Iran

I have an old friend who is a right wing Republican and when a democrat gets elected to the White House his only lament is foreign policy. His claim is that the country can recover from any domestic changes the president may make but we are vulnerable to his foreign policy. I have not talked with this man for 20 years but my guess is that he is worried that Obama may turn his back on Israel to get a deal with Iran and lock the US into a long term commitment that will allow the Iranis to complete their nuclear program. The Presidents motive being that he wants to divert attention away from the current domestic mess. I am naïve enough to believe that Presidents would put the country ahead of their personal agenda but I can’t be sure.

Sick care

With all the news about health care it occurred to me that it is a total misnomer. Yesterday on the news they said we spend 2.7 trillion dollars per year on health care and the way I see it is that we spend 2.7 trillion dollars on sick care. Most of this is spent on expensive high tech treatments and drugs. The US has 5% of the world’s people and we use 50% of the drugs. If you don’t think this is a serious problem just listen carefully to the side effects on an ad for a drug. Give some serious thought to the use of chemotherapy and radiation treatments. The question becomes why are so many of us so sick and the answer is life style. It is estimated that 80% of all health problems are related to life style, things like smoking, diet, improper sleep habits, miss use of mind altering drugs, including alcohol, stress and lack of physical activity. Instead of making changes in these life styles which would in fact be health care we instead choose treatments that are sick care. If we want to get medical cost under control the first step is to look at life style. Once those areas are under control the next step is to look into your social relationships and finally your spirituality. At this point you will be happier and healthier and will feel good and all of this is free.

Tax fraud

For the very rich the current capital gain tax is 23.8% and the current top income tax rate is 39.6%. If these rich people can move income from the ordinary tax rate to the capital gain tax rate they can save a ton in taxes. Mr. A buys a painting for 50 million dollars and holds it for number of years and then sells it for 100 million. At the same time his friend Mr. B buys another painting for 50 million and sells it for 100 million. Then each of them donates their paintings to charity to get a 100 million dollar deduction against their current ordinary income. In the current market these paintings are bought and sold by people who represent private buyers and sellers so we don’t know who they are. Mr. A had to put up 50 million to buy the original painting but when he sold it for 100 million he got his money back plus 50 million in profit. Normally he would pay capital gain tax on that profit but when he gives it to charity he gets a 100 million deduction. In Minnesota we have 9.5% state income tax for high earners so Mr. A’s total tax savings is 50 million dollars. Now what is not known is that Mr. A and Mr. B concocted this deal in advance. They agreed to buy each other’s painting at the highest auction price thus the 100 million sales tag. I have no proof that this sort of thing happens but I have noticed over the past 40 years or so that paintings have sold for very high prices and that the buyers and sellers are anonymous people whose deals are arranged by agents over the phone.

No preexisting conditions

Medicaid is among other things, health insurance for low income people. For most there was a small premium, something like $50 per month depending on the state you lived in. People did not buy into Medicaid because there was no pre-existing clause so people just waited until they got sick and then they bought insurance. Since Obamacare has eliminated the pre-existing conditions clause for al l insurance, I suspect that young healthy people will not buy insurance but just wait until they get sick and then buy it. Since the program depends on getting these young healthy people enrolled this will adversely affect the whole concept. I wish the news people would discuss this.

Good and evil

The conflict between good and evil is one of the precepts of the Zoroastrian faith, first enshrined by Zarathustra over 3000 years ago. It is also one of the most common conventional themes in literature, and is sometimes considered to be a universal part of the human condition. While there have been many famous stories written to illustrate this conflict the most recent being, “Star Wars”, I feel this battle is fought on a daily basis within the hearts of individuals. I believe that people are both human and divine. Our human side is physical, mental and emotional and our divine side is spiritual. Our human side is located in our minds and its leader is our ego, and our divine side is located in our hearts and souls and is led by our spirituality. Our plan for our life comes from our ego and Gods plan comes from our heart and each day we fight the battle between these two plans. The ego never sleeps. It is constantly looking for ways to make us look good, to gain the spotlight to say to the world, look at me, here I am. Gods plan is always looking for ways for us to use our talents, knowledge and experience in ways that are helpful to others. Most of the time the ways in which we help will be known to others but it is best if no one knows. Mathew in the New Testament says: When you give to the poor, don’t let anyone know about it. Then your gift will be given in secret. Your Father knows what is done in secret, and he will reward you.

