Dallas, Texas. By James Kirkikis @ Shutterstock.com
Dear Survivor,
In 2013, in contrast to the majority of the establishment media, Joel Kotkin wrote that America’s future economic growth would be driven by what he called “four growth corridors,” including “the Great Plains, the Intermountain West, the Third Coast (spanning the Gulf states from Texas to Florida), and the Southeastern industrial belt.”
Kotkin told readers of The Wall Street Journal that these growth corridors tended to be “generally less dense, more affordable, and markedly more conservative and pro-business.”
He continued:
Overall, these corridors account for 45% of the nation’s land mass and 30% of its population. Between 2001 and 2011, job growth in the Great Plains, the Intermountain West and the Third Coast was between 7% and 8%—nearly 10 times the job growth rate for the rest of the country. Only the Southeastern industrial belt tracked close to the national average.
Historically, these regions were little more than resource colonies or low-wage labor sites for richer, more technically advanced areas. By promoting policies that encourage enterprise and spark economic growth, they’re catching up.
Such policies have been pursued not only by Republicans but also by Democrats who don’t share their national party’s notion that business should serve as a cash cow to fund ever more expensive social-welfare, cultural or environmental programs. While California, Illinois, New York, Massachusetts and Minnesota have either enacted or pursued higher income taxes, many corridor states have no income taxes or are planning, like Kansas and Louisiana, to lower or even eliminate them.
The result is that corridor states took 11 of the top 15 spots in Chief Executive magazine’s 2012 review of best state business climates. California, New York, Illinois and Massachusetts were at the bottom. The states of the old Confederacy boast 10 of the top 12 places for locating new plants, according to a recent 2012 study by Site Selection magazine.
Energy, manufacturing and agriculture are playing a major role in the corridor states’ revival. The resurgence of fossil fuel–based energy, notably shale oil and natural gas, is especially important. Over the past decade, Texas alone has added 180,000 mostly high-paying energy-related jobs, Oklahoma another 40,000, and the Intermountain West well over 30,000. Energy-rich California, despite the nation’s third-highest unemployment rate, has created a mere 20,000 such jobs. In New York, meanwhile, Gov. Andrew Cuomo is still delaying a decision on hydraulic fracturing.
Cheap U.S. natural gas has some envisioning the Mississippi River between New Orleans and Baton Rouge as an “American Ruhr.” Much of this growth, notes Eric Smith, associate director of the Tulane Energy Institute, will be financed by German and other European firms that are reeling from electricity costs now three times higher than in places like Louisiana.
Korean and Japanese firms are already swarming into South Carolina, Alabama and Tennessee. What the Boston Consulting Group calls a “reallocation of global manufacturing” is shifting production away from expensive East Asia and Europe and toward these lower-cost locales. The arrival of auto, steel and petrochemical plants—and, increasingly, the aerospace industry—reflects a critical shift for the Southeast, which historically depended on lower-wage industries such as textiles and furniture.
Since 2000, the Intermountain West’s population has grown by 20%, the Third Coast’s by 14%, the long-depopulating Great Plains by over 14%, and the Southeast by 13%. Population in the rest of the U.S. has grown barely 7%. Last year, the largest net recipients of domestic migrants were Texas and Florida, which between them gained 150,000. The biggest losers? New York, New Jersey, Illinois and California.
As a result, the corridors are home to most of America’s fastest-growing big cities, including Charlotte, Raleigh, Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, Salt Lake City, Oklahoma City and Denver. Critically for the economic and political future, the growth corridor seems particularly appealing to young families with children.
Cities such as Raleigh, Charlotte, Austin, Dallas and Houston enjoy among the country’s fastest growth rates in the under-15 population. That demographic is on the wane in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco. Immigrants, too, flock to once-unfamiliar places like Nashville, Charlotte and Oklahoma City. Houston and Dallas already have more new immigrants per capita than Boston, Philadelphia, Seattle and Chicago.
