Can These People Be Serious?

I try to stay away from politics and our general social situation in my posts because if I didn't I would just be filling these pages with paragraph after paragraph of rants. But two recent things I saw simply put me over the edge. 

First - "Republicans concerned about their electoral prospects in November are considering reducing the capital gains tax to help with the affordability issue."

When I first read this, I thought it must be some kind of joke. But no, this is evidently a serious proposal. I ask you, do you think that the people who are most affected by rising prices of things like gasoline and groceries are even remotely concerned with what the capital gains tax rate is?

Last I looked, you pay your capital gains tax when you sell some significant asset like a house if it is not your primary residence. Our when you sell securities out of your investment portfolio. 

Do you think the person who is working at your grocery store is giving a sigh of relief that they can sell off some of their investments and not get hit up with such a high tax bill?

Seriously, this is the most inane proposal for affordability relief that I think I've ever heard. 

Second - "Major bank records record profits and announces it will be laying off one thousand employees"

We are making more money than we ever have but no, that is not enough. Because we need even more. More - More - More. Screw the workers. Screw every human being (except the super wealthy). We need to make MORE! 

I Am Not Alone In My Appreciation

 Thomas Friedman, author and columnist with the New York Times, echoed my sentiments about who we need to be thankful for from this election in his column yesterday here.

A Shout Out To All The Election Officials

 I have a new set of heroes. They are embodied by the Republican Secretary of State for Georgia, Brad Raffensperger, but he is just one of many elected officials of both parties at the local and state level who made our election one of the most effective and fair in recent history. 

When you think about all the noise, hype and drama leading up to the election, it is mildly incredible. There were horror stories being told of international interference, of terrible miscounting, of complete collapse of absentee ballot systems. 

Yet in the end, virtually every state performed professionally, conducting the election with aplomb despite all the histrionics and shadow of the pandemic. It has been called one of the fairest and most effective elections in recent history. Sometimes I wonder if all these people around the country banded together and said, "Damn you all! You are not going to use us as your scapegoats! We are going to do the job and we are going to do it right!"

I suspect all these incredible, dedicated, honest people aren't going to get a lot of accolades. I suspect people will forget all about them within a month of Biden being elected. But I wish someone would shout out praise for their heroic effort. I would welcome a statue to the honest, elected official who oversaw the election and did it right. 

Hopefully no one would find some crazy thing wrong with it and tear it down.

Time To Leave

That's how I feel about the United States right now. That it is time to leave. Time to go somewhere and not be engaged in any political activity.

I never, ever thought I would have thoughts like this. I know the incredible blessing it has been to have been born in a country like the U.S. especially now that I have traveled so much of the world, now that I am working with people directly who did not win the birth lottery. So it is with a heavy heart that I have these feelings. But the level of insane partisanship here is leaving me feeling there is no happy outcome for this country of mine.

I mean a significant proportion of our people are making a political statement about wearing face masks? They are threatening to kill people over it? Really? As Wife pointed out if a store can have a rule that says, 'no shirt, no shoes, no service,' and that is not considered taking one's civil rights away, why is requiring a mast doing so?

And then on the other side, we have people in leadership who with a straight face say, "Hey you people who just want to have a normal life, you are horrible human beings for not social distancing. But you people who are demonstrating for a cause and not social distancing, you get a free pass because you are the good ones." What hypocrisy. Either we need to socially distant or we don't. The reason is not relevant.

I am not likely to act on this feeling because I am too committed to my Ghana project and helping those women. That's real. I can see the change it is causing in lives right before my eyes. And that project requires me to be here. So here I will stay. But don't expect me to engage in any meaningful way with our social or political engagement. Because I think it is all a nuthouse.

An Argument In Favor Of Persepective

I am going to wade again into the ethical and moral arguments associated with Covid-19 event following on from my post of March 15.

And before I go on and earn the approbation of being insensitive and uncaring, I'd like to state, without reservations, that yes, I do think this is a particularly nasty and insidious disease. I am following the guidelines set by my government for restrictions on movement. I am quite aware that I am in one of the highest risk groups and am being careful.

