EU Spectacle
The word spectacle is carefully chosen, since this is what the current drama of which Greece is the symptom, not the cause, has become. It no longer bears any relationship to coherent democratic leadership or process of governance in a workable political and currency union. The cancellation at a moment’s notice of a summit of all EU leaders is extraordinary.
There is a problem with Greece, but it is not that difficult to solve. Indeed this blog working alone would be able to negotiate a workable solution. What is proving impossible is to find an acceptable solution, because the institutions normally established to process decision making at national and international levels are not there, or there in such abundance nobody can detect who is in charge. And to make matters worse the structure of the currency itself is unsustainable as it lacks a treasury and a finance minister answering to an elected government. A committee of finance ministers at loggerheads, elected by only one member state in each case, on conflicting mandates and to differing electoral timetables will work only in the good times and becomes dysfunctional under pressure.
So all we know at this moment is that Greece may or may not go bust tomorrow, the euro looks more like an impediment to growth than an engine of it, and the reputation of the EU as a coherent political union is severely damaged. Beneath that a big gap is developing between the north and the south of Europe, between the politicians and their electors everywhere and between those in the eurozone who want to stand firm to high principle even if it brings the whole thing down, led by the Germans, and by those who feel pragmatic reality demands compromise, led by France and Italy.
At the heart of of this crisis now engulfing the whole EU are three violated principles. You cannot have a democratic political union without an elected forum from which all authority flows. You cannot have a currency which cannot be printed. You cannot have capitalism which does not permit debtors to go bust. The first is violated because the whole EU is wrongly configured. The last two are rescinded because Germany says No.
You claim that all the public housing in Britain was sold off. Where do the people with low incomes live then? Are they really expected to pay the market rates? How do they manage?
Gary says as far as Putin and Syria goes it's because the current occupant of the White House chose not to do anything except drop a few bombs. He took action to protect Assad. Putin is trying to look strong and make Russia look strong. Gary says that the current occupant looks like an ass and because of the power vacuum Putin takes advantage of it. He doesn't really care about Assad. Gary says the UK is trying to warm up to China for purposes of business and trade and doesn't mean anything else.
Harper had been in office in Canada for 10 years. That's pretty long for a PM. The economy is souring. You can't hang on forever. The new PM is the son of Pierre Trudeau. Trudeau introduced the bilingual thing and held Canada together in the 70's. It's sentimental.
If you don't have HOA's, why do we in the US? That hardly seems fair at all. We read a book about the whole unfair system during the fall of 2013. We've even walked through houses in such communities. Once when we were about ready to tour through such a house with a realtor, we were trying to parking our car on the side of the street. A lady who must have lived in the community rolled down her window and said to get our car out of there. It didn't fit. She claimed it was blocking traffic. We were in trouble already though we were just looking at houses. Why is this what has happened to ALL new subdivisions in the United States? I could hardly believe it myself.
Linda wrote: "You claim that all the public housing in Britain was sold off. Where do the people with low incomes live then? Are they really expected to pay the market rates? How do they manage?"There is a small amount of public housing left but not anywhere near enough. So the government pays big rents to private landlords to house them.The public housing should never have been sold.
Linda wrote: "Gary says as far as Putin and Syria goes it's because the current occupant of the White House chose not to do anything except drop a few bombs. He took action to protect Assad. Putin is trying to l..."Gary's view is generally the mainstream view here, although some, including me, have said from the very beginning that without Iran and Russia taking part there can be no political settlement in Syria, so I am quite relaxed about it.
I agree that the China deal is mainly trade and business, although there is a sub agenda that Britain hopes to be China's principle link to the West diplomatically. China is scheduled to overtake the US in 2025 as the worlds largest economy. It is already Number 2.
Gary doesn't like Biden dropping out. Not that he likes Biden but he doesn't want Hillary getting the nomination. I don't care what the Clintons do. I always thought they were entertaining. As far as Jeb Bush, it would seem incredible if he could run after this father and brother were already the first father son team to occupy the Oval Office since John Adams and John Quincy Adams. Forget about winning. Just to run at all would seem very unusual.
I don't see how Iran or Russia could be of any help in the Middle East. Iran is a traditional enemy. Russia just messes everything up. They don't do well with any sort of military operation. Their army isn't reliable. But it's particularly unreliable when it's sent beyond Russia's land borders into regions that have little or nothing to do with its traditional history. Also this is a thought that has just occurred to me. Russia has followed the German lead in many things for the past few hundred years. Germany's foreign policy was interfered with and hampered to say the least by WW2. It hasn't recovered yet. So Russia has no lead and just gets into trouble.
