2018-02 Bond Newsletter

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  • The average life expectancy of men was 47 years.

  • Fuel for cars were sold in drug stores only.

  • Only 14% of the homes had a bathtub.

  • Only 8% of homes had a telephone.

  • The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.

  • The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower.





  • 90% of all doctors had no college education.





  • The American flag had 45 stars.

  • The population of Las Vegas, Nevada was 30.


  • There was neither a Mother’s Day nor a Father’s Day.

  • Two out of every ten adults couldn’t read or write.

  • Only 6% of Americans had graduated from high school.



  • There were about 230 reported murders in the entire U.S.A.





A: A 1909 White Steamer, ordered by President Taft.




A: Oklahoma City, on July 16, 1935.


A: Royce Hailey’s Pig Stand opened in Dallas in 1921.




A: The 1960 Plymouth Valiant.




A: The 1969 Pontiac Grand Prix.






A: Camden, NJ in 1933


A: The 1949 Chryslers






A: The Mustang








A: They were first used on the 1947 Packard line.



















13th Amendment

Abolished Slavery

100% Republican

23% Democrat

15th Amendment

Right to vote for all

100% Republican

0% Democrat

14th Amendment

Gave slaves citizenship

94% Republican

0% Democrat


0% Republican

86% Democrat



Charles J. Nielson

2018-01 Bond Newsletter

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I AM RUNNING A COUPLE OF MONTHS LATER THAN USUAL… in getting out my first bond newsletter of 2018, so our traditional annual end-of-year quiz will be that much more difficult as we reflect back on 2017, but for the sake of tradition we are going to move ahead with our normal news quiz for 2017. Let’s see how good your memory is:
(1) President Trump’s infamous line “You’re fired!” was taken to another level last year, as more than a dozen high-ranking advisers and Cabinet officials were forced out or quit. Name the outspoken White House official who was fastest to be ushered out, after just 10 days.
(2) In June, Trump explained a major reversal of previous U.S. policy by saying, “I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris.” To what was he referring?
(3) After the Trump administration’s first two travel bans were blocked in the courts, the White House added these two non-Muslin nations to counter arguments the order was motivated by animus against a particular religion.
(4) Several Trump campaign associates found themselves in hot water after failing to disclose meetings with the Russian ambassador to the U.S. Name him.
(5) Name the targets of the following tweeted Trump insults:
“The WORST abuser of women in U.S. political history”
“One of the most over-rated actresses in Hollywood”
“The enemy of the American People”
(6) Which airline was widely criticized after security officers were videoed forcibly dragging a screaming, bloodied passenger off an overbooked flight when he refused to give up his seat?
(7) Americans became reacquainted with this 14th-century English term for a senile old person after North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un used the word to insult Trump.
(8) This foreign leader engaged in a bizarre handshake with Trump that turned into a 29-second wrestling match of yanking and pulling in which neither man would let go.
(9) Who coined the phrase “alternative facts” in defending Trump’s insistence that his inaugural crowd was far larger than the photos would indicate?
(10) Which former professional wrestler and current film star touted by columnist on both the Left and Right as a “self-made American hero” and potential presidential candidate in 2020?
(11) How many intercontinental ballistic missiles did the “Little Rocket Man” in North Korea test last year?
(12) There was celebration in the parliament and dancing in the streets when this southern African leader resigned after 37 years in power. Who is he and what country did he lead?
(13) What European region voted for independence, prompting a police crackdown and sending the separatist leaders fleeing to Brussels?
(14) Apple’s iPhone celebrated what milestone last year?
(15) A worker at what major tech firm set off a firestorm of outrage last summer by authoring a memo arguing that hiring or promoting people to create gender and racial diversity is “unfair, divisive, and bad for business”?
(16) Which U.S. state agreed to give Taiwan-based Foxconn $3 billion in tax breaks, subsidies, and other incentives to build a factory there to make LCD panels for TVs and computers?
(17) Which major credit bureau suffered a massive cyberhack, exposing the Social Security numbers, birthdays, and other personal data of 143 million Americans?

THREE MONSTER HURRICANES… and a deadly wildfire season made 2017 the costliest year ever for natural disasters in the United States. The combined cost of Hurricane Harvey, Irma and Maria, plus thirteen (13) other weather and climate disasters was $306 billion.

