Opportunity Knocking?

What we need to do to correct our economy is not recreate a past that isn't coming back but jump into the future where we have sustainable energy, new industries, healthcare for all and free merit based education.

While we are still using too many fossil fuels we should only be building solar, wind or hydro ones going forward.  The industries to support that need to be in this country so we can have good paying jobs for Americans.  We also need to provide recharging stations for electric cars.  This is the future and we need to start building it.

We also need to invest in infrastructure for our highways, bridges, rail systems and dams.  It will provide jobs and help the economy become more robust.  

We also need to expand free health care to all residents of this country.  The only actual reason people oppose this is because they think they will get worse care when it is shared equally.  For those of you who enjoy elite care now, we can probably allow you to buy into a private system similar to Great Britain.

Similarly we need to make public colleges free and merit based.  In addition private colleges can continue for those who don't mind the cost.

In order to pay for this and our other expenses we need to consider reforming our tax system.  We need to balance the budget and work on the national debt.  Similar to business some long term project may need to be funded using bonds but we can't continue to massive deficits we see now.

Providing growth and jobs will help but other efficiencies may be need or additional sources of revenue.

We certainly can't take money out of our seniors pensions or health care, they have earned it.  

This country has had its ups and downs and the next great expansion is ready to happen.

We just need to open the door to opportunity.

Inalienable Rights

What do we need to do to get equal treatment for all our residents.  The recent incidents show how that just isnt happening.

What happened in Minneapolis is just the latest example of uneven treatment.  I would like to think it was a single rogue officer by his four partners who didn't intervene show its prevalent.

The fact that it happened and that it took time for the authorities to take action was worthy of outrage, but the rioting is also an outrage.  In fact there are reports some of it was instigated by outside groups trying to spread chaos, not racial equality.

As long as police have an us vs them mentality we will have this problem.  Deeper we have a society where inequality is related to skin tone.

The police jobs and other civil service jobs have historically represented a bridge to respectability.   One of the issues plaguing this country is that opportunities for entry level workers have become very competitive.  

Police jobs over the years have added requirements allegedly designed to get better candidates.  Many of these requirements tend to disqualify many minorities, and whether they are actually needed should be studied.  For example we clearly don't want serious criminals on the force, some infractions might not be disqualifying.  In fact we might want to reconsider some assumptions to get local police actually local.

Police and the people they protect should share common background and beliefs.  The system we have now works in white neighborhoods but becomes an occupying force in some others.  

I'm not entirely sure the best way to fix it, but pretending it doesn't need to be fixed isn't going to do it.

All people are entitled to some inalienable rights, the first of which is life.

Too many are taken which shouldn't be.

Whiners

Some conservatives like to call out liberals for being "Snowflakes" but aren't they the whiniest brats ever?

If some school in California doesn't say under God as part of the Pledge of Allegiance you would think the apocalypse is upon us.  Yet people surrounding a state capital armed with AKs is just fine.

Being asked to wear a mask to protect themselves and others is an infringement on their liberties but calling the Police about a black man asking you to leash your dog is fine with them.

They whine and whine and whine about things they apparently don't even understand.

I have yet to see an elected official ever threaten to take guns away from sane and non-violent citizens but they seem to think it has happened repeatedly.

They whine about the media but believe every crazy theory proposed by their favorite talking heads.

Even when they call young people snowflakes, which is because they consider themselves special, they seem to be attacking their own core belief of individualism.  Do they feel entitled?  Apparently not as much as you whiners.

I'd much rather be called a liberal than be lumped with the a**holes who seem to think that a white policeman kneeling on the neck of a restrained black man until he dies is just fine.  

I guess chasing them down in pickup trucks for jogging is just another good use of their time.

They whine about illegal immigration but it generally has no actual impact on them.  Of course they generally believe anyone who speaks Spanish or looks Spanish is an illegal.  

They like to talk about all the things ruining America but they fail to realize that the number one group criticizing it are them.

As Pogo told us, we have met the enemy and it is us.

Fraudulent System

Generally speaking the majority views are not what prevail in this country.  What does prevail are the views that are needed to win an election.

Most voters, at least based on how they vote, seem fairly content with the way things are.  This is the reason incumbents win so much.  In the voting booth our often apathetic voter sees a name he or she recognizes and votes for them.

If however there is an issue that has come to their attention which is important to them they will likely vote for the candidate that is for it.

Some issues like gun rights, abortion, immigration and others have strong adherents who tend to vote as a bloc.  It doesn't require them to be a majority, simply united enough to sway an otherwise close election.

It works even better at the primary level where they find it much easier to nominate a candidate favorable to their views.  If you are a moderate Republican or a Democrat for that matter, you may very well wonder how certain people became your candidates?

Either you or people like you didn't vote.

Once a candidate becomes a parties nominee, they get support from many people who may not really agree with them.  They probably pay lip service to some of the party's platform but they were effectively nominated and then elected because of a single or maybe a few issue that have ardent supporters.

So even though most Americans support things, those things become casualties of how we select and elect our representatives.  The solution would be to get more voters at every level.

