Collective Amnesia

Unfortunately, we are suffering in an increasingly acrimonious political climate - the fact that the Republicans can be so downright nasty as to wring any joy or hope out of Obama's presidency is staggering. People are flocking to purveyors of negativity in such distressing fashion that they have managed to blame the President for everything that is wrong in America. Why are we allowing such collective amnesia?

The fact that we have an opinion (in the guise of news) channel that can claim number one status because there are so many followers of its relentless negativity should make us all shudder. Yet, they are making inroads and we will regret this when we start to vote all of these haters into office come November. Because, their supporters will show up in droves, the rest of us will not and by apathy allow it to happen.

There may be many things wrong with America but allowing a culture of hate and by extension allowing the political party that brought us the last not so wondrous decade to return should bring us pause.

Let's Just Elect the Lobbyists and Skip the Charade

The word is trickling out that the Senate has reached a healthcare agreement that does not include a public option. In lieu of the public option, it is suggested that medicare be opened up to those 55 and over - they would have to pay a premium - and medicare would be increased to cover those making up to 130% (or thereabouts) of the federal poverty rate. While this option would help those who currently have no health insurance, it does nothing to help those of us covered by increasingly expensive employer plans. Without a public option to provide competition to private insurers, how will they ever have any incentive to lower prices?

Healthcare is not just about providing coverage to those who do not have it, it is also about the rest of us who are paying through the nose for it; employers and employees alike. What is truly sad is that the general consensus is that a bad bill is better than no bill? Of this, I am very afraid. If healthcare costs increase over the next 5 years at the same rate as the last 5, we are doomed. How much more of our paychecks will be lost to premiums and taxes?

Though we have known for quite some time that the special interests were winning, it is pretty clear to me now that they have won; they have completely hijacked the will of the people. After all, there has been very little legislation coming out of Congress that has been good for the average citizen for quite some time. As one letter writer to the Times Editorial page put it, "Maybe we should elect the lobbyists directly to Congress and skip the charade." (11/29/09)

Republican Sickness

We are all familiar with the Republican party's flagrant opposition to the current Democratic-controlled government. This has been well documented and manifested via an almost unilateral blanket of "no" when it comes to any policy changes proposed by congressional Democrats. In fact, their almost unanimous opposition, now hijacked and irrationally perpetuated by the Fox Opinion Machine (nee News) has already led to such a deep muddling of the healthcare overhaul that I fear we will not recover from it. Is it possible that they can get even more egregious than this? Yes they can, 30 of them did:

"Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) introduced an amendment to a defense appropriations bill that would prevent the federal government from funding contractors whose employee contracts prevent workers from pursuing allegations of rape against co-workers.

The measure passed the Senate by a vote of 68 to 30, with all 30 'no' votes being cast by Republicans. Notably, 10 Senate Republicans voted for the measure, including all four female Republican senators.

Franken was inspired to push the amendment by the story of Jamie Leigh Jones, who was an employee of KBR -- at the time a subsidiary of Halliburton -- working in Baghdad's Green Zone when she was allegedly gang-raped by other KBR workers." (excerpt from rawstory.com 10/7/09).

There is no other way to describe this as downright sickness. If you are against the ruling party, come up with your own plausible solutions and, by rationally opposing, win the respect of the people you represent but more importantly, sway some of the people from the other side. But to flagrantly vote against a provision that seeks to curb and punish downright deviant behavior just to prolong an already irrational opposition is a sickness of the mind that no political party should sanction. This is the party of morality and family values? With this one, these 30 Republicans have really crossed the line from mere opposition to pure and utter lunacy (and hatred in my opinion). How else can you characterize it?

Dirty Politics

Sometimes, you come across an article that sums up very well the seriousness of the current political discourse. Though many of us have been concerned about the escalating diatribes against the President, we believe that it is only a fringe group (read the Fox Crowd) that can and should be ultimately dismissed. However, there is much to consider when dirty politics begins to cross the line from ranting and raving into downright hatred. The following excerpt from Thomas Friedman's Op Ed column,"Where Did 'We Go? in the New York Times, September 29, 2009 certainly gives us all food for thought.