Coastal-city boosters suggest that what they lose in numbers they make up for in “quality” migration. “The Feet are moving south and west while the Brains are moving toward coastal cities,” Derek Thompson wrote a few years ago in The Atlantic. Yet over the past decade, the number of people with bachelor’s degrees grew by a remarkable 50% in Austin and Charlotte and by over 30% in Tampa, Houston, Dallas and Atlanta—a far greater percentage growth rate than in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago or New York.
Raleigh, Austin, Denver and Salt Lake City have all become high-tech hubs. Charlotte is now the country’s second-largest financial center. Houston isn’t only the world’s energy capital but also boasts the world’s largest medical center and, along with Dallas, has become a major corporate and global transportation hub.
The corridors’ growing success is a testament to the resiliency and adaptability of the American economy. It also challenges the established coastal states and cities to reconsider their current high-tax, high-regulation climates if they would like to join the growth party.
According to the movement of America’s population since then, Kotkin was correct. According to Election Data Services, states in the “Growth Corridors” will be adding a number of congressional seats in 2022 thanks to population shifting between the 2010 census and the 2020 census. Their projections indicate:
| States Gaining Districts (7) | Change | States Losing Districts (10) | Change |
| AZ | 1 | AL | -1 |
| CO | 1 | CA | -1 |
| FL | 2 | IL | -1 |
| MT | 1 | MI | -1 |
| NC | 1 | MN | -1 |
| OR | 1 | NY | -1 |
| TX | 3 | OH | -1 |
| PA | -1 | ||
| RI | -1 | ||
| WV | -1 |
All but one of the states gaining districts (Oregon is the exception) are in the “Growth Corridors,” while only one of the 10 states losing a district is a “Growth Corridor” state, Alabama.
Kotkin’s 2013 words were prescient. Americans did exactly what he suggested they would do by fleeing “high-tax, high-regulation climates” to “join the growth party.”
UPDATE: Your Gun Rights and Freedom Are Under Assault
By Stephanie Frey @ Shutterstock.com
You’ve read here recently that Montana and Utah have recognized their citizens’ inalienable rights to self-defense, and passed laws protecting their rights to carry a firearm without a permit.
Indiana could be the next state to join the “Freedom Corridor” by doing the same. The Indy Star reports (abridged):
The Indiana House on Monday voted to eliminate the license to carry a handgun in Indiana.
House Bill 1369 passed the House by a 65-31 vote and now heads to the Senate, where its already picked up key endorsements. Under the legislation, sometimes called “constitutional carry,” certain offenders still could be prohibited from carrying handguns.
“This bill is for the lawful citizen in the state of Indiana,” said bill author Rep. Ben Smaltz, R-Auburn. “This bill is for the person who obeys our laws who right now has to jump over the hurdles to be the person that gets the permit.”
You’re free to move about your country, as Montana has become the 18th state to abolish its concealed carry permit requirement. According to the NRA, the other states with permitless carry are:
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- Idaho
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Maine
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- New Hampshire
- North Dakota
- Oklahoma
- South Dakota
- Utah
- Vermont
- West Virginia
- Wyoming
Every state that borders Montana now has permitless carry. With the signing by Gov. Spencer Cox of Utah of his state’s permitless carry bill, Montanans can now carry from the Canadian border, all the way to the Mexican border in Arizona without a permit. The Intermountain West is now not only a “growth corridor,” but is also a freedom corridor.
Montana and the states around it are a great place to live like a billionaire while you build an island of safety for you and your family. Putting space between you and your neighbors, and between politicians and your freedoms, should be a priority for every patriotic American. It’s quickly becoming a red state paradise.
Interestingly enough New Hampshire, my favored RED STATE New England paradise is bordered by Maine and Vermont. All three have permitless carry. They’re not quite as big, and not quite as red, as the Intermountain West, but there’s plenty of room in the far Northeast to build your island life.
