Cutting the Poor out of Higher Education, Who Loses?

Cutting the Poor Out of Higher Education, Who Loses?, 2/22/14 My dad made $100 per week from about 1951 to 1968 being a automobile mechanic (Son of an Automobile Mechanic).  It was very good pay in 1951, it was below poverty level in 1968.  And yet, in 1967 my dad was able to pay college tuition for me for my first semester at the Texas Western College, now UTEP.  It cost the family nearly two weeks of his salary.  In contrast, my oldest daughter has about $100, 000 in school loans and is in a field that pays about half of what I earned in my early years as an engineer adjusted for inflation.  And, I can assure you it cost more than two weeks of an engineer’s salary for much of her education. (She did have the Hope Scholarship in SC that gives free college education to anyone maintaining a B average in high school.)

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Our nation now has about a trillion dollars in school loan debt, or a little more debt than Apple Inc. has cash, mostly in foreign country banks - but that is another blog.  Students rightly are starting to push back against this debt and considering not getting an education or delaying it.  To bad for them you say.  Yes, but too bad for us too.

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Our nation is facing a huge shortage of engineers, scientists, and other highly skilled workers as our place as the leading economic power in the world plumets downward.  We may still be in place where we can respond effectively, but we obviously lack the will.

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It is simply about priorities and delayed gratification (investing in our future). What expenditures are we willing to cut to be able to invest in our nations future. The answer is apparently nothing.  We are not willing to touch social security, medicare, military, stupid drug laws that fill our prisons, or anything else.  Our prognosis is simple: continue our decline into a third world status.  At some point, like Rome, we will not even be able to support our mighty army that attempts to force its view of right and wrong upon the world. Ironically,  our military failures, the harbinger of our social failures, are beginning in the same geographic region that destroyed the mighty Roman army.

Plan B: Gary Johnson versus status quo with the Democrats or Republicans. Or do you have another Plan B?

$10.10 / hr Will Cause Job Loses. Really?

Let's take stock.  60% of the available work force is employed.  The improvement in the unemployment numbers are primarily from people giving up looking for work and only a little from our sluggish jobless recovery. Mission control, we have a problem: NO JOBS.

So now a proposal comes along to raise the minimum wage. Reaction, oh my god, look at all the jobs we will destroy by giving the poorest in this economy a raise.  When the President of Leman Brothers, Richard Fuld, Jr., crashed his company but he pocketed a half billion dollar bonus, did anyone point out that a) some jobs have been lost by management's blunders and b) that a lot of lower end people could have been hired with a modest decrease in Fry's salary/bonus.  Mission control, we have another problem: INCOME INEQUALITY. (see Four Shocking Examples of American Inequality, if you haven't noticed.)

Some people blame the lack of jobs on public policy and not technology and others blame it on technology: More Jobs for Machines not People. Guess what, it could be both since a lot of jobs are missing.

Public policy problems with job creation:
1) Management getting huge salaries ...
2) Congress / government in general, who are supposed to protect the public's interest, is chosen and elected via PAC funding, which is primarily controlled by the wealthy,
3) Unions decline and the laws being stacked against them for organizing workers, and
4) Little support from government or our culture in promoting social responsibility with regard to the hiring and training of new workers, and
5) Trade agreements where level playing fields with regard to worker safety (Walmart Bangladesh), environmental standards, and worker rights were not included and/or enforced.
6) Providing childcare for single parents.

Technology drivers for less workers:
1) better communications
2) robots etc.
3) better utilization of factors of production

Impact of Raising the Minimum Wage
1) A small step forward in reducing wealth inequality since million people would be lifted (barely) above the poverty line. 
2) An unknown effect on the number of jobs since

• Competitors in the service industry are equally impacted.
• Service industry can pass costs of labor increases into products/services.
• Service industry is not significantly impacted by foreign competition.

3) COB forcasts the the loss of half million jobs.

• What is the impact of a minimum wage (or living wage even better) if it is restricted to the service industry?
• Does this decrease the percentage of people employed from 60% to 59%?
• What is the relative impact of a higher minimum wage on job creation compared to improved public policy on job creation?
• How does a service industry lose jobs to foreign competition?
• How do we compare in minimum wage to the rest of the world?

Duke Energy CFA Spill and Income Inequality, 2/20/14

Duke Energy will past the cost of Coal Fly Ash Spill on to Customers, not Shareholders.   Coal Fly Ash (CFA) is a waste generated from combusting coal.  The waste is often slurried with water and pumped into large settling ponds.  One would think that negligence in maintaining such ponds would be a criminal offense, or at least a civil crime.  When BP spilled oil in the Gulf their shareholders lost billions (I was one of them, I lost thousands) as their share value plummeted.  There is some justice there. Billions of dollars will probably be spent on this clean-up.  