"I hate to write about this, but I have actually been to this play before and it is really disturbing.

I was in Israel interviewing Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin just before he was assassinated in 1995. We had a beer in his office. He needed one. I remember the ugly mood in Israel then — a mood in which extreme right-wing settlers and politicians were doing all they could to delegitimize Rabin, who was committed to trading land for peace as part of the Oslo accords. They questioned his authority. They accused him of treason. They created pictures depicting him as a Nazi SS officer, and they shouted death threats at rallies. His political opponents winked at it all.

And in so doing they created a poisonous political environment that was interpreted by one right-wing Jewish nationalist as a license to kill Rabin — he must have heard, “God will be on your side” — and so he did.

Others have already remarked on this analogy, but I want to add my voice because the parallels to Israel then and America today turn my stomach: I have no problem with any of the substantive criticism of President Obama from the right or left. But something very dangerous is happening. Criticism from the far right has begun tipping over into delegitimation and creating the same kind of climate here that existed in Israel on the eve of the Rabin assassination.

What kind of madness is it that someone would create a poll on Facebook asking respondents, “Should Obama be killed?” The choices were: “No, Maybe, Yes, and Yes if he cuts my health care...

Even if you are not worried that someone might draw from these vitriolic attacks a license to try to hurt the president, you have to be worried about what is happening to American politics more broadly."

Maybe the rest of us have to stage an intervention.

The State of New York: Part Two

Governor Paterson is talking budget again. Today he revealed in a public meeting with state legislators that the deficit has reached $3,000,000,000, some $900,000,000 more than was initially projected. Though he urged legislators to find spending cuts to help balance the budget, no date was set for them to return to Albany to do so. Reporters were much more concerned about Paterson's election bid rather than issues with the state deficit. Typical. I guess we have all been so deluged with budget deficit numbers and projections that this is simply not news?

Meanwhile, hundreds of MTA employees protested outside of MTA headquarters today against the MTA's decision not to accept a binding arbitration ruling that granted them an 11% raise over the next 3 years. The MTA is appealing this decision because they claim that they simply cannot afford it. In fact, New York State definitely cannot afford it. It is interesting that an arbitrator could grant such a generous raise given the financial woes of the state. But, even if the state has no money, all of the various unions still expect to get their just desserts as usual.

Today Paterson stated that he was not going to offer any suggestions for budget cuts because he did not want to hear any flack from the unions until the legislators meet again. In the most budget showdown, the unions won out and the budget actually went up several billion dollars despite the fact that tax revenues would continue to decline. Attempting to roll back what has been granted to the various unions is going to get nasty again. But, none of this will really be big news now, will it?

Oh No He Di'n't!

It has been widely reported that the White House has requested that Governor Paterson not seek election in 2010. Who does Barack Obama (and his Administration) think they are to stretch the long arm of interference into New York politics? Oh no he di'n't! Despite the fact that this tactic is straight out of the Karl Rove playbook, the fringe conservatives are having a field day. They will use anything that they can to cement their scare tactic case against the President, as they have been recently portraying him, among other things, as a socialist dictator wanna be. Nevermind that Paterson has incredibly dismal approval ratings and the Democrats, from a party standpoint, need to secure their current majority.

Then again, you can't blame Paterson for refusing to step aside. After all, he ascended to Governor of New York after Eliot Spitzer, popular crusading Attorney General-turned-Governor, was upended by a prostitution scandal thus Paterson has not earned his post by his own merits and would like the opportunity. Sadly, he has not been able to marshal his political fortune into political fortitude. While I initially championed Paterson's ascendance, he quickly capitulated to special interests and fell from grace. New York could have used a hero but instead he squandered his political capital for votes, (read curry favor with the unions) and it all backfired anyway. This method usually works, pleasing the right people, but for this Governor desperate times called for adept political measures and he simply did not/could not deliver.

Polls show that current Attorney General Andrew Cuomo would be the favorite in a Democratic primary against Paterson. Cuomo has yet to tip his hat but it is just a matter of time before he declares. After all, if you indirectly have the White House on your side, you might as well jump into the race. It is no accident that Andrew Cuomo is following the well-worn track of star New York Attorney General to Governor routine most recently practiced successfully by Eliot Spitzer. Besides, New Yorkers know the name Cuomo, Mario Cuomo, esteemed father of Andrew, was governor of New York from 1983 to 1994 and New Yorkers like to elect who they know. I say let the Democratic Gubernatorial primary decide. If Cuomo really is the favorite, let him win on his own merit by having a fair race against Paterson.

Are Any of Us Surprised?

Lord Acton wrote back in 1887, "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men." He was right. We can always count on our public officials to serve up some old-fashioned corruption like money schemes and the like. Of course we have been treated to more news featuring corruption of the flesh lately so it is nice to see when public officials get arrested for graft. You don't get arrested for adultery, you just get sanctioned or shamed into resigning. Lately, shame has not been working because the last set of adulterers are still in office. Ah, what would we do without our wayward politicians? Oh, here's a new story:

"A two-year corruption and international money-laundering investigation stretching from the Jersey Shore to Brooklyn to Israel and Switzerland culminated in charges against 44 people on Thursday, including three New Jersey mayors, two state assemblymen and five rabbis, the authorities said." (New York Times, July 23, 2009)

Are any of us surprised? Though, it is interesting to note that this sweep includes religious leaders as well. They usually go down for the flesh kind.

Poor Jersey, it will never live down its stereotype of corruption. All I can say to that is, FBI come on over and do some corruption clean-up in New York, especially out here on Long Island. For as we in the Northeast know, the older the state, the deeper the corruption gets. That's for sure.

A Sham By Any Other Name...?

We all know that power corrupts. That is why so many politicians practice infidelity, be they Democrat, Bill Clinton, Eliot Spitzer and John Edwards come to mind, or Republican, John McCain, Newt Gingrich, Rudy Guiliani, and most recent confessor, Senator John Ensign of Las Vegas to name too many.

Since a major tenet of the political platform of this latter group is conservative, read Christian, values then why do so many members of the GOP stray from the marital bed? How many times will the evangelicals, who have their own famous club of infidels, cite forgiveness to whitewash the indiscretions of their party leaders? A sham by any other name...? Perhaps it is best not to preach what you cannot practice. Perhaps it is time for the GOP to drop family values from their platform because they simply do not believe.

Perhaps we should turn to Fox News, the designated conservative media outlet for some insight. Oh, I see that the most emailed article on FOXNews.com today is from the FOXSexpert, Dr. Yvonne K. Fulbright, 10 Steps To Extended Massive Orgasm. There you have it.

Coalition of the Willing: NY State Senate Coup

I suppose I can no longer ignore the conflagration occurring in the New York State Senate. Apparently, the 30 Republicans with two democrats in tow have staged a coup for the Republicans to retake control of the Senate.

Apparently, as a result of the coup, Malcolm Smith, the current Democratic leader has been replaced by Pedro Espada, Jr., also a Democrat and now the new leader of the joint coalition. Coalition may be a questionable description considering that there are 30 Republicans and two Democrats. However, if you take into consideration the "coalition of the willing" that we had going into Iraq where we had 150,000 troops and every other country had a maximum of a few hundred, coalition it is, if they say so.

Anyway, the Republicans have controlled the New York Senate for the last 40 years until the balance of power shifted to the Democrats 5 months ago. This coup originates with opposition to Malcolm Smith, the Democratic leader, for his support of a gay marriage initiative. The Republicans are unilaterally, over their dead bodies, against it. The two democrats who have joined the Republicans, Pedro Espada, Jr, and Hiram Monserrate have also stated unequivocally their opposition to Mr. Smith's voting in the affirmative for such a measure. The slither slather of this recent NY political shenanigan was best summed up in Gail Collins' Op Ed Column in the New York Times published on 6/10/09.

It should also be noted that these two politicians are under investigation for varying malfeasances ranging from domestic assault to misappropriation of funds, you know, the usual. To further incite riot, Tom Golisano, the Republican billionaire and perennial Governor-wannabee, underwrote this coup because he is disgusted with the performance of the Democrats that he supported in the most recent election. YES,WE ALL WANTED CHANGE but it turns out that it is very hard to turn the tide of an entrenched government in 5 months. Sorry Paterson. Sorry Obama. You really do look like more of the same but you really haven't been given a chance to clean up the Republican messes, have you?

