Drone On and On

Here is an interesting opportunity. The manufacturers of drones continue to press congress for appropriations to purchase thousands of drones to spy on Americans. There is even a ‘drone caucus’ and they accepted millions in donations to their political campaigns.

The opportunity is to see how many media reports are generated about illegal aliens and the need for drones. I have no problems with drones patrolling our borders and think it is a great investment. However, the real agenda is to generate public support for drones, without realizing that the overwhelming majority of these drones will be used far from the border. Drones will ‘patrol’ our city streets. It seems creepy to think about cameras that are virtual spy satellites.

My issue is not necessarily about the widespread use of drones. My issue is Congress enacting laws to specifically enrich certain companies. Our opportunity is to watch for the media reports about the sudden need for thousands and thousands of drones that will be purchased with our taxes.

Sandy and the President

It remains in the media’s interest to continue reporting on the Sandy storm in the most alarming way possible.  This keeps us reading, watching and listening.

Many people enjoy the sensationalism because it makes their personal ‘survival’ stories more dramatic. Drama queens (and kings) absolutely want these news stories to be as sensational as possible. In fact, if a story read that the tropical storm caused the predictable flooding in subways, tunnels, and construction sites because of the new discovery of gravity, people would be offended. Of course low areas, tunnels, subways and the gigantic hole in the ground near Ground Zero flooded. When the water runs uphill; that is news. Trees fell down and boats were lifted out of the water. This is also routine during a hurricane. However, we want our sensational stories.

The deaths are terrible tragedies and we all mourn the loss of life. However, more people died on our highways the weekend before the storm. More will die on our highways in a single day. Yet, there is no hue and cry for people to stop driving. In fact, people demand that speeders and those running red lights should not be punished if caught on camera.

Comparing the news stories with the warning issued by the National Weather Service clearly shows how hard the media tried to sensationalize every NWS warning and prediction.

Watching the news last night was laughable. A newswoman stood across the street from a single parked car. The water level was not even high enough to reach the bottom of the car doors. She breathlessly reported that when they first arrived the water was higher. She went on to say, "It is like that other shot. When we arrived, things were much worse. That car was completely under water. The water was up to the trunk."  What kind of vehicle can have water 'up to the trunk' and also be completely submerged?

Another newswoman breathlessly reported that the hurricane Sandy had ripped off these awnings. Still another newsman was standing on the street to tell us that when he first arrived, the street was covered with water and now it had subsided. Although he street was muddy, there was no water. If this is the best that the media could find they should have reported that the damage was light and that the storm water quickly subsided or they should have ran an episode of M.A.S.H.

The print media can run the same few photos of the storm and continue to simply provide the doom and gloom stories But here is the thing.

An unintended consequence is that these stories can be the tie breaker at election time. The president and his staff had a lot of time to focus on the national response. Governors and power companies across the nation worked out plans before the storm made landfall. Both candidates were forced to shut down campaigning during the storm. Mr. Romney was left with nothing to do. Mr. Obama was presented with an opportunity to be presidential. Barring any missteps be President Obama, this could be the tie-breaker for the election. His actions will be compared with Republican President George Bush’s actions during Hurricane Katrina. In a sense, Mr. Bush’s actions will be tagged with Mr. Romney since they are both Republicans. (“This is how Republicans help people in a national emergency and this is how Democrats help people in a national emergency").

This election will be one that is analyzed in political science classes for decades to come, regardless of the outcome. Sandy presented the President with an opportunity.

Gas Prices on East Coast

Just as gasoline prices jumped in California due to refinery shut-downs, the fuel prices on the East Coast will jump in the after-math of Sandy.

We all understand short supply. Refineries shut down and no trucks have been able to deliver gas. However, why the increased prices? How does paying more at the pump enable refineries and delivery trucks to deliver? When the storm is gone there should be no increase, but we don't live in 'the land of should'. We live in the land of giving the consumers the shaft.

