Release the Kraken

Release the Kraken! Our federal government now has the power to tax stuff we don't buy!  So you're 28 years old, feeling immortal and would rather save money for that 5% federally subsidized down payment on your upcoming mortgage rather than buy health insurance...that will be $2,400 please.  Yes, it's time to tax you for not buying something.  Funny story:  I was shopping at Shaw's yesterday and when I came to the checkout counter the cashier said, "Oh I see you didn't buy any milk...that will be 75 cents.  You know the dairy farmers are having a really tough time because of all the regulations keeping the price of milk affordable, so if you don't buy milk the government won't be able to afford the subsidies.  So, they need to tax you if you don't purchase it. Oh, no eggs today...that will be 35 cents."  Great place Amerika.

Why can’t we just get along? I don’t know how many times I’ve rhetorically asked that simple question of Congress. I guess it’s not as easy as we think. Over the years our two political parties have taken on distinct personalities and I can’t see any change coming soon. I’m not certain that these personalities are true representations of what the parties believe, but it does explain why they won’t (can’t) compromise with each other. A typical example of their personalities comes shining through when we look at their reaction to some recent phenomena: Occupy Wall Street and Tea Party activism.

Occupy Wall Street is a grass roots protest movement against income inequality, unemployment, greed and corporate (especially the financial service sector) influence on Government. The movement’s slogan is “We are the 99%” which refers to the vast concentration of wealth among the top 1% of income earners compared to the other 99 percent, and indicates that most people are paying the price for the mistakes of a tiny minority. Irrespective of the validity of their assertions, the Occupy Wall Street movement is embraced by the President and the Democratic Party.

The Tea Party is a grass roots movement against inherent government excesses such as government spending and taxation. It seeks to reduce government spending and the national debt; it opposes taxation in varying degrees and promotes an originalist interpretation of the United States Constitution. Similarly, irrespective of the validity of their position, the Republican Party embraces the Tea Party movement.

So, tell me: where is there room for compromise between these two positions? Democrats can compromise with themselves within the framework of Occupy Wall Street. Republicans can compromise with themselves within the framework of the Tea Party. But it would be heretical for a Democrat to embrace reduced government spending; similarly, it would be heretical for a Republican to support higher taxation. So where is the room for compromise?

My take on it is that as a country we will need to go in one of two basic directions: one party rule or one fundamental understanding of the relationship between the public and private sectors. In one party rule 50–55% of the population (the majority) will determine the direction of the country. The remaining percentage of the population, 45-49%, will be disaffected. There will be no need to compromise with the Party out of power. The people will generally vote with their pocketbooks. When the population has a majority of economically satisfied citizens, the tendency will be to stay the course politically and gradually increase the role of government to more equitably redistribute wealth. This is the inexorable movement of the nation to European-style democratic socialism. This is our recent history. In the second direction the two political parties have a common understanding of the relationship between government and free enterprise. The common understanding is based on either limited government principles or expanding government principles. Based on this commonality they engage in the give-and-take of satisfying varying interests and reach a mutually acceptable compromise. This requires men and women of opposing parties to associate with one another professionally and socially. Our country’s history is based on limited government principles. But as Bob Dillon, the cultural spokesman of the 60’s, sang “these times they are a’changin.” A common understanding around limited government principles is the harder course and, consequently, the less likely.

So, why can’t we just get along? There just aren’t enough Jethro Tull freaks left who want to “go living in the past.” We want progress. We want to move forward. Who needs to read old books? C.S. Lewis famously said that “the only pallative was to keep the clean sea breeze of the centuries blowing through our minds.” And the only way to do that was to read old books. But, we all know that you can’t trust anyone over 40.

Here’s some interesting data to chew on:

Breakdown of Income and Taxes Paid by Category
Income category	2009 AGI	Percent of All Income	Percent of Taxes Paid
Top 1 %	Over $ 343,927	17 %	37 %
Top 5 %	Over $ 154,643	32 %	59 %
Top 10 %	Over $ 112,124	43 %	70 %
Top 25 %	Over $ 66,193	66 %	87 %
Top 50 %	Over $ 32,396	87 %	98 %
Bottom 50%	Under $ 32, 396	13 %	2 %

Great comments on our jokevof a healthcare system from Elizabeth Warren.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=LeYCk5ooNvY

Finding Peace in a Mad World

Some days I wake up, read the news of the day, and marvel at how angry everyone seems to be. I know everyone isn’t angry but the news makes me think otherwise. Anger is newsworthy; peace doesn’t sell. At a basic level I’m really quite impressed with the anger because it shows passion for something. People are angry that the government bailed out the financial system and all that the people got was a stable (yet feeble) economy while investment bankers continue to make millions. People are angry that Joe Paterno is still coaching Penn State. People are angry that the government continues to wrack up debt. People are angry that Republicans are heartless. People are angry that Democrats are secret socialists. People are angry that the President hates Israel. People are angry that Herman Cain’s campaign manger smokes. I mean there is a lot of anger out there. Sure it might seem misplaced to you or to me, but to the people feeling it…rest assured, it is real.