OUR GROWING NATIONAL DEBT… is $20.5 trillion and rising. To put it in perspective, in sheer dollars, the United States is the most indebted country in the world followed by Japan ($11 trillion) and China ($5 trillion). In relation to the size of the economy, Japan’s debt is the biggest in the world by far. Japan’s debt is more than 240% the size of its economy, with Greece carrying the world’s second largest debt load at 180%. By that same measure, the U.S. sits at 12th in the world. Japan’s debt-to-GDP ratio is so large because its economic growth has largely stagnated over the last twenty (20) years, beginning with the bursting of the real estate and stock market bubble in 1991. Japan has run deficits since then in hopes of stimulating the economy back into growth. But its economy remains stagnant. Japan spends nearly half of its tax revenue on servicing its debt, but so far, the Bank of Japan and Japanese investors have happily continued to buy government bonds. In fact, Japanese traders call betting against these bonds “the widow maker.”

As indebted as the United States currently is, we have not always been in debt. President Andrew Jackson briefly paid off the national debt in 1835, partly with proceeds from lands seized from Native American tribes. Otherwise, the U.S. has been in debt for nearly every year of its existence, beginning with the bill for the revolutionary war. The debt peaked after World War II, ballooning to 119% the size of the GDP in 1946, but it swiftly shrank during the post war economic boom. The debt load bottomed out at about 24% of GDP in 1974 and has been rising ever since. But it was after the great recession in 2007 that the debt really began to explode. The revenues cratered while the government spent heavily trying to stave off economic collapse, including George W. Bush’s $700 billion bank bailout, known as TARP, and Barack Obama’s $787 billion economic stimulus package.

Paying down the national debt to more acceptable levels is a discussion far beyond the room that we have in this bond newsletter, but like it or not, the need to do so will come sooner than later and it will involve restructuring our entitlements.

HOW IS PRESIDENT TRUMP DOING?… Here are the facts, since President Trump took office:
(1) Unemployment has fallen to a 17 year low.
(2) Over 1.9 million jobs have been added.
(3) The stock market has gone up more than $6 trillion.
(4) ISIS is on the run.
(5) New home sales have soared to a 10 year high.
(6) Tax reform has put and will continue to put money back in the pockets of Middle America and will continue to stimulate the economy as a whole.
(7) President Trump is moving towards a diplomatic agreement with North Korea which has been unsuccessfully addressed by four (4) previous Presidents. Negotiating from a position of strength has brought diplomatic results and a renewed respect around the world for our country and our values.

I get the fact that form often overrides substance in the mainstream media as it relates to President Trump and his performance thus far, but his personality and actions have stimulated a social and economic revolution that has and will continue to benefit the social and economic fabric of our country.

AN OXYMORON …is a rhetorical figure of speech in which contradictory terms are combined and are a common part of our language. In that regard, let me point out twenty-eight (28) oxymorons that I have collected and am sure that you could add many more:
(1) Is it good if a vacuum really sucks?
(2) Why is the third hand on the watch called the second hand?
(3) If a word in misspelled in the dictionary, how would we ever know?
(4) If Webster wrote the first dictionary, where did he find the words?
(5) Why do we say something is out of whack? What is a whack?
(6) Why does “slow down” and slow up” mean the same thing?
(7) Why does “fat chance” and “slim chance” mean the same thing?
(8) Why do “tug” boats push their barges?
(9) Why do we sing “Take me out to the ball game” when we are already there?
(10) Why are they called “stands” when they are made for sitting?
(11) Why is it called “after dark” when it really is “after light”?
(12) Doesn’t “expecting the unexpected” make the unexpected expected?
(13) Why are a “wise man” and a “wise guy” opposites?
(14) Why do “overlook” and “oversee” mean opposite things?
(15) Why is “phonics” not spelled the way it sounds?
(16) If work is so terrific, why do they have to pay you to do it?
(17) If all the world is a stage, where is the audience sitting?
(18) If love is blind, why is lingerie so popular?
(19) If you are crossed-eyed and have dyslexia, can you read all right?
(20) Why is bra singular and panties plural?
(21) Why do you press harder on the buttons of a remote control when you know the batteries are dead?
(22) Why do we put suits in garment bags and garments in a suitcase?
(23) How come abbreviated is such a long word?
(24) Why do we wash bath towels? Aren’t we clean when we use them?
(25) Why doesn’t glue stick to the inside of the bottle?
(26) Why do they call it a TV set when you only have one?
(28) Why do we drive on a parkway and park on a driveway?

