Legal cost

As part of the news regarding the situation in Baltimore a poll released showing that young people do not trust the legal system and this is not new. In the early 70’s I attended a lecture by famous attorney F. Lee Baily. I don’t remember the details of his speech but I will not forget his closing statement when he said and I paraphrase, just remember when you go to court that whether you are innocent or guilty has very little to do with the verdict. We see this on a regular basis and most prominently in the O.J. Simpson case where when you have the, “dream team” you get a different kind of justice. If O.J. had been some young man in north Minneapolis the verdict would likely have been different. Most people know that if you have the money you get better representation and in that regard the system is flawed. Regardless of your economic status you get a lawyer but it won’t be the dream team. It is the nature of the world that money brings advantages.

Class not race

Back in the 50’s there was a best-selling book entitled, “Raison in the Sun”. I read this book with great interest because it was about me. The book was about a black family that moved into a white neighborhood. It was a housing development like many after the war where two and three bedroom houses were built all in a row and sold mostly to young families, many of whom were vets from WWII. In 1959 I bought one of these homes for $10,000. These homes represented a major investment on the way to the American dream of home ownership. The story told of how the value of the home decreased by 20% when the black family moved in and the conclusion was that this was racism. I won’t argue with the book but I will present another possibility. Suppose the value of the homes increased when the black family moved in. Would there have been a different reaction. I say yes. It is possible that the negative reaction toward the black family might have been based on economics as opposed to race. I bring this up at this time because I see something similar in the riots in Baltimore. I believe much of the problem is based on class rather than race or is an economic problem. The leadership in Baltimore is racially balanced based on the community but the riots occurred anyway. It is a clash between the poor and uneducated and the middle class and educated. I believe that race has clouded the issue in many places throughout the country when in fact it all comes down to income differences. Once again the answer is good paying jobs. The government has been handing out money to these people for years but they have not improved their economic status.

Champaign

The political news this week was a study in contrast. A dozen Republican candidates for president gathered in New Hampshire and each presented his views on the economy and foreign affairs along with specifics as to how they would handle things if they were president. They were then subjected to critical questioning by the press and were required to defend their positions. On the democratic side the news was what Hilary Clinton ordered when she stopped at a restaurant. It appears that Clinton supporters are satisfied with this.

Gray Money

The term, “Gray Money”, applies to cash based businesses. An example is the coin operated business like arcades and juke boxes. They collect the coins, count them and then decide how much they should report as income. Since everyone is reporting about half you cannot compete in the business if you report all your income. You must either cheat or find another business. In the news today it was reported that taxes collected from the pot businesses in Colorado were coming in at about half the estimates. Since this is a cash business, I wonder where the people who collect taxes have been living. Did they account for the gray money when they put out their estimates or did they over estimate on purpose to get the law passed?

Cop shootings

The incidences of white police officers shooting unarmed blacks have been in the news. When a panel member asked why the liberal news seems to headline these shootings more than the conservative press, he responded by saying that liberals recognize that blacks represent a large liberal constituency and they are anxious to prove they are concerned. That is admirable as everyone should be concerned about rogue cops but there are other areas where concern is also needed but often left unmentioned. Is there concern over the fact that the unemployment rate for blacks is twice that of whites, that the high school drop-out rate for blacks is twice that of whites, that one half of the murders in the country are blacks killing blacks, that there are more black males in prison that there are in college, that the gap in test scores widens each year or that 70% of black births are out of wedlock. These are serious problems but they have been around for so long they are no longer newsworthy.

Kasich and Rubio

When President Obama ran the first time in 2008 the big criticism from the Republicans and I agreed was his lack of experience. He was a first term senator who had no executive experience. We now have three announced Republican candidate for president and they are all first term senators with no executive experience. We have several governors who have yet to announce and John Kasich would make an excellent candidate. He is a two term governor from a key swing state, Ohio, and has a record of success in lowering taxes, balancing budgets and increasing jobs. A senator like Rubio would be an great running mate as both Florida and Ohio are the states that will likely determine who wins. Kasich at age 62 has the necessary experience and Rubio at 42 can represent the younger generation

Polls

Many people are suspect of polls since they can be manipulated and a poll announced today adds to the confusion. A poll asked if people thought they were paying too much income tax and 65% agreed that they were. This is hard to understand since only 50% of the people pay income tax.

Government power

The framers of the constitution, after their experiences with the King, were concerned that government would seek the power to rule over the people. So to limit this they added the Bill of Rights, which were designed to reduce the power of elected officials and to protect the rights of the people from such electorates. It is the nature of ambitious people to seek power and thus elected officials must be restrained and thus the purpose of elections. Over the years these elected officials have rigged the system so that they can be re-elected and as a result 95% of incumbents retain their positions. To those who believe the power should be with the government this is acceptable but for others it is not. To combat this, many who fear the power of government, propose such things as term limits but since these must be approved by those in power it is a dead end and thus they have safely secured their place in office. When a person running for office holds up a copy of the constitution and the bill of rights and declares their intention to take back the government from those in power and give the power to the people, they are declared to be radicals or worse, racist. People who want to protect those in power say “states rights” are code words for those who want to bring back Jim Crow. This is a strong argument and usually wins the day. The free press which was designed to protect the people from the government is often used to protect government from such attacks. There are a few dissenting voices but for the most part the press aligns itself with the government. The result is government encroachment into the personal lives of the people.

Fair -share law

During my time with Pillsbury, I worked in 8 different plants some of them union. In one union plant an employee decided not to join the union and I recall he was treated as an outcast. People would not sit at a table with him in the lunch room and he was a mechanic and worked mostly alone. I once asked him why he didn’t join but he didn’t answer. There is a controversy now raging in states where you must join the union. This is the result of a 1977 case in Michigan. The fair-share labor law was formed as a result of a 1977 court case called Abood v. The Detroit Board of Education. In that case, public school teachers in Detroit sought to overturn a requirement that they pay dues to the teachers' union on the grounds they didn’t support the union activities or collective bargaining. The court sided with the unions and determined that non-members can be charged fees, though the money from fees could not be used for political purposes. The fair-share law is now being challenged in two big labor states, Illinois and California as it becomes apparent that much of the union money is being used for political purposes. The challenge, however is not based on that but rather on freedom of choice. “This is a fundamental issue protecting employees’ rights, their freedom of speech, and their rights as employees,” This is now being considered by a Chicago court but will likely end up in the Supreme Court.

Iran nukes

The nuclear deal with Iran has introduced a new phrase called, “breakout time”. They are pressing for restrictions that will extend the amount of time it will take Iran to build a nuclear weapon — the so-called “breakout time” — from the current 2-3 months to a year. This brings me back to a question I have posed a number of times asking, does Iran want a nuclear bomb. Iran has been working on this project since 1979. Why have they not developed the bomb? The Manhattan Project was the name given to the United State program to make a nuke. In less than 4 years using technology from the 40’s the US made enough nuclear material for two bombs. After working on this enrichment process for 36 years without success we are now saying that they can make a bomb in 3 months. Something is missing here

Iran agreement

In the early 80’s North Korea built a small (5 megawatt) reactor capable of producing plutonium. In 1985 they joined the nuclear proliferation treaty agreeing not to produce nuclear weapons. They agreed to inspections by the IAEA in 18 months but then extended that another 18 months and then they missed that deadline. This attempt at inspections continued until 1993 when North Korea announced they were withdrawing from the nuclear proliferation treaty. Under pressure North Korea agreed to inspections but kept putting it off and in 1994 the IAEA said they would no longer be responsible for inspections. At this time with permission from President Clinton, former President Jimmy Carter went to North Korea. Carter announced that North Korea would be willing to freeze its nuke program and would allow for inspections. They agreed to close their 5 meg reactor and to accept 500,000 tons of fuel oil. While all of this was going on North Korea was using spent reactor rods to process plutonium and in 2009 the announced they had a nuclear bomb and conducted its first test. Second and third test were conducted in 2009 and 2013. This all sounds eerily familiar. The US has just concluded what appears to be a decent agreement with Iran over their nukes but will they work behind the scenes to develop a bomb. We will see.