Voters

California passed a law allowing illegal aliens to have a driver’s license. The law takes effect January 1st, 2015. This is significant when looked at through a law passed in 1993. The problem, officials say, dates back to the 1993 federal Motor Voter Act, which requires states to offer residents the ability to register to vote when they obtain a driver's license or ID card. In some states, the driver's license and voter registration application are on the same form and the applicant simply signs. In small print, the form says applicants acknowledge they are U.S. citizens. In other states, voter registration is a separate form and applicants check a box. In either case, once signed, the forms are automatically sent to the county or state registrar of voters and the name is added to voter rolls. If a person does this and votes they will be committing a crime but of course they have already committed a crime when they came here illegally. If local politicians know that these people are likely to vote for their party will they just ignore the possibility that these people may vote.

Pensions reduced

I worked with pension plans over the years and most rules were established with the Pension Reform Act of 1974. That act provides that pensions must be evaluated each year to determine their safety which means is there enough money in the plan to pay off the retirees. If it is deemed that the plan is short which is called, ”underfunded” then more money must be put into the plan. If this is not done there are severe penalties. During the lame duck session of the last congress a large union pension fund appealed for and received relief from the requirement to properly fund their pension. A new law was passed saying that if they did not have the money they could instead reduce the promised benefits to both workers and present retirees. This did not make the news but you can bet those retirees know about it. Many people feel their pensions are guaranteed but this is no longer the case since other unions can now apply for this change.

Party of no

Here is an off the cuff comment by President Obama where he reveals what was going on in the senate the past 6 years. There are going to be some areas where we disagree. And, you know, I haven't used the veto pen very often since I have been in office, partly because legislation that I objected to was typically blocked in the Senate, even after the House took over. This illustrates the power of the press as most people are convinced that the Republicans are the party of no since the congress has not passed many bills. The Republican controlled house has sent 362 bills to the senate where they remained on Harry Reid’s desk and were not allowed to come to a vote in the Democratic controlled senate. He kept them from the floor so Obama would not have to veto bills he did not like. This is in the past. The new congress will be passing bills and sending them to the President for his signature and the President has said he will use the veto pen. If this happens will the press report the President as the party of no or will they continue to say it is a do nothing congress. Stay tuned!

Hypocrisy of climate change

Usually when there is evidence of hypocrisy the news media is all over it as they should be but in one current case they are silent and that is in regards to climate change. It is become move evident that those groups interested in climate change have ulterior motives and they involve money. Grants are awarded to those who write and research the dire consequences of climate change. Government monies are given to the solar and wind experiments and to promote electric cars. Developing countries see this as a way to redistribute wealth from rich countries. On line you can find thousands of articles promoting the catastrophic effects of global warming but you have to search diligently to find articles about moving from coal to oil to natural gas and even fewer articles on using carbon dioxide to mine methane hydrate. If these people were truly concerned about improving the quality of the atmosphere they would be moving toward a world-wide transportation system that ran on natural gas, (methane). All cars, trucks, buses, trains and planes could be running on natural gas and this would have and immediate impact on air quality. No more nitrates and sulfates that cause acid rain, no more heavy metals like lead and mercury and with the introduction of mining methane hydrate with carbon dioxide, no more global warming. Climate change has been politicized so that certain groups could make money and one of the most obvious examples is Al Gore who is now worth 100 million dollars. The idea that electric cars are the answer is nonsense. Even more ridiculous is battery operated semi-trucks and trains and can you imagine a 747 running on batteries. The answer is natural gas but the money there goes to the oil companies and not to the purveyors of climate change.

Lower income help

This will be a Merry Christmas for President Obama. The growth in the energy industry has finally turned the economy around despite efforts by the EPA to limit that growth by regulations. The lower energy costs have added to the profits of companies and the lower cost for gasoline has put about $1,200 per year in the hands of consumers. This is most important to lower income families and is the only improvement this group has seen despite claims by the President that he has been a champion of the middle class. The Presidents ratings are improving as people see the benefits of lower energy cost. Perhaps this may encourage the government to start promoting more fossil fuel development especially methane hydrate which can not only grow the world’s economy but can clean up the air and solve the problem of climate change. This is a win-win!

Senator Warren

While I don’t believe that Elizabeth Warren has much of a chance to be president, I feel she has some good ideas. As she moves away from the ridiculous idea that you can help the poor by taking money from the rich, (someone must have shown her the math), she first suggested that the big banks be broken up and now she is trying to close down the revolving door between Wall Street and the White House. These are both admirable goals and would help getting power back into the hands of the voters. There are 34 former Goldman Sachs employees in the Obama White House and there were just about the same number in the Bush White House and this is just one brokerage firm. Barack Obama: Obama owes his career to Goldman Sachs which was not only his biggest financial contributor when he ran for the Presidency, but was also his biggest contributor when he ran for the US Senate.

Oil price and Putin

The last new oil refinery in the US was built in 1977 although many of the more than 140 refineries have upgraded to add capacity. There is a 20,000 barrel per day refinery under construction in North Dakota to handle the oil from the Bakken Range. The last nuclear power plant was built in 1996 and since that time the US has stayed away from nuclear. There was an accidental release of radiation from the nuclear power plant at Three Mile Island in 1979 and that was enough to scare people away from nuclear facilities even though no one was hurt. While the Obama administration is bragging up the energy led recovery their approach has been to push renewables like solar and wind. They have yet to open federal lands to drilling. America's future as the global fossil-fuel king is a reality while Barack Obama's green economy is simply a fantasy. Fracking on nonfederal land has turned the U.S. into the top petroleum-producing country in the world, having passed Saudi Arabia in late 2012. The new production of oil and gas in the United States has had an effect on the world scene. The Obama administration placed a series of restrictions on the Russian economy as punishment for the Russian invasion of Crimea and Putin laughed these off. When the price of oil dropped to $60 he quit laughing and now Obama is claiming that his strategy worked when in fact it was the US production of oil that brought down the price and put the pressure on Putin.

Closing the income gap

This is from an article on CNN today What does it take to make it into the top 1%? In 2012, it took at least $435,000 in adjusted gross income to be considered one of the fabled top 1% households, according to the latest data from the IRS. That's a healthy jump from the $389,000 it took the year before, especially considering how low inflation has been in recent years. The number of people admitted to this exclusive club: nearly 1.4 million households. Collectively, the top 1% made about 22% of all income reported in 2012, but paid 38% of total federal income taxes collected. For those who favor redistribution of income here is some data for you to mull over. If the top 1.4 million made $435,000 that comes to $600 billion. Now if we share that with the other 140 million working families each family would get $4,200. You cannot close the income gap by taking from the rich and giving to the poor because today, as has been the situation throughout history, there are too few rich and too many poor. The way to help the lower income groups is by offering them better paying jobs and a good place to start is by opening up the energy business.

Medicare cost

In 1965 the government came to me and said starting next month we will take money from your paycheck and use that to pay for your health insurance when you turn 65. I said never mind, I will buy my own insurance and they answered that I did not have a choice that this was the new law called Medicare. I then asked how much it would cost me and they said $3 per month and I said sign me up. I was making $600 per month and this was one-half of one percent so I could not beat that in the private market. I realized that something was amiss since this was too good to be true. At that time they estimated that the cost to the government in 30 years, about the time I would retire, would be a 9 billion dollars but in fact the inflation adjusted cost was 67 billion and the plan has been in the hole ever since. The reason they started with such a low premium was to get the votes needed to pass. Today the average person pays 10 % of their social security income into Medicare plus most have to buy a supplement in the private market to cover the cost that Medicare does not cover. Medicare is set to go broke in 2020 unless changes are made. The fact that Obamacare took 700 billion from Medicare by reducing fees paid to doctors and hospitals did not help matters. People my age got a good deal from Medicare but our children will not fare as well.

Trojan horse

Here is the result of the latest foray by a politician using the populist approach. Chavez took over with the promise to take all the money from the oil companies and redistribute it to the poor people. His family walked off with a small fortune but the rest of the country didn’t make out as well, If you ever had a desire to invest in oil rich Venezuela, you may want to hold your money. The government, first under the self-proclaimed revolutionary government of President Hugo Chávez and now under his handpicked successor Nicolás Maduro, has managed to squander one of the longest, greatest oil booms in history, not just misspending the oil windfall that at one point reached $133 per barrel, but also destroying the country's domestic economy. As a result, Venezuela teeters on the edge of default on its debt. There is an old adage from the time of the Trojan horse that says, “beware of Greeks bearing gifts”. Populism is a Trojan horse. They fell for this ruse in ancient Greece and people have been falling for it ever since.

Sen Warren

The Dodd-Frank banking bill is once again in the news. This was the bill that was supposed to, among other things, make the banks less likely to bring down the economy in the event that they failed. In fact these big banks just got bigger. Dodd-Frank pushed tons of new paper work and requirements on the banks but did little to keep the system from once again causing havoc in the economy. The common belief of Dodd-Frank can be summed up as follows:  Was just a P.R. stunt which didn’t really change anything  Increases the risky derivatives holdings of the banks  Makes the “too big to fail” banks even bigger  “Will NOT stop the next financial crisis from coming“  Is all holes and no cheese … a placebo for a sick economy The recent budget passed by the house makes the bill even less effective at controlling how banks invest their funds and thus faced strong opposition by Senator Warren who has consistently tried to restrict how these banks can operate. This is a good cause for her unlike her desire to equalize income by taking from the rich and giving to the poor. Simple math proves the futility of this approach. She should stick with more control of banking.