But, Duke Energy is a public utility and as such their profits are set by agreement.  Add up all the costs and then set the cost of electricity to cover the costs and guarantee them their agreed profit.  A CFA just becomes a cost.  And in most states, competition between power companies is not encouraged, so all is good for Duke.  Who would set such rules.  Politicians that are supported by PAC’s that get donations from Duke et al.  Is the public best served, probably not.  

When we talk about wealth inequality in America, we like to assume the brilliant, deserving people made it to the top of the pyramid, the bums sunk to the bottom.  That may have been true at the dawn of the American experiment, but for now that is the huge exception not the rule.  The rules are set up to maintain the wealth inequality ( Four Shocking Examples of American Inequality), and they are by no means fair.  In the example above, the Company, the Shareholders win, the customers (mostly poor and middle class Americans, what’s left of them) lose.  It is a form of wealth distribution from the poor to the rich.  There are thousands of rules set up to the benefit the rich at the expense of the poor.  That’s one of the themes of this blog is to point out that the world ain’t fair, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, thems the rules, baby. 

Adult Relationships, 2/18/14

I believe consenting adults should be free to have relationships of their choice with other consenting adults including gays, straights, polyamory, polyfidelity, swingers, polygamy, or whatever.  I also believe we should have the freedom to marry whoever we want, two or more. I don’t have any complicated arguments, I just believe in freedom to live one’s life by your own rules;  you know, land of the FREE stuff.   I’m agnostic so I don’t have many religious rules except those I make up for myself like kindness, being my brother’s keeper, honesty, transparency with friends, courage, and a few others.  Yea, I know the Bible is pretty down on all this freedom, but that is for you to rationalize and follow if you chose … I chose to believe in freedom for myself and others.

I also don’t mind interracial relationships, or those that want to be transgender, or have a sex change.  More power to them.  I hope they enjoy their life and that whatever changes or relationships they have enhance their happiness.  Enjoy.

I also believe in honesty and transparency in my own relationship.  I have not always been that way, but I am glad I finally made it.  If I am attracted to another woman, or have a sweet interaction with one of god’s lovely creatures, I rush home to tell my lady.  There are a few other women that I love, and my wife knows all about it.  No secrets.  Same with her.  Yea, we have some fear reactions from time to time, but we both own our fears (or try to) and don’t blame the other.  We are explorers in life and don’t have a rigid script except to be honest and transparent with each other.  I anticipate being with my lady until I die, but are both here only as long as it works for both of us … that we stay in-love.  And, we both recognize that we are human and capable of loving others. 

Hopeful about Obamacare and America, 2/13/14

Hopeful about Obamacare and America, 2/13/14

I am thankful that people with pre-existing conditions can get medical insurance.  Thank you for caring America.   I would be one of those people, but I married into healthcare since my lady was a professor.  My daughter is one of those people.  Thanks again for caring, America. 

I am very grateful that Obamacare changed the rules that allows one’s children to stay on the parent’s policy until 26.  My daughter, Olesia, would either not be alive, or I would be bankrupt at this point in time, or perhaps, we could have gotten her on Medicaid if we lived in the right state?  She takes one medicine, Abilify that costs over $1 K a month, plus about 13 other medicines at last count.  She has been to ER, hospitals, doctors, etc. more in the last couple of years that I have probably been in my lifetime, although I am starting to catch-up as stress wears me down.  Admittedly, some of her poor health has been her own fault.  She tried cigarettes for two years - yes not smart for someone that has asthma.  And, she lived for too long in an apartment that we suspect has mold. 

The apartment flooded often because the landlord has a washing machine which requires the hose to be stuck out the window, otherwise it flooded her apartment.  You can guess how that worked out with four young adults using the machines.  Her lung problems became very severe during her year stay in this apartment. 

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In a year, Olesia will be allowed to buy health insurance (yea, probably with my help) under Obamacare even with pre-existing conditions -- assuming we are successful dealing with the mold issue.  Or perhaps, if she marries, her husband’s company may offer some insurance, or not.   Her fate would be much less certain without Obamacare - thank you America for caring.

As an agnostic, I really do believe I am my brother’s keeper.  This belief is not widely held in America where our wealth inequality is now equal to China’s with theirs improving while ours continues to decline.  Obamacare is a very small step in the direction of less wealth inequality in America.  A more generous minimum wage or living wage would also be in the direction of less wealth inequality in America, but that is not going to happen in conservative / religious America where both taxing the wealthy and extending unemployment benefits is unpopular.  Our actions say we like our wealth inequality in America, in China their actions say the opposite. I’m sure Fox News is about to have a breaking news story on this conundrum of conservative politics.

