Why We Hate

Many people hate by race because they need someone below them on the social ladder.

Tea party patriots hate government assistance because it allows them to believe their economic well-being was achieved without government help.

Wealthy people hate paying taxes more than is justified by the tax laws because it allows them to feel they did it on their own.

Agnostics hate the religious because it allows them to feel academically superior.

Thoughts on Health Care

David Brooks on PBS News Hour after Senate agrees on a bill. 12/18/09

Editors Thoughts on health care

I. Prelude
   A. Federal government WWII wage controls interfered with our free markets.
   B. Companies circumvented these controls by paying employee health insurance.
   B. It was decided these payments were not taxable income.

II. Many people, myself included, have had government sponsored health care for most of their lives.   
   A. Until retirement, I was covered by very expensive company/government sponsored by being tax free health/dental plans.        
       1. My companies didn't care about controlling insurance costs because they were passed on to our customers, the students and their families.        
       2. The Insurance companies didn't care because they all agreed not control costs.
           a. Controlling patient claims is expensive
           b. Costs from claims, many not needed procedures were simply passed on to insurance company customers (my companies).
       3. Individuals didn't care because the insurance benefit was paid by their company and not taxable income.  
   B. By 2008, insurance cost in the U.S. were higher than comparable industrialized countries by 6% of GDP.
       1.For 2008, this was over $2,500/person/year.
       2. Average higher cost for the 35 years I worked was about $2,000 per years
           a. This is just a guess.
           b. It was very low in the beginning and over $2,500 in 2008.
       3. The total individual extra cost was $2000 per year  X 35 years = $87,500.
       4. A family's total extra cost was about $2,000 X 2.5 people X 35 = $175,000. (Just a guess.)
       5. The automobile industry couldn't compete with low insurance cost countries like Japan and South Korea.
            a. As a result, companies down sized for many years and many workers lost there job.
            b. New, younger workers were paid less and middle class living standards began their 30 year decline.
   C. Because someone else paid, many people, myself included, didn't take responsibility for my own health.
        1. As a result, like many Americans, I was overweight for much of the time and smoked for many years.
        2. Now find myself trying to control high levels of cholesterol, blood pressure, and Glucose. 
   D. I am on Medicare and paying about over $3,000 per year to the Government and BCBS.
   E. The future?
        1. Will the government do it right, probably not.        
        2. Will it cost me more, definitely.
          3. Do I want them to try?        
        4. Yes
            a) I can afford it, partly because I have been getting a free ride with free with health care, deductable home interest,
                and retirement tax brakes for years.
            b) That which is not getting better, is getting worse!
        5. Three alternative possibilities if Obamacare passes.
            a) A extensive effort to control of health care costs will follow as we follow the recommendations of a bipartisan health/SS committee report.
                1) Medicare will be pushed back to the same age as 100% SS for those under 60.
                2) 100% SS now given at 66 and 67 will be increased for those under 60 to 68-70 because we are living longer.
                3) Medicare tax, which applies to all income, will go up by one or two percentage points.
                4) The SS tax will apply to all income (This might not have happened but Wall Street greed after the bail out
                     will gain support from some conservatives.)
                5. This will probably happen even if Obamacare doesn't pass.
            b) If cost savings changes come too late, are too small, or ignored completely, interest rates in U.S. rise dramatically and depression follows.
                1) The middle class will get physical.
                2) Something radical like a progressive tax tied to an inequality index will be instituted. Income inequality recently passed the 1929 high.
            c) Same as b only the managed decline we have been in for 30 years will continue.
                1) A slow increase in interest rates causes continuing income/benefits stagnations.
                2  Asset prices in the U.S. drop more and stay down.
                3) Eventually high growth will return but we are talking many years.
III. Epilogue
      A. The unintended consequences from government interference in health care during WW II have been devastating.
      B. As a result, conservatives want the government out of health care.
           1. This means no Obamacare.
           2. It doesn't mean government getting completely out by taxing employee sponsored health care.
               a. Once this welfare program, like other liberal entitlement welfare programs passes, it will become conservative
                  "rights or middle class entitlements".
                   (Medicare, 401K's, home interest deduction, farm subsidies ...)
               b. All government employees, including legislators, would have to pay taxes on their health benefits. No Way!
      C. All bets are off for the near future if the Dow goes below 6000 during 2010-2011.
           1. Low interest rates may be causing another stock market bubble.
           2. If the carry trade reverses too quickly as the US reverses monetary policy, the 6,000 figure is possible.
      D. All bets are on for the near future if congress passes a compromise bill that like social security, is very inexpensive
           while we work out of this economic mess

We are all Communists in disguise?

Example One From each according to their ability, to each according to their need.
My good friend Dennis and I began working about the same time, he as a barber, me as a college administrator.
Dennis met a Barbara who's husband had died and she and her young son were collecting Social Security.
Dennis and I both worked more than the 25 years used to determine Social Security benefits.