Recently, many articles (and there will be more to come) have been printed to inform us that oil independence has nothing to do with what we will pay at the pump. The response to those articles should be: we have the solution. A federal law prohibiting the export of any fuel products until gasoline prices (including taxes) is at $2 per gallon. Such a law would cause a glut of gasoline in the USA and prices would tumble.

Our number one export is fuel. Let the oil barons take care of their country.

In the meantime, get out your wallets. Your gasoline will be more expensive because of Sandy.

Hurricane Sandy

Tomorrow we will know the truth about Hurricane Sandy. We already know the truth about the media and storms predictions.

The  national weather service is our best source for storm information, not the overblown and deliberately exaggerated news media predictions. The media cherry picks from the National Weather Service, throws in some adjectives and adverbs to frighten us and creates new phrases to further panic the population. The media twists and uses facts to create an immediate sense of danger.

The storm is barely at hurricane strength and is very wide. It could make landfall at one of a hundred places, so the media reports that New York City may be a target. They also write that cities in the Carolinas, Virginia and all across New England may be the target. They include stories about past storms (or they would only have a one paragraph story) to further create panic.

Many people live for these kinds of stories. They love playing the victim and they love telling everyone how worried they are about the certain disaster that might be heading directly for them. Many people are genuinely panicked and rush out to buy everything imaginable.

The media is gleeful! They've created panic and now have a new story about the people running around in panic.

Meanwhile, the National Weather Service downgrades the hurricane to a tropical storm.

The media reports this information with emphasis on a lot of what-ifs. The storm could merge with another storm and result in snow. The snow could cause school cancellations. Heck, if the storms merge it is possible that damages will be over 1-billion dollars.

When the National Weather Service reported that the wind increase to barely reach hurricane strength, the media was elated.

We should always be prepared for extreme weather. People that need to rush out and buy batteries, canned food and bottled water should have those items in their homes for an emergency. It is not complicated. I buy bottled water, batteries,and canned goods just prior to hurricane season every year. These items could even be used in a blizzard or flood. I know of several routes out of town and if I feel imminently threatened I will drive away.

In the meantime, tomorrow is coming. I have a few appointments and some Christmas wrapping to do. I will check with the National Weather Service to track the storm. I hope the daughter I have that lives in Pennsylvania (a 'target area') is at a festival or baking cupcakes. I hope my niece and her family, that live very close to the ocean, are following the news on the National Weather Service. My sister in Baltimore does not panic.

People cannot simply flee and skip work because a storm might hit their city. There are more possible locations for this storm to make landfall then there are numbers on a crap table. Yet the media, like Las Vegas, convince millions that they have a reason to be sure.

Election

People will vote against a candidate. Few people will actually want either of these candidates to lead our nation.

Each candidate will talk in broad terms without a plan and each will spend most of their time crying about the other guy.

Come Together - not now!

The division in political views is extreme and George Washington's fear that loyalty to political parties will become more important than loyalty to the Republic has become a reality.

Although little difference exists between the health care law created by former Governor Romney and President Obama, the language, exaggerations and rhetoric sounds like war. Neither politician is smart enough or has the courage to change the discussion to the real issue: the cost of American health care.

How many Americans realize that during the past decade we have changed how we pay for prescription drugs with our tax dollars through Medicare and Medicaid? Our representatives changed the way we pay for prescription drugs and the result of that change is that Big Pharm (pharmaceutical and drug companies) are making millions more every single month.

Every independent study of American health costs conclude that we pay almost twice the amount per person than other industrialized countries and the citizens of those other countries are out-living us.

While we argue about paying for the uninsured and our love of private insurance, we've lost sight of our real concern. Is it not true that we want the best health care at the lowest cost? I don't care if my health care comes from an insurance company, Medicaid, or uga-uga-boo-boo. I care about the quality of care, what is covered and the final cost.

Today, I have private health insurance. I also pay, through my taxes, for Medicaid and Medicare. I also pay, through my taxes, for health care at emergency rooms for those without health care coverage. I think we can do better.

