Only the Super-Rich Can Save Us! by Ralph Nader, 733 pages is a fast reading fable about what is wrong in the US and how with leadership and donations from billionaires we can right the wrongs. Nader gives names to the good guys and slightly disguised names to the bad guys. I found the inside details on the working of Wal-Mart and Congress the most interesting parts of the book. Whether you like Ralph Nader or not, he has done a lot of good for the country. In this book, he reveals knowledge that he has accumulated over a lifetime fighting for the average citizen.Some critics of Barack want the US to be the tough kid on the block in defense matters. This is Nader's response: "Asserting moral courage is being tough. Waging peace is tough. Standing up to arrogant power is being tough. And until we have the deeply just society our people deserve, doing the right thing even it costs us in the short run is being tough."
Nader also relates Lincoln's style on campaigning before there was mass media in 1840. Lincoln advocated dividing the voters into three categories: those who are with you from the get-go, those who are susceptible to persuasion, and those who are against you from the get-go. Then he guided his followers through the step-by-step process-- or more accurately the doorstep-by-doorstep process--of meeting with every voter except the opposition hardliners. Worked for Lincoln. Let's give it a go in 2010.
He also quoted Judge Learned Hand, "If we are to keep our democracy, there must be one commandment: Thou shall not ration justice." Nader contends..." that it is democracy, justice, and the rule of law that make capitalism produce a better material life for more people, not capitalism in itself.'I am giving my copy of this book to my son. I have purchased two additional copies of the book which I will send free of charge to the first two people who respond to this message. I wish that I could give away more than two copies. Please send an email to me at walthe@aol.com and put "Nader book" in the subject line. I will send a book to each of the first two responders.
In England in Charles Dickens's day, people who could not pay their bills went to prison. They stayed until they raised the money to get out, either by selling property, inheritance or through the efforts of friends and relatives. Prison furnished very little and prisoners were required to pay for any extras like clothing, more food or a better cell location.
Now we don't use debtors prisons; our debtors are allowed to roam the country so that they can work to repay their debt. As an experiment, I suggest that you add up all the interest that you pay per month including mortgage interest. You'll be surprised at the total; I was. Mortgage interest is deductible on your income tax, a subsidy to the home buyer, but also to the lender who can thus charge more, Lenders don't really provide much of a service for the exorbitant amounts they charge, If too big to fail, the risk is minimal. And it is our money they are lending, not theirs. For more on this I suggest a nearly century old classic, Other People's Money by Louis Brandeis. A slender book as true now as it was when it was written.
In Dickens's day before TV, people used to visit debtors prisons and insane asylums for entertainment. Now we can be entertained without leaving home by watching home videos of people falling down. A small improvement. Instead of finding other's problems entertaining, we should be doing all that we can to help solve their problems. With the debt problem, that means insisting on lower bank fees and interest rates.
Under the first amendment, Fox has the right to criticize the President. Under the first amendment, the White House has the right to criticize Fox.
George W. Bush's first press secretary was Ari Fleischer, who called reporters whose stories the White House did not like. Reportedly he threatened some with loss of access to White House sources in the future. If you are a White House reporter and cannot get access, you could very well lose your job. In my opinion, Fleischer's threats crossed the line. Can anyone truly say that the actions of the Obama White House have crossed a line?
In a recent post, I predicted that Iran would be an ally on the war on terror. I want to explain my thinking. Before the 1979 revolution, the US supported the Shah with weapons sales so that Iran would have a big stick to police that part of the world. The US had installed the Shah in power and he had ruled with an iron fist through his secret police, SAVAK. Their abuses probably exceeded ours at Abu Graib. Our interference in Iranian affairs made many Iranians anti-American and goes a long way toward explaining their current attitude to the US.
Our current allies in the West are doing little in the war on terror and in Afghanistan and want to do less. Our allies in the Muslim world do little to help and some sectors of their societies are actually helping the other side. Saudis are funding madrassas, schools, in Pakistan that produce Taliban recruits and probably recruits for al-Qaeda too. The Pakistan intelligence service, ISI, has been an active supporter of the Taliban in Afghanistan. Now that support has boomeranged with Taliban attacks in Pakistan. I do no know if ISI support for the Taliban continues at this date.