I was fortunate to earn enough to pay the maximum amount into social security. I have no reason to believe that
Dennis reported more taxable income than the average barber which at best, is less than half of the maximum income for social security.
Now comes the Communism part.
Social security is based on an index number calculated from social security taxes paid. Low payers get 53%, medium 43%, high 34%.
So Dennis paid on a lot less income and receives a just a little less benefit. But it doesn't end here.
Dennis and hid Barbara eventually got married so she was eligible for a spousal social security benefit at 62 even though Dennis kept working.
Of course you could say that I didn't need as much because I earned more and since Barbara never work after having a child, she and Dennis had more need.
My guess is Barbara has been on Medicare for quite a while. Everyone is eligible, even those who never worked.
Like I say, we are all communist in disguise.

Patriotism

 American's will have a Cain-Able attitude concerning President Obama's decision to publish the memo's concerning "water boarding" of prisoners. The Cain's will ask what was accomplished and fear for our security and the liberals will hope it helps to repair our Nation's image as the land of the free and the home of the brave. The real problem is the people who have an American flag on the car will not think about it at all. Unless we make them! 4/22/09

When I watch Americans clapping at a Memorial day celebration, I think they are clapping for themselves and not our fallen veterans. I haven't done much to make our country great. Pay taxes. Went into education, admirable yes, to avoid being drafted into the Vietnam war.  Why do I feel this way? Guilt?

Too many Americans attribute the greatness of what our country has accomplished over 300 years to themselves, like every single person contributed to our greatness.
Our greatness is the result of sacrifice. Today, the sacrifices we are not willing to make include
1) gasoline taxes increases that would make us less dependant upon mid-east oil--all we have to do is kill tens-of-thousands of Arabs every decade or two to keep oil cheep.
2) making employee health care costs paid by employers taxable so people would develop more healthy life styles and the savings would provide funds necessary to provide all Americans with health care.

History tells us the quest for oil was a major cause of WWI and  WWII.
It will tell us oil was the a major cause of two or more U.S. wars in the middle east.
 Capital Reader Political Book Summary of American Theocracy:
The Perils of Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed Money in the 21st century points out the
"...Dutch hegemony during the 17th and 18th centuries was built on its unmatched  ability to harness wind  power.
Coal came along. Oops, global power gone.

 British hegemony during the 18th and 19th centuries was built on coal powered railroads.
Along came oil, Oops, global power  gone.

Most people questioning what American does, are not anti-American or unpatriotic.
They are trying to insure that our heritage continues to be honorable.
 

Every time I see an RV with big tires and an American flag on the bumper, waiting in line with the motor and air conditioner running at a
Hardy's fast food restaurant, the bank,  and picking up children after school, 
I wonder how many Muslims we had to kill to keep oil prices low to lower the expense of RV's.

I get goose pimples watching the Memorial Day fireworks.  
It is a good feeling for those living and dead who fought for my right to write these thoughts.

These thoughts are in no way intended to minimize the sacrifices made by the men and women who gave their lives, were injured, or had their lives seriously interrupted serving America. We can't do enough, and budget constrains too often preclude us from doing enough. It is too easy to cut back on  budget items for people and add to the budgets for armaments.

 

The War on Terror

Something must be wrong when one billion people dislike the United States. 

If growing Poppies in Afghanistan is funding terrorism, why not pay them  not to grow Poppies like we pay our farmers not to grow crops?

Why are the Russians and Chinese, who gave much more to fear from radical Muslims than we do, not fear the Iranian nuclear program? 

Almost 2,500 people died on 9/11. Terror is one of many preventable causes of death..

From Actual Causes of Death 2000 printed by 2004 AMA

There is a natural direction to the flow of history.
Little is required to ensure an end result.
The secret is in knowing when a disruptive force can reverse this flow and
cost society so much that action is needed, regardless of the cost, to eliminate the disruptive force.
When society decides to bear the cost, too often, the cost has been war, and the decision has been incorrect.

America has been in too many wars. Should some of them been avoided?

Revolutionary War-Canada didn't need a war to break from England.
Civil War-England didn't need a war to end slavery.
WWI-Whoever won was going to control the oil rich Middle East.
WWII thank God FDR got us in.
The Cold War- In this case, the natural flow of history is for democracy and freedom for people. This would have happened without a Cold War.
A cold scuffle would have been enough. A little time and television would have done the rest.
Koran War, I have no idea although the area has been peaceful for 50 years. With no war, Japan would have had to militarize earlier.
Vietnam War- Russia was a third world country and eventually would not be able to keep up.
Gulf wars-are they about cheap oil or stopping terror? We'll fight there for cheap oil and shouldn't. We  won't fight terrorism there and should.
War on Terror-- Today, the natural flow of history is toward democracy, freedom for people, and equality among the genders.
These natural flows will end the ideological differences between Islam and Christianity. Nothing militarily need be done as long as a time limit is not placed on how long history has to run its course.

