New jobs

I just finished listening to Bernie Sanders and he said something that I agree with. He said the $15 minimum wages is not good enough. What is needed are jobs that pay a living wage but he did no say how to create these jobs. I googled democratic candidates plans for job creation and nothing comes up. Some propose government money to finance infrastructure but that is just like having the government pony up for jobs. Others suggest replacing fossil fuels with wind and solar but that is just replacing one job with another. How about growing the economy and allowing the private sector to create new jobs. Why hasn't one of them suggested that and if they have I was not able to find it. A year ago Bernie suggested government jobs. Sen. Bernie Sanders is set to announce a plan that guarantees every American "who wants or needs one" a lifetime government job paying at least $15 an hour, with health insurance and other perks.

199 A

Corporate profits are distributed in three ways. One portion goes for taxes, one portion for dividends and one portion for retained profits which are used for corporate reinvestment to grow the company. Some companies like Amazon pay no dividend which leaves more for reinvestment. If companies reduce salaries it leaves more profit which could mean more taxes. The dividends are taxed a second time when received by the stock holders. Taxes on retained earnings can be offset by reinvesting in new assets like buildings and equipment as these can be depreciated and depreciation is deductible. Section 199A in the new tax law is a break for small business which allows for a 20% pass through. For example if you have a profit of $200,000 you can pass through 20% or $40,000 and then if your tax bracket is 25% you can put $8,000 in your pocket. This break is not available for regular corporations. Arguments abound as to whether the government gets more money by increasing tax rates or by removing deductions some times called loop holes.

Secret or not

A manufacturing plant manager faces a dilemma when making major changes. He can either inform the employees as things are progressing or not say anything until one weekend the new machines are installed and when the people come in on Monday morning they are all surprised. If he chooses to keep people abreast of things he runs the risk of appearing not to know what is going on. This happens because many changes occur along the way and sometimes the end product is quite different that what was originally planed. This can seem like chaos and sometimes it is. The people may feel that management is incompetent. The other alternative leaves people in the dark and gives the impression that management doesn't care what they think. Trump is like a manager who lets everyone know what is happening as things are happening. Since this is much different than the way most presidents behave it seems like chaos to the people and sometimes it is but the up side is that people are informed along the way. The news media are not happy with this arrangement since the people know what's happening as quickly as the media does.

Border money

The House passed the Senate border funding bill and this could have been done months ago. It was held up because some felt there was not a serious problem at the border but most have now agreed that something had to be done. As the problem worsened over the past six months, public opinion changed and instead of blaming the administration they started to blame congress and this was the tipping point.

Health care solution

Even after Obamacare there were still 28 million people uninsured. The easiest solution to the problem is to put these people on Medicaid. There are currently 70 million on Medicaid. All people would be insured and for low income people the cost would be based on income ranging from free on up. This will allow the 180 million people currently insured by themselves or their employer to keep their existing plans. People could purchase the kind of insurance they need and from what company they choose. Some restrictions would be place on punitive damages resulting from medical law suits and insurance would be sold across state lines. Companies could go to high deductible major medical plans and share the monthly cost with the employees. The cost would be deductible and unused funds would be carried over and available to supplement retirement income.

How many and who

Talk about the problems at the border often includes the moral obligation to care for those less fortunate but the elephant in the room is mostly overlooked. The big question is, "how many". There are millions of people around the world who are in danger because of social, political and economic reasons. This includes Central America and many countries in South America like Venezuela not to mention many in Africa. Is there a limit to how many the United States can help and if so who decides who gets in and who doesn't.

VAT

One of the two dozen candidates for president must come up with the value added tax (VAT). Many countries including Canada and the European Union have such a tax. It is a tax that is paid along the supply chain. For example, a company purchases raw materials and pays a tax which goes to the government. The materials are used to make parts and when these are sold a tax is paid to the government. These parts are then sold to a cell phone maker and a tax is paid and paid to the government. Finally the cell phone is sold to the consumer and a tax is paid and sent to the government. The final tax is seen by the consumer as like a sales tax but it is much smaller than if the total tax were tacked on at the end. In Germany the VAT is 19% but some items like food are exempt to make it more progressive.

Justice

I was watching a discussion about the Jussie Smollett case and the panel agreed that we cannot have two systems of justice in this country. Where have these people been? Everyone is acutely aware that we have justice for the rich and famous and justice for the poor. OJ had the dream team and he was acquitted but some black kid in North Minneapolis with a court appointed attorney would not have the same opportunity. A famous attorney once said that if you go to court whether you win or lose will largely depend on the skill of your attorney. And yes, skilled attorneys cost more.