The real issue is the cost of health care. Many procedures (hip replacements for people over 80) was unheard of a few decades ago. Today it happens a lot. Not only are there more people living longer, the actual charges for procedures, like hip replacements, has jumped. The insurance companies and medical providers follow the market and continue to raise prices.

For example, insurance companies and the public accepted a move from hospitals to out-patient surgery. As the demand for out patient surgery rose the prices rose accordingly.

Many doctors and medical professionals say that they will leave medicine if they are limited by what they can charge. Let them go.

Look at any hospital bill and note the money paid to each person. Some of the names will baffle you. These are doctors that walked beside your surgeon when he or she visited your room. They are consultants.

What was the price tag for that delicious meal? How does the meal and the price compare to room service at a luxury hotel?

The real issue is cost? A smart politician would change the discussion from Obamacare to the cost of our health care.

No such discussion will occur. Instead, we will return to our political corners and come out screaming.

We The Puppets

The Koch brothers will continue to fund Tea Party groups, Americans for Prosperity, FreedomWorks, and Citizens for a Sound Economy ($12 million so far). The Republicans and Democrats will continue to be funded and controlled by the super rich contributing to PAC funds. We the people, will continue to be puppets as the media, owned by the super rich, pull the strings.

Our bias, beliefs, and prejudices will be satisfied by news stories with misleading headlines. On the web, we will continue to seek out and find, not new worlds, but affirmation that our biases, beliefs and prejudices are right. Although facts are available to provide the truth, we can't handle the truth. We will not let the facts get in the way of lies, exaggerations, and we will not let the facts help us to help ourselves.

It remains a mystery that the average working person seems to be against organizing and demanding a greater (and fairer) share of the corporate wealth. The average people at the top of a company used to earn 20 times the amount of the average worker. Today, the average people at the top of a company receive 200 to 300 times the amount earned by the average worker. As top executives receive millions in bonuses after accepting taxpayer bailouts and as top executives are paid millions in severance pay, workers are no longer needed. Yet, workers blame unions! Wow! The wealthy have become experts at pulling the strings of 'we the puppets'.

Tomorrow, more of the same.

June 1, 2012

A consistently increasing effort to improve our food choices is about to unfold. Taxes on fatty food and food laced with sugar will be one of the results. Another result will be a reduction in our current health care costs.

I am a long-time opponent to government meddling. I was against even discussing any government taxes, programs or efforts to tell me what to eat. Then I read “The Jobs Wars”. The last chapters of this book by Gallup Chairman Jim Clifton, provides simple facts about the cost of our medical care. I have often said that the real issue about health care is not about ‘who pays’ but about reducing the cost. Mr. Cliffton says the same thing. Politicians and the American people are arguing about who pays instead of addressing the real issue: how do we reduce the cost?

Politicians will not take on big pharmaceutical companies and force fair pricing. However, the outrageous profits by these companies are only half of the problem. The other half lies in the choices we make about our health.

A huge portion of medical expenses result from obesity. Because almost half of medical expenses are paid by Medicaid and Medicare (taxes) the government may be able to convince us that people on the public dole should not be allowed to purchase foods loaded with fat and sugar. Recent studies have repudiated the old argument that poor people cannot afford to eat healthy. It turns out that healthy food is available and is as cheap as the unhealthy food that is often purchased. With the advent of ATM like cards that replace checks, programs can easily be implemented to limit their use to only healthy foods.

People will whine about ‘”Big Brother” as this is discussed, but I believe the government will prevail.

We are about to see a campaign similar to the anti-smoking campaign that changed the habits of America. Imagine telling a person in 1955 that people would come to think of smoking as dirty, un-cool and stupid. We are now moving toward thinking in terms of fat people being lazy, un-cool and stupid. Now, I am going to the gym and getting rid of my fat and then I am keeping it off.