Are there time constraints?

The terrorists could wage an economic war causing a sever economic depression to decimate  of our consumer oriented society. Avoiding this cost is worthy of tremendous sacrifice. 
This economic catastrophe, which would make the great depression look like the roaring twenties, will happen if terrorist take control of Middle East oil supplies, force up the price of oil,
and then created a second front by attacking  America's consumer spending sites.

George II knew that in a democracy, voters will not make a large sacrifice unless a gun is put to their head. Nine-eleven was the gun and George II chose a the military solution to make sure terrorists can never take control of Middle East oil. Not during his watch. This was easy to do as most American voters do not mind sending someone else's children to war, especially if it means keeping their own personal economic sacrifices to a minimum.  Defending our boarders against terrorist infiltration became the second front on our War on Terror. 

There is also a time constraint on how long it will take technology to solve our oil dependency problem. Technology could take "fifty years" and George II is proposing we stay the course for how ever long it takes. It could be a while. There should be a third front.

We could lower our reliance for foreign oil by affecting consumer demand. Why doesn't George II do this. Some say it is his ties to the oil industry but in 1952, newly elected President Eisenhower didn't have ties to oil when he agreed to worked with Churchill's British government to remove democratically elected Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh because he was trying to nationalize Iran's oil which was controlled by British Petroleum. No, it is not just his oil ties. George II knows that in a democracy, voters will not make a large sacrifice unless a gun is put to their head .

Before the WWII gun went off and against the will of many voters and politicians, FDR was able to slow down Hitler enough to to insure that German did not become our native language. We need another FDR.

Will the United States kill more Muslims in the 20th and 21st centuries than she killed Native Americans in the 17th, 18th, and 19th Centuries. Genocidal activity against Native Americans began with our Pilgrim forefathers, included "scalp bounties" of up to 100 Pounds sterling during Nat Bacon's Rebellion, although these actions were interrupted briefly to conduct the Salem Witch Trials, which resulted in 19 "witches" being hung.

I would feel a lot better about this war not being about oil if our politicians would agree to double the real price of gasoline and heating oil over the next 20 years.

Does anyone think Israel will allow Iraq, or any nation in or close to the Middle East, to build nuclear weapons?

I wonder how the number of people killed on 9/11 compares with the number of additional people killed since the United States dropped the 55 MPH national maximum speed limit?

The Defense Department Should Become The Department of Human Safety with money distributed accordingly. Why should saving a life from foreign attack receive more money than saving a life from an early death because of car accidents, health problems, child abuse?

We need a middle east Marshall Plan funded by 10% of the defense budgets of all NATO countries with the money coming from big ticket defense hardware.
To come up with the money, reduce the number of big ticket items bought and delay the delivery of those remaining.

Am I the only person who thinks the terrorist are laying off the U.S. until after the election because they think a democrat president would be less likely to fight than a republican president. They are wrong!

How much of the hype concerning the war from MSCNN news is caused by a desire for ratings and the fact that it is owned by General Electric, a large provider in antiterrorist equipment.

Is there an antiterrorist expert being interviewed on TV who does not have a financial interest in our continued fear of  terrorism. Does this make them bias?

The Sky is Falling

On August 11, 2006, a sports show I was listening to decided to spend the entire show talking about the liquid explosives terrorist plot uncovered in England.
I was amazed at how unanimous the sports commentators and callers were in their fear of terrorism. They really went after the loan caller saying they and callers were overreacting. Reports were unclear as to how close they came and
what would have happened it the Pakistan government had not informed us of their detecting the terror plot.

Got home, went to MSNBC on the Internet and found nothing. I was right! They were overreacting acting. Then I watched MSNBC Crossfire
and they were acting like it was the end of the world. I was Wrong? Maybe not.
TV news is extremely biased  because everyone's salary is based on ratings.
Maybe MSNBC wanted pestory on the advertising supported evening news

On Crossfire, NBC anchor Brian Williams was interviewed by Chris Mathews. He  lamented that our pour poor citizens would not be able to bring carry on their own drinks and I Pod onto a flight, and would be forced to partake in the free stuff provided by the airlines. General Electric, a parents company of  MSNBC is a big time player in the anti terrorism business. Then MSNBC brought in an Expert who talked about how easy it is to use liquid explosive to blow a plane out of the sky because our anti terrorist equipment technology is falling behind the ability of terrorist to make bombs. Does he too work for General Electric. Who was this expert? Author of the Blow the House Down. Was he trying to sella book. Is he unbiased.
Is there anyone on TV talking about this that doesn't have a vested interest in scaring us?