The current system is the fraudulent if legal one where people get elected who don't really represent the country.

It doesn't seem likely to change soon.

Need to Vote

I see a lot of complaining about  voting by mail.  Despite the rants of the current white house applicant, the only impact of voting by mail is that more people vote.

He is mostly afraid of more people voting. Because the main strategy of his party is to keep voting limited to Republican supporters who are most concentrated in older white voters.  This is a declining base and they might be losing them too.

They are lucky to have won the last election and that victory has lasting consequences with our courts as they pack them with true believers.

It might be secondary to the danger it is doing to the environment and equal rights.  So it is hopefully a lesson learned by young people who didn't vote because the Democratic candidate wasn't perfect.

There are no perfect candidates but an election gives you a choice.  Each choice matters and if you think they don't you find yourself deep in student debt, without health care, waiting for the climate floods and avoiding a deadly virus.

Vote by Mail, Yes, Vote Online!

We live in a world where communications are nearly instantaneous.

Some are skeptical of the security and that's fine, but many of us are convinced that with proper precautions we can use automation to simplify certain tasks, like shopping, bill paying and many others.

Mail in a traditional sense is old technology.  Still it has an official imprimatur for many and since the envelopes are sealed and privacy is guaranteed by the post office it is proposed as a means to vote.

Is it secure?  Sure it is if you build in proper identifiable safeguard.  It is true that no system is totally infallible, and that includes in person voting, but mail is guaranteed by the Post Office once mailed.

The objections to it are part of a strategy to make voting difficult for some and those same people are in favor of mail voting for those likely to support them.

There are clearly ways to assure the security of the process, I get lots of proxy votes for Corporations via the mail.  It is a system that has been time tested and has very few fraud indicators.

Speaking of those proxy statements, I get the ballot in the mail but I generally can vote at a secure website.  My ballot comes with a code and access instructions that allow a one time vote.

There is no reason this can't be used in our elections.

In voting on-line I am usually asked to verify my identity using information not included in the mailing.  So unless someone has both hacked my identity and stolen my mail it s a pretty secure system.  We cold send ballots out as certified mail to add security.

Once you are in receipt of a ballot, and of course that means you are a registered American citizen, voting would be simple if you can do the on-line verification.

Of course the other methods should be available, but we need to  get more people to vote, not less.

It's the heart of a democracy.

Memorial Day

Memorial Day commemorates our fallen heroes.

Nothing can make up for their sacrifice or the pain suffered by their families.

Still remembering these heroes is important and we should also contemplate ways to avoid future loses.

It is almost impossible to avoid all wars and clearly there are times when war is worthwhile.

Still we must never forget the great cost it comes with.

So honor our heroes and try to avoid future ones.

How Are We Doing?

When you look at the news of the day it gives you a sense of where we stand as a nation on a number of issues.

Clearly the cases and deaths from the virus are not good indicators.  If the pandemic was simply an unfortunate event that happened to originate in China, we were obviously woefully unprepared.

If on the other hand China is somehow to blame for spreading the virus, we were obviously woefully unprepared.

Placing blame doesn't provide an excuse it provides a diversion.

In the second case of course we might need to do something, but it doesn't change our vulnerability.

Similarly building a wall on the Southern Border is unlikely to do anything to halt illegal immigration.  It might divert them elsewhere but I'm not sure that's worth the billions of dollars.

Meanwhile we see a dam fail in Michigan because our national infrastructure is old and fragile.  Many other structures are at risk but we are diverting a lot of effort into a folly on the border.

The main point is actually that even if it worked, what would it accomplish.  This issue has very little actual impact on the vast majority of Americans and the ones impacted actually like the cheap labor.  Billions wasted to no end.

I don't like to harp on the weather because it is variable but over time weather equals climate and it seems we are starting to see the effects of climate change in daily weather.  In the last decade we have had once in a lifetime events or once in a century events fairly frequently.

We see unemployment that would have been unimaginable just a few months ago and an explosion of the national debt in response.  Still the stock market climbs because in all honesty, the current economy doesn't care about how many are working, just how much they can spend.  Of course it has hurt travel and entertainment companies but the fact that JC Penny or J. Crew is bankrupt is hardly relevant.  They just sold stuff made elsewhere.  Amazon can do that.

Online shopping, but for some reason on-line voting is a problem.  Well maybe for the current administration any voting is bad.

Memorial Day

Memorial Day is a holiday where we should pause to remember those who sacrificed everything for this country.

To be certain that wasn't their intent, but they did accept the risks and were the ones who paid the price.

The sacrifice is real no matter the outcome and the soldiers who manned Picket's Charge and died paid the same price as the Union Soldier who died in a winning cause.

The simple fact is that fighting a war is probably the worst use of our population.  Still there ate times when it is necessary.  We should however minimize those times.

I see a lot of concern expressed for homeless veterans or veterans who suffer from PTSD and patriotic displays for those who died.

We should do all that but we really should make sure we don't continue to send young men and women to fight in wars that seem to benefit no one except maybe some business interests.