Of course, Obamacare needs improvement.  In States where Medicaid has not been extended if you make less than $11K per year, like my brother in Texas, then you are screwed.  ER is your only health option, and then only if you pledge to make payments on your $1K per day bill in ER.   My brother had a blood clot in his leg, ER gave him a prescription to get shots for $500.  They said he needed them or he would probably die.  I guess that is a new way of not taking care of people even in the ER.  I used to be proud to be a Texan.  So, again we say with our actions the poor don’t deserve help even when their life is on the line.

I look at Obamacare and think it is first step toward us being a kinder America. Then I look at the Republicans in the House passing bills to repeal it like 50 times knowing the Senate would not go along.  I guess that is why they get the big bucks, pensions, good health plans, etc.  Who would have thought that passing a bill over and over was a way to earn your salary. It is not that I think the democrats are saints and reached out to the republicans in trying to craft something that would work well - they didn’t, it was just power politics.  Perhaps democrats need to look at our much Clinton got down when the Republicans controlled congress.

But, I digress. I just want to be a part of a country like I witnessed in Australia where the greater majority thought of themselves as their brother’s keeper.  How to pull that off effectively admittedly is a challenge, but the road we are going down which increasingly is screw-you, we-are-sure-you-deserve-where-you-are-attitude doesn’t cut it for me.The Cherokee blood in me believes I need to walk a mile in someone else’s moccasins before I judge them.  What I stole from Christianity, that I am my brother’s keeper,  says thanks for those Americans that believe all humans deserve basic medical care and then provided a mechanism in Obamacare to put some actions behind the the words.

Son of an Automobile Mechanic

Son of an Automobile Mechanic, 12/3/13

I see much of the world through my father’s eyes.  I see some of the Japanese invasion of the Philippines and feel the pain of leaving others behind in fleeing the island.  I feel the prejudice he felt of being a half-breed; I suspect I still feel some of the sorrow of the Trail of Tears.  I feel his hope in growing up in America where tomorrow looked better than today.  I feel his commitment to education when he would hold up his hands, gnarled and permanently greasy, and then point to his head and say “make your living with this, not these” while holding up his hands again a little closer to your face where you could smell the grease.  

My strongest identity in life has always been, “I am the Son of an Automobile Mechanic”.  When I showed up with a billionaire in Monte Carlo without the proper attire to a five star restaurant, my social class was obvious.  All those management meetings where I sided with the employees (not often enough in retrospect), that was my identity crying out for fairness.  When I point out Congress taking care of themselves and giving the crumbs to the common man, that is my identity demanding justice.  

I have modified my identity, mostly through education, but even my dad would understand that.  I’m agnostic with a simple moral code that demands honesty, kindness, and courage.  I have joined with a partner that embraces diversity and cherishes personal freedom such as: the right to be gay, or to form relationship of your own design with one or more other persons, or to be a hermit for that matter.  But, I carry on the family traditions of working hard, being my brother’s keeper, and the desire to be a better person tomorrow.

I am a son of an automobile mechanic. 

Rafael and Ted Cruz Are Not Evidence Based Humans

Rafael Cruz: LGBT rights and evolution are communist brainwashing lies to kill God

By David Edwards
Monday, November 4, 2013 15:00 EST

Rafael Cruz, the father of tea party-backed Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), has warned Americans that equal rights for LGBT people and the theory of evolution are essentially communist lies that are being used by the American government to destroy the family and control the population.

In a June presentation to the Dean Bible Ministries Men’s Prayer Breakfast, Cruz encouraged attendees to become part of the political process.
“You know, communism or socialism, whatever you want to call it, what is happening in this country is not different than what happened in Cuba,” he explained. “It is about government control of your lives. You got to realize how Marxist, how socialism works… When you hear all these things about homosexual marriage, this has nothing to do with homosexual rights. Did you know that?”
“The whole objective is the destruction of the traditional family, it has nothing to do with homosexuals, they could care less about homosexuals, they want to destroy the family,” Cruz added.
The Republican senator’s father went on to say that marriage equality was “just like evolution.”
“I’ve met so many Christians that tell me, ‘Evolution is a scientific fact.’ Baloney!” he exclaimed. “I am a scientist, there is nothing scientific about evolution. But you know something, Karl Marx said it, ‘I can use the teachings of Darwin to promote communism.’ Why? Because communism, or call it socialism if you think communism is too hard a word, necessitates for government to be your god and for government to be your god they need to destroy the concept of God.”
“That’s why communism and evolution go hand and hand. Evolution is one of the strongest tools of Marxism because if they can convince you that you came from a monkey, it’s much easier to convince you that God does not exist,” Cruz insisted.