Interestingly, there was little mention of Pakistanis original involvement in uncovering the terrorists. Could we have done this with out them?
A lot of credit was given to for English and US antiterrorists.
Also, turns out that MSN owns Fox Sports radio.
Now I would love to say that the sports radio show I was listening to near  Tampa Florida was a Fox Sports show, bur I don't know.

We now know there was no immediate threat, a dry run was not  scheduled, and many believe the overall success of the British undercover operation was compromised  by the George II's insistence that the arrests be made earlier than planed to affect the US primary elections.

 I write this while listening to This Week With George Stephanopoulos, former Chairman of the 9/11 Commission and former Gov. Thomas Kean, R-N.J.
is defending the The Path to 9/11 ABC Docudrama . Who do you believe when everyone involved has a financial interest in preserving their opinion.

The Drug War

What is it that makes American so afraid of drugs?

From Actual Causes of Death 2000 printed by 2004 AMA

It does appear that spending a vast amount of resources on the Drug War did lower the the number of deaths.
What would happen if we lowered our Federal military and War on Terror spending by 10% to lower taxes and then
moved another 10% from these two areas to areas that would decrease the number of deaths depicted by the above chart.

Don't Trust The Experts
Just because someone is articulate and knowledgeable, doesn't mean they are correct.

Lester Thurow, former Dean of the MIT Sloan School of Business was often seen on 
Public Television, CNN, and the networks during the 1980's and early 1990's 
explaining how the United States economic and educational systems were losing the battle with the Europeans and Japanese. 
He had it exactly wrong. Their economies tanked and ours took off.

Fred Barns from the Fox News Special Report With Bret Hume panel of experts emphatically said winning 
war in Iraq was difficult and winning the peace would be easy. 
I can't believe that anyone with reasonable knowledge of Middle East history would feel the peace would be easy.
Didn't Fred realize the war began over a thousand years ago and is far from over and 
how can you win a peace that has not begun. Does the Bush administration realize the Crusades are over.

Experts Say Medicare Spending is out of Control Data from Bureau of Economic Analysis
		Social Security		Medicare		Medicaid
1970		29.61		6.8		2.7
2003		470.6		274.2		160.7
1 Billions of Dollars
The Real Story  Spending as a Percent of Gross Domestic Product
	Defense		International (Foreign Aid)	Social Security	Medicare		Medicaid
1970	8.1		0.04	2.9	0.7		0.3
1980	4.9		0.5	4.3	1.2		0.5
1990	5.2		0.3	4.3	1.9		0.7
2000	3.0		0.2	4.2	2.2		1.2
2003	3.7		0.3	4.3	2.5		1.5
Percent Point Change	3.7-8.1  = -4.4		0.3-0.4=-0.1	4.3 - 2.9 = 1.4	2.5-0.7 =1.8		1.6-0.3 = 1.2
Combined Change	-4.4 + (-0.1)= -4.5			1.4 + 1.8 + 1.2 = 4.4

Education

Education is like politics, if you really want to know what is going on, follow the money.

President Eisenhower once warned us of the waste involved of what he called "the Military Industrial Complex.
It is time to be concerned with the waste involved with the "Educational Industrial Complex."

Paul Krugman and Bill O'Rilley were on Tim Russert show last night (08/04) hustling their recent books.
Mr. Krugman wanted to blame the poor job creation on the Bush administration and Mr. O'rilley wanted to blame it on 9/11. 
Actually, poor job creation was caused by the outsourcing of white collar jobs made possible by the Internet
and the computer finally increasing the efficiency of American workers.
This process represents the most recent form of Schumpeter's Theory of Creative Destruction.

Many experts believe a better educated workforce is the best way to create high paying employment.
There are two reasons education is not the answer..
We can not educate average Americans to the extent  they can 
compete with very well educated, highly intelligent people from countries such as India and Ireland.
We can not educate average Americans to the extent  they can compete with computers.
The number of countries using in sourcing  to enhance their economic well-being will grow at an ever increasing rate
and computer will continue to replace blue and white collar workers at an ever increasing rate.

From a policy standpoint, there are two things we can do to help people losing good jobs because of "Creative Destruction.
Many of the people being replaced lose their health insurance.
Everyone in this country should be covered by Medicare and like Medicare. 
Those that can afford additional, better health insurance should be allowed to buy additional insurance from private sources. 
Such additional insurance could be paid by a person's employer and if paid by an individual, the cost would be a tax deduction.
Secondly, no child left behind should be changed to a job for every child. If this were done, data of interest would, education contained in   
1998-2008 Job Growth by Required Education and  Occupations, Not All College Majors Are Created Equal, and
Many Without A Bachelor's Degree Have High Earnings could be used to make educational decisions. Every college student choosing a major should be required to sign a document stating they have read Recent Earnings Data By Major.