THE NEW TAX LAWS WILL HAVE AN IMPACT ON MOST CONSTRUCTION COMPANIES …not just in the way that you count your “beans”, but in a variety of purchasing and operating activities. The amount of time that I will spend on these tax changes in the bond newsletter will be equal to what I perceive your attention span on this subject to be…very short. My best advice to all of you is to work with your CPAs to determine how your move forward in light of the changes.

Briefly, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was passed by Congress on December 20th and signed by President Trump on December 22, 2017. Major tax reform has been 31 years in the making as the last major tax reform bill was passed in 1986 (Ronald Reagan). The act contains many provisions that will have a direct and significant impact on those in the construction industry.

For contractors that are C corporations, the tax rate decreased to a flat 21%, down from a top rate of 35% for taxable years beginning after June 1st of this year. For those companies that are pass-through entities (Sub Chapter S) the top individual rates were decreased from 39.6% to 37% beginning in 2018, so there has not been a significant tax decrease for Sub Chapter S pass-through entities.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act left a number of individual tax brackets unchanged (7 to be exact), beginning with the lowest at 10% and the top at 37%.

Although you may have already computed your 2017 taxes, if you have not, it would be advisable to look at the 9% deduction that was available to construction companies that will now expire in 2018. Under the old law, almost all contractors were allowed to take this deduction for construction activities conducted in the U.S. The act unfortunately repealed the deduction starting February 1, 2018. Therefore, it might be well to make certain you are getting the full 9% deduction for 2017.

AT THIS POINT I KNOW YOU ARE PINCHING YOURSELVES TO STAY AWAKE… but just one last important point. Under the old tax law, small contractors (average annual gross receipts of $10 million or less in the three prior years) were able to postpone taxation on income from long term contracts until they were completed or when cash is collected. Larger contractors had to use the percentage of completion method of accounting which requires them to recognize income as the job progresses. Effective January 1st, the act increased the $10 million gross receipts threshold to $25 million. Small contractors affected by this provision can change from percentage of completion to either the completed contract, or the cash basis for contracts started after December 31, 2017. Any contracts started before 2018 would continue to be accounted for under the percentage of completion method.

As I mentioned, there is much more to it and you need to spend some time with your accounting professionals.

IF YOU ARE STILL AWAKE… I would like to introduce Ian Rutherford Plimer who is an Australian geologist, professor emeritus of earth science at the University of Melbourne, professor of mining geology at the University of Adelaide, and the director of multiple mineral exploration and mining companies.

He has published 130 scientific papers, six books and edited the Encyclopedia of Geology. His credentials are impeccable. The reason that I was introduced to Dr. Plimer is the Climate Change – Carbon Dioxide argument that continues to rage. I realize that most of you reading this bond newsletter have drunk the “Climate Change because of increased carbon dioxide” Kool Aid. We have been told the increase in carbon dioxide is the result of burning fossil fuels and other activities of our modern society. According to Dr. Plimer, this is way off the mark. The 2010 volcanic eruption in Iceland, since its first spewing of volcanic ash, has in just four days, negated every single effort we have made in the past seven years to control CO2 emissions on our planet.




I don’t really want to rain on your parade too much, but I should mention that when the volcano Mt. Pinatubo erupted in the Philippines in 1991, it spewed out more greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere than the entire human race had emitted in all its years on earth.


Just remember that your government has tried to impose a whopping carbon tax on you, on the basis of the BOGUS ‘human-caused’ climate-change scenario. As you are aware, it is no longer “Global Warming”, it is now “Climate Change”.

Keep in mind, that you might have an Emissions Trading Scheme imposed on you by your government, that will achieve absolutely nothing except make you poorer. It won’t stop any volcanos from erupting; that is for certain.

I cannot argue with the concept that there is “Climate Change”, but it is a natural course of events and has been since our planet cooled and life appeared some 4-5 billion years ago. The controversy, as far as I am concerned, settles around how much impact we humans have on the amount of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. At the end of the day it is minuscule compared to the amount of carbon dioxide spewed in our atmosphere by natural occurring events. You can all drive your Ford 250s without feeling that you are either warming the world or bringing on another ice age.

Scientists have found large increases in snow accumulation in a vast region of eastern Antarctica, a trend that, if it continues or becomes more widespread, could and probably will lessen the ice sheet’s contribution to the sea level rise and possibly help mitigate one of the most feared consequences of climate change.

The new study, conducted by scientists from NASA and several other institutions, examined snowfall in western Queen Maud Island, an area due south of the southern tip of Africa that is warming rapidly and contains 7 percent of Antarctica’s ice overall.