Is it true in Britain that most people rent homes and flats and don't own them? Do you know the statistics? What about cars? Do they own or lease them? Here it's still 60 some percent home ownership. I don't know about leasing cars. I still suspect most people here buy used cars that are below the threshold where they could be attached by a predatory HOA for instance. The threshold for cars is about $5000.00 to $7000.00. Pretty soon I get the idea the only asset most people will own will be their bank accounts and their income stream from their jobs.
Linda wrote: "Gary doesn't like Biden dropping out. Not that he likes Biden but he doesn't want Hillary getting the nomination. I don't care what the Clintons do. I always thought they were entertaining. As far ..."To outsiders it seems odd that a country which rejects the idea of monarchy is so wedded in modern times to political dynasties- The Kennedys, the Bushes and the Clintons.
Something quite interesting. I saw one of those conspiracy programmes on TV last night. Part of it was about the assassination of Robert Kennedy. Although everybody saw the young palestinian shoot him, none of the shots was fatal. The fatal shot entered Kennedy's head at the back behind the right ear. The young man was in front. The conclusion was that it was the CIA.
Linda wrote: "Is it true in Britain that most people rent homes and flats and don't own them? Do you know the statistics? What about cars? Do they own or lease them? Here it's still 60 some percent home ownershi..."I am not sure about the latest statistics, but until the mid nineties most people owned their home. I am not sure that is still the case, because house prices are now idiotic.
Most business cars are leased, but private cars are owned. Cars are much more expensive here.For example my little Fiat 500 basic model in your money $17000.
Linda wrote: "I don't see how Iran or Russia could be of any help in the Middle East. Iran is a traditional enemy. Russia just messes everything up. They don't do well with any sort of military operation. Their ..."Oh Dear! I completely disagree with everything you say about Russia and Iran. For that reason I am not going to debate this. There is no point. I respect your view.
Actually cars are pretty expensive here too. We've been looking at cars lately. The average price for a car is approaching $30,000.00 for a new car. Several years ago you could get the moderate range minivan fairly well equipped for about $30,000.00. Now it's at least $35,000.00 to almost $40,000.00. Auto companies are using add ons and feature to up the price of vehicles considerably. It's like a racket. Maybe the base model is $27,000.00. But nobody sells it. The top model is $50,000.00! That's why leasing is becoming more and more popular for average consumers. Lease prices are lower than monthly payments when you buy. I think most people still buy used cars, though.
I don't think people are wedded to political dynasties, but anything that helps with publicity works. That might be why you see it. Politics is a money game here. If you and your family are already known, it helps to attract money. Of course it helps even more if you have money yourself. The Bushes have money. The Clintons now have made some money but originally got into all sorts of trouble because they didn't have enough.
Linda wrote: "Actually cars are pretty expensive here too. We've been looking at cars lately. The average price for a car is approaching $30,000.00 for a new car. Several years ago you could get the moderate ran..."Yes I think many private users buy used here as well
Linda wrote: "I don't think people are wedded to political dynasties, but anything that helps with publicity works. That might be why you see it. Politics is a money game here. If you and your family are already..."I saw today that Bush has laid iff campaign staff and reduced the pay of those he has kept because gis funding is drying up. Not a good sign.
Are you working on any novels currently? I've got about 30,000 words more left to write of my Waterloo novel. Then the first draft will be done.
I think Amazon is trying to force authors to use Create Space. I've been using Amazon Advantage for years to put up print books as opposed to Kindle books. Why? Because my self-published books are printed under the name of Cheops Books instead of Amazon Digital Services. In the past couple of years Amazon Advantage has gotten almost impossible to use. I have more trouble all the time even logging in. Even worse in the past year Amazon has gotten my logins to my regular customer account mixed up with my Advantage account. This has led to shutdowns of my entire account, including erasing my order history and the fact that I am a Prime member. I have only a few books left with print editions as a result of this mess. Now I'm thinking of getting rid of the remaining print editions and using Kindle ebooks only. Over those I seem to have more control. You can put them up, take them down, change them, edit them, etc without causing chaos on the website. Also they sell better than the print editions. However, I do sell some print books. And I'd have to forget about those. Also eliminating print books will make it impossible to use the Goodreads giveaway program. I heard noise that they were going to let you give away ebooks, but they haven't instituted the practice yet. I guess I could try selling print books on my own website, but that sort of thing has almost disappeared from the internet. Who would trust me as a seller? And almost nobody visits my website. They're more likely to see my Facebook Page, and I don't think you can sell books on Facebook.