Walter's 8/23/06 concerning the Learning Internet Libraries for Students and Teachers and the Education Improvement Internet Library

Standardized tests mean large profits to testing companies and require new curriculums. 
Changing from a two-part Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) to a three-part test has made a lot of money for a lot of people.
On page 14, 2005 of Business Week reports that "Kaplan, a unit of The Washington Post, saw SAT-related sales jump up to 50% in the later half of 2004...."SAT companies got a similar hike in 1994, when tests were last modified."
New curriculums mean large profits for curriculum design companies  and textbook companies. 
The academics who advise these companies receive substantial consulting fees plus ego enhancements.
Standardized test exists to create a better life for young people but these tests  hurt young people economically and emotionally.

There are three reasons for the  tremendous increase in the number of people attending junior colleges over the past 20 years.
1) Their vocational orientation is needed by society and are of interest to many potential workers.
2) Students can live at home.
3) A $4,000 plus Pell Grant minus about $1,000 in tuition charges leaves students, 
many of whom have little interest in education, with $3,000 spending money. 

More education has become politically correct.
A parent looking for educational advice from teachers, academics, and the media is 
like a teenager seeking used car advice from a used car salesperson.
In both cases the parents and teenager want to buy and contacted sources want to sell.

Turn the curriculum pyramid into a curriculum diamond. 
Now, everyone begins the educational process at the bottom with a curriculums designed 
 to give everyone the education necessary to reach a very high point at the top. 
Instead, a curriculum should start at a point centered upon an individual's ability and learning style and 
educate to some reasonably acceptable middle. 
Then the curriculum should lead to a high point based upon an individual's aptitude.

When education is like playing, kids and parents like it. 
With time, education becomes more like work because it is beyond a student's academic ability 
and does not match their special intelligence, 
so children begin to drop out of the process.

Puberty interferes with education for many young people.

From an economic standpoint, a college education is for the academically gifted and the wealthy.

There are 8 kinds of memory. Some are good for education as practiced today, 
some are needed for work, and some needed for life. 
Academics love the first because they have it and too bad for the rest!

An attempt should be used to improve the speaking ability of elementary and high school teachers.
During a recent visit of three teachers, I found that two could not express a negative thought with only one negative word.
In addition, one of the negatives was usually isn't like in I isn't got no time.
These same two teachers, one a retired elementary school teacher and the other a high school teacher, could not 
distinguish between the proper use of the words good and well. They were always doing good. 
For some reason, the cheeseburger was never described as well!

Presidents aay Academic Deans control quality quality and raise moneu.
Academic Deans say Department Chairs control quality and act like the mayor in a city run by a city manager.
Department Chairs say Professors control academic quality and take the job for a year or two.
Professors have Academic Freedom and do exactly what they want.

Better Education Won't Help Many

Global competition will continue to cause the trend of stagnant wages in the United States  for all members of  society except the very, very, very special.                      Chart from page 51 of the 12/12/05 issue of business week. German wages have been stagnant for years in spite of an outstanding educational and training system. Read the Article at Rise Of A Powerhouse How the young knowledge workers of Central Europe are pushing the region to a new level Related material Looking For Innovation In The East, Where The Engineering Pool Is Deep	Even the rewards for the very, very, very special may go down. Davos (Switzerland World Economic Conference) Will Be Different "The traditional format -- plenaries and sessions, dinners and parties -- will continue at the 2006 World Economic Forum, but the conversation is changing dramatically." "... the content of the 2006 meeting will be a far cry from that of recent Davos gatherings. Previously, discussion at the World Economic Forum revolved around two main economic themes: outsourcing and China. This year innovation replaces outsourcing and India replaces China in the dialogue. These changes are significant because they signal a new stage in global economic development. CEOs are starting to move beyond their obsession with cutting costs by outsourcing their supply chains" (mainly to China). "This shift in agenda reflects the fact that CEOs and the corporations they run can no longer generate value by competing solely on cost and quality, so they are turning to innovation." "Enter India, which is throwing the Saturday night bash this year as it launches its own global brand, "India Everywhere." Western companies are outsourcing knowledge-economy production to India, and that increasingly means outsourcing innovation as much as basic software writing. Indeed, many top managers equate India with outsourcing innovation in the same way they equate China with outsourcing manufacturing." Even the special From page 96 of the 1/23/06 issue of Business Week IDEAS -- VIEWPOINT By Bruce Nussbaum Selected sentences Read the entire article at Davos Will Be Different.
	For the entire Business Week article click Information Technology.
Preparing people of average intelligence for a college education and training of people with average ambition is a big waste of time and money. The money can be better spent.

My Number One Educational Movie

Until recently, Stand and Deliver, Educating Rita, and To  Sir With Love 
were tied for first as my favorite educational movie.

Then I read where Stand and Deliver was about a school system and not a school, and that a feeder program was developed
to educate students from a number of middle schools for the advanced program. 
That and because calculus is not overly useful in this age of finite mathematics caused me to dropped it from first place. 
It will always be great though because they went after "the man".

