Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Where are the Jobs?

From: Henry Boxlor:
Ok the election is over and all we heard from the candidates from senator to city council was “I am going to create more jobs”. Even the candidates for Attorney General were promising more jobs. I actually heard a candidate for Judge promise more jobs. How? Tell me HOW? Name one concrete thing any of these clowns can do that will actually create a job. See - you can’t. It was all a bunch of campaign hooey just to get your attention and your vote. If any of them could actually create a job it really wouldn’t matter who you voted for because they all were promising jobs. It’s pretty easy for the politicians to make jobs go away. Just raise taxes add a few more regulations with a bunch of fees and you pretty well can bet you just eliminated some jobs.

You might think that if you did just the opposite that would create jobs. Cut taxes, eliminate regulation etc. Not necessarily so. As you see in the election process, politicians are all flip floppers and business knows that. Smart business people don’t trust politicians much. So they wait. They wait to see what the trend is. That’s the problem. They are still waiting to figure out what to do about taxes, fees, health care etc. Elected officials need to get on track, set an agenda and execute it. All the bickering and worrying about the next election is just fueling more uncertainty. Until those who legislate get it right, those who invest and hire people are likely to keep sitting on their hands and their money.

Henry Boxlor

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Note Gate or How Sink sinks Sink

Form : Henry Boxlor
I always knew the I-Phone was evil. Now we have the unadulterated on camera truth. This highly adept little piece of technology has blown a hole the size of a bulldozer in the election process. What next? An In The Voters Booth AP where the candidate or his/her aid can instruct you in the voting process. Steve Jobs and his bag of shiny cased gadgets are taking over. It is nothing short of a hideous attempt to totally usurp the political process. Wait a minute… was it an I-Phone or a Droid? Who cares? All of this technology is just screwing up everything.

What is really striking about all of this is that Alex Sink can’t figure out what to do when faced with a full frontal attack without some help from a cell phone packing soon to be college grad. What will she do when faced with a real immediate challenge as governor? Probably text one of the few people she didn’t fire at the bank.

I am not particularly enamored by either of these two political wannabes running for governor this cycle. I think they are both far from the best this state has to offer in terms of talent to get things moving and govern effectively. Given the nature of the political process it is not surprising talented people don’t step up.

When it comes to running a state too bad there’s not an AP for that. Oh wait there is that Steve Jobs guy over in the corner working on something…Politicians take note.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

The Grey Wave- The Baby Boomers are Pissed Off

All of you 25 to 45 years olds better watch your back. The Grey Wave is rising like tsunami to take back the election this year. William E. Gibson, Orlando Sentinel reports “Pollsters and political analysts say that older voters — who have long preferred civility, stability and cooperation in Washington — are appalled by today's acrimonious political climate and increasingly convinced that the government cannot spend its way out of economic problems”. That’s what I hear; the old folks are pissed off. Those loud clicks you here when another attack ad comes on TV are the mute buttons being pushed.

They have had it with all of the political rhetoric, attack ads, party politics, war and failing economy. They are quietly talking in trailer parks, church meetings and at the coffee shop. They are going to vote, most likely Republican. Next time you see three or four of those golf carts clustered together, it’s the Grey Wave.

The batch of young voters that carried the last election may sit this one out, not much charisma here in Florida say between Sink and Scott. Crist, Meek, Rubio, no great reformer here, although Crist seems to stir some interest in those old hearts. Unless something very unique takes place in the next few weeks the baby boomers may well have it their way one more time. If you’re under 45 and want to have a voice in this election you better get your game on. Otherwise there are going to be a lot of smiling faces up at the club house on November 5th.

Friday, October 1, 2010

My Salmon and Me

The thought of a genetically engineered salmon is hard for me stomach. Remember all of the controversy about BGH (Bovine Growth Hormone). Bigger udders more milk. Well it started showing up in humans with some interesting side effects. Now they want to mess with my fish. The big concern seems to be a threat to the salmon population if one of these bad boys gets tossed into the sea and begins to procreate (spawn) with the normal salmon. What about me? If I eat this new fish will I become bigger, more fish like, develop an over powering urge to return to my natural home or maybe fail the mandatory drug test here at the Blog? What if these things mutate in the wild and grow to gargantuan size. Could we be threatened by an attack of the killer salmon attacking us with huge cedar bats?