America is about to see more and more magazine articles, news paper stories and eventually, more taxes in an effort to improve our health, whether we like it or not. Perhaps we will one day pay about $4000 per person for our health care, which is about the cost in England, Canada and Germany - where people are outliving us. We now pay twice that amount per person and do not live as long!

Jobs

American will soon begin to awaken to the truth that our largest issue is jobs. Every politician that tries to point to the news story dujour, fairness in sports, immigration, the Middle East, and the crisis dujour should be thrown out of office in the election. Our focus must be jobs.
According to the CEO of Gallup Polls, jobs have become the number one issue that concerns people around the world. In every country, the creation of jobs is the number one issue. Few people without jobs are likely to list global warming or gas prices as their number one concern. Few people that remain in lousy jobs with poor pay list anything other than a good job as their number one issue.
When politicians consider new laws, ordinances, rules, taxes and restrictions, the impact on jobs must be a very high priority. When bridges, roads and other infrastructure are discussed, the impact on jobs must prevail.

We need good jobs. We do not need shovel ready jobs, government job creation bills or temporary jobs. We need good jobs from the private sector.

Taxing the uber wealthy and taxing large corporations will not harm jobs. However, taxing small and middle businesses is a problem. This is where real job creation begins. There are thousands of ideas that can come to fruition when the government makes it simple to form a new company.

Easing restrictions on the means to raise small business capital is a good start. Excusing small businesses from many regulations and reducing permit fees to a dollar is also a good start. We need new business start-ups and that is where the government could play a huge role by getting out of the way.

Unintended Consequences -

The anti-immigration laws of Arizona, Alabama and other states will have severe unintended consequences. In fact, much like the increased security at the border, the results will be the exact opposite of what backers hoped to accomplish[1].

States passed laws to force illegal aliens to leave their state by citing the huge cost of illegal aliens. These costs included huge increases in expenditures for education, medical treatment, social services and the cost of crime. Unemployment was also cited as a problem caused in no small part by the illegal aliens.

As these laws took effect in Alabama and Arizona a huge number of illegal aliens fled those states. The unintended consequence is that these states will be proof that the illegal aliens not only did not cost the states significant amount of money, but the money lost because of the exodus of illegal aliens significantly harmed the state, city and county budgets.

If the illegals were costing huge amounts of money in school, hospital, police and social service budgets we should soon see each of those entities asking for less money in the coming budgets. Also, unemployment figures should be dropping like a rock. The reality will be difficult to conceal.

Alabama is already reporting that sales taxes are down. No significant changes occurred in employment figures due to the mass exodus.

The only significant change in these states may be the number of business failures because unemployed Americans will not do the dirty jobs. Social Services will not see enough of a decrease in their workloads or budgets to lay off any workers. The thousands of dollars spent by the ‘illegals’ in business where they purchased groceries, clothes and other items will no longer support many businesses. Barber shops, movie theaters, auto repair shops and a host of other businesses will see fewer customers. Sales taxes will decrease and rental properties will be vacant.

The unintended consequences will reach beyond the economic impact on these states. The documented results will become irrefutable facts that support amnesty for people on U.S. soil without authorization. None of the advocates of anti-immigration laws desire such an outcome. However, as more data is gathered, economists and even 4^th grade students will be able to extrapolate the data to show the impact on the national economy if 11-million people leave the USA.

Today, all is not lost. Although there are thousands of pages that already suggest the real impact of anti-immigration laws, more months are needed to collect data. Perhaps Arizona and Alabama will suddenly reduce taxes and perhaps their unemployed will fill those vacant jobs. Cleaning fish, picking crops, lawn maintenance, house cleaning and making beds at motels are honest jobs and perhaps all of those unemployed citizens are gobbling up those jobs as I type.

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[1] When it became more difficult for temporary workers to enter the USA, millions would not risk returning home to Mexico out of fear that they could not return to the USA next year to support their families. Millions of workers on U.S. soil without authorization remained instead of returning home as they did in years past.