Today, Malcolm Smith scored a Coup of his own by gaining an injunction regarding the legality of the "new" Senate leadership. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah. I am simply disgusted that we should be witnessing petty power-grabbing in the midst of the greatest American economic crisis that is centered right here in New York. Where is Wall Street people? How much did it lose? How much tax revenue has evaporated because of it? How much did the New York State budget increase to appease the Unions despite the financial carnage? New York State is heading toward bankruptcy and this foolhardiness is what we have to deal with? It seems that no matter what, when one is elected to office, there is an inevitable sway toward the preservation of one's own political ass and not the will of the people by whom they were elected to represent. Sad but true.

For the New York State Senate to be in this situation is to make a complete mockery of our whole democratic system. Whatever the outcome, the biggest joke will be on all of us.

Collateral Damage: Credit Cards and Loaded Guns

Finally, Congress has passed a credit card reform bill that has some teeth. Most of the heinous credit card company practices have been curtailed in the bill. Some may argue that some of the reforms do not go far enough but as far as I can tell the overall bill is satisfactory. All of the usual suspects have been addressed, the hiking of fees on existing balances, payment cutoff times that are set at odd hours and don't take into account holidays or weekends, ample notification for interest rate or other fee changes to your card account, and many others that you can think of. Unfortunately, none of these reforms kick in until July 2010. So, those of us who already have been dinged have another year of suffering.

Though the credit card companies have threatened that the most stellar card users will bear the brunt of making up the revenue shortfalls that will be incurred through compliance to the bill, they are already charging these users more to make up for the losses of those who are already defaulting left and right. As a responsible credit card user who always pays on time, my response is to pay off the balances and not use the cards again. If others respond in this way then the credit card companies will have to capitulate if they wish to keep us as customers. They want us to keep using their cards so they can keep making money, don't they?

Anyhow, pardon the wordy way of getting here but, the truly heinous piece of this legislation has nothing to do with the credit card reform portion at all. Egregiously slipped into this bill is a provision allowing registered gun owners to carry loaded guns into national parks and wildlife refuges. What? What the heck is wrong with our Congresspeople? Why is it necessary to slip in this type of lightening rod, not to mention dangerous, provision into this type of reform bill? In this age? In this time? Sadly, the machinations of government hasnot changed and the back-washing continues.

So, some time in the future when you pay off your credit card debt and you decide to celebrate by taking that long delayed car trip to experience our national parks and you get there and you are surveying the natural beauty of the country and as you go to take that perfect picture at sunset you drop the camera and the flash goes off as it falls over the ledge shocking some poor sod who grabs his gun in fright and just then the camera hits his hand causing him to pull the trigger and the bullet ricochets in the canyon and maims you or someone you love and then and only then will the populace realize that the right to bear arms should not blatantly undermine public safety. Collateral damage at its finest. Anyhow, since guns scare the shit out of me, I guess I won't be going to Yellowstone anytime soon.

We Didn't Start The Fire But We Still Have to Pay

The financial situation of most of the middle class here on Long Island is always foremost on my mind. I still have the same question that I had when I started this blog, how is everyone surviving? I thought I would have some insight by now but it is still a mystery to me.

Now we add to the mix the $15,400,000,000 budget gap, attributed largely to a decline in tax revenue from Wall Street, in the New York State budget that requires serious action on the Governor's part. In response, he proposed today serious cuts in school aid and health services, layoffs of state workers, an increase in many ordinary NY State fees, new taxes on just about every bit of entertainment that exists in the state and a repeal of certain tax exemptions especially the star (property tax) rebate.

Some of the Governor's proposed solutions will be painful for all of us; we don't want to have to pay more to renew our licenses and registrations or pay more to download a song on the internet. Most importantly, any cuts in aid means that the local taxpayer has to pick up the tab. More fees and taxes is the last thing that any New Yorker wants to hear right now. However, this is where fiscal reality meets us and indeed it is very unpleasant. We may not have started the fire but we certainly didn't push for fire prevention either.

Interestingly enough, the magnitude of the layoffs is very small, 521 out of some 200,000 state workers. This is an almost negligible layoff, speaking from one who has lived to tell the tale. Indeed the rollbacks on some employee benefits will meet the ire of many especially when the career veterans have already been grand-fathered into much better benefits than the new hires. As every special interest starts screaming bloody murder from the mountaintops this week, we will see what kind of backbone state legislators have when they sit down to vote on all of this.

News Addicts: Post Partisanism & Neo-Socialism

This has been the most engaging and engrossing news cycle to the point where many of us are becoming news addicts; major media including the New York Times are profiling self proclaimed news addicts, to the detriment of the new fall television season. The news has become the ultimate reality show, providing all the scintillating drama we need complete with the "so you want to be the next vice president," contestant resoundingly unqualified but resplendent in her $150,000 wardrobe. Even material from fake news comedy and comedy sketch shows is news on the mainstream news networks; the shows that take the news and riff on the news create incredibly hilarious segments that become news in themselves. Yep.

Americans are simultaneously voting for their American Idol and their next President. When times are bad, Americans look to escape reality, in the 1930's they went to the movies, to be swept away from reality, to root for the underdog, the Presidential campaign is entertainment. But, at the same time, Americans need a President who has the potential to lead them out of the misery. We are conflicted enough to be almost fooled again by the same tactics that re-elected George Bush but at the same time we recognize the deception and we want to rise above it this time around.

However, the news is so biased that all it takes is a click to find the right news that tells you what you want to hear: "We report. We decide. You listen. You believe." Somewhere in all of this many have become news addicts because of the need for actual information; we are in a recession but no news organization wants to declare it, everyday is like groundhog day on wallstreet where the market reacts to the news of the day and/or moment as if the economic realities of yesterday were forgotten. Never in so long can I remember a time where we were inundated with facts; financial facts of a complexity that we suddenly have to comprehend as taxpayers; a historic democratic primary leading to a potential historic first for the Presidency and a downright raiding of the public trust to the tune of $2,000,000,000,000.

As the Republicans trump out their usual party platform of conservative values, small fiscally responsible government, low tax Americana, they are overseeing the largest nationalization of private enterprise in collective memory. Socialism, the evil political term of the week, has already been embedded in our progressive tax policies of subsidies, tax credits, social security and public health programs. It is the Republicans, not the oft-described liberal socially radical democrats who are presiding over this post capitalist neo-socialism. To encapsulate further irony, all of this was done in the name of saving our wealthy financial institutions to avoid an economic devastation of all society. How Odd!

This is why it is a troubling reality to watch the Sarah Palin supporters boo loudly at every mention of socialism because of the misconstrued notion that Barack Obama is a socialist for even suggesting that we spread the wealth around by repealing the Bush Tax cuts for those making over $250,000 a year. Politically incorrect is making a comeback and I'm adding my two cents: Do you really think the crowd booing at socialism even understands what it means or that they make more than $250,000 a year? Or do you really think that faced with an 'ism they are concluding the worst because neither they nor Palin understands the term; these the people survivng on welfare, food stamps, medicare, medicaid and other benefits of the public largesse. And for those of them who are working, that, in fact, 95% would benefit from the Obama tax cuts.

This is why we are still worrying; those of us who watch too much news. Polling is misleading and so we try to ascertain which way the wind is blowing.

Benefits of Racial Doubt

The politics of race is back in the spotlight as America is poised to elect its first black President. The McCain/Palin supporters are being reminded of this on a daily basis as they are wooed on the pretense that they are more "pro-America" than Obama/Biden supporters, that Barack Obama's middle name, Hussein, has muslim/terrorist implications certainly heightened by his connection to Bill Ayers, former '60s radical protest bomber now conveniently recast as a domestic terrorist, and by their own rejection of Obama, simply because he is a black man.

General Colin Powell said it best this weekend when he crossed his party-line to endorse Senator Obama for President stating eloquently that the Republican party was narrowing in its scope, in that it was now tending to be more exclusive than inclusive. And, if in fact Obama was a muslim which he is not, what is so wrong with being American and muslim? Why should/would this be a limiting factor in the land of the free and the home of the brave?

Unfortunately for Obama, in a vast swath of the country, old prejudices die hard; ignorance and provincialism has rendered a large portion of the conservative, fundamentalist Christian population, unrepentingly racist. Gov. Sarah Palin has been out preaching to the choir, allowing them to draw the very conclusions that they are expected to draw to great affect. Sen. John McCain, having been subject to a racial mudslinging by George Bush and Co. during the 2000 Republican primaries, must be turning in his sleep as he struggles to rectify his campaign's cognitive dissonance; dependence on these "rural folk" for votes causing him to implicitly condone their racial outlook by omission of strong condemnation.

Democratic Sen. John Murtha stated a few days ago that his home base of western Pennsylvania is racist, basically a bunch of rednecks and he has implored them to look beyond race and listen to what Obama is saying. This has been the battle cry of many Obama supporters, including union leaders and the like in these traditionally working class (white) areas.

Disaffection with the Republican party together with the economic decline, housing bubble and Wall Street collapse has inadvertently propelled many rural Americans to rethink their racist underpinnings simply because the democratic nominee for President is telling them what they want to hear and just so happens to be a black man. What a turnaround! Black Americans aren't used to getting the benefit of the doubt.

Republican or Democrat: Which Side God?

I grew up in a Christian family that is pretty devout; not just showing up at Church on Sundays but attending weekly bible study and religious events. I, on the other hand, never internalized this part of my upbringing and to this day my family spends countless hours trying to convert me once and for all to the fold. So far I have remained unmoved until this week when the urge to pray has overtaken me as I witness the current political, social, and economic climate in the United States.

Christian conservative values are most aligned with and championed by the Republican party yet Republicans have by far engaged in the most immoral behavior over the last 8 years; there is not one single aspect of this Republican government that has not been cited for deceptive and/or criminal behavior. Yet, the Republicans continue to hold the monopoly on religious allegiance even while construing falsehoods and stirring the pot of prejudice and ignorance.

Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska has been out spewing the most vitriolic attacks on Sen. Barack Obama this week with little concern that the Alaska legislature was due to report today on whether she abused her power as Governor. What brazen gall? Unfortunately, they found her "slap on the wrist" guilty so it will be a wash; her evangelist base has already forgiven her every transgression thus far. Why does belief in God give you a free pass to despicable behavior?

With the backing of conservatives and evangelists everywhere, the McCain-Palin ticket has been encouraged to win at any cost; resorting to the politics of fear as the only strategy left at their disposal. It does not seem like the most Christian-like behavior especially when juxtaposed with the Obama campaign's message of hope. What does this say about America and its democracy? After all of this nastiness, the polls still indicate a fairly close race and this is why I am praying. Dear Lord, please be on the side of Obama. Amen.

Bailout or Else: The GOP Politics of Fear in Full Swing Yet Again

Having now presided over the biggest economic collapse in recent history, George W. Bush and friends are out to convince the American people that the best and only solution is to hand over $700,000,000,000 to the Treasury Secretary to bail out Wall Street and that it should be done expeditiously and with as minimal oversight as possible. This Administration has perfected the Karl Rove politics of fear methods so completely and, unfortunately, so successfully that they have no qualms rolling it out whenever they need to force the hand of the American people.

Right now we are witnessing almost to the letter the same playbook used to rush us into war 6 years ago. Tonight the President spoke on television right before Congress is to go on break, like he did 6 years ago, giving us the old “act now or doom will befall you” speech. These same tactics were employed during Bush’s re-election campaign and are now being employed in more extreme fashion in John McCain’s campaign. So far, they have been successful at these methods even though the outcome has always been disastrous for the American people.

Though the Congress is trying more diligently this time around to mitigate the damage of hasty decision-making; this plan seems destined to come to fruition in some form albeit with greater restrictions. Why isn’t anyone else coming up with an alternative solution? Why is this expensive bailout the only way to bring order to the markets? While the GOP continues with their lies, fear and deceit, the American people are once again swept up into a situation where they are taken for a ride and this time around instead of fearing the GOP; they fear the intelligent black man who actually does want to help them.

