1973

A short not.

On March 29, 1973 the last U.S. Troops "left" South Vietnam.  Thus ending the U.S. active military in that war.  A war that still has not ended in the minds of many an American as I am sure for many a Vietnamese.

Just as many of our southern friends do not think that the "war between the states", i.e. Civil War has ended. 

Three Quick Items

Three items in the news this week caught my attention.  Two of them came from the Anchorage Daily News.

The first is a report that of the 75 primary care physicians from Anchorage only 13 of them will accept new Medicare patients.  Again here is another indicator as to why we (all of us) need to work on fixing the health care system.  

If you are worried about the Federal Government debt  and how that will effect us think about what health care cost are going to be doing to our income.

The second note was also caught in the Anchorage paper.  People in Anchorage are discussing if senior citizens should receive a higher property tax break.

Some may think it strange considering my age but I am against any property tax break based on ones age.  Property taxes stem from a time when that was he only measure of ones wealth was their property.  It taxed all your property / wealth such as your house your barns, your cows, your slaves, your house.  It was the only revenue that a local unit of government could collect.  This is how they payed for education 

Today the measure of property is not a measure and surely we can find a better way to pay our taxes.  So if they want to give a tax break to someone it should be based on their ability (income) and not on how much property the have.

KFC and potholes.  Saw a news report that KFC was paying to have potholes filled in their home city of Louisville, Ky.  After it is filled they spray on their logo with a message that they paid for the repair.  The logo wares of "quickly".

I do not want KFC or any other company having to pay to fix potholes.  That is governments job.  I understand that all government budgets are tight but they have certain obligations and filling potholes is one of them.

What we need is a debate on how to pay for the services we get from the government.  Should property be taxed and for what purpose.  What services should local government pay for what should the state pay for and what should the federal government pay for.

Today we have our elected representatives so fearful of voting for a tax increase to apply for a needed service like garbage pick up they will charge you a fee.

Not saying that we will all pay less taxes, we may even pay more, but my goal here is pay them correctly. 

My Outrage

I am sick of hearing how outraged people are at the bonuses  paid out to some people at AIG and some other finical companies.  A drop in the bucket.  It also showed what a lack of moral backbone these companies and their employees have.

What I want to hear is the voice of OUTRAGE not over the amount of bonus  checks but about the "base" salary.  Remember these people make nothing.  Produce nothing.  Work for a company that Makes nothing.   Produces nothing.  I am sure that they will argue that they make wealth.  The dollar they make does not have the same "value" as the dollar that is made at Ford, GM or GE (that is the one half of GE that still makes something).

A dollar generated at one of these industrial plants pay for labor and for parts.  Each dollar spent purchasing parts generates more payroll and more purchasing on down the line.  Creating jobs and paying taxes.

For the last several years our boom economy has been fueled by credit.  Be it the credit card or people taking money out of their house in home equity.  The pay for the average american is not keeping pace with our economy.  That average is facing higher and higher medical cost and fuel cost and these cost keep on rising.  The difference between what the executives make and what the "workers" make is widening every year.

Tis is where i need to do more reaserch on getting the hard facts.  I will do that this week and post it latter on.

In addition to the salaries at AIG and other banking institutions I have some other OUTRAGES.

The commissioner  Baseball was paid 8 million last year.

Mr. Menard the owner of Menards had a salary of 20 million dollars and if fighting with the IRS over taxes.  He needs to spread some of that money to his employees  so there can purchase itms and help keep the economy going.  The executives need to make less and the workers s more.

More to come on this next week

HEALTH CARE "REFORM"

Health care reform.  Socialized medicine.  Universal Health care.  Mandatory Health Insurance.

I am sure their may be dozens of other names for it but it all is meant to do the same thing.  Fix our broken health care system in the United States.

Now this is where it get tricky.  I just said that the system is broken.  Now I can find you many people that do not think it is broken.  They will say that a little tweaking here and their and it would be fixed.

Then you have people like me who think that it is really broken and we need major overhaul.  

Then I can find people that will say the hell with the overhaul.  Scrap the whole thing and start over.  The hydrogen bomb solution.

The opponents of reform are using "small business" as the fall guy.  We will have no more small business if they have to pay an increase in taxes or help pay for health insurance for their employees.  

Will it be a burden for them.  I am sure it will. It will be more for some.

The real question is what will their burden be if we do not reform the system.  When companies can no longer afford to kick in for their employes.  Right now we are seeing some of that with the auto companies.  Yes they have made many mistakes in how they make car and how they sell cars but I contend their biggest mistake was in the late 40's when Walter Ruther, then president of the UAW, suggested that the UAW and the car companies go to Washington hand in hand and fight for Universal Health care.  They thought that was to much like socialism.  They were big enough they could handle it.  I bet they would like that one back today.

I have no idea on how to fix it and have even less of an idea on how many ways that it is broken. But here is a couple of things that I have observed over the last couple of years.

Valet Parking at the hospital.  I am sure it is not a big part of the budget but we still have to pay for it.

End of life care.  I saw this with my mother several years ago.  Keeping her in the intensive care unit until she passed away.  Doing procedures that would have kept her alive longer.  She was not going to get better the outcome was not going to change.  Just would have been a higher charge sent to MediCare.  

Recently I had an ultra sound done on a leg.  I had knee pain.  The doctor ordered X-rays for the knee.  He was sure that my problem was with the knee but just to make sure he ordered ultra sound of the leg to make sure I did not have blood clots.  Was that a needed test.  I doubt it as I told him I have had this pain for several years.  Did my insurance pay for it?  Yes.  Here is extra cost we all pay for.

So lets us figure out how bad it is broken or at least that it is broken so that we can get on with fixing it and fixing our economy. 