Export oil

As the country cries out for higher paying jobs the energy industry lies poised to answer the call. If the government were as anxious to expand drilling as they are to waste money on solar projects the economy would rapidly expand. Aside from the peripheral jobs that drilling provides, the lower cost of fuel is causing people to go back to bigger cars which means more profits for the auto industry. The airline business profits rise as the cost of jet fuel declines. Industries, particularly manufacturing industries, see their energy cost decline and thus add to their profits. All of these extra profits encourage industries to expand and thus new jobs. For home owners the price of natural gas remains low and the cost of heating oil is coming down. Because getting approvals for new refineries has been so difficult most oil companies have just expanded the capacity of existing facilities which are now close to their limits. Since the US is now producing more oil than it can refine the time has come to lift restrictions on oil exporting and allow the boom in production to be sent to foreign markets. The next step is to allow new refineries to be constructed so that the US can be completely energy independent. While this is going on the restrictions on liquid natural gas ports should be removed so the US can export the vast quantities of natural gas now available because of new drilling techniques. Both Europe and Asia are crying out for this supply of natural gas which means lower prices for their energy and cleaner air for their cities.

Torture

The Senate report on CIA interrogation techniques was released today showing that the government used what is called torture to gather information in an attempt to prevent additional attacks after 9/11. After this attack most everyone assumed there would be more attacks and the CIA was to keep the American people safe. The CIA was roundly criticized for not having advanced knowledge of this attack. While these torture methods were stopped several years ago the government felt it necessary to show the world what was done in order to gain the high moral ground that the United States feels it deserves. What is not mentioned is the fact that the United States continues the practice of rendition which is taking suspects outside the country for interrogation. These suspects are taken to places like Egypt for questioning and what goes on there is not revealed but most suspect that torture is involved. Recall the man who was captured in Libya and charged with bombing our embassy and how he was kept on a ship outside the country for several weeks while the FBI interrogated him. While this is going on the United States continues drone attacks where people thought to be terrorist are killed and often time innocent bystanders are sacrificed. There was even a case where an American citizen was targeted and killed by a drone attack without any trial. The ACLU, that bastion of all things good and right, have complained about these drone strikes but their complaints are more in the form of a whimper than a roar.

Discipline at home

The hot topic in the news this week is the video of the police taking down a black man for selling illegal cigarettes and his subsequent death. It has sparked a well needed discussion about police tactics and a lot of talk about training police to deal with blacks. If additional training helps then it should be done along with police wearing cameras. The basic idea is that police approach black males differently than other groups and the question is why. Why do they see black males differently? Some say it is institutional prejudice by police but I propose that may not be the main reason. For example 2/3rds of male students expelled from school are black even though they represent only 13% of the population. Does this mean that teachers as well as police have a built in prejudice against young black males? I offer another possibility for both situations. Young children are supposed to learn some basic lessons from their parents that will help them get along in society and one of these is respect for authority. When a young man learns that important lesson at home he will be more likely to respect the teachers, coaches, supervisors, police officers and other authority figures. Understand that when I say respect teachers I do not mean the person but the respect is for the position of teacher. To respect the teacher as a person they must get to know the person and then make up their mind. It is like the military where you salute the uniform not the man or where you respect the office of the presidency. Have police figured out that they are treated differently by young black men and then they respond in kind? If that is the case perhaps that is a good starting point by changing the ways all parties react.

Filing Obamacare

I am now receiving my study information to get ready to prepare taxes for the people at the senior center and this year I have a new 20 page booklet, Publication 5157 to inform me on how to file Obamacare. Good luck to those who file on their own

Poor reporting

This past week it was revealed that an extensive article in “Rolling Stone Magazine” regarding a gang rape at the University of Virginia was not true. A young writer went looking for a rape victim in order to emphasize this serious campus problem and allowed her desire to make a point to cause her to lose her objectivity. Now those defending her are saying she may have been wrong on this case but that does not diminish the overall problem. In fact, whenever you have a false accusation it adversely affects the issue. This is mindful of the case some years ago regarding Tawana Brawley. This was a young woman who made false claims of rape and Reverend Al Sharpton came into prominence standing on the court house steps defending her and when he discovered she made up the whole thing he said she may have lied may this happened to many others who did not lie. Reputations were made and lost on this affair and there is no going back after this happens.

Utah

The federal government owns more than half of the land in Utah and the state has filed a law suit to regain ownership. I find this interesting because part of the Green River Formation lies in Utah and this is an area containing large amounts of oil and natural gas. If the state succeeds in this endeavor the state would quickly move to open the area to drilling. While this is going on the government just issued the second permit to build a Liquefied Natural Gas Port to increase exporting of natural gas. As Europe gains access to US natural gas their dependence on Russia gas is lessened. There is a danger here in that, unlike the minor sanctions placed on Russia, the lower price of oil and increased volume of gas may cause Putin to cause and international incident to raise the price.

Modern medicine

I have been blessed with good health and have avoided any close contact with the health industry until these past few months when my wife has suffered from some health related problems. During this time I have met face to face with a number of doctors and I am struck by their apparent lack of understanding of human nature particularly as it relates to their own business. The arrogance with which they present their diagnosis and treatment is astounding when you consider the past history of the medical experts. It was only in the 1850’s when they finally came to the conclusion that spontaneous generation was not a scientific explanation. For those not familiar this was the concept the meat could turn into flies spontaneously. These world renowned experts watched as a piece of meat sat on the table and after a few days maggots crawled out and turned into flies. It was also about 1850 when Dr. Lister declared that the physicians were killing their own patience and he was just about run out of town by the established medical hierarchy. He then proceeded to spray his office and patients with carbolic acid and greatly reduced the infection rates and proved his point. Can you imagine how future experts will look back on chemotherapy and radiation! When I was going to school we had laws. Newton’s Laws of Motion, the laws of thermodynamics and the law of gravity. We don’t have laws anymore as quantum physics destroyed all of these laws and everything that the experts thought they knew. All of that happened within a few short years. We now have evidence that the same object can be in more than one place at the same time. We can show that the effect can precede the cause. Experiments can prove that just looking for something causes it to be just where we look and that it isn’t there when we are not looking. These concepts baffle the scientist but they are nothing compared to trying to understand how the human mind works. Now enter the physician, who totally ignoring the great mystery of how the mind operates, declares as the result of some test what is going on in the inner actions of the patient. My wife has a long established relationship with her chiropractor and she has great faith in his ability to take care of her as an individual and a new physician meeting my wife for the first time declares that what he has told her is not correct based on some test. Does this physician understand that the test he is running today may be proven unreliable or even inaccurate in a few years down the road? It is time that the modern day physician came to understand that the human mind can do a lot more in curing health problems than they can and their job is just to assist the natural curing process. They should put their diploma in the bottom draw of their desk and sit down with the patient and start by asking a lot of questions instead of rushing into the room pontificating on high about their latest test results.

CEO Salaries

The salaries of CEO’s have risen dramatically over the past 30 years and one of the reasons is that the system has been corrupted. Specialists are hired to determine salaries and they base their recommendations on other CEO salaries. This has led to a case of the dog chasing the tail and higher and higher pay is the result. Over this time the average pay has gone from 25 times what the regular employee makes to over 250 times. The average CEO today makes $10 million dollars where the average employee makes $40,000. As I was mulling over the unfairness of this caused by the free market being corrupted I discovered that this week a baseball player signed a $325 million dollar contract that will pay him $25 million per year for 13 years. He gets this money even if he cannot play due to illness or injury. This young man is 25 years old, half the age when a CEO gets his job and at twice the pay. CEO’s rarely stay in their jobs for 13 years so the ball player will have his money at a much younger age and earn it for more years. This comparison is somewhat unfair since it compares the average CEO against the highest paid player but there are only 40 CEO’s who earn more that this young man.

New congress

As the new Republican controlled congress takes over in January, I have some suggestions to take place in the first 100 days. First of all seal the southern border and follow that up with a promise to offer citizenship to all the illegal aliens who are in the county except for those with criminal records and they will be dealt with, on a case by case bases. Change the existing immigration laws to allow foreigners who get their advanced degrees here to stay here if they choose. Second, open up the Green River Formation in the west and start the energy revolution that will provide good paying jobs, reduce the trade deficit and solve the problem of CO2 emissions. Approve the 16 permits to build LNG (liquefied natural gas) port facilities so the US can ship LNG around the world to Europe to reduce their dependency on Russia and to China to help with their smog problem. Pass legislation encouraging the move to natural gas for the entire transportation industry. Offer low cost loans to build natural gas stations at all truck stops and further low cost loans to retrofit all trucks to use natural gas. Begin the process of installing natural gas pumps at all car stations while setting the ground work for manufactures to produce cars that run on natural gas. Encourage industry by way of the EPA to move all power plants to natural gas. Lay out the plans to start utilizing methane hydrate, the almost unlimited supply of natural gas, found just off shore and use the process to sequester CO2 as they mine the gas. Recommend and approve the cost for The President to destroy ISIS using whatever means the military experts deem necessary. Increase economic pressure on Iran to halt their nuke program. On a piece by piece approach repair, change and delete Obamacare and build a program that will cover the poor using the existing Medicaid program. Tax reform to lower corporate tax rates and simplify the code. Allow US companies to bring home the two trillion dollars tax free that they now hold overseas.

Free press

I have said in the past that the free market capitalist system is the best in the world. I have further said that corruption is the enemy of this system and we must rely on government to police this system. If the regulators and the regulated get in bed together the system will fail. This happens on a regular basis but still relatively unusual. Here is one example. SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS)— A consumer-advocacy group says one of the recently-released emails between PG&E and the California Public Utilities Commission shows the commission’s president pushed a backroom deal to award the utility tens of millions of dollars in exchange for political contributions. Note in this case it was not the constitutional free-press watch-dog that uncovered this situation but a consumer advocacy group. It is dangerous when the press begins to take sides on political issues and this seems to be happening all too often. The press is supposed to challenge the government at every stage and much of our press has been co-opted by the government. I want a press that causes politicians to be wary of all that they do and all that they say. I want them to know that our free press will be shining the light of transparency on their activities.

Pipeline

When told that the Keystone Pipeline would create 40,000 jobs the administration responded by saying that those jobs are only temporary and would end once the project was finished. That is true but the same administration is always calling for infrastructure jobs like roads and bridges and those jobs are also temporary and will end when the project is finished. This pipeline is only a small part of the many things that could be done regarding energy, the most important being opening the Green River Formation for drilling.

Wood burning

There is a 60 year old coal fired power plant in Marquette, MI that supplies the Upper Peninsula with most of its electricity. The plant lost its biggest customer and the owners want to close. The other alternative is to raise the electric rates to the people in the area and they cannot afford the increase it would take to make the plant profitable. It is suggested by a group of environmentalist that the area use wind and solar but there is a problem when the wind stops and sun goes down. Since electricity cannot be stored these energy sources need a back-up. Normally they use the grid and put excess power back and then withdraw when needed. The group, suggest that since there is ample wood in the area that a wood burning plant be built to augment the solar and wind. Wood, of course produces pollution but overall it would be an improvement over the coal plant. Checking with experts in wood burning it appears it takes more than most realize. How about in the UP, where we surely have lots of wood? The Presque Isle coal plant in Marquette needs replacement. It generates 450 megawatts annually. Replacing that coal with standing timber would require the annual growth of 4.5 million acres of forest land, or clear-cutting 112,500 acres (180 square miles) a year. There has to be some more planning before the use of wood to back up wind and solar proves feasible. This concept of moving ahead with wind and solar without adequate forethought seems to be prevalent as plan after plan has fallen apart.

Out-sourcing

The ultra wealthy get $2 trillion wealthier That is the headline in the news today. It goes on to say that the top .004% or 211.275 of the people in the world comprise these wealthy and their wealth increased by 2 trillion dollars. Just looking at that it seems patently unfair but to add to my previous argument that you cannot solve the problems of the poor by taking money from the rich, just look at the math. If you took that money and gave it to the rest of the people in the world they would each get $400. Now in a country like Bangladesh that would be several months pay but it would be an almost impossible task to get that money to the people not only because of logistics but many of those poor countries are so corrupt that the governments would keep the money. The standard of living in third world countries has improved dramatically over the past 20 years and that is the result of out-sourcing from western countries. The best way to help the poor people of the world is to keep the economic engine of the west alive and healthy. Currently one of the best ways to do that is to take advantage of the natural gas and oil reserves in the western United States. This will initiate an economic boom here and it will spread to the rest of the world. 14 March 2013 – The rapid growth of developing countries is propelling millions out of poverty on an unprecedented scale and radically reshaping the global system, according to a flagship United Nations report launched today.

Immigration

Immigration is once more in the news. As we stand now we have students who come here from places like India who major in science and engineering and when they finish many want to stay here and work but they are forced to go back home. On the other hand we have people come across the southern border illegally allowed to stay. More often than not they do not have the technical skills we so desperately need and many do not speak English. We have a program called H-1B that allows a limited number of high tech people to stay here and work but many want that program expanded to help cover the shortage of engineers and scientist we are currently experiencing. The answer to the current problem is to first seal the border and then offer amnesty to the illegals who are now here. President Reagan legalized 3 million illegals with the promise from congress that the border would sealed but that promise was not fulfilled. While many see this as a humanitarian problem most understand that it is all about politics. The proof is that if the people coming across the border were going to vote Republican then all the Democrats would be demanding that the border be closed and the Republicans would be pleading for the humanitarian treatment of these illegals.

Moral hazard

After the financial meltdown of 2008 caused by too many big banks getting themselves in trouble by selling worthless mortgage bundles, the government stepped in to prevent the country from going into a depression. Good arguments can be made that the solution to bail out the banks was wrong and a better approach would have been to help homeowners stay in their homes but that is water over the dam. The government approach is exemplified by the passage of Dodd-Frank legislation designed to reduce the threat of what is called “too big to fail”. This means that the banks were so large that their failure could bring down the entire country. As a result of this law the big banks are now bigger than before. This bill of over 5,000 pages, which dwarfs Obamacare at 2,100 pagers, has caused new expenses for banks including small banks and is little understood by most banks. It has also caused new headaches for non-bank businesses. The congress caves to bank lobbyist and now we just wait for the next time they need a bail out and the government is aiding and abetting by easing up on restrictions for home buyers. This is how it all started the last time around. "Too big to fail" is the cancer of moral hazard in the financial system. Moral hazard is a term used in banking circles to describe the tendency of bankers to make bad loans based on an expectation that the lender of last resort, either the Federal Reserve domestically or the International Monetary Fund globally, will bail out troubled banks.

Health care ACA style

One of the more disturbing aspects of health insurance has always been the reliance on averages. Instead of treating patients, as individuals as most doctors would like to do, the insurance says we will pay for certain procedures, based on some statistical analysis of similar situations. This concept will be greatly enhanced under Obamacare. There will be a group of experts who will set the guidelines for treatment and doctors must follow those in order to have insurance coverage. If you are self-insured you can still get all the treatment the doctor recommends since you will be paying. The less flattering phrase for this is rationing. While people may not like this idea it is absolutely necessary in order to control cost. We live in a world of limited resources and cannot provide every individual with every service. Here is one example of what this panel of experts will be evaluating. It has to do with one type of cancer. As Dr. Conroy explains the process, first, doctors must determine the “Stage” or extent of the disease. The most common system for determining classification of malignant tumors and the extent of a person’s cancer is called the TNM system. “T” measures the size of the tumor and if it’s invaded nearby tissue. “N” determines regional lymph nodes that are involved. “M” measures the distance the cancer has spread from one part of the body to another. These measurements are critical in determining how sick the patient may be. In fact, there are four stages, classified under the TNM system, with multiple possible results determined by a large variable of TNM data. With an adenocarcinoma cell type under the microscope, there are about 40 pathological (histology) types which could lead to as many as 36,000 possible variable combinations of the cancer. The grade or aggressiveness of the cancer is 10 grades. So, 10×36,000 = 360,000 possibilities. Next, hormone sensitive status = 8 possibilities. So, 360,000 x 8 = 2,880,000 and menopausal status = 5,760,000 possible computer input combinations. These are the possible combinations on just one page of data in staging. So the computer system has to evaluate these combinations. Like the old adage says, “don’t worry, I’m from the government and I am here to help”.

Climate and China

With Climate Announcement, Obama Gets a Win -- and Maybe A Second-Term Legacy This was the headline on many of the news sites today. The agreement states that [China] must add 800 to 1,000 gigawatts of nuclear, wind, solar and other zero-emission generation capacity by 2030 — more than all the coal-fired power plants that exist in China today and close to the total electricity generation capacity in the United States What is not emphasized in this report is that this agreement is non-binding and has no enforcement mechanism. Pollution will continue to increase over the next 16 years in China while they implement these new energy systems. Meanwhile the United States will immediately reduce pollution. The US will meet its goals by moving from coal to oil to natural gas and if China makes any progress it will be because it follows the same path, not because of solar and wind. Many coal fired power plants are 50 years old and very inefficient and the price of natural gas keeps coming down so there is a natural transition from coal to gas that has very little to do with agreements or laws. If and when the government opens up lands to drilling this transition will accelerate and the earth will be cleaner and the Chinese people will benefit the most.

Students

In the Minneapolis Schools there is a brewing controversy around the number of black students who are expelled. There is an investigation going on to find out what is happening and I offer a possible reason. One of the many things that children should learn from their parents is respect for authority. In homes where the mother is alone and must work, often times two jobs, to support the family she often times is not able to handle the discipline problems that arise with children. When children do not learn respect for authority at home they do not respect teachers and this leads to problems in school. After they get through school the disrespect shown to law enforcement brings more trouble and leads to a disproportionate number of blacks in prison. It is most prevalent with boys as they need a father to teach them respect for authority. A mother can do this but not if she is worn out from working and trying to keep up a home. The problem not only manifests itself in the number of students expelled but also in test scores and graduation rates. The disintegration of the black family leads to poverty which leads to crime and drugs. It is only recently that this explanation can be made without the cry of prejudice. More jobs and better jobs will help solve this problem but better jobs means education and if you drop out you will be left out. Everyone does not have to go to college because the coming energy revolution will demand trades people who can work with their hands. There are plenty of tech colleges where students can learn plumbing, pipefitting, welding along with electricians and carpenters but they first have to get through high school.

