Off The Cliff

The Fiscal Cliff is approaching. Let it happen.

If Congress does nothing, then Income tax withholding for all Americans will go up starting Jan. 1, Estate Taxes, taxes on capital Gains and FICA taxes all go up. Also, some much needed spending cuts take effect. These are much needed changes that will show Americans the true cost of government.

This also will force a national discussion on how much government we actually want and are willing to pay for.

　

Some Observations

After the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown CT there have been and will continue to be calls for more Gun Control Laws. Here are some observations.


1. Cnnecticut has some of the most severs gun control laws in the country.
2. The two weapons used in the attack were purchased by the shooter’s mother with the requisite background checks and waiting periods.

3. The shooter was at best mentally disturbed.

4. The Gun owner used poor judgment in allowing a mentally disturbed individual access to firearms.

From these observations it is reasonable to assume that the only law that could have prevented this tragedy would be the outright ban on private ownership of firearms or the mandatory incarceration of mentally disturbed individuals.

The first is plainly unconstitutional

The second would be roundly opposed by the disabled right advocates.

There are some things that laws just cannot prevent.

What do we do?

All day I have been seeing the reports on the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. 20 children and 6 adults dead. Like most people, my first reaction was why? In the days that come we will hear about the shooters mentality, the availability of Firearms, The security in schools, etc…. The idealist in me says there must be a way to prevent these senseless killings.

I do not know how we are going to do that. One thing is for certain, if we do nothing, it will happen again. Maybe at your home, business, or school.

War on Christmas

Once again we are seeing the reports of a War on Christmas. Most of this stems from the policy in recent years of substituting Holiday for Christmas in public and commercial settings. This is done to avoid offending those who have different beliefs.

I have been on this earth for nearly 56 years now. Only once has someone told me they were offended by my wish of Merry Christmas. I don’t know their reason but apologized for the offense.

Most everyone no matter what their religious beliefs took the greeting in the spirit in which it was offered.

So for all of you who are offended by the words Merry Christmas, Christmas Tree or anything else having to do with Christmas, My wish of a Merry Christmas is my way of wishing you well. If you are offended by that, I am sorry for you.

Off The Fiscal Cliff

On Jan 1, 2013 a host of changes will happen unless the Congress and President get a deal done.
Among those changes:

1. All of the Bush tax cuts expire. This will take tax rates back up to where they were under President Clinton.

2. $100 Billion in automatic spending cuts will be instituted. Half coming from the DoD and the other half from domestic spending.

3. Authorization for extended unemployment benefits (beyond the first 26 weeks) will end.

4. Medicare providers will see a reduction in their payment rates.

5. That 2% point reduction in SS withholding expires.

This is all the result of the debt ceiling/budget deal made last year. The idea was they would do another deal before the end of the year. That hasn’t quite worked out

So here is what to expect if the dum-dums in DC don‘t do a deal.

1. Social Security withholding will go up even if your salary doesn’t.

2. Federal Income tax withholding will go up.

3. If you are on unemployment and have already used your first 26 weeks of benefits, current benefits will stop at the end of your current extension.

4. If you are a school teacher, the annual tax credit for supplies you purchase for your classes will not be available on your 2012 tax return.

5. If you are a Medicare provider, your reimbursement rate will be reduced.

6. If you work in the Defense industry, your job may be at risk.

Have a Happy New Year

The Conflict

I oppose Abortion. The thought of ending an innocent human life offends me in so many ways. I do understand that there are times (very few of them) when it is unavoidable. The majority of cases are simply selfishness. The vast majority of abortions in this country are due to people having sex without taking the precautions to prevent pregnancy. Contraception is widely available and usually covered by insurance. So there is no excuse for not using it.

Over the past 30+ years people in this country have gotten used to having abortion available whenever they want it. Polls show that a vast majority of Americans support abortion on demand in the first trimester. A significant majority support it in the second trimester.

