And the poll says......

Have you ever been part of a Gallup Poll or maybe a Quinnipiac University Poll?  (Is that a real school?  Do they play football?  What conference are they in?)  According to the above poll of pollsters (haha!) they're in the believable category.  Political party polls and news media polls, not so much.

I'm always hearing about how the American people are in favor of or against blah blah blah, but if you look at how Americans say they feel about contemporary issues, and then look at how Congress is representing us with their votes, you'll see a definite disconnect. 

We say we want immigration reform, and our politicians nod and agree, and then passively do nothing, or worse, the exact opposite.

We say we don't want trade tariffs, and our politicians nod and agree, and then just sit on their thumbs.

We have opinions on various gun control measures, ditto.

We tell them how we feel about taxes, and health care, and they tippy toe around them and do nothing.

Here's a typical day for a Washington politician:  They meet for breakfast with a lobbyist who says his client wants X, then meets with a trade group from "back home" who says they do not want X.  He poses for pictures with his constituents, passes out ceremonial Congressional paper weights, thanks them for their opinion, promises to keep in touch, then goes out and votes for X, which is slyly buried in a bill promising to end puppy mills, 'cause, you know, everyone wants to end puppy mills, right?

Then two months later he's the speaker at an event back home, and they treat him as if he was royalty!  People are scared to speak up and hold his feet to the fire, or throw him in the fire, because....I have no idea why.

What's the point of public opinion polls if our public servants (wow....there's an oxymoron!) pay us no attention?

S

Does the will of the voters matter anymore?

We like to tell ourselves that our elected representatives we send to Washington or to our state legislatures work in our best interest.  They have their finger on the pulse of their constituents, and if they want to get re-elected, they'll do what the majority of us want.  And if they don't, WE have the ability to send them packing at the next election.

Awww....how quaint.

All that may be textbook true, but it bears little resemblance to the real world that exists today.  Most of us are too busy struggling to put food on the table and pay the rent, or at the other extreme, out playing with all our expensive toys, to pay attention to what our representatives are doing for / to us.  I have many very educated friends who freely admit they don't watch the news because it's depressing.  When they vote, IF they vote, they just fall in line with the same old parties they voted for 10 or 20 or more years ago, no questions asked.

Do you question this?  Numerous polls said less than 20% of the American people were in favor of repealing ObamaCare without having something BETTER ready to replace it.  So what did the House of Representatives do?  They passed a bill that largely gutted the Affordable Care Act and replaced it with something that left millions more uninsured.  Then the Senate failed to pass their version by only ONE vote.  If they were truly concerned by "the will of the voters", all that drama would have been declared Dead On Arrival at the committee hearing level.

Today, by a two-to-one margin, numerous polls say we don't want the kind of tax reform Congress is on the verge of passing.  Every single analysis that has been done so far, by both liberal and conservative "think tanks", says the proposed plan is, long term, detrimental to the middle class.  Yet the odds are the tax cut plan now proposed will squeak through.

If our Congressmen and Senators truly gave a s__t about what their constituents wanted, they would listen to us more than the special interests.  But they simply lie and say they're doing all this for us.  They present numbers that affirm what they're selling, and ignore everything else, and we just nod and say, "Yep, sounds good to me 'ol buddy."  *Yuk yuk*

Of course, do read, do study the issues, be skeptical, and DO VOTE.  But honestly, don't look for much to change.  Enough of us are too busy having fun, or too busy just trying to survive, to pay attention, and that's what they're counting on.

All great empires throughout history have eventually fallen.  We'll be no exception, and now we know how it will happen. 

Carry on.

S

I don't understand....

I don't understand how the International Olympic Committee can announce on July 4, 2007 that Sochi, Russia would be the host city of the 2014 Winter Olympics, yet on February 4th, 2014, two days before the opening ceremonies, they still haven't finished all the construction.  

They've had 6 1/2 years to get ready.  Jeez, Pootie Pooh, how much time do you need?  It's like a college kid waiting until the night before his final exam to begin studying.

Er....OK, so maybe I have just an inkling how that might could happen.  *Oops*

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I don't understand how people like these ^ in Kiev, Ukraine can get fed up enough with their crooked leaders and take to the streets in protest, while Americans won't even fire off an email in protest when their leaders are stealing them blind.

A weekend newspaper story told of how influental aides to many House and Senate leaders, both Democrat and Republican, shaped the writing of laws affecting banks, agriculture, mortgage reform, etc, then turned right around and went to work as lobbyists (there are over 12,000 of them) representing firms that cashed in BIG on the laws they wrote!  Cha Ching!  So much for "ethics reform".

And when Senators and Congressmen retire, they don't move back home and fish and play with the grandkids.  No, they stay in Washington and open up lobbying firms themselves.

This is just organized crime on a level that would make the Mafia blush.  When are we going to wise up and throw the bums out?  I say we need to bring in some consultants from Ukraine.