We in the West who are not Muslim are infidels to be converted to Islam. Shiitie Muslims in the Middle East are considered by most Sunni Muslims to be heretics to be put to death. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, That puts the Muslim Shiites and the majority of the West on the same side. I do not expect Iran to send troops to Afghanistan or Pakistan. I do expect that Iran will desire peaceful borders with Iraq, Aghanistan and Pakistan. Iran has a larger population than any of its neighbors, save Pakistan. Iran has a big stake in settling the wars in their neighborhood.
If we reduce our dependence on Saudi oil, the Saudis will not be able to take our support and protection for granted. Our friendship with Iran will put pressure on Saudi Arabia to modernize their society, reduce corruption and reduce funding for the madrassas in Pakistan if they desire our continued friendship.
A college degree used to be a sure ticket of admission to a middle class life style. No more. With the rising cost of college and the accelerating disappearance of good paying jobs, exacerbated by the Great Recession, new grads are finding it very difficult to find jobs that will allow them to begin paying back the loans that got them through school. Many are forced to live at home with their parents as they postpone starting a life of their own.
Adding to the downward pressure on wages is the insistence of business to import temporary workers to fill jobs that Americans would fill but at a higher wage. A recent online study shows that IT workers, such as computer programmers and software engineers earn about 6% less than they would without the competition of H-1B visa workers. The undocumented and those with green cards or H-1B visas hold down wages for all of us.
When supply and demand are equal, the price set by their intersection is called the market clearing pricer since enough is supplied to meet demand with no overage. Business wants no government interference in setting the market clearing price since a price too low would lead to shortages and less profit on items they sell. However, when it comes to their purchases, business is happy with a price below the market clearing price since it reduces their costs and increases profits.
Let's assume no H-1B visas are issued. Jobs would be filled with American workers and wages would rise if some jobs are not filled. That would create an incentive for Americans to train themselves in the skills needed to fill what are now better paying jobs. It might take some time, but eventually, the supply of job applicants would increase to meet demand and a market clearing wage would be established at the higher level.
Today Barack has been in office for nine months and one day. His critics are saying that he should take full responsibility for the mess Bush left behind and stop blaming his predecessor. George W. Bush inherited a nation mainly at peace and a budget surplus. He left office with the nation at war and deeply in debt. During his eight years in office, he never fully accepted responsibility, continuing to imply that Bill Clinton was at fault for 9-11.
I predict that Barack will take full responsibility soon for the state of the economy and for our relations with the rest of the world, both peaceful and not. Barack is a man of high moral courage who will demonstrate progress both here and abroad before the elections of November, 2010. I predict that Barack will outsmart Osama bin Laden. That is something that George W. Bush was never able to accomplish, preferring force to strategy. I can make these predictions because of my high level of confidence in Barack Obama and his advisers.
At this time, I want to make another prediction that I am not as confident about. If you look at a map of the area, you see how central Iran is to wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. I predict that Iran will be an ally, perhaps our most valuable ally in our effort to defeat the Taliban and al-Qaeda, both Sunni organizations. Iran is a Shiite country with regional aspirations. If we do not attack Iran, I believe that Iran will be willing to help us, not tomorrow perhaps, but soon.
These numbers are approximate.
43,000 died in traffic accidents in 2008.30,000 die each year from gun shot wounds45,000 die each year from lack of health insurance
That is a total of 118,000 US citizens dying each year needlessly. What are you going to do about it? Probably nothing unless a friend or loved one falls into one of those three groups and then it will be too late. How many of us are among the walking wounded bearing physical or emotional scars from contact with the results of the above three sources of death?
The NTSA and others have worked for years to reduce traffic fatalities. Now it's the turn of lack of health insurance to receive attention. In a few days or weeks, the US Congress will decide the fate of health care reform. In the immortal words of George W. Bush, " You're either with us or against us." If you are a member of Congress and you don't support health care reform, please get out of the way. If you support health care reform, now is the time to be vocal about it. The opportunity for real reform is a very rare occurrence.