They deserve better than that.

Defending this country is an honorable thing but securing some oil isn't.

This weekend we need to honor those who sacrificed all.

After that lets work to keep others from doing the same.

Fortunate Son

Because I grew up in a working class neighborhood, when this song came out I knew it was basically about me and almost everyone I knew.

Those folks born with a silver spoon were effectively aliens to us.  They lived in different areas, they went to different schools and they had a path ready for them in life.

This being America the goal was to become one of them, not to bring them down.  The hope was that we could work hard, do well and provide a better life for our children.

Since we aspired to become wealthy we accepted the wealthy as part of the family.  We thought we could get accepted by them and mingle.

That was never going to happen.

Yes some people, a relatively small number got rich but they didn't become part of that club.

Maybe their children or possibly their grandchildren will but you don't just become "old money" in a single generation.

In the Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald notes that the rich are different than you and I.  He points out they learn very early that they are entitled and will always feel that way.

Working people react in one of two ways towards these people.

Many want to become them so they imitate their behavior, try to accumulate wealth and work to send their children to the right schools.  While the odds are against them, some do manage to join their ranks but they take a generation or two to actually fit in.

Others rebel.  Rebellion sometimes actually spills over into actual conflict but generally it expresses itself in other ways, rebellious clothes, drinking, drug use and other behaviors.

Still many of these people have a deep inbred respect for the wealthy and when one of them actually acknowledges them they become his/her loyalists.

Of course you have to remember that the fortunate son is different so the loyalty is one way.

Founding Fathers Disagreed

You see a lot of people who cite the founding fathers to support a particular position.

Of course this is generally BS since there were many founding fathers and they had trouble agreeing on most things.  The first association they created using Articles of Confederation effectively failed and were replaced by our current constitution.

There are many things left undecided in that documents and many compromises.  It was so deficient that they had to add the first 10 Amendments to get it passed.

So when you quote the founding fathers please identify which one you mean since there is probably at least one who would disagree with you.

They didn't even like each other very much as well documented.  The conflict continued in the early years of the Republic and could be considered the root of our Civil War.

We have amended the original Federalist Constitution 27 times to correct omissions or deficiencies.

It also has been interpreted many times by the Supreme Court and depending on the times and the justices it has changed and sometimes changed back again.

So when you tell me the founding fathers had an opinion, my response is they had many opinions and I'm much more interested in what we need today.

Speak for yourself and don't hide behind a myth.

Best Strategy?

One of the things that we will never know is whether the actions we took in many states to flatten the curve were better than doing nothing.

Certainly it was better in saving lives, at least it would seem so.  Had we simply advised people to wear masks get tested and self isolate as needed, would we have had millions dead?

That estimate was based on doing nothing so any mitigation efforts would have had some impact.

It is most likely true that we aren't going to eliminate the virus and an effective vaccine will take some time, so since the vast majority of people who get the virus survive and most have mild to moderate symptoms, would more moderate responses have worked?

Sweden which is in many ways very different from the U.S. took the approach of advising citizens to be careful and never had a significant lockdown.  It has, at last reporting reached a level of 6.25 deaths a day per million people, the highest in Europe.

Still when you look at the statistics, Sweden doesn't look significantly worse than the other countries.

You see that Sweden had, so far 34 death per 100,000 residents while effectively continuing normal activities.  What is hard to determine is the effective date of the lockdowns versus the number infected.  It is very possible that Sweden's lack of protective measures will allow infections and deaths to continue while the countries that had those measures are going to see a significant reduction.

The only real use of this data is to consider what to do when the next virus comes.  It will come and we need to consider the best response to it.  We also need to have plenty of supplies and response plans for the various possibilities. 

This time we were a bit like a deer in the headlight, wondering about those bright lights as doom approached.

Safe Openings

We are certainly getting close to reopening the economy and that's a good thing.  The questions that need to be answered are tricky.

Since we know asymptomatic people can spread the virus, the use of masks should be mandatory in any public place.  This is to stop people from spreading the virus and to reduce the risk of inhaling it.

Secondary spread via surface is still not clear so we need to provide large amounts of hand sanitizer so people can take precautions.  I suppose another alternative would be to make sure there are enough disposable gloves available but they present risks of their own on disposal and removal.  Removing the virus from your hands quickly is the best protection.  Not touching you face is also good, but we all do that fairly instinctively.

You have to consider that while individuals might feel its ok for them to engage in risky behavior, that behavior is likely to put others at risk.  Failure to protect yourself and resultant infection means you become an infectious agent, and might not even know it.  No one has the right to endanger others.

Of course if you are taking proper precautions and interact with someone who isn't, you should shun him or her and use sanitizer to protect yourself.  Someone may have the right to carry a weapon but I have the right to avoid being a target.

As infections become rare we need to trace the source of any new infections quickly.  Of course if the incubation period is up to 14 days this tracing might be difficult. Still it would be the only chance at continuing containment.