And what about the trees? You know the cedar trees where we get the planks to cook the salmon. Will the bigger fish require bigger planks thereby threatening more deforestation? This is a big deal. It could lead to more global warming. Where the hell  is Al Gore? Does he eat salmon? The more I think about it the more upset I get.

I think I’ll just stick to my new five eyed Grouper sandwich, which resulted from the natural ingestion of the dispersant used in the BP oil spill.

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

What if the Little Engine That Could Can’t or Won’t?

You have heard it from the Republicans, Democrats and Independents. It is small business that will pull us out of the recession. It is small business that will create jobs. “Small businesses generally are regarded as companies that have fewer than 500 employees, but there's no widely accepted data that define America's small businesses, said Roberton Williams, a senior fellow at the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, a joint venture of the Urban Institute and The Brookings Institution, two center-left Washington research centers.” Well, the recession has been with us for several years and there are more unemployed people, empty store fronts, for rent offices and empty manufacturing facilities than ever. What if the little engine of small business has run out of gas? Tired of being over regulated, over taxed and tired of paying endless fees. Every government from the local guys to the feds has their hands in the small business guy’s pocket. What if it’s just not worth it anymore?

More interesting is the growing thought that they have only given up for the moment. Unsure about health care, taxes and the current administration in general, they’re just setting it out for a while, holding off creating those precious jobs until things look a little more stable. Waiting till Obama is gone Could be. But what if they wait to long? What if they finally just give up?

Entrepreneurs are a curious lot. Independent, bull headed and stubborn. They get up everyday and go to work for themselves and create the backbone of our economy in the process. But even they have a breaking point. Politicians beware.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Droid, Blackberry and the I-Phone

If your Blackberry is leaving a bit blue or your Apple I-Phone experience has turned a bit sour or your Droid is dreadful here is an up date from The Hill and Author Sara Jerome: “Qualcomm chief executive Paul Jacobs said the wireless industry did not anticipate the explosion in data traffic on their networks as people began accessing the Internet on their mobile phones. "Demand for data has grown so rapidly, it almost has caught the industry by surprise," he said. Stressing access to spectrum as a key solution, Jacobs said last year marked the first time data traffic exceeded voice traffic on the networks. "AT&T is talking about 5,000 percent increases in their traffic in a span of three years," he said. "But guess what, it's not stopping at all." Mobile is "dominating" the broadband landscape, according to Jacobs, who cited a "a perfect storm of innovation and opportunity." Seventy-five percent of total broadband subscribers will be mobile broadband subscribers by 2014, he said, calling wireless the "the largest platform in the history of mankind."

My greatest fear is a mutation of the thumbs causing them to become smaller as we attempt to perform ever more work on every smaller keyboards. Thumbs after all are one the things that set us aside from the other mammals. Smaller thumbs will make holding a beer difficult, hitchhiking impossible and displaying the old “thumbs up” a bit weird to say the least. Maybe there will be a AP for that.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

The St. Petersburg Pier

I like the Pier. I go their a lot. I go by on my boat, I ride by on my motorcycle, I drive out there at night and enjoy the lights. It dawned on me, I never stop. I never go in and buy anything, I just sort of pass by. Take it all in and head out to Treasure Island for one of Beach hangouts. I was upset when the Council brain trust voted to tear it down. How dare they put the old wrecking ball to my one place of mental solitude, the old inverted pyramid? I’ll miss it.

Maybe I am part of the problem. I go, I look, it makes me feel good but I never really support the place by spending any money there. Well, maybe the occasional ice cream cone, but I doubt that counts for much in the great scheme of things. A lot of people are yelling about the Pier but I wonder how many of them are like me. Taken by the structural appearance, comforted by the view but rarely truly supportive. It’s true that the place is primarily a tourist draw, but anyone in the tourist industry will tell you that you need the locals to be really successful.

Whatever they build it just won’t be the same. I’ll miss the old upside down pyramid and the opportunity to make up some wild story when a tourist asks me, why did they build it that way? Flipped over when were brining it up the Bay and we just left it that way. They actually buy that!

