It's a Chronic Thing

Dear America,

so it's happy tuesday.

a "local" taco shop -- which calls itself "Chronic Taco" has closed.

and you say, well, G, it's so cal, there must be a taco shop on every corner...

and I say, well, so?

Now...there are a few other things you should know:  1) it is an operation well funded, operating tons of stores from so cal to AZ to Vegas to British Columbia.  2) it opened in Solana Beach, like only eighteen months ago. 3) the atmosphere is colorful, loud, bordering on obnoxious --  while the food quality, marginal at best.

Free market evaluation:  you can have all the bells and whistles popping, but without the substance to back it up...buh bye.

Now...if you go on Yelp! for fair and free spirited customer evaluations, the message rings loud and clear: to pass itself off as a taco place in southern california, you gotta do a whole lot better than that; not to mention, the food was labeled "greasy" "rubbery" and just plain sucked.

Sure, we have gobs of supply in the taco arena; but let's get real.  Unless you are a Mexican restaurant rooted in the neighborhood, with a following surviving multiple generations -- when it comes to the fast food alternative, the only taco purveyors who make it -- are called 'taco stands.' 

Now...to understand what I just said, you would need to be local; but let me help you out a little.  A taco stand with any kind of following isn't LOUD, isn't corporate, isn't gimmicky in any way -- it's authentic, simple, yummy Mexican food without the fluff.  The appeal grows out from the grassroots, with surfers rolling in after the dawn ride, with tres generations taking over on Sunday afternoons. That's it; it doesn't get any more complicated than that.

The stand makes it on it's own merits -- or it doesn't.  The Chronic Taco, though clever in it's name and radical showmanship, just didn't cut it. [hmmmm this reminds me of something, not sure what it is...] Of course, if you are visiting Vegas from Tallahassee, 'the Chronic' might be just the ticket.

Another example of the whole supply and demand thing that has caught my attention -- a little something called "Cafe Cup."  Have you seen this advertised on TV?   It's a miniature plastic container that fits inside the latest one-cup coffee machines -- you know, the fancy ones that come with all sorts of flavored coffee varieties and all you have to do is drop in the coffee serving, already pre-measured and press go.

It's expensive.  As the ad notes, would you spend $35/pound on coffee?

So what does the free market entrepreneur come up with?  An improvement upon the one-cup coffee maker that tops the original idea in spades and clubs -- it's like chronic.  Who'd a thought?  And so quickly!

But there you go -- no need to buy the expensive, pre-measured gourmet coffee cups with the fancy label across the top; just buy you favorite local blend, already ground or not, and fill the reusable plastic cup -- drop it in, just like the good stuff, and press go.  mmmmmm .....smells the same and tastes probably infinitely better, as it hasn't been packaged months ago in a warehouse goodness knows where.

Now how marvelous is the free market!

Life gets easier, cheaper, sweeter all at the same time...

Unless we're talking gasoline in California.

Oh and Barbara Boxer and Diane Feinstein are on it, by golly.  They want an investigation.  Just how in the world did you two make it this far?

Um. Ladies.  How about start "investigating" the regulations implemented by the state of California.

Now, I love finding new places to feed my voracious appetite for immediate public feedback. And this morning I found just the spot out of northern California -- it's only fair I give NoCal a moment to shine, right?  So out of San Jose -- here's something else chronic; it's called "Roadshow".

Did you read it?  Do it.

give you a minute...

Fair questions. Fair answers. And even with a little attitude thrown in; just substance and showmanship workin' it. But let's not dwell...

The thing is -- Ms. Boxer and Ms. Feinstein -- it's called supply and demand.  Do you need to investigate that?

Sacramento did this to us.

Much like our coffee, it turns out we like our special blends out here in California A LOT; don't tell anybody, but we're really a bunch of snobs.  And for our rich tastes and grassroot's snobbery, there is a price to pay [and the Oscar goes to ...the environmentalists...thank you, thank you very much].  Hence, we arrive at the special blend of gasoline preferred by bureaucrats two to one. ....just G chronically generalizing, business as usual.

Now, something else -- we have only 13 refineries in California -- and four are down at this time.

AND to top it off [badump ba], because of our special blend requirements, we can't buy gasoline across state lines. It's not like we can turn to Nevada and say, hook me up, dude... Our supply is stuck in low gear.

Supply meet Demand.  Demand meet Supply.   Hello, how's it hangin'?  tubular.  yeah, like I'll take a carne asada burrito, uh tres rolled tacos con guacamole, uh and a guesadilla,  a side of rice...oh yeah, dude,  uh can I get extra salsa verde with that, the waves were really ragin' today...uuuh

California has created it's own market place for gasoline; we have made a basic commodity so special, we can't afford to bottle it anymore for one reason or another.