We might fact a real problem when schools re-open, we always see an uptick in some infectious diseases and of course Covid-19 is likely to be around.  We simply need to be alert and isolate those exhibiting possible symptoms until they can be cleared.

This brings up the need for rapid accurate tests.  Imagine if in the school day started with a quick test and then the pledge of allegiance.  Teachers too.

The virus can be effectively starved to death if it can't infect us.  The faster the better.

The Blame Game

One of the things you can be sure of in our society is that we want to find someone to blame.

I may be thinking of the past with rose colored glasses but it doesn't seem like we always were like this.

At some point it seems we started to sue everyone we could whenever we could.  Among other things it has driven up things like medical costs as it required that doctors and hospitals performed all sorts of unnecessary procedures to make sure there wasn't something they could be sued over.

We decided doctor's judgements were not trustworthy because maybe 1% or less of the time they were wrong.

This has spread into all walks of life and is almost our main political method.

Of course it was always common to criticize the other candidates views but we now see it raised to an accusation of illegal behavior much of the time.  We saw this work successfully four years ago when things like Benghazi, E-Mail servers and innuendo were elevated to criminal behavior.

None was although many still believe those lies.

China is accused of bad behavior and as a communist regime they are guilty of crimes against their own people but they are not guilty of a bat virus that has spread.  Should they eat bats?  Well we ear all sorts of things and lots of people think eating any animal is wrong.  However because Westerners generally don't eat them is simply cultural, not criminal.

Still because our inadequate response has come under attack we see an attempt to shift blame to China.  Our response was inadequate and then maybe too restrictive.  There are lessons to be learned there but we immediately shift to blame.

Blaming politicians for being incompetent is sort of like being surprised that dog's bark.  Some are worse than others but running things is quite complex, who knew?

Just the Facts!

In today's world with the media capabilities we have you can watch all sorts of news programs, from America and from other countries, the BBC for example.  You can also see how they report things based on clips you can find on other sites.

When I use the word news, I don't mean talking head commentary.  That is simple like the editorial pages or the op-ed pages of a newspaper.  It may or may not include some factual content but it isn't reporting the news.

A news report includes the five w's (Who What Where When and Why) properly sourced and documented.  Once speculation enters the picture you have commentary and perhaps propaganda.

We live in an age where many people don't start with the news, they start with the commentary.  If you take an event, like the mass shooting in Las Vegas, we know who did it, what they did, where they did it and when they did it.  We may not fully understand why they did it.  We also know hoW they did it (the sixth W).  This is the factual reporting.

You can look at this and form an opinion about any number of things including the wide availability of assault weapons, but that is opinion, not news.

So many people now think that they get news from talking heads who represent a particular point of view and don't pretend otherwise.  This has led many of those people to claim that factual reporting is biased.

It may speak to our educational system or the amount of drugs being consumed, but facts are facts.

The fact that someone said something stupid on video tape is undeniable, but they ignore the evidence and blame the reporting on bias.

Understand factual based reality is important.  Accepting alternate reality is a form of insanity.

If you don't think the moon landing happened, you have to understand that we have a lot of evidence that it did.  If you think you can just say you don't believe it because they could have faked things, that is perhaps the basis of a short story or a book, it just isn't reality.

Imagination is a wonderful thing properly applied.

Hallucination, not so much, although some great works of art may have benefitted.

No Testing, No Cases?

It can be pretty hard to understand how some people can look at an event in the past and decide that everyone who was there, everyone who was a participant and everyone else are wrong.  People still question whether we did in fact go to the moon.  There were thousands of witnesses, actual participants and widespread news coverage.  Still people who I like to think of as basement dwellers will find some way to twist some limited fact into a theory.  Sadly others agree.

There are people who deny the holocaust or others who think the Government has some vested interest in poisoning our young with vaccines.  We seem to have people willing to either make up or believe any preposterous thing we can come up with.

I don't have any statistics but it just seems that with the advent of social media we see more and more preposterous things formulated.  The problem is that we now treat a wide range of suppositions as possible when in fact only one of them can be true.

We used to call these facts, but now facts seem to be less solid.  There is a principle in logic called Occam's razor which argues that the simplest answer is normally the correct one.  Not always but the vast majority of the time.

This is of course boring and we just have too many people who like to find things they think will be interesting.  We have turned into a nation of attentions seekers who are willing to do all sorts of things for 15 minutes of fame (or less).

Further, because of exposure we have seen the public accept clear falsehoods as, if not the truth, at least possible.  Is the new Coronavirus and infectious disease that has infected millions and killed hundreds of thousands?  Not to everybody.  Its a myth, apparently dreamed up by (fill in the blank here) to disrupt the economy and sway the election.

Its scary and even scarier is that the main proponent sits in the White House.  Hey if we didn't test so much we would have less cases.

What do you say to that?

Glabal Economy

The decisions made by businesses in the last 50 years have led to the global economy we have today.  It wasn't a bunch of politicians, it was business owners who influenced the politicians to do what they wanted.

Many business were founded by people with vision and daring and they of course created products that suited the nation and then the world.  They weren't generally business men, although they started businesses, they were creators and inventors.

