Money isn't everything.

When Henry Ford got rich, America got cars.
When Thomas Edison got rich, America got phonographs, lightbulbs, and motion pictures.
When Bill Gates got rich, America got a high-tech industry.

When Mitt Romney got rich, America got Bain Capital, tax dodging, and a whiny nouveau riche.

Advice for Romney

Here are more honest campaign messages for the Romney camp:

"If I am elected president, I promise to lower my own taxes substantially and make you suckers pay for it."

"If I am elected president, I promise to have the best of healthcare for myself and make you suckers pay for it."

"If I am elected president, I promise to cheat on my taxes and make you suckers pay for it."

He's a dick and he should own it.

More advice for Occupy

I am listening to Neil Young & Crazy Horse's new album, Americana, at the moment. He gives classic American songs, like Oh Susannah, the Neil Young treatment. That is, these songs belong to Neil Young in a big way.

However, he sings Woodie Guthrie's "This Land is Your Land" straight. As I sit listening to it, hearing the lyrics again, it occurs to me that this should be the Occupy anthem. It really is perfect, a case where message and movement align.

If Woodie were alive today, you know he'd be at Wall Street with his fascist fighting guitar.

My advice to Occupy

Whenever I hear the phrase, "Occupy movement" I bristle. A movement, after all, stands for something.

I suggest that Occupy stand for restoring the Glass-Steagall Act. Not restoring Glass-Steagall and a laundry list of pet peeves, but for restoring Glass-Steagall exclusively. There is a broad coalition of people that would get behind a stance like that, essentially everyone except lobbyists, politicians, and big-job bankers.

Clearly Occupy needs focus, otherwise it will have accomplished so little for so many at a time when the need is great.

Jim Yong Kim

President Obama made an interesting nomination for World Bank President. Partners in Health is a charity featured in the book, Mountains beyond Mountains, and the star of that book, Dr. Paul Farmer was delighted with the pick.

Here is more information on the pick from the Partners in Health website:

Dr. Jim Yong Kim

My thoughts on Trayvon Martin

What are my thoughts on Trayvon Martin (story here)?

I sez, first, that irresponsible gun use should not be defended by gun owners as if it was responsible gun use. This act was not self defense, but murderous.

I sez, second, that if this vile deed goes unpunished then it would mean that an unarmed black teen was killed in the deep south and the killer wasn't arrested. That would feel familiar to those of us above the Mason Dixon line.

I sez, third, that I hope for Justice for Trayvon's family.

And finally, I sez, that while Obama doesn't need to get involved it might not hurt to remind Americans what a destructive force racism can be.

ADDENDUM: Today president Obama did weigh in on the tragedy and you can view his comments below. I think it was important for him to comment publicly on this, because it might temper a violent response, by restoring public faith in the rule of Law.

An apple that rolled far from the tree

In this article Mitt Romney is compared and contrasted with his father George.

Article here

The GOP base seems truly to despise Romney while being most responsible for elevating him.

Who benefits more from capital gains tax cuts than vulture capitalists like Mitt Romney? Who benefits more from weak regulators than corporations like those Mitt invests in?
Who benefits more from government hand-outs than men like Mitt who always seem to have their hand out?

I've never believed Republicans capable of disliking someone like Mitt. He is the icon of their coddling is he not? He is the arch-type, the mold, the prototype, for baron of capitalism and benefactor of Republican policy for decades.

Did Republicans really fight to enrich people like Romney with every breath, every bill, every veto, intransigence, and all that noise, without knowing the fruits of their labors?

Wow.

Hardly surprising

I have posted before that I think psychopathic personalities, or morally insane people, would naturally be drawn to Wall Street. The reason is simple, they are driven by lust for power and clearly that is where power in America lies.

This new study posits that an extraordinary number of psychopaths (1 in 10) do work on Wall Street.

1 in 10!

