Later

It has been over a month since the last posting here, and my muse has been telling me to put this blog on hold, probably long term and maybe permanently. There are other directions I am heading, some by choice and some of necessity. The urge to write is still in me, but, at least for now, this does not seem to be the forum.

Peace, harmony, love and happiness to all.

Reagan's the Problem

To paraphrase our so-called "great communicator" President, Ronald Reagan, "here I go again". And to quote the joke line from the Sopranos, "Just when I thought I was getting out, they pull me back in".

The economy is so deeply fouled up, it is hard not to write about it. Two disparate individuals, one I greatly admire and one I mostly deplore, have induced me to publish this post.

I first became aware of Paul Krugman when he did guest appearances on the Keith Olbermann show. Krugman talked like a rare two-handed economist, giving clear and straightforward answers and never hedging them with "on the other hand". When he won the Nobel for economics, that confirmed my opinion.

Ronald Reagan, so unjustifiably praised by some people, did terrible things to America. In an excellent column in the New York Times, Krugman pins the blame for our current economic woes on Reaganomics. Lincoln eloquently stated our government is "of the people, by the people and for the people". Reagan shamefully said "government is the problem". As on most things, Reagan was wrong. Government was not the problem - Reagan was.

The Help

[This article was submitted by John from Phoenix as a comment to a recent article, but since it addressed a new topic, I have chosen to feature it as the first guest commentator article here at Sense. I may select future comments for use as separate articles, and encourage any readers to send other article ideas to me by E-mail.]

I am currently reading (listening to an audio book) "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett. My wife put me on to it. Her story takes place in Jackson Mississippi in the early 60's at the time Medgar Evers was murdered. Although she lived in Jackson, her picture makes her too young to have been alive at the time Edgars was killed.

Nevertheless, I am captivated by her story. Her main character is a white woman only 23 years old, possibly modeled on herself. Her character convinces a few black maids to tell her stories of their experiences that she hopes to publish. She describes the pressure that the "help" feel in doing this which could cause physical harm and certainly economic harm if found out. She also describes the fear the protagonist feels in losing the esteem of her society and the romantic interest of a budding politician she has fallen in love with.

Her story seems a fantasy. What black woman at that time would risk her economic and physical life to a 23 year old idealist? But that is the story of the civil rights movement: many blacks risked everything. After all, Martin Luther King was a martyr.

Changing Course

This blog was started near the end of the 2004 Presidential campaign. Since then, I have spent four years following and commenting on the disgrace that was the Bush/Cheney regime. Now that Barack Obama has taken over, I do not feel the need to follow his administration closely or to comment here on developments. President Obama is someone I believe and trust and I have confidence in his intelligence, judgment and demeanor. Any disagreements I may have with him are not likely to spur me to comment here, as I felt compelled to do by the continuing Bush/Cheney outrages. I have embarked on a much needed break from intensely following and commenting on political news.

I considered taking this blog in other directions, to reflect on interests and pursuits beyond politics, as I have occasionally done in these pages, but I feel no urge to take this blog in any specific other direction at this time. I have seriously considered taking a break from blog publishing - something beyond a vacation, more akin to a sabbatical. In fact I wrote an article a couple weeks ago proclaiming such a sabbatical, but I have held it back.

John from Phoenix has been on vacation for a month, hiking in the Grand Canyon and then visiting our nation's capital and some American heritage sites. With his return he has posted two comments to the last article written here. I have chosen to make his second comment, about the new Novel, "The Help", into an article, as part of exploring some course changes here at Sense. I am open to other submissions from John or anyone else.

Some people use their blogs as a sort of daily Christmas letter, those infamous annual updates on family accomplishments and milestones, many of which are poorly written and of no general interest. I have no interest in embarking on such public journaling, but I am not opposed to sometimes sharing at Sense what I am up to, if I think it can be of some general interest and if my experience and thinking gel into some sense I want to share.

To those few who keep checking in here to see what I have to say, I thank you for your attention. To those fewer who posted comments, I say thank you for sharing your thoughts. And to John, who told me to write what and when my muse prompts me, thanks for the advice and thanks for your example.

