From TA re the piece by Bill Bonner in the Aug. 1 issue

“I have been reading Bill Bonner for a few decades now. He has had more influence on how I see our government and politicians than any commentator out there. You have to get used to his doom and gloom, but what he says makes sense. I’ve really changed my view of how we wage war. I hope he keeps beating the drum. Maybe more eyes will be opened to what we’ve allowed our country to become.” My Response: Me too! From JS re my observations about the Japanese during my trip to Japan – specifically their attention to detail:  “I think you may remember ISO 9000 – a set of international standards for quality control. Many of these standards were adopted by the Japanese years ago. They recruited an American, W. Edwards Deming, the most widely known proponent of statistical quality control, to teach them how to apply his theories. His premise was that persistent improvement heightens production quality and output, boosting customer satisfaction as costs decline. The big US car manufacturers made fun of Deming, figuring that since they were the top three manufacturers of automobiles in the world, they know what they are doing. “But Deming was recruited by Japan, his theories adopted, and the rest is history. “As you can see here, Toyota and Lexus still lead the way when it comes to the fewest vehicle defects.” From AS re the Aug. 9 issue on BJJ:  “I enjoyed your stories about BJJ. I especially liked how you brought up beating the young man when he was a kid. “I used to play basketball in a neighborhood called Chagrin Falls Park. A lot of good players would show up there. One day, it was just me and an 11-year-old kid. Before the court filled up, we played a couple of games of one-on-one. I beat him in both games. “Six years later, he was a high school star and went on to play in college. When people would bring up his name, I would casually mention that I used to beat him, one-on-one. “After their facial expressions relaxed from the look of, ‘Wow, you must have been good’ or ‘This guy’s full of shit,” I would mention that he was 11 years old at the time, and I was 33.”