Really? Is god so weak?

Where does one start with someone that has knowledge from a century ago.  We expect such in countries like Iraq, or the poorest parts of South America or Africa.  But, how does someone in America avoid the knowledge that is readily available on the Internet ... admittedly, a lot of it is faulty, but it is not that hard to sort out what the smartest and most educated believe and why they believe it, i.e., the evidence for their beliefs.

To dismiss something because it is called a theory, i.e., the theory of evolution is to completely misunderstand the basis of a scientific theory.  A theory embodies, or attempts to embody all the evidence on a given subject in a consistent story.  Atomic theory lead to the atomic bomb that blew up two cities in Japan and to nuclear power plants that furnish about a third of the electricity in America. Theories can be pretty powerful, no?

I know the way humans have been raised, especially in America, it is hard to believe that two of the great apes, Chimpanzees and Bonobos have less than 2% genetic difference with a human.  They are more than 98% the same as humans.  From Wikepedia:

Similarity to humans[edit]

Bonobos are capable of passing the mirror-recognition test for self-awareness,^[56] as are all great apes. They communicate primarily through vocal means, although the meanings of their vocalizations are not currently known. However, most humans do understand their facial expressions^[18]and some of their natural hand gestures, such as their invitation to play. Two bonobos at the Great Ape Trust, Kanzi and Panbanisha, have been taught how to communicate using a keyboard labeled with lexigrams (geometric symbols) and they can respond to spoken sentences. Kanzi's vocabulary consists of more than 500 English words^[57] and he has comprehension of around 3,000 spoken English words.^[58] Kanzi is also known for learning by observing people trying to teach his mother; Kanzi started doing the tasks that his mother was taught just by watching, some of which his mother had failed to learn. Some, such as philosopher and bioethicist Peter Singer, argue that these results qualify them for "rights to survival and life" — rights that humans theoretically accord to all persons. (See great ape personhood.) 

An argument commonly posed is that there are missing links between these two great apes and humans.  Bonobos will soon be extinct becoming another species to disappear leaving gaps in evolution between the species that survive and us humans. Of course, fossil remains of pre-humans are somehow dismissed as qualifying as evidence. Admittedly, I am not an expert on evolution but the information to become an expert is there for anyone to examine.  Short of that, one can do like I do and trust fellow human scientists who have studied it all their lives and accept them at their word.  An alternative is to believe tens of thousands of scientists over half a dozen generations have conspired to deceive us for some common cause, per Rafael Cruz and perhaps Ted Cruz. 

So, why do we care what the Tea-Party fanatics think? Because fanatics always lead the majority away from common sense solutions to our social(e.g., gay rights, racial, marriage, etc.) and technical problems (e.g., stem cell research, robots, shorter work weeks, etc.) and slow adoption of needed reforms by believing people are inherently evil, especially the ones that do not agree with them.  And in believing humans are inherently evil, they distort our nation's response to those that are weak, needy, and in need of our help for whatever reason.  


For example, those that believe man is inherently evil blame those on welfare for not working when the more serious problem of anemic job creation is destroying the middle class.   They cut food stamps when more people than ever in my life time are starving and homeless in this country.  They push against gun control and even counting dead bodies in this country and let the children involved in mass shootings pay the price.  They don't recognize the leading cause of violence is violence, instead it is evil people responding inappropriately when they have their friends killed. 

In short, people that take fanatical stands like Cruz are not evidence based people.  They are self-righteous people that believe they are the chosen people who own the truth.  They are very dangerous people in our society.  They are very similar to the religious fanatics in the Middle east.   

Jobs and Idiots

Buy American Video

The above video seems to imply that the lost jobs all went to China, India, etc.  But look at this Article, More Jobs for Machines not People.

Yep, the entire world is losing jobs to computers and robots. Is it a problem only because humans are inherently greedy and when we get greedy we turn stupid?  

Option #1: We can evolve into those with jobs being the haves and those without being the have-nots, the greedy route.  In this route, the ones with jobs guard the jobs by working long hours to keep anyone else from getting their job, say 60 hours a week, and then go home to tired to enjoy the stuff their money has bought them.  Since there is a shortage of jobs, then you can expect things to get worse as the years go by ... worker harder and harder, get less and less.
The number of consumers also decline so the cost of goods increases as volume of sales declines.  This is the WE ARE HUMANS and WE ARE GREEDY IDIOTS ROUTE. 

