What a world we live in today. Perhaps the Roman’s had it right all along, put Gladiators in a coliseum filled with fans to see which one kills the other first. That was the world then, 100 BCE to 400 CE, a 500 year tradition. Or how about living in 1980 when Carter was President and inflation soared over 18%? Remember when gas was over $4.00 a gallon and that we would run out of gas? Bottom line is that we are always living in some of crisis but today, the crisis seems impossible to turn around.
Just when we thought we were turning the corner on COVID-19, here comes the next variant, more contagious than the first one. And where are the vaccines you may ask? Production is way behind and countries are scrambling. Today in the USA alone, we have more than 25 million cases and more than 420,000 deaths. Fauci advertises more than 500,000 next month alone.
In Michigan, Whitmer has allowed restaurants and bars to reopen next month at 25% capacity and stop serving at 10PM. Really. In California with Newsom under pressure, he is going to reopen the state. Meanwhile, Florida is wide open and people are flocking there in waves.
Surely you have heard of the Patriot Party. Nope, not the New England Patriots partying after Brady left them, and BTW, who have thought the Super Bowl would be the two best quarterbacks defining age and youth? And why did Pepsi, Coke and Bud opt out this year? Trump’s Patriot Party could amass more than 40 million followers and then some. Just because Biden is in the White House doesn’t mean the country is ready to unite.
OK, the new stimulus package Biden wants starts at $1.9 trillion. Here is what that will buy you. It is actually how much American’s (both business and personal) pay in income taxes each year. It is also how much American’s have saved due to not spending on travel, entertainment, dining and other fun stuff. But sorry folks, Apple is worth $2.3 trillion so really, when a millionaire used to be a BIG DEAL and a billionaire was WOW, now trillions means nothing.
My optimism starts when cruise ships start sailing. Alas, now the first tentative dates are fourth quarter 2021 and even into 2022. What does this suggest? 2021 will be much like 2020 and perhaps even worse in terms of cases and deaths. The vaccine is the wild card…..
OK so what can us mortals do in 2021 to get us through? Personally I have been cooking up a storm, learning Chess and Spanish and working out. Just watched Fran Lebowitz’s new documentary on Netflix, a little satire on life and NYC, reminded me of Larry David. I’m using record numbers of firewood and my bourbon collection keeps on expanding because if I can’t go to a bar, at least I can think that I am at a bar. Speaking of bars, will they ever be the same?
I have also been fascinated by BTC (bitcoin), Ether and truthfully, the entire story about blockchain technology known as D3. The more I read, the dumber I become. These 20-year olds talk in a different language (mainly because D3 is a different language) and how they grew up to know this shit, I have no idea as they certainly didn’t teach this in high school. According to its fans, this will be the next big thing like the Internet was in 1995 and will be how payments are made among other things. Companies like The Graph, Polkadot, Cosmos and hundreds others are the new black web just itching to become mainstream. One of my guru’s that I follow predicts BTC is in the very early stages of development and will be worth over $150K next year and can approach $500K per coin. Then again, if GameStop can go from $4 to $159 in a couple weeks, anything is possible.
OK, enough of all that. Let’s talk beauty for a moment. Finally after more than one year in development, Ginger Lily Farms ZeroDerm is launched, the first 100% allergen-free and everything-free personal products for bath and body. With so many people allergic to just about something, this is going to be a really fun product launch. Line includes Hand Soap, Body Wash, Shampoo, Conditioner, Hand Soap, and coming next month, the signature product: 24-hour Moisturizing Lotion. All at $24.99 gallon.
Happy Monday!
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