024. Again, I’d recommend going back and reading it. It gives great insight into an area that I had never heard of before, and it appears it has been hidden from the public and I don’t mean in a sinister way and is worth the read for everybody who is interested in business and how their computers work.
It has recently been reported that the oldest US gun, a 500-year-old cannon, was found in Arizona with numerous other artifacts. It appears that these come from the travels of the Spanish around 500 years ago, maybe a little longer, and disclosed exactly what their capabilities were from a military standpoint.
We hear from former members of the Canadian government, including Premier Jean Chrétien who was Prime Minister from 1993-2003. He is quoted as saying in an Associated Press article that “Canada would never agree to become part of the United States” on his 91st birthday his thoughts were published in the Globe and Mail. He is also quoted as saying, “To Donald Trump, from old guy to another, give your head a shake!” Followed on with, “What could make you think that Canadians would ever give up the best country in the world – and make no mistake, that is what we are – to join the United States?” I don’t think it could be clearer where Canadians stand.
The reaction to the murder of the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, Brian Thompson, is disappointing at many levels. Obviously, violence is always problematic, even if we believe that the person is, at least indirectly, responsible for the deaths of others. The op-ed written by the CEO of UnitedHealthcare’s parent entity unfortunately sounded much like the same. That is to say, filled with platitudes for Mr. Thompson which may be deserved, and platitudes about what the healthcare industry is doing to make healthcare better and more affordable. Unfortunately, there are no specifics which leads me, and I suspect many others, to simply ignore this op-ed as more nonsense, which is unfortunate as there was an opportunity for Mr. Andrew Witty, the Chief Executive, to put forward some concrete proposals as opposed to the empty platitudes that he provided.
Popular Mechanics has also recently reported that scientists have confirmed that it appears that the universe is expanding at a rate approximately 8% higher than we understood which has come from the James Webb Space Telescope and confirms that this expansion is real and that there is something underlying the physics of the universe that remains a mystery. I suspect there are lots of mysteries in the universe, this is just one that has come to our attention.
The anticipated war over the extension of the Trump tax cuts is evolving into an internal fight within the GOP, as the caucuses divided amongst those who are concerned about maintaining the tax cuts and those who are deficit and debt focused. It appears recently that retaining the tax cuts is overtaking the deficit worries, however, one has to remember that they have only three or four votes to spare and could find themselves in a position where they can’t get it done. There has also been harsh language about the continuing resolution being filled with unnecessary items that are increasing spending which could carry over to this fight.
Bill Owens is a former member of Congress representing the New York 21st, a partner in Stafford, Owens, Piller, Murnane, Kelleher and Trombley in Plattsburgh, NY and a Strategic Advisor at Dentons to Washington, DC.
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