Maybe I’ll stop by and buy a hat or something.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

1-800 Ask Gary Amphitheater

Like a lot of people I was stunned when the Ford Amphitheater became the 1-800-Ask-Gary Amphitheater. Gary Kompothecras, the owner of 1-800-Ask-Gary, and his marketing people are clever if not geniuses. I have given it some time to sink in but it still does not roll of the tongue very well. The local PI attorneys must be seething. Think of the Catania and Catania Amphitheater or the Culpepper and Kurland Amphitheater, or the Larry Beltz Amphitheater. None of them are real bell ringers either. Actually, I kind of like The John Morgan Amphitheater although I suspect in the end it would be the Morgan and Morgan Amphitheater since I have seen maw Morgan and I doubt if anyone really wants to piss her off.


I find interesting all of the carping about the Kompothecras (Gary) move. After all the whole Personal Injury Law business, and the medical and quasi medical industry that feeds off of it are all about money and have little interest in the law or good taste for that matter. I suspect most of the fellows are just upset they didn’t think of it first.

The way I look at it if I get run down in the parking lot at the 1-800-Ask-Gary Amphitheater while going to hear the new 1-800-Ask-Gary band “CRASH” I’ll know who to call and I may just get a discount.

Friday, July 30, 2010

How You Plug the Real BP Leak - The Vultures are Circling

A few weeks ago I wrote here in the Blog about BPs Other Big Leak. The implied question was when and how do you stop the flood of money leaking from BP coffers. Here is likely the beginning of the answer from American Marketing and Banking News: http://www.americanbankingnews.com/2010/07/06/exxon-mobil-nyse-xom-and-shell-may-consider-bidding-for-bp-takeover-nyse-bp/

“Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE: XOM) and Royal Dutch Shell Plc (NYSE:RDS.A) may consider take-over bids for BP Plc (LON: BP) after the British oil company lost more than half of its market value as a result of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, said JPMorgan’s Cazenove Ltd. BP’s market value has dropped by more than $100 billion since the April 20th explosion onboard the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig which killed 11 crew members resulting in an unprecedented oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. BP has set aside $20 billion to pay claims related to the spill and said last week that the total cost of the spill had already reached $2.65 billion.”

A BP bankruptcy is out of the question it would send a shock wave thru the oil industry that would have investors running for the exits. Oil is a big buck business. The big players need access to the equity markets to keep drilling and they will not let BP take the industry down. Easiest way out, buy out BP or at least the North American assets, limit the total liability in the sale agreements. EXXON sure has plenty of experience in stringing these deals out over time. Look at Alaska.

How do you do a deal like that in the light of all the political pressure? Simple. Tell the Obama administration what the acceptable terms are, set absolute limits of exposure, and get their buy in on the deal. The leverage? The industry threatens to walk away, blame BP for the whole and then let BP fail. BP can drop maybe another 50 billion in market value but somewhere there is a point where even the vultures find the carcass distasteful. BP slides in to bankruptcy or worse just fails completely. Big oil cries a few heartfelt tears for their unfortunate BP brethren and you might actually see gas prices go down for a while to assure the public there is plenty of gas and heating oil for the upcoming winter. After a time various industry players through multiple holding companies gradually pick off what little meat is left on the BP bones and those with claims are left holding a very empty bag.

What about the politicians? The Jindals, Crists, Barbours and all of those fine local and state Representatives and Senators who were going to hang their political careers on BP bashing better take deep breath. If BP goes belly up and shuts down the clean up and the claims efforts who do you think the public and all of those out of work shrimpers and crabbers are going to turn on? You politicians who let this happen. The Obama administration could find themselves on the hook for the rest of the clean up. Another financial disaster for an already deeply stressed administration.

Sound far fetched? Look at the wars we have fought over oil. Think about how the US was maneuvered into some of these wars and conflicts. Big oil may be big but it is neither dumb nor cowardly. Oil is a tough business from the Mideast to Texas to Alaska to the North Sea these guys are survivors. They will do what ever is necessary to get thru this mess. Get in their way and you will be in big trouble.

The effort to plug the real BP leak has begun. Look for players from around the globe. The Mideast, South American, Russia and others. The states, and likely the Obama Administration, are way out gunned on this one. This problem will be resolved big oil’s way. If the current crowd of politicians doesn’t to play by big oils’ rules, big oil will elect a group who will.