Given this, any attempt to restrict abortion through law is going to meet serious opposition. Add to that, anytime someone talks about restricting abortion, the supporters trot out the rape/incest/life of the mother argument. As several politicians in the last election found out, that is a dangerous minefield. It does not take away from the fact that the vast majority of abortions are due to not using contraception.

So how do we end this nightmare of abortion? We have to start with the children. We have neglected to teach young people personal responsibility. That must change. We must teach young people that if you are going to have sex and do not want children, you need to take precautions.

We have done it with tobacco use, over the past 40 years the number of smokers has been reduced by 70%.

If a similar result could be obtained with abortion, we wouldn’t need to outlaw it?

　

Succession - A Dumb Idea

To all of those misguided individuals signing the succession petitions on whitehouse.gov, Grow Up! It isn’t going to happen. I realize you are disappointed that your candidate did not win. Deal with it. The GOP lost because they lost every major demographic except White men over 30 and Evangelical Christians. That won’t cut it any more.

Instead of throwing a tantrum, try getting your party to make peace with all of the groups they managed to drive away overt the past few years. You know, Young people, minorities, women, and non-rich folks.

If you still don’t want to be a US citizen, here is a much quicker route:

1. Find a country that will take you

2. Move there

3. After you get moved in, go to the US consulate in that country. Turn in your US passport and sign the form renouncing US citizenship.

4. Have a happy life.

　

The Election is Over

Overall, a good day if you are a Democrat, a bad day if you are a Republican. If like me you are an Independent, a mixed bag. To those candidates who won, Congratulations, To those who lost, Thank you for trying.

Now, Washington, you have work to do. The fiscal cliff is coming on Jan 1^st. It needs to be addressed. Since we have divided legislative control, you will have to work together to fix the problem you all created. After that there are a host of serious issues that you need to deal with. Here are just a few:

The budget - You folks need to get your collective heads out of you’re a$$es and come up with a budget deal that works. This includes reducing the deficit

Tax Reform - Our tax system is a mess. It has been a mess for years. You need to rewrite the entire Federal Tax Code to make it simpler, fair and easy to understand. It’s a big job, but that is why you get the big bucks.

Infrastructure - We need a plan to fix the aging and decaying infrastructure in this country. It’s going to cost, but it has got to be done. Here is a side benefit; this should put a big dent in that unemployment rate! Something you all profess to want to do.

Well that is a start. Now GET TO WORK!!!!!!

Random Thoughts

In two days the Presidential election will be decided.  My favored candidate, Gary Johnson will not win.  I predict that President Obama will be re-elected and nothing will change much over the next 4 years.

The country is so politically polarized that cooperation on solving our problems is highly unlikely.  Part of the reason is that between elections we, the voting public let our elected representatives do what they want with no feedback.  Without knowing what we want, they act in their own best interests.  The best interest for most of them is maintaining the status quo.

This is the system we have built with our collective non-involvement.  So if you want change make sure your congressmen, Senators, state legislators, and local elected officials know what your opinions are on the issues and keep in their faces.  Also, keep track of how they do and use that as a guide in the next election. 

Customer Service

I am not an fan of Glenn Beck.  I am however a fan of good customer service.  I Received a post from my brother regarding the treatment that Mr. Beck received on a recent trip to New York and return trip on American Airlines.  Here is Mr. Beck’s post  on the subject http://www.theblaze.com/stories/glenn-beck-details-ugly-hatred-he-experienced-in-nyc-on-american-airlines/

I have no reason to doubt the veracity of Mr. Beck’s description of the events.  My take based on the description is that Mr. Beck and his family were the victims of some of the worst customer service I have heard of in a long time.  The servers and flight attendant’s behavior were unforgivable. 

I don’t care if the person your are serving is the most obnoxious individual you have ever encountered. (I don’t believe that Mr. Beck was anywhere near this) As a customer service professional, you should still provide the best service you possibly can. If you can’t do that, find another line of work.

At the very least, Mr. Beck deserves an apology from the restaurants, and American Airlines.  If the individuals involved, worked for me, disciplinary action would definitely be the order of the day.