Option#2.  We can work less hours, share our jobs allowing everyone who wants to work, work.  We let those tireless robots do their thing and we cheer them on.  Work your asses off robots, we love you.  Now, we have lots of consumers and the volume of sales increase and the cost of good decline.  So, we can continue to work less hours, have more stuff, and best of all we have time to enjoy our lives.  We can even let the robots work for the disabled, the discouraged, the needy etc. that have not found their way yet.  This option is known as WE HUMANS ARE REALLY SLOW TO PICK UP THE OBVIOUS ROUTE. 

American Deaths Count More

In the war in Syria, future American deaths weigh heavily in the discussion.   We don't want Americans to die in the conflict, we don't want body bags filled with American remains.  There is an implicit assumptions that American lives are more important than Syrian lives.  Shouldn't we be asking if our presence in Syria makes the lives of Syrians better? Will our presence result in less Syria deaths, less Syrians being displaced from their home.

We also believe that people born north of the Rio Grande are more important than those born south of the Rio Grande.   Really?  A baby coming out of the womb is more precious to us if he is born inside our borders.  If he is born somewhere else then carried inside our borders, he is less precious, he deserves less of our resources to care for him.  We begrudge as Americans having to care for a child born on the wrong side of the Rio Grande.  In our many wars, we only report American deaths.

A thousand years from now how will more enlightened humans see this view of life.  A view of life that finds the circumstances of one's birth to determine their value.  Country, wealth, class, race, sex, etc. at birth is part of what establishes one's worth in our society and in all societies that I know of on this planet.

I can imagine a world in which each child at conception is a joy for all of us.  Imagine as they grow up them spending time in multiple homes for extended periods of time where they are loved and cherished as the most important thing on the planet.  Sharing them with others to broaden their outlook and deepen their sensibilities so they can cherish the next generation of humans.  And this sensibility spreading to all that is around us, the sky, the birds, the trees, the plants, the microscopic life forms under our feet.  Crazy, hey?

The U.S.'s Success in Religious Wars

Is it accurate to say all the wars in the Middle East are religious wars?  

I have often heard it said that oil is our main economic driver for the middle east wars, which one can easily build a case for even with Afganistan.  The region needs to be stable to avoid a disruption to oil flow.  That being said, as fracting increases our oil reserves and production the economic pressure will decline. But, why are they always fighting among themselves?  
When they talk about sects in Iraq, Iran, Afganistan, Egypt, Syria, etc. that is just code talk for different religions with their various attached cultures.  Each religion seems to be attached to an irrational ethical code that each Sect has developed over the ages.  Wikepedia has a good breakdown of the religions in Syria, and also their segregated geographical distribution.  

The muslim brotherhood (fundamentalists) are just more convinced they are right and willing to force others into their religous (irrational) views than most of the other sects.  But, dare I say if they are like all religions that I have had a chance to know personally, each is convinced they hold more truth than the rest of us.  They are more rational, more holy, more rational and know what is good and what is evil.  For example, your birthday suit worn in public is wrong, a sin, etc. under any of these sects I would guess.  A nudist colony would probably not be allowed in Syria.  (Oh yea, it is not allowed in most of the U.S. because various religions would protest, but that is different, right?)

A 100,000 people have been killed in Syria.  1000 perhaps by chemicals (more dead and more awful than bombs we are told).  In Iraq perhaps a million civilians have died, but our military was told not to count bodies.  Lucky they were killed as the result of the good guys (Us, as in U.S.) invading their country.  We would hate to be thought of as just another self-serving South Baptist religious sect with bigger guns.  We are after all the good guys.  And who cares about the casualities in Afganistan, after all, one of their terrorists killed 2500 of us and they deserve to die.  Besides, we are there to help them now; death tolls of civilians don't matter.  We don't even bother to count them.  Too much trouble.

We have not been able to stop the killing in Iraq or Afganistan, why do we think we can stop it in Syria.  Let's drop some big bombs, not counting the civilian deaths, and see if that stops them from killing.  It worked so great in Iraq and Afganistan.  So what is different this time.  Pretty much the same religious sects, same good guys and bad guys, all lining up to push their religion on others, guns included. 

Yes gas weapons are ugly.  But so is a drone wiping out an entire wedding party.  Or a U.S. soldier going on a rampage and wiping out several families.  Lucky they are being killed by the good guys ... it doesn't hurt as much.

Walmart and Jobs

Washington DC just passed a Living Wage Law and Wal-mart is threatening to walk away from Washington DC.    The deal is this, any retailer with more than a billion dollar a year in sales has to pay a super minimum wage of $12.50 an hour.  Businesses already in D.C. are grand fathered into the older, smaller minimum wage of $8.50 an hour.

