When asked to join our little People's Republic of Del Mar Finance Committee, I took a pass.  In our case, I was unwilling to submit myself to an all-too-likely verbal and press lynching for my past and present political positions.

I'd rather focus on family, business and flying - plus some rational, quiet debate with those few libs I know who can discuss issues without resorting to cliches, catch phrases and canned talking points.

...and then I'll vote "No" when the local Ruling Class proposes their next Taj Mahal city hall.  

You are not wrong and are spot on!  Aside from a handful of Cassandras - Victor Davis Hanson comes to mind - very few in-state pundits publicly recognize the straits we're in.  And even a surprising (to me) number of business people are so blinded by their ideology that they have no more situational awareness* than did the crew of Air France Flight 447.

* A wonderful use of that term, Paul, that I will eagerly and frequently adopt.  Kudos and thank you!

Congrats on following your dream and gettting into the air on your own.  You have followed the dictim, "Carpe diem," in a significant fashion that very few of us pilots have.  (And I am not among the few, sad to say!)

And in your own craft, never fail to remember the 3 most useless items for a pilot:  the runway behind you, the altitude above you and one second ago.

I am a low-time (500 hours) non-instrument rated pilot, but, yes, you are spot on.

And that's on top of the millions of kids who would have been born into Democrat families and added to the Party rolls if they hadn't been aborted.

Israel, I agree wholeheartedly.  We all make choices every minute of every day, and the Secret Service agents made theirs.

Claire: Thank you for choosing well and treating us to your insights.

I can't tell whether your acquaintance wants to sell into the US market, open retail stores, franchise a concept or what.

That said, here in no particular order are a few potential reasons for his/her lack of success:

*  The US has no ready market for the concept.  People in a $3K/person GDP market buy different items than those in the US.

*  The return is low v. the perceived risk.

*  People are holding back for the same reasons they are here: uncertainty about regulations, mandates (e.g., healthcare, "living wages"), taxes.

*  He/she is addressing the wrong market, e.g. large corporations v. entrepreneurs, or vice versa.

*  He/she doesn't have a compelling value proposition condensed into a 30-second elevator speech and so can't reach those people who might have enough interest to ask the next question.

*  He/she doesn't understand US distribution for the proposed product or service.

I have a Lebanese friend here who has created success stories in IT, upscale barbecue installations and fireplaces.  He has not been successful (yet) importing food delicacies from the Middle East.

The US has loads of entrepreneurs-in-waiting AND moochers awaiting handouts.

I still can't come, but this policy is BIZARRE!  It seems upside down to me.   Before our next meetup, I will inquire about the "Why?" of the underlying policy - it's getting so complicated for all of you that I'm almost embarrassed to have made the suggestion in the first place.
Wherever you end up, have a great time - wish I could be there.

I've never been secretive about it.  The left has always produced better music and balladeers than our side.  In the early days of YAF, we used to sign "We Shall Overcome," meaning WE WOULD.

I just loved the irony as I worked out last night to Woody Guthrie's most pro-business (I can't say "pro-capitalist") song, "Roll On Columbia" while thinking of all of today's Luddites:

At Bonneville now there are ships in the locks,
The waters have risen and cleared all the rocks,
Shiploads of plenty will steam past the docks,
Roll on, Columbia, roll on.

CHORUS

And on up the river is Grand Coulee Dam,
The mightiest thing ever built by a man,
To run these great factories and water the land,
It's roll on, Columbia, roll on.
CHORUS

These might men labored by day and by night,
Matching their strength 'gainst the river's wild flight,
Through rapids and falls they won the hard fight,
Roll on, Columbia, roll on.

Mark, April 1 was YESTERDAY.

I just LOVE the thought:  Here in the People's Republic of Del Mar, I plan to turn on ever light we have and then drive by the houses of a few of our Commissars to see if they have gone dark.

P.S.  Don't you just LOVE the liberals buying space on Ricochet for Elizabeth Warren fundraising ads?

The (sad) truth hurts.

While the Democrats will drive us over the cliff at warp speed, the Republicans (even including Paul Ryan's recent budget proposal) will drive us over the same cliff, though we will arrive at the precipice a bit later.

Spot on, Gramps!

A close friend owns a 12-unit vacation rental spot in Puerto Escondido, 250 miles SE of Acapulco and reported this less than an hour after the quake:

  it was loud like a big object such as  a tractor trailer semi hitting a solid wall  -- at first i thought is was an accident just outside our compound on the road but it went on for a while shaking things  

 folks ran out of their room so the concrete walls won't fall on them

 I was outside so I didn't feel the buildings, walls, door moving others did and were excited to tell me allab out it.

 the swimming pool after-wards was like a big whale had jumped in as the water was going back and forth and up and down the sides of the walls of the pool a good eight inches which I did see.

 but our contractor put a ton of extra re-bar in the concrete and i inspected most of our property and problems-- no cracks-- one water pipe underground six inches which may of had a crack in it was broken open and thank God that is is  all

We were lucky

And thanks to Percival, the money quote in the Hot Air link is:

"...There are, perhaps, some issues worth discussing that this EO raises. The fact that the President of the United States is still exercising authority granted during the Korean War and the height of the Cold War is yet another reflection of how power, once assumed by the Imperial Presidency, is never surrendered..."