First of all, no doubt the White House had a heavy hand, but the East/Gulf Coast dockworkers strike of 45,000 union members reached an agreement, with these workers getting a 62% increase in pay.  This was the first stoppage since 1977.   Whew, for the Democrats on November 5.  Details worked out?  Well, no, for the negotiators will return to the bargaining table on 15January2025 to iron-out any outstanding issues.  Surely sounds like a nice political solution.  Credit President Joe Biden.   He today appeared on the regular White House Press Conference  and also underscored the economic success of the administration.  Looks like our economy will mostly look good for voters through November 5, with inflation downtrending and unemployment low. Aside from the economy, one matter Donald Trump and JD Vance keep talking about is immigration.    More specifically, that immigrants are committing crimes.  Sure, some do, but th...

  How much do Paris Summer Olympics medalists get paid? Olympic medal bonuses Table with 4 columns and 14 rows. Country Gold Silver Bronze Hong Kong $768,000 $384,000 $192,000 Singapore $745,000 $373,000 $186,000 Indonesia $300,000 $150,000 $60,000 Israel $271,000 $216,000 $135,000 Republic of Kazakhstan $250,000 $150,000 $75,000 Malaysia $216,000 $65,000 $22,000 Spain $102,000 $52,000 $33,000 France $87,000 $43,000 $22,000 South Korea $45,000 $25,000 $18,000 United States $38,000 $23,000 $15,000 Japan $32,000 $13,000 $6,000 Poland $25,000 $19,000 $14,000 Germany $22,000 $16,000 $11,000 Australia $13,000 $10,000 $7,000 The bronze medal column will be cut-off in the original blog posting.   But you can see it here . Hong Kong athletes in Paris have  so far won  two golds and two bronze medals .  The last Singaporean athlete to win money was Joseph Schooling (left), who beat Michael Phelps in the 100-meter butterfly at the Rio Games in 2016, winning a gold me...

 Our M Club dinner with drinks last night. Went to bed early.  Note that we essentially did nothing in Singapore. We catch Thai Air from Singapore to Subarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok.  Started in some strange sounding and dingy looking lounge.  No tomato juice for a Bloody Mary.  Had Asahi Beer and a glass of Chardonnay with curry rice, which was lukewarm, but okay.  Huge chunks of good-tasting beef. Thailand is, geographically, 700 times larger than Singapore, with 13 times more people.   However, the annual GDP are very similar, $495 million for Thailand and $467 million for Singapore. Thus, the GDP per capita of Singapore is $82,808 and $7,082 for Thailand. Singapore is #1 in world competitiveness, Thailand #40. Global Peace Ranking:  Singapore #6, Thailand #92. Almost everyone in Singapore was fully vaccinated against Covid-19  by September of 2022.  Thailand is now up to 77%. Thai people are friendly.  While not unfriendly,...