Stock Market - Essentials of life

 It seems the stock market rewards a narcissistic leader with a pipe dream over a normal person with sound business fundamentals. 

Also noteworthy - seed, dirt, water, light and air are life giving.  

D Jackal T

 The only thing he is doing with his Iranian war is enriching himself and his cronies. It’s a yo-yo between progress towards piece and an escalation.  The markets respond in kind to his words.  There is no relief for American consumers. Only the elites profiting off his controlled chaos. 

Every politician fails the electorate once they’re elected. Every time. Burn it to the ground. 

Favorite Job

One of my favorite jobs was working in a video store.  For those unfamiliar, movies were released on video cassette for home viewing.  A video store was like a library but you paid to rent the title because at the time the retail prices were high.  So, the video store was born.  If I remember right, new releases were 3 dollars for one night.  As the title aged,they would go down to 3 dollars for 5 nights and once they were mainstream titles, the went down to 1.50 for 5 nights.  

The job entailed being a cashier to charge people for their selected rentals, any snacks they bought and any late fees they accrued due to keeping the video past the due date.  Or you could work the membership desk  to sign people up for memberships, answer questions about movies and check-in returned movies, making sure they were re-wound and ready to play before putting them on the shelf to be rented again.  Please be kind -Rewind stickers were on every video tape.  

People were usually in a good mood renting from the video store.  One of the perks was getting to rent movies for free.  We got coupons with our pay checks to rent for free.  You could rent anything in the store for free.  The coupons were for first run new releases.  

The store I worked for was Video Central.  It was owned by HEB and was competition to Blockbuster.  I held that job for 4 or 5 years.  It was fun.

Video stores started to struggle shortly after DVDs were introduced and again when netflix was launched.  Unsure what the ultimate nail in the coffin was as I don't remember when streaming videos went mainstream.

However, there was something fun about going to the video store and browsing the covers on the shelf looking for a movie to watch.  Kinda like a library.  I don't know.  It was an enjoyable past time.  It was relatively cheap entertainment.  Playing the movie on the VCR provided good enough quality.  The audio signal was Dolby encoded and could do reproduce primitive surround sound effects with a modern receiver.  

In a way it was the pinnacle of simplicity before the technology advanced and streaming became a viable option.  Going to a friends house and renting "the fly" or all the "aliens" movies was fun.  Or having fun renting Cape Fear combined with Basic Instinct was fun, too.

Too bad technology has advanced with streaming.  For the age of the video store was the golden age of entertainment for Gen X.  I miss those days. 

Autism

 Autism affects more people now than ever before.  Perhaps autism affects the same percentage of people it always has.  Prior to the anything goes culture, autism was seen as a behavioral problem instead of a medical problem. I am certain parents used to beat autistic tendencies and behaviors out of their kids up until the mid 1990s.  

Which generation has the lack of understanding?

Humans

 With the AI, data center development and inflation, I now believe the governments around the world combined with the titans of technology and industry and the world economic forum and the World Health Organization are literally trying to bankrupt and kill all human life on planet earth for their own entertainment.  We are a nuisance.  We aren’t wanted. And we aren’t needed.  

The googler

 Ask it to analyze your behavioral tendencies based on historical conversations and queries. Here’s one thing it said about me; 

emotionally restrained publicly but internally intense 

What does it say about you?

My Time in Wisconsin

 About two weeks ago I went to Wisconsin to help my oldest get situated in starting his first "real" job.  Moving a considerable distance from home, renting and furnishing an apartment and working to launch him off with everything he needs is just what this old man needed.  

There was something cathartic being with him and witness him taking an opportunity that was totally unknown for him.  For him, landing the role took a year.  The ironic thing was he originally applied with the company while a senior in college.  He thinks he may have missed (or does he know he missed?) communications from the company to move forward in his initial application process.  At any rate, he was offered the position.  And we drove cross country with his clothes, his computer gear and a few essential items... and spent a little over a week traveling, scouring the facebook marketplace and creating his living environment.

He concluded one chapter of his life and started the next chapter of his life where his life and story launches independently built on the foundation of his education and upbringing.  He has been raised well.  He has a good head on his shoulders.  He is charting his own path and he started on Monday.

In a way helping him with his transition energized my transition to right my ship and course correct.  Since leaving previous employer, I have become increasingly frustrated in the re-employment process.  The scouring of job postings.  The submission of resumes and applications.  One glimmer of hope quickly fades to nothing.  Interviews leading to ghosting.  Unable to leverage a 20 year career into something of value for next opportunity in the same industry.  Unable to do it for a different industry.  Too old?  Too qualified?  Too experienced?  No experience?  Poor economy?  Saturated labor market?  Employer prioritizing youth over seasoned professional?  Stale.  Stagnant.  Risk averse?  Comfort over courage?  It's been a slog and a complete and total waste of time and energy.

While going as a support to my son, the thought emerged that the chapter of being an employee or leader in a large corporation has closed.  I turn the page to something new.  Being in Wisconsin made it okay to pursue something new, something unknown.  Something a little intimidating.  An alternate path to leveraging skills I possess others either don't see value in or are unwilling to pay for.

I learned there is a term for the transition: necessity entrepreneurs.  Defined as those in engage in entrepreneurship because of a belief that decent or desirable livelihood alternatives do not exist for them.  The starting or acquisition of a business because they have been unable to secure viable employment options or sources of income.  Driven by survival these entrepreneurs are often formerly unemployed, displaced workers or individuals facing economic uncertainty acting as a push to self-employment.  

Characteristics of necessity entrepreneurs:

Survival driven - the primary goal is generating income to cover basic needs

Pushed into business - motivated by job loss, lack of career opportunities or dissatisfaction, rather than by a desire to innovate.

Common industries - small-scale, low-capital retail or services businesses (what is considered low-capital?)

Resource constraints - often operate with limited resources, capital and a lack of formal safety nets

Counter-cyclical - Tends to increase during economic recession and high unemployment

Necessity Entrepreneurs tend to start or acquire businesses to survive, often buying a job because they couldn't find another. 

While necessity entrepreneurship is sometimes seen as having limited impact, it is crucial for social stability and survival in both developing and developed nations. 

The above was summarized from the googler.

Necessity entrepreneurship is being studied by "economic thought leaders."  What I have read suggests mixed chances of success.  However, using the googler while providing the P&L statements, how the business is structured and my resume for analysis.  The googler months of data, questions and analysis.  The latest assessment of the googler is:

 Your profile is MUCH stronger for this acquisition than:

• a random investor
• a burned-out office worker
• or someone chasing entrepreneurship emotionally.

You already:

• managed complexity
• led teams
• handled accountability
• operated under pressure
• and controlled budgets

That’s real ownership-adjacent experience.

 

Not:
❌ “master technician owner”

More likely:
✅ operational/business owner
✅ systems-oriented leader
✅ people/process manager
✅ culture and customer experience operator

…supported by strong technical staff.

That can absolutely work IF:

• the technical team remains stable
• you earn credibility gradually
• and the numbers truly support the business.

I continue collaborating with mentors, experienced business owners, entrepreneurs, financial advisors and close friends.