Open Letter to Mitt Romney

Today you announced that Paul Ryan is your Vice Presidential Running Mate.  It is a good choice.

I must admit that currently I am not voting for you.  You haven't given me a reason to.  It might comfort you to know that I am not inclined to vote for President Obama again.

Now you need to get serious about the campaign.  It is not enough to run as I am not Obama.  You needs to show us where you want to take this country.  We already know what Obama wants to do.  So Mitt, if we elect you, what do you see America as in 2016? 

How do you intend to deal with this country’s problems? 

What is your Foreign Policy

What is your Defense Policy

What is you vision for the relationship between the States and the Federal Government?

What are your budget priorities?

You need to get your answers out and be prepared to say why they are better than the other guy’s
Only by defining yourself and having arguments ready can you stop the other side from defining you.  (I Know you won’t like their definition of Mitt Romney)

You also have some damage control to do.  Specifically, you need to get the stories about your tax returns out of the news.  Otherwise, Obama is going to beat you over the head with it from now until election day.  No matter what is in those returns, I guarantee that the speculation floated by the other side will be far worse.  You should reconsider releasing your returns.  At least for the years 2000 – 2011.  When you do, be prepared to answer all questions with clean facts. 

As far a attacking the other side.  Here are a few things you might want to take a shot at:

1.  In 2008 Obama promised to close Gitmo.  Its still open.

2.  In 2008 Obama promised to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  50%. We are out of Iraq, but not Afghanistan. 

3.  Unemployment is too high.  The country needs jobs.  How about a coherent plan with goals and metrics for putting Americans back to work.?

That is a start.  You have the money, Do you have the will to and the brains to pull this out?

Are they serious?

If the president and Congress are really serious about controlling the Federal Deficit. Here are some suggestions
1.  Allow all of the Bush tax cuts to expire as scheduled on 12/31/2012
2.  Revise the US tax code to create a flat rate tax on all income regardless of source.  No deductions, just a fixed rate on gross income. In the case of corporations. gross revenue.  This would result in making federal tax returns much simpler and reduce the cost of the IRS
3.  Abolish all all Federal Departments except.  Defense, State, Justice, Treasury, and Transportation.  Transfer all other functions to the states.
4.  Change our defense strategy from being able to run two global wars to defending US borders and territories.  This alone could result in nearly a 50% reduction in defense spending.
How about it? 

Does it Matter?

Voting has always been an obsession with me.  I have not missed an election since I turned 18.  I frequently bore people with political discussions. 
Lately though, I have been wondering if it is worth it.  It seems that no matter who is elected, nothing ever changes.  Part of that is the appearance that our two major political parties are in fact the same. 
Neither wants real change. Both serve the corporate masters that truly control this country.  You know the Multi-National Corporations that control the world economy.   These corporations exist sole to enrich themselves and ensure their own power.  They consider people nothing more that a commodity to be used for what ever purpose they want.
So why bother to vote?  If you are an Obama supporter, he has already been co-opted by the international corporate interests.  Romney is a product of the corporate world.  No other candidate has even a remote chance of getting elected.  The other parties do not have the resources to mount an effective national campaign. 
So Why Vote?

Why I Cannot Vote for Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney is the Apparent GOP candidate for President of the United States. I cannot vote for him.

Mr. Romney has been touting his success at Bain Capital as his strongest qualification. He did a good job at Bain. The problem is that experience did nothing to prepare him for the presidency. The company made lots of money for its investors. That money was made by outsourcing US jobs to other low wage countries. This put thousands of Americans out of work.. At Bain, his goal was to make money for his investors not to act in the common interest of the country. In fact making money put Bain at direct odds with the good of the country.

Mitt doesn't talk about his tenure as Governor of Massachusetts. Why? Was it because his tenure there was average and unspectacular?

Add to that his constant changing of his positions on issues and lack of ideas on how to solve the problems our nation faces.

We need another choice

My Disappointment with President Obama

In a little over 4 months we will be electing our President.  Time to reflect on what President Obama has and has not done during his current term.