The Patrick Henry Caucus held a rally here in St. George on Saturday October 17. The rally started at 4pm under cloudless skies at Worthen park with a temperature in the low 90's. Entertainment was provided by a band and two vocalists who performed their We Are the People, which was available there on CD for a donation to the cause. The founder of the Caucus, Carl Wimmer, first spoke at 419pm when he introduced the giver of the invocation and then again at 426pm when he led the pledge of allegiance. Next he introduced his mentor, state senator Margaret Dayton, who spoke at length about several proposed laws for 2010 in the Utah legislature.
It was hot in the sun and at one point Carl and I were supporting the same tree as we sought its shade. Carl held up one side of the tree while I supported it from the other. When we left the shade, the tree was able to stand on its own. When I left the park and the rally, Carl was asking for donations to create a web site that would allow members of the Patrick Henry Caucus to talk to each other and to their elected legislators. We already have a site for the state at www.le.state.ut.us and the federal government at www.usa.gov I don't quite understand the need for another site. The easiest way to find someone is to do a search at www.google.com Another site will not guarantee its use by our elected officials. I email Orrin Hatch often and he always responds by letter delivered days or weeks later by the US Postal Service. I can predict his reply; he always disagrees with my ideas. Why do I bother to write? I want him to know that his constituents have a variety of views.
The local newspaper estimated the audience that day at 125 people. I think that is a bit generous but I will not disagree. Most of the audience were senior citizens. The children there were bored. Young adults attending were a distinct minority. I saw no other minorities in attendance. I will not venture a prediction about the future of the Patrick Henry Caucus although I understand that this rally drew less than half the attendance of a prior one.
The organizers of the event were wearing name badges that sometimes listed their professions. One young adult's badge stated constitutional lawyer. Here in St. George? I wondered about that. Perhaps he teaches or perhaps he traveled to St. George from Salt Lake City. In any case, I place my faith in Barack, a constitutional lawyer that we elected President.
Yesterday my wife called a local branch of a national bank. While waiting to speak to a real live human, a recording told her that the call might be recorded for training purposes and quality control. She jokingly suggested that she was recording the call as well. Tit for tat. When the real live human finally came on the line, she questioned whether my wife was really recording the conversation. My wife admitted she was not. If she had tried to record the conversation, the bank representative indicated that the call would be immediately terminated. Small thing you say? Yes, but indicative of the non level playing field between the banks and us.
Banks were largely deregulated to foster competition that was supposed to lead to better service and lower prices for consumers. The only result of banks competing is that banks are competing in raising fees and profits so that the larger banks can merge with and swallow smaller banks. Then they are too large to fail and must be bailed out if failure is imminent. We the taxpayers pay if the banks succeed or if they fail. Interest rates used to be regulated. Now the banks can charge whatever they please and change interest rates whenever they please. I consider an interest rate above 10% as usury. Usury is condemned in the Bible and makes getting out of debt very difficult. Consumers should use debt wisely so say the lending institutions. Then why do they make it so easy to borrow and hard to get out of debt?
My wife feels about banks the same way I do about insurance companies. Her solution is for the consumer to boycott the banks until such time as the banks start treating the consumer with respect. Not a bad idea if it were possible. My approach would be through our Congressional representatives. Through deregulation, they got us in this situation, and now it is time for them to get us out.
Young people are killing young people in Chicago. Would second amendment supporters suggest arming everyone for self defense? When the smoke cleared, the streets would be littered with the dead. As an alternative, should the police shoot to kill? That might reduce the violence temporarily, but is not the solution.
I grew up in Chicago but it is many years since I have been back. When I lived there, Chicago was one of the most segregated cities in the country. I doubt that much has changed. I am now in Utah and Chicago is still many miles away in Illinois, but from here I think I know what the problems are. I cannot offer specific solutions but I do know that a piecemeal approach will not work. The problems that face our youth must be approached simultaneously if there is to be any hope of success.
The problems are: drugs, gangs, broken families, poor schools, guns in the wrong hands, unemployment and lack of opportunity. Why spend the effort to educate yourself if you are denied a chance to advance? Good , rewarding lives as productive members of society require good, well-paying jobs. Political and social leaders must set moral examples. Jails are overcrowded and the courts are too. Justice delayed is justice denied.