This was a land of opportunity and visionaries built companies from the ground up.  Of course they had to buy some parts or services but they did it as locally as possible and all through the late 19th century and up to the 1960s we created the greatest manufacturing economy in the world.

This started to change, partly because of the greater access to higher education and the conversion of these companies to publicly traded ones.

The goals often shifted from making the very best mousetrap which everyone would but to making the most profitable one which everyone had to buy.

This led to outsourcing to cheaper locals, just in time inventories, automation, and the treating of employees as just another costly asset.

This is a business based model, not a creator's model and all the MBAs and Venture Capitalists insisted on it.

The pursuit of more and more profits is why we make so much off shore and why we have become dependent on other countries.  For it to work we need a global economy.

Can we go back?  Probably not.  We will get outcompeted by those who don't.

Social or Individual Welfare?

Is the virus a significant enough threat that we should continue the current lockdowns or should we resume the economy and put the onus on individuals?

The dynamic of who is responsible is fundamental to a lot of things and has clearly shifted during my lifetime.

It started shifting before that.

When America was settled by colonists it was really a brave new world.  The groups that came over did establish rules and laws, they often had a common set already, but many of them were hard to enforce as the whole continent was available to escape them.

We developed a culture where rugged individualism and individual responsibility were generally the rule.  As civilization spread we saw the Government grow and after other financial crises we saw certain social programs.  We started to consider education, health care and senior citizen security a Government concern,

It would be hard to imagine in our complex world requiring everyone to deal with those things on their own and most of us would be unable to.  Nor would we want to.

Still, we see changes and some reactions to those changes.  Medicare and Medicare provided healthcare to our senior citizens.  Social Security provided a certain level of financial support.  We generally provide free education up to grade 12 for everyone in this country.

The Affordable Care Act expanded health care to many who had no access to it and while certainly not perfect does provide a level of security to many of our poorest citizens.

We have programs that help with nutrition and that help farmers.

We have people who want to roll back many if not all of these programs, but for most Americans they serve an essential purpose.

Still our response to the current virus might represent a whole new level of Government.  Mandatory shut downs, social distancing and mask wearing are intrusive and in some ways destructive to many, especially small businesses.  Was this the way to go?

It saved many lives and if you think about that it seems good.  However, had we simply provided guidance about how to avoid infection, how to self care and when to seek medical help, would the outcome have been much different?

In New York a study of where new hospitalizations were coming from showed that the people most exposed, the essential workers and health care professionals are not the main patients, it is people staying at home, thinking they are safe.  The virus is being brought to them either by a family member who ventures out for food or by a delivery person who delivers more than wanted.

If everyone had access to effective PPE and knew how to behave what would be the risk?  Certainly some would ignore the guidelines and possibly get sick.  The real danger is they may spread it to innocent more vulnerable people unintentionally.

At some point people have to be responsible for behaving well.  Most of the early infections and probably later ones were the result of people not taking any precautions.  They didn't think they needed to.  Now they should know better.

Just Give Them More Rope

There seem to be two type of people who buy into the poppycock on FOX news.

The first are people who actually believe that stuff.  I don't know what percentage this constitutes but they just buy into the convoluted rehashed "news" pushed on the channel.  I know that it isn't because they are stupid, more likely a little lazy.

They get some random facts put together to present a quasi believable story that they can simply accept.  Sure, everyone knows the Clintons kill lots of people and get away with it.  Obama was clearly born outside of America and is really a Muslim.  He also happens to be black so he must be no good.

The media which has well established credentials and a long history of reporting factual news has a liberal bias (apparently that's a desire for honesty) since the tripe presented on FOX shows reality is just different.

They report on all the amendments to the constitution, not just the ones FOX likes and take them literally.

FOX exposes these faults every day in as sensational a manner as possible using photogenic women and fast talking men.  Very similar to a formula used by carneys since time immemorial.

They've been coned and they will sometimes realize the elixir doesn't work but that's probably not going to be because of you.

The second group is what I like to call the rebels.  They might actually know that the tripe is BS but they don't care.  Its a bit controversial and it gets them reactions when they repeat it.  I had a conservative friend over a few years ago who after dinner wanted me to put FOX on.  He has a sense of anticipation for what the latest revelation was going to be.  He was shocked when I didn't know what channel it was and while I definitely had it somewhere, he realized I wasn't into the same sort of laugh at the lies mood he was in.

They enjoy the controversy and while probably knowing better think it allows them to stand out.  That might have been true at one time, but the shock value is simply gone.  This is forcing more and more outrageous claims and rehashing of old ones.

Since they actually know better but enjoy controversy, arguing or discussing with them is simply a game.  If you enjoy it, engage otherwise simply ignore the kookish things they say.

In general its best to simply ignore these people and give them enough rope and see what happens.

Time to Decide

As odd as the presidential is likely to be because of the conditions, we still need to focus on the issues that are at issue.

In addition to the issues related to the current virus we have to deal with our healthcare crisis.