We have discussed Myth #27 that Capitalism is Good For Workers.  Well, actually we have discussed how capitalism optimizes corporate profits but since workers around the globe are in over supply their costs (wages) are minimized.  Computerization and automation is increasing the supply of available (unemployed) workers as machines take over the jobs done in the past by humans.   Detroit is an example of how the story ends if we stay on this course.

I don't like this particular Living Wage Law because it does seem to be targeted at Wal-Mart and it does give their competitors already in the area a legislated advantage.  But, a Living Wage Law that treated all retail businesses equally would not unduly affect any one retailer.  Small businesses could be exempt, say mom and pop companies, and retailers up to a given number of employees in a given store, or below a certain level of annual sales.  Since Wal-Mart is the largest retailer in the world it is very easy if one comes from the top down to specifically target Wal-Mart; that is unfair and will probably not hold up in the courts. 

So, old school capitalists don't like any tinkering with the market place, but considering the present system is run by the good old boy club both from a political and big business perspective, we need some counter-forces to level the playing field.  If capitalism is to survive, we have to for now save as many workers as we can, pay them as well as we can in order to have consumers to keep the businesses and the whole system functional.  If all retailers in a given area play by the same rules, then competition still can flourish.  There are also no advantages or way to move most brick and mortar businesses overseas. 

Perhaps one unintended consequence of such a law is that there will be more pressure to replace workers with machines (automated tellers, cell phone payment systems, automatic surveillance systems, automated shelf stocking machines, automatic or semi-automatic inventory control systems, etc.).  So wide-spread adoption of Living Wage Laws would help in the short run, but on the long run, they are also doomed by the smart-machine-age.

In the long run, we have to change our culture and recognize that there are not going to be enough jobs for everyone and that we can not let everyone starve that does not have a job.  Working will be a privilege as it is already becoming.  Machines will provide all of our good and services, we simply have to set the output to a high enough level to take care of all the people.  

I know, this sounds like science fiction but it is happening all around us, The End of Work.

College Students Pay for More Border Control Agents?

Well, the House has just passed a bill to double the number of Border Patrols from about 20,000 to 40,000.    Is it what the Border Patrol asked for?  Of course not, who cares what they want.  It is simply a bill to make the Republicans look tough on Border Control so they can vote for the immigration bill.  That's all.  Does anyone think it will stop the flow of drugs into our country?  Does anyone think terrorists are going to stop coming in through the southern border ... oh yea, never mind, they fly in on an airplane from Europe mostly.  Does anyone think it will stop the flow of drugs from Mexico, see Our Drug War is the Definition of Smart.

By the way, much of the pot on the street now comes from California ... medical marijuana is considered the good stuff with good quality control.  That is reducing the pot from Mexico more than the border patrol.  

Where do the billions come from to pay for hords of Border Patrols.  Simple, the Republicans are letting the interest rate on the trillions of dollars of student loans double on July 1.  As I understand it, they are asking the Democrats to come up with savings in other areas to off-set the lost revenue from the students.  So, are students, yea the ones with too few jobs in this economy, going to pick up the tab for Border Control Agents?   That should endear the Republicans to the youth of this nation.  And, what about savings to off-set the billions of dollars proposed for more Border Control Agents?  Of course, it would be too easy to just decriminilize Pot; that would be stupid, think of all the drugs lords that would be jobless.  

 H.R.3116 (Department of Homeland Security authorization Act for FY2012) - would authorize programs and appropriations relating to border security. Among numerous provisions, this legislation: requires the Secretary of Homeland Security to present a 5 year comprehensive plan for “operational control” of the border; authorize no fewer than 21,300 border patrol agents, including 2,200 agents assigned to the northern border; establish the Border Enforcement Security Task Force (BEST) to collaborate and share information between federal, state, local, tribal, and foreign law enforcement; conduct a GAO review of border patrol training; allow Customs and Border Protection to patrol federal protected lands including the use of motorized vehicles and tactical infrastructure; commission science and technology experts to pursue new border security enhancements; deploy canine units at the 5 busiest northern border ports of entry; initiate a six month pilot program for unmanned vehicles on the border; and require in person interviews for those applying for student visas from questionable nations. Rep. Peter King (R-NY) is the bill’s main sponsor. 
Cosponsors

Meet America's Future: Detroit

Jonathan Dalar: The Dystopian Reality Around Us

Detroit defaults on up to 18.5 billion in debt to avoid bankruptcy, at least for now.  

Detroit emergency manager Kevyn Orr, appointed by the State of Michigan, is putting a plan together to avoid bankruptcy.  But, city pensioners and the debt holders will all have to take pennies on the dollar to keep the city out of bankruptcy. Too many people have to agree, bankruptcy is almost certain.

Detroit will be the largest city ever to go into bankruptcy.   