What he has done:

Got us out of Iraq.

Got Osama Ben-Laden

Signed a possibly unconstitutional Health care reform act (ACA)

Signed a first step law to reign in the banking industry

Bailed out GM and Chrysler

What he has not done:

Gotten us out of Afghanistan

Take decisive action to lower unemployment

Reign in runaway spending by the Department of Defense

Close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility

On the things he has not done, here are some observation with the full benefit of 20/20 hindsight.

The President’s first priority on taking office should have been lowering unemployment.  The quickest way to do that would have been a massive infrastructure bill.  This country has thousands of miles of roads, millions of miles of pipelines and electrical lines and thousands of bridges that need repair or replacement.  Getting that done would have done two things.  1. Put a lot of Americans doing productive work.  2. Placed our country in a better position to compete in the global economy.

He allowed the Defense Department to con him into a go slow approach to getting out of Afghanistan and Iraq.   As a result, getting out of Iraq took far longer that it should have and we are still in Afghanistan.  He should have given to orders and not taken any excuses.

He campaigned on closing Guantanamo Bay in 2008.  It is now 2012 and there is no sign that the prison will ever close.  Simple answer: he lied.  All of the prisoners could be transferred to a detention facility here in the US within a few months. 

The Defense Department needs to have a top down review of what they are spending all that money on.  For example, do we need 15 Nuclear Aircraft Carriers? Do we need all of those nuclear submarines?  Do we need to maintain military bases in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East?  Given the nature of the threat in today’s world, Big ticket weapon systems are not the answer.  We need to put DoD on a diet and be smarter about how we spend Defense dollars.

Give his poor performance in his first term, I cannot recommend a Vote for President Obama’s for Re-election.

Let’s Fix California

Do you like the way things have been going in California for the last 20 years?

This state is a political mess.  For too long we the people have allowed our government to run wild.  We have not been guiding our elected representatives in how to conduct the state’s business.  We have allowed special interests to corrupt our government for their own benefit.

In the movie The American President, Michael Douglas makes a statement that is so true.  “America is advanced citizenship; you’ve got to want it bad…”

To take back control of our state and local government, we must start being more active citizens.

The first step is making sure you are registered to vote. 

In a few days all registered voters will begin receiving their sample ballots for the June 5 primary election.  You can start by finding out who is running for the local, state and federal offices.  Then, you need to find out where the candidates stand on the issues.  Contact the campaigns and ask them where the candidates stand on the issues important to you.  Don’t let them brush you off. 

Then take that information and use it to decide who you will vote for.  These people are supposed to work for us.  It is time we started taking a more active role in supervising our elected representatives.

After the election, we need to hold our elected representatives responsible for doing their jobs.  At the state level, that means fixing the state’s broken budget system and getting the state on sound financial footing.  This must be done while at the same time maintain public safety and health, providing top notch public education, and maintaining our public infrastructure. 

You are Being Watched

This week I was in a local retail establishment when I noticed workmen installing new surveillance cameras. This is nothing new. Retail businesses have used video surveillance to monitor activity in their stores for some years.

In fact it is a given that in most any store, you are under the gaze of a camera from the time you enter until you leave. Many of the larger stores also have surveillance of their parking lots as well. The only place where you might not be under a camera is the restrooms or dressing rooms. This is by no means assured as there are now cameras so small as to be virtually undetectable.

It is not just in businesses. I took a walk in downtown Stockton and was able to spot a half-dozen cameras within 10 minutes. These cameras were watching public areas streets, sidewalks and a public plaza. It is safe that in most urban public areas you are under the gaze of at least 1 camera.

On road there are traffic cameras watching. Every time you use your bank ATM smile, you are on camera.

These cameras, do provide a public safety benefit in that law enforcement can use the video as an investigative tool. Here in California, CalTrans uses traffic cameras to monitor freeways for problems such as accidents, backups, and other road hazards.

What concerns me is the potential for abuse. Especially, when surveillance video is combined with facial recognition software. With that you can literally be tracked anywhere you go. Not just criminals, but everyone.

