Ghosts, Meetings and The Economy

The Schloss-Blog is thinking about "The Ghost of John McCain," the up-ticking of the national economy and spending too much time in meetings.

***

Sure to torment Donald Trump, the play, Ghost of John McCain, brings the late senator, in the afterlife, into the mind of '45,' where he is in essence trapped, trying to find a way out. 

Trump was never a fan of McCain and belittled him for being a captured war hero and bedeviled him for being the deciding vote against removing Barack Obama's signature legislation, the American Healthcare Act.

Nowadays, about some 12-15 million people rely on it.

But in Trump's mind, McCain has to "debate" his way out by arguing for all of the American values and ethics that Trump scorns. Along the way, Cindy McCain, Roy Cohn and even Lindsay Graham make appearances in the shelter of Trump's mind.

Talk about a headache.

By the way, it's a musical, and producers Jason Rose, an Arizona public relations consultant, and Jason Fose, a political consultant, are the show's drivers. It debuted in New York earlier this month and is looking for a way to renew and extend its run.

Although in Trump's brain, that's not very far, is it.

***

Are you in too many meetings?

According to Americans who work primarily at a desk, they are, or at least there is too much time spent in meetings, which hurts their productivity. 

This is according to a Slack survey.

Sounds like somebody needs to have a meeting to decide what to do about it.

***

The economic outlook keeps getting better and better.

Americans think their financial status is getting better and better. The stock market is hitting record highs (can you hear you 401c singing?). Mortgage rates are declining. So is inflation. And gas prices. OK, not groceries so much, yet.

And then there's this thing called the consumer debt payments-to-income ratio. Most Americans check in at spending about 10% of their monthly income on debt. A quick AI-fueled search reveals that the Servus Credit Union notes that your gross debt servicing (GDS) should never be more than 30% of your income while total debt servicing (TDS) shouldn't be more than 40% of your income.

Got that? Someone tell Congress.

***

Quick takes:

• Nikki (Nimirata) Haley forgot to mention the role of slavery in spawning the Civil War. She also doesn't think America is a racist country. She's from South Carolina.
• Nikki Haley refuses to call out Donald Trump on the civil charge of sexual assault on which he's been found liable. How gratifying of her.
• Watching the Australian Open tennis matches, saw the host country's Storm Hunter playing. Not kidding.
• It appears Trump's strategy to get reelected is to get convicted of a felony and thrown in jail.
• Have you been watching the late-night hosts riddle Iowa? They basically make the Iowa caucus the 180-degree polar opposite of the day on which it was held: the Martin Luther King holiday observance.
• Japan's Moon SLIM rocket landed in the Sea of Nectar. Just saying.
• Are shows on HBO and Netflix just so much better that they get so many Emmy nominations or is it because they're on HBO and Netflix?

***

Good night, Mrs. Calabash. I see you in a New York deli, @Joan Millheiser.

More Sunday night on my Radio Free Phoenix rock 'n' roll show.