Then I decided to drop Educating Rita because her interests were too academic 
for a world in which career related education is so important.
It will always be a great movie because it accurately portrayed the work expended by the 
bottom third of our college professors.

It's difficult to drop To Sir With Love because it makes me cry every few years.
But it has to go because this is a list of top educational movies and "Sir" was about creating proper social attitudes.
It will always be a great movie because it shows you can't educate those who are not civilized.

Watching School of Rock ended my search for the top educational movie. 
Unlike Stand and Deliver, relevancy is proven by it correctly depicting that people learn by practicing what they do well.
In addition, it doesn't have to go after "the man" because "the man" is "the teacher".
Unlike Educating Rita, School of Rock is more practical than academic and treats all types of intelligence equally.
In addition, it demonstrates that a bottom third person can turn into a top third person given an appropriate career match.
Unlike To Sir With Love, School of Rock is an Educational Movie because it demonstrates the proper direction for our educational system.
Education centered upon real life problems solved by interested students based upon their particular kind and level of intelligence.
In addition, this environment creates civilized students who receive credit for important experiences 
such as student government, community service, sports, and other life related organized activity.

Marion Brady reported on page A19 of the May 22, 2004, Orlando Sentinel
 how a Chicago 5th grade class in a poor Chicago neighborhood
 used education to attack their real life problems. 
For more information visit www.projectcitizen405.com

For more information on Marion Brady's thoughts concerning a real life centered curriculum visit 
Marion Brady's Homepage 

Watching Erin Brockovich I wondered how any business could be so callus and pollute knowing they were killing people. Then I thought about all the college presidents and admission people who know the economic return from a college education for average academic students is minimal, 
and yet their marketing literature implies otherwise.

Politics

 I wrote the following in response  to a conservative ranking of some recent presidents

I think Dr. Li mixes up totalitarianism with communism.
The first is a political system, the second an economic system.
Oligarchy is government by the wealthy. The U.S. started as an Oligarchy, as only male landowners could vote, now we have a representative 
democracy and may be moving toward direct democracy (i-phone required, no swing states allowed).


Remember, a high IQ does not correlate with high understanding.
Major decisions determine the value of a leader, a great president.

Greenspan thought government regulation was not needed because 
banker's self-interest would result in self-regulation and good decision making. Right!
He didn't understand that one Greed in the hand is worth two Greeds in the future.

Obama decided to go ahead with Obama Care, in spite of the Great Recession, which means taxpayers have more contingent liability added to those of SS and Medicare.
 For small business it means more cost and less full-tine employees. Question, will this make Obama the next Hoover?

Bush II also added to health, but with no increase taxes; two wars he refused to pay for, and he created a the contingent liability for an extremely underfunded VA benefits.

Clinton was lucky to have no major decisions and will be treated OK by history unless sociology decides that he and Monica did extreme harm to the morals of our country.

Ford just visited.

Nixon opened China and history will the determine the political significance of Watergate.

LBJ, a conservative, started moving the U.S. in a liberal direction. 

JFK could have acquiesced to conservatives, his generals, and LBJ by bombing Cuban missiles. He decided to blockade Cuba. History indicates K planned a nuclear retaliation. One for one?

Ike warned against the military industrial complex, built the interstate highway system, and didn't use the bomb.

Truman dropped the bomb on a Japan,  MacArthur, and McCarthy and recognized Israel. Four for four?

We have the Tea Party to slow down socialism and Democrats to slow down oligarchs. 
A dictator like Singapore maximizes the maximum except when it maximizes the maximum regret. See Germany.

Advise to the Obama's

Mrs. Obama should
1) Get the major super market chains to stop giving away sugar cookies.
2) Get Coca Cola to partner with a yogurt company to include Fat Free Yogurt in their sales coolers which often are located a the check out corner.
3) Help people cut calories.
Institutes a product of the month in which she would explore substitutes for major sources of calories like soda, ice cream ...
Push for a sugar and unprocessed flower tax.
Calculator to help cut calories.  Online Calories Counter    Nutrition Data's Nutrition Facts Counter  The Fast Food Nutrition Fact Explorer  Product Substitution Calorie Counter 

President Obama
1) Delay the repeal to the Bush cash cut until unemployment goes below 8% for the rich and 7% for the middle class.
2) Delay additional Obama Care coverage improvements until unemployment goes below 8%.
3) Give small business a tax credit equal to their portion of payroll taxes minus business losses.

Pat Buchanan was just let go by liberal MSNBC for what some think are overly conservative views detailed in his new book 
 Death of the West: How Dying Populations and Immigrant Invasions Imperil Our Country and Civilization. I tend to follow Pat more than say George Will
because George ducks behind the Government caused it every time he gets backed into a corner whenever a solution to some serious problem. 
I used to be a big fan of Charles Krauthammer but he keeps moving to the right and never saw a fact he wouldn't misuse. 
David Brooks is still my favorite conservative, but he to seems to be yielding to pressure and moving to the right.