Watch for a gradual backing away from BPs position “we will be here as long as it takes”. Not with BP market value falling like it has for the last few weeks. First early warning sign could be the disappearance of the fine gentlemen who volunteered for the BP claims management job. You know the one who was born in Louisiana. When you see the frequency of those commercials drop or the message change even slightly, watch out. My advice for those with claims; the old Chicago voting mantra. File early and often.

There is a bottom in the barrel. That bottom may well be defined by EXXON and Shell.

Monday, July 26, 2010

Official Balloting Material

I am sitting here at my desk staring at my mail in ballot. The question is not so much who to vote for, but should I vote or wait? On the corner of the desk is a growing stack of campaign mailers with more showing up each day. Is there a new revelation, some more information… what to do? The millionaires running are impressive, but there is a lot to be said for experience. Most of these people running for Judge I have never heard of and many of them seem so young to be a judge. Oops profiling…

I kind of like the bald guy running for governor. I figure anyone clever enough to wiggle out of all that Medicare fraud would probably be a pretty good politician, not so sure about being governor. His principal opponent on the other hand looks like a worn out sleaze ball, but he does have good taste in private aircraft. In the Senate race I am already on record as being in Christ’s corner on this one. I think Rubio is a political hack. Greene reminds me of Jimmy Hoffa, kind of looks like him and he talks out the side of his mouth. Watch him carefully in the next TV spot. Meek? Well the name says it all. I think I’ll vote for Kogut. Didn’t he have a relative that was a Latin band leader?

The School board? That place is such a snake pit I don’t think it matters who you vote for.

Maybe I’ll wait a few days.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

I like Kathleen Ford.

I’ll just admit it I like Kathleen Ford. Smart, sharp on point. I liked her when she was on City Council, I liked her when she ran for Mayor the first time and I really liked her when she ran for Mayor in 2009. I think without the HNIC comments things might have worked out differently. Kathleen could use a handler.
Anyhow, that’s all water under the bridge. Just the hint of a Ford candidacy for City Council or Mayor will send shivers down what little spine Mayor Bill has. Council has become a social club, conducting business in the room below Council chambers mostly out of public view. Think about it. When was the last time you saw some really tough questioning of staff or some special interest group on TV? Been a while hasn’t it.

Like her or hate her, if Ford was Mayor Stu and his crowd would not be pressuring the City for anything. They would be ducking for cover. There might be a few less senior staff members, but the organization would have a direction and leadership. I doubt the City would be closing libraries or ignoring organizations like CONA, and you would know what’s going on. Kathleen would make sure of it.

Note to Kathleen: Time to heat up the old website.

Saturday, July 3, 2010

The Emerging New Face of the GLBT Community


St. Pete Pride was fun, exciting, colorful and different. I have been at every St. Pete Pride event and have watched the event and the GLBT community grdaually morph into a new exciting and vibrant social movement. It seems to me that the Pride event has become more about who the GLBT community is than what they are. The GLBT community spans the entire spectrum from blue collar worker to corporate executive and all seemed to be represented.

The crowd was younger, more conservative in dress and attitude and seemed genuinely interested in the attention being shown by the political candidates and the many big name business and industries represented in the parade. What was even more impressive was the friedliness of the crowd and the many groups of people talking where subjects ranged from politics to where to go for lunch.

St. Petersburg should be proud of Pride. I am. It is an event that represents diversity and tolerance, while being a showcase for the dynamic changes in the GLBT community. If you can wipe the stereotype from your eye and take a fresh look you’ll be surprised at what you see.

Friday, July 2, 2010

An Opportunity for the St. Pete Chamber of Commerce

The departure of John Long as Chamber Chairman comes at an opportune time and presents the Chamber with an opportunity to become more affective in the community at large. John Long may have met his goals but I’ll bet there are a lot of small downtown businesses and City wide residents that think the goals weren’t on target in the first place. A large well heeled membership with their own special interests at heart doesn’t really serve the community at large. About the only time I saw John Long was when was at City Council pushing for something to benefit downtown. Seems like the Chamber’s interest stops somewhere just east of 16th Street.

Let’s hope the more community minded members of the Chamber get out the binoculars and look west. I have a suggestion for Chairman, how about Jeff Knight. Now there’s a guy with some vision.