If I let myself, I can be angry too. But I don’t want to be angry. I want to be at peace. So I choose to be at peace. Easy for me to say? Not really. I’d like to explore the idea of why I’m at peace. It has very little to do with economics. I think there are a bunch of reasons but the big one is that I am convinced that I am not my body. What? I’m talking about me personally, the essence of me, the real me, the me that is inside my head. That me is an immortal being, a real personal something that outlasts my body. There’s a great quote by a 20^th century Jesuit named Teilhard de Chardin, “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience, we are spiritual beings havng a human experience.” Let that sink in.

If you come to the place in your thought where you are convinced that you actually live forever, it does change how you view the anger of this world. You can be in the world, yet not of the world. Once you are at peace with immortality, then the focus becomes the nature of that immortal existence and that is a wonderful journey. The fruit of that journey takes us back to Main Street and we can ever so slightly ease the pain.

Behind The Occupy Movement

I have spoken to a number of people about the occupy movement sweeping the globe in recent days. Today I was on a call with Peter Block and John McKnight of Abundant community. The conversation among participants was robust and the insights valuable relating to this event.

Back in February I wrote a post called “Egypt Thou Art Me.” The premise was that we Americans should not watch Egypt’s citizen movement passively but rather be inspired by it and remain mindful of our own strife and internal challenges.

Occupy Wall street is what this blog and that post are about…people having a sense of the need to regain local control and power over their lives. In constitutional terms it is referred to as the sovereign right to economic, social, educational and spiritual liberty.

The occupy movement runs deeper than the redistribution of wealth or compensation. It is a rebellion against a culture organized around interests, rights and entitlements. An increasing number of people are feeling compelled to go because they feel isolated in their lives, without control of economic, social, educational and spiritual issues. They hope to connect and reestablish a local conversation to consider their alternatives. They are finding each other at these events all across the country and world.

To the participants Wall Street and Washington are the same and synonymous with taking away their individual voice. Both have become out of reach or too big to fail or something, and have blatantly ignored our individual citizen and consumer interests in favor of their own. Instinctively occupiers understand that the decisions and governance of these two behemoths are affecting their lives…they feel swept up in it all…powerless and are not willing to take it anymore.

Occupy is an attempt at restoration of citizen local control. It is a rebellion against the value of nothing...where mortgages that have no value are combined and called an asset. Where debt is bundled and is called an asset. Where corporations limit choices and ask more for less. Where political parties argue ideology and maneuver for power and accomplish nothing. Occupiers are no longer willing to tolerate the result of such actions that benefit the few yet so severely impact the many. They seek to reestablish a connection to their own real assets with real value and locally control the transfer of value in those things to money or currency…to engage in local food, business, banking, education, neighborhoods and trade.

They are criticized for not being able to articulate what they want. But they are smart to not get into specifics and stay on a set of principles which only our democracy can address. They understand that if they do get issue specific they will be no better than a political party. Then like all special interests, they will find themselves in an argument, which will divert the point. This movement is not to be underestimated and will not go away anytime soon.

Congressional Reform Act of 2011

The 26th amendment (granting the right to vote for 18 year-olds) took only 3 months and 8 days to be ratified! Why? Simple! The American people demanded it. That was in 1971...before computers, before e-mail, before cell phones, and before 24 hour cable TV news cycles.

Of the 27 amendments to the Constitution, seven (7) took 1 year or less to become the law of the land...all because of public pressure.

Based on numerous recent conversations with colleagues, friends and others I cross paths with everyday it is clear that average Americans are ready to apply a high level of public pressure to clean up Washington's legislative behavior and return to governance that is by the people for the people. The problem is busy average Americans just don't know how to go about this. They are not clear on how to move beyond polls and the voting booth to organize and focus public pressure that can break through Washington's screamingly idiotic dysfunctional approach to running our government and country. They are frustrated and feel powerless.

Here is one idea that came to me from a friend, and really should be passed around.

Congressional Reform Act of 2011

1. A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of office. No Tenure / No Pension.

2. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security. All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose.

3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.

4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.

5. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.

6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people..

7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen are void effective 1/1/12. The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen. Congressmen made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work.

If each person who reads this contacts a minimum of twenty people then it will only take three days for most people (in the U.S. ) to receive the message.

It is time.

News Corp and Watergate

Are there comparisons to be made between the Murdoch News Corp. hacking scandal and the Nixon administrations Watergate scandal? Albeit this is the media not a sitting US President, yet the gravity, consequence and nefarious nature resonates. Illicit payments, attempts at cover-up, wiretapping / hacking, desire for power control and leaders who insulate themselves from "specific knowledge" of illegal activity.

Will there be a smoking gun?