That being said, one cannot just ignore the social and ethical consequences of our decisions concerning containing this contagion. Where we are now, is not balanced and is not sustainable. It can be maintained for some period (not too long). But after that, there are going to be serious repercussions for the very fabric of our way of life.

I am not pretending that I have an answer. I just know that the current attitude and decisions are not sustainable. So without pretending to have an answer, I do want to frame the discussion in different terms. I want to give a different perspective on what we are experiencing in hopes of promoting difficult but rational conversation and decision-making.

First Point - Disease and Contagion have always been a part of human life

Cholera, Typhoid Fever, Typhus, Scarlet Fever, Bubonic Plague, Polio...up until the Polio vaccine in the 1950s, significant contagions where a part of human life. No one liked them. The pain of loss was horrible. And a lot of people died year-after-year-after-year. But life went on. Society went on. Since the Polio vaccine, we've enjoyed a 60-year window without such a contagion. Maybe that is a fluke. Maybe it is just not realistic that we can live in a world without a higher level of disease driven mortality rate.

Second Point - How Much Death Are We Really Dealing With?

Yes, yes, yes. I know. If you are the one that dies, or one of your loved ones dies, the effect is devastating. But when dealing with an entire species, that thinking is irrational. We have to think about the whole...that the good of the many is more important than the good of the few. As of today, the reported death toll from Covid-19 was 74,595. Let's assume through the rest of 2020 that number grows by 10 times and around 750 thousand dies! OMG.! That's horrible right?

But...Oh, Wait...did you know that 1.35 million people die each year in automobile accidents worldwide. Each year! But I haven't heard anyone suggest that we should shut down our world economy until such time as car makers stop supplying these tools of death.

Another data point - in 2004, the genocide in Rwanda killed over a million in a single year. The international community did virtually nothing. They certainly did not stop the whole international economy to bring an end to the killing. In 1984 the Ethiopian famine killed off another million in a year. We got Live Aid concerts. But no stop to our world economic order. Since 2014 450 thousand have died in Syria...no call for everyone to stop all economic activity.

I can point out example after example after example of similar situations in our world history where we accepted a mortality rate much higher than we do today.

There are those who talk about how this disease will rebound and how it will be around for a long time. keeping on killing people Well if that is the case, maybe what we must do is just accept a level of mortality that is more in keeping with what we as a species have experienced over the total of our existence?

Maybe we just need to keep it in perspective and realize that a higher mortality rate is the price we are going to have to pay to maintain our civilization.

No Society Can Afford To Save Everyone And Survive

I was listening to the television today. The Governor of New York made the following statement. (I paraphrase). "If it takes us shutting down our entire economy to save 5,000 lives, we will do it. Life is invaluable. We will do whatever it takes to save a life."

This is so wrong.

In fact, no society has the economic capability to save all lives. The world we live in has limits. If you have ever studied power curves you know that it takes more and more resources to achieve smaller and smaller results as you approach trying to attain 100% results. All systems that work understand this. One simply does not have the resources to achieve perfection. You will use up all your resources in the attempt.

Our society has been on this "avoid all pain and all loss no matter the cost" for a long time now. There is no way we can afford to do this. Now I will and do accept that this pandemic is one that may call for extraordinary efforts. But believe me, on this, the pain and loss from shutting down our entire world economy will be much greater and devastating to people than our leaders are calculating or acknowledging. They glibly say we should all be in this together for the greater good. But they will not be the ones who will see massive losses of their incomes as all the hourly and gig economy workers will. They will not be the ones on the margins of society who see the equation of their well-being tip to unstainable. They will make sure that the elite are made whole but the ordinary people will be the ones who will take years upon years to recover as they always do.

A healthy biosphere as to cull itself. Not all can or should survive. (And believe me, I know I am in the high-risk group that this disease is targeting and may well be the one culled!) Fight this yes. But understand that there is should be an acceptable level of loss. That is reality.