Based on a more than 500-foot long ice core extracted from the thick sheet of ice and containing a snowfall record dating back 2,000 years, the researchers found that snow accumulation levels had been rising since around 1900, and the rise is most marked in the most recent decades up through the year 2010. The bottom line is that all of the hand wringing and fear over the melting of the ice sheet in Antarctica could, and probably will be compensated for, by extensive snow accumulation levels on the ice sheet which had not been investigated or previously taken into account. Relax, the oceans are not likely to rise significantly and South Florida beaches will still be the same South Florida beaches 100 years from now.

THANK GOODNESS WINTER IS OVER… For many of our friends particularly in the Northeast, it has been a very cold and miserable winter. Even those in New England and the Northeast really do not know what cold is even after a winter like we’ve had. Actually, the coldest city in the world is the capital city (Yakutsk, Russia) of the vast 1.2 million square miles Siberian region known as the Sakha Republic. Yakutsk is widely identified as the world’s coldest city. No other place on Earth experiences the temperature extremes of Yakutsk, Russia. Though temperatures during the very brief summer can exceed 85℃F, winter temperatures regularly fall to -40℃F, and the lowest ever recorded was a staggering -83℃F. If you are tempted to visit Yakutsk, Russia, you should know that everything is ice, fog, and shadows. If you had a camera and wanted to photograph the city during the winter, frost would instantly coat your camera and its mechanisms would freeze to a halt instantly. It is often too cold to break ground for construction or graves, too cold for airplanes to fly or crops to grow. Markets do not have fresh vegetables, but they have very fresh, very cold fish. Yakutsk, Russia has a population of approximately 300,000 and has little, if any, tourist trade (wonder why?).

(1) Do twins ever realize that one of them is unplanned?
(2) If poison expires, is it more poisonous or is it no longer poisonous?
(3) Which letter is silent in the word “scent”, the S or the C?
(4) Why is the letter W, in English called double U? Shouldn’t it be called double V?
(5) Maybe oxygen is slowly killing you and it just takes 75 to 100 years to fully work.
(6) Every time you clean something, you just make something else dirty.
(7) The word “swims” upside-down is still “swims”.
(9) Many animals probably need glasses, but nobody knows it.
(10) If you rip a hole in a net, there are actually fewer holes there than there were before.
(11) 100 years ago a $20 bill and a $20 gold piece were interchangeable. Either one would buy a new suit, new shoes and a night on the town. The $20 gold piece will still do that.

(1) My wife and I were happy for 20 years, then we met – Rodney Dangerfield
(2) Marriage is a triumph of imagination over intelligence – Oscar Wilde
(3) Never get married in the morning, because you never know who you will meet that night – Paul Hornung
(4) “I am” is reportedly the shortest sentence in the English language. Could it be that “I do” is the longest sentence? – George Carlin
(5) My husband and I didn’t sign a prenuptial agreement. We signed a mutual suicide pact – Roseanne Barr

PARTING SHOT… When you are down in the dumps and you think you have real problems, just remember: Somewhere in this world there is Mr. Pelosi.

Charles J. Nielson


ANSWERS to quiz – 1. Communications director Anthony Scaramucci 2. Withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement 3. North Korea and Venezuela 4. Sergey Kislyak 5. Former President Bill Clinton, Meryl Streep, the “fake news” media 6. United Airlines 7. Dotard 8. French President Emmanuel Macron 9. Kellyanne Conway 10. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson 11. Three 12. Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe 13. Catalonia, Spain 14. Its 10th birthday 15. Google 16. Wisconsin 17. Equifax

02-2017 Bond Newsletter

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MOST TALKED ABOUT POLITICAL TOPIC… on both sides of the isle is “President Trump”.  My Leftist friends (yes I have some) constantly ask me if I am not bothered by Donald Trump’s lack of decorum.  Here is my answer:  We Right-thinking people have tried dignity.  There could not have been a man of more quiet dignity than George W. Bush.  We tried Statesmanship.  Could there be another human being on the earth who is so prized “Collegiality” as John McCain?  We tried Propriety – Has there been a nicer human being ever than Mitt Romney?  The results have always been the same.  This is because, while were playing by the rules of dignity, collegiality and propriety, the Left has been, for the past sixty (60) years, engaged in a knife fight where the only rules are those of Saul Alinsky and the Chicago Mob.

The Left has been engaged in a war against America since the rise of the children of the 60’s.  To them, it has been an all-out war where nothing has been held sacred.  It has been a war they fought with violence, the threat of violence and the violent take-over of the universities — still today.  The problem is that the Left has been the only side fighting this war.  While the Left has been taking a knife to anyone who stands in their way, the Right has continued to act (in most cases) with dignity and propriety.  To Donald Trump, this has all come to an end.  Donald Trump is America’s first wartime President in the “Culture War”.

During wartime, things like “dignity, collegiality and propriety” simply aren’t the most essential qualities one looks for in their warriors.  Ulysses Grant was a drunk whose behavior in peacetime might well have seen him drummed out of the Army for conduct unbecoming.  Had Abraham Lincoln applied the peacetime rules of propriety and booted Grant and maintained George B. McClellan as head of the Union Army, the Democrats might well still be holding their slaves today.  Lincoln rightly recognized that “I cannot spare this man.  He fights.”

General George Patton was a vulgar-talking, SOB.  In peacetime, this might have seen him stripped of rank.  But, had Franklin Roosevelt applied the normal rules of decorum then and appointed General Omar Bradley as Commander of the Third Army (a man with military and political skills, but not a fighter), Hitler and the Socialists would barely be five (5) decades into their thousand-year Reich.  Franklin Roosevelt could not spare the vulgar-talking, SOB because Patton “fights”.

Trump is fighting.  And what is particularly delicious about that, like Patton standing over the battlefield as his tanks obliterated Rommel’s, he was shouting, “You magnificent bastards, I read your book!”  As I said, “Trump is fighting” and he is defeating the Left using their own tactics.

Trump’s tweets may seem rash and ill advised, but in my opinion they have been very effective on a number of different levels.  Trump has managed to isolate CNN.  He has made it personal.  Then, just as Saul Alinsky suggests, he employs ridicule which Alinsky described as “the most powerful weapon of all”.  Most importantly, Trump tweets have put CNN in an untenable and unwinnable position.  They need to respond.  This leaves them with only two (2) choices.  They can either “go high” and begin to honestly and accurately report the news or they can double-down on their usual tactics and hope to defeat Trump with twice their usual hysteria and demagoguery.  The problem for CNN (et al) is that if they were to start honestly reporting the news, that would be the end of the Democratic Party they serve.

So, to all my friends on the Left and the “never Trumpers” as well, do I wish we lived in a time when our President could be “collegial” and “dignified”?  Of course I do.  These, however, are not those times.  This is war and it’s a war that the Left has been fighting without opposition for fifty (50) years.  So, say anything you want about this President — I get it.  He can be vulgar, he can be crude, and he can be undignified at times.  I DON’T CARE, I CANNOT SPARE THIS MAN.  HE FIGHTS FOR AMERICA!  GOD BLESS PRESIDENT TRUMP AND GOT BLESS AMERICA.  I FOR ONE SUPPORT PRESIDENT TRUMP WARTS AND ALL.

“To anger a Conservative, lie to him.  To anger a Liberal, tell him the truth.” – Theodore Roosevelt


BECAUSE OF TRUMP’S UNORTHODOX STYLE AND LESS THAN DIGNIFIED APPROACH… I think his basic message gets lost.  In my opinion, Trump is hitting many if not most of the “hot buttons” of the Electorate, including me.  You have to listen to him and not be distracted by his showmanship and somewhat obnoxious behavior.

I would like to list some thirteen (13) things that I, as a senior American Citizen, want.  Trump is at least talking about issues that most Americans are concerned about.  My wish list is:

  1. Hillary: Held accountable for her previous wrongs!
  2. Put “GOD” back in America.
  3. Borders: Closed or tightly guarded.
  5. Congress: Obey its own laws.
  6. Language: English only!
  7. Culture: Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
  8. Drug Free: Mandatory Drug Screening before and during any Welfare assistance.
  9. Freebies: None to illegals with any type of criminal record.
  10. Budget: Balance it
  11. Foreign Countries: Stop giving them our money and charge them for our help.
  12. Fix the TAX CODE
  13. Respect our Military and our Flag.


OVER THE LAST 25 YEARS… Design/Build contracts have become more common in our marketplace for both public and private contracts.  As a Design/Build General Contractor, if you subcontract the design work on the design/build project to an architect, you are responsible to the owner for any damages the owner suffers because of design errors or omissions.

While there are a number of ways you can protect yourself from the consequences of an architect’s design errors, perhaps the easiest and most inexpensive way is to get the owner to agree to include a contract clause like the one written and used by Construction Attorney J. William Ernstrom, which he called the “skip-over clause”.  By executing the contract with this clause included, the owner agrees that it will “skip-over” you and go directly to the architect for any claims that it has that result from the architect’s professional services.  For those of you that are interested, I am including the Model Contract Clause that you might want to consider including in your contract the next time you have a design/build project, after consultation with your attorney.


FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HUMAN HISTORY… obesity now affects more human beings on the planet than hunger.  New research reveals that as wealth and abundant food spread throughout the world, chronic over-eating has now reached epidemic proportions, putting millions of people at risk for heart attacks, strokes, cancer and other life threatening ailments.  Based on studies encompassing 186 countries, researchers found that the number of obese men have tripled since 1975, while the number of obese women has doubled.  Just 2.6% of the world’s population was classified as obese forty (40) years ago, but by 2014 that figure had climbed to 8.9%, roughly 640 million people.


IF ANYONE IS HAVING A BAD DAY… remember that around this time in 1976 Ronald Wayne sold his 10% stake in Apple for $800.  It is now worth in excess of $58,000,000,000 (that’s right, over $58 billion).


IN CHOAS THEORY… the “butterfly effect” is the name given to the sensitive connection between initial conditions in which an insignificant event in one state in non-linear systems can result in sometimes catastrophic events in the universal state.

In other words, although unlikely, it is possible for a butterfly flapping its wings in Texas to cause a typhoon in the Japanese sea.

Case in point:  In mid-20th century America, a loose 18-year old hippie female in a Honolulu college had sex with an older, alcoholic Kenyan man on a student visa, who had a wife and child back in Africa.  And this less than significant event started the collapse and dissolution of the Unites States of America.


I AM FIRST TO ADMIT… that everything in the bond newsletter is useless, but I still feel inclined to include a section on useless facts:

  1. Each square inch of human skin consists of 60 hairs, 90 oil glands and 19,000 sensory cells.
  2. Edward III passed a law stopping people from eating more than two meals a day.
  3. Electricity doesn’t move through a wire, but through a field around the wire.
  4. Every Continent in the world contains a city called Rome.
  5. Every day more money is printed for Monopoly than the U.S. Treasury prints.
  6. For a while, Frederic Chopin, the great composer and pianist, wore a beard on only one side of his face. It does not matter, he explained.  My audience sees only my right side.
  7. Greece’s national anthem has 158 verses.
  8. It is believed that Shakespeare was 46 around the time that the King James Version of the Bible was written. In Psalms 46, the 46th word from the first word is “Shake” and the 46th word from the last word is “Spear”.
  9. It is physically impossible to sneeze and keep your eyes open at the same time.
  11. Since the year 2000 there has been 656 arrests of active NFL players for everything from murder to robbery (and we wonder why the NFL is hemorrhaging viewers).
  12. It takes 60 seconds for blood to make one complete circuit of the human body.
  13. Jimmy Carter was the first U.S. President to have been born in the hospital.
  14. It would require an average of 18 hummingbirds to tip the scale at one ounce.
  15. Pound for pound, earthworms make up half of all animal life.
  16. The highest point in Pennsylvania is lower than the lowest point in Colorado.
  18. The most common name in the world is “Muhammed”.
  19. The name “Jeep” came from the abbreviation used in the Army for the “General Purpose” vehicle…G.P.
  20. When the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers plays football at home to a sell-out crowd, the stadium becomes the state’s third largest city.
  21. All the clocks in the movie Pulp Fiction (one of my favorite movies) are stuck at 4:20.



  1. Death is the number one killer in the world.
  2. Life is sexually transmitted.
  3. Good health is merely the slowest possible rate at which you can die.
  4. Give a person a fish and you feed him for a day.
  5. Teach a person to use the internet and they won’t bother you for weeks, months and maybe years.
  6. Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, laying the hospital, dying of nothing.
  9. Don’t worry about old age, it doesn’t last that long.


THERE IS TREMENDOUS CONCERN AND DISAGREEMENT OVER… the regulation of firearms and the mass shootings that we have had in this country in the last couple of years.  The Democrats, as a party, believe that gun control is at least a partial answer to controlling and/or eliminating these horrible events.  The NRA on the other hand make a good case for the fact that gun control, particularly in areas where there is the tightest gun control, has had little effect on mass shootings or crimes where a gun is involved.  Chicago, Illinois is a perfect example.

It is interesting to note that –

The Orlando shooter

Charleston club shooter

Fort Hood shooter

Columbine shooter (parents)

Virginia Tech shooter

Colorado Theater shooter

Connecticut school shooter

Congresswoman Gifford shooter

Note: I am not aware at this point in time of the Las Vegas shooter’s political affiliation.

All of these individuals were registered Democrats and by the way, none of them were members of the NRA.

“Status quo, you know, is Latin for “the mess we are in” – Ronald Reagan


THERE ARE TWO STATE STATUES AND ONE FEDERAL STATUTE… that apply to Payment Bonds in the State of Florida.  713.23/713.245 are the Lien Law Bonds and pertain only to Payment Bonds.  255.05 is the State of Florida Statute regulating Payment Bonds on State and Municipal projects in the State of Florida.  It is also applicable only to Payment Bonds.  The third statute relating to Payment Bonds is the Miller Act.  There are no State Statues regulating Performance Bonds.  Performance Bonds are all Common Law Bonds as are all Subcontract Performance and Payment Bonds.  Only entities in privity with the owner in the case of a Lien Law Bond or in privity with the governmental agency can provide either a 713.23 or a 255.05 Payment Bond.  All other Payment Bonds and Performance Bonds are common law instruments.

In the case of a Miller Act Bond, the Federal Miller Act is the authority for Payment and Performance Bonds on projects owned by the Federal Government.  The Miller Act requires a contractor to furnish Performance and Payment Bonds before any contract of more than $100,000 is awarded for the construction, alteration or repair of any public building owned by the Federal Government.  The Miller Act provides that every person who has furnished labor or materials under a contract for which a Payment Bond was issued, but who has not been paid within ninety (90) days of their last day of work, may bring a civil action against the Payment Bond for the unpaid amount.  However, any such action must be brought no later than one year after the last day on which work was performed by the person bringing the action.  No Federal Miller Act case can be adjudicated in State Court.  Federal Courts have exclusive jurisdiction over Miller Act claims.  Actions on Federal Miller Act Bonds must be brought in Federal Court under the Miller Act, which has sole jurisdiction to hear such claims.


THERE HAS BEEN A TREMENDOUS AMOUNT OF ATTENTION… focused on the NFL and what many feel is a lack of patriotism by many of the football players who choose to kneel rather than stand for the National Anthem.  I, for one, have absolutely no sympathy for the NFL or its overpaid, egotistical, narcissistic emotional children that try to entertain us on Sunday.  As far as I am concerned, the football players enjoy, like the rest of us, the freedom we have to express under appropriate conditions, their political views, but not on a national stage where their actions take on a greater significance than they have the right to.  I do not know in what universe the NFL players think that their political and social views could possibly be of any interest to the NFL fan base.  On the other hand, their disrespecting our country’s flag pisses me and most of the country off.  The next time I need a group of idiots to influence my political views, I’ll start listening to George Clooney and the progressives in Hollywood that somehow think that citizens of this country give a f—t about what they think.

Not all NFL players are criminals and not all NFL players are unpatriotic, but as a group, they are a rough bunch to say the least.  Since 2000, there has been 656 arrests for everything from murder to rape.  It is no wonder that the NFL is currently hemorrhaging viewers.

I have never been an enthusiastic sports fan, but if there has been any sport that I have followed to a degree, it has been the NFL.  For the record, they have just lost one more lukewarm fan.


IT IS NO SECRET… that the product that we provide is not universally revered as the most economical and efficient way for a General Contractor to manage the liability and potential default of the major subcontractors on their projects.  The issue has always been what is viewed as the time and efficiency of a surety company’s ability to resolve a claim issue, particularly on the part of a critical path subcontractor on the project.  This perception or reality (depending on which side of the isle you are on) has led to a competitive product called SDI (Subcontract Default Insurance) that has had a tremendous impact on the revenue stream of the surety marketplace.

The Travelers, as well as a couple of other smaller sureties, have finally said “enough is enough”.  They have listened to the concerns of the General Contractors as it relates the claims handling process and Travelers has made the decision to provide a Subcontract Bond form that greatly shortens the time and predictability of the claims handling process.  Key areas of the new form are:

  1. Defined notice and response times on behalf of the surety. The surety has ten (10) days to request details/information, and once the information is fully received, thirty (30) days to advise the obligee of the action they wish to take.
  2. Requiring only a Declaration of Default by the obligee and not both a Declaration of Default along with the Termination Notice in order to trigger the engagement of the surety. This is different than the AIA form which requires the GC or Prime Contractor to go all the way to the termination before the surety is engaged.
  3. Allowing the GC to do certain things to mitigate the sub’s work in a default situation, and recover for these costs should the surety find the subcontractor in default.
  4. Also, allowing change orders (up to 10% of the subcontract) to automatically increase the bond amount, addressing something that is often misunderstood.