Fair

Sometimes being responsible can cost you. When the victims of the 9/11 terror act were compensated, their award was based on their potential earning power which is the proper way to determine such awards. Once a monetary value was determined any life insurance that person had was subtracted from the award. In other words those who purchased life insurance to protect their families were given a lesser award by the amount of the insurance. Today Senator Sanders suggested that all student loans be forgiven. This means that the student who went to community college and worked a job will receive nothing while the student who went away to school and lived on student loans will come out ahead. It is similar to a refugee who comes over the border illegally as compared to the person standing in line for, sometimes years, and will continue to wait and watch as others take a shortcut. As is often said, life is not fair.

EV sales

US Electric Vehicle Sales Increased by 81% in 2018. While that looks impressive the number sold was 350,000 out of 5,300,000 total. 70% of electric cars uses power generated from fossil fuels to charge. Most of the remaining 30% use power from nuclear plants to charge.

Kids in cages

During the Obama years children who came across the border with families were detained but after 20 days the whole family was released except for cases where the parent or parents were wanted for a crime and then the children were released and the parents retained. This was called catch and release. This was in 2014 which is the same time that the cages were set up as holding pens for children. Trump later said that all children will be separated from their families after 20 days so they could retain the parents until their court dates. This resulted in such an outcry that Trump reversed his decision and returned to the catch and release program. As word of this got around people were coming across the border with children at a much higher rate. Today children are sent back across the border to come in with another family.

FIT

Senator Sanders is proposing a financial transaction tax (FIT) of one half percent on all market transactions. This is estimated to bring in $220 billion dollars per year. There is about $30 trillion in the market and $28 trillion in retirement plans so most of this tax will be taken from retirement accounts. While having the government taking money directly from retirement accounts it is still a no no for most people, these same people may not realize what happens with the FIT.

Kushner and Hamas

Jared Kushner, Trumps son-in-law, is trying a businessman's approach to dealing with the problems in Palestine. He is getting rich countries in the Middle East to come up with money in the form of grants and low interest loans to help rebuild Gaza and the West Bank. The emphasis will be on minimizing the graft and corruption associated with past aid packages. The money will be used for infrastructure programs like improving the power supply which has been sorely lacking along with schools and a highway between Gaza and the West Bank. In the past the US has given billions to Palestine but most of the money was used to purchase weapons to be used against Israel and of course to fill the pockets of Hamas leaders. This new approach may not work since Hamas may still find a way to skim but it is a new way of approaching and old problem.

Germany and NATO

When Trump criticized NATO one of the louder voices to complain came from Germany. While the US spends 3.5% of its budget on NATO, Germany spends only one percent. The US provides 1.3 million troops and Germany sends 183,000 with the stipulation that they not be used in combat. The US stations 33,000 troops in Germany to protect them from Russian aggression. Germany also has favorable balance of trade with the US totaling more that $50 billion per year. They are buying natural gas from Russian and could purchase that from the US to offset the imbalance but instead they are financing a new pipeline to Russia. The have import taxes on US goods that far exceeds the import tax that the US charges them.

Income gaps

Income inequality has been increasing over the past 40 years and much of it is due to math. If Joe makes $100,000 per year and Jim makes $30,000 the difference is $70,000. If they both get a 10% raise Joe now earns $110,000 and Jim earns $33,000 and the gap is $77,000. Some companies in an attempt to minimize this have given pay increases in two steps. First they offer a set amount to each employee and then a percentage increase. In the example say the company offered $2,000 in cash plus 5% across the board. In that case Joe would get a $7,000 raise and Jim would get $3,650. Joe's new salary would be $107,000 and Jim would get $36,650 and the gap would be $70,350. The more common way to slow the gap is to use the progressive income tax. If Joe's increase was taxed at 70% and Jim's was tax free they would both get a $3,000 net increase in pay. This doesn't make the poor richer but it does make the rich poorer. If you transfer the tax collected from Joe and gave it to Jim the poor would get richer as Jim's income would increase from $30,000 to $37,000. While this has not been done directly with salaries, it has been done by offering many benefits to the poor that are denied to the rich.

For an agin

With the way the country is divided these days it is difficult to come up with a list of what people are for so I have prepared a list against. Who is against having secure borders? Who is against new infrastructure? Who is against low interest rates? Who is against lower taxes for middle income people? Who is against 3% plus GDP? Who is against lowering CO 2 emissions? Who is against keeping America number one? Who is against record low unemployment? Now if all of those who are against would get together a lot could be accomplished. Final question. Who is against getting together?

Rayburn

One of the ways the country is divided is along the lines of formal education and I am in the Sam Rayburn school on this subject. When Kennedy was president he surrounded himself with Ivy league intellectuals and Lyndon Johnson was so impressed he went to his friend and mentor Sam Rayburn and said that this group of youngsters are so smart they can solve any problem. Sam replied, I just wish that one of them had run for country sheriff. While there is nothing intrinsically wrong with education, it sometimes replaces common sense and this is especially evident in politics. It is wise not to confuse education with intelligence. The first sign of trouble is when the educated begin to look with disdain upon the uneducated.

