Governence By Cash.

Well, the good news is that the Supreme Court is ending it's current session. The bad news is that it'll be starting another one in the not too distant future and the other bad news is that during this session, it has sold the election process of America to corporate interests, apparently on the assumption that corporations are people too. So, the work of an employee of one of the judges, many years ago, giving corporations that distinction, has firmly become law. What that means is that you and I have almost no say in what elected officials do, because we don't have the financial clout that corporation have and can bring to bear. What we do have that corporations don't have is a vote. Now, you'd think that would be enough to get heard. Well, I'm here to tell you it isn't enough. Try getting an audience with a Senator or Congressman. How come? Because elections are decided, not by the number of votes a politician gets, but by the amount of money he or she can rake in to buy votes and elections. So, since money buys elections, and corporations have money to spare, to the victor goes the spoils. Or to put it another way, corporations write the legislation and then tell our elected officials how to vote. And let me be clear, they will vote as they are told or risk not having enough money to get reelected. So, let me ask you. Do you think Congressmen and Senators will vote as they are told by their moneyed sponsors? Ya, I think so to.

Let's Not Run Scared.

Ya know what? I think I have to agree with Paul Krugman, the N.Y. Times editorialist. He a Nobel prize winner for economics, which means he knows a little bit about the subject. That's not to say he can't be wrong sometimes, but mostly he's been right. See, he claims that cutting spending and increasing interest rates to reduce debt will not bring us out of the Great Recession. The big problem, he says, is unemployment, not debt. Now, most fiscal conservatives say that cutting spending will create jobs. Krugman says just the opposite will happen. It will cause a Depression under current circumstances. Conservatives believe that restraint in spending and higher interest rates will spark confidence in the markets. Now if you were a store owner or a manufacturer and interest rates went up and sales went down, how much confidence would you have? Enough to hire more employees? It's one thing for you or me to decide to cut back on purchasing in order to save some money. But if all your, and my, friends, relatives and acquaintances cut back too, then who's going to buy the products that will put people back to work? In fact if everybody cuts back too much, then people who have jobs now, will begin to loose those jobs. If that happens, we'll be in a Depression. Now, nobody is suggesting that we all rush out and start a spending spree like drunken fools, but we should resume normal spending, cautiously. So, think about a new toaster oven or how about a new formal gown? What about next weeks groceries? How about just one thing you hadn't planned on? For me, it's the gown.

Pink Hearts?

Here's the latest thing. Did you know that soon, in fact for some you can already use your cell phone to get discounts at stores on purchases. Yep. All you have to do is swipe your phone instead of your credit card, or swipe both. No, I don't mean you should go out and steal a cell phone or credit card, although that is sort of like a discount too. You know how people think that "big brother" knows too much about you? Well now they know even more and will soon know pretty much anything they want to know. So if it's raining and you mention it to a friend in a phone conversation, when you walk into target, your phone might suggest that you buy a new umbrella. Or the next time you walk into the supermarket, the phone will tell you that salmon is on sale and that it's in isle 14. If you have a girlfriend on the side, it'll tell you---- OK, you get the idea. The point is that your trusty cell phone can do just about anything for you except carry your groceries from car to kitchen and they're probably working on that. Now here's the part that requires you to stop and think about it. Is this what you want? Are you happy giving up your privacy to the phone company? These stores sell your information to "certain select companies" Select, like anybody willing to pay the price for your information. If that doesn't bother you, maybe it should. Or maybe it's OK for you not to care. On the other hand maybe you don't want just anybody to know what color silk undershorts you like to wear. With the cute little pink hearts. But maybe you don't want folks to know that, Horace.

Don't Mess With My Pool.

Yesterday I pointed out that the judge who put a stay on Obama's six month moratorium on drilling in the Gulf of Mexico in deep water sounded more like an oil company decision then a judges. Turns out the judge in the case owns a substantial amount of stock in oil companies drilling in the Gulf. Now, I'm sure he wasn't influenced by that fact, but then, subconsciously, he almost certainly would have been. Say what you will, things like that do influence human thinking. I know that with my millions invested in clean air and water, I'm influenced when somebody wants to dump foul smelling garbage in my swimming pool. Oh. Wait. I don't have a pool. Well if I did, I wouldn't like it. One of the arguments has been that if the six months moratorium holds, the oil companies will leave the Gulf and never return. Do you know how silly that sounds? Does anyone actually think that the oil companies, who have leases on proven oil fields in the Gulf, are going to permanently abandon them? It's like telling you that if you have a couple of pounds of gold, you can't cash it in for six months, so you throw it away and go to work digging for gold in another state. If you do, let me know where you threw it, because I'm willing to wait. Since the oil industry has no workable plan to correct a problem should one occur, they should be required to wait until they do have a plan that has a realistic chance of working. Of course, that could take forever. Maybe that's what the judge is really afraid of.

Wadda Ya Mean It Can't Happen Again.

I don't know. Did you read the judges reasons for cutting off the six months moratorium on drilling in deep water in the Gulf of Mexico? I'm sorry, but it sounded more like the oil companies decision then a judges. Now, I understand how many people are affected by this shutdown. Not just employees of the oil companies, but their suppliers and servicing vendors and ancillary companies. it's a lot of people out of work. On the other hand, the gulf oil spill is putting as lot of people out of work too, and another accident would pretty much seal the fate of that whole part of the country. The judge thinks that just because one accident happened doesn't mean another one will too. And he's right. But it doesn't mean one won't either. And given the history that has come to light about the oil industry and it's apparent lack of interest in doing anything to make sure these kinds of things can't happen, or that they can fix it if one does, I'd say the odds are on the side of another explosion. I mean, rhetoric alone doesn't stop accidents or make it easier to clean them up. If it were, I could drive down the interstate, blindfolded, by just saying that I've been down that road before so it's safe for me to take a nap. Do you suppose a judge would buy that excuse? Well how come he bought the oil companies excuses? Oh. You mean they have more money then me? So they can buy, uh, hire better lawyers then me? Well maybe so, but right is right, right?

Derivatives, Derivatives, Wherefore Art Thou.

Well, the McChrystal controversy is over and by all counts the President made the right choices. So now it's the Congress's turn. They'll be holding public hearings on regulations for the Derivatives market. As you'll remember, derivatives are the secret deals done behind closed doors that caused the financial industry to nearly go belly up. It was deals like bundling toxic mortgages and then telling buyers it was a good safe investment. Ya know what? If I did that, or even if you did that, we'd go to jail. So the government wants to put regulations on it. Now the word "regulation" is a word that sends the financial industry into orbit. It's like sending a cobra into a pen with half a dozen mongooses. The mongooses are immediately going to try to kill that thing. Well, Wall Street and the Banks all want to kill any talk about regulating them. They're like a wide open cowboy town and they don't want no sheriff a-comin into their town and spoiling all the fun. They've been working on it the way they do best, secretly. Now, with public hearings, you may well see them fighting it more publicly, the way they do best. By paying, oh no, I mean giving profusely, to the campaign funds of Congressmen and Senators. and then lobbying those Congressmen and Senators. Now for you folks that don't know what lobbying means, it means strong arming. Which means threatening to withdraw financial support and giving it to whoever runs against the Congressmen and Senators, and getting their other Congressmen and Senators to turn their backs on them if they don't comply with the wishes of Wall Street and the Bankers. I'm all for letting your Congressman and Senators know how you feel about something, but let's face it, giving millions of $$$ isn't quite the same, now is it? But the Supreme Court in all it's wisdom decided that giving money in almost any amount is, now get this, FREE SPEECH. Give me a break.

The Buck Stops Someplace For A Reason.

If you ask me, and you didn't, but this is my turn. People don't find fault with the boss, in public, unless you don't care about your job. How many of you would go public with your dislike of the boss and his board and expect to keep your job? So, what should Obama do with McChrystal? I recall another difficult decision from the past. Pres. Harry Truman fired Gen. Douglass MacArthur, the WW11 hero and commander of the Pacific Theatre who was wildly popular. But the President is in charge and if you don't like it, get out of the way. So, what should Obama do with McChrystal? I though I just asked that. They can sit down, Obama and McChrystal, but short of a very humble apology by McChrystal and a brave acceptance by Obama, the general will have to go. Probably to run for office in the opposition party. It's not that the general is doing a bad job. I'm not sure if he's doing a good or bad job, it's that the team needs to be playing together. If the tight end is badmouthing the quarterback, somebody has to go. In fact, didn't that happen not too long ago? If the team wants any hope of winning, they need to pocket their mouths and play like a team. That's a message for the president, Mr. President, presidents lead. If you don't do that, you will be benched in the second half. In the movie "The Replacements" the coach, played by Gene Hackman, had a line that was great. He said "winners always want the ball". Well, Mr President, do you want the ball? If you do, then lead boldly. Harry Truman made the line "the buck stops here" popular. So, Mr. President, if you want to lead, except responsibility and lead boldly.