On Our "Virtual 101" With a Special Edition of #OutsiderVibes: Presenting Uncle Buck Courtesy YouTube Movies

On Our "Virtual Route 101" Around the World: A Look back at History

 August 8, 1974 was when Richard Nixon resigned as President of the United States.  The Nixon Foundation shared a retrospective on Richard Nixon that our team captured on the Nixon Foundation Instagram Account:

On Our "Virtual Route 66": #RandomThoughts Courtesy the Team at the Daily Stoic

 

We get to see them up close. We see how they treat people. We see what their values are. We see how it always goes. Then what do we do? We tell ourselves it will go differently for us. “It is almost incomprehensible that after 8 years of working for him writing every word he publishes, keeping his secrets…” a young Eisenhower would write of his boss, General MacArthur in 1935, “he should suddenly turn on me, as he has all the others who have ever been around him. He’d like to occupy a throne room surrounded by experts in flattery.” Except it was perfectly comprehensible as his own sentence reveals. If MacArthur eventually turned on everyone around him, why would he not eventually turn on his most trusted aide? Seneca watched as Nero slowly eliminated every rival and relative—it was so bad that Seneca had to remind his student that it was impossible to kill every successor. Yet Seneca stuck with him, even as Nero killed his own mother! When Nero’s goons came to demand Seneca’s suicide years later on their boss’s order, Seneca acted like he knew this was unavoidable. He consoled his friends that he was not surprised by it, but of course, that’s not true. Seneca could have done something earlier. At some level, he must have expected he’d somehow be the exception, that he’d find a way out. That’s why he kept working for him, right? That’s why he kept writing for Nero and teaching him, well after it must have been clear that the man was deranged and unstable. When people show us who they are, we need to believe them. We cannot indulge the fantasy that they will treat us differently than they treat others, that the wicked will not ultimately bring their wickedness down upon us. It’s impossible for them not to do so, Marcus Aurelius reminds us. Expecting otherwise, to steal a phrase from Epictetus, is like expecting figs in winter! ​

On Our "Virtual Route 66" With a Snapshot of the Trump 2026 Budget Courtesy USAFacts

 

What’s in Trump’s 2026 budget proposal?  The One Big Beautiful Bill Act was a large piece of legislation that made several budgetary changes. Some of its provisions are permanent; other provisions won’t go into effect until later next year. Meanwhile, the Trump administration has released its proposed budget for discretionary spending in fiscal year 2026, which begins on October 1. Here’s a look at the proposed changes. The proposed 2026 budget would keep base discretionary spending at the same level as 2025, but shifts billions out of some departments and into others. It would move $113.3 billion to the DOD, meaning the department would have 59.6% of all base discretionary spending.     The Department of Homeland Security budget would have the largest percentage increase (64.9%) to support immigration enforcement and other administration policies. Funding for FEMA, TSA, and cybersecurity, among other programs, would be reduced.   The State Department and international aid programs would be cut by 83.7%, including reductions in international disaster assistance and global health efforts.  The administration also proposes a 43.6% decrease in program funding for the Department of Housing and Urban Development, reducing it from $77.0 billion to $43.5 billion. This includes a $26.7 billion cut in federal rental assistance programs.   The Education Department’s discretionary budget would drop 15.3%, from $78.7 billion to $66.7 billion. (You can read USAFacts Founder Steve Ballmer’s open letter to Education Secretary Linda McMahon on LinkedIn.)  See the data Americans aren’t saving like they used to Americans saved an average of 4.6% of their disposable income in 2024. The US personal saving rate is a measure of people’s financial health and is one indicator of consumer behavior and economic growth. Rising personal savings can mean people are spending less, which can lead to slower economic growth. Consumer spending accounts for 70% of the US economy.   Congress is considering legislation to create a Universal Savings Account, an investment vehicle exempt from taxes and withdrawal penalties. The idea is to encourage more Americans to save because they aren’t saving as much as they used to.   The personal saving rate in the 1960s and 1970s averaged 11.7%, peaking at 17.3% in May 1975. It’s gradually declined since then, reaching an all-time low of 1.4% in July 2005.  Personal savings peaked at 32% in April 2020. There are a few reasons for this, including households proactively saving during economic uncertainty. Business closures reduced opportunities for spending, contributing to higher savings. Inflation is another reason for lower savings: food and fuel costs may rise while wages don’t increase at the same rate. This goes for housing, too. Over one-third of all households were cost-burdened in 2023, spending more than 30% of their income on mortgage or rent.  Americans may also be saving in different ways. The share of American assets held in stocks rose from 15.2% to 20% from 2019 to 2022.  See the data Data behind the news The Trump administration has resumed sending some weapons to Ukraine. Remember last week when we said more data on government assistance to foreign countries was coming soon? It’s here! Dive into aid sent to Ukraine and 175 other countries.   As of July 8, the US has counted 1,288 cases of measles. This is the highest yearly case count since the nation declared measles eliminated in 2000. We have a new page tracking these cases across states.     Thousands of Philadelphia city workers had been on strike for over a week, resulting in residential trash piling up. They reached a deal with the city last Wednesday.   President Trump approved a major disaster declaration for Texas on July 6, making FEMA funding available to people affected by the devastating floods.   Can you ace our weekly fact quiz?  One last fact In 2024, the federal government spent $100.3 billion on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) — about 1.5% of total federal spending. The average monthly benefit in 2024 was $188 per person, down from the 2021 peak of $253.

#OutsiderVibes (Special W-End Edition) : YouTubeMovies Presents Armageddon; The Day After Tomorrow

Our team decided to feature two very critical movies-Armageddon & The Day After Tomorrow-about the true realities our Mother Earth (a dot in the Universe) needs to know and understand: 

 

A Declaration: Why We Persist In Spite of the Odds

 

#OutsiderVibes (Special Quarter-End Edition): YouTube Movies Presents Darkest Hour; The King's Speech; We Were Soldiers; GI Jane

 

Our team is privileged to present The Darkest Hour & The King's Speech courtesy of the team at YouTube Movies.   Our team will be dark on our Digital Properties through the July 4 Weekend here in the United States, although our analysis over our Social Grid Corner on Instagram (Outsiders' Weekly on Instagram, The Daily Outsider on Facebook & X) as we look forward to the continued privilege to serve: 

On Our Virtual Route 66 With Mid-Week #RandomThougths For the Week

 

On Our "Virtual Route 66" With Mid-Month #RandomThoughts For the Week

 

On Our Virtual Route 66 This Week: #RandomThoughts For the Week

 

On Our Virtual Route 66: On the Art of the Possible

It is the dawn of a new Month, and our team captured this during our daily assessments on the Social Grid, which was an inspiration to us all as we look forward to the privilege to serve: