Obamacare Future

Excerpt, Associated Press article January 31, 2013:

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greek doctors, port workers and public transport staff in the country’s capital walked off the job Thursday in strikes against deeply unpopular austerity measures that have seen incomes slashed as the country struggles to emerge from a deep financial crisis.

The country’s main unions also announced a nationwide general strike for Feb. 20, the latest in a series of such walkouts over the past two years that disrupt services across the country and are accompanied by sometimes violent demonstrations… Read the entire article.

The Doctor’s Office as Union Shop: As new health-care laws turn physicians into service workers, why wouldn’t they organize? by David Leffell in the January 30, 2013 Wall Street Journal, concludes:

Americans don’t expect the quality of their care or access to it to decline as health-care costs drop. But quality of care and access will require significant attention in a reformed medical system. As has happened in other countries that have charted the course we are now on, a new reason for lack of access may at times be: “Office closed, doctors on strike…” Read the entire article.

Hmmm……………

Regards, Pete Weldon
americanstance.org

Note: The Wall Street Journal Web site is a pay site but seems to permit public access to its opinion pieces.

The Education of James Taylor

Prior to performing a verse of America the Beautiful at Mr. Obama’s recent 2nd inaugural, singer/song writer James Taylor appeared on the Charlie Rose show and offered some interesting commentary on “corporate” America. Watch and listen here (his political commentary begins at about 28:35).

As a former singer /song writer I greatly admire James Taylor’s music and his career. What struck me as odd, however, was his complete misunderstanding of the realities of “corporate” America and the counter productive thinking and policy that comes from such misunderstanding. In the political world, James Taylor’s misinformed views are an example of “liberal think” that destroys opportunity in the name of “humanity.”

Here is a portion of James Taylor’s comments:

America is such a noble experiment. It’s really the light of the world. A lot of people are angry at us but mainly because of our, sort of, corporate colonialism that we practice. That’s not the American people. Those are individuals who are acting badly. That’s Standard Oil and Union Carbide in Bhopal, BP in the gulf. That’s a real problem for the future. Aside from carbon in the atmosphere, what we do with corporate organization and corporate power and how we make it serve human beings and the largest number of human beings at that, and not just enslave human beings and, you know, march backwards, that’s a big, hmmm, Gordian knot for human beings to deal with, this question…. because corporations don’t have the same human priorities… The Supreme Court and the Citizen’s United decision not withstanding, corporations are not human. They have a very selective and a very limited and not very humane priority (Charlie Rose interjects, and a very different mission)… and a very different mission. A robber Barron will at least put his name on a hospital, I know you will see a lot of football stadiums with “Enron” on them or whatever, … but the point is these things (corporations) use portions, little slices of people and there are three people waiting to take your job and do that little, you know, dedicate that little part of yourself to that number being as large as it can be, and that’s not… its just incomplete is what it is, its not whole and its not human. I think other countries have done a better job asking corporate power to serve human beings better than we have.

Mr. Taylor’s references are dated.

Standard Oil was broken up in 1911 and it can be credibly argued that its broad influence over petroleum production and distribution made possible the economic transition from group transportation (trains) to personal transportation (automobiles), adding significantly to individual freedom. No longer are individuals restricted to a small geographic area to find work and exercise a desire to travel, thanks to the personal automobile.

The “Bhopal” event occurred under Union Carbide’s ownership of a chemical plant in India in 1984. Union Carbide has been owned by Dow Chemical Company since 2001.

The “BP” Deepwater Horizon gulf oil leak occurred in the spring 0f 2010.

It can only be Mr. Taylor’s imagination that leads him to believe the “corporate” nature of these companies resulted in “bad behavior” that did not and does not serve human needs. Note that the consequences of these industrial accidents were paid for dearly by both the management and owners of the effected corporations, setting examples that promote responsible behavior. Also note that there is no evidence that government ownership or regulatory control of the means of production would avoid the occasional industrial tragedy (see Chernobyl, Three mile island, and Fukushima Daiichi). Finally, there is evidence that government regulation and favoritism interfere with the operation of markets in ways that negatively impact humanity through increasing prices and limiting choice (see as examples ethanol mandates, Obama Care, and the Dodd/Frank legislation).

Mr. Taylor then moves from stereotyping bad “corporate” behavior to stereotyping “corporate” priorities. Let’s accept that those priorities as seen by Mr. Taylor are limited to financial greed. Now it is time to understand what a “corporation” is and why it exits.

Like money, corporations, are man made structures designed to serve a purpose. In the case of money that purpose is to provide a trusted means of exchange between people that simplifies trading. In the case of corporations that purpose is to simplify the organization of resources so as to provide humanity with goods and services in an efficient manner. Note that the customers of corporations voluntarily enter into purchase transactions to meet their needs. Note that government imposes such things as an ethanol mandate through the force of law, not voluntary exchange. Which approach truly serves humanity? Which approach takes risks to invest in technology and production so that new products come into being to serve humanity? OK, the “Furby” may not serve humanity in any sense other than providing a curious entertainment but certainly laparoscopic surgery and wireless networks and smart phones do, as do supermarkets and materials and chemicals and fuels and restaurants and accountants and lawyers and doctors and hospitals, and …..

The next presumption that corporations “use portions, little slices of people and there are three people waiting to take your job” is false. Corporations offer job opportunities resulting from voluntary demand for goods and services they produce. Remember that no one is compelled to buy a Big Mac, or a designer dress, or a new home, or car, or smartphone, or six pack of beer. Yet, the corporations that meet these human needs take the risk that the customers will be there tomorrow and in doing do employ millions of people who have personal ambition and a desire to learn and apply their knowledge in meeting society’s needs (that is, they are willing to work). The last time I checked no one was being compelled to work for IBM, or Exxon, or Johnson and Johnson. However, the government is now compelling all citizens with health insurance to subsidize the cost of female (not male) reproductive health services, some in violation of their religious faith. Lastly, many US corporations live by credos that list the shareholder’s interest last in line exactly because they understand that their long term profitable survival is what, in the end, creates value for both humanity and for those who take the financial risk to make it all happen. Here is a corporate credo Mr. Taylor should read.

No one I know has ever proposed that a corporate interest represents the interests of all of humanity. This may well be why democratic governments over the years have sought to use tax revenues to supplement those human needs not directly served by a job. It is also why we have many other forms of organization including union, religious, social, charitable, and political organizations. In fact, in America the Beautiful you are free to start any organization you want and prove there is a market for your ideas by getting others to give you money to support your cause, whether it be corporate or otherwise. That is what Citizen’s United is all about; more speech, not less.

Regarding this last offering from Mr. Taylor, “I think other countries have done a better job asking corporate power to serve human beings better than we have.” It is not a given that “countries” (he means governments) have some moral authority to “ask” (he means impose) rules on corporations to “serve human beings better,” whatever that means. Morality is not the purview of government. Government actions only reflect the morality of the citizens. Mr. Taylor would do well to update his perspective for contemporary reality. It is the power of centralized government that imposes regulatory mandates founded in righteous misconception, that accrues $80,000,000,000,000 in unfunded entitlement liabilities with no plan to reduce those liabilities to manageable size, that is more than $16,000,000,000,000 in debt with no effort to reduce that burden, and that spends more than a $1,000,000,000,000 more per year than it takes in revenue. This runaway abuse of power by the government exceeds any negative impacts of corporate power by orders of magnitude. Who is going to pay for this? Corporations, at least, are accountable to the realities of the markets. Government is accountable to the voters, a majority of whom have accepted government bribes, accepted money and favors to satisfy their short term desires while they burden their children and grand children with unsupportable debt and lost opportunity. So much for the morality of government and its role in serving humanity.

James Taylor is a brilliant man and I encourage him to read and understand more about our national government and our modern welfare state, and where they are headed. When he is done understanding, he just might want to form a corporation whose mission is to fix it.

Regards, Pete Weldon
americanstance.org

Bjorn Lomberg for EPA Administrator

The opinion piece by Bjorn Lomborg in the January 24, 2013 edition of the Wall Street Journal begs the question, is Mr. Obama a self righteous ideologue with attendant bad judgment or is he knowingly lying to the world (not just the American public) in a Presidential inaugural address?

Climate-Change Misdirection

Fear-mongering exaggeration about effects of global warming distracts us from finding affordable and effective energy alternatives.

In his second inaugural address on Monday, President Obama laudably promised to “respond to the threat of climate change.” Unfortunately, when the president described the urgent nature of the threat—the “devastating impact of raging fires, and crippling drought, and more powerful storms”—the scary examples suggested that he is contemplating poor policies that don’t point to any real, let alone smart, solutions. Global warming is a problem that needs fixing, but exaggeration doesn’t help, and it often distracts us from simple, cheaper and smarter solutions.

For starters, let’s address the three horsemen of the climate apocalypse that Mr. Obama mentioned… (read the entire piece at WJS.com or download a PDF version from Bjorn Lomborg’s blog)

Note: The Wall Street Journal is a paid site but seems to allow public access to its opinion pages.

Regards, Pete Weldon
americanstance.org

Our Shadow Boxing President

Mr. Obama’s second inaugural address has been characterized as “testifying to the power of government” and “a bold defense of his liberal agenda.”

Perhaps Mr. Obama should have more honestly noted that the power wielded by government compels some people to redistribute the product of their work to others. These others then have a vested financial interest in electing politicians who write more laws compelling more redistribution.

Well, that model has been outdone by Mr. Obama’s demands for more taxes after he was just given a tax increase, and continued trillions of dollars of deficits and debt our children will have to repay.

This is not leadership. It is financial and moral corruption.

Most disturbing is Mr. Obama’s now obvious motivation as affirmed by his second inaugural address. He is driven by contempt for those who do not agree with his world view. As Woody Allen has pointed out, “When you are sure you are right you will have a moral obligation to impose your will on those who disagree with you.” Alas, our President proves he is a self righteous ideologue.

Also concerning is that Mr. Obama’s address proves he is shadow boxing with a made up enemy. Does he really think the public will allow his imagined right wing conspiracy to eliminate social security and medicare? Apparently so.

I have written before about Mr. Obama’s dismal politics. Now it is clear that he will prove a great historical disappointment as a President.

Regards, Pete Weldon
americanstance.org

Absurdity Meets Tragedy In The Great Fiscal Farce

The United States Consumer Protection Bureau (CFBP) is a new agency accountable to no one, created by the Dodd-Frank financial legislation of 2010, and conceived by our long time Fairy Godmother and new Senator from Massachusetts, Elizabeth Warren.

I apologize if I seem a bit cynical and despondent at having to pay for a Federal agency whose primary purpose is to require providers of credit to be responsible for the inability of their customers to assume responsibility for the loans they freely enter into. So, as the chosen ones force us all to pay to protect the stupid from their stupidity, please indulge me while I point out the absurdity of it all.

As recently pointed out in the Wall Street Journal, the Dodd-Frank financial-regulatory overhaul amended existing lending laws by making banks legally responsible for determining that a borrower has the ability to repay a mortgage.

The CFPB is charged with spelling out how banks can satisfy the new mandate. The “qualified mortgage” definition being issued by the agency essentially says that if a loan meets certain criteria, then regulators—and courts—will assume it was appropriately underwritten. Clearly, banks will not underwrite “unqualified mortgages” for fear of being sued or fined for less than responsible lending as seen through the eyes of the CFPB.

Under proposed rules from CFPB, loans would be deemed “qualified mortgages” if borrowers are spending no more than 43% of their pretax income on monthly debt payments.

Understand this clearly. The government is saying that in order to assure our nation’s financial stability, a person wishing to borrow money to buy real estate will not get a mortgage unless the monthly debt payments (the amount borrowed plus interest paid in installments over the term of the loan) total less than 43% of the borrower’s monthly pretax income.

Now for a short reveal on our Federal fiscal standards.

The Federal Government has recently been taking in less than $3 trillion a year in income while spending about $4 trillion a year. I refer you to pages 26 and 27 of Mr. Obama’s 2013 Federal budget historical tables.

If the Federal Government were held to standards it insists upon for mortgage borrowers it would only be able to borrow an amount supported by the required annual repayment of principal and interest at no more than 43% of its annual income.

If the current debt were managed as a mortgage loan under the 43% CFPB income standard, the federal government would have to pay off over $1 trillion of debt and interest a year out of its less than $3 trillion annual income, and it would receive no further credit. Yet, the federal government is not paying off any debt and instead is borrowing an additional $1 trillion a year, adding to our $16+ trillion in debt.

But, I ask, what about our nation’s financial stability? Perhaps the United States Consumer Protection Bureau and Elizabeth Warren can protect us from the government.

Regards, Pete Weldon
americanstance.org