The only state in the Deep South with permitless carry is Mississippi, but Florida’s gun laws are friendly to gun owners, and the state has distinguished itself with the nation’s best approach to COVID-19. Jennifer Cabrera reports for the Alachua Chronicle, that Florida’s response has outperformed that of the “lockdown states.” She writes:
According to data released today by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ office, Florida is outperforming lockdown states like California and New York on all metrics. Florida has lower per-capita mortality, higher availability of in-person education, and a lower unemployment rate.
Excess deaths
- Compared to Florida, 34 states had a higher rate of all-cause mortality from 2019 to 2020, per capita. Higher-than-average increases indicate that states probably had extra deaths resulting from lockdown policies, not just from COVID-19.
- Compared to Florida, 38 other states rank higher for per-capita COVID-19 mortality among seniors 65 and older.
Florida has fewer pediatric COVID-19 cases while having the highest rate of in-person instruction offered.
- Schools have been open in Florida, and Florida still has fewer COVID-19 cases among kids when compared to other large states on a per capita basis. (New York is not included because they don’t make pediatric cases publicly available).
From the beginning, Governor DeSantis has emphasized nursing homes and protecting the most vulnerable.
- California and New York had significantly higher rates for new COVID-19 cases per 1 million compared to Florida.
- California and New York had significantly higher hospitalizations per 1 million compared to Florida.
- Governor DeSantis acted early in the pandemic to protect the state’s most vulnerable, and his actions saved lives:
- Governor DeSantis established 23 COVID-19 dedicated nursing facilities across the state to prevent spread within long-term care facilities, help with hospital decompression, and protect long-term care patients. The Governor also required hospitals to test all individuals discharged to long-term care facilities and required these facilities to transfer COVID-19 positive residents if the facility was not equipped for appropriate care.
- Governor DeSantis issued an executive order putting Seniors First and prioritizing seniors 65 and older to receive the vaccine. To date, 40% of Florida’s nearly 4.5 million senior population have received a vaccine.
- Governor DeSantis deployed Florida National Guard and Florida Department of Health Strike Teams to nursing homes and assisted living facilities for testing throughout the pandemic, and now for vaccine distribution.
- Governor DeSantis launched a pilot program for homebound seniors, including Holocaust survivors, WWII and Korean War veterans, and anti-communist Bay of Pigs veterans, to prioritize and protect our Greatest Generation.
Florida’s economic recovery is leading the nation.
- Florida leads the nation’s most populous states in unemployment rate for December 2020, and Florida was well below the national average.
While Red States are working hard to maximize the freedom of their citizens, in blue D.C., the Biden administration is working hard to reward illegal immigrants first. Anna Giaritelli reports in the Washinton Examiner on Democrats’ disastrous plan for immigration amnesty. She writes:
Democrats are introducing an extensive immigration bill Thursday that has the backing of the White House and the potential to overhaul decades of existing policy while creating an“earned roadmap” to citizenship formillions of people who are illegally residing in the United States.
Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey and Rep. Linda Sanchez of California unveiled the sweeping piece of legislation Thursday as the Biden administration grapples with a mounting crisis on the southern border as thousands of migrants are turned away or released into the U.S. each day.
The bill was first announced hours after President Biden’s inauguration. Its debut in Congress will begin a set of challenges in getting through a gridlocked Congress, where Democrats will need 10 Republicans in the Senate to back the bill and every party member in the House to support it. Menendez said his colleagues will not know if the bill can pass the Senate until they try and vowed against making concessions “out of the gate.”
Individual Democratic lawmakers have already introduced piecemeal versions of the bill if pushing through the main package proves too difficult. Administration officials told reporters in a call Wednesday night that Biden is open to negotiating on the details and breaking it down into smaller bills.
The U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021 would create a new system to manage and secure the border, keep immigrant families and U.S. communities safe, and address root causes that prompt irregular migration surges in the Western Hemisphere so that fewer people would attempt to seek asylum in the U.S.