Turn-of-the-century economists like Keynes seemed to take this for granted when they advocated tying CEO wealth to corporate wealth. The idea was, it seems to me, to leverage the skills of the morally insane for the greater good (or at least the good of capital).

Now, however, things have broken down as CEOs manage to enrich themselves no matter the state of the companies they direct. Until Washingtonians restore accountability to profitability there is a high probability of continued American decline.

If a cherry tree falls, and nobody saw?

President Obama is treating Super-PAC money the way he treats every other moral dilemma. He says, to paraphrase, "I will not keep my word because of Republican behavior".

Source: Presidential about-face

One of his first promises to American voters was that he would close the Guantanamo gulag. He would do this in his first year, but it turned out that Republicans wouldn't let him and that was that.

I was reminded of how offensive Guantanamo is to the foundational ideas that made America great when reading an article on unpersons in unhistory by Noam Chomsky. Here is an excerpt that personalizes what Guantanamo means to a human being, and what the president's promise-breaking entails:

"the first Guantanamo case to come to trial under President Obama: that of Omar Khadr, a former child soldier accused of the heinous crime of trying to defend his Afghan village when it was attacked by U.S. forces. Captured at age 15, Khadr was imprisoned for eight years in Bagram and Guantanamo, then brought to a military court in October 2010, where he was given the choice of pleading not guilty and staying in Guantanamo forever, or pleading guilty and serving only 8 more years. Khadr chose the latter."

Source: Anniversaries from "Unhistory"

This is like George Washington shrugging when asked about a fabled cherry tree, is it not?

Addendum: Kevin Drum is a writer I respect and he takes a different view of the Super-PAC story. Here is a link to his viewpoint:

Not hypocrisy

Hey may be right up to a limit, and that limit might be drawn by the consequences of your actions on others.

When you take bribes you validate bribery. So the question is, does validating the actions of people like Jack Abramoff harm society more than it will benefit from another four years of president Obama?

Time will tell, but my instincts tell me no.

Warm wind

What's the biggest lie that president Obama told in his State of the Union address last night?

We've put in place new rules to hold Wall Street accountable, so a crisis like that never happens again.

Source: POTUS SOTUA

American excellence in health care costs

Sarah Kliff has an interesting chart posted at Wonk Blog which shows how bad care-inequality is in America:

Source

Following her source to the OECD I found this quote:

"In the U.S., 42 percent reported not visiting a doctor, not filling a prescription, or not getting recommended care. This is twice the rate for every other country but Australia, New Zealand, and Germany."

What is dangerous about this is disease only gets stronger when treated with half-measures. It is where penicillin-resistant strains come from.

Will the masters of America ever realize that their own health depends upon public health, and that disease doesn't grant pardons?

The clown-car called the GOP doesn't have an answer for this except to say, "Pay more or die".

Keep Wall Street Occupied

Here is a simple way to show solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street movement

Occupy Wall Street

Wanna see a great video on #OWS?



Wanna read a great article about what motivates #OWS?

Cheat, Cheat, never beat

Have people finally had enough of the fascialist (fascism/socialism is domination of government by a ruling class) governance that is currently tear-gassing peacefully assembled people petitioning their government for redress?

We are at the point that the very idea of America is being pepper-sprayed, cuffed, and jailed. Can it be resurrected? It'll take the morality of the common good. The belief that out of many, we are one, that together we are stronger if we work towards something higher than our own narrow concerns.

Screw the middle class

Biden: The "middle class has been screwed"

Moe: "Yes, and on your watch too."

Like a wet blanket

Al-Qaeda's central strategy was to draw its Western foes into economically ruinous wars in Muslim lands

Source

That is something worth remembering as we look back on 911 and forwards on our budget.