Friday, June 25, 2010

BP’s Other Big Leak

Watching Tony Hayward last week it became apparent to me that BP is turning its attention to its other big leak, the really important one… the money. The people at BP have a real serious problem in the Gulf, but they have a much bigger leak word wide. As big as BP is, it is still finite. There is just so much money and then its over. Also as BPs money and asset value dwindles so does its clout around the world. A weakened BP, once a formidable enemy and competitive adversary in the oil business, becomes a target. There is no love lost in the oil business. These are mean tough business people. You will notice the lack of compassion from the other big oil executives on Capital hill as they willingly thru BP under the buss. No love here. Of course they wouldn’t drill the well like that, of course they have better safety plans and of course they wouldn’t take short cuts just to save money. All nice until the media turned up their safety plans that were just as ridiculous as BP’s.

Hayward typifies the problem many businesses have. The guy running the show has no idea what’s going on. He has a bean counter mentality and leaves those nasty details like safety and protecting the environment to the lowly. Hayward was cannon fodder for the political hacks in Washington. At brief moments you could almost see the rage in Hayward’s eyes. Some of those posturing politicians may very well see a well funded opponent in their next election bid.

How does BP begin an exit strategy? Small business people are not exactly the bastions of honesty. It will be difficult to sort out the fraud from the realistic. The new claims program forced into place by the Obama administration will help provide some cover. If I were BP I would require all claims to include the last two years federal income tax filings. That will probably eliminate a third of the claims and cut the rest of the claims in half. State and local governments are not much better. Strapped for cash, they must resist the temptation that BP is the goose laying the golden eggs. BP can’t openly call these people thieves and cheaters …yet. But don’t be surprised when they finally do.

With every politician pounding on them, BP is looking for an out. BP cannot stand by and willingly fork out money to every whining small fishing boat operator and tourist shop around the Gulf Coast. There are people buying fishing boats so they can make a claim. The money leak has got to be plugged or BP will become a victim of its own mess. The environment not withstanding, BP is not about to become a sacrificial lamb or pelican as the case may be. From Iran to Texas to many oil people and investors have too much to loose. That is not the way this will play out.

There are already reports of BP playing hard ball with the media, and with claims. That will only get worse. Here’s the point. Sometime in the not to distant future, weeks not months, BP has got to start walking away from this. They must turn their attention to their own survival. Look for the new public face of BP to be a bit firmer. More like your typical oil baron. All of those nice TV ads saying we will be here until this is over are probably leaving out an important point; BP not the Obama administration will determine when it is over.

Friday, June 18, 2010

The Oil is Coming…. The Oil is Coming… The Oil is Coming

No Matter how many walks along the Beach President Obama makes, or the many wishes of Governor Crist that the oil won’t come, or the consistent ignoring by County Administrator Lasalla, or the prayers of Mayor Foster…. THE OIL IS COMING.

You just can’t dump that much crap into the Gulf of Mexico, heat it up, stir it with a couple of tropical storms, turn it into a crude oil casserole and expect that none of it will wind up on the beaches here in Pinellas County. I’ll buy the fact that the area has been blessed for several years with no tropical storms but sooner or later the divine entity blinks or your luck runs out.

What is bothering me is the lack of planning. All we seem to really be interested in is getting a few bucks from BP to entice some hapless tourists to come on down so we can stick them in some over priced beach hotel rooms, sell them some cheap tee-shirts at exorbitant prices and in St. Petersburg’s case write a few extra parking tickets. The guy that owns the Trade Winds was classic. Whining about the poor tourist season and blaming in on the oil spill asking for millions from BP to pump up tourism. Did you notice we are still coming out of a recession?

BP may stand for Big Pockets in some people’s minds but there is a limit to everything. Instead of taking the typical small business, small minded, short sighted view of making this months sales, we better be thinking about how we save this place for everyone who lives here. Recent reports say tourism is a 6 billion dollar business in Pinellas County so how about you tourist business operators pony up some bucks to help your self.

If you think property values are in the tank now, just wait until you’re trying to sell your water front property with oil lapping up dock side and sweet smell of crude oil wafting through the air not to mention the oil soaked pelican staring at you from the dock pole.