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And finally, I don't understand all the rich and famous people who become drug addicts.  They say "they can't stand the pressure".  Huh?  

Obviously I'm not rich or famous, so somebody please 'splain it to me.  What "pressure" makes you stick a needle in your arm?  The pressure of being able to pay your bills?  The pressure of being able to afford first class travel anywhere you want to go?  The pressure of wanting to fit in with the "cool kids"?  Wait....you ARE the cool kid.

That said, of course I'm sad they're gone.  That's a terrible way for anyone to leave this world.

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That's about it.  Everything else I've pretty much figured out.  ;)

Have a great day everyone.

S

"And if re-re-re-re-re-elected, I promise you I will...."

The best case yet for congressional term limits:

In our recent gubment shutdown / debt ceiling crisis, a small MINORITY of hard core Tea Party Republicans called the shots.  It's said that the majority of the House Republicans did NOT share the Tea Party venom, yet were afraid to stand up to the TP bullies.  With their own re-elections coming up next year, they were afraid if they DIDN'T at least pay lip service to the extremists they would face a strong primary challenge from a Tea Party-er themselves. *Holy sheep shit, Robin!*

So they voted, perhaps reluctantly, to "shut 'er down".  Millions of disabled veterans were scared to death their disability checks, often their sole source of income, wouldn't show up.  Same with military retirees.  Same with senior citizens.  Same with veterans going to school using their GI Bill.  (And let's be clear here, these were all PRE-PAID beneifts.)

A small army of gubment workers and contractors (that's a whole 'nuther blog post) missed their paychecks, too, and no doubt many missed paying a few bills on time.

Overall it's estimated the shutdown cost us $24 BILLION dollars.  All this because a group of otherwise reasonable Republicans, who could have voted their conscience but lacked the balls, valued their JOBS more than the citizens....the country....they personally pledged to serve.  

They valued their job, their POWER, their chance to be cut in on some lucrative business deals, more than the country.  And frankly, I imagine if the shoe had been on the other foot, the career Democrats would have done the same thing.

They threw the whole country under the bus in order to save their jobs.  I think it's time we make that job a whole lot less desirable.  A short term limit would be a good start, perhaps followed by a lifetime prohibition on a future career as a lobbyist.  And no lifetime congressional pension or health benefits, either.  In fact no perks at all.  When their term is up, they go back home to the rat race like the rest of us.

I say it's time we throw THEM under the bus for the greater good of the country!

*Cue the music*

S

Same song, second verse

This coming Saturday is the Red Bull Flugtag, the event where amateur teams build humorous "flying machines", then jump off a ramp where they invariably "fly" all of 30 feet....straight down.

  

It sounds like it should be a hoot and a half.  As a cool front is coming through on Friday, and the temps on Saturday are expected to top out in the mid-80's, K and I are seriously considering going.

My only hesitation is the crowd/parking situation.  We tried to go to the Red Bull Soap Box Derby back in the spring, but it was an uphill hike both ways from the parking area 20 blocks to the event site.  We arrived there and my knees took a look around and said, "no thanks". 

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It was exactly 5 years ago that our economy began it's near-fatal meltdown.  Greed ruled over prudence back then, and lenders were making terribly bad loans, then selling them to unwary investors as top-quality thanks to phony bond ratings.

Now, with real estate loans again being packaged by banks and sold to investors, Standard & Poor's has again lowered it's bond rating standards in order to bring in more business.   

Talk about a conflict of interest!  Banks directly pay the rating agencies (the Big Three are S&P, Moody's, and Fitch) for a review of the bonds they are hoping to sell, and they are shopping around to see who will give them the most favorable rating.  "Tell me what I want to hear, I'll pay you lots of money."  Since lowering their standards, S&P's market share has jumped from 18% to 69%.

So what have we learned?  Five years ago banks were "too big to fail".  Today they're bigger.  Five years ago bond ratings were a joke.  Today it looks like they're headed that way again.  So much for "financial reform".  Bank Lobbyists, 1; The Public Interest, 0.

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Here's a thought....maybe we could make that Flugtag jump from 300 feet, and get all the Ivory Tower Bankers to enter themselves as a team.  :)

S

Football and lawyers...talk about a hodge-podge post!

For one weekend a year my brother and I do our impersonation of the Hatfield's and McCoys.  That would be this weekend, when Texas Tech plays Texas.  I'm an alumnus of Texas Tech, while he is a graduate of the University of Texas....sort of.  Not the University of Texas at Austin, the Longhorns (it's a tough, stringy-meated cow), but the University of Texas AT DALLAS, the Fighting Insurance Salesmen. *Zing*

I usually can't get too "in your face" with him because more often than not UT beats us, but this year we're actually favored to win.  He jumped the gun yesterday and showed up wearing his Longhorn ball cap, but I've dusted my "Double T" cap off and will come armed today.

Would it be improper to ask God to let me kick his ass this year?

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Tell me again why we need lawyers?  I recently read several articles that made me wonder.