I'm a  sixty-eight year old centrist who tends to vote democratic because of our need to solve the health care problem, 
a personal need to receive the health benefits  from stem cell research, and women's reproductive freedom "rights." 

Many late 19th century religious American conservatives wanted keep our country free of Irish Roman Catholics. 
The Irish, many named "Pat," came anyway and then they themselves turned against dark-skin Italians Roman Catholics who were the nemesis of conservative beliefs. 
Now this Pat wants to keep non-Christians and dark skinned people out of America to preserve what he thinks is our "America Heritage."
 I'll bet religious conservative native Americans want to keep white people out of their country. 

Extreme conservatives the world over tend to tolerate only one controller of acceptable beliefs and for them, it is their church.

Democrats should try to maximize the minimum rather than maximizing the maximum 
and not run the risk of maximizing the maximum regret. 
Mrs. Obama could have encouraged schools to eliminate all drinks with al lot of sugar (natural or otherwise) and 
fatty foods like potato chips and pastry to be replaced with fruit like bananas and apples, and peaches, and deserts like fat free yogurt.
Instead she spends a lot of money trying to completely change student diets and fall right on her mashed potatoes.

Ronald Reagan and FDR were the greatest Presidents of the 20th century. 
FDR because he convinced America that hungry people deserved government's help.  
RR because he realized that it takes more than government to stop everyone from being hungry.

The more I observe politicians, the more I realize they are just like the "guy" at work or living next door and that scares me.

You would think that as the significance of a decision increases,
the human characteristics of the person making the decision would get better, they don't.

Am I the only one who hopes President Obama's decision to leave prosecuting high Bush Administrations
officials up to the Justice Department is a ploy to provide bargaining chips to get Republican support for health care and a drastic cut in military spending?

Richard Nixon approved the Watergate break-in and other college type election pranks while George I used his influence to delay the release of the hostages, which could of got them killed  to insure Ronald Reagan was elected president and he the Vice-President.

Most companies make it easy to pay bill by credit card.  It saves them paper work and lowers bad debts.
Not public utilities. Because they control the electric switch, they can really push you around.
In Florida, Progress Energy, charges $5.95 per month.
It would be easy to fix, but there are too many crooks in Washington to fix it.

Keeping an eye on George II

 

First he cut the inheritance tax to save the wealthy billions. Then, as this article points out, he decided to cut those auditing estate tax returns to make sure  cheaters are not caught. In the process, cost us collections from the cheats. Note that the author does not specifically state the  $2,200/hours savings is was made after the tax cut? These last 3 paragraphs were paragraphs 3, 4, and 5 in the article, I moved them because they were boring.

Solving this problem is not on George II's list because CEO's need the money to donate to the Republican Party. Business Week October 30, 2006 Up Front Worker vs. CEO Pay: Room To Run Average annual CEO pay is $10.5 million, 369 times average worker pay of $28,310. In 1970, before the big runup, the multiple was 28:1, a ratio that would make today's average worker pay $374,800. Put another way: If CEO pay were frozen now, it would take workers 66 years of 4% annual raises to get back to 1/28th of what the boss makes. Data: Kevin J. Murphy, University of Southern California; CEO pay rounded and based on S&P 500 companies; worker pay, Bureau of Labor Statistics; ratios rounded to nearest whole number

Just turned into Larry King who was talking to former president Bush and his wife. 
President Bush answered a question concerning whether Ronald Reagan  was religious by quoting his I have Alzheimer's speech. 
In doing so he left the impression that Ronald Reagan believed in God. 

I am not an historian, but I do know that that Ronald Reagan never went to church and when he gave that speech,
 the disease was advanced and the speech was probably written by someone else.
Even in death, politics prevails.

How can Conservatives listen to Rush Limbaugh an hour or two a day
and still have time to learn the facts about what is going on in our world necessary to have an educated opinion.

FREEDOM OF DOING

The conservative William F. Buckley recently died and some articles about him point to how we are so eloquently deceived in this world. Mr. Buckley was a great and conceptually intelligent spokesperson for the conservative right. As the various articles explained, he moved the discussion from the traditional conservatives position of anti- just about everything, to one of making a point for individual freedom. He was quite well spoken in this debate against the over bearing control of government. And the liberals ranted against him in their claim that without government control the evil in men’s hearts would drive society into oblivion. The conceptual world war of words. How they both miss the point.

