Archive for the ‘economy’ Category

American Success Stories: Kathleen MacMillian Owner of the Cozy Corner Coffee Shop in Fitchburg MA

Posted: May 28, 2026 by datechguy in American Success Stories, business, culture, economy, short films/interviews
Tags: , , , , ,
1

Earlier this week I wrote about Hanna who had gone from being an Iraqi refugee in a camp in Syria to graduating Suuma Cum Laude from Framingham State University last week (as opposed to me who graduated Thanka da Lordie) but not all success stories come from college or from immigrants.

Meet Kathleen MacMillian who started as a waitress at a local dinner became the manager and during the Biden Administration at a time of one of the worst economies took a leap of faith and in her 20’s became the owner of her own business, the Cozy Corner Dinner and Restaurant in Fitchburg MA.

This Tuesday after closing she took twenty minutes to sit down with me and talk about her story.

The newspapers and social media get a lot of clicks from showing the young being weak and irresponsible, but there are plenty of folks like Kathleen who are does who still drive America forward.

Iran: It’s Worth it, Even at the Cost to my Wallet & of Election 2026

Posted: May 5, 2026 by datechguy in economy, middle east, politics, war
Tags: , , , ,

Paul Crewe: Hey Pop, the time you hit Hazen in the mouth, was it worth 30 years?

Pop: Yeah: For me it was.

The Longest Yard 1974

Last week I filled up my gastank at $4.009 a gallon.

The $4 barrier was a big shock as gas had plummeted during the 2nd Trump term to a point where I had paid $2.56 just before the start of the war with Iran. That had saved me a lot of money and it showed.

I had hoped that things would be over before a final oil delivery but it was not and my oil delivery cost considerably more than I had budgeted, fortunately my prepay had still covered it so the impact wasn’t as bad as it could have been.

With my job about to end this week after 10 years these additional costs are a real strain on the family budget and I imagine that for people who are less careful with their money, which I imagine is most people, the gas increase is a matter of real pain.

Gas is now $4.27 everywhere as we start getting fuel that was traded on markets at the top of the spikes.

It’s a real concern not just financially but politically because the cost of gas increases the cost of everything else and the Democrats who didn’t say boo when gas prices were like this during the Biden years are making hay of it all.

Every incentive both personal for me and political for conservatives in election 2026 screams for things in Iran to end yesterday.

But when it comes down to it, none of that matters, because this is a defining moment for the country and the world.

For 47 years the Islamists in Iran have been the number one source of murder and terror in the world and have exported this terror to almost every corner of the planet. Thousands of Americans and tens of thousands of others have lost their lives become of their direct actions over this time. They have been the delivery system for all our enemies who want us dead. For 47 years they have chanted “Death to America” and I’ve never for one moment thought they didn’t mean it.

America had opportunities to stop this. Reagan, could have gone in regardless of the Hostage release but was dealing with the cold War. Bush one didn’t want to upset Arab allies as he dealt with Iraq. Clinton was more interested in not getting booted, Bush two who actually had Iran surrounded on three sides never pulled the trigger and Barack Obama, It’s my opinion that he’s been on Iran’s side from the very beginning of his presidency and into his 3rd term running the autopen man.

The single greatest thing Donald Trump can do for the United States and for the World is removing the Islamic Republic from the face of the earth.

  • It will save countless lives, free the people of Iran from the terror they’ve lived under.
  • It will destroy terror networks and connections that will take our foes years to rebuild.
  • It will change the face of the middle east permanently giving an incentive for Israel’s neighbors to make peace
  • It will deprive both Russia & China of a proxy used to attack us and intimidate others
  • And it will deprive Islamists of a nuclear device (at least until England and France fall)

All of these gains are stacked against a tighter belt for me and mine.

There is no contest.

I hate where Gas prices are, but if they reach $5 and Iran falls this year, it’s worth it.

If the economy slows because of the increase in gas prices, but Iran falls this year, it’s worth it.

And if the Democrat left, which I suspect is doing all it can to encourage Iran to hold out actually wins both houses of congress because of this war, but Iran falls IT’S STILL WORTH IT!