The system that has existed is in greater danger than ever before as employee provided insurance is in jeopardy.  The system of health care needs to be adjusted so that all Americans can get care when needed.

We are the only modern country that has citizens either locked out of health care or forced to pay exorbitant amounts.  The ACA has some benefits and some flaws but it doesn't cover everybody as it is.

You either want to provide health care to all or you don't.

We also have to consider student debt.  We have a system where getting an education leaves many of our young people in debt they carry with them.  As the economy suffers this debt becomes unpayable.

Does this make any sense?

Fairness in our economy is also an issue.  The economy has been going through an adjustment form a manufacturing base to a service base.  It has become cheaper to use automation or foreign sources for much manufacturing.  The owners and executives have benefitted while many workers have suffered.  We are faced with severe wealth inequality.  

There are a range of social issues that should in today's age be no-brainers.  Every person deserves respect and the ability to live his best life.  Unfortunately some find the way others live objectionable.  We went through this during the civil rights era and the work is not finished.  

Unfortunately a number of people seem to believe that expanding rights to all diminishes theirs somehow.  It doesn't.  Of course it does eliminate certain expectations of privileged treatment.  

Climate change is perhaps the biggest issue we face.  Ignoring it is going to condemn future generations to face the consequences.  We need to act like responsible adults.

Similarly we need to address the growing national debt.  That bill is also going to come due.

We have serious issues to address and we need to decide on them soon.  

Time is not our friend here.

  

Megalomaniacs In Charge

During a war it is expected that some people will die to hopefully further the cause for the rest.  Senseless deaths should obviously be avoided since they weaken your side and help the enemy.  While the analogy of a war against the Corona Virus is just a metaphor it stands up in a number of ways.  The administration is willing to trade lives to start the economy because that would constitute a victory to them.

First you have to know what constitutes victory.  I think generally that is pretty obvious, we have effective prevention or treatment options that reduce the risk to acceptable levels and restart the economy.

Of course if you have a megalomaniac who defines victory as how to maximize his own agenda as opposed to the general good we see the result.

Considering the economic power lined up against him, defeat was probably inevitable for Hitler in WW2.  However he made a number of decisions based on his own vision which helped nail down the outcome.  His decisions, especially on the Eastern Front in 1943 and 1944 led to some catastrophic losses of men and material that were becoming irreplaceable.

Would it have led to victory?  Seems unlikely based on the economics but his only real chance by that time was to drag the war on long enough that he could negotiate some sort of armistice.

In fact, invading the Soviet Union in June 1941 and then declaring war on the United States after Pearl Harbor were both individually bad moves but taken together a recipe for his ultimate destruction.

How does that equate to today?  Well the next election is getting close and the current bad news as well as the rantings America got to see everyday at the briefings are not boding well for our current megalomaniac.  He needs to get a victory and restore what was his main chance of victory, the economy.

He already has a guaranteed base of various causes like anti-abortion and others who ignore his other qualities for a single issue. 

That is simply not enough to win so he needs to win those voters in certain swing states who voted for him last time, primarily because they disliked Hillary.

They don't feel the same way about Joe Biden and that's a big problem.

He really hadn't done much for them in all honesty but that's an oddity in this country.  Good news about the economy, even if you aren't really seeing it, tends to help the administration.

So coal miners, ex factory workers, and others who have been hurt by economic changes felt more positive about things, even if the factories and mines were still mostly shut down and promises weren't kept.  

With bad economic numbers, they start to realize they aren't getting the promised results and no one else is either.

Except of course the wealthy business owners.

Best Strategy?

In the past when we had outbreaks of disease, generally we just kept the economy going.

Yes there might be some quarantines and additional precautions but it was simply assumed to a large extent that people had to be responsible for their own well being.

I'm not saying we shouldn't have taken precautions because of the new virus, I'm just not sure we couldn't have been more selective.

To a great extent social distancing and mask wearing, hand washing and other precautions seem effective as preventive measures.  Of course in today's day and age there is so much bad information, or even good information misinterpreted, that we seem more fearful than ever.

Getting the virus is a problem, but getting seriously sick and possibly dying is the real problem.  Many who get the virus don't have any symptoms.  Unfortunately they may be infecting others so we need to treat everyone who might have been exposed as a disease vector.

One of the things we seem to have done wrong was to leave many of our most vulnerable elders locked up in isolation with each other in various facilities.  Once the virus got into the facility it was like a doomsday thriller as it spread and killed.

What is also clear is that most of the people who had to work in essential industries are not getting the virus or at least not getting seriously ill.  Studies are showing that the great majority of people being hospitalized in New York were staying at home not out working.

More information is needed but I  suspect that if you know you are in danger you take precautions seriously while if staying at home you might be letting your guard down.  Interactions with other family members, delivery people, store clerks etc. may be viewed as safe when in fact they aren't.

Makes you wonder.

Migrants

Some industries still require a lot of manual labor over a short period of time.  This includes farmers in California, crabbers in Maryland, and others have to strike during a relatively short season.  It also has to be cheap labor to stay competitive.

These jobs have been traditional performed by foreign migrant workers.

