How To Make A Bundle November 1, 2019October 31, 2019 Find a child with a penny. Have her double it every day. After 47 days, she will have a trillion dollars (before tax). Sally from Iowa: “A friend who is going vegan-most-of-the-time told me about this vegan butter. She is raving about the taste!” John Kasley: “If you have one of those little bear squeeze jars of honey, then you can dribble a little on your butter and peanut butter. Peanut butter, butter, and honey is my justification for eating white bread, because if both the butter and peanut butter are at room temperature you can really heap a lot on the bread and that will give you more space to drizzle honey all over the place. Nobody’s watching. That’s the keyword.” → The mouth waters just cutting and pasting this. Have you heard of Honest Tea? I used to plug it a lot (and still like the “glass jar” varieties, like Moroccan Mint and Cinnamon Sunrise and Ginger Oasis) because I had a very small stake in it. And after a mere 12 years, sold it to Coca Cola! (“Patience, Jackass, patience!”) Well, say hello to Maple Mama, now available on Amazon: 54 antioxidants, lightly carbonated, lightly sweetened. (“Imagine A Sweetener That’s Good For You!™”) Two key points: First — full disclosure — I have a small stake in this one, too. Drink up. Second, I only like the taste if it’s ice cold, direct from the can. Not in a glass over ice; not out of the fridge “pretty cold.” I don’t know why. But when it is ice cold, it’s great. And friends of all ages seem to like it. The company is targeting young mothers, I think. But I have twenty-something guys who like it, and a straight couple approaching their ninth decade who just left raving about it, too. They had stopped by for sushi on their way in for a quick trip see a billionaire in his tenth decade, and would then head back out to Teterboro for the flight home. Their plane seats 10. They don’t think much about carbon footprints because, as one of them wrote me: “In 1978, the media warned of the coming Ice Age. Climate always changes. Look at circles on a tree trunk and you will find wide rings and narrow rings well before autos were invented.” To which I replied, “Are you really willing to gamble the habitability of the planet on your common sense view versus the overwhelming consensus of the global scientific community? I remember 1978, but I don’t remember a sustained global scientific consensus warning that we had 10 or 12 years to avert the worst of a looming catastrophe. To me, the world sure LOOKS flat (if a little hilly). The sun sure SEEMS to revolve around us. And electricity? What’s up with THAT?! Electricity makes zero sense to me – as do “waves” that somehow find their way through walls from my face in New York to your eyes and ears riding on a train in China, say, and instantly allow us to see each other and talk as if we were face to face. HOW COULD THAT BE???!!!! Almost as impressive as turning water into wine! Yet because scientists have figured all this out and made it happen, I’ve come to believe they must generally be smarter about this stuff than me. I’m not willing to gamble they are all wrong, while you and Senator Inhhofe and Sean Hannity are right.” But here’s the perhaps unexpected point. The couple I’m describing are really great people, big fun to be with, deeply religious, devoting almost all their time at this stage of life to helping those less fortunate. I will admit, it’s . . . convenient . . . for them that “lower taxes on the uber-rich” happens to be the best way, in their view, to help those struggling to get by. From my perspective, it’s inconceivable that the Guy who said, “whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also” would favor rejecting Medicaid expansion, eliminating the estate tax on billionaires, and reelecting a sociopath whose own cheek-turning policy is, “anybody who hits me, we’re gonna hit them 10 times harder.” So we have gaping areas of disagreement . . . as did, say (not to elevate either of us to their level, remotely, but to make the point), Antonin Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. But two things we agree on (besides Maple Mama): The importance and rewards of friendships like this. The need to listen to each other to find, and build on, common ground to solve big problems. To help our team win, click here. Have a great weekend!