Whose side

When Trump question our intelligence agencies regarding Russia, the press said he was siding with Putin. When two oil tankers were fired on the US said the Iranians did it but the press said they would wait for proof. Now an Iranian missile shot down a US drone and our intelligence agency says the drone was in international waters and Iran says it was over their territory and the press says they need more time to evaluate. Are they taking the Iranian side over our side. Is our intelligence no longer the first side to believe? Do they not trust the information put out by our side?

Monopolies

In 1999 the government ruled to break up Microsoft as they were deemed to be a monopoly. Another court overruled that verdict but Microsoft was ordered to make it easier for the competition. All that faded away as new technology brought about the smart phone and that drastically reduced the power of Microsoft as Apple,Google and Facebook became the new monopolist. Now the government is looking at reducing the influence of these platforms.

Paris Accord and climate

One of the problems with polls is that people are not honest. They answer the way they think puts them in the best light. Case in point is climate change. Polls show this to be one of the top three issues but when you look at life styles it becomes obvious that it is not important to them. These are the people who live in large houses on large lots and drive large cars and live in the burbs. They think that if they recycle they are doing their fair share. Every day the news puts out dubious information about how the country is changing and you would think that solar is about to take over but solar represents 1.7% of the energy produced. No expert is even suggesting moving to natural gas for transportation and they rarely give the US any credit for the change to natural gas in power plants. There are very few articles published about the increase use of coal in Asia when that represents the real problem. Only seven countries are living up to the promises made in the Paris Accord and the names of these countries are unfamiliar to most people. Once again they professed concern about climate but they are all talk and no action. Polls taken of the countries of the world show that climate change is a big problem.

Ebola

One item not getting much attention that could become a front page story overnight is the out break of Ebola in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). 1,300 have died and the disease has now crossed the border into Uganda. More than 500 immigrants from Africa including 300 from DRC have recently crossed the southern border and where sent to Portland, Maine. About 5 million people are trying to get out of DRC. People suspected of having this disease must be quarantined for 24 days but this is not being done. If one person brings this disease into the country it will cause a total reevaluation of the border situation and quickly become a big news story.

Wall votes

The Secure Fence Act of 2006 authorized the construction of 700 miles of fence along the southern border and 650 miles has been built. The vote in the senate was 80 to 19 for with 23 democrats voting for including Senators Clinton, Obama, Biden and Schumer. The vote passed the house 283 to 138 including 74 democrats who voted for. In 2013 Senator Schumer introduced and passed the Border Security Act which included additional fencing. It passed 68 to 32 including 14 republicans voting for.

Second chance

Today on TV, Trump emphasized the importance of the second chance program which is designed to help people coming out of prison. The CEO of Goodwill spoke and said something that caught my attention. He said the most important step in assuring the proper return to society for those coming out of prison was the opportunity to work. A job not only provides money to pay the bills, it gives purpose and dignity to life.

Dirt

Trump once again proved he is not a politician. He was asked a hypothetical question and instead of saying like most politicians would that he doesn't answer hypothetical questions, he responded. The question was, would you accept information from a foreign source about your opponent during an election and he said he would. A regular politician would say absolutely not. What they would do after that is open to speculation but if they did listen they would keep it to themselves. It is often said that politics is a blood sport but we are to assume that if Joe Biden is running against Trump and he receives a call from some foreign country with dirt on Trump he would refuse to take the call. George Will a noted never-trumper said today that the Trump/Russian collusion was worse than Watergate. The reason he gave was that Nixon kept most of his shenanigan secret but Trump just comes out in the open. Strange to see a reporter complaining about openness. Will doesn't seem to understand that Trump does not act like a politician.

Socialism for all

As the argument about free market capitalism and socialism heats up, many are uncomfortable with the way capitalism picks winners and losers. This unease showed up a number of years ago as schools tried to minimize competition. Some began to place less emphasis on awards like valedictorian while others offered participation trophies. Those opposed would say, when you get out into the real world you will find fierce competition, so one way to minimize that, is to move to a socialistic society. Instead of separating people by personal achievement, all people will become more alike. Instead of some achieving more than others, most will be somewhere in the middle. Mediocrity will become the norm. Others say that will not happen, that people by their nature will strive to excel. Will that be the case for just a select few or will most take the hard road to achieve?