You Want $700,000,000,000 for What?

So, let us get this straight. Spreading risk infinitely by bundling packages of mortgages then slicing those up and selling as securities is fine when the market keeps going up; the reverse is true when markets crash and this spread of risk gets multiplied 10 fold because no one knows how widespread it is or what percentage of those bundles is truly bad debt. This falls into the realm of perception; good mortgages and bad mortgages were packaged together, what percentage of any slice of these securities is more good than bad; more bad than good? Nobody knows but everyone is afraid that these securities are worth less than they think.

When the value of real estate kept escalating, this type of securitized debt was a goldmine. Everybody made money and all was right with the world. The greater the risk, the higher the reward. Greed will make you forget the rules of the game; you start chasing the money-maker like a gambler caught up in the belief that if you bet more, you will win more. Soon you find yourself over-leveraged, your investors/backers get scared and call your debt but you don't have the capital to back it all. Las Vegas or Wall Street? Bear Stearns, Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers and others forgot the rules and ended up overexposed when mortgages started defaulting and the value of housing started to tumble. Investors got spooked and any perceived value in these bundles plummeted. To make matters worse, these securities were insured by insurers such as AIG giving us a house of cards situation. Ever tried to insure a bad asset? It is like having a pre-existing condition when you shop for health insurance.

How is the average American supposed to understand this? How are they supposed to understand that despite the greed, the big bonuses and rewards, we still have to bailout these be-ast-turds? Why? Perception. There is a complete lack of confidence in the financial markets. It is possible that some of these assets are worth more than we think, after all most of these mortgages are still backed by a real asset; brick and mortar construction. Real estate may lose value but rarely is anything worth zero. Perception is 9/10ths just like possession.

Who knows how this will all shake out. All I know is that for the average American to understand these complex credit instruments and to make a choice about anything based on this knowledge is impossible when the experts don't know what to make of it all. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson spent 30+ years on Wall Street and he is running to the government for an emergency loan of an unprecedented $700,000,000,000. What the hey? We are all supposed to figure this out by Friday? Good luck with that, taxpayer. Whatever the outcome, we will be fleeced!

Labor Day Surprises

Hurricane Gustav narrowly misses New Orleans but still packs a wallop to the gulf coast. The Republican National Convention is cancelled for today due to fear of mishandling another hurricane disaster. It will officially begin tomorrow but with more curiosity than ever. The big news of the day is that McCain’s apparently squeaky clean conservative choice for VP is not so squeaky after all. It figures. No one is squeaky clean; I don’t know why Americans always keep expecting it of people running for office.

Gov. Sarah Palin was greeted like a breath of fresh air for the Republican party even though she is under investigation for possible ethics violations. However the big twist on her platform was revealed today; her 17 yr old daughter, Bristol, is pregnant. Thankfully, she will be forced into marriage so it will all be made whole and the stigma of an being an unwed mother, not to mention daughter of the most conservative woman to hit the Republican stage will be averted so it seems. However, it will make it difficult for Palin to continue her support for abstinence-only training when she cannot get her own daughter to abide.

Fox News was already down-playing the pregnancy as a private family matter. Since it is being handled “correctly,” Palin’s daughter will marry her guy; no conservative rules have really been broken. What price political ambition? No matter the spin, this revelation will definitely undermine the conservative party platform that she was chosen to uphold.

Property Tax Cap: Solution or Disaster?

It is nice to see that the NY State Senate Is meeting to tackle the property tax cap issue in response to the Commission on Tax Relief’ recommendations. The Commission, instituted by former Governor Spitzer and headed by Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi, recommended a school property tax cap of 4% annually; a proposal supported by Governor Paterson. This means that school budget increases must result in a property tax increase of no more than 4% each year. We have long known that New York spends significantly more per pupil than any other state in the nation and some regions in New York, like Westchester and Long Island have the highest property taxes in the nation so something has to be done.

A property tax cap seems like it would be welcome news but it has ignited a furor. School districts, the teacher’s union and other pro-union, pro-education forces have dug in their heels claiming that many school districts will suffer and they will. In order to meet budget requirements, districts will be forced to cut more and more programs to make ends meet. This budget cap will lead quickly to the demise of music, art, athletic and after-school programs. There are few, if any, districts that have been able to maintain the same level of programs without an increase greater than 4%. This is troubling.

Nevertheless, what can we do, the property taxes on Long Island are crushing middle class families and senior citizens. The high taxes coupled with the high cost of home ownership is forcing families to leave and preventing young families from settling here. There are other solutions, like revamping the school districts all-together or sharing administrative services. These are reforms that I personally favor but so far they have no champion. I also think that some elected official has to find a way reduce the stranglehold of the teacher’s and school administrator's unions even if it means political suicide. After all, school teachers and administrators cannot be entitled to tax-payer funded benefits that the tax-payer themselves do not receive in their private sector jobs. It is only fair. Nevertheless, we will see what the legislature comes up with; it won’t be pretty either way.

Membership has its Privileges

One of the perks of being elected to a public office is the contacts that you make and the favors that you maneuver around the law for untold future benefit. The benefit of serving the public is the shoe-in job that you get after you leave office. 4 days after leaving the state senate, after resigning from senate leadership and bowing out of his unfinished term, the 79 year old former republican State Senator Joe Bruno becomes CEO of a consulting firm, CMA Consulting. This firm has had ties to State government since it was founded in 1984 with the wife of a republican state senator as principal; a senator that Bruno appointed to the powerful finance committee early in his career. The State favors woman owned businesses when awarding contracts and this company will retain this status by shuffling said wife to a “title-ful” position while Bruno is CEO.

The company has 66 active contracts with more than 20 state agencies according to the Albany Business Review. So, a month ago, when Joe was talking about moving on with his life this is what he was talking about. Why would anyone leave the most powerful Republican job in NY State to take up as CEO of a $42 million a year computer software development company, even if it is the Albany region’s largest company in its field? It all seems fishy to me but that boat has already sailed. No one seems phased by the fact that this company has had the inside track since it was founded. Now it is comfortably surviving on state contracts for its revenue.

Oh why do I not have any good connections? It is perfectly acceptable for politically connected people to form companies or work for companies that make their revenue precisely because of those connections. So shall the world continue to turn much to the detriment of the rest of us poor, unconnected fools.

Oh Happy Day?

2 Days. 483 points. Today Investors were skipping down Wall Street whistling. The market is up over 200 points singing “doowah diddy diddy…” Thankfully, they will remember none of this in the morning when they face down the reality of Merrill Lynch’s, Google’s and Microsoft’s numbers. Alas, I can’t seem to turn away from the current financial drama, such a scintillating tale of economic woe unfolding at the pace of a John Grisham novel, a real page turner. Now, if we pile on new developments occurring in my other favorite topic, public sector benefits and taxation, then we truly have a most entertaining day. Today I read that there is a real prospect of Governor Paterson signing a new round of bills to boost, yes boost, the already outrageous benefits of fire and police officers.

This from the editorial section of today’s Newsday;

“The bills would prohibit the reduction of state retiree health benefits; lift limits on disability pensions for fire and police officers who suffer heart attacks off-duty; and allow fire or police officers to join the other force after retiring, making them eligible for two full pensions…”

Am I reading this correctly? I thought we had a fight on in Albany to reduce taxes in NY State and these types of bills do just the opposite. What will happen to our taxes in the future when these pension checks come due? Our legislators found the time to send these types of bills to the Governor when we are mired in economic uncertainty. Once again, I shake my head.

The editorial urges Governor Patterson to veto the greed because “pension costs are busting government budgets and burdening private-sector workers whose benefits are far less generous.” Took the words right out of my mouth. There is a real concern that Paterson may support the bill because not only is the Governor a huge friend of big labor but his father, Basil Paterson, is a bigger friend of labor; his law firm is a lobbyist for public sector labor unions. Connections have an awful way of connecting the powerful to something that stinks. Let’s hope that rationality prevails.