In 1909 it required 303 man-hours to make one car; in 1929 the time had been reduced to 92 man-hours, today it is 32 hours. The maximum production was reached in 1925-6 with 8,000,000 cars, now Detroit produces less than half that number. Use Google Image search to look up slums in Detroit.  The slums in Detroit remind me very much of the slums in Lima, Peru where I lived once upon a time.

So, what is the connection between how many people it takes to build a cars and bankruptcy in Detroit.  Try taxing the unemployed, the hopeless, the disenfranchised.  Then try to pick up trash, provide police and fireman, etc. using those taxes.  Then ignore the reality and borrow money trying to keep the city going, hoping for a miracle.  

Of course, salvation doesn't come, because the core problem is being ignored.  We no longer need many blue collar workers and of course, we need less white collar workers to manage the machines than we did the workers.  In the blog "If They Don't Work Neither Shall they Eat" , we look at how the entire system breaks down when we lose workers, who were also consumers, but are no more. 

Yes, there are still parts of the city, where the "Haves" live, versus the have-nots, that are beautiful including
the huge Cultural Center, freewheeling Royal Oak, posh Birmingham, the Ford-town of Dearborn, nearby Windsor, Ontario, and the college town of Ann Arbor, a short drive west.  Christmas, see below, is still celebrated in parts of Detroit.

Rochest in Metro Detroit ...

And parts of Detroit still believes in God, which is a mystery to me, see below.

Heidelberg Project Detroit, Michigan |

If They Don't Work Neither Shall They Eat

MICHELE BACHMANN: ‘IF ANYONE WILL NOT WORK, NEITHER SHOULD HE EAT’ | GOP presidential candidate Michele Bachmann promised to significantly lower funding to social safety net programs during a speech at the Family Research Council this morning, going so far as to suggest that people who can’t work should not eat. “Our nation needs to stop doing for people what they can and should do for themselves,” she said. “Self reliance means, if anyone will not work, neither should he eat.”

Hers is a misquote in spirit to the Biblical quote found in 2 Thessalonians 3:10:  "For even when we were with you, we used to give you this order: if anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat, either."

What if someone is willing to work but there are not enough jobs to go around.   This is not the future, it is now and it is going to get worse, much worse and much faster than you can imagine.  Moore's law will insure the rate of change in our society will remain mind boggling. 

We are at a fork in the road in this country.  This fork is more significant than any fork we have faced in my life time.  Since World War II,  we have not had a decision to make that could lead us to continued prosperity and an abundant life, or to a prison state with the have and the have-nots. It all hinges on whether or not we can change our cultural biases and absorb the fact that we need less and less workers with every day that passes -- and it is going to snowball, very very fast.

Some have called it the New Machine Age, some have called it the End of Work, some claim there is no solution for the upcoming mass unemployment..  Machines, computers, robots, networks, simulators, automatic controls, neural networks, automated answering services, Watson the Computer, automated warehouses, software than learns, cell phones connected to the cloud, the cloud, etc. are all taking jobs that used to be done by humans.   We can produce all the good and services required to feed and cloth our country, and even the world, with less and less workers every year.  Yes, we have the capacity to feed and cloth the entire world with our technology.  Technology is not what stands in the way, it is US.  

We do not have a problem with production side of the equation.  We can produce as much of anything that we want to produce.  But, we need less and less workers, so we have less and less consumers.  And with less consumers, we turn down the output of the factors another notch and we need less workers ... less consumers, etc.  (The smart ones should have gotten it by now.)

There are two possible futures:  in one, the machines (and computers) feed and cloth the world, in the other, the machines are used to make the rich richer and the rest of the world scrambles for the crumbs.  Surprisingly, the rich are even richer in the first scenario, the egalitarian state, than the second, the prison state, because of economies of scale, i.e., the rich have a middle class to sell the goods and services created by the machines.  But, in the second, much of the resources of society is engaged in a police state, a prison state, where the poor and desperate fight for the crumbs like many in third world countries.  It can't happen? It is already happening:  capitalism is no longer lifting everyone, it is only lifting a small and shrinking elite to the top.  We are one or two generations, a dozen iterations of Moore's law, before a worker will have little to no value.  See American's Future : Detroit.

If we follow people like MICHELE BACHMANN and reduce the social safety net -- as we are already doing -- then our ultimate path to a have and have-not society is insured, and it is only a few more steps to a third world country.  All the guns in the world will not change that when we no longer have money for food, clothes or bullets.  Bachmann assumes that man is inherently bad, lazy, good for nothing.  If that is true, then we are doomed anyway, but if you believe man has an indomitable spirit that strives to achieve, to accomplish, to grow, then keep reading and reach out a hand, believe in people and help keep the social net in place.