Many of these workers are Mexicans but by no means all of them.

These jobs are sometimes filled by Americans if they are looking for some short term employment, often off the books.  However it isn't the type of work most Americans desire.

These jobs are emerald difficult to automate since the crops vary and each would be difficult to automate, but not impossible.  If we eliminate the source of cheap labor it would be unlikely that it would create a bunch of American jobs but it could.

More likely a new piece of cheap labor would be found.

Otherwise they would automate the work,.

Either way it would increase cost and help no one.

Jogging In Georgia.

One of the questions that might get answered soon is whether Georgia has decided that you can't just shoot jogging black men for no reason.

It was already pretty well established that jogging white men were off limits, but this could be a breakthrough.

Of course the original investigators thought it was OK.  Apparently a man running in athletic ware was a viable suspect for some sort of house burglary.  One wonders where they thought he had the stolen goods.

Also, it is, at least in my limited experience, for burglars to jog to the scene of a crime, commit a crime and then jog away.  It would indicate a significant failure in planning.

Of course the intelligence of people who believed this would also be in question.

As well as their sense of morality and justice.

I guess the sight of a black man running jolted them back to pre-civil war times when such a sight would definitely have been a problem

Of course back then they wouldn't have shot him, he would have been too valuable to his owner.

Sort of sad that.

Government Profits Who?

Its a common complaint almost everywhere by discontented people, the Government doesn't represent us.

What they mean to say is that the Government isn't treating them in a special way.

For example shortly after the country was founded, there was a tax placed on whiskey.  When they tried to collect that tax on people on the frontier (western Pennsylvania at that time) it led to the Whiskey rebellion of 1791-1794.  While it was suppressed, illegal distilling still exists.

A country cannot operate without taxes of some sort but no one wants to be the one paying them.

You can list a whole bunch of things that don't seem to have any need for Government oversight but which get lots of it.

Take things like drugs.  Some harmful drugs like alcohol and nicotine are legal but taxed. In fact they represent a fairly important part of our economy through the years.  Other drugs, which are often less harmful are illegal and if you sell, distribute or use them you can be imprisoned. The cost of locking those people up is expensive but the taxpayers get to pay it.

Republicans, who claim to be in favor of market self regulation, generally like the Government to intervene here.  Does it serve a legitimate Government purpose?  Well that depends on what you mean by Government.  If it can generate profits for the right people I guess it does. Trying to prevent addiction and side effects are legitimate but providing health insurance and preventive care aren't.

Too many Americans tend to blindly follow the dictates of propaganda outlets like FOX news which represents big business and is owned by a wealthy Australian who has made a lot of money playing the public.

There are of course other cable outlets that profit off phony indignation and it has led to a Government that doesn't represent us.

Unless you are a wealthy insider.

Mostly Spin

When people tell you what their opponents are trying to do you should retain a large degree of skepticism.

Sometimes it has a bit of accuracy but generally they have an ax to grind.

The only real question should be how much spin has been applied?

There are facts and then there are interpretation of facts.

In 2008-2009 we saw a contraction in the financial systems due to an overextension of credit to people who shouldn't have gotten it.  This was backed by real estate which was in a bubble.  Once the bubble burst the whole system came close to collapsing.

There were a number of stimulus packages and after hitting a painful bottom we saw a recovery where credit markets, the stock market and the economy started to grow.  It had some flaws because employment and wages in some industries just wasn't coming back.  Still that recovery lasted until the recent virus and while we saw a tax package and reduced regulations these didn't really have much impact, at least from the statistics.

The economy was undergoing a fundamental change from its prior manufacturing past with some service industries to a service model with some manufacturing.  Most manufacturing was done elsewhere.

This expansion has ended because of the virus and that's no one's fault really.

The expansion was also not the result of current administration efforts, it was continuous from 2010 effectively.

The same people were excluded, the conversion to a service, gig economy continued and we had increasing income inequality.

Almost entirely driven by economic forces.

Still it gets a lot of spin.

Expand Opportunity

There was a popular song when I was younger about fighting the law.  The law won.

Now it was catchy and I don't remember much else about the lyric but the hook was easy to remember.

What brings this to mind is the current situation of the Republican party.  They are fighting demographics and almost inevitably the demographics will win.

I guess its possible that young people and minorities will all suddenly adopt Republican values, it  if there are any, but it doesn't seem likely they will abandon issues like Universal Health Care, Free or at least affordable education, better income equality, a more progressive tax system, or saving the planet.

In fact the clear evidence is that the only real strategy left to the Republicans nationally is to suppress the vote.

I imagine they could actually into a fiscally conservative party that also tries to be environmentally friendly, but they really seem too married to certain industries to convert.

We are very likely seeing the demise of the American dominance in the world because of the wasteful wars and enormous debt resulting therefrom.  

Clearly as a country we have some great resources and capabilities but much of our dominance was based on the innovation we showed in the early part of the 20th Century and the destruction of the World Wars.  

