Medicare/Social Security Debate

The Democrats love that this is becoming a topic in this campaign. That way they get to stand up and say that they are defending Grandma. They get to say that the Republicans are trying to take away her only source of income and her healthcare. The strange thing this year is that the Republicans are trying to argue that Obama is trying to take it away and they are defending it. This is because Obamacare's budget shifts some money currently spent on Medicare. It's on the hospital side and does nothing to benefits, but somehow the Republicans are trying to use this to argue that Obama is actually scarier for seniors. Not true at all, and it just goes to show, at this point Romney will say absolutely anything to win. Really, he will. But that's really not the point of what I feel like saying. What I really want to note is that medicare and social security actually do need some reform. That the screw the people privatizing that the Republicans want, but reasonable reform. The Republicans are right in one respect. There just isn't enough money to keep making empty promises. Most states including California are in lots of trouble because they buried their heads in the sand about what they could actually pay in pensions. And my guess is left to their own devices, Democrats would walk off that same plank. So I guess, I understand what the Democrats are doing politically. They are clearly more compassionate that the folks who just want to raise everyone's taxes for the great majority of people so the few at the top can get more breaks, but I wish the Democrats could be more honest about it. Yes. We need higher taxes, more revenue, but we also need to make real efforts to control costs.

What he's hiding

Part of me thought that silly season would end after Romney sewed up the nomination, but it doesn't really appear that way. We're still getting hit by all kinds of stories and some of them should matter to who becomes president and who shouldn't. Here's the deal on the Bain stuff. It's a private equity company that's done very well. Romney was the guy in charge. If he wants to run on that record, fine, but if he wants to claim that he created 100,000 American jobs while he was there (he used this number in the primaries, but seems to have backed away from it), he needs to take his lumps and take the hit for the outsourcing and the jobs lost as well. It just comes across as real weaselly when he tries to take credit for the good things that happened at Bain, but claim he wasn't responsible for any other decisions. He's probably honest in that he was busy chairing the Olympics and wasn't involved in day to day decisions at the company, but if he was still signing SEC documents and attending board meetings for various Bain interests, it's pretty hard for him to say that all the bad stuff happened without him. And he looks like a fool going to the papers for retractions on stories where there is a clear paper trail. That just makes him look like a baby. Does any of this matter? Only a little. Only because Romney has been telling us that it matters. It's one of twenty or so things out there that make you question his character. Nothing completely damming, but plenty to give one pause because you can't be sure that he really gets it. If he had a real economic plan for creating jobs that people could get behind, no one would care. But so far this is all we got. Cut taxes for rich folks and maybe raise taxes on everybody else. And speaking of taxes, that's the other part of this issue. He refuses to release any more tax returns. Especially those returns reflecting the Bain period in question. He's saying it's a witch hunt, but the more he says this and demand an apology, people are left to wonder what the hell this guy must be hiding. We already know that he's got buckets of money. We already know he's never paid the same tax rate the great majority of us pay. We already know he's familiar with banking in the Caymens and Switzerland. So what else can there be. I'm pretty sure what he's hiding that there are a lot of years where he made a lot of money, but didn't pay any taxes. He's mostly been just a passive investor. So it's possible that he's been clearing $20 million a year and through proper tax strategy he may have paid nothing, or even gotten money back from the government. That could sit wrong with a lot of people, which is why he doesn't want to talk about any of this. Anybody else have a guess?

Daddy Day

So for Father's Day I got sweet cold coffee drink from Starbucks and a day of relative peace. All this really meant is that Wifey ended up doing many of the chores I usually do while I watched a basketball game on TV. That might not sound like a big deal, but it's all I need. And really the kids show their appreciation. There was a father's day event at J's school and she seemed so proud to have her daddy there. Though I'm not sure why I appear to be smoking a pipe in the portrait of me she drew. So I just wanted to spend a quick moment reflecting on the kids because that's really what being a father is about. Maybe some day the kids will want to know what their childhood meant to me. Little S. You are the most undisciplined little kid. You never listen to a thing anyone says and insist on doing everything your own way. When I tell you not to do something, you just smile at me and do whatever you want to do anyway. Will you ever figure out what No means? Yet you have the most infectious laughter and you're always full of joy. Keep learning. Keep getting stronger. And still, never change. Little J. Yes. For you I am the tiger dad. I want you to know everything I know and more. I want you to be the strongest, smartest little girl in the whole world. And I'm going to push you to go there. As I tell you all the time, I want you to try your best. You have so much potential its unbelievable. I love your curiosity. But there are some times, I really wished you wouldn't talk so much. Stay cool this summer.

Every perp gets one shot free.