Mine is not bad, Yours is bad

EARMARKS 

The word that has become bad.  By popular definition of today it has come to mean someone got money secretly, slight of hand or outright corruption. 

What really is an earmark.  Well it is something that a Senator or congress person inserts into a bill, usually a budget bill, telling a certain part of the federal government  to spend X amount of dollars on a certain projects. Many of these projects are worth the time and money but would never see the light of day or would take some many years to get funding through some grant program.  Why?  Because they are small many times or they are going up against some high profile project that has lots of money to higher the right lobbyist.

Several years back Marquette University received money for it Dental School.  Take this past cycle.  The city of Janesville received a million dollar "earmark" to help with the new unemployment program.  Are they bad?  Most people would say no, I think.

How about the settlement between City of Milwaukee and the County of Milwaukee over mass transit money.  That has been an ongoing problem for years that  has cost the local millions of funding as well as slowing down many projects.  

Are any of these "The bridge to nowhere".   Of course not.  In amy document as large as the Federal Government you will find good and bad things.  

It started with Senator McCain and Feingold.  The ranting and the raving about how bad earmarks.  Now their is a whole herd of naysayers.  Though the herd was thinned last November.  The Republicans hold only 41 seats and still praying to get to 42 yet they matched almost dollar for dollar that of the Democrats.  

So do they really believe they are bad or are they trying to make earmarks a political football just as John McCain has.  Maybe they should as their Gov. not to take the money.

But then again I forgot that my earmarks are good it is only your EARMARKS that are all bad.

My transit fix is better than you road work.

Finally what could be more open than an earmark.  If some group gets funding through a department we have no idea if they got the funding because it is a good project or because they hired the right lobby group.  Did the Senator go to the department and twist some arms or promise to vote for more funds next time for the agency.

Give me earmarks any day.

IT IS UP TO US

For some reason we, the United States of America, citizens have come to depend on someone else to do it for us.  In this case I am talking about foreign imports of oil, the cost of the final product be it gas, heating fuel or the price we pay for all the plastics we use. 

 

Some, I am hoping not many, want us to open up more of our protected areas for drilling. Some are waiting for the new technology to come and save us.  Or we are growing corn witch takes a heavy investment in carbon to save the day.

But I say we and I mean you and I could cut our imports in one month by at least 10% or more. Get this it would not even take a lot of work.  No investment of money and very little of time. All it really would take is to start using the brain.

Do you really need to drive 70 miles an hour down the express way.  First of all in the county the speed limit is 55.  From 60 to 70 you are using 10% more fuel.  Jack rabbit starts in the city, racing to the next stop light and them breaking.  Their goes another 5% and yo are going to have to replace your breaks more often.  How much longer is it gong to take you to get to wherever it is your going by driving this way.  Is the maybe five or ten minutes worth that much money.

Have you ever stopped at a gas station to get that cup of coffee in the morning and some next to you was to lazy to turn their car off while they "just ran in" to get their coffee.  Wasted gas.

Now lets talk about that cup of coffee you get.  That cup and that lid you are using is made from petrol chemicals.  CRUDE OIL.  A truck had to bring them to that store and the garbage truck is going to take it away.  More wasted crude oil.  Many places will give you a small discount if you have a refillable cup.  Here you save not only money but CRUDE OIL.

How much time to you save waiting in the drive through lane at your favorite hamburger joint. 

Now here is where you will have to make an investment and have to work hard.  Park the car and go in and get it.  As long as the lines I see outside you may save yourself some time in the long run besides the CRUDE OIL.

Keep your tires inflated to the right pressure.  Save another 5%.  I am not good at this so I went to SAM'S Club and had nitrogen but in my tires.  More stable than air.  I am sure if you are a hatter of all things Walmart you can find someone else to put the nitrogen in.

Another way to decrease the CRUDE OIL imports is the way we shop.  Again here it will require at least an investment of five to ten dollars.  Almost any store be it grocery or hardware you can purchase a "canvas" bag for about a dollar.  Buy a couple of them.  Never have to use a plastic bag in the checkout lane again.  Not only will you save the CRUDE OIL but you will reduce our imports from China.  They make the bags.

Finally, for today, by big rant is water in the bottle.  In many cases the same water you could have put into your own bottle at home and you are paying for it.  And brother are you and me paying for it.  CRUDE OIL to make the bottle.  CRUDE OIL to deliver it to the store. CRUDE OIL to dispose of it.  And you could only be so lucky is maybe 25% are recycled.  Some people can not walk the extra 15 feet to put it in the recycle bin.

So all it would really take to reduce our dependence on foreign oil is an investment of a few dollars and maybe an hour a week in our time.

Milwaukee's Future

Since this is my first posting I wanted to make it positive.  That is why i choose to look at the future of Milwaukee.  Milwaukee is blessed by the fact that as a community we are conservative. Not politically, but socially and economically.  That has its positive side as well as its negative side.  We are one of the most segregated cities in the United States.  That is the negative.  The positive is that the city did not try and re-make itself into some finical center or the newest high tech software capitol of the. galaxy.  We have maintained a much reduced but still relative strong heavy industrial base.  

With a shifting of the economy to a more sustainable economy Milwaukee should be ready to jump in.  Consider Johnson Controls.  They are working with car companies in designing batteries for the new hybrid cars and trucks.  Rockwell Industries another cutting edge industry.  Milwaukee is blessed with many companies that will be pivotal with bringing clean water to cities and towns around the world.

So I truly believe that Milwaukee has a great future.  

Wisconsin has a governor that believes in this city and we have a mayor who works hard for the city.  We do need to work on our school system but maybe we will discuss that some time in the future.