Ethan and Ehlana:
Happy 22nd Birthday, Patrick Emerson!
Happy 20th Birthday, Micah Byrd!
Two of our current local collegians weren’t home for us to help with their celebrations, so we left it up to Jessica, Jaimie, and their college friends to make sure that Patrick and Micah have had fun today.
Here at home, we haven’t had birthday party levels of fun but we have had a good day that included Tai Chi by the river thanks to a warmer early morning. We had breakfast with Mom and Dad after that; our academic adventures were not newsworthy; and then Ehlana and I were at the lab or archives again after school – though we could have risked some rain showers and gone biking with some friends instead because the high this afternoon hit the mid-seventies. We chose the work-play instead; I used some time phasing while Ehlana couldn’t due to other researchers staying close to her; and we both wrapped up in time for dinner with Mom and Dad. Mom cooked so we cleaned up after enjoying the food and chat time; and then we all moved into the office for work and a Magi lesson.
Quite a bit of our work was related to the tariff and trade war issues, but then it is challenging to deal with the rapid changes. Today, for instance, while the tariff tiff escalated between our country and China as they exchanged retaliations that as of now has ‘our’ tariffs on China at one-hundred and twenty-five percent and theirs on us at eighty-four percent – though China is currently up next for a response or retaliation; so we’ll likely see what happens next by sometime tomorrow. While that was going on, ‘we’ announced a ninety-day pause on the rest of the tariffs except for a flat ten percent for everyone else except China. While that is supposedly to allow the other countries to make new trade deals with us, that reprieve was enough to send the stock markets soaring with huge swings from lows to highs that took the levels back to not far from where they started the ‘crash’ just a week ago.
Most people still don’t seem to understand that the stock market trading is a zero-sum game. Regardless of the values or swings in momentum, one winner’s gain is a loser’s loss; so we are really just talking about transferring wealth. Yes, some of that wealth is only on paper, but true values for the public companies rarely seems to matter anymore, and until it does again; that is just an academic discussion. Many of our future readers may be falling asleep by now out of boredom for the topic; so we’ll only add that games are being played; and the winners and losers will not likely be decided yet – if we ever find out the truth about that anytime-ever!
It is also as clear as mud that we have no idea of what might really be happening with diplomacy on the war fronts. Talk continues to mean nothing real so far; so we can only continue to hope that we won’t end up with the dangerous escalations that the warmongers of the world appear to crave with no care at all for the consequences. Speaking of consequences and for the record, Ehlana and I do not care if trade wars delay our access to the newest video game systems! Honestly, teens everywhere should either be embarrassed if they do care about that more than the things that are really most-important; or they should be insulted that adults think so little of us that they’re making it into a big story!
Moving along, we worked in the office for about eight hours – including the time phasing; Mom had us wrap it up at ten o’clock ‘real’ time; and then bath or Jacuzzi time was needed for at least two of us before Ehlana and I met up for our computer checks and twin chat time. We’ve covered enough of the world and political news of the day; so all we have left is an update for Cassie and Michael. They’re keeping busy with meetings and site visits during the days and evening travel to the east. They’re into New Mexico tonight after crossing the border from Arizona; and they’ll work their way across the State over the next two days before getting to Texas by sometime Friday night. They are even busier than we are as some of their partners are a bit freaked out by the global trade insecurities, but Cassie really has a talent for easing fears of all kinds; and tries to see every challenge as a new opportunity. That is why our family business is continuing to grow rapidly regardless of the never-ending economic challenges, but now we’re getting back to boring talk; so let’s just wrap this up and call it a day. Ehlana and I need a bit more time to wind down, but we’ll get there; and you don’t need to be stuck ‘listening’ to our ongoing commentary, so that is all we have for this report.
Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!