Notes on Economics - Unions

Here (thankfully, since I am ready to move on) are the last unpublished economic notes, on the subject of unions, about which John in Phoenix and I dialogued in the comments following the recent posting on globalization.

Civil rights came to American unions in the 60s and 70s, helping raise the economic prospects of African Americans, but labor leaders do not seem to be emphasizing this group in their new organizing efforts.

The NFL effectively busted the players union in 1987, but this last season had all the players wearing the initials of the deceased union president on their helmets.

The AFL-CIO chooses to function more as a lobby group, while splinter unions believe organizing more workers is a better approach.

France changed the law to allow more hire/fire power over young workers to solve a problem of "bad hires". What really was needed was better training for students to be better workers and better training for managers to be better managers.

Another problem with retirement based on private investment by the retirees rather than on the guaranteed benefit plans the unions used to negotiate is that those near retirement, when the market drops, decide they cannot retire, which keeps a job away from someone who needs it, which in turn hurts the economy and adds to the downward spiral.

Today, the NY Times had an interesting article about the many year struggle of nurses in Kentucky to form a union in spite of ongoing illegal intimidation by the corporate employer.

Before leaving the subject of economics for this round, I highly recommend this excellent PDF format article by Joe Keefe the head of the sustainable investing based Pax Funds. It is a well reasoned view on the wisdom of adopting a long range approach to economic viability, factoring in social and environmental concerns. The article includes some historical context and proposes some meaningful changes.

Notes on Economics - Taxes

More from the unused note files:

Before the economy disintegrated, Fed Chair Bernacke, like Greenspan before him, favored making the Bush tax cuts permanent, though he would not tie that to budget cuts.

Progressive taxation is a more just way to meet social needs that relying on philanthropy alone.

When Exxon profits increased 40%, their tax bill went up only 14%.

Teddy Roosevelt inaugurated the estate tax to strike at the "aristocracy of wealth". While the tax only applies to the richest 1 or 2% of the population, 40% of the people think it may apply to them also. Attacks on the tax typically use an apocryphal small business that is destroyed by the tax after the death of the owner. Repealing death taxes for the wealthiest of the wealthy could cost $300 billion to one trillion in lost taxes over 10 years. One change to the tax that makes sense though is that the exemption allowed should be adjusted for inflation.

Many years ago my brother and I came up with an income tax idea I still find intriguing. Establish a minimum income figure below which no tax is due, the idea being that these low income workers pay their dues by the fact they work at low income jobs. Above the minimum, the tax rate would be 50%. The income tax could also be tied to the federal budget, with the minimum taxable income figure for the next tax year being determined by the size of the budget for the current year.

Notes on Economics - Politics, Privatization and De-Regulation

Continuing to exhaust the supply of unused notes, here are a few more:

Chris Mathews points out the middle class American voter goes conservative in a good economy in the belief he will be the next millionaire, but when the economy sours he goes liberal, seeing himself as the next guy in the bread line.

Under Bush, the use of private contractors by the Federal Government doubled. Obama is embarking on a review program to eliminate or tighten up such contracts.

Bush pushed privatization of public highways, taking advantage of cash strapped local governments and allowing the Federal Highway Trust Fund to border on bankruptcy.

From 1995 to 2005, public utility ownership of power plants fell from 90% to 63%, supposedly to stimulate competition and bring down rates, but the rates did not fall. De-regulation did bring lower fares for airlines, resulting in lousy service and multiple bankruptcies. Long distance de-regulation brought lower rates, but competing technologies was also a big factor.

Greenspan, under Clinton, unwisely removed the barriers between investment and commercial banks that had been set up during the Depression.

On better FNMA and FHMC oversight, Chuck Hagel proposed legislation in 2005. A year later, after a critical Federal report, John McCain signed on as a co-sponsor. Democrats favored oversight, but not a provision in the bill that limited the size of the portfolios. Builders and realtors opposed the bill and it did not make it out of the Republican controlled Senate committee considering it.