Musings from Jay (blog site permanently frozen 11/05/2024 morning)

A number of factual sections are from Chat GPT.   I will share the legal foundation in my view (first amendment and campaign finance laws) to which we can trace some of the dislocations in our politics and campaign systems.  Campaign and political speech are protected under the First Amendment in the U.S., but there are several constraints and regulations that apply: Defamation: False statements that harm a person's reputation can lead to civil lawsuits. Incitement to Violence: Speech that incites imminent lawless action is not protected. Obscenity: Speech that is deemed obscene (lacking serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value) can be regulated. Electioneering Communications: Certain regulations govern the timing and funding of campaign advertisements, especially those that directly advocate for a candidate. Campaign Finance Laws: Restrictions on contributions to campaigns and the disclosure of funding sources aim to prevent corruption and ensure tr...

I had put this together quite some time back and thought I will share and backdate it to align with when I wrote it.  I have given this a lot of thought. Response welcome.    These are the 6 key challenges for the US in the future in my view. 1. AI has great potential to improve mankind’s life and great potential to disrupt it. Disruptive Impacts could be across many sectors including large job losses, need for retraining, obsolete industries, etc. There are also ethical use concerns. Not sure how to chain the beast or put guardrails around it especially on the ethics side. Just guardrails in the US could be insufficient because other countries could forge ahead in those areas. How Govt handles this area will make a big difference. 2.  The national debt is a big problem longer term.   It is also a huge drain on national revenue for debt servicing.  The political/economic/geopolitical conditions that facilitate a solution has not emerged yet for both part...

In this essay, I briefly describe the key income sources for state governments for 2023 or 2024 from individuals which is part of the cost of living for individuals in that state. My focus is more on what a senior citizen has to pay out, rather than what the state actually uses that revenue for. I live in Hawaii. I had collected this information for my own reasons and decided to share.  Property taxes are often levied by a county, and significantly influence the operational capacity of local services and infrastructure. Property tax is on the assessed value (less deductions like seniors or homeowners) which may be lower than the market value. Hawaii has the second lowest property tax rate in the US, but property prices are high, so the government gets quite a bit of money from this. Louisiana has the lowest rate. New jersey has the highest and New Hampshire and Texas are in the top three. Florida and California are in the middle. California (my old state) had three time...