Thanks to Todd for sharing this video with me. I think Herr Scheer is completely accurate, and I would like to push a law such as the German Renewable Energy Act within the United States.
Monday, December 31, 2007
Monday, December 17, 2007
Staples, go jump off a cliff
Staples.com has a radio ad that is playing on AM1090 here in Seattle. The ad starts with some audio clips from the Apollo 11 moon landing, and then interrupts that audio to plug their special sale of the month or whatever it is that they are selling. Then the announcer guy says dismissively "Now back to that other thing."
Based on these advertisements, I WILL NEVER DARKEN STAPLES DOOR. I like the gimmick of the ad, replacing some kind of news with the "important" offer, but choosing the Apollo 11 moon landing, the pinnacle of scientific and technological achievement of man in all of world history, is an insult to the United States and an insult to mankind itself.
Here's an alternative. Play a news broadcast talking about Paris Hilton, Alex Rodriguez or OJ Simpson, and interrupt that. That would at least be true advertising, because saving $5 or more at Staples is certainly more important than anything that goes on with our Media personalities.
Based on these advertisements, I WILL NEVER DARKEN STAPLES DOOR. I like the gimmick of the ad, replacing some kind of news with the "important" offer, but choosing the Apollo 11 moon landing, the pinnacle of scientific and technological achievement of man in all of world history, is an insult to the United States and an insult to mankind itself.
Here's an alternative. Play a news broadcast talking about Paris Hilton, Alex Rodriguez or OJ Simpson, and interrupt that. That would at least be true advertising, because saving $5 or more at Staples is certainly more important than anything that goes on with our Media personalities.
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Of Gods and Man
- It is not for the Gods to decide whether or not Man exists - it is for Man to decide whether or not the Gods exist. - Donald Blake
I woke up this morning with Marvel Comics running through my head. It's been happening more and more over the past few months, and it's a nice distraction from my normal political work. I've always enjoyed reading Thor and Captain America, but the current story line in Cap's books has really been bothering me. I've also appreciated the character of Iron Man, but his current trends remind me too much of what I am actively fighting against in the real world.
I've read several blog posts about what the Death of Captain America means symbolically. [1], [2] I've read that his death meant the end of Eisenhower Conservatism. [3] But there is a larger story waiting to be told.
I'm reading the early years of Thor, written by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in the 1960's. Thor fought communist dictators in South America, the Soviet Union, crazy fools from a peaceful future who wanted to exert domination over their world, Chinese characters wanting to expand the power of red China. So from the beginning he was fighting on behalf not only of Marvel Comics America, but for Real American ideals. Over the past 40 years of comics, we have seen the Gods from many cultures show up in books, like Hercules and Shiva. Watching what the comic writers and artists do with the Gods has always been interesting.
But now we have an opportunity. In the real world, Gaea is under attack. Not from super-villians, but from human ignorance. Climate Change is affecting Marvel's Earth already. Thor walked through the ruins of New Orleans, and wondered why the great heroes didn't do more to save the city. He blames himself for not being there to help, believing that he could have turned back the storm. I wonder.
- If it is for mortals to say whether the Gods exist, then I say that they live on, in the hearts and souls and minds of mortals. They only need to be found, and awakened. - Donald Blake
Political activists like me want to awaken the American spirit. It's the spirit that says we can do something, like earn our independence from Britain, like building a railroad all the way across the continent, like winning two wars overseas at the same time. It's a spirit that looks to the best of what people can do.
Here's a storyline for Straczynski to consider. In Thor's quest to restore Asgard, Gaea appears to him, and explains the threat. She is a manifestation of the Earth's biosphere. And she is sick. [4] This is not an enemy that can be fought with a hammer, it is the ultimate struggle of humanity to define itself. It will take the reawakening of all of the pantheons, and the return of those pantheons to the peoples of Earth to teach and help instead of to destroy and harm. That is the quest that we are on, here in the real world.
- In Africa, anyone with the power of life and death is a God. - Village Elder
- - Chadlupkes 19:05, 15 December 2007 (UTC)
Monday, December 03, 2007
A New Foundation
I am so glad we're putting things on the table.
If the cap became a shield, relieving people making less than 97K of the "burden of the tax", it would certainly be popular. However, it wouldn't solve the problem. I don't know the numbers, but the mean income is about 45K, so we would be leaving out probably around 2/3rds to 3/4ths of the workers. This would be as bad to the financing as leaving out the rich. If we're going to leave an economic class out to help them, we should set the shield at the minimum wage, around 12K now that the minimum is $5.85. It should be locked at minimum wage as well, just as minimum wage should be locked to the inflation rate. But everyone who works should have to pay into the system, otherwise it's not a shared sacrifice, it's just something to "stick it to the man". Populist, but not fundamentally fair.
I'd be really wary of plans to put a cap on benefits based on need, either as a means test or otherwise. That would open the door to those who would demand that their "investment" in this insurance program get back a return on their money. That's our entire debate right now, whether Social Security is or should be an insurance or investment program. Too many people are saying either-or, when the answer should be both. I'll get back to that. First, some background just as a reminder.
Remember that the program was changed in the 1980's, when people realized that the Boomers would create a massive strain in the system 20 years down the road. A "lock box" was created, and the tax rates were raised. This was supposed to create a surplus within the Social Security system that would carry the Boomers through their retirement years. It didn't happen because Reagan instead decided to go after the "Evil Empire" and build up our military. (i.e. He succumbed to the pressure of the military industrial complex that was clamoring for profits, just like he had succumbed to the oil companies in his first term.) The money in that lock box exists, but it's in the form of I.O.U.'s because we've opened up the box and taken out all of the real value.
We need to acknowledge that money itself is simply a promise, no matter what form it takes. Money has no value until it is exchanged for goods or services. It is always just a promise until a transaction takes place. The real value in a bank balance, or a trust fund balance like Social Security, is not the large number that most of us hopefully see, but the transactions that are occurring with that money because that money is in a bank or other financial institution. When we deposit money into a bank, or when the bank sells a Bond, the money that we give in exchange for our deposit slip or the Bond certificate is put to work by that bank. They lend it to other individuals or businesses, and charge them interest. They keep a part of that interest and pay us our share as our dividends or interest earnings.
The Social Security Trust Fund is tapped out because the money that we pay into it is used by the government immediately, either to pay benefits with the core principle which is the redistribution of wealth part of it, or by the purchase of goods and services. What is left behind is a promise made by the government to pay the benefits that the money represented. Full Faith and Credit of the United States of America, meaning that our children and grandchildren will somehow pay it off. That's a promise that we can't continue to make without putting a structure into place that can fulfill that promise.
The solution is simple, at least as far as I can describe it. Yes, eliminate the cap, and make everyone making more than minimum wage pay into the system. Yes, create some type of means testing so that the money coming out of the system goes mostly to people who need it. But there is so much more we could do with a national system like this.
How about a National Savings program, sort of a national 401K. People would pay into Social Security at their usual 6.2%, but would have the option of paying up to $15%. The extra they pay above 6.2% would be credited to them as the certificate holder, and the money would be deposited by the Social Security Trust into a bank. Specifically, banks in areas that need secure financial foundations for their community. States like Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi, the three states with the lowest household income. An influx of cash into local banks in an area creates extra supply of that cash for personal and business loans, enabling the banks to lower the price (i.e. interest rate) on those loans. A foundation of capital like that would increase the rate of economic activity, create jobs and generate income for local taxes and boost the entire community as a result. The banks would take their share of the interest, and the balance would never go down, as long as the system was set up correctly.
The way I see it, the most important thing that has been stolen from the people of our country is our foundation, and I'm referring to physical, financial and social. The rich fools have charged us with fees and high prices, taken away our money and left us with nothing. Local communities no longer have engines of economic activity because all of the capital has been pulled away to Wall Street instead of being put to work on Main Street. This has resulted in a failure of local governments to keep up with their task of maintaining our physical infrastructure. How old are our water systems? Seattle has pipes that are over 100 years old. And I'm not talking the small pipes, I'm talking about the backbone of our entire system. Bringing our foundations back also means social connections and the sense of community security that comes from knowing our neighbors and knowing that our children are safe playing outside and walking down our streets.
A deal is where I give you something and you give me something in return. We don't need to make a deal, New or otherwise. We need to build a Foundation. A strong foundation under our feet will let us reach for our potential much more than making a deal that we can see eroded by future deals. In the 1930's, we needed a New Deal. In the 21st century, we need a Foundation.