Instead of bleeding BP for money to promote tourism let’s take that money and use it to train volunteers, and provide resources to cope with the oil when it gets here. The Pinellas County administration and the municipalities are not noted for their cooperation. It is time to put all of that bickering aside and put a strong action plan together to deal with the crisis. A bunch of 60+ year old volunteers out on the beach wheezing in the fumes while they search for tar balls is not a plan to deal with the crisis. Where is the boom, has the County or any City applied for the permits to build sand barriers, who is working with the Corps of Engineers? What is the plan to keep the oil out of Tampa Bay? Recent articles in the St. Petersburg Times indicate a lack of coordination and planning.

I can sympathize with the tourist business owners, I actually owned a couple of business on the beach myself. But listen carefully to those comments from Louisiana about loosing a life style. It could happen here too.

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

What Does BP Stand For

BP Values verses Actions

From their WEB site here is BPs mission statement

From the BP mission statement:

In all our activities we seek to display some unchanging, fundamental qualities – integrity, honest dealing, treating everyone with respect and dignity, striving for mutual advantage and contributing to human progress.

From the BP group values section of the mission statement:
Health, Safety, and Environment

Health and safety: to ensure that there are no accidents, no harm to people and that no one is subject to unnecessary risk while working for the group.

From the BP Values Section Environmentally Sound Operations:

To conduct the group’s activities in a manner that, consistent with the board goals, is environmentally responsible with the aspiration of ‘no damage to the environment’. The group will seek to drive down the environmental impact of its operations by reducing waste, emissions and discharges, and by using energy efficiently.

BP what does it really stand for? Big problem, bad planning, big profits, bad management? So what happened? We will probably never know for sure. After all the layers of excuses are peeled away the one fact that will most likely emerge is BP was doing what all corporations do which is trying to spend the least amount they can to get the results they want. Simple definition: more profit, increase share holder equity, all of which can be defined in one word greed. The sad eyed BP CEO apologizing over and over is becoming more pathetic each day. Why was there no equipment or science to deal with a problem like this one? Simple. That investment does not add to share holder equity or executive compensation.

One thing is for sure the mission statement was no where to be found on the drilling rig. Whoever wrote it was some probably someone in marketing or public relations, and there is a good chance the CEO wasn’t aware it even existed. I like the Obama administration’s criminal investigation approach. These guys need to do some serious time in a real prison not a low security country club. I think a couple of BP executives doing the perp walk would send a real message to corporate America at least to the oil industry.

And to deal with the whole share holder equity thing, how about a class action law suit holding every BP share holder at the time of the incident personally liable for their proportionate share of the total cost. I think along with share holder equity there should be some shareholder responsibility. That would get some investors seriously watching the company’s operations and not just the share price.

-H-

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Republicans Should Be Cautious

Marko….Pollo Marco…Rubio Marco…Maybe Marco… Maybe not

The Florida Governors’ race is almost always interesting. The Crist/Rubio race has proven that things are never dull in Florida politics. I’ll admit it, I like Charlie Crist. I liked him the first time we met at a Rays game, and I was at the Vinoy when he won the Governorship. I’ll also admit that Charlie may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer. But Charlie seems inherently honest for a politician. Charlie has more than his share of detractors, and I guess when you have been in politics as long as he has and been as successful as he has that may be par for the course. The Republicans have put poor old Charlie in a bit of a quandary. All this fawning over Rubio has tilted the polls and Charlie is a bit nervous. He is actually seriously considering the independent thing.

Republicans should be careful. Behind those pouting lips, sultry eyes and bouncing kids in the TV ad, Marko has some issues. The Party sees him as the next Republican Saint and there is even already talk about a presidential bid. Are you kidding me? But it appears that Marko may have trouble keeping his hand out of the public’s cookie jar and given the rarified air in Washington he could well have difficulties with other appendages. Putting Rubio in Washington could easily set up the GOP and Florida for a scandal that would make the Foley thing look like a kid’s picnic. Marco is probably better suited for Chicago or New York politics where they expect their politicians to be slopping it up at the public’s expense. There are too many people including the Feds poking around in Marko’s past. Where there is smoke there is always fire. Maybe not an inferno, but a fire none the less. The party players who may be looking at Marco as someone they can put a coat with long tails on better check the pockets. If I were them I would put Marco on a cash only basis, no credit cards and a very short leash. Marco could use a handler, trainer and a full time auditor.

Me, I still like Charlie, Republican or Independent. I think he still uses his own credit card to pay for his stuff and most importantly he will spend his time and energy looking out for Florida first and Charlie second…maybe