Sick care

With all the news about health care it occurred to me that it is a total misnomer. Yesterday on the news they said we spend 2.7 trillion dollars per year on health care and the way I see it is that we spend 2.7 trillion dollars on sick care. Most of this is spent on expensive high tech treatments and drugs. The US has 5% of the world’s people and we use 50% of the drugs. If you don’t think this is a serious problem just listen carefully to the side effects on an ad for a drug. Give some serious thought to the use of chemotherapy and radiation treatments. The question becomes why are so many of us so sick and the answer is life style. It is estimated that 80% of all health problems are related to life style, things like smoking, diet, improper sleep habits, miss use of mind altering drugs, including alcohol, stress and lack of physical activity. Instead of making changes in these life styles which would in fact be health care we instead choose treatments that are sick care. If we want to get medical cost under control the first step is to look at life style. Once those areas are under control the next step is to look into your social relationships and finally your spirituality. At this point you will be happier and healthier and will feel good and all of this is free.

JP Morgan

J P Morgan Chase Bank has agreed to pay 13 billion in penalties and fines for their part in the mortgage crisis. In return they admit no wrong doing which means that no one goes to jail. The company has assets of 2,500 billion much of which they made during the mortgage debacle so the fine is a small payment to keep the executives out of jail. Nine billion of the 13 goes to various government agencies and 4 billion will go to 100,000 homeowners who suffered from the banks activities. This is $4,000 per home owner hardly enough to keep them from losing their homes. The government is bragging up this great achievement and the bank is bragging up its concern for home owners. This type of corruption is rampant throughout the system

Iran nukes

As I watch the negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program, I am reminded of how Saddam Husain used the west, in his claims of not producing WMD. His strategy was to hide his efforts from the IAEA inspectors to create doubt as to his intentions. It was a classic case of miss-direction. He would say he had no such weapons and when the inspectors came to verify, he would secretly move resources around, giving the impression that he was hiding something. All the while this was going on, he was allowed to sell oil for food and medical supplies, money that he used instead to build up his army and increase his personal wealth. Every time he claimed that he had destroyed the weapons, which by the way we and other countries gave him, the IAEA would ask where he did this and he would not tell them. He knew that they could test soil samples and determine if he was being truthful. This game of cat and mouse went on for years until the US finally invaded and took down his government. Now we have Iran playing the same miss-direction game. They have suffered economic hardships because of their potential threat to build a bomb. Just like Saddam they have been willing to let their people suffer short term hardship to achieve a long term victory. They have built rockets to use as delivery systems and in the process have kept the price of oil up. This threat has kept their enemies in the region at bay and made them into the power house in the Middle East. Now they are in a position to collect economic benefits that have been withheld plus a lot more. President Obama is in a weakened position here at home and looking for a success in foreign policy and he is willing to ignore warnings from our ally Israel. Iran is still holding on to the threat of building a bomb but in a slightly limited way. It has always been my contention that Iran never wanted a nuclear bomb and I base that on the fact that they have been working with the latest technology for 25 years and have yet to produce enough enriched uranium to make a single bomb. In the 1940’s the US in the Manhattan Product created enough enriched uranium to make a bomb in three years using equipment from that time period. There is more going on here than meets the eye!

Veterans Day

This is a note I sent to my grandchildren recognizing that many young people are not familiar with Veterans Day. This coming Monday, November 11th is Veterans Day. World War 1 ended in 1918 and the official peace treaty was signed in Versailles, France at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month and so we celebrate this holiday on November 11th. It is the day we honor all of our service people both dead and alive.If we did not have the freedoms that these service people preserved for us, we would not have any holidays, so I believe this makes Veterans Day the most important holiday. When your mom was little I wanted to impress on her the importance of this holiday so I wrote a short verse to remind her. The verse is important today when we see the wounded warriors who have such terrible injuries. Because of the advancements in field medicine many warriors who in past wars would have died are now returning home with these serious injuries. Here is the verse I wrote and I hope it has some meaning for you. I suggest that on this day you make it a point to thank a veteran.If you don't know any, you can call Grandpa Whyle and thank him. I am sure he will appreciate it. He was just a young man, when the call went out Would he fight for his country, there would be no doubt They worked him and trained him, and gave him a gun Then onto the boat, with a go get'um son The battle raged fierce, the guns were so lond The sky was all red, his mind in a cloud When next he awoke, all wrapped in a chair And heard the doc say, he'd always be there Now the days all drag by, the past drifts away He sits on the porch, and has nothing to say.