If the cap became a shield, relieving people making less than 97K of the "burden of the tax", it would certainly be popular. However, it wouldn't solve the problem. I don't know the numbers, but the mean income is about 45K, so we would be leaving out probably around 2/3rds to 3/4ths of the workers. This would be as bad to the financing as leaving out the rich. If we're going to leave an economic class out to help them, we should set the shield at the minimum wage, around 12K now that the minimum is $5.85. It should be locked at minimum wage as well, just as minimum wage should be locked to the inflation rate. But everyone who works should have to pay into the system, otherwise it's not a shared sacrifice, it's just something to "stick it to the man". Populist, but not fundamentally fair.
I'd be really wary of plans to put a cap on benefits based on need, either as a means test or otherwise. That would open the door to those who would demand that their "investment" in this insurance program get back a return on their money. That's our entire debate right now, whether Social Security is or should be an insurance or investment program. Too many people are saying either-or, when the answer should be both. I'll get back to that. First, some background just as a reminder.
Remember that the program was changed in the 1980's, when people realized that the Boomers would create a massive strain in the system 20 years down the road. A "lock box" was created, and the tax rates were raised. This was supposed to create a surplus within the Social Security system that would carry the Boomers through their retirement years. It didn't happen because Reagan instead decided to go after the "Evil Empire" and build up our military. (i.e. He succumbed to the pressure of the military industrial complex that was clamoring for profits, just like he had succumbed to the oil companies in his first term.) The money in that lock box exists, but it's in the form of I.O.U.'s because we've opened up the box and taken out all of the real value.
We need to acknowledge that money itself is simply a promise, no matter what form it takes. Money has no value until it is exchanged for goods or services. It is always just a promise until a transaction takes place. The real value in a bank balance, or a trust fund balance like Social Security, is not the large number that most of us hopefully see, but the transactions that are occurring with that money because that money is in a bank or other financial institution. When we deposit money into a bank, or when the bank sells a Bond, the money that we give in exchange for our deposit slip or the Bond certificate is put to work by that bank. They lend it to other individuals or businesses, and charge them interest. They keep a part of that interest and pay us our share as our dividends or interest earnings.
The Social Security Trust Fund is tapped out because the money that we pay into it is used by the government immediately, either to pay benefits with the core principle which is the redistribution of wealth part of it, or by the purchase of goods and services. What is left behind is a promise made by the government to pay the benefits that the money represented. Full Faith and Credit of the United States of America, meaning that our children and grandchildren will somehow pay it off. That's a promise that we can't continue to make without putting a structure into place that can fulfill that promise.
The solution is simple, at least as far as I can describe it. Yes, eliminate the cap, and make everyone making more than minimum wage pay into the system. Yes, create some type of means testing so that the money coming out of the system goes mostly to people who need it. But there is so much more we could do with a national system like this.
How about a National Savings program, sort of a national 401K. People would pay into Social Security at their usual 6.2%, but would have the option of paying up to $15%. The extra they pay above 6.2% would be credited to them as the certificate holder, and the money would be deposited by the Social Security Trust into a bank. Specifically, banks in areas that need secure financial foundations for their community. States like Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi, the three states with the lowest household income. An influx of cash into local banks in an area creates extra supply of that cash for personal and business loans, enabling the banks to lower the price (i.e. interest rate) on those loans. A foundation of capital like that would increase the rate of economic activity, create jobs and generate income for local taxes and boost the entire community as a result. The banks would take their share of the interest, and the balance would never go down, as long as the system was set up correctly.
The way I see it, the most important thing that has been stolen from the people of our country is our foundation, and I'm referring to physical, financial and social. The rich fools have charged us with fees and high prices, taken away our money and left us with nothing. Local communities no longer have engines of economic activity because all of the capital has been pulled away to Wall Street instead of being put to work on Main Street. This has resulted in a failure of local governments to keep up with their task of maintaining our physical infrastructure. How old are our water systems? Seattle has pipes that are over 100 years old. And I'm not talking the small pipes, I'm talking about the backbone of our entire system. Bringing our foundations back also means social connections and the sense of community security that comes from knowing our neighbors and knowing that our children are safe playing outside and walking down our streets.
A deal is where I give you something and you give me something in return. We don't need to make a deal, New or otherwise. We need to build a Foundation. A strong foundation under our feet will let us reach for our potential much more than making a deal that we can see eroded by future deals. In the 1930's, we needed a New Deal. In the 21st century, we need a Foundation.
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