All of those things me a harder life for me in the short term, but a better life for my sons and myself and the entire world in the long term.

About 85 years ago my father found himself in the Pacific fighting a war for the world’s survival while at home my ancestors on both my mother and fathers side did without in order to support that effort until it was won. Because of their sacrifices I lived in a safer world in freedom.

You and I are being asked to do the same but on a much smaller scale and with a lot less pain.

Let’s be worthy of those who came before us.

Mr. President, fight this war to win. I know the world will not thank you for it, in fact they will publicly curse you for it and teach others to do so. A generation of idiots (outside of Iran itself) who already hate you will hate you more. The Europeans whose oil supply you will scorn you and don’t even think of the Nobel Prize that you had earned for your actions of the past year.

They will attack you for the rest of your life and dance upon your grave with you go to face your maker. They will live to do it in freedom and security.

But even as they do all of these things, you will have the satisfaction of knowing that the freedom, security & even the lives that they spend mocking you, will have been a gift you have freely given them asking nothing in return.

That’s one great legacy.

Five Christmas Season Thoughts Under the Fedora: The Standard of How Great the US is, Human Progress Two Measures, Too accustomed to Trump’s Success or A Psi-op? $2.63 That’s five water/sewer bills and Temps, Finally Yes Minister in Minnesota

Posted: December 28, 2025 by datechguy in Always look at the bright side of Trump, economy, under the fedora
Tags: , , , , , , ,

For all the horrible things our friends on the left say about America being racist, sexist unequal etc etc etc let me make one important point.

This horrible America of which you speak is so great that given the choice between going back to their own countries at no cost to themselves with $3000 in their pockets (An amount higher than the average yearly income in 54 countries) or staying in the US and risking arrest and deportation the majority choose the former.

On twitter today saw a post about how difficult it was to program back in the punch card era compared to today when you can literally ask a AI to create code for you. The fellow marveled at the progress in just 50 years and he’s right about that but let me tell you want progress really is:

Being able to feed a family of four a hot meal with meat for less than an hour wages? THAT’s human progress that king and princes could only dream of.

It’s very easy to forget that Donald Trump has been back in office for less than a year. This is because of his insane work ethic and the breakneck speed that things have been

The amount of things he has managed to get done in these first 11 months is so vast that any other president in history would have considered it a grand set of accomplishments for a full term and quite a few presidents would have been lucky to accomplish as much over two terms. Any person with a even a slight grasp of US history could see this.

Yet lately my X feed has been bombarded by posts aren’t happening fast enough in the Trump administration from cracking down on fraud to arrests, particularly arrests. The post seem unrelenting

I’m thinking this is one of two things or possibly both.

It could be that people just have gotten so used to Trump getting things done fast they can’t grasp the idea that getting things done in Washington is the exception not the rule. It’s sort of how Patriots fans were spoiled by Tom Brady basically making a trip to the Super bowl every other year and acting like something was wrong when we didn’t

It could also be a PSI-op to anger Trump supporters to trick them into staying home in 2026 and try to drive his numbers down.

Frankly if it was my job to try to foment dissent within MAGA that’s how I’d try do it.

One must always remember that most pols aren’t saints. There are some who will do the right thing out of principle (although they might disagree on what the “right thing” is) but in the end most will only do the right thing if the incentive is greater than doing the wrong thing or nothing at all.

That’s reality

When I went to mass yesterday I passed by the cheapest gas station in town which is conveniently located next to my church.

Gas was $2.63 a gallon. That’s a full 16 cents less per gallon than it was two months ago.

Over the course of a year that’s enough saving for me and DaWife to pay 5 water bills or allow us to go out to eat 5 times.

If that’s not enough Friday when I went to work there were no temps in the building.

That it itself is not unusual for the day after Christmas, but what WAS unusual is that Friday was the first day this month when there were no temps in the building.

Last year the temps were gone by December 3rd and at no time during the Biden presidency where they here for more than a week.

The Trump boom is coming in fact it might be already here.

One of the things about importing people from a different culture who don’t want to become Americans is importing a different value system.