Big banks

Today in the news there was a lot of hoopla about six big banks who were accused of price fixing and were fined 4 billion dollars. The combined assets of these banks are 7,300 billion. I have no idea how much money these banks made from these illegal activities but that fine is meaningless. If we are going to have changes in the behavior of these white collar criminals some will have to go to prison. Royal Bank of Scotland 1.9 T HSBC 2.7 T JP Morgan 2.4 T Citi Group 1.8 T Bank of America 2.2 T USB 0.3 T

Military spending

I have written the past about how the country tends to cut back on military spending after a war and used the example of how troops were sent to Korea without proper equipment. Yesterday on the radio they interviewed a Korean War veteran and he explained how his group arrived in Korea and did not see any action. Then at 2 AM they were awakened and told to get ready to go to the front. They were given their rifles but they had no ammo. The sergeant told them to use their bayonets. At the end of the cold war the military was cut back because the thinking was that any new wars would be high tech with air power and the need for troops on the ground would be minimal. When the next war came along the troops had to go three and four tours of duty because we were short on ground troops. The armor on the vehicles was inadequate and had to be replaced as many lost their lives and limbs. Then came the complaints from the American people about the shabby way our troops were being treated and many of these people were the same ones who demanded we cut back on the military.

China oil

The President made an agreement with China that promotes the reduction of green-house gases by 2030. The US will easily make their target by replacing coal fired powered with natural gas, a process which has been going on for the past 10 years. China is quickly buying oil on the world market as the number of people owning cars and trucks increases each year. The people living in the cities in China are choking to on air pollution and as the number of cars increase the problem will get worse. There is no stopping the increase in auto production but China can go a long was to reduce pollution by switching power plants to oil. They know this and are buying oil on the open market and the US could be part of this if the US would open government lands to drilling. China is snapping up unusually high amounts of crude oil as global prices hit their lowest level in years,Wall Street Journal reported Monday. The US could be a major supplier of oil to China if the government would allow drilling in the Green River Formation in Western USA. This would excite our economy with new high paying jobs for white and blue collar workers and offset our negative balance of payments. It would help China meet their new air pollution goals and drastically improve the health of the people in China.

Health care

A recently released video of Jonathan Gruber, a MIT professor, considered one of the architects of Obamacare, has casts some unflattering light on the whole process. Here is a quote from his speech given at the University of Pennsylvania in 2013 and it just surfaced this week. This bill was written in a tortured way to make sure [the Congressional Budget Office] did not score the mandate as taxes. If CBO scored the mandate as taxes, the bill dies. OK? So it's written to do that. In terms of risk-rated subsidies, if you had a law which said healthy people are going to pay in — you made explicit that healthy people pay in and sick people get money — it would not have passed. OK? Lack of transparency is a huge political advantage. And basically, call it the stupidity of the American voter or whatever, but basically that was really, really critical to get the thing to pass. Look, I wish ... we could make it all transparent, but I'd rather have this law than not. Recall that this bill was written in secrecy by the Senate and passed both houses with no Republican votes. This was when the Democrats had a super majority in the senate and majority in the house so the Republicans could not stop the bill. The last two Senators to come on board were Landry from Louisiana and she later bragged that she got 300 million for her state for her vote. The other hold out was Senator Ben Nelson from Nebraska whose state received 100 million. It was later admitted that these elected officials did not read the bill and recall Nancy Pelosi’s now rather innocuous statement that we should pass it then read it. I tend to agree with the statement about the stupidity of the voters because The President said right from the outset that the plan would insure 31 million new people at no additional cost. This was one of those half-truths that government is famous for as the cost in dollars would not increase but deductibles would and along with rationing the cost savings would be achieved.

Drug cost

Once again Walmart has come to the aid of the poor and middle income people with their agreement with Humana to offer low cost drug plans for Medicare recipients. The plans premium is $12 per month with no deductible and one dollar co-pays on over 1,500 common prescriptions. I do taxes at the senior center each year and this group uses a lot of prescription drugs and it consumes a significant part of their income.

Gridlock

It is pretty well established that the national press has a liberal bias but recently a perfect example of this bias has come to the forefront. For the past five plus years we have been told that the gridlock in Washington was caused by the Republican Congress. During this last election it was revealed that the do nothing congress had passed 372 bills and they all sat on Harry Reeds desk or in committee because he did not bring them to the floor of the senate. The reason being, that these bill might cause some embarrassment for President Obama if they passed. Many of the bills were in senate committees where they died so Reed did get them that far. 55 of these bills were introduced in the house by Democrats. Most of these bills will be brought up in the new congress and since the senate is now controlled by the Republicans they will be brought to the senate floor and sent on to the White House.

Gas price

It is common knowledge that politics interferes with most everything and the energy business is no exception. All the talk now is about the Keystone Pipeline and in reality it is only a minor player. The big oil fields are in the Green River Formations of Utah, Wyoming and Colorado. A recent report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office estimated that if half of the oil bound up in the rock of the Green River Formation could be recovered it would be "equal to the entire world's proven oil reserves." The biggest aid to the so called middle class during the Obama years has been the recent decline in gasoline prices and this is the result of increased production primarily in Texas and North Dakota and the current administration has done nothing to help to promote this. It has happened in spite of administration policies designed to move away from fossil fuels. Now The President is claiming this as a success for his administration.

Liberal and Conservative

In order for America to grow and prosper both liberals and conservatives are needed. Conservatives see economic freedom as the foundation for other rights. Usually it is the push for these economic freedoms that raises the standard of living for everyone. Once people feel that they have a reasonable income with some degree of job security, they then feel comfortable looking at other benefits and this is where the liberals come in to the picture. It is the liberals that emphasize the importance of things like safety nets and voting rights. Once the economy is producing good jobs then people are willing to look outside of their immediate lives and want to help those in need and those who are discriminated against. When a man cannot feed his family he is not interested in gay rights. It is only when he feels economically secure that he will look around to help others. Conservatives looking at the business world must keep in mind the concept of doing good while doing well and liberals must remember where the money comes from to help others. When both groups know that the best welfare program is a good job then progress will follow.

Solar

Another solar business is in trouble. The world’s largest solar plant Ivanpah Solar Generating System cannot produce the projected amount of electricity and in spite of burning natural gas to increase its production it cannot pay back the loans it received from the government. It is now asking for an additional 500 million in grants. One of the reasons given is that there was less sun than projected. I don’t know who did the projecting but average annual sunshine for a given area is well established. After already receiving a controversial $1.6 billion construction loan from U.S. taxpayers, the wealthy investors of a California solar power plant now want a $539 million federal grant to pay off their federal loan.

Ebola terrorism

There have always been compelling reasons to secure the southern border but there is a new one on the horizon. Instead of suicide bombers sneaking across, consider people deliberately infected with the Ebola virus coming into the country and moving to the slum areas of the big cities where street people could be easily infected and they in turn could spread the disease. The homeless and the drug addicts would be easy prey for this type of terrorism. The effect of one man coming here with the disease caused enough concern but if dozens from several different cities suddenly showed up at local hospitals it could seriously upset the entire country and this is the goal of the terrorist.

Lower health care cost

When I first looked at Obamacare plans I said they would reduce the overall cost of health care by rationing care and high deductibles and I saw both of these changes as necessary. Here is an example of rationing. Hospitals were initially penalized with reduced Medicare reimbursements if they had higher rates of readmission for patients with heart disease and pneumonia. Last week, the list was expanded to include serious lung conditions and hip and knee replacements. Hospitals will seek to keep such patients in emergency rooms rather than admit them. Why? The simplest way to avoid readmission is not to admit a patient in the first place. But substituting ER services for hospital stays will only increase the chance that patients will deteriorate and return with more complication Here is an example of deductible sticker shock. When ObamaCare patients learn their deductible is so high they’re unlikely to get any reimbursement, they often wind up in places like the Denton, Texas Community Care Center. "There are quite a few, and I saw another one today, where their deductibles are so elevated that they can't afford them," said Dr. Flippo Masciarelli, chief physician at the center, which was designed to treat indigent patients. Robert Laszewski of Health Policy and Strategy Associates noted, "You're going to the doctor, you're paying (a) premium, and because of this really high deductible, you're not getting any benefits." The administration pushed insurance companies to keep premiums low, but that also created high deductibles, about $5,000 per person for the least expensive plan, as well as narrow networks of providers. But most people buy based only on premiums.

Panel on climate change

A meeting of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was held this past week and two things jumped out at me. First they said the new date for disaster is 2100 which means they will not be around if things don’t turn out as bad as they say. This is different from other predictions such as Al Gore saying the Arctic Ice Cap will have melted by 2013. The second thing is that they say we must get rid of fossil fuels but without saying what they should be replaced with and the assumption is wind and solar. Nowhere in the report do they talk about methane hydrate. Mining methane hydrate provides an almost unlimited supply of natural gas and the process stores CO2 under the ocean floor meaning no more global warming. The absence of even a discussion on this valuable fuel source indicates a close mind on the issue and causes a loss of credibility in the rest of the report.