“It’s our vision of what immigration reform should look like,” Menendez said in a virtual press briefing Thursday morning. “It will modernize our system, offer a path to citizenship for hardworking people in our communities, reunite families, increase opportunities for legal immigration, and ensure America remains a powerhouse for innovation and. a beacon of hope to refugees around the world.”
Contrasting the exemplary performance of Florida’s Gov. Ron DeSantis, is the possible criminal activity of Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York. You may remember Cuomo from the fawning media coverage he received in the early days of COVID-19 panic. What Americans didn’t know then, was that Cuomo was shuffling sick elderly folks off to nursing homes, where they infected others and caused a wave of deaths. Now even Democrats are coming around to the idea that the man they idolized is actually not so great after all. The New York Times reports:
The Democratic leaders of the New York State Senate are moving to strip Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of unilateral emergency powers granted during the pandemic, setting up a remarkable rebuke for the governor from members of his own party.
The Senate’s measures, which could be voted on as soon as next week, underscore the deepening division between Mr. Cuomo and state lawmakers since the governor admitted to intentionally withholding critical data on virus-related deaths from the Legislature.
The moves came even as it emerged that the F.B.I. and the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York had opened an inquiry into the Cuomo administration’s handling of nursing homes during the pandemic. It was not known whether the inquiry, which was confirmed by three people familiar with the matter, was focused on Mr. Cuomo or any individual, only that it was in its earliest stages.
The inquiry was another clear indication of how the climate has shifted dramatically for Mr. Cuomo since March, when he emerged as a prominent voice in the health crisis, using his daily briefings and invocations of his family to inform and calm a nation of viewers who turned to him as the virus began to spread. Now, much of that good will has evaporated.
Cuomo isn’t the only Democrat governor who went wild with power and is now facing the consequences. California’s Gov. Gavin Newsom is facing a recall for his mishandling of COVID-19 restrictions. And Biden administration nominee for Commerce Secretary, Gov. Gina Raimondo of Rhode Island, is facing a barrage of criticism for mishandling her state’s vaccine rollout. The chickens are coming home to roost.
COVID Chaos: New York and California vs. Florida and South Dakota
Clockwise from top left: Govs. Cuomo (D-NY), DeSantis (R-FL), Newsom (D-CA), and Noem (R-SD).
Recently at YourSurvivalGuy.com, you read about the Butterfly Effect— that’s “the notion that a butterfly stirring the air today in Peking can transform storm systems next month in New York,” explained by James Gleick in Chaos. In other words, the weather is like a domino effect. But what about non-weather events? Like a dead animal in China. Look at the COVID storm we’re in today.
What’s even more disastrous is how government officials in certain blue states (Cuomo in NY and Newsom in CA) have created chaos. You just can’t make it up, especially when compared to Gov/s Kristi Noem, SD, and Ron DeSantis in Florida. When you put Florida vs. California in a COVID matchup, it’s not even close.
New Yorkers are flocking to Miami, Orlando, Palm Beach, and Fort Lauderdale, but Mansion Global explains that Florida has many other locations where those fleeing the oppressive governments of the North East can find sanctuary, writing:
In this special series, we’ll look at five areas in Florida—Destin, Daytona Beach, Cape Coral, Riverside Avondale and Pompano Beach—that should be on anyone’s list if they’re considering a move to the Sunshine State.
Destin: Florida’s Under-the-Radar Beach Haven
Destin, the family-friendly, celebrity-studded beach paradise on Florida’s fabled Emerald Coast, is attracting new waves of high-net-worth individuals who are basking in and banking on its beauty…Read More
Daytona Beach, Home to NASCAR and a 23-Mile Stretch of Hard-Packed Sand
In the world of Florida real estate, especially among the state’s well-developed coastal communities, Daytona Beach is known for its relative affordability.