The irony is that by installing a safety net that includes food, clothing and basic housing our machine age can flourish and people will be freed to do the types of things this new machine age will require: creating, entertaining, teaching, networking, coaching, encouraging, and most of all, learning and adapting to a new way of life where working is a privilege.  We will need to find purpose in our lives, we will no longer have the sole purpose of surviving that has driven man since they first stood upright on two legs and threw a stick at a tiger ten times their size.  Imagine having a safety net that allows you to pursue your dreams.  We are not talking about having everything with this social net, but at least some food and a roof over your head.

If you need to be reminded how wealth is being created in this world, just look at Apple.  $400 billion of cash in the bank.  American industry alone is sitting on trillions of dollars of cash.  They are not investing because their factories can produce all the IPhones required without less workers each year.  IBM just announced layoffs.  Microsoft just announced it is laying off 16,000 (2014). Apple and Microsoft are companies that helps other companies use technology to reduce their labor force and be more profitable.  As our prisons fill American companies have no where to use their trillions of dollars of cash generated by the new machine age because as the number of workers decrease the number of consumers decrease.  They also run the government via PAC's and the good old boy club, so their wealth is not likely to be taxed away -- nor will that alone solve the problem if that money is not used to create the social net or create some jobs.

Here is another sad thing about this police state we are headed toward ... it will destroy all that we have accomplished in individual rights, including those freedoms we have fought for around sex, race, and religion. This is serious stuff.  I realize I have not made a complete case on how we move from trillions sitting in corporate America to the police state, but perhaps I have given you enough doubt that you will start challenging your own belief system.

We can have the new machine age create a Utopian world, or a hell on earth.  It is our choice.  We either see and adjust to the new reality or we will spiral downward. Right now, America is behind the rest of the world in seeing this looming tidal wave.

A Carbon Tax Will Destroy Our Economy

The idea of taxing carbon-based fuel by charging for every pound of carbon put into the air has been dismissed by Congress and the American public without much thought of the possible benefits and exaggerated claims on what it would do to our competitiveness. 

The typical fee quoted is about $30 per ton of carbon, although there is nothing sacred about this value.  At this fee level it would cost perhaps a trillion dollars a year.  Or, put another way, it would pay off about a trillion dollars of debt a year.  What the tax level should be depends on what we are going to do with the money, what other countries charge, and how serious we are about setting an example to the world on minimizing climate change.

Okay, the biggest argument is that it would make American business non-competitive.  First, competitiveness does not depend on absolute costs but relative costs.  If every country had a carbon tax, no advantage would accrue to any nation.  Perhaps, those countries that use less energy per capita, would have to pay less, but in general they have less.  So, it is a tax that is automatically prorated according to the ability to pay and the efficiency with which the energy is used.

With regard to competitiveness of the U.S. with a carbon tax we have to look to China first, are they likely to pass a carbon tax.  China is drowning in pollution, the air around its biggest cities is atrocious.  A carbon tax would be a first step in fighting pollution in China and they are seriously considering a carbon tax.   Of course, there major concern is competitiveness with guess who, us.  A chicken and egg problem. 

So, we negotiate with China the phasing in of a carbon tax in both countries.  Europe, Australia, and most of Asia will probably follow as America takes a leadership role in global warming.  America could phase in a carbon tax, say $5 per ton, and wait for the world to follow us.  When the major players commit to $5/ton, we go to $10/ton, etc.  It's called leadership, it was what America used to do.

Now, here is some inside scoop.  America has the cheapest natural gas in the world and even with a carbon tax the U.S. is positioned as the global leader with energy intensive projects such as making fertilizer, ammonia, urea, electricity, aluminuim, magnesium, silicon, solar panels, titanium, etc.   The problem is not our compeititive position in America, our problem is that we are destroying the middle class and with it the customer that keeps the market place humming.  

If competitiveness is not an issue, then what should we spend the money on?   Paying off the debt seems like a area where we would get across the board acceptance.  Perhaps some large energy projects such as intelligent power grids, solar and wind farms, energy research, more efficient and electric cars, public transportation, improved train freight initiatives, intelligent traffic control, and perhaps education, especially in the math and sciences.

Another option would be to phase in a carbon tax while phasing out corporate taxes.  If we want American profits to stay in America the corporate tax, which encourages nothing but going aboard to countries with low corporate taxes would be replaced by a tax that was at worse incrementally higher than our competitors (China) by the staged approach above.  And given that a carbon tax encourages energy efficiency and reliance on substantiable forms of energy such as nuclear, wind, and solar, it is a win-win.  (Calling Nuclear Power substantiable is another blog.)