We think that the tensions between the world powers are escalating and that we should be cautious. We remember that the mother nature should not be underestimated and that we need to be prepared. We also give you a feel-good story this week to make you smile in the midst of all the negativity.
Because CTPC is where you think, remember, and smile.
Good morning I’m Austerity Jones and I’m here with C Thomas Printer. We have a lot of items to cover today don’t we?
C Thomas: Good morning, Austerity. Yes, we do. We had another earthquake, the South China Sea is at stake and we have announcements to make, but before we do I want to bring attention to a good thing as we want to do from time to time even though I am anything but timely in relaying this story. I was reading an article from 2015 KTLA news 5 (I’ll attach a link) about an event that happened 4 years prior so I wasn’t kidding when I said it wasn’t timely, but let’s call it recent history since we tend to look to the past to improve our future.
The story is about a doctor that got into a very bad traffic accident in his automobile versus a semi-truck and the semi-truck caught on fire. First responders raced against the clock and the fire to get the seriously injured doctor out of the vehicle. They managed to do so using the jaws of life and the doctor survived , but spent a month and a half in the hospital and suffered burns on his legs and he even lost a couple of toes. But, he survived. Among those that saved Dr. Michael Shannon, who happened to be a paediatrician, was Chris Trokey, a paramedic on the scene. Chris Trokey was born premature almost 30 years earlier and weighed just 3.2 pounds at birth and was given only a 50/50 chance to survive. His doctor that stayed with him night and day was the very doctor that he saved, Dr. Shannon. Dr. Shannon is also Trokey’s son paediatrician now. This is a good reminder that being competent and going above and beyond really does change lives. We have so much negative in our social media feeds, newspapers, and water cooler conversations that occasionally we need to have a nice story to tell. I will try to find a more timely one next time, but moving on from a feel good story to a tragic story that just keeps getting worse.
There was another earthquake in Turkey this week and it was a big one at 6.4 on the Richter Scale, and it was centered very close to the ones that happened earlier this month. There was so much damage already done that it is getting overlooked, but it affected rescue efforts and damaged already fragile infrastructure as Turkey and Syria try to dig themselves out of the rubble. We want to try to learn from these events which is why I want to bring them to your attention. Turkey is prone to earthquakes, so is Chile, so is California etc. Florida is prone to hurricanes and flooding so is Louisiana, and the Caribbean. If you live in these areas try and bring about change in the planning for these disasters. After they have hit it is much too late. How much water, food, blankets can be set aside for a rainy day or earthquakey day beforehand and much like a financial portfolio it needs to be set aside in numerous locations. When these events happen the speed of response matters to people and just like the early immigrants that didn’t eat their seed corn so that they may flourish in the future, it is the same concept. In a perfect world the governments aren’t involved at all and the communities themselves are equipped to deal with their own tragedies which is how it was for centuries, but if the government is going to be involved, let’s see that they do it right with planning and less reacting.
Speaking of reactions, there was a very chilly one that took place in the South China Sea as a Navy plane was directed that they were within 12 nautical miles of Chinese airspace by an armed fighter jet. The CNN crew aboard could see the fighter pilot turn his head and they could see his missiles according to Watson and Jozuka at CNN. This comes on the heels of Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang warning certain countries to stop “fueling the fire” in an apparent dig at the United States according to Reuters. The US is accusing China of possibly supplying the Russian government with weapons while China is meeting with both parties’ leaders in an attempt to drive peace and stop the escalation of the war by the west with tanks, ammunition, and weapons. If history has taught us anything it is that when the ground starts drying up there will be more offensives probably by both sides and this little window of mud is an ideal time to find a peace if there is one. It might be a good time to keep the peace between China and the US as well. These escalations seem to be escalating and the last thing we want to do is expand the war into another theater of the world.
Lastly, we have announcements to make regarding the C Thomas Printer Cooperative. G Spot is back and he will be writing on the LIV golf season, golf’s 4 majors and wherever alcohol and gambling may take him. His work can be found at weliv4golf.com which is we LIV as in the LIV golf tour, the number 4 as in golf’s 4 majors that’s we liv4golf.com. He has been away for awhile as we felt that our mothership program on Sundays just wasn’t the right place for his mischief, but that’s why we have a cooperative so you can find him there, and we also learned a lesson in that we needed to come up with a name for our Sunday historical and economic deep dives so we decided to call it Bygone Relics. That will be our new name for our weekly chats to make you think, make you remember and make you smile. G Spot has a more hedonistic mission statement although he might stop in for a poem from time to time. You can still find us at cthomasprinter.com or for a direct path to Bygone Relics just go to bygonerelics.com and you will be directed accordingly. I want to call the show Austerity Jones and a Bygone Relic but I was overruled.
Sincerely Yours,
C Thomas Printer
Financial tip of the week
Last week we talked about getting your taxes done and getting that refund and putting that money to work. This week’s tip is to do a little planning to make sure you don’t get a refund next year. That is your money that you are allowing the government to have for an entire year. Make sure that your deductions are on point and pay the tax you owe and no more. That will give you your money earlier and you can put that to work as you deem necessary.
On this date in history
104 years ago to be exact, the US created the Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona. 31 years later to the day Grand Teton National Park was formed in northern Wyoming. Erosion is a fascinating and beautiful process.
Also born on this date
The lover of alliteration and creator of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Porky Pig: animator Tex Avery
Resources of this episode: