Words of a Great Orator

President Barack Obama is a great orator. He proved it once again tonight when he addressed the Congress. He had the Republicans on their feet applauding his words many times during his presentation. Considering Republican opposition to most of the president’s proposals this was a big surprise. The replay of various parts of his speech on CNN programs throughout the evening confirmed my view that he gave us another outline of the goals he set when he was campaigning in 2008. As Joseph Stiglitz pointed out on CNN, “the devil is in the detail” and those details could derail his objectives. Every thinking American wants the president to succeed because if he does all of us will too.

California Politicians are Failures

The state legislature has approved a budget that signs off on the idea that incompetence is acceptable. The result of the new budget is that our sales tax and vehicle property tax will be one of the highest in the nation. What makes this situation even more horrifying is that the state will still have to borrow money to balance its budget.

It is obvious that state government needs to be reorganized. It is very inefficient. The ability to legislate the changes needed for reorganization of the bureaucracy ought to be everyone’s criteria for electing all of the legislature and the state wide officers.

The silence from members of the legislature tells me that there is no will now to change anything. Recalls are not the answer. Newly elected people are the way to go. Forget party affiliation.

The British Select America’s Best Leaders

When I say, “the Queen” most people know that I am talking about Queen Elizabeth of England (the United Kingdom). America’s ties to England have really existed ever since the colonization of America. The exception being that period from the Revolution until The War of 1812 was settled. THE BRITISH EMPIRE AND THE UNITED STATES. By William Archibald Dunning, a Columbia University professor, was a book published in 1914 that marveled at the fact that despite many “bickerings, Americans and Britons had remained continuously at peace for 100 years.” Today we are nearing 200 years. This was brought to my attention by a New York Times on-line archive piece.

It is interesting to find that English fascination with America is as strong as America’s fascination with England. AOL’s list of the ten best and worst presidents is a replication of The Times of London’s listing on their web site from October 31, 2008. It came as no surprise to me that President George W. Bush made the list of the worst ten. That President Jimmy Carter did not make the list of the ten worst did surprise me. President Andrew Johnson succeeded Abraham Lincoln, was a southerner who did not further the civil rights of the newly freed slaves, and was worthy of being on the list of the ten worst presidents. The C-SPAN survey did put Andrew Johnson in his well earned 42nd place.

I certainly hope Barack Obama is one of the 10 best. His goals are so high and the world so troubled that I am guessing he will only serve one term. My family says it’s too early to predict his performance. I hope I am wrong.

Greed is the Problem

What in tarnation is a board member to do with all of those “new fangled” securities that are so goldang hard to understand? That is the essence of Jack Welch’s Welch Way column in BusinessWeek posted on January 14, 2009.

The wealthy of America don’t get it! The rest of us are fed up! It’s not just the people on Wall Street. It’s the economists, the managers of the big corporations, the people who manage our government entities and everyone else that have “life styles of the rich and famous.” All of them have taken advantage of the free enterprise system but few have participated in making America and the world a better place.

The eight CEOs of the largest banks and investment houses in the country looked totally foolish at a televised House committee hearing today. These were the leaders of Wells Fargo & Co., Morgan Stanley, The Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., JP Morgan Chase & Co., State Street Corp. and the Bank of New York Mellon. None of them were apologetic about receiving outrageously high pay as their banks were losing money. Despite claiming to be experts in their field none could explain how they had been unable to see the credit crises they had created.

Jack Welch defended corporate CEOs and boards in his BusinessWeek column How Much Blame Do Boards Deserve? contending, “Unfortunately, even boards with sound judgment didn’t stand much of a chance against the newfangled financial instruments that sparked this crisis.” He writes in this column “board members are only at a company “one or two days a month and are composed of individuals who also hold demanding full-time jobs.” He says Shareholder activists expect too much from board members. So why do so many board members receive pay of $100,000 or more per year?

The Peanut Corporation of America was reported to have knowingly shipped contaminated food. The owners and managers refused to testify to a congressional committee and sight their rights under the 5^th amendment of the Constitution. They take the position that it only cost nine deaths and sickened 600 people. From an Associated Press report, “The company’s internal records show it “was more concerned with its bottom line than the safety of its customers,” said committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif.”

The real issue is the wealthy protecting their fifedoms. Neither stock holders, employees, nor government have any control over their behavior. The irreconcilable excuses of executives in finance, auto manufacturing, and other industries will ultimately result in more government control. However their power will not diminish significantly and they will continue to be spearate from mainstream America. This is all the result of the laissez-faire philosophy laid out by President Ronald Reagan when he said “government is the problem.” That president was wrong. Greed is the problem.

Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin

___What is there about the month of February?

Superstitious people could believe that February 12 has some significance to God or some other super natural force. On or about this date some of the most famous and significant people were born. If they were not born precisely on this date they were born a few days before or later. The two most famous are Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin. Both of them were born on this date.

George Washington was born on February 22. Ronald Reagan was born on February 6. Sarah Palin on February 11. Thomas Edison on February 11. Jack Benny on February 14. Susan B. Anthony on February 15. Nicolas Copernicus was born on February 19. Ansel Adams was on February 20. Edward (Ted) Kennedy and Chopin were born on February 22. George Fredric Handel, composer of “Messiah” in 1841, was born on February 23. John Steinbeck and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow were both born on February 27.

Abraham Lincoln personified the evolution of man that Charles Darwin theorized. Of course Darwin’s “Origin of Species” was about the physical evolution of life but I believe it can also be applied to the evolution of mankind. The Magna Carta (The Great Charter) originally signed in 1215 is considered to be the beginning of the evolution of man’s rights in an ever developing world.

Only three of the original clauses in Magna Carta are still law. One defends the freedom and rights of the English church, another confirms the liberties and customs of London and other towns, but the third is the most famous:

No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled . nor will we proceed with force against him . except by the lawful judgement of his equals or by the law of the land. To no one will we sell, to no one deny or delay right or justice.

This statement of principle, buried deep in Magna Carta, was given no particular prominence in 1215, but its intrinsic adaptability has allowed succeeding generations to reinterpret it for their own purposes and this has ensured its longevity. In the fourteenth century Parliament saw it as guaranteeing trial by jury. Sir Edward Coke interpreted it as a declaration of individual liberty in his conflict with the early Stuart kings and it has resonant echoes in the American Bill of Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation is part of America’s evolution starting with the Declaration of Independence that has brought the country to elect its first Black president. The whole world should be enthused by the 200^th birthday of Abraham Lincoln and ought to believe that all societies can aspire to the same ideals.

NO on Los Angeles Measure B

There is a proposition on the March 3, 2009 ballot for some kind of investment that will provide solar generated electric. The issue with the plan is the actual cost. As I understand the plan solar cells will be installed on top of major buildings and be sent into the city’s electrical grid. Two reports on the cost are providing conflicting data. One report says the cost will be $1 billon and a second says the cost will be $3 billon. Too many people oppose this proposal to support it. Included in the opposition is the highly respected city controller, Laura Chick. I really honor her opinion. This situation is so bad that we have not received sample ballots for the upcoming election. Clearly this is a city suffering with major mismanagement.

Same Old Politics

American political parties are bankrupt. By this I mean that there are few differences between Democrats and Republicans. This is not a new opinion of mine. Take a look at the party in power and the one out of power and they almost always behave the same way depending upon their current predicament.

During the George W. Bush administration the Republicans had control of both houses of Congress for six of the eight years. The result was over spending and a lack of focus on the future impact of the laws they passed or did not pass. Earmarked pork projects were perfectly acceptable. It was the very things that Republicans accused Democrats of doing. Another good example was Richard Nixon imposing price controls in the early 1970s. The idea was one that has been promoted many times by Democrats. It was an effort to control inflation. Once those controls were removed inflation roared into life and would be one of the factors that resulted in Jimmy Carter becoming a one term president.

Now it’s the Barack Obama administration with a Democratic Congress in control and this administration behaves in the same manner. The Democratic Congress wants to pass legislation that takes our nation even deeper into debt with no plan on how the nation will solve its long term economic issues. The Bush administration rushed TARP, Troubled Assets Relief Program (the bank rescue plan); through Congress without adequate consideration and now Obama wants to do the same thing in reviving the economy.

The minority party always takes the opposite view of the majority even when the majority is correct. Where are the new ideas that will make our nation succeed? They are not likely to come from the same old crowd that has been part of the political parties for decades. Barack Obama was correct stating that we need change. He just has not provided any of it. At the end of the first 100 days and later at the end of the first 1000 days I predict that it will still be politics as usual.