LOAD SHEDDING

Oracle is relocating its offices to Nashville. It's hard to believe how hard the democratic legislators and governors have worked to drive even hi-tech out of California. I remember thinking how nice it was when I arrived in San Mateo over that bridge from the East Bay and drove past Oracle. 

This story reminds me of the days long ago when I shared an apartment with my brother who worked for Home Fed Bank back in the mid-80s and he would come home day after day, week after week and tell me that Home Fed had written off another 1 or 2% of assets as nonperforming and I finally asked him, "when does Home Fed go out of business and he was shocked at the idea that his bank could fail as so many of the S&Ls were going under. Yeah, Home Fed failed thanks to the Fed changing the rules (Unexpectedly!!!)

I saw the other day that California went from a $100 billion surplus to a $73 Billion deficit in a year. They've done this again and again over the last few decades and kept getting bailed out but at some point, the State is going to get written off by everyone as a non-performing asset and it will collapse. I don't know what happens after that. It would be nice to think that flamethrowers will be involved but I kind of doubt we'll be that lucky.

Oracle HQ in San Mateo

 On the gripping hand I remember learning from my new colleagues at Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command that many of the employees of its predecessor (NAVELEX) when told that they were relocating to a new headquarters in San Diego, elected to stay in Northern Virginia rather than take the move and live in America's Finest City.

And then there is the sad truth about Texas. I’m reminded of the quote by General Philip Henry Sheridan: “If I owned Texas and Hell, I would rent out Texas and live in Hell.” 

One of the funniest speeches I ever heard happened at the Expeditionary Warfare Conference where the Deputy Commander at TRADOC interspersed little unrelated (seemingly) snippets about Sheridan after the War and some of the problems with fielding truly long range weapons. I'll have to write it down and share it.