Mythomania and Idiocracy

Mythomania is a term to describe an abnormal or pathological tendency to exaggerate or tell lies. 

We immediately imagine Donald Trump's picture next to this word in the dictionary, but while he may be the poster boy for this pathology, many of his supporters display the same character flaw.

The November Presidential election provides a good example of how this inability to accept disagreeable facts is manifested.

In Trump's mind, he is a winner.  He never loses, even when he loses.  Forget all those failed businesses (casinos, airline, university, et al.).  They were part of the winning.   He is incapable of admitting to being wrong. He will never apologize for anything.  Why should he?  

Sensible persons recognize that all humans are subject to error (even your humble blogger), and that occasionally, we need to admit our mistakes.  Generally, we subscribe to Swift's famous observation - "To err is human..." - and we can realistically forgive ourselves for an occasional error.

But what if a person cannot admit error?  What psychosis allows them to be blind to unpleasant facts?  I guess it is the same chemical imbalance that convinces the resident of the loony bin to maintain that he is Napoleon.  Logic cannot fix crazy.

 Trump followers are likewise convinced, so much so that they would support overturning  the results (tossing out the legitimate votes) based on an unsubstantiated belief that the evil Democrats have committed  massive fraud.  That is not Democracy, folks.  It's Idiocracy.

Tax Evasion

TAX EVASION

At the debate the other night Hillary launched her "October surprise" on Trump, suggesting that he refuses to show us his birth certificate oops I mean tax returns because he doesn't pay any taxes.

Then a copy of Trump's tax return for 1995 is mysteriously "leaked."    It showed that he claimed a nearly billion dollar loss and subsequently paid no taxes.    Trump says, "That makes me smart." Accountants say this is legal, since tax rules that favor wealthy filers would have allowed writing-off up to $50 million in taxable income per year for up to 18 years.

By stark contrast, a middle-income earner reporting a $30,000 loss would only be allowed to take a maximum of $3,000 as a write-off for that tax year.  And the carry forward loss is capped at $3k per year, even if there are further losses.

I am reminded of Leona Helmsley the hotel heiress who famously remarked "We don't pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes." (She went to jail for tax evasion, sentenced to 16 years, but was able to buy her freedom after only 19 months.)

Mark Cuban thinks the"loss" was probably a quasi-legal tax shelter.  I think it was tax evasion.

Are We Doomed?

They say the world is divided between those who see the glass as half-full and those who see the same glass as half-empty.  To an Engineer the issue is simple: the container is too large for the volume of liquid.

Half empty

I think it depends on what is in the glass.  Some may think that I am a grumpy pessimist because I see a half-full shot glass of Jameson as "almost empty."

I must confess, I feel less confident about the future every day. This sense of impending doom grows deeper and darker every day as I watch the news on TV and read the morning paper.

No sensible person can deny that the Earth's climate is changing.  You can be a skeptic about the root cause and the popular solutions, but you cannot ignore the warming trend that has created droughts, wild fires and smoggy skies across the globe.   

It wont be long before we see vineyards dying off in Pasa Robles and popping-up north of Vancouver. 


On the election front, we are faced with the two worst-case candidates imaginable.  Both major party candidates carry so much baggage that the only way to get elected is to assert that "I'm not as evil as the other candidate."

With negatives that would dissuade a rational person from running for POTUS, neither candidate displays a high regard for the truth.  

An article in the Globe today reported that independent fact-checkers say 70% of what trump says is partially or wholly untrue. Hillary's score is only slightly better at 35%. 

Many informed voters see an un-resolvable dilemma. They are thinking of voting for the minor party candidates as a statement.  I think this is a mistake. 

Fact: Either Trump or Clinton will be elected president in less than 100 days.  The next president will be nominating the next two or three supreme court justices.  Decisions of SCOTUS reflect the character of our nation.  

A Trump supreme court would turn back many of the advances gained by liberals over the past several decades.  
Not to mention that his behavior demonstrates that he is unfit for any public office - including dog-catcher.

The only way to prevent this outcome is to elect Clinton.
Hold your nose and vote for progress.

Or we are most certainly doomed.