Leading off: Are we better off? For some, yes.

On the eve of the holidays, we saw a poll that asked a familiar question, “Are you financially better off than you were a year ago?” Just shy of half (49 %) said no. But that means over half disagree despite our current administration’s economic incompetence. For the most part, the majority have reduced their debt, been smarter about non-essential items (cable, cell phones, dining to name a few) and just searched for better deals on things – like insurance, cars and investments. It’s not easy, takes a little time, but actually can be fun. During the coming year, we’ll try to offer up some strategies our research turned up and pass them along.

Tampa Bay, politics and notes:

Here’s a start on our economic strategies as promised above. Never let an increase in your cable or streaming bill go by without calling the provider and cancelling. Somehow, they always come up with a “better plan.”

The problem for Democrats with their long shot attempt to get Trump off the ballot is that would leave either DeSantis or Haley as the GOP candidate who both outpoll Biden by a mile.

Just in time for the holidays, Florida gas prices bump up to over three dollars a gallon.

While Florida residents need high cost insurance to protect them from storm losses, Duke Power has the Public Service Commission that, under current agreements, allow them to collect storm losses from their customers. This is wrong and needs to be changed.

A counterpoint to our rant last week about offshore customer service – a few weeks ago we had the most delightful service from a young lady with USAA in Stuart, FL who guided us through a minor problem and concluded the call with “Thanks for your service.” That’s customer service!

One of the highlights of Friday’s Gasparilla Bowl was a chance to view Georgia Tech’s iconic Ramblin’ Wreck, a pristine 1930 Ford Model A that has been a part of the Tech football program for over sixty years.

This week in 1904 (December 27) the stage play "Peter Pan" by J. M. Barrie premieres at the Duke of York Theatre in London. And 13 years ago, the apple of our eye, granddaughter Emma Kathleen, is born.

Sports, media and other notes:

Christmas note from the ed: A few weeks back, we wrote about the five biggest selling Christmas records of all time. There were two other rather successful songs that never made it to a playlist of the radio stations we programmed – Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer and Santa Baby. We figure if some day we are not judged worthy of the pearly gates, our dark corner will feature a continuous tape loop of the two above mentioned songs.

With thanks to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, the gigantic sum being paid to Shohei Ohtani is larger than the total projected 2024 payrolls of eight major league teams. 

Question posed recently to approximately 100 NFL players, “Other than your current coach, what NFL coach would you want to play for?” The overwhelming choice was the Steelers’ Mike Tomlin; second was Andy Reid.

A final Christmas thought from the 5:05 Newsletter: “I told Santa Claus that for Christmas I just want to be Happy. Now I’m living in a cottage with six dwarves and working in a mine.”

…and another thing: This year’s predictions

In our first edition each year of TBR&R, we make ten shaky predictions for the year ahead. In our next to last edition of the year, we present our report card (this year in baseball parlance).

Our hits (and there were few): Ron DeSantis did, indeed, announce for the Presidency; most folks’ retirement accounts were up very slightly; our safest prediction was that your gym would be less crowded in a month, a total of three hits.

Swings and misses (the majority): Dems did not talk Biden out of running again; we have no settlement in the Ukraine, instead another war; Michael Kelly did not get canned as USF’s Athletic Director; the Rays did not miss the playoffs; the Padres didn’t make the playoffs, much less win the World Series; the most shocking miss was our prediction that Charlie Crist would run for something next year. So far, no announcements from the perennial candidate, six whiffs.

Still to be determined, our prediction that the Bucs would miss the playoffs. In the NFC South, who knows? So we finish 3-6-1, a good baseball batting average, but a lousy football record. We’ll try to do better with our ’24 predictions in two weeks.  

NEXT WEEK: Our annual “Year in Review”

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Merry Christmas!

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