The Right to Spread Disease

Measles is a highly contagious viral disease. It is widespread in many parts of the world, including Europe, Africa, and Asia. Measles begins with a fever that lasts for a couple of days, followed by a cough, runny nose, conjunctivitis (pink eye), and a rash. The rash typically appears first on the face, along the hairline, and behind the ears and then affects the rest of the body. Infected people are usually contagious from about 4 days before their rash starts to 4 days afterwards. Children routinely get their first dose of the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine at 12 months old or later. The second dose of MMR is usually administered before the child begins kindergarten but may be given one month or more after the first dose. For anyone planning to travel internationally, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) strongly encourages all Californians to make sure they are protected against measles and other dangerous diseases before they go abroad.

In December 2014, a large outbreak of measles started in California when at least 40 people who visited or worked at Disneyland theme park in Orange County contracted measles; the outbreak also spread to at least half a dozen other states. On April 17, 2015, the outbreak was declared over, since at least two 21-day incubation periods (42 days) have elapsed from the end of the infectious period of the last known outbreak-related measles case.

Pneumonia is one of several serious common complications of measles and the most common cause of death from the virus, said William Schaffner, a professor at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville. Measles kills one or two children out of every 1,000 infected, according to the CDC. At least one person was reported dead from this disease in July 2015.

At the end of June 2015 California passed a law requiring all children be vaccinated before they will be admitted to public schools. Three days after Gov. Jerry Brown signed one of the nation’s strictest mandatory vaccination bills, several hundred opponents rallied in Santa Monica on Friday and vowed to repeal it. Opponents of California’s tough new vaccine law filed petitions this past Monday seeking to put a referendum on the issue on the November 2016 ballot, but it may be a month before elections officials determine whether the ballot measure qualifies.

People have called California’s governor a fascist and other names for signing the law. The mystery is why would you not want to protect your children?

Auto Manufacturers Cannot be Trusted

Once again we have been reminded that auto manufacturers cannot be trusted. Remember that fact when you shop for your next car.

I always held Toyota in the highest regard. I used Toyota as a standard when urging my employees to do their best. I would say, “I want Toyota quality.” Those were my words in the 1980s and 1990s, well before Toyota’s developed an acceleration problem that cost lives. In my opinion there has never been an adequate explanation of the cause of that problem. Toyota ended up paying out a staggering $1.3 billion to settle lawsuits related to unintended acceleration, and in some of those cases the drivers were probably at fault.

General Motors kept quiet about the ignition switch that would shut off while their cars were in motion. That too cost lives. 13 people died. Almost 780,000 Chevrolet Cobalts and Pontiac G5s were recalled and the company paid a $35 million fine. What is sad is that it would have only cost 57 cents to fix each faulty ignition switch.

Now we have the VW installed software that masks the real performance of its diesel cars. There is no direct impact on the buyers of the cars but the company and its dealers will notice a substantial decline in sales. The company management is to blame for this stupid decision. 20% of German exports are cars shipments. Imagine what the impact will be on German factories.

How many other industries lie about their products?

Jeb Bush and Multiculturalism

Most nations in the world reject multiculturalism. Even in Canada they have decided to define Quebec as the French speaking, French oriented province while the rest of the country speaks English and is oriented towards the UK.

CNN reported that Jeb Bush argued today that the United States is “creeping toward multiculturalism” and described it as “the wrong approach.”

But Bush, who’s fluent in Spanish and lives in Miami, has made cultural diversity a key staple in his campaign. He routinely talks about his wife, who’s from Mexico, and the “bicultural” children that they’ve raised together. On Monday, while addressing the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Houston, Bush lauded the country’s mixture of cultural backgrounds, saying the immigrant experience adds a “vitality that is different and unique and extraordinary for our country.”

So what is Jeb Bush’s real opinion? At this point in the race to win the GOP nomination I am guessing that his words today, Tuesday, are meant to win the Conservative vote in Iowa.

His real problem is that his desire to win the nomination has made him turn and twist as Mitt Romney did in 2012. We all know how that worked out. No one believed him in the race against Obama and the loss that year was overwhelming.

No matter who the Democratic nominee is; Jeb as the GOP candidate, will face the argument that he does not have a clear reliable opinion and cannot be trusted on any issue. The Democrats are collecting the words of every GOP candidate and will be using them after the conventions in 2016. Hillary couldn’t be happier.

Being a Boss is not the same as being President of the United States

Let’s consider the leading outsiders who want the GOP nomination.

When you’re the boss there is no democracy involved. You make the rules and all of your employees must do as they are told. That includes department heads and company CEOs. So when Donald Trump, owner of a large business or Carly Fiorina, when she was CEO of Hewlett Packard gave an order it had to be followed. The consequence of not following your orders is their termination.

When you are a legislator you must sit with other legislators and agree on a plan that is then acted into law. You alone cannot command anyone to do anything (other than your immediate staff).

Those differences between being the boss and working with others to initiate orders are the reasons that CEOs and bosses are not necessarily successful in elected office. Former President Ronald Reagan never was a boss. He was an actor and in show business you must learn to get along with others to make a movie or television program.

Donald Trump owns his business. It is not listed on a stock exchange. When he gives an order to his employees they do as they are told. Not following Trump’s directions can lead to termination.

Carly Fiorina tried to do what she wanted in Hewlett Packard but even as CEO, while still being as boss, she still had a boss. That was the roll of the Board of Directors. Carly Fiorina left Hewlett Packard effective immediately upon termination. There were no goodbye parties.

Doctor Ben Carson probably had a team of assistance who responded to his direction. They too had no choice.

The skill set to work successfully in politics is not the same as being the boss. You may like what the non-politicians say but can they carry out their promises? Well not if they use the same skill set used as a boss.

A Gun Happy Nation

It’s all baloney. CNN headline is “Our Hearts are Broken” as they display photos of Alison Parker and Adam Ward. Horror and dismay along with weeks of coverage after the massacres at a Colorado movie theater by James Holmes and Sandy Hook elementary school and the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre. But we just can’t give up our guns.

After each event there are flowers laid at a critical location and a call for a gathering to remember those who have been killed. They call it a “vigil.” Then we all go on with life knowing that there will be another horrifying killing within the next few days.

The Los Angeles Times had an article about this very topic in the morning’s edition before the latest killing in Virginia. The article says that the United States is the leader in the most mass killing of any country in the world.

Where is our congress? On vacation forever on this issue.

So despite the killing of nine in a Black church in South Carolina and the killing in Tucson, Arizona that left Gabrielle Giffords maimed for life; Our love for guns trumps all other events. Our preference to own a gun has no limits. There is no price too high to pay that will change our love of guns.

When our leaders say we are the exceptional country is gun ownership part of that? The answer must be yes. Is there another reason we allow everyone to own a gun?

Owning a Home in North America

Vancouver Skyline from the bay in Stanley Park

Just this past July 22 we returned from a trip that included five days in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. While there we rode one of the Hop On Hop Off city tours. The guide was obviously quite knowledgeable about the city. It is a city of many very attractive 20 to 30 story high buildings. She informed us that the cost of the apartments in those buildings started at $1 million (Canadian). Although the Canadian dollar is currently about 30 cents lower in value than the American dollar it has been almost identical during the past few years. So the cost of living in Vancouver is high.

Meanwhile here in California the cost of homes has been equally as high. The median home price value in San Francisco is over $1 million reports Zillow. They say it’s a 12.7% increase during the past year and predicts even higher prices in the coming five years.

Down here in Los Angeles Home sales reached a nine-year high in July, prices climbed 5.5% from a year earlier, according a report out Tuesday from CoreLogic a company that tracks home prices throughout southern California. The Los Angeles Times reports that Zillow says “Los Angeles and Orange County are the least affordable housing market in the country.”

Interestingly Portland, Oregon is the city that has experienced the least impact of the inflated home prices with median home prices of about $327,000. However not to be out done their prices have also risen over 10% in the past year.

However as the price of homes has risen the average family income has not risen by comparable amounts. In Portland, Oregon median family income was $55,571 in 2013. In Los Angeles that number was $48,466. Using the old standard of qualifying to buy a home 2½ to 3 to times your family annual income that calculates to a home costing $150,000. No wonder so many young adults are still living with their parents.

What is causing inflated home prices? Googling that question shows lots of analysis but no answers. Here is my take.

Most cities have run out of space for new building. That translates into more high rise housing. Those kinds of structures are expensive to build. Those buildings are townhouse/condominiums translate into expensive homes. Even Los Angeles, a city known for single family homes, has turned to more apartment housing because travel times have become too long (a 1½ hour drive to the airport or to work has become the norm). Average families simply cannot afford that style of housing so they move to the outer edge of the city. That’s where I live.

Thousands of people from other nations have been buying homes in the United States and Canada because it is a safe place to invest their money. That demand has driven up the price of American and Canadian homes. There have been a series of news items and opinion pieces in the Los Angeles Times that have pointed to this growing trend. 47% of Vancouver is now populated by Asians. The San Gabriel Valley area of metropolitan Los Angeles has experienced a growing Asian population to the point that many long time residents have voiced their concern about the changing demographics. Those voices made their way into the newspaper.

http://www.bankrate.com says, “International homebuyers have been pouring billions of dollars into the U.S. housing market as they take advantage of lower home prices and a weaker dollar.” “When buying a home in the United States, foreign buyers often pay cash because it’s a much easier, quicker process, says real estate agent Baro Shalizi of Shalizi Real Estate, in Santa Fe, N.M.” When an elderly acquaintance of mine sold his home for more than $700,000 the buyer paid for it in cash. That all cash offer made the sale easy and eliminated all other offers.

Now cities are confronted with the question of providing decent housing for young families that have median incomes. Without the needed homes there is an impact on the buying habits of those families. They will live with their families. That translates to reduced purchases of refrigerators, lawn mowers, and everything else that homeowners buy.

There will be one of three consequences or perhaps some combination. 1) Government does nothing and young families double up to buy a home or continuing living with parents. 2) There will be subsidized housing for the median income families. 3) More people living farther from the big cities in order to buy a home and that results in more commuters.

Another Effort to Reduce Competition

Over the past 35 years since Ronald Reagan became president we have seen a decline in competition in the United States. His words “Government is the problem” was a signal to those who could accumulate more wealth and control of businesses at the expense of America’s general welfare. Reagan’s philosophy was government should not interfere with business. Thus we now have just four banking companies that control most finance. There is a handful of pharmacy chains, and a handful of supermarket chains spread across the nation that set the price you will pay for eggs, meat, and everything other food product.

List of largest banks in the United States

Rank	Bank name	Headquarters
1	JPMorgan Chase	New York City, NY
2	Bank of America	Charlotte, North Carolina
3	Citigroup	New York City, NY
4	Wells Fargo	San Francisco, California

Chances are you do your banking at one of the branches of these companies.

List of largest drug store chains in the United States

Walgreens
CVS
Rite Aid
Walmart

Chances are you are buying some part of your drug supplies from one of these companies. Go into any of them and you will find their prices to be almost the same.

Now imagine what the cost of health care will be when the number of insurance providers is reduced. Did you know that Blue Cross and Blue Shield are both owned by Anthem? This is not a new fact.

Yesterday Centene said it will spend $6.3 billion to buy fellow insurer Health Net. Today Hartford, Conn.-based Aetna will spend about $35 billion to buy rival Humana. Now Health insurance giant Anthem presses for Cigna takeover at $54 billion.

Of course these companies argue that their consolidation will lower costs. For Who?

Will the federal government stop these consolidations? Who are the major contributors to presidential campaigns? Who provides the money to help your congressional representative and senator? Small donations are accepted but the big donors aren’t supporting those elected officials without receiving something in return.

A Less Than United Nation

The rift between rural America and urban America reached its peak when the South declared itself a separate country. Many differences were not resolved with the end of the Civil War. Yes slavery was ended but the bitterness remains palpable. This issue really revolves around the choice of change or keep things the way they have always been. Conservatives abhor change. “(Give Me That) Old-Time Religion” is a traditional Gospel song dating from 1873.

It was good for our mothers,…
It was good for our fathers,…
It will take us all to heaven,…

The song and its sentiments have been recited in many movies because they are, in my opinion, the beliefs and philosophy of most southern and mid-western families. “Inherit the Wind” really does tell us the differences between the big city view of the world and the small town/country view.

“Five days after the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark ruling on same-sex marriage, a federal judge for the Southern District of Alabama on Wednesday clarified that such couples should be granted licenses to marry. But neither judicial action cuts much ice in parts of Alabama and in other devout areas of the South where same-sex marriage is looked on as anathema. In Kentucky, four county clerks were refusing to issue licenses to same-sex couples and one in Louisiana was refusing, according to a count by Amanda Snipes, campaign manager for Southerners for Freedom to Marry. In Hood County, south of Ft. Worth, County Clerk Katie Lang initially posted a statement saying she would not issue same-sex marriage licenses due to her religious beliefs, but she posted another statement online late Tuesday saying her office will issue them.”

“The Supreme Court by a 5-4 vote blocked the state of Texas, at least for now, from enforcing a strict new abortion law that was likely to close most of the state’s remaining abortion clinics. Gov. Greg Abbott had defended the abortion restrictions as Texas’ then-attorney general, and continued to support the restrictions after winning the gubernatorial election in November. He described HB 2 as “a constitutional exercise of Texas’ lawmaking authority,” and said in a statement Monday that he is “confident the Supreme Court will ultimately uphold this law.” An abortion bill that would require women in North Carolina to wait 72 hours before having the procedure cleared the state Legislature on Wednesday June 1 and is now heading to the desk of Gov. Pat McCrory.”

The above were copied from the Los Angeles Times. They accurately report the difference between Southern and Mid-Western states compared to the North East and West Coast states. The views on gay marriage and abortion are 180 degrees from each other. Those are the two most significant differences that really separate Americans. There are other issue that separate Americans too. Right-to-work states are primarily those in the South but include many mid-western states.

The above map of the Right-to-work states is similar to the maps of those states that have been more likely to oppose abortions. The also happen to be the states that fought the Affordable Care Act and other more progressive (liberal) laws.

I am not convinced America is really the united States.