This time I don’t care who becomes President. Anybody will be better than the current occupant. For me just getting rid of him will be enough of an accomplishment. And what’s nice is that’s guaranteed. No matter who wins we will have a new President. What I intuit, though, is that we will not have either Bush or Clinton as President. It was unlikely that George Bush was going to get elected after his father was President. It would be bizarre to have a father and two sons as President. That's never happened before. And to have a President Bill Clinton succeeded by his own wife sounds like a joke. Like so many things to do with the Clintons it's humorous.
Linda wrote: "Are you working on any novels currently? I've got about 30,000 words more left to write of my Waterloo novel. Then the first draft will be done."Oh, well done. That should be good.Don't forget the Prussians!
No novels until the non fic finished. Not too long now. Then it will be a modern sequel to Downfall in Downing St. Same key characters twenty years on.
Linda wrote: "I think Amazon is trying to force authors to use Create Space. I've been using Amazon Advantage for years to put up print books as opposed to Kindle books. Why? Because my self-published books are ..."Create Space is a good platform, but it takes a little practice to format a book correctly. There are a lot of advertising deals Amazon offer, but I have not tried them yet. Facebook could be a good launch pad if you linked into Twitter.
Downfall in Downing Street sounds good for a sequel. You should put the original edition and the sequel in one volume as a special after you publish the sequel separately. You could call it Downfall: A Collection or something like that. That also reminds me that I meant to read it now that I'm back from my travels. But I'll have to finish Waterloo first. I'll have to figure out how to speed up a little and do more than 1000 words per day. Too much to do. But isn't that always the situation.
Last night I closed down my Amazon Advantage account. At least I attempted to do so. It’s hard to close anything down on Amazon. They don’t give you an opt out button. For months now they’ve been causing problems with the Advantage account. They keep on saying I have two accounts and mix them up as far as passwords go. They don’t seem to reaize that one was supposed to be for publishing print books and one for buying items on Amazon. During the past year they haven’t even been paying me for units sold on Amazon Advantage, so what’s the use keeping it up there? The last straw was yesterday morning when I checked Key to Lawrence Special Edition on Kindle and found that they had paired it with the wrong print book. You should be glad you never used Advantage.
Linda wrote: "Downfall in Downing Street sounds good for a sequel. You should put the original edition and the sequel in one volume as a special after you publish the sequel separately. You could call it Downfal..."It is very difficult to lead a busy life and write quickly. But you will get Waterloo done, you always do.
I think it might be Death in Downing Street. Politicians are so unpopular now people love to see them in trouble, even in fiction.
Linda wrote: "Last night I closed down my Amazon Advantage account. At least I attempted to do so. It’s hard to close anything down on Amazon. They don’t give you an opt out button. For months now they’ve been c..."Thanks for the tip. I never came across it. Incidentally I use the same Amazon account for everything including shopping.I think it works better.
I'm sure it does work better to have one Amazon account. But if you are signed up for Create Space, isn't that a separate account too with a separate log in or is it the same as your shopping account?
Death in Downing Street sounds even better.
I can't get over the attitudes at the time period of Waterloo. Byron wrote a poem about the ball on June 15, 1815 held right before the battle. And incidentally, it's crazy that there was a ball that all the British officers attended in Brussels. Can you imagine breaking off the Battle of the Somme during World War 1 to have a fancy dress ball given by the Duchess of Richmond? Can you imagine halting the D-Day Landings to go waltzing? Also supposedly Wellington had Napoleon within firing range and he told his men not to shoot him? Can you imagine the Allies not shooting Hitler? Everybody on both sides seemed to think Napoleon was a great man.
Linda wrote: "I'm sure it does work better to have one Amazon account. But if you are signed up for Create Space, isn't that a separate account too with a separate log in or is it the same as your shopping account?"It is a separate login in but it uses the same email username and password. That includes Kindle, CreateSpace and shopping.