“I live on the ocean now and I would pay double, if not triple, for what I have in South Florida,” said Rachel McGrath, an agent with Premier Sotheby’s International Realty…Read More
Cape Coral: A Booming Florida Beach Town With a Midwestern Feel
Cape Coral, the exclusive Southwest Florida master-planned community with a down-home Midwestern feel, is a popular destination for those who love life on the beach.
“It’s one of the fastest-growing cities in the country,” said Stephanie Bissett, a broker associate at Premier Sotheby’s International Realty. “People are coming for the quality of life, the affordability. They are all ages—back in the day, the median age was 79; it is now 45…Read More
Riverside Avondale: A Luxury Enclave of Jacksonville, Florida
When people think of Florida, their minds often go straight to the beach. But Jacksonville offers more than a chance to get one’s toes in the sand.
Located in the northeast corner of the Sunshine State, the city has walkable neighborhoods on the St. Johns River, seasonal weather and a small-town feel. And it’s not like beachcombers have no options…Read More
Pompano Beach Offers Beaches, Fishing and Sailing, Amid Lots of Development
Pompano Beach, located just north of Fort Lauderdale on Florida’s southwest Gold Coast, was, not so long ago, a sleepy, laid-back surf town. In the past decade, it has seen beachfront upgrades and redevelopment and an increase in new luxury residential projects, and prices and sales activity has soared…Read More
Florida has become a haven for refugees from blue states because of Governor Ron DeSantis’s brave decision to keep the state open for business. Despite warnings of doom, Florida has performed as well as or better than California in the face of COVID-19. The American Institute for Economic Research reports:
Florida and California are remarkably similar for their warm climates, beaches, tourist destinations, immigrant populations, and more, but both states could not be more different with respect to the management of the Covid-19 pandemic. Florida operates on close to zero pandemic-related restrictions whereas California maintains strict lockdown policies.
In California, virtually all public schools are closed, restaurants must follow unwavering capacity limits, travelers must quarantine for ten days, and on the list goes. Meanwhile, Florida’s schools are all open for in-person instruction, state-wide restrictions do not exist for restaurants, and there is no travel quarantine implemented by the state. All of these details point to Florida’s current stringency score being low at 33.8 compared to California’s 58.8.
While the media labels California Governor Newsom a “lockdown fanatic” for his authoritarian approach, they call Florida Governor DeSantis “DeathSantis” for being too relaxed. The two governors are polar opposites in how they handle Covid, but their outcomes are peculiarly similar.
In total, California experienced more cases per 100,000 people, while Florida had more deaths per 100,000 people. During the summer of 2020, cases and deaths spiked higher in Florida, but the course switched from November through January as cases and deaths peaked in California.
One reason why Florida has more deaths but not cases is that the elderly – those who are more vulnerable to the virus – account for a larger portion of Florida’s population. In fact, Florida has the second largest 65+ population at about 16.5%, but ranks #27 for deaths in the US. The elderly in California, on the other hand, comprise 14.8% of the state population. Still, California has worse outcomes within nursing homes at 2.27 deaths per 100 residents, while Florida sees 0.72 deaths per 100 residents. The chart below provides a side-by-side comparison to show that the statistics are similar and that one state did not clearly do better than the other.
Rather, the outcomes suggest that lockdown measures might not have a significant impact on lowering the number of Covid cases and deaths. But a more comprehensive look at the economic and social well-being of the states potentially reveals a greater disparity.
First, the unemployment rate in Florida remains consistently lower than California’s. As of December 2020, Florida’s (preliminary) unemployment rate was at 6.1% while California’s was 9%. This means that a staggering 1,700,383 people are unemployed in California, compared to 614,327 in Florida. (The gap between the states is still immense when the numbers are adjusted for population.)
Survive and Thrive this Month.
Warm regards,
E.J.,
“Your Survival Guy”
- If someone forwarded this to you, and you want to learn more about Your Survival Guy, read about me here.
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By Africa Studio @Shutterstock
P.S. Aren’t you glad you’re not me? Your Survival Guy was recently in a boil water advisory. It’s not great. I’ll let you decide how a boil water advisory might run through your family. I’ll just say I live with teenagers and leave it at that. But there’s a silver lining here (and later on in this piece) so stick around and read on.