A great illustration of this was shown nearly 50 years ago on the TV show “Yes Minister” in an episode called: “The Moral Dimension”

A great explanation of how this works comes from this excellent post on X

Key Quote:

The weird thing about this to me was that whenever I turned down such an offering, it was treated as a grave insult. I was the one in the wrong, and not the fraudster trying to bribe me. They considered it rude that I was in their country and refused to accept how things got done. After all, why did I not want to help my tribe by helping their tribe?

Let me repeat: in these cultures, FRAUD IS NOT EVEN A CONCEPT. There is only what helps your tribe.

They people have no concept that stealing is wrong, unless you’re stealing from them. The stealing doesn’t shock these folks, what shocks them is that we weren’t already doing it on the scale that they are.

Until that changes things won’t change.

Under the Fedora: Georgia on my Mind, My 2022 speculation proves true, Could you have done it?, God Knows What he’s doing, Signs Inflation numbers and Busy Temps

Posted: December 20, 2025 by datechguy in Always look at the bright side of Trump, catholic, economy, election 2020, elections
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

The fact that Georgia election officials are “not disputing” the fact that hundreds of thousands of early votes were illegally counted in election 2020 effectively costing Trump the state (and likely the GOP a senate seat) tells me how far the worm has turned.

4 years ago such an admission would have been the height of courage putting futures and prosperity at risk.

Today it’s a matter of fact statement.

I predict that as the risk to people’s futures decrease more of these kinds of admissions will come from various states. After all as I’ve said before cowardice is the norm courage is the exception.

At the time of the Mar-a-lago raid I wrote this:

The sheer panic on the left concerning a 2nd Trump term suggest to me something different.

Could it be that the left is even more corrupt than we think? Could it be that the stuff that they’ve been doing, enabling and coordinating is even more horrific than that worst conspiracy theorists have imagined? Could it be that the Epstein’s of the world are the norm for the left and not the exception and that they’ve only caught the one?

Given what we’re seeing in terms of fraud in Minnesota and the amount of Dems and their friends getting Epstein exposure these days this statement is becoming more and more apparent.

The President took some heat for his statements after the murder of Rob Reiner & wife by his own son. I would not have made those statements & think they were a bit crass. Said heat however is meaningless because:

  • It’s primaraly coming from people who never supported him anyways
  • Trump being a tad crass with enemies is the norm & not a shock
  • Many of these same people are still cheering Charlie Kirk’s murder

But for me the real question is this: If somebody spent the last ten years calling you a Nazi & trying to get you jailed would you be able to be gracious at the moment of their death?

Cue Jim Hacker:

One of the things that has become clear to me in the last year has been how much the steal of election 2020 has paid huge dividends for the nation in a completely unexpected way.

If the steal had been foiled everything from USAID funding to the fraud in Minnesota would likely never have been exposed. VP Mike Pence of the deep state would have steered the country to protect such folks & a lot of what has been going on for decades would have remained under the radar.

Instead Trump has spent the first year of his return not only actively working for the country but exposing evils that have been ignored and tolerated for decades.

This not only is “The Lord works in mysterious ways” squared but affirms what I consider the actual definition of faith in God which is:

Trusting that God knows what he's doing even if he hasn't told you

Finally the inflation numbers where “unexpectedly” excellent showing signs of an improving economy but to me the real sign of that was yesterday at work were I found myself on loan from my normal Inventory Control Duties to a client who had a burst in sales six days from Christmas keeping me on my feet for 8 hours.

One year ago all our “peak” temps were gone by Cyber Monday lasting only 4 days after black Friday.

Yesterday it has been 22 days since Black Friday and a good chunk of our temps were still at work.

I doubt I will see them on Monday as even a Trump economy can’t change the laws of physics & cause packages shipped on the 22nd to reach destinations around the country by the 24th but the fact they are still here (and the suggestion that a few will be kept on to deal with the returns season) tells me the economy is about to hit the accellerator.

If it does I suspect it will have the same effect on election 2026 as the fall of Atlanta did on the election of 1864

Older Entries