Subsidizing solar panels

It has been my contention for years that people who were sympathetic to the Soviet Union during the cold war migrated to the environmental cause when the wall came down. Recently I pointed out that the Audubon Society seems unconcerned about the estimated 200,000 birds that are killed by wind mills meaning that politics trumps birds. Now there is another example coming into the news and it was first brought to my attention by the congressional black caucus. The government has a program which provides incentives for people to place solar panels on the roofs of their homes and in the low usage times the home owner can sell the excess energy back to the power company. Now the people who purchase these panels are in the upper income groups while lower income people cannot afford the investment in panels. The result is that lower income people are subsidizing the higher income people and this is basically a transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich. The black caucus has brought this to the attention of congress but the environmentalist lobby has thwarted any action to remedy this situation. They cannot discontinue the subsidies to those who purchase solar panels because most people would not buy them without government financial assistance.

Looks matter

This past week a local politician in New Hampshire commented on a senate race between two women. He broke the basic rules of politically correct speech and said what he really thought. He pointed out that one of the women was homely and the other was attractive. While that may have been true as he saw it, he failed to understand that humans are social animals and must get along to get along. What surprised me was the way commentators responded to this not very bright individual. They acted surprised that someone would judge a person based on their appearance as if that is something they would never do. There are numerous studies showing that first impressions have a powerful influence on how people judge one another. It is a matter of civility and kindness that we do not make derogatory comments about others appearance but it does not mean that we do not notice those things. If I am 6 foot 8 and I walk into the room what is the first thing you notice about me. If I am 5 foot 8 and weigh 300 pounds what is the first thing you notice. When a beautiful woman walks in do people notice?

Job creators

In July of 2012 President Obama said in a speech regarding new business owners, you didn’t build that. Supporters said he meant that without infrastructure provided by government the business would not have been built. The argument against that is if all it takes is government roads and such why is it we get so few people like Bill Gates. There must be more to it. Now last week Hilary Clinton said in speech that business does not create jobs. She went on to state that businesses and corporations are not the job creators of America. “Don’t let anybody tell you that it’s corporations and businesses that create jobs,” the former Secretary of State said. I am not sure just whom she thinks does create jobs but the mindset of these two people represented by these remarks indicates a misunderstanding of our free market capitalist system. The constitution of the United States and in the particular the Bill of Rights was established to limit the power of government in order to open the door to individual freedom which in turn led to entrepreneurship. It is the individual starting out on his own, risking his own time and money that builds the small company that create the jobs. This is just one example of American exceptionalism.

Future

The path to energy independence is coal to oil to natural gas and finally to hydrogen. The latest scare is reminiscent of Malthus back in 1800 when he predicted the earth would die in its own waste products as population exploded but he failed to see the coming industrial revolution. The present day scare mongers fail to see the birth of controlled fusion. This is the process of converting hydrogen into helium and releasing an almost unlimited amount of clean energy. This energy will be used to run the world including the desalting of sea water which will change the world’s deserts into oases. Here is a recent quote from one of these mongers regarding population growth. These growing numbers mean a greater impact on the environment than ever, with worries about the conversion of forests for agriculture, the rise of urbanization, the pressure on species, pollution, and climate change The forest will be left untouched, as now wasted desert land is turned into crop land. Since power will be almost free, cities will be built and expanded with care to preserve the best for the earth. There will be no pollution or climate change but there will be an abundance of food and clean water. This will minimize the threat of poverty and allow people to better their educations to prepare for all the new jobs that will be created because of low cost energy. New industries will spring up and technology will raise the standard of living for all. This is already underway in the third world where most people live and fusion will accelerate the process. The only obstacles in the way of this new world are politicians who always seem to be more interested in their party than in their constituents. Our job as citizens will be to elect people who have their priorities straight and that will be no easy task.

Promise of methane hydrate

Climate change is a hot topic and as is often the case it is filled with misinformation either out of ignorance or on purpose. It is now common knowledge that Al Gore’s book was filled with exaggerations and when asked about this, he replied that he had to exaggerate to get people’s attention. In the long run this hurt the cause of those pursuing changes because they lost credibility. This was further damaged when it was discovered that scientist in England were deliberately skewing data to prove their ideas. This combined with many people who just don’t believe that climate change is a problem based on their own feelings or their preconceived bias has caused the whole issue to become bogged down and swallowed up by politics. Nothing will destroy good science like politics. Recently a new source of energy called methane hydrate has come to prominence. This is an almost unlimited supply of natural gas found on the ocean floor and research is underway in many countries around the world on how to harvest this new source. Japan, in particular is interested since they must import all of their energy. Other countries are interested in methane, as a clean source of energy especially when compared to coal and oil and China is dying in their own smog. Many people have made a commitment to solar and wind as the answers to the problem of climate change and many of those see natural gas as getting in the way of their solution. Thus articles are published emphasizing the leakage of methane at the pumps and pipelines. Instead of fixing the leaks they demand that methane not be used. Others say that while methane eliminates the problems of air pollution in things like acid rain and heavy metals they say the release of carbon dioxide is the cause of climate change and methane still does that. When these people were told that carbon dioxide can be used to mine methane hydrate they say that there will be leaks and once again instead of fixing the leaks they say methane should not be used. Cars running on natural gas are less expensive to run. Methane at $2 is equivalent to gasoline at $3.60 and has an octane rating of 110 vs 90 for most gasoline. Unlike gasoline the exhaust contains no acid rain chemicals and no heavy metals and emits 25% less CO2. The engine runs cleaner and requires less maintenance and oil changes are less frequent and engine ware is reduced. Home filling stations can be purchased for $500 where they tap into the natural gas line used to heat the home which further lowers the fuel cost. In the event of a collision natural gas is safer.

Going to methane hydrate

The technology of mining methane hydrate is moving ahead with government research money combined with investments from private companies. The gas is trapped on the ocean floor about 2,500 feet down where the pressure and cold temperature have frozen the gas surrounded by ice. When carbon dioxide is pumped into the mushy mass the methane is released and the carbon dioxide is captured. Experiments in Alaska and Japan have proved successful in extracting the gas while sequestering the carbon dioxide. The government just gave a 40 million dollar grant to a Texas University to perform similar experiments in the Gulf of Mexico. There are vested interest in the current methods of mining oil and gas and these companies have lots of money tied up in equipment so there will be a transition period in moving toward the hydrate mining. The use of mining hydrate while simultaneously capturing carbon dioxide is the answer to climate change so moving in this direction makes sense. This process eliminates the need for fracking and all of the associated problems. There will be time for this transition since global temperatures have leveled out, the oceans are rising at the moderate rate of one tenth inch per year, the Arctic Ice is coming back and the Antarctic ice is at record levels. It seems the earth has been given a reprieve from the dire predictions of just a few years ago and the pathway to solve the problem of climate change is clearly laid out. Big oil, like Brick and Mortar stores, will be forced by technology to either change or go out of business but dinosaurs don’t die easily.

LNG plants

The price of natural gas has declined by 70% since 2008 as supplies continue to increase going from 21 million million cubic feet in 2008 to 26 million million cubic feet in 2013. As the US supply of natural gas continues to increase the demand from overseas markets continues to rise. About 20 permits to liquefy natural gas and ship it overseas have been applied for but only one has been given the go ahead. Building these facilities will create new high paying jobs and will help to balance our imports. Natural gas will soon replace oil as the leading fossil fuel around the world and the United States is well situated to take advantage of this change assuming the government cooperates. It takes about 4 years to construct a plant and if we had begun when the gas boom started there would already be plants in operation.

Russian oil

If North Dakota oil keeps bringing down the price the world will gain an unexpected benefit. This will be the one thing that will get Putin’s attention and perhaps deter is desire to recreate the old Soviet Union. Among the many threats facing Russia’s economy, cheap oil could be the biggest of all. Crude prices have fallen more than 23 percent since June, depressing the ruble and knocking a potentially gaping hole in the national budget, which draws 45 percent of revenues from oil taxes. Just one more incentive for the government to open the Green River Formation for drilling.

News burnout

Using the story of the Little Boy Who Cried Wolf as a stepping off point, I want to illustrate two situations in modern day politics where this children’s story comes into play, excuse the pun. Assume you are in charge of the warning siren in your city. You know that if you fail to sound the warning and a tornado hits, you are big trouble but if you sound it at every dark cloud you will be safe. The result is that after a while no one pays any attention to the siren. The second example is cable news. When a problem comes up the news is focused on this problem to the exclusion of all else. When this news cycle runs its course, usually with a week or two unless a new problem pops up and then that is the news. This results in every problem becoming a crisis and the people having to deal with one crisis after another just become immune to whatever. Who cares about the Arab Spring, the bombing of Libya, the VA, the Ukraine, ISIS, the beheadings and now we have Ebola. Each of these was portrayed as crises of monumental importance. We are suffering from news burnout.