But let's be real, shall we?  There is no mystery here. There is no slight of hand, by way of price gouging; nobody is dumping the stuff blind behind the barn; we have issues keeping up with the demand, our supply is failing us, and with the special blend regulations, it only further restricts any alternative universe to save us.

But more than anything else -- gasoline is a commodity.  And it's like liquid gold to those of us who love to drive, addicted to the rush and the ability to get in the car and press go.

Switching gears and returning to a thing of substance vs. show before I go....

From the Obama camp, following the phenomenal foreign policy speech from Mitt --

"'This is somebody who leads with chest-pounding rhetoric,' campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters aboard Air Force One." via yahoo! news here.

yeah.  saying "Hope is not a strategy" is provocative, isn't it?

"The attack on our Consulate in Benghazi on September 11th, 2012 was likely the work of forces affiliated with those that attacked our homeland on September 11th, 2001. This latest assault cannot be blamed on a reprehensible video insulting Islam, despite the Administration's attempts to convince us of that for so long. No, as the Administration has finally conceded, these attacks were the deliberate work of terrorists who use violence to impose their dark ideology on others, especially women and girls; who are fighting to control much of the Middle East today; and who seek to wage perpetual war on the West."

still not getting chest pounding...

"Statesmen like Marshall rallied our nation to rise to its responsibilities as the leader of the free world. We helped our friends to build and sustain free societies and free markets. We defended our friends, and ourselves, from our common enemies. We led. And though the path was long and uncertain, the thought of war in Europe is as inconceivable today as it seemed inevitable in the last century.

This is what makes America exceptional: It is not just the character of our country—it is the record of our accomplishments. America has a proud history of strong, confident, principled global leadership—a history that has been written by patriots of both parties. That is America at its best. And it is the standard by which we measure every President, as well as anyone who wishes to be President. Unfortunately, this President's policies have not been equal to our best examples of world leadership. And nowhere is this more evident than in the Middle East.

I want to be very clear: The blame for the murder of our people in Libya, and the attacks on our embassies in so many other countries, lies solely with those who carried them out—no one else. But it is the responsibility of our President to use America's great power to shape history—not to lead from behind, leaving our destiny at the mercy of events. Unfortunately, that is exactly where we find ourselves in the Middle East under President Obama."

it's called measured, statesmen-ship.... not showmanship. 

If you did not have a chance to listen to him, PLEASE read the entire thing, go here.

Whoa dude. What just happened?   I went from Chronic Taco to chronic coffee to chronic gasoline to a chronic foreign policy speech.... sometimes, I just don't know how I do it....chronic G, that's me.

Make it a Good Day, G

is it just me? or is the chronic stock market not really swallowing the new unemployment numbers?

Dear America,

The downside with building an economy around spending --

 is building an economy around spending.

Any woman could probably rattle off a list of ten cosmetic companies in a blink of an eyelash; men, could name a wish-list of trucks or sports cars at a rate of 0 to sixty in 3.7 seconds -- introducing the new Mercedes-Benz 2011 SLS AMG -- in chrome with red interior preferred grrh ra wowwwww (true stats too).

That slamming brand new baby is ready to rock n'roll while getting up to 200 mph -- where you can drive it at that speed, besides through the Mojave Desert, I do not know.

Have you seen the mascara aisle lately?  There must be 100 different mascaras just at the local five and dime -- not counting the Mac counters and ritzy glitzy stuff at the department stores.  I mean, really, remember when our eyes immediately locked onto the pink and green packaging brought to you by Maybelline -- with perhaps the option of a waterproof version of the same?

Now we have every leader and wannabe in the field of beauty jumping in with each their own version of the extra lengthening, blacker than black, falsies and fabulous, smudge proof, waterproof, crying proof, perfectly separating, flake free, lash fortifying, Hollywood approved mascara known to (wo)man.

It is mind-boggling to say the least.

The downside with building an economy around spending --

 is building an economy around spending.

But just look at the upside...with spending, people are employed!  With spending, people make the things that other people want to buy.  With spending, the law of circulation is alive and well, and it continues to merrily merrily go round and round as long as the getting is good.

If the circulation gets thrown out of whack for reasons of either improper use of the law itself -- borrowing too much in order to buy, falsifying documents or fraudulently biting off more than one can chew or fudging just a wee bit on how much money we make or the liabilities already at play -- then oopsy daisy, we all come down.

The downside with building an economy around spending --

 is building an economy around spending.

America has built the most prosperous, the most innovative, the most charitable, the most faithful nation of movers and shakers and buyers there ever lived.

Everybody, in one form or another, has contributed to keeping up -- or at least even steven -- with the Jones' for years...and for even those who could not get theirs fair and square, regulation or the lack thereof, assisted in the making of going from wimpy, droopy lashes to fast, full and fabulous in one stroke of the magic wand (and when I say lashes, I mean to say, "lashes" can be substituted on a whim with anything else that meets your fancy for immediate gratification...).