Coming Back On LIne

Happy Bastille Day!

I know you were kicking back French Wine and Brandy. Well, I was. But of course, I do that all the time.

It has been 9 days since I posted last. Pretty typical actually after any international travel. I post like a maniac when traveling and then go into tortoise mode until I have readjusted to stateside life. So what has been happening?

Work - I had a great sales week and brought in a bunch of moola. Which was good because I'd had a number of lean months.

Garden - The effects of the wet spring, earlier planting and buying tomato plants that were well developed are paying off with earlier produce. I already have been processing tomatoes, roasted the first green chile of the year (New Mexico Chile...not Pueblo Colorado Chili Hah!). The basil and parsley are doing great so looking forward to lots of cooking stuff.

Ghana - Hardly forgotten. Working on finishing the business plan, coordinating with my partners on the other side of the pond and prepping for the big fundraising effort that will start soon. Still coaching and mentoring various businesses back there. AND was referred to THE ONLY African restaurant in Albuquerque (thank you KK!). Yes, folks, this took place right here in Albuquerque NM USA.

Lunch on Friday

Banku with groundnut soup and goat

I had to send these pictures to all my contacts back in Accra

They thought it was a hoot and could not believe you could find this out in the far reaches of the American Southwest

Political Commentary - I have to say maybe it is a sign of the second coming when you have President Trump and the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal coming to the defense of Nancy Pelosi when she was called a racist by one of her own party members, the nihilist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. I've never been a big Pelosi fan until this session of Congress. When even Peggy Noonan, a conservative opinion writer, writes per praises you have to take your hat off to Nancy. I only hope her solid pragmatism keeps shaving down AOC, her Squad and her emulators among the presidential candidates until they are no longer of outsized relevance.

Sorry...Not Sad About 2016 And Looking Forward to 2017

My goodness there has been so much rending of garments and dousing one's self with ashes about the horror of 2016. You will forgive me if I say I think people have no perspective whatsoever.

Okay it was a pretty tumultuous year politically and the results weren't what many people hoped for...but you know, these kinds of ebbs and flows of political winds of change have happened all the time. I dare anyone to pull the editorial and opinion pages of newspapers and go back 10 year, 20 years, 30 years, 40 years, 50 years. What you will read is DOOM...GLOOM...All we know is coming to an end. No one in the moment EVER thinks that their time is good...it is always GOING TO HELL!

Let me tell you, I certainly know people who had illness and death in 2016. I know people who had setbacks. But by and large the vast majority of people I interact with had a pretty damn good year in 2016...certainly better than they had in 2008 and 2009. Personally it was GREAT year. My transition was complete and we just enjoyed living in our new life state. My kids had good years. Many of my clients had good years. Prospects for most of those who I touch personally are looking good.

And if everyone focused more on what is going on with those you actually touch and can affect rather than rant and ruminate on things they have no ability to affect at all, they would see that there is plenty to be thankful for, plenty that is good going on, and plenty to be doing to continue making it good for everyone.

Did we have a major volcano irruption wiping out whole cities? Did a plague hit us and wipe out a major portion of our population? Are we starving? Are we being systematically assassinated like those in Aleppo? I don't think so. Get perspective. Focus on those you actually touch and affect. See what you really have and you will see it is pretty damn good.

I'm planning ton having a great 2017 and I could give two hoots about whose doing what to whom in Washington. It isn't going to stop me.

When Did Enjoying Life Become Evil?

On our way back from Europe, as I've mentioned, we stopped in Chicago to acclimate and spent the night at a hotel by the airport. This was a very business person's oriented hotel. They filled the restaurant next to the lobby, they were waiting for shuttle's and rides, and at the reception/check-out desk. What a grim, grim lot they were men and women. All staring at their devices -thumbs and fingers a working. Nothing showing up on a device prompted a smile. No smiles when talking to serving people or the folks at the desk, or the shuttle driver. Just grim looks saying, "I'm a worker. I'm serious. I don't have time for frivolity". Even if you tried to engage someone who was not on their device in conversation you'd only get the tersest of replies. I don't think even in my most type A days that I didn't try to enjoy myself during my work days.