The wheels of justice are slowly grinding out in Florida over the death of this Martin kid. I don't know all the facts, but it seems like this didn't need to happen and I hope that the family gets the justice they deserve. Instead, they might get screwed by a terrible law.

In this case, justice seems to be at odds with the asinine law in the state of Florida. Traditionally, if there is a dispute and someone argues that they killed someone in self defense, the burden is on that person claiming self defense to proof he felt his life was at risk and that's why he took the drastic actions he did. You should have to explain yourself. Why didn't you have any other choice? Why were you forced to kill this person?

The Florida law switches the burden of proof on its head. If someone asserts that it was self defense, it becomes the burden of the state to prove that you actually didn't act in self defense. The state needs to find enough evidence to prove that you are lying. Usually, the only two people who can speak to that are the dead guy and the guy claiming it was self defense. In this Martin case, Zimmerman has claimed self defense and now the state is trying to prove that he wasn't forced to take this action. Although many people believe that's the case, it's tough to prove.

I'm thinking if I ever want to kill someone, I'm inviting them to take a trip to South Beach. And when they ask me why I did it I'm saying self defense under Jeb Bush's law.

In some twisted up NRA logic I'm sure this is supposed to make people safer. Something about if everyone has a gun and can claim self defense, we're all going to behave better. In reality, people are getting away with murder and being put right back on the streets if they are ever charged. Very bad law.

Oil Extraction Tax

Under current law, oil companies in California don't pay the state anything for taking oil out of the ground. If it comes from offshore, the oil companies pay the federal government a tax, but if it comes from the state itself, no one is collecting anything. Oil companies have been collecting and profiting off this common good own by all the citizens of the state for a hundred years without any tax revenue being generated for the state.

Just about every other oil producing state has an extraction or severance tax. Alaska charges 25% and it hasn't hindered their economic development in the least. Texas also taxes for the extraction of their oil creating two billion in revenue each year.

So, the fear might be that this tax would raise the price of gas at the pump. Not really. The demand would still be there. The price of oil on the world market would barely blink at this new tax.

This is another one of those easy answers once there is some political will. Just throwing the idea out there so maybe there will be enough will sometime soon.

Town Hall Meeting

I went to a morning town hall meeting with state representative Jerry Hill this morning. The state is proposing pretty draconian cuts to California Children's services. Families that make over $40,000 a year would no longer be eligible for services. This would mean no physical therapy or occupational therapy for S.

Needless to say this would be a huge hardship for our family. We would probably have to either go without or seek these services through our private insurance or out of our own pocket. It would probably cost us several hours a week to take her to these services, and most places that do provide these services do not usually deal with kids as involved as S. It's hard to imagine that the services would be anywhere close to equivalent.

So we were there to press the message that these budget cuts were a bad idea. First, it's morally wrong to cut services for the most vulnerable among us. It's a failure of the state. Second, it's shortsighted. Although there is savings in the short run. In the long term, it's going to cost everyone a lot more. S is 3 and showing signs that she may walk. Her therapists are working hard on this. If she walks, it will cost us and the state a lot less than if she never learns to walk. I don't know what the expense difference would be in the long term, but it must be significant.

Honestly, Mr. Hill did not seem aware of this detail in the budget. He seemed aware of the larger picture challenges with the education budget, but this detail had escaped him. I don't know if it makes a difference in the long run, but I think we were able to express that this issue was important to us. At the least, I think he will look into it.

There were a lot of other issues discussed during the town hall meeting. For a political junkie like me it was fun, though S seemed to think the whole think lasted too long.

Credibility Gap/Domestic

Just one quick note on my last post. I guess if I want to consider myself a total lefty, I have to take O to task for not being able to fulfill his campaign promise to close Guantamano while talking about foreign policy. Yeah. This is a mess. There's no good place to put these really bad people. I get that. But I also have no good answers for this. We can't let them go, and we can't try them all publicly. But it's a lot harder to clean up this mess than to start it. At least we can credibly say we're not torture people.

Okay. There are two things driving right wingers in this election. One is fiscal things. One is cultural. Today, I'm just going to touch on the fiscal thing. These people have essentially one policy. In good times, we should cut taxes. In bad times, we should cut taxes. We should especially cut taxes on rich people and corporations so they can have MORE incentive to make money (as if money in itself is not incentive). Self serving garbage. Not one of the Republican candidates is really talking about what they would do for the economy. Their only answers are to undo everything O has done. Take away financial regulation. Take away healthcare. Just common sense should tell you that this doesn't always work. That's all the have. That's it. Cutting taxes can be effective policy at times, but it is far from the answer to everything.

Will soaking it to the rich help? Yes and no. It's really not going to be more than a drop in the bucket to fix the budget issues. But it's still the right thing to do. It's the American thing to do. I can't believe so many politicians are standing on the wrong side of this issue.