Abortions facts

The number of abortions in the US has been declining since 1980 and reached the lowest point in 2015, the last year numbers are available and totaled 630,000. 8% of abortions involve rape, incest and health problems with the mother or the fetus. The rest result from social or economic problems. Percentage Reason <0.5% Victim of rape 3% Fetal health problems 4% Physical health problems 4% Would interfere with education or career 7% Not mature enough to raise a child 8% Don't want to be a single mother 19% Done having children 23% Can't afford a baby 25% Not ready for a child 6% Other 38% Black, 25% Hispanic,23% other, and 14% White

Science

We often hear experts say that almost all scientist agree that climate change is being affected by an increase in CO2 and that some of that increase comes from burning fossil fuels. Other times experts are not so quick to quote scientist. Case in point. All scientist agree that life begins with conception. This is because life is considered a continuous process starting with the fertilization of the ova by the sperm. When a abortion takes place it is killing a living organism but courts have ruled it is not human and that is where the issue stands today.

New jobs

The various programs put forth by the democratic candidates all revolve around providing benefits but only one has to do with jobs and that is substituting new energy sources for fossil fuels. This means a transfer of jobs from one industry to another but not necessarily new jobs. In the past the government sponsored job training programs were pushed by democrats but even that is no longer mentioned. Now the emphasis is on government assistance in lieu of jobs. One proposal is to increase corporate tax rates but that will reduce job opportunities. The way to help people is to use the private sector to create new jobs and with competition, jobs that pay a living wage. Depending on the energy industry to provide most of the new jobs will not be enough to keep the economy growing.

Green deal

Recently some candidates for president have proposed spending large amounts of money to stop or curtail climate change but they may be fighting a losing battle. While the United States has been closing down old coal fired power plants and using natural gas for any new plants the rest of the world has been going in the other direction. Since 2010 the US has reduced electric power from coal by 30% and CO2 emissions to 1996 levels. The movement away from coal will continue because of economics. The rest of the world is quite different. Over all, 1,600 coal plants are planned or under construction in 62 countries, according to Urgewald’s tally, which uses data from the portal. The new plants would expand the world’s coal-fired power capacity by 43 percent. By contrast there are 86 coal plants in the US and they are being shut down or replaced by natural gas.

Trade deals

Once again Trump proves he is not a politician. Any other president with a strong economy would not think of jeopardizing it by going after bad trade deals. Others would just ride the wave of growth and win reelection but Trump has said for years that the unfair trade deals of the past must be rectified. He realizes that the best time to bring up this issue is when the economy is strong and that is just what he is doing. These trade deals have been one of the root causes of the loss of manufacturing jobs at the expense of the working class, the so called Reagan democrats. Many presidents have complained about unfair trade but none has taken on the problem like Trump.

Privatize ss

The average 65 year old retiring this year will have paid $300,000 into social security including the employer contributions. About $60,000 of that was set aside for survivor benefits and disability benefits leaving $240,000 for retirement pension. A white female will collect for 20 years or $312,000 while a black male will collect for 16 years or $250,000. This is an argument for privatizing social security. If these were individual funds the black man would have $50,000 to pass on to his heirs whereas now the money just stays in social security.

Eugenics by abortion

Bill Clinton captured the feelings of many people when he said abortions should be safe, legal and rare but science will be challenging the popularity of such a position. As DNA knowledge allows the cells in the amniotic fluid to predict potential problems the decision to abort may become the standard option for any unhealthy fetus. When parents know that the new baby will have a serious defect will they feel the pressure to abort. Will others who don't like the gender feel that way or to the extreme will eye color or height be a reason to abort. Will designer babies become the norm. This is already underway with sperm banks where the donors statistics are published and new parents can decide if the want a smart or attractive child or many other characteristics. Will this become the modern day version of eugenics.

Borrow pension money

There is $27 trillion dollars in US retirement plans including $5.7 trillion in 401K's. Perhaps the federal government could borrow these assets to pay for the many programs proposed by the various candidates with the promise that the funds would be repaid when needed, sort of like they did with social security

Toxic male

Toxic masculinity is a phrase currently in vogue used to describe the violent behavior by the male of our species. Many reasons are given for this but one that is only infrequently mentioned is the natural instincts of humans. Humans are part of the animal kingdom but have been transformed by becoming civilized. The basics of self preservation and procreation have remained but are restricted by rules not originally part of human nature. In many animals the male is required to physically fight other males to have access to females. To fight for females is part of the nature of the animal. Males are territorial and they fight for their space. As the species became domesticated the basic instinct of the male was required to change. The physical fight is replaced by a courtroom and even a mans desire to protect his family is replaced by the police department. The urge to mate with many is now forbidden and men must be monogamous. The modern male must assume duties of child care which was reserved for the female in the animal world. While these changes have benefited the human race overall they require a new approach to life. It takes many years to change animal instinct and while progress has been made there is still much left to do.