Are we still the leaders in innovation?  Not like we once were when much of Europe was plagued by its tradition of class.  We are becoming a nation of economic classes while other countries are leveling the playing field for their people via education.

Greatness comes from utilizing the talents of all your people.  Young people need to have opportunities.  We need to provide them the access to education they need.

The Robots Don't Need It

In a society where automation or robotics has greatly reduced the need for workers in traditional industries, who should benefit?

To a certain extent everyone does via lower prices, but as is demonstrated by the growing wealth inequality of this country, predominantly the owners do.

If you compare images of an auto manufacturing plant from the 1950s to today, what is most noticeable is that the long lines of people assembling cars are replaced by robots who do the same work.

This was in fact the vision expressed by many futurists, a world in which the backbreaking drudge work was done by robots allowing humans to be more creative.

Of course what was never explained in those visions was how those people would support themselves?

It was always a wide disparity between the worker and the executives and certainly we saw tycoons like Rockefeller and others in the past.  It just used to be that those people needed the workers to run their factories and enterprises so while they paid as little as possible, they created jobs.

Nowadays, in many cases they are simply not creating many jobs.

This has driven many people into dependency on Government or low paying jobs in the Gig economy.

Some propose sharing these gains by providing everybody a piece of the gains.

Not sure the country is ready for that, but it does seem that we could at least level the playing field by provided health, education, and senior security to all.

The robots don't need it.

American IQ?

What I find mystifying nowadays is how we seem, as a nation and maybe as a world t have unlearned things we always knew.

For example, people always knew men liked to have sex with women and vice versa.  So apparently when a man invites a young attractive women to his hotel room to discuss something, she sometimes just assumes it is going to be platonic?

I'm not saying that he can drug or otherwise take advantage of her, but shouldn't some warning signs been obvious with the invitation?

If an older man invited a young man to his hotel room it would raise eyebrows in the world I knew.

Similarly, we know Government and beaurocracy are fallible.  So when I see stories about how the IRS sent some checks to dead people as it rushed to process millions and millions of stimulus checks, I don't actually think it represents news.  The only way to prevent that sort of thing would be a arduous and time consuming review of each payment.  Similarly I saw an article about how they sent a check to a wealthy women who also live in England.  Reading the article it turns out she worked in the US last year, filed a tax return with minimal earnings and got a refund.  So she passed all the tests for a refund, the system worked.  She could have just donated the money to a worthwhile cause but instead she contacted a reporter.

The point I am making is that I read story after story in which people just seem to have become stupid.

Well researched news articles by respected sources are called fake news while sketchy articles by fringe groups are the gold standard?

It has become pervasive that people just seem to believe the weirdest things.  It might not be as bad as it seems, since hopefully most people know better.

The Russians and maybe the Chinese are using our social media to sow discord.  In a zeal to be fair we now allow rebuttals to issues that aren't really rebuttable.  Is the virus a real threat?  Over 60,000 dead would indicate it is but the other side has to be heard from.

We have turned into a country where is some say its daytime others will automatically say it isn't.  Just look outside folks.

I seldom agree with President Bush but he has pled for us to stop being partisan about the virus and unite as a country.

I agree with that.

The Government is Us

I see a lot of posts by people talking about the Government as if we were living under a system such as a Monarchy or a Dictatorship.

We still don't and the Government is elected by the people.  The Government is therefore us.

It is we the people.  Not of course any one individual but to blame the Government is to blame yourself and your neighbors.

You may of course argue that the politicians have been bought by the major corporations but we still had to vote for them.

If we are stupid enough to elect them, well it is still us.

Even now when the President was elected by a minority of the people, he was still elected by the people.  If we don't like the system we have the power to fix it.

Strangely it seems like a lot of his supporters are the biggest complainers.

We have created a system where electoral victory is often determined by money and advertising and shame on us for that.  Not shame on them, shame on us.

We all need to accept responsibility for what we have and if you throw up your hands because you think you are powerless, well then you are.

You may not agree with a majority of your fellow citizens, but we like to call that democracy.

It does of course require some effort on our part to work.

Do your job and vote!

Competant Conspiracies?

A lot of people who attack the Government hold it in much higher regard than I do.

They think it can organize complex conspiracies and cover-up, stage things like the moon landing, conspire with the enemy about things like the attack on Pearl Harbor or 911, release and control viruses like the current one, and many other complex things.

Ignoring the question about why they would do any of these things, you also have to assume a level of competence that just doesn't exist.

The only branch of Government that is likely to try something like these is the executive branch and we know from things like Watergate, the Iran-Contra scandels, the Bay of Pigs and many others how good they are at it.

This belief in their control and competence drives some of the protestors and while I believe they should continue to protest, they have already got what they wanted, an incompetent Government that can't prepare for a Pandemic, drive regime change in Venezuela, influence North Korea or stop cyberattacks by other countries.

Of course our friendly conspiracy believers will argue that this is all a ruse inspired by those who actually run things designed to throw us off.

Good luck with that.

Nothing will change their minds since no matter how intricate it becomes, they just take that as a deeper conspiracy.

I guess it gives them something to do.