Fast fission

When it comes to fusion there is an intermediate step that has been sidelined because of the large supply of inexpensive natural gas. This is a fast fission reactor. Yes fission is what our current nuclear reactors are but fast fission is different. It does not produce large amounts of radioactive waste and what is produced is not long lived. Fast reactors can’t melt down or blow up, and don’t use water to cool. We have those designs now, and have built many that work fine. Some submarines are even powered with fast reactors. We just need to start building them on a commercial scale for energy. Making them as small modular reactors would be an ideal way to start. These reactors use up all of the fuel instead of leaving some unspent as radioactive waste. They can even use up all of the stored waste we have accumulated since the first nuke power plant was built. There is enough fuel to last 50,000 years. Research should continue on fusion as we make the transition from coal to oil to natural gas and finally hydrogen. But it is very likely that we will pass through fast fission before we hit hydrogen. This does not preclude the discovery of some new and better method of producing energy, something that no one has even dreamed of……yet!

Green River

Gas is $2.79 per gallon in Hastings today and that is down just about a dollar since last year. Since the US uses about 135 billion gallons per year this gives consumers an extra 135 billion dollars to spend on other items. We can all thank North Dakota for that since the oil patch out there is now producing 1 million barrels per day. This has done more for the middle class than anything else. If the government would open the Green River Formation for drilling it would bring in another 15 million barrels a day and bring the price of gas down lower, get rid of our negative balance of payments and we would no longer have to import oil from the Middle East. The US currently produces 13 million barrels per day and 3 million are converted to distillates and exported. The US uses 20 million barrels per day so they must import 10 million barrels. With the additional 15 million from Green River the US would not import any oil and would have an additional 5 million barrels to export. At the current price of $80 per barrel that means $400 million dollars per day or $150 billion dollars per year pouring into the US economy. This does not include the natural gas that would come from Green River and that could be used to replace oil giving additional oil for export. The more we export oil and more we replace our oil with natural gas the cleaner the environment. This is a win-win.

CDC spin

Here is an example of Washington spin. First is a Republican commentator talking about the CDC budget. It is true that spending for the CDC has dipped ever so slightly since 2011, but the cuts followed years of massive increases. Overall, since 2000, CDC outlays have almost doubled, from $3.5 billion to $6.8 billion (in 2014 constant dollars). Moreover, in January, the Republican-controlled House actually passed legislation that increased CDC spending for 2014 by $567 million — $300 million more than was requested by President Obama. Here is a Democratic commentator. WASHINGTON -- The lead agency tasked with responding to the threat of Ebola both within the United States and abroad has seen its budget drop dramatically in the past four years. But CDC officials and lawmakers who support the agency warn that years of austerity has hobbled both the CDC and the National Institutes of Health, both in terms of their ability to combat future outbreaks and their ability to prevent them from happening in the first place.

Yellen income gap

Janet Yellen, head of the Fed spoke this week on why the middle class is struggling and she gave two reasons. First was the high cost of college and second tougher lending practices. If we evaluate these two problems we see that federal government policies have aggravated both of these areas. Research shows there is direct correlation between the rising cost of college and the availability of student loans. As soon as colleges found out that the government was offering student loans they started raising tuition and it has now blossomed into students loans totaling over one trillion dollars and many think it will be the next big government bail-out. The reason qualifying for loans is difficult is that the government in its pursuit of expanding the availability of home ownership allowed millions of people to qualify for loans that they could not repay and in typical government fashion the pendulum swung back too far and now getting a loan is too difficult for most. Once more the phrase, the unexpected consequences of good intentions, explains it all.

War name

The Presidents policy on ISIS, is in his own words, “to degrade and ultimately destroy”. Yesterday after two months of careful thinking the government came out with a name for this mission to destroy and it is,” Operation Inherent Resolve “. Am I missing something or is there a disconnect here? The President is sometimes referred to as the reluctant warrior and that is a good thing when you are considering going to war but once you go it is wise to get rid of the reluctant part and go all out to win.

Government too big

In the past I have suggested that perhaps 300 million plus people cannot be properly governed by our present system. I mentioned the SEC problems controlling the banks, followed by the VA scandal, and the secret service and now we have the Ebola situation. There also seems to be some miscommunication between the state department and the defense department and the White House when it comes to foreign policy. When the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing maybe the process is too complicated. It is time for some outside source to study this problem and make some recommendations on what to change.

Income gap

In the last two weeks the market has lost one trillion dollars and since the top one percent own 60% of the stocks they have lost 600 billion. The top one percent represents 1.4 million people so they each lost $420,000. This is one way to close the income gap and fight income inequality.

Syrian Air Force

The Turks say they will not send in ground troops as long as the Syrian Air Force remains intact. The United States has the ability to destroy this Air Force with a minimum of losses similar to what was done in Libya. If the US did that then the Free Syrian army could challenge Assad and the Turks would help to take out ISIS. The US could kill two birds with one stone and not put combat troops on the ground. This is such an obvious solution that I must be missing some vital point.

General welfare

There was a discussion on the news about divorce and they quoted Jesus who said, Matthew 5:31-32 "It has been said, 'Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.' But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes her to become an adulteress, and anyone who marries the divorced woman commits adultery. The definition of marital unfaithfulness has been expanded to include physical or verbal abuse, excessive drinking, unwillingness to work and my favorite, irreconcilable differences, which can mean things like he doesn’t pick up his dirty socks and he leaves the cabinet doors open. I bring this up not because of any particular interest in divorce but to illustrate the parallels in the interpretation of the general welfare clause in the constitution. This clause was put in to lay out the two reasons for taxation. to pay the debts of the United States, and to provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States. This has come to mean the transfer of money from one group to another. The group with the best lobbyist will usually come out ahead. We have home owners who deduct their interest payments, farmers who are paid not to plant, businesses that can deduct the cost of health care all the way down the line to the people who get money just because they don’t have much. This whole process has led to the campaign finance mess where groups are buying face time in front of elected officials who maintain they are not influenced by money. We have drifted far afield from the general welfare where many of the expenditures in the budget, things like the State Department spending $630,000 for face book “likes”, border on the ridiculous.

Off shore drilling

Much to the dismay of environmentalist, President Obama has opened up the east shore of the United States to oil drilling. It is estimated that from Maine to Florida there is 5 billion barrels of recoverable oil and that is less than the amount used in one year. If instead The President would open up drilling in the Green River Formation where there are proven reserves of 1.5 trillion barrels which would last 250 years and not risk any underwater problems the country would be better served. The Green River Formation lies in mostly rocky deserted areas of Wyoming, Utah and Colorado.

ND oil exports

As the North Dakota oil becomes more readily available the US refineries are changing their operations. The oil imported from the Middle East is heavier than the US oil and thus the US oil contains a higher percentage of the good stuff like gasoline and aviation fuel. As these refineries make the change over the amount of gasoline is increased and thus the price for American drivers will continue to fall. The US presently is not allowed to export oil but that may change as the US becomes more self-sufficient and that would put upward pressure on the price. On the upside it will provide more jobs in the energy field and add to exports which will help in foreign trade balance which normally runs about 40 billion per month. If the government would open the Green River Formation to drilling this deficit could be overcome with exports and the number of good paying jobs would be in the millions since it would take about 500 million barrels a month in exports.

Action in Iraq

The argument against putting combat troops in Iraq and Syria is that we have tried that before and the American people are tired of war. Most experts agree that it we want to use combat troops it would have been easier three years ago than it is today. With that kind of reasoning will it be more difficult to control ISIS is we wait longer. If they are left alone they will likely develop a radical state in the area and set up a government. They will then have the where-with-all to plan for their long term goal of a world-wide Caliphate. As the people of the west are tired of war how long will it be before the problem becomes untenable? A few beheadings got everyone upset for a week but now that is gone. When we see movies of these terrorist throwing babies up in the air and catching them on bayonets everyone will get upset for a week or so and that will fade. These people have made it abundantly clear that their plan is for world domination. They will be training suicide bombers and sending them around the world and maybe then people will realize what they are up against but then again maybe everyone will say we are tired of war and just sit back and watch. Taking no action is always easier than acting and most of the time it is politically safer.

Peace prize

It is somewhat of a rarity these days to see some good news in the mainstream media but this week it happened. A 17 year old Pakistani girl received the Noble Peace Prize. She grew up in the Swat Valley in Northern Pakistan where her father ran a small school for girls. When the Taliban came in they closed all the girls schools and burned most of them. The young girl Malala wanted to continue her education and spoke out publically, encouraging other girls to continue their studies. The Taliban shot her in the neck and head and she was taken to London where after many surgeries she recovered and continues to speak out about the education of girls. I contrast that with President Obama who went to Europe and spoke in apologetic terms about the mistakes that American has made and the officials in Norway and Sweden were swept off their feet and awarded him the Peace Prize. He had only been president for a few months and had accomplished nothing aside from great speeches and they were in awe of him. They were not alone.

Con-man

When the details of the holocaust were made public, the world said never again. When 800,000 were slaughtered in Rwanda, President Clinton said it was his biggest mistake not to have intervened. When it looked like a pending massacre in Libya the US stepped in under the new rule laid down by Susan Rice and Samatha Powers saying the US will not stand by like we did in Rwanda. Since then we have witnessed over 200,000 killed in Syria as we failed to follow up on President Obama’s infamous Red Line. Now we are watching ISIS take over most of Iraq and Northern Syria by slaughtering people. The new government in Iraq is now asking for American troops on the ground. In a few years will we once again look back and say never again. Our President who just a few years ago strutted around exuding confidence, some say arrogance, now looks like a lost little boy. I honestly can’t blame him as we elected a man with little experience and raised him to heights unseen and now he cannot live up to our unreasonable expectations. It is an American weakness or perhaps a human weakness to fall for a charismatic, attractive person with great oratorical skills, a person under other circumstances we might refer to as a con-man.

Climate stuff

I have stated many times that we should take the necessary steps to reduce CO2 emissions around the globe but that the use of solar and wind is just a political ploy to transfer money from government to friends who in turn make campaign contributions. The cause of global warming was seriously hurt by people, without adequate information, making exaggerated statements about climate change. Here is a report issued yesterday which once again throws doubt on many of the claims. Climate scientists have been puzzled by the behaviour of the southern ice for many years now. The most commonly used models say that its steady growth should not be happening in a warming world (though the warming of the world is also in doubt, as air temperatures have been steady for the last fifteen years or more - and it turns out that deep ocean temperatures are not increasing either, leaving the "mystery" of the apparent end of global warming "unsolved"). This failure of reality to match up with climate modelling has, as some eminent climate scientists have noted, had the effect of "limiting confidence in the predictions" of severe warming and associated disasters this century. Meanwhile at the other end of the planet the Arctic sea ice has covered lesser areas in recent times. The lowest Arctic area seen in the era of satellite measurements was in 2012, but the three consecutive record-high Antarctic maxima of 2012, 2013 and now 2014 have resulted in global sea ice levels this year and last year coming out pretty much normal. ® I will repeat once again that the solution to the problem is to move from coal to oil to natural gas and finally to hydrogen. We have the natural resources to do this, it just requires commitment by government to allow private industry to move forward.

Shale boom

As President Obama touts the US economic recovery he fails to mention the energy industry. The U.S. will remain the world’s biggest oil producer this year after overtaking Saudi Arabia and Russia as extraction of energy from shale rock spurs the nation’s economic recovery, Bank of America Corp. said. U.S. production of crude oil, along with liquids separated from natural gas, surpassed all other countries this year with daily output exceeding 11 million barrels in the first quarter, the bank said in a report today. The country became the world’s largest natural gas producer in 2010. The International Energy Agency said in June that the U.S. was the biggest producer of oil and natural gas liquids. “The U.S. increase in supply is a very meaningful chunk of oil,”Francisco Blanch, the bank’s head of commodities research, said by phone from New York. “The shale boom is playing a key role in the U.S. recovery. If the U.S. didn’t have this energy supply, prices at the pump would be completely unaffordable.” The US is still importing 7 million barrels per day and if the government would open federal lands to drilling this deficit would be eliminated and gas would drop to two dollars and the economy would grow even more. The next move would be to remove existing laws which prohibit the exporting of oil. This would decrease our balance of payment problem and allow countries like China to move away from coal to oil. Meanwhile the US would continue its move from oil to natural gas.

Sanctions

Most of the world’s experts on international politics agree that a nuclear Iran would cause an imbalance of power in the Middle East and cause other nations like Kuwait and Saudi Arabia to develop their own nuclear weapons. Many of these same experts feel this could lead to a nuclear war in the Middle East and quickly spread if Israel were attacked. The West had imposed serious sanctions on Iran to the point where the election in June 2013 brought in a new leader who was supposed to be a moderate. Here is a quote from Obama. We put in place an unprecedented regime of sanctions that has crippled Iran’s economy…And it is precisely because of the international sanctions and the coalition that we were able to build internationally that the Iranian people responded by saying, we need a new direction in how we interact with the international community and how we deal with this sanctions regime. And that’s what brought President Rouhani to power. This new leader was a smooth operator and his talk resulted in the The JPOA, (joint plan of action) between Iran and the west allowed for the reduction in sanctions until November 24th These were major adjustments and limited the sanctions with the promise from Iran that they would cooperate more fully with the West. Now as we approach November 24 the Iranians are asking for additional concessions and some fear that Obama is so concerned about sending in ground troops that he will cave into their demands if they promise to help in the fight against ISIS. Let us hope that the fear of a nuclear Iran is overblown because Obama will try to work with Iran if they will help battle ISIS. For those who are interested, here lists the reduction in sanctions. In the JPOA the U.S. government (USG) has committed to suspend temporarily certain sanctions involving Iran’s purchase and sale of gold and other precious metals, Iran’s export of petrochemical products, Iran’s automotive industry, and certain associated services1 regarding each of the foregoing. The JPOA also includes a commitment to establish financial channels to facilitate Iran’s import of certain humanitarian goods to Iran, payment of medical expenses incurred by Iranians abroad, payments of Iran’s UN obligations, and payments of $400 million in governmental tuition assistance for Iranian students studying abroad. In addition, the JPOA includes a commitment to license certain transactions related to the safety of Iran’s civil aviation industry. Finally, in the JPOA the USG has committed to pause efforts to further reduce Iran’s crude oil exports and to enable Iran to access $4.2 billion in Restricted Funds2 in installments over the course of the six-month period beginning January 20, 2014, and ending July 20, 2014 (the JPOA Period). Unless otherwise noted, these relief measures do not include transactions with persons on the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control’s (OFAC) List of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (the SDN List)

Ebola

I have suggested on a number of occasions that perhaps our form of government is not sufficient to deal with 300 million people. The recent incident with the Ebola patient who came here from African causes me to think that maybe the world is too big for existing governments to cope. This man carried a sick lady home from the hospital in Liberia and she later died from Ebola. He then boarded a plane for Brussels but was examined and declared healthy. Then he went through the airport and boarded a plane for Ft Worth by way of Dulles in Washington DC. Arriving in Texas he came into contact with 18 people, five of whom were students at different schools. He got sick and went to the hospital where he was in contact with others in the emergency room. The doctor gave him some anti-biotic and sent him home. Two days later an ambulance brought him back to the hospital where he was diagnosed with Ebola. Now the government is telling the parents of the kids in the schools where contact was made, that they are safe.

China

Mao led China from after the war until his death in 1976. His government was strictly communist and change came only after he died. When China started to move toward a more free market economy, that is, where individuals could start and own their own business, things changed rapidly. Once again it was proven that getting rid of central government control opens the door to growth. I recall when the government first allowed the free market that everyone felt it was only a matter of time before the communist government fell. The theory was that once you have economic freedom that political freedom would follow but it didn’t happen. 25 years ago the Tiananmen Square situation came up and many thought that was the beginning but the government used tanks and troops and shut it down. This week we see the protestors in the streets of Hong Kong and once again are asking if this is the start of the change away from central government control.

Too big

In the recent past, I have posed the question that perhaps our form of government is not adequate to serve 300 million people. It first came up with the SEC and its inability to oversee the finance industry. Then we had the case of the VA where the problem was deemed systemic and now we have the secret service where the frat boy atmosphere prevails. Are these wake-up calls for change or just exceptions to the rule?

Wall Street Chums

It is common knowledge in the finance business that the revolving door between government and Goldman-Sachs has filled Washington with Goldman employees. The problem arises from the fact that financial products have become so complicated that government inspectors have to work closely with Goldman to understand them and a kind of Stockholm Syndrome develops. When this happens with the SEC it is called regulatory capture. An insider is now releasing secret tapes showing how these regulators have been taken in by Goldman employees. In 2009 the Federal Reserve Bank of New York set out to investigate why US government officials were so blind to the Wall Street crash of 2008. Why were they unable to forecast the oncoming financial crisis? Why did the economic contagion nearly topple the whole global financial system? The fault, according to an independent review by Columbia University Prof David Beim, was that the government regulators were too deferential to the banks they were supposed to oversee. Within the New York Fed, employees were urged by their supervisors to look the other way when they found violations and to temper critical reports. Ho hum.

Rising debt

Here is an early warning signal from France. PARIS – France's Socialist government has detailed a 21 billion-euro ($26.5 billion) cost-cutting plan, the deepest-ever spending cuts in the country's modern history. Presenting the 2015 budget Wednesday, Finance Minister Michel Sapin said, "These spending cuts are crucial to our credibility in the eyes of the French and Europeans, they'll be fully applied." A significant part of the savings is to be made on France's generous welfare system. The government plans to cut 3.2 billion euros from health spending, and to cut family benefits by 700 million euros. The government also plans to diminish the number of state employees next year and limit wage increases. France's debt is now above two trillion euros and represents 95.1 percent of gross domestic product, according to statistics released Tuesday. Our current debt to GDP is 73% and rising. It is very difficult to take away benefits once people are accustomed to them. There will likely be public protest in France. The solution to our debt problem is to grow the economy and that can start with the energy business and opening government lands to drilling. The other alternative is to cut spending.

Eat in

I took my grandson to baseball practice about a 40 minute drive from here and while I was waiting for him I got a newspaper and went to McDonalds to read and do the puzzle. I was sitting near the front and a young couple with two kids, about 8 and 10 came in. I didn’t hear what they ordered but the bill came to $25 and I got to thinking about my home made vegetable soup. It costs me $10 and it makes 6 quarts or about 200 ounces or 50 cents for a ten ounce bowl. If I add to that two pieces of whole wheat toast with butter, an 8 oz. glass of whole milk and an apple the whole thing costs $25 for four meals. These people could eat a much healthier meal at home for four nights for the same price as one night out. They would have a family meal around the kitchen table where they could talk about the days activities without interruption. I can make other meals for the same price. Meat loan with potatoes and gravy, carrots , buns and milk. Same with roast pork. Many families live from pay check to pay check and they could eat healthier and cheaper if they wanted to change their eating habits.