Linda wrote: "I can't get over the attitudes at the time period of Waterloo. Byron wrote a poem about the ball on June 15, 1815 held right before the battle. And incidentally, it's crazy that there was a ball th..."I know what you mean, but attitudes were different then. The battles were set piece contests lasting usually not more than a day. So everybody knew when it would start an end. Later on we got to total war on a vast scale where battles became really more campaigns which went on for weeks, with more or less continuous fighting all the time somewhere.
As for Napoleon, he was a great man, no doubt about it and head and shoulders above all those he fought. He also brought in a lot of modern ideas about law and justice, much of which lives on. Britain portrayed him as a tyrant but we do that with everybody.
Maybe Amazon should have designed Advantage with the same email user name and password as the shopping account. I've finally gotten them to close down Advantage but now they want to launch an investigation to find out why the Advantage account was interfering with the shopping account and why it only started to interfere about a year ago.
Napoleon is historically important. He might have had good ideas about law and justice, but his form of government was on the cusp of being very outdated. I think ultimately that's why he didn't win and the British did. He had the right idea about law and justice, but the wrong idea about government. It wasn't the age of emperors anymore. It was the dawn of democracy. And to think at the end of the Battle of Waterloo Napoleon was actually trying to escape to the US! I just found out that supposedly one of his many brothers did come here.
Linda wrote: "Napoleon is historically important. He might have had good ideas about law and justice, but his form of government was on the cusp of being very outdated. I think ultimately that's why he didn't wi..."Yes you are right about his addiction to imperial style monarchy and he missed a trick over the rise of democracy. I did not know he planned to get to the US. That's is most interesting.
Linda wrote: "Maybe Amazon should have designed Advantage with the same email user name and password as the shopping account. I've finally gotten them to close down Advantage but now they want to launch an inves..."As long as they do the work! Mind you Amazon.com is a bit different because it is operatiing under US law. .UK has to be EU compliant.The EU has a vast web of consumer protections.
During the past year it really has been bizarre shopping on Amazon.com. When I logged in, I'd suddenly find the contents of my shopping cart missing. It would be empty. Even worse, my order history would be erased. They would also say I wasn't a member of Prime. I don't know if you have Amazon Prime in England. Here is guarantees you free two-day delivery and cheaper one day delivery as well as a host of other perks which Amazon keeps adding onto all the time such as special deals and discounts when you're doing grocery shopping on Amazon for instance. Not only am I a member of Prime I had my Prime membership extended free for another whole year because last Christmas I bought the first Amazon fire phone. It got to the point that no matter what browser I used my Amazon cart and order history would be missing. I had to use Gary's computer to log into my old account. Finally we rigged it so that most of the time my cart would come up if I used one particular browser. I've been limping along all year like that. When we called and complained the person on the phone said I had two accounts and that was mixing up the browser and Amazon. Then in addition Amazon started to return to me most of the physical books it had ordered to stock the shelves. And it sent them to the wrong address, too. Meanwhile Amazon Advantage kept on ordering more books. The right hand didn't know what the left hand was doing. Worse, they stopped paying me royalties for books sold. And as I told you they started pairing the wrong books with the wrong books on the website. Now that I've gotten rid of Advantage I hope Amazon doesn't start messing things up when I start using my new pen name which should be up there shortly.
How do you set up an author’s page for a pen name? You’ve done it yourself on Kindle. Also what are all these consumer protections you keep on talking about that we in the US supposedly don’t have?
Linda wrote: "During the past year it really has been bizarre shopping on Amazon.com. When I logged in, I'd suddenly find the contents of my shopping cart missing. It would be empty. Even worse, my order history..."You have had a bad experience. I am really surprised because Amazon is so automated I would have thought it would fail for everybody, not just you. Are you sure your computer is clean? Have you scanned for viruses?
Linda wrote: "How do you set up an author’s page for a pen name? You’ve done it yourself on Kindle. Also what are all these consumer protections you keep on talking about that we in the US supposedly don’t have?"I just followed the instructions, I think on Author Central. You can get to that via Google. I may have had to create an email address for TR. I forget now what I did. I will try and check it out, but you will find it quite easy otherwise I could not have done it!
As for consumer protection. There is a vast amount of consumer protection regulation in the UK and also the EU. More or less everything has to be right. We have a Consumer Protection Act and anyone who sells anything has to comply.