Exceptional incompetence

Here is an opinion piece from the New York Times that I quite like. It is called, "What Happened to Obama's Passion?" and you can read it here:

History's Arc


Here is an excerpt to whet your appetite:

"...when faced with the greatest economic crisis, the greatest levels of economic inequality, and the greatest levels of corporate influence on politics since the Depression, Barack Obama stared into the eyes of history and chose to avert his gaze"

People are still charitable towards Obama, a sentiment I cannot rally in myself. They see him as misguided but pitted against the forces that supported his presidential campaign handsomely. They see him as a man struggling with exceptional incompetence, I guess, to overcome the forces of evil which were his largest campaign donors.

I assume that believing the obvious is too painful, and so people make up stories with better narrative. The obvious is that Obama isn't on your side, doesn't intend to be on your side, and lies to you every time he pretends to be on your side. You keep falling for this obvious deception because you find it comforting to believe your presidential vote was correct, but for exceptional incompetence.

America is being methodically destroyed, for as go her finances so goes her military, for as goes her middle-class so goes her stability. America will suffer the death of a 1000 cuts and Obama will wield the sword with the pride that goeth before the fall.

The soft bigotry of low expectations

I've talked to plenty of democrats that claim president Obama is doing his best to promote democratic values in a hostile environment, but I have been unable to swallow this fork-full of bull-crap. The president knows the policies he passes comfort the comfortable and afflict the afflicted. Here is an unambiguous statement he made recently, which demonstrates he knows what he is doing before he fails to act:

"If you don't have revenues, it means you're putting more of a burden on the people who can least afford it."

- President Obama -

The president has veto power, and he has support in the Senate, and he has the support of the electorate (even 66% of Tea Party members supported revenue increases if accompanied by spending cuts). If he fails to act it is not because he is a lone guppie in a bowl full of large-mouth bass. If he fails to act it is because he lacks the will to do what needs to be done.

Obama and the economy

Perhaps, now that the Bush-Obama economy is still sputtering, job-killing, and larded with favors like too-big-to-jail it is time for everyone to admit the Chicago School of Economics is mostly wishful thinking directed at the comfortable.

Is there an example of a country penny-pinching its way out of a liquidity trap? Greek austerity efforts aren't helping, and in fact seem to be applying downward pressure to Germany's economy.

President Obama either enjoys comforting the comfortable, or else is caught in the headlights of the on-rushing economy.

The art of lying

Crude lying is simply making false statements. This type of lying falls flat or is quickly rejected. The secret to sophisticated lying, or sophistry, is making false statements that your audience wishes to believe is true.

The converse of this thought is true as well. Upton Sinclair put it like this, "It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his job depends on not understanding it." In other words, it can be just as difficult to spread Truth as it is to spread lies.

When I look at the modern GOP, and specifically the Tea Party element, I see people that believe you don't need taxes to balance a budget, and that people left to their own vices will create a stable society. The first belief leans on the cheapskate in all of us, and the second belief in the inflated opinion of our own self worth.

When I look at the modern Democratic party, and specifically the "centrist democrats", I see people that believe you don't need Justice to have a good society, and that jobs will come when the tycoon class is properly coddled. The first belief is rooted in the desire for campaign contributions and the second belief is rooted in the desire for campaign contributions.

There is an old saying that you can't share wisdom and it isn't accurate. It is more accurate to say that wisdom is easy to share but easier to ignore.

I fear we are ignoring too much wisdom these days to last for much longer.

Turn off the Fox News

There is an expression that goes like this, "Those who fail to remember the past are doomed to repeat it." The converse is usually assumed to be true, that is, that those who know the past can prevent the worst elements from manifesting themselves again.

Here is a quote from the past that I find relevant to contemporary American affairs:


The American fascists are most easily recognized by their deliberate perversion of truth and fact. Their newspapers and propaganda carefully cultivate every fissure of disunity, every crack in the common front against fascism... They claim to be super-patriots, but they would destroy every liberty guaranteed by the Constitution. They demand free enterprise, but are the spokesmen for monopoly and vested interest. Their final objective toward which all their deceit is directed is to capture political power so that, using the power of the state and the power of the market simultaneously, they may keep the common man in eternal subjection."

Henry A. Wallace, 1944