The Circus

As election time draws near we will see a return to the circus. As in Roman times, the people simply need a circus to be happy. Keep the people from actually thinking. Keep the people from seeing what the wealthy and people in power steal. Provide the people with 'proof' that their bigotry and dislike of 'those people' is justified.

By generating and perpetuating stories that blacks are all on welfare and that whites are all bigots, the people can blog and spread the fear. People are so stupid that they will believe that the welfare programs are the cause of unemployment and the trillions of dollars of debt. Yes! They are so stupid that they will blame the welfare cheats, even though there are tons of information that show the bailouts and banking laws are the real problem.

Soon we will also see the stories about Mexican illegal aliens being the cause of unemployment. Even though illegal immigration is at a historic low and even though businesses are going belly-up because they cannot find workers, the people will buy into this fiction.  Most of 'us' do not want to see our culture and society change. That is our real fear. However, we do not like being accused of racism so we love stories that show our spoken reason for anger about illegal immigration is because it causes so many of us to lose our jobs.  The circus will continue. We will fight among ourselves and those really causing so much of the unemployment and national debt will continue to do business as usual.

We will not stop. We will not focus like a laser on real problems and demand laws that limit bankers and millionaire law makers. Most Americans remain blissfully focused on 'those people' instead of demanding that no law maker can trade on Wall Street. Law makers legally use inside knowledge to invest and enrich themselves by millions. No wonder we the tax payers are burdened with trillions of dollars of debt. We deserve it. We chose the circus.

Begging for Immigrants

The media does not repeat stories from cities like Baltimore where the mayor stated the necessity of immigrants to achieve population growth. (http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2012-01-07/news/bs-md-ci-immigration-growth-20120106_1_foreign-born-immigrants-population-decline). For several years, major studies, articles and books about the projected need for immigrants have been largely ignored by the media. Instead, the media reports what many want to hear: immigrants = problems.

Within 50-years we will be begging Mexico for immigrants. The Mexican economy may be so strong that our needs for immigrants will be ignored. One sign that this possibility exists is that Mexico’s economy remains in much better shape than our own. Typically, it is said that when the U.S. economy catches a cold, Mexico’s economy catches pneumonia. However, this is not the case in today’s world economy. Most Mexicans returning to their country are doing so because there are jobs in Mexico and not in the USA.

No reasonable person can argue with the facts concerning our birth-rate and the impact of severely shifting population facts. Today, one out of every 9 Americans is "old"—another former youth turns 50 every 8 seconds. Those age 65 and older now exceed 35 million, a number poised to explode. January 2011 ushered in the first of approximately 77 million Baby Boomers, born from 1946 through 1964 and are surging toward the gates of retirement[1].

The largest block of potential voters will demand more and more services from the relatively small workforce that contribute payroll taxes. Our country will require more young workers that our birthrate will not supply. Beyond the need for taxpayers, we will need workers to repair, build and maintain the infrastructure.

Often, the people demanding solutions to the current immigration problems are backward in their thinking. Many simply want immigration to end. Many more want walls, fences and expulsions. The reality of the immigration problem is that we need an immigration policy that meets the needs of our country and a policy that is moral and just. We need temporary visas. We need control of our border and control of employers. We need a guarantee of fair treatment of guest workers. We also need a national identity that includes English as our national language. Those unwilling to take an oath of allegiance and work towards citizenship should be identified as temporary workers and quickly removed from U.S. soil when their work-permit expires. Guest workers should be strictly tracked.

Human traffickers and those employing persons unauthorized to be on U.S. soil should be severely punished. The punishment must exceed the benefit of transporting or hiring unauthorized people. At the same time, farmers and certain other employers should be permitted to hire as many foreign workers as needed. Americans often will not do dirty jobs. (At least not while staying on the public dole is an option).

The prediction: we will change our immigration laws to encourage more immigration within 20-years or we will be begging for immigrants within 20-years.

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[1] Read more: http://transgenerational.org/aging/demographics.htm#ixzz1jAwcZw6C