When years ago I was having a row with Citibank because of mismanagement of my grandfather's US estate, my American lawyer explained to me that American law was not like European. In Europe it is on the side of the individual. In the US he said it favoured corporations and institutions. He said the maxim in the US is 'buyer beware'. In Europe it is the opposite.
This notion that some identity thief could borrow on your house is just impossible here. You have a few big set piece things like your Anti Trust laws, but on the consumer side it struck me as pretty lawless, although it depends on the state. Citibank were hiding behind Massachusetts Law which is one of the worst apparently.
Apple computers don't usually have viruses. I don't have any problems ordering from anybody else besides Amazon. I bought a new laptop this past spring and continued to have the same problem with the new computer. Also when I complained to Amazon they pointed to my two accounts and the confusion over the login as the origin of the problem. Otherwise I don't think it would have occurred to me. Whether they know what they're talking about is another thing. If I continue to have the problem with my order history being erased I'll know it wasn't Advantage. Of course I've been having other problems with Advantage such as Amazon ordering books and then returning them, Amazon not paying me for sales, and Amazon pairing the wrong ebook with the wrong paperback or hardback book, too. Also if there is an old edition of a paperback or hardback book and you want to issue a new edition, they'll let you put up the new edition of course but they won't let you take down the old edition without a cat fight with the editors at Amazon. With Kindle there is no problem. You can put books up and take them down at will if you have a new cover, for instance. Do they let you take down old books and covers with Create Space? Are they good about paying you? I guess you wouldn't have the problem of having Amazon return orders because I think they only print books when there is an order. Right?
Linda wrote: "Happy Halloween tomorrow."And you too!
Linda wrote: "Apple computers don't usually have viruses. I don't have any problems ordering from anybody else besides Amazon. I bought a new laptop this past spring and continued to have the same problem with t..."Yea Create Space is all POD so there are no returns and yes they are good at paying and I have had no problems.
Changing covers is easy on Create Space but I have noticed Amazon.com is slow sometimes to change its website. I suspect it is because they have printed a few to speed up dispatch and they want to get rid of them. Of course a new cover is done to revive sales mostly so that is a bit of a nuisance.
You say you have consumer protection against companies and banks but what about protection against other individuals such as yourself suing you? What are your laws about trip and fall and premises liability? That has certainly never happened to us but we want to be prepared after our bizarre experiences the past year. And also auto accident liability? Those supposedly are some of the most common reasons people get sued over here and the reasons why people buy more insurance. Other than dealing with workmen, that's another reason we need asset protection. Also what are you laws about who is liable for what if you sell a house? In Virginia it was totally buyer beware even if you sold a house with vampires in the attic. Supposedly California and New Jersey have more protection for the buyer. Most states are in-between. You are supposed to have a house inspected before you buy it, but inspections rarely reveal all the problems and many inspectors are in the pockets of the builders and flippers, etc.
What was Citibank doing with your grandfather's estate? How was it hiding behind Massachusetts law?
If the laws favor the consumers in Europe, why are we having a continuing problem with Auto Europe/Europcar in Hamburg over our car rental of the Skoda Octavia in June? I guess I haven't mentioned this to you, but when we picked up the car on June 12 the man at the Rodensmart office in downtown Hamburg charged us an extra 20 euros to be able to leave the car at the cruise terminal parking lot instead of having to return it to the downtown office on June 30 when we sailed back to the US. He suggested this option and said we could return the keys to the Auto Europe box inside the terminal building. We didn't even ask for this option. He suggested it. But we gladly took advantage of his offer and returned the car to the parking lot on June 30. However when we entered the terminal building we couldn't find the promised box for depositing the keys. We asked around. No one else had heard of it either. We tried to call Auto Europe. We couldn't get through even to the Rodensmart office which apparently didn't have an extension that renters could call. Time was getting short. The ship was boarding. So we had to sail to Southampton with the keys and mail them back to the address on the key fob. Auto Europe has been trying to charge us for "extra days" when they claim they couldn't rent the car because we had the keys. We say it was their mistake for not giving us directions to the box for leaving the keys in the terminal. Gary suspects the man behind the counter didn't know what he was talking about and there is no box for keys at the terminal building. This dispute continues with no end in sight. The credit card we used is the middle man. Auto Europe never directly answers our question about the box in the terminal or why they suggested we return the car there if it was impossible to do so.