Recently, while Your Survival Guy (YSG) was on the phone (I forget if it was with you) I got a text from home “no water pressure.” Now this isn’t something YSG can solve from his desk. But, rest assured, the despair felt by the rest of my family was going to be felt by me come hell or high water.
After reading the text I immediately thought the absolute worst scenario: “What if this was my fault?” What if I forgot to turn off a water spigot or something little like that?” That would be a worst case scenario. To my relief, it turns out this was a city of Newport issue. A water main had burst. I was off the hook.
With replenished confidence, I fell back to my level of training and went to 7-Eleven which truly is a lifesaver. The gentleman behind the counter asked why I needed so much water. I told him about the boil water situation and he said another guy that looked just like me (what’s that look? Frazzled?) was doing the same thing. It’s amazing how fast life changes and word gets around.
I didn’t start the day with a boil water emergency on my mind. Instead, I was planning on writing about how fast life changes and the importance of taking care of the little things, like batteries, for example. Over the weekend (I do this every year) I changed the batteries on all of my safes. They weren’t dead. But imagine if they were in the heat of the moment? Not good. It’s the little stuff that matters in this big bad world.
You can’t turn the TV on without hearing real bad stuff about Covid or something Biden signed. It’s a bit depressing. We start thinking about another pandemic, the destruction of the dollar, a stock market crash, and other black swan events. All real possibilities. But what about that little AAA battery, straining with all its might, holding it all together?
Often times the big stuff can be managed with some thoughtful planning, stock market insurance, and common sense. But wouldn’t it be a shame if it’s the little stuff that wipes you out? Remember when a rogue sniper shot up the power substation in Metcalf, California? That ended up causing temporary EMP-like problems for locals.
What are the little things you can do to improve your survivability? Why aren’t you and I reading more about strengthening our immune system, exercise, or overall mental and physical well-being? You know you’re hearing it from us in Dick Young’s Safe America series and you’ll continue to hear more. We’re in this together. Unless, of course, you’re avoiding the blame for a boil water emergency. Then it’s every man for himself. Sorry.
Governor-elect Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., joins President Donald J. Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, in the Cabinet Room of the White House Thursday, Dec. 13, 2018, during a discussion with Governors-Elect from around the nation. (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)
P.P.S. “You’re trying to tell me if there’s hacked information that could damage me, you guys wouldn’t print it? Give me a break.” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said yesterday. “You guys would print it every single day if you could. And Big Tech would allow it to proliferate 24/7.”
DeSantis is taking the fight directly to the Big Tech companies that censored President Trump and the NY Post’s Hunter Biden article, and millions of conservative Americans exercising their First Amendment rights.
DeSantis announced the Transparency in Technology Act, which will hold companies accountable for politicized suppression of content.
This is what we need. This is the virtual secession from the norms that states need to take up to protect its citizens. This is about not allowing the big tech monopoly to rule the flow of information. This is to prevent them from canceling you.
More from Mark Moore at the NY Post:
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis launched an offensive against “Big Tech” on Tuesday, warning that the social media platforms are targeting politicians like former President Donald Trump now but will soon be coming for regular American citizens, vowing to combat the threat.
“Today they may come after someone who looks like me. Tomorrow they may come after someone who looks like you,” DeSantis, a Republican, said during a news conference outside the state Capitol as he announced the Transparency in Technology Act.
The governor said he intends to “protect privacy” from the “oligarchs in Silicon Valley” – Google, Facebook and Twitter – because the platforms have “changed from neutral platforms to enforcers of preferred narratives.”
“I’m committed to addressing what may be one of the most pervasive threats to American self-government in the 21st century,” he said.
He singled out Twitter for suspending Trump’s account “due to the risk of further incitement of violence” after Jan. 6’s Capitol riots and Amazon closing its servers to the social media alternative Parler.