Medicare booklet

Today in the mail I received my annual copy of the, “Medicare and You”, booklet. It is 152 pages of insurance information printed in color telling me all about Medicare. I have no idea what this cost but I have a pretty good idea of how many will read this booklet and it is very few. I spent 25 years sitting across the kitchen table in people’s homes, talking about such matters as insurance and from my perspective I don’t know anyone including myself who will read this booklet. On top of that I can predict that if some brave soul did decide to read it they wouldn’t get much out of it. On rare occasions I would come across some person who knew that Part A was for hospital and Part B for doctor but that was about the extent of the average person’s knowledge of Medicare. So the question comes up, as to why the government is sending this booklet out, to the 39 million Medicare recipients, if only a few will read it and even fewer will understand it? The answer is that congress feels they are doing their duty of informing the citizens about Medicare. I believe this shows they are out of touch with the ordinary citizen

Disparate impact

As Eric Holder leaves office one of the things he has used more than others is the doctrine of disparate impact. Normally when discrimination occurs there is a specific individual who has been adversely affected and the Justice Department steps in to challenge. With disparate impact there is no specific individual involved but there is statistical evidence that discrimination exist within a group. A typical example might be hiring practices in regards to gender. Suppose a police department shows no specific prejudice against females but total employment indicates that only a small percentage of women are hired. Often times the so called 80% rule used. Suppose a company hires 70% of the men who apply for a predominantly male job but only 30% of the women who apply. The ratio of 30/70 indicates that women were hired at 42% of the rate of men and since that is below 80% the government could bring a case against this employer. Holder used this process many times against police departments, schools and cities. I will not argue the logic of such methods but will point out that when you look at the rate that conservative groups were challenged by the Internal Revenue they definitely did not meet the 80% rule but no challenge was issued by Justice.

Walmart checking

Because of all the new banking regulations in the Dodd-Frank banking bill, banks now are charging extra fees for checking accounts unless you keep a large balance which leaves out most poor people. This leaves the poor without access to checking so Walmart has stepped in to solve the problem. The retail goliath on Wednesday announced it would offer customers checking accounts with no minimum balance and no fees for overdrafts or bounced checks. Those who get a direct deposit of at least $500 every month -- a floor that includes many people receiving government benefits -- will have the $8.95 monthly fee waived. Last year the law changed and now requires that social security checks be direct deposit and many low income elderly pay heavy fees to maintain their account. These people will likely switch to Walmart.

Guns

One of the hot items the past few elections has been gun control but it has faded to a non-issue status. In the past the anti-gun people had said all they were asking is that guns not be purchased at flea markets. It is their contention that more guns mean more gun crimes. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms said that only 2% of guns used by criminals were purchased at flea markets so this kind of cooled down this issue. In addition other data shows that guns may not be the problem that some people say. Over the past 20 years homicide rates have declined by half and during this same period the number of guns owned by Americans increased from 220 million to 300 million. 20 states now have conceal and carry laws and some say this acts as a deterrent to crime.

180 for Obama

When President Obama was elected many people were thrilled with his new, why can’t we all just get along, approach and after he apologized to the Europeans for American arrogance, they gave him the Nobel Peace Prize. Six years later reality has set in and his speech yesterday, aside from the reference to Ferguson, MO, sounded like George Bush. This, of course, upset both parties but the Democrats have muffled their dissent.

Iranian nukes

With the news being dominated by ISIS most people have forgotten about the Iranian nuclear program. In 2006 negotiations between Iran and Europe broke down over a disagreement on the number of centrifuges Iran could have. Iran had 500 they were using for research and wanted to increase that to 3,000 and the Europeans disagreed. Presently Iran is negotiating with the United States and they have 19,000 centrifuges of which 9,000 are active and they want to increase to 190,000. It is obvious who is winning in these negotiations. Many are worried about this but as I have stated in the past I am not. I don’t believe that Iran really wants a nuclear bomb but they just want to stir the pot to keep the price of oil up. I say this because back in 1944 the US using far less sophisticated procedures created enough U-235 to make a bomb in a couple of years. Iran has been working at this for 20 years and still don’t have enough enriched U-235 to make a bomb. Maybe I am just an optimist but what other explanation is there?

Climate change march

I watched with great interest the people who were marching to promote climate change just prior to the United Nations Climate Summit. They were a mixed group coming from various parts of society with different backgrounds. Some were ordinary citizens who have been influenced by groups trying to move away from fossil fuels and most of these did not research the issue on their own but accepted what they were told. Others have a financial stake in the issue, people like former Vice-President Al Gore. Many, however, have their roots in the old cold war days. These people are the anti-Reagan, pro-Gorbachev citizens who oppose the free market system of governance. They are similar to the Occupy Wall Street people who were marching a couple of years ago. They were a product of the cold war and when the Soviet Union collapsed they migrated to the environmental cause. They were the “better red than dead” group who became the “new red is green” people. Many of them are liberals who are financially OK but who see big business as the villain that is trampling on the little people. They prefer the Marxist principle of, “from each according to his means, to each according to his needs”. They see the climate change issue as a way to bring big business in line with their way of thinking and that is putting people ahead of profit. This is an admirable goal but the new young managers in business already realize this and are moving in that direction. They see this as the right thing to do and understand that moral commitment to the community will enhance profits. The Summit is a paper tiger since China and India are not participating and the United States will lead the way to cleaner air as the movement away from coal and oil to natural gas continues and eventually the use of methane hydrate and finally to hydrogen. The pathway is clear and when those who have a vested interest in opposing capitalism get out of the way the problem will be solved.

War President

As the war in Syria unfolds many past misconceptions are being uncovered and the truth is coming out. The country is almost united behind The President’s new move into Syria. Most of those opposed are liberals who have always said that conservatives are against everything Obama does because they don’t like him or worse because he is black. Now these evil conservatives are backing The President because they like his policy and that is what it has always been about….policy. The President has a chance to regain some of his lost popularity but it requires a complete change in attitude on his part. Instead of being the guy who ended wars he must become the guy who started a war against an evil enemy and defeated them instead of just saying the war is over and coming home. Using the forces available to him and the backing of the American people he can drive ISIS out of Iraq and let Assad deal with them in Syria. Will he come out with the same enthusiasm he has for minimum wage and lead the world to a victory over this loathsome enemy or will he tippy toe around the issue trying to maintain his image of Mr. Nice Guy. War is not nice. It is a dirty business and he will have to get his hands in the dirt to succeed.

Preemption

When President Bush 43 was in office he proposed what was called, preemptive strike policy. He was roundly criticized for this and was called a war-monger. The concept was simple and sensible and when those who objected went home and thought about it for a few days they just dropped the subject. The policy said that if there was an imminent danger to the United State the government had the right to make a first strike. The other alternative was to wait until attacked before responding. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bush declared in an aggressive new national security strategy Friday that the United States will stop any adversary challenging America's military superiority and adopt a strike-first policy against terrorist threats "before they're fully formed." It appears that President Obama has made use of this policy on his attack against ISIS in Syria. I wonder if he will be considered a war-monger. I thought this was a good policy when Bush proposed it and it still is a good policy.

Booming Syria

During the run up to the 2012 presidential election Vice-President Biden warned that if elected Romney would into Syria. He also suggested that Romney would change our position with Russia from cooperation to confrontation. It now appears that if the US had entered Syria on the side of the anti-government forces in early 2013 things would look better today. It also appears that the US should have stood up to Putin early on. The Presidents mode of operation is to wait and think things through before acting but like General Eisenhower said, most battles that are lost can be attributed to two works, “too late”. Military experts conclude that the US will not rout ISIS in Syria without ground forces and The President has ruled that out so what kind of positive outcome can come of this? There will be no victory over ISIS in Syria but there can be a victory in Iraq. With the help of US bombing and tactics along with the part of the Iraqi army that is willing to fight, the Sunni’s in Iraq who helped fight against Al-Qaida in the surge and the Kurds in the north, ISIS in Iraq can be surrounded and defeated.

High cost of healthcare

My wife was in the hospital for four days in July. She got very ill overnight and I called an ambulance to take her to the emergency room. They put her on oxygen and intravenous since she was dehydrated. They put a detector on her figure and that indicated low oxygen which they diagnosed as pneumonia. They took chest x-rays to confirm this. They put her on antibiotics and took samples for blood work. In a few hours she was moved to the hospital where she continued on IV and oxygen. The next day a physical therapist came in and walked her around the room for about 15 minute and this was done the next two days. To check her heart they did an eco-gram, an EKG/ECG. The bill for these four days was $22,600. Here comes the part that surprised me although it shouldn’t have. When I told people the charge they responded with a kind of ho hum, wow. I got the distinct feeling that I could have said the bill was $226,000 and they would have responded in the same way. This is the result of what happens when insurance pays the cost. The cost doesn’t matter. As long as we have a system that uses the third party payer the cost will rise faster than inflation. With Obamacare’s high deductibles people will start paying out of pocket and this will help to control cost.