As a General Contractor who would prefer to utilize Subcontract Bonds rather than SDI either on all their projects or on specific subcontractors, Travelers Subcontract Bond form should be a requirement as far as I am concerned.  Until this form has been vetted out by the sureties that are writing the subcontractors, there may be some pushback because it does put a greater claim burden on the subcontractor’s surety in case of a potential claim.  I think this is the very point and the very issue that we need to deal with if the surety companies are going to maintain their clients rather than lose them to a SDI provider.

If you have any questions on this bond form, I would be happy to discuss it with you.  If you desire a copy of the Travelers bond form, please advise me and I will be happy to send it to you.


THE SOUTH FLORIDA CONSTRUCTION MARKETPLACE… continues to be the best construction market in the Eastern United States and one of the best in the country.  Although we may see some flattening of the condo market in the next couple of years, we anticipate that even that market will be back in full force by 2019 to 2020.  In the meantime, the construction market, as a whole, continues to be extremely vibrant, particularly the infrastructure marketplace.  All of us who travel the South Florida roads and highways are well aware of the fact that we need more public transportation and we need significant improvements in our highways to accommodate the continued growth in our communities.  It is highly unlikely that any contractor in the South Florida marketplace will want for work in the next five (5) years.  As a matter of fact, the greatest challenge that most contractors will have will be to accommodate the financial organizational and employment issues associated with the amount of work available to them.  In line with that, contractors who work in the public sector or who need those occasional bonds in the private sector, maintaining a single and aggregate bonding line of credit that will accommodate their needs is an essential element in allowing them to grow.  Nielson, Hoover & Company is the largest surety broker in the Southeast United States and it is not by accident.  We deal on a daily basis with 70+ different sureties, we have the greatest number of account executives who specialize only in providing surety credit and we have, by far, the greatest base of customer service representatives (CSR) that deal on a daily basis with the service and clerical needs of our accounts.

I get the fact most of you have a relationship with an insurance agent and at one level or another with a surety market.  I can assure you, that given the opportunity, we can improve your entire surety credit package.  When we sit down together, we will be addressing your single project capacity, your aggregate capacity, your indemnity package and the premiums that you pay.  It would be hard to argue, that based upon our size financially and organizationally, that anyone does it better than we do.  I would like the opportunity to prove that to you.  Please give me a call, and depending on where you are domiciled in the State of Florida, I will connect you with one of our surety bond specialists who will review your current program and allow us to compete on your business.  You compete every day to the business that you get, there is no reason that your insurance agent (surety broker) should get a free ride and not have to compete for your business.


PARTING SHOT:  Interesting Tidbit.  Hmmmmmm.


The incoming President received so many death threats that he chose to arrive in Washington in secrecy.  The security for the inauguration was the tightest ever with troops stationed in buildings throughout the day.  This was an unprecedented amount of protection for any President-elect.  Many members of Congress chose not to attend the ceremony.

Despite all of this……Abraham Lincoln was sworn in as our 16th President on March 4, 1861.

Charles J. Nielson


2017-01 Bond Newsletter

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2016-02 Bond Newsletter

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U.S.                  65%

England            46%

Canada             42%


U.S.                  93%

England            15%

Canada             43%


U.S.                  90%

England            15%

Canada             43%


U.S.                  77%

England            40%

Canada             43%


U.S.                  71

England            14

Canada             18


U.S.                  12%

England            2%

Canada             6%


U.S.                  NO

England            YES

Canada             YES




38%      T. Roosevelt

40%      Taft

52%      Wilson

49%      Harding

48%      Coolidge

42%      Hoover

50%      F. D. Roosevelt

50%      Truman

57%      Eisenhower

30%      Kennedy

47%      Johnson

53%      Nixon

42%      Ford

32%      Carter

56%      Reagan

51%      G. H. Bush

39%      Clinton

55%      G. W. Bush

  8%       Obama













2.7 million

2.15 million


Median HH Income




% African-American




% Hispanic




% Asian




% Non-Hispanic White




Pretty similar until you compare the following:





Concealed Carry – Legal




# of Gun Stores






Homicides, 2012






Homicides per 100K






Average January high temperature (F)










  • What does the average Alabama player get on his SATs?












Charles J. Nielson