Puffs

Over the years a number of different people ask how I keeping coming up with subjects to write about.

I surely don’t have a method, but something always happens to come up and sometimes there are just too many to write about and I don’t get it all done. This is one of those weeks that a number of items seemed to present themselves for my attention. Don’t know how many I’ll get included this week, but I’m going to start with something that happened this week that brought back memories.

We were just getting back into some kind of ‘normal’ routine medically speaking and Nancy was set to re-start her P. T. last Friday. However, on Thursday she came down with a terrible cough and was just not feeling well.

So a call went into the doctor to see if we could get in to see him. (This is where my memory of maybe some 55 years ago was re-kindled.)

With the call to the doctor, we learned, yes, we would be able to see the doctor . . . but . . .

When we got to the Medical Park, we were to drive to a particular spot in the parking lot.

Then . . . we were to call them again and let them know we were there and they would come out and take a COVID test, along with whatever else they do.

Then . . . we were to sit and wait until the testing was done and they would call us. It would only take about 15 to 20 minutes. We waited that time and never got a call. As I was about to go in and see what was happening, someone came out and told us they had been trying to call, but could not get the call through.

The kickback to 55 years ago would have happened if they would have asked for a “password.” (Passwords were important 55 years ago when I was in the Air Force.)

They didn’t, and my memories of 55 years ago were just that, memories. I did not lose the intermittent 55 years.

It’s funny what rekindles old memories.

To end the story, both of us have come down with colds that are keeping us inside and away from too many people for fear of passing it on and in fear of picking up something new to add on.

A O

Christmas and New Year: For a number of weeks now our mailbox has been filling up with those little sales catalogs from such a wide variety of businesses. I’ve never hear of many of them.

So, I knew Christmas was coming closer. However, I also got a reminder that the New Year was also coming.

One day last week, I got a catalog from a company wanting to sell me income tax software and forms.

I haven’t received something like that for a number of years. Someone must have gotten an old list of income tax preparers and sent me the opportunity to do business with them.

Nope . . . I’m out of that business and I’m happy to be out of it.

Somewhat related to this topic. I’m sure most of you have heard where the federal government wanted to hire something like 60,000 to 80,000 new agents to help do the work of the IRS.

That idea scared me.

However, I understand that the IRS did already hire something like 4,000 new employees whose job is to be to assist all of the ‘Tax Preparers’ already at work helping the ordinary person file his yearly report to the government.

I enjoyed doing the tax preparation work, but I’m also glad I’m not doing it anymore.

A O

Since I’ve talked about memories this week, I’m going to talk about one other memory. It has to do with the collapse of the company known as FTX.

Back in my college days, I had more than one professor try to convince us students that the collapse of Wall Street in 1929 just could not happen again. The government had put in so many corrections, another collapse just was impossible to happen again. Everyone was safe.

Well, since that time there has been times when Wall Street and the stock market connected thereto has come under serious threats. However, for the most part the corrections still work. (But, consider the Enron disaster, the Madoff scam and others that appeared for a while and then went away after the damage was done.)

In the past month or so, the national news has put information out about the collapse of a company call FTX.

I’ll be the first to admit that I know absolutely nothing about this company and what it does. However, it seems the company is going down the tube along with the billions of dollars associated with it.

The reason I bring this up is two-fold. First, because it reminded me of those college professors who were convinced the U. S. monetary system was safe and we’d never experience another episode of the stock market crash. (They were partially correct, however.)

Secondly . . . what I know of it is a prime example of what the politically liberal part of America promotes.

In general terms, I get the impression Liberals want to have the government ‘control’ most everything in America. If something happens that harms a certain group of people, they can stop that from happening and causing people a hard time.

As proven by those people involved with the FTX bankruptcy, someone is going to find a way around all those ‘fixes’ put into the system to stop it from ever going bad again.

Don’t be fooled by those countries most public with their Socialistic government (Russia and China). The price paid for the appearance of a successful society is the individual freedom of the people who live there.

OK, I didn’t mean to get political this week, but so often it just is necessary to try to help explain what is going on.

A O