Mr. Buckley, and his liberal counter pointers, all spoke of the freedom of doing. Can we do this or that without outside control. Should we be free to choose for our self what is right or wrong? Does some external authority know best what is right or wrong for us to do? But no where in this, does either side ask the question, where does the source of our acting come from? They both assume that our acting comes from the conditions of our upbringing, and with that granted, then the only issue to point out the fallacy of the various types of upbringing. It is an arguing over the conditions now lodged in our brain. And if there are conditions in your brain that say that the conservative view is right, then there is not much that can change that. If your conditioning is from the liberal side, nothing much can change that conditioning. You see, the brain is created in such a way that currently existing conditioning is well defended by lots of rational that is consistent with the conditions already present. New input will be dismissed very easily, either by distorted logic or a rationale that is based on different assumptions than that presented by the opposing view. Do you see this? It is why arguments seldom work.

In my view, there is only the freedom of being. Doing is never free if is comes out of a conditioned state. In other words, if you are conditioned to believe that people of color are a certain way, then there is no other way you can act toward them. You are like a programmed computer that has very few options. And of course, you sincerely believe that your actions are taken out of free will. There is no way a conditioned person has the awareness of their own conditioning. It is only when you can separate you awareness from your thoughts that you can see that you are conditioned. Then you see that you have no freedom to do at all. You just play out the conditioning of your past, all the time thinking you are working from some sort of freedom. Once you have freedom in your being, you see the illusion of freedom of doing. To have freedom of being, is to go to the quiet place of “no thought” and just see how you work. You will see everything I have just described. It is not my opinion. But you have to see that for yourself to understand it. Tom Lane 3/4/08

Concerning Supply Side Economics

Show me a young person who works less because of high taxes, and I'll show you someone who will not make much money.

When it comes to war, conservatives tend to act, even when there is not a clear need for action, and 
liberals tend not to act, even when there is a clear need for action.
They must be wearing different glasses.

How big is the U.S. Defense Budget? 

Many low and middle class Americans vote Republican because voting for Democrats
would be admitting they are low or middle class Americans.

Political activity of liberals centers on being allowed to do what they want to do, gays want to marry and women want abortions legal.
Political activities of conservatives center on making gay marriage and abortions illegal.

Liberals don’t think much about whether religious doctrine is correct, mainly from a lack of interest, although deciding which religion to analyze makes the task unmanageable.
Conservatives, consciously or not, think a lot about whether liberals are right because if gays getting married and allowing abortions does not send people to hell, then believing in religion does not send people to heaven.

Me? If there is an afterlife, we all go. If not, too bad, so sad. Of course, if life ends we won’t know because we won’t exist.
Evidence on the subject does not exist so I’m going out for pizza.

Taxes

Many states income tax laws exempt state and local retirement income. 
The federal government felt this was very unfair to others and passed a law requiring all such states also exempt the retirement income of federal employees. 
So much for us commoners.

Many people don't won't government interfering in their lives.
Separation of Church and State is important, especially when it comes to taxes.

Imagine a world with out tolls. Getting to work more quickly. A more pleasant Sunday afternoon drive. Quicker travel in unfamiliar places.
Tolls are state users taxes. The idea is to charge those who use the roads and bridges.
Being local in nature  make them political easy to institute.
The problem is they are economically inefficient. Think of the economic savings involved if they were eliminated with a one cent increase in federal gasoline.
The cost of collection them is government bureaucracy its best and there lies the problem as tolls means jobs for party members and their friends.
Jobs to build collection booths, job to collect tools, jobs to maintain property,  and jobs to administer programs.
Of course these people could be producing something of value other than workers for the next campaign.

Religion

My 85 year-old dad asked an interesting question shortly before passing.
If someone who had more than one spouse dies, who is their eternity partner?

Mark Twain while had this interesting comment while reporting from Hawaii.
Think of the multitudes who have gone to their graves on this beautiful island never knowing there was a hell.

Conservative religion is very male oriented. Think Roman Catholics-male priests, Mormons-Women Rights, Muslim men in family hierarchy vs. women.

One thousand years from now, at the beginning of the 4th millennium,
which religion will be described as the cruelest during the first two millennium.

Here's hoping dark energy which represents about 73% of the universe proves all religions correct!

Religious Christian conservatives confuse me?
On the one hand they are against violence, but they really like a big, aggressive military.
On the other hand they want to help the poor, but refuse to pay for social programs!

Why religious people are anti-government
Protestants want one authority-The Bible and don't want it challenged in any way.
Roman Catholics don't want their theology to face competition from other ideologies.
Some don't want to think about death, believe, live forever, no discussion, no need to think about death.

Should a Christian conservative pus A or B.
A conservative was told by that by push A, their belief that
only those who accept Jesus Christ as their personal savior would have life eternal and by pushing B
this would not be true. A was chosen.
Told that pushing B meant that everyone has life eternal and they had just sentenced to life's end
billions of people in eternity, alive today, and to be born, our Christian conservative said ...
 

wake up is a blog about existence

Thought Question

A golfing friend, son a medical doctor had the gumption to open his own CPA practice with his son who also was a CPA.
It seems to have been successful as he had the good fortune to later build his own house.
I see good genes and at least an average nurturing environment.
What average federal income tax should he pay?

Global Warming