Linda wrote: "You say you have consumer protection against companies and banks but what about protection against other individuals such as yourself suing you? What are your laws about trip and fall and premises ..."To start with Citibank; it is too long a story to deal with here. I just mentioned it to illustrate a point.
All these hazards you talk about are provided for in the various forms of insurance. All businesses are legally required to carry public liability insurance; for home owners and renters it is a free add on included with their house contents insurance. All car drivers have to carry compulsory third party insurance.
As for you Skoda rental car.If the option was written into your rental contract you are in a strong position. If it is not you have a problem because everything has to be in writing.Even internet orders and call centre contacts like insurance have to be followed up in writing and there is a 14 day cooling off period during which you can withdraw.
Obviously that would not apply to car rentals. You must have ticked the option for this key box deal or have some other confirmation. If not it does not sound like a valid offer.
I have just checked Auto Europe website. It seems to be some sort of agency. Why did you not go direct to Hertz or Avis etc? Whose car were you actually renting?
So even with Create Space you have a problem with getting Amazon to change the cover. It's a physical product and not just out there in cyberspace. So Create Space wouldn't be a solution in that respect. I thought with Create Space they weren't supposed to print any copies unless they had an order. But then I don't know who does their printing for them. Do they do it themselves? Maybe it can't be done fast enough to ship it right away.
We were using Auto Europe to rent a Europcar Skoda Octavia. The original voucher was issued on March 26, a couple of months before we sailed. In the original voucher nothing was mentioned about dropping the car off at the cruise terminal. Originally we were supposed to drop it off where we picked it up at the downtown office at Roedingsmarkt. We expected to do just that. At the last minute the clerk at the desk changed it. He asked us i we would rather drop it off at the cruise terminal. We said yes and he charged us an extra 20 euros which is actually recorded in the receipt he gave us. But what is recorded on the receipt is the extra amount of money he charged us. It doesn't say what it is for. But it couldn't be for anything else. The amount of money specified is what the rental company charges for a pickup fee if you drop the car somewhere other than the point of origin. It shows that we agreed to do so at the last minute. It must be assumed that if you drop it off somewhere else there has to be a key repository. He told us there was. But when we got there no place to put the key could be found. And no one was willing to take the keys for us to give to EuRopcar when they came by to pick up the car. Incidentally we had a problem with Hertz 3 years ago when we rented a car at the airport. We were supposed to drop it off at the airport but the car broke down in front of the Best Western St. Raphael in downtown Hamburg where we were staying the night before we boarded the ship. We couldn't move the car. But there we got the front desk at the hotel to agree to take the key. Three years ago there was no problem with the pickup, and they didn't try to charge us anything extra.
What is so maddening about Europcar and Auto Europe is that every time we protest the extra charge the credit card understands what we’re talking about but Europcar and Auto Europe keep on stonewalling us. They just reassert that they are charging us for extra days when they didn’t have the key and couldn’t rent the car. They don’t address the issue of the extra charge for 20 euros which they can see on the printed receipt. Nor do they address the fact that the clerk told us there was somewhere to drop off the keys at the cruise terminal. This has been going on since July.
Obviously you have homeowners' insurance and car insurance, but particularly homeowners' insurance doesn't cover everything. Neither does auto insurance in some instances. Gary tells me that there are pile up cases where one car is accused of causing a chain reaction accident. That driver's insurance has to pay for the car damage to maybe 7 vehicles. That's where insurance runs out and they start coming after your assets. The standard auto insurance policies I've examined don't let you buy enough insurance to cover something like this. Also homeowners policies leave large loopholes. Last year we inadvertently ran into one of them. The roofers didn't put a tarp over the roof when they were working, allowing water to enter the walls. Mold grew. The insurance refused to cover this sort of damage. This sort of mold damage can be so severe that it can ruin your property and cause it to lose almost all of its value. Fortunately in our case we caught it right away. The mold expert could fix it. But it could have turned out the other way, and insurance wouldn't cover it. How do you like all these loopholes? What do you do to protect yourself? It almost begins to seem that unless you are a millionaire you shouldn't own a house. It's full of hidden hazards. It's not a safe place to put your money.
Oh yes I am going to have a lot of fun with that. At the moment it's Hilary for the democrats with wild card Sanders drawing big crowds and Bush for the republicans with Trump making the headlines and the news. It is too early to tell what is going on at the moment. Most of them are talking rubbish to attract attention and funds. Biden has dropped out which is good because he was too late making up his mind and too old anyway.