Add this to the ability to locate you using your cell phone and you can be found almost anywhere.
Most people I have talked to have the attitude, If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to worry about. For the most part I agree. However, the potential for abuse exists. We need to update or laws to prevent, as much as possible, abuse of the surveillance technology.

And the Beat Goes On

I watched the Arizona GOP Debate last night.  Actually, I watched about the first 20 min. The GOP is still engaged in the circular firing squad.  If the GOP wants their candidate to win in November, they need to come up with some serious solutions to the problems that Americans are concerned about.

I currently do not have a horse in the presidential race. The candidate I would like to support would be pushing answers for:

1.    Unemployment.  We need some out of the box thinking on how to bring good jobs back to this country. 

2.    Energy.  Our current energy policy stinks.  We need a policy that promotes energy independence with as small an environmental footprint as possible.

3.    Immigration.  We need to come up with a comprehensive reform of our immigration laws.  This should be coupled with rigid enforcement and effective border security.

4.    Foreign Policy.  We need to stop interfering in the domestic affairs of other countries.  We should only take action when their actions affect Americans directly.  Otherwise, it is their business.

5.    Education.  The cost of education is out of control.  The Federal Governments role in education should be to ensure that the states are providing good K-12 education.  Funding should be collected and distributed at the state and local level. 

6.    Federal Spending.  Federal spending is out of control.  A massive overhaul of federal spending is needed.  No department or agency should be immune.  This includes defense.  Our military is way too big for the job of defending this country.  It is an invitation to politicians to engage in foreign wars that we should have no stake in.

This gives the next administration a full slate of things to do, if they choose.  Right now, I don’t hear any candidate offering ideas on addressing these issues.  This does not bode well for the future.

A Solution to the Public Pension Problem

The finances of the public pension systems in California (and other states) are a problem.  There is a way to clean up the mess.

Discontinue the public pension systems and move all public employees to a 401k plan.

It would work like this: at a specified date (I’ll use January 1, 2013 as an example) all public employees would stop participating in the public pension plans.  The expected benefits would be frozen at that point.  The assets would remain in the plan and the participants would be able to draw on them as scheduled. 

On January 1 2013, all public employees would be able to participate in a 401k plan.  Under that plan they could contribute up to 10% of their before tax pay to the plan.  If they leave public service, they can roll the assets of their plan over to another employer’s 401k or into and Individual Retirement Account (IRA)

Those employees that choose to not participate do not have to. The can setup their own IRAs separately.

This is the path that the private sector has been following for a couple of decades.

The state employees would begin to pay Social Security taxes as CALPERS participants do not currently participate in SS.

As the public workforce ages, the number of participants will decline through attrition until CALPERS is no more.

This would clear up the problem and put the public sector more in line with the private sector.

Prop 8 Still Unconstitutional

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204136404577209183209519256.html

A three judge panel from the Ninth circuit has ruled that Proposition 8 violates the equal protection clause and is unconstitutional.

The proponents of Prop 8 must now decide if they will appeal to the full ninth circuit or directly to the US Supreme Court.

The ruling should be no surprise as the liberal leaning 9^th circuit  was fully expected to rule against the measure.  The question now, is which path will the proponents of Prop 8 follow? 

Will they ask for review by the full 9^th circuit, or petition directly to the US Supreme Court?

My own personal advice, go for the Supreme Court.  The odds are the full 9^th circuit will not overturn the ruling.

Teen sues Family

http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/13/us/texas-pregnant-teen/index.html?hpt=us_c2

According to the article a 14 year old girl in Texas is suing her family to prevent them from forcing her to have an abortion. 

According to her lawyer Steve Casey the girl was physically and verbally abused during an attempt to force her to have an abortion.  Her wish is to carry the child to term.  A temporary Restraining order has been issued and the family is due back in court on January 19.

Casey said. "If a woman has a constitutional right to an abortion under Roe v Wade, then she has a constitutional right to keep her child."

This is definitely a case of the law being equally applied