But it has become a badge of honor at least among those older than the millennials that work should be grim and it should be all the time. Certain companies like Amazon have turned this into their driving culture. Work IS important. If people don't work we don't eat, we don't have clean water, we don't have roads, we don't on and on and on. Existence is built on work. But does that mean we have to take this totally artificial attitude that work must be grim and that we must sacrifice everything to it? If we lived in a subsistence economy, we'd have no choice but work all the time. But we are fortunate to live in a time and place when that is not the case. Shouldn't we honor the gift given to us by having some gratitude and joy about where we're at?

Gratitude and joy are important emotions. Without them people become fanatics. We rue all the fanatics around us who are ready to kill. Maybe we should be ruing all the fanatics around us who won't let us appreciate the blessings we have received.

Just Be Thankful Anything Works!

It's hard to go by a day when we aren't bombarded by information that has us feeling that our world is being held together by the most fragile of string. It makes no difference whether it is how people are dealing with Greece, or the acts of violence, or the weather/drought/floods, healthcare, diplomacy, whatever. One looks at how all the actors in the process are dealing with things and it is enough to have you run into a corner, get in the fetal position, and just pray that you'll make through to tomorrow.

Unless.

Unless one has a bit more of a historical perspective.

I've been doing intense reading lately on the time period of the 15th through the 18th century (1400's through the 1700's). (My interest was piqued because of our visit to Malta and my being aghast at the Knights of St. John). And we're planning some more trips so I've been doing other reading on countries we're visiting as well.) When you read in depth about what was going on and you go beyond the superficial names and dates history, you get a different perspective. For every great date or event, there is a series of bumbling moves by leaders of varying degrees of competency. THIS IS UNIVERSAL! This is the norm.

Readers, it is not like the world has been run by these incredibly capable people that float above the storms of events. No, the whole history of the world is a bunch of bumbling, arguing, petty, vengeful, small sighted, occasionally good intentioned, and very rarely competent people just barely keeping things together.

So what does that mean? It means chill. Don't get all wigged out about what isn't getting done or the incompetency of various people, or the illogical decisions that are being made. THIS IS NORMAL.

Be thankful anything works at all. 

Bastille Day Celebration 2015

This coming Tuesday is Bastille Day, that celebration of what is considered to be by popular history (though not serious history) as the defining moment of the French Revolution. Hence it is time for my second annual Bastille Day post.

The French Revolution was all about the reaction of the masses to an elite that had gotten more and more entrenched and had secured more and more of the wealth of the nation while giving little back in return to nation overall. Sound familiar? So last year I proposed in a post the creation of a US national holiday on Bastille Day that would serve as a reinforcement that elites do not exist in a vacuum but are part of the greater society and have some obligations to the greater society.

Some how this little piece got noticed and I had a short visit from some very polite but firm Secret Service folks who suggested that I might want to tone down the rhetoric. So I'll not be reprinting that piece though there is a link above to it which you might want to check out. Instead of the sweeping scope of my last proposal, for this year I'd like to suggest that we be more focused. Let's just storm the OPM!

If you've been under a rock the last month or so, I'll give you the brief background. The Office of Personal Management of the U.S. Federal government was hacked to the tune of 21 million personnel records being stolen. Evidently this crime was almost a year old before some mention of it finally got out. It seems that every personal clearance application since something like 2002 (I may have that date wrong) was stolen. Those records include SSN, finger prints, personal histories, all kinds of sensitive personal information. It puts all kinds of people at risk AND since you have to put information on relatives when you apply for clearances that information was gotten too.

I've been a bit mystified as to why there hasn't been more outrage over this. Even now though they got the head of the OPM to step down it's not as if there is a call to arms to bring accountability for this. One story I read (and remember I've not deeply verified this information so take it with a grain of salt) claimed that the OPM had not done even the most basic cyber security measures to protect their data. A relative of mine who has business dealings associated with clearances thought it smacked of petulant bureaucrats who, not getting the funding they needed for upgrading security, said "well we'll show you. We just won't do anything."

So getting back to Bastille Day, I suggest that we storm the OPM! We could make it the 'Bastille of the 21st Century. Get a nice big mob of ordinary folks. Run into the place. Grab some high level folks and hold them for ransom or something (I've decided to eschew violence this time around after that little Secret Service visit of last year) maybe some mock tar and feathering just SOMETHING to show that damn it it is not OK to endanger the lives of 21 million of your fellow citizens because you (whoever you is in the government chain of command) don't think protecting them is important.

See you on Tuesday. Don't forget your pitchfork and torch!

Making Bastille Day Relevant To The United States In The 21st Century

You may not know that today is Bastille Day but all we Francophiles sure are.  The Storming of the Bastille was one of the defining moments of the French Revolution.  Nowadays in the US the most that happens on Bastille Day is people go and eat French food and drink French wine.  But maybe we should not be so blase about this and remember some of the causes of the French Revolution in the first place.

The French Revolution was ultimately caused by the great disparity between an elite class that dominated the distribution of financial resources and a government that was highly dysfunctional and unresponsive.  Perhaps as you consider the long-term trends in the US of the more and more economic rewards accruing to the wealthiest class and a more and more remote, dysfunctional government you might wonder if our future might look more like pre-Revolution France.

Of course, one would hope that things never got that bad here but it is dangerous to ignore symptoms and trends.  Hence my proposal to turn Bastille Day into a US holiday complete with activities that would remind our elites and government of the ultimate penalties that might accrue to those who blithely ignore their responsibilities to the common good. 

My Revised 21st Century US Bastille Day Celebration

The key to the new Bastille Day celebration will be the reminder to all that the highest classes do have responsibility to to common good and that in the great scheme of things there is accountability.  To achieve this we would revive that great tradition of the French Revolution of lopping of heads with the guillotine! 

Now the last thing we want is a return to the Reign of Terror.  God forbid.  We just need a gentle reminder to those who might abuse their positions that there are ultimate consequences to greed and self-deception.

Each year we would start our celebration on the 4th of July, our own proclamation of independence and of personal freedom.  On the 4th there would be the beginning of lottery to chose the one person from the elites who would be their personal representative to be led to the guillotine.  On the 4th all the appropriate names would be entered into the lottery.  This would include at a minimum the President and all his Cabinet, all the members of the Senate and House of Representatives, the Supreme Court, the CEO's of the Fortune 500, etc.  But certainly there should be more.  Maybe the major entertainment stars, athletes, state political figures, high level career bureaucrats, hedge fund and private equity managers.  It would take a lot of thought to make sure we properly defined who the elite class was.

Anyway, all those peoples names go into the lottery on the 4th.  Then with great fanfare and hoopla on each of the succeeding 6 days (think a giant nationwide reality TV show) one half of the remaining people on the list are removed from consideration.  Think of the media field day of showing the faces of those that are coming out of the lottery pool and those that are still in!

That takes us to the 10th of July.  On the 11th of July, the remaining names are put into the lottery ball type machine and just like the daily lotteries around the country, some lucky member of the hoi poloi picks the name of the elite member to be sacrificed.  More great media moments; those that are not going and the in depth look at the person who will be the representative of their class.

On the 12th we start the ceremonial process of building the guillotine by the Washington Monument.  There are all kinds of specials on the media about the French Revolution and its causes.  Our elites (who are not chosen) are all proclaiming their commitment to the value of the greater good and the specific things they will do in the coming year to make good on those commitments.  Our chosen elite sacrifice is feted, interviewed, stories of his or her life are shown.  Then on the 14th we do the complete enactment including a procession on a cart to where the beheading is done.  There are lots of postmortem stuff done by our elites to ensure effective stewardship of their role at the top of the pyramid.

I think that within a very short period we'd see a better balance in our country and real addressing of problems.  Help me make the New Bastille Day part of our traditions.