Skip to main content

The Greatest Showman!

We saw the musical "The Greatest Showman" based on one of the greatest showman of 19th century P.T. Barnum. I love musicals (who won't especially folks who grew up seeing bollywood movies - 99 out of 100 movies are musicals). After seeing Hugh Jackman singing in Les Miserables, this was must watch for us. I would recommend both movies if you love musicals. Finally Hugh Jackman is done with his Wolverine claws and exploring other genres (Hugh - there is an idea "Wolverine the Musical"). Now coming to PT Barnum - he was one of the most famous personalities of 19th century. He tried his hands in many fields from entrepreneurship to politics. Along the way he got famous (and infamous) for many of his quotes like:
  • There's a sucker born every minute
  • Without promotion, something terrible happens... nothing! 
  • We have got something for everyone
  • The noblest art is that of making others happy
PT Barnum is also associated with "Barnum Effect". It is a common psychological phenomenon whereby individuals give high accuracy ratings to descriptions of their personality that supposedly are tailored specifically to them but that are, in fact, vague and general enough to apply to a wide range of people. To some extent modern medicine trials including placebo (random double-blind) are based on psychological effects associated with Barnum effect. So Barnum's influence on American society continues well into 21st century in many fields he may not have even imagined.
Who is today's Greatest Showman? I am sure you know the answer. He has all the ingredients of what made Barnum The Greatest Showman. Many of the Barnum quotes could be directly attributed o him. You guessed it right. Today's Greatest Showman is undoubtedly President Trump. He knows how to promote himself and he knows that in his latest tax bill, he got something for everyone (more for his rich friends than common man). Everyone got surprised at the speed Tax Reform Bill was passed by congress and signed by President. He did not even wait for big celebratory function to sign the bill. He really wanted to get those tax-cuts effective on new year's day. He kept his campaign promise. Many folks may not like him but he is keeping his campaign promises like "declaring Jerusalem Israel's capital" without the consequences. After all he was elected based on those promises!
What should President Trump do: Embrace the "TIIH"
  • Taxes - done!
  • Immigration - He had given time-bound ultimatum to congress to act on DACA before these kids are forced to leave US. By taking on making DACA into law, he would score another major policy victory. Democrats would be fully supportive of this
  • Infrastructure - Its time for America to invest in infrastructure (and avoid train accidents near Seattle). There are so many opportunities to bring America's infrastructure to 21st century. This initiative would also get support from democrats and boost economy to 3% plus which Tax bill is counting on.
  • Healthcare - Trump tried and failed to repeal Obamacare. Trump and GOP are trying their best to kill it slowly by removing individual mandate in tax bill without providing any alternative. It's time for them to work with democrats to fix remaining parts of Obamacare (and call it Trumpcare if that's what he wants).
If President Trump can get these 4 initiatives done and be more inclusive and less abusive on Twitter, it would be good for him (for his re-election campaign) and America. 
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
/Shyam

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2025 = Is it going to be 1997 or 2000?

Happy Holidays... After 5 months of hibernation with no real reason than writing block, I decided to use quiet morning of Christmas day to start writing again. Lot has happened in last 5 months - in particular release of Animal Spirits with Fed starting interest rate reduction cycle and historic victory of President Trump for 2nd term. As the year turns into 2025 and stock markets at all time high, one would wonder, what's next?  To answer this, one needs to look back at 1920s and 1990s to give us some context on where markets may be headed. 1920s saw invention of televisions, radio, wider adoption of cars, vacuums, penicillin and many other which we consider household items now. These inventions created roaring 20s with markets going up by 500% eventually leading to crash of 1929. However during mid-20s, markets keep going up due to excitement of these inventions and end of World War-1 and Spanish Flu Pandemic. 1990s also saw many inventions - the key being launch of Netscape in 1...
Post a Comment
Read more

And the Oscar goes to...

It's Oscar Sunday and time for predictions for few categories - before I digress into talking about drama in DC or markets.  First of all, I want to recognize the damage LA fires have done to the beloved areas of Los Angeles and impacted families across all spectrums. My heart goes out to them and wish them recovery and rebuilding of their lives... This year's Oscar nominees and post nomination period had been interesting to say the least. Due to this, the field is wide open in almost all categories and that's what makes prediction game so interesting. Just to set expectations, I would consider a win if I get even 50% predictions correct given the dynamics of nominees this year. So here are my predictions - "And the Oscar goes to..." Best Picture - Anora (surprise could be "The Brutalist") Best Director - Sean Baker for "Anora" (Surprise could be Brady Corbet for "The Brutalist") Best Actor - Adrien Brody for "The Brutalist"...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Politics and Gamesmanship of TikTok!

TikTok is less than 3 hours from going dark on USA's east coast if TikTok owner Bytedance (and Chinese Government) follows thru its "bluff" to honor the law " Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act" which goes into effect on Jan 19, 2025. And suddenly there is lots of politics and gamesmanship around TikTok.. Let's look at the players and their positions US Congress: The " TikTok Ban" law was passed by congress with bipartisan support and coincidently it goes into effect one day before new administration takes charge. Everyone knew the exact date and time of oath taking ceremony of new President...but maybe the congress did not think that there would be change of President and did not bother to put effective date post new government taking charge...that created a window of 36 hours of "law being in effect" unless... President Biden: Biden himself did not think that he won't be President for 2nd term. S...
Post a Comment
Read more