The downside with building an economy around spending --

 is building an economy around spending

Oh, and there is this, perhaps if for the last forty or fifty years, the demand for cars and trucks and SUVs and Minivans did not grow to keep up with the pace car, miles ahead and just making us grumble the American rally cry of "I want that" --  of course, only with the confidence and security of having waterproof lash protection on first.

It is soooooooooo easy to blame the thirst for oil and gasoline on the irresponsible and reckless car makers --- according to the green machine building up momentum over the last several decades.  It is soooo easy to blame it on the friends of oil, the lobbyists of oil, the presidents of oil and even a war or two; the happy and hypocritical left would like nothing better than to have us think it is all for the love of speed combined with the greedy capitalists in charge, who have created the winding roadway to the overwhelming addiction to anything that moves and the harsh realities of where we are today.

On a wink and a prayer with those fabulous eyes of ours, we let the future ride for another day...and another day....and another day...

not by the hands of simply the makers of these fine things, but by our own bloody demand -- oh, and by the way, there's a really good spot cleaner for that...aisle eighty six this.

The downside with building an economy around spending --

is building an economy around spending.

Time to look in the mirror, ladies and gentlemen; this is every bit as much our fault as it is theirs.  Take away those with the dough who don't want what you sell, and what have you got?  You force change to happen in the market all by itself.

The law of circulation begins with the law of supply and demand.

How does Mercedes-Benz spin it. "The best or nothing.  That is what drives us."

You got that right.  It is a vicious cycle, indeed; but we, the buyers of what sells, made this mess every bit as much as the the makers of Mercedes-Benz and such.

Richard Reich has a piece in this month's Newsmax (don't even get me started on magazines...not since Thomas Paine has the selling of commentary and other people's fluff been so flooded into the marketplace...we can sell anything, can't we?!).

SO, how does the former secretary of labor (under Billy) size it up:

"In the short term, [we need] more stimulus:  Extend unemployment benefits and aid to state and local governments that are whacking schools and social services because they can't run deficits [because cutting spending is so not attractive]...In the long term, we need a new New Deal that will bolster America's floundering middle class [the new New Deal, he actually said that...as if the new and improved will be any better]."

The downside with building an economy around spending --

is building an economy around spending.

What we refuse to talk about or give proper credence to, it would seem, is not the law of circulation, or the law of supply and demand that brought us here, but another tiny little matter worthy of our full attention -- the basic law of self-reliance and individual duty, inherent to all Americans, that is slowly being drowned out by all the other options that have presented themselves over the years.

The root problem is not solved by simply monitoring the supply or tweaking the demand; it cannot be resolved by speeding up the spending process or controlling who gets what, when or how -- no matter what the cost or so called value that it MIGHT potentially bring.

More importantly, it would be a lie if I told you flat out that this is what drives us as Americans, for real.

Sure, by all appearances, we have thrown on the painted faces and hopped into the latest animal on wheels, but that is not what drives us really (ignoring Hollywood and Cosmo of course).

What has made America great was our attention to detail, while motoring along our highways and byways.  Yes, we like making ourselves look pretty darn good -- but, in the past, we were always able to handle it by the level of substance and humility and common sense hidden deep within our make up; built with a fighting individual spirit to succeed, on our own, and make something of ourselves, was what we were made of through and through. 

So what if we got a little cocky, right; we could handle it -- because the substance back behind the false eyelashes and fast cars carried us further than our hearts desired.

It was this mentality, this freedom to live, this liberty that carried us fast and furious through the wealthiest years this world has ever known, with our real prosperity leading the way -- that being our sound work ethic, our charitable spirit and our fullness of faith in God, any God, even if that is purely a reverence to our inherent ability to make it merely on our own. We overflowed in the magnificence of making everything and nothing, and giving thanks for all of it on Sunday.

But pullleeze...don't get me wrong...there is nothing wrong with spending -- or building an economy around spending; for in that spending, we can take care of our families, our communities, and the desperation's of our surrounding world without blinking an eye; it is really good to be that nation, to be that kind of people.

But without substance, we not only miss out on being our best, and buying the best of the best, we run the risk of losing it all.

Our founders set us in the right direction -- of course, the intention of making it on our own two feet was to be our first and primary option...a slick advertising piece to sell it, no need to apply. 

Since then, the supply of Americans with even a fair amount of understanding of this principle is dwindling -- and why the demand is so incredibly high.

The real fair market price, my friends, is going up.
Here we are, as the years have come and go, we find ourselves at the crossroads -- or where the miraculous miles of aisles meets the new frugality (and old humility) at warped speed. If we crash and burn, my hope is that I am wearing the right mascara for the moment.
 
Make it a Good Day, G

 Rhapsody in (red, white) and Blue is featured on Dear America...Gershwin is a pretty great G.