“What about the 88 million Americans who chose to follow Donald Trump? Sorry. Content moderators on Twitter pulled the plug,” DeSantis said.
After Twitter suspended Trump’s account, many of his followers turned to Parler, hoping to express their opinions and beliefs in a less-regulated environment, until tech behemoths turned against it.
“What really scared me was the decapitation of Parler,” he said. “Big tech has come to look more like big brother with each passing day.”
As an example of big tech intervening to block information they disagreed with, Desantis mentioned The Post story from October about Hunter Biden’s foreign dealings blocked by Twitter.
“The Hunter Biden story was true. The typical corporate media outlets chose to ignore it. They wanted to beat Trump,” he said, adding that the report about President Biden’s son “couldn’t get any traction” weeks before the election.
He said reporters wouldn’t have hesitated to go after him if he were the subject of the same story.
“You’re trying to tell me if there’s hacked information that could damage me, you guys wouldn’t print it? Give me a break.” DeSantis said. “You guys would print it every single day if you could. And Big Tech would allow it to proliferate 24/7.”
As part of his measure, DeSantis suggested fines of $100,000 per day for de-platforming political candidates, as well as daily fines for any company “that uses their content and user-related algorithms to suppress or prioritize the access of any content related to a political candidate or cause on the ballot.”
The governor also called for allowing people to opt-out of content algorithms, requiring notification about changes in terms of service and providing the right of citizens to take legal action if these conditions are violated.
DeSantis announced that under his policy, the Florida AG would be empowered to bring cases against tech companies under the Unfair and Deceptive Practices Act.
“Floridians should have the privacy of their data and personal information protected, their ability to access and participate in online platforms protected, and their ability to participate in elections free from interference from Big Tech protected. What began as a group of upstart technology companies from the West Coast has since transformed into an industry of monopoly platforms that monitor influence and control the flow of information in our country and among our citizens,” DeSantis said.
“The core issue here is this: are consumers going to have the choice to consume the information they choose, or are oligarchs in Silicon Valley going to make those choices for us?”
Are you seeing what it’s like living in a virtual panopticon? The pandemic has made it worse. With the help of the media and big tech, Americans are being infiltrated by their own government. It’s time to turn the lights back on them.
By Roman Zaiets @ Shutterstock.com
P.P.P.S. This is one of my favorite stories about a guy following his passion and making a career out of it. If you haven’t checked out his videos on how to wash a car, then you’re in for a treat. Enjoy!
CNBC tells the story of Larry Kosilla, a Wall Street trader who decided to give up the fast lane to instead pursue his dream of being around expensive cars all the time. Marguerite Ward reports:
“You can’t fake enthusiasm,” Kosilla tells CNBC. “There’s not enough money in the world to fake enthusiasm.”
He created a website Ammo NYC to sell detailing products online in 2011. From there, he started a business caring for expensive cars.
“Luckily, my girlfriend (now my wife) and my family were pretty cool with that,” he says.
At first, it was difficult to secure clients. But, after learning more about Kosilla’s expertise and passion, a neighbor’s father took a chance on him.
His excitement helped him succeed. “I just, I really loved cars,” he says. “I think everybody sees whether you’re enthusiastic or not.”
He used social media to his advantage as well. With every new client’s car, the entrepreneur took photos of his work and posted tutorials online.
Now Ammo NYC is a full-fledged business. Each week, Kosilla cares for cars worth millions of dollars, often for CEOs and successful business leaders.
For Kosilla, there’s no looking back.
“If you’re happy and you become the best at whatever you do you, and that can be a garbage man a cabinet maker or a banker or whatever,” he says, “if you’re passionate, I think people around your customers or clients your friends whoever will see that.”
Looking back on the Wall Street career that he gave up, the entrepreneur says, “I’ve been doing this for, gosh, fifteen, sixteen years now and I don’t regret it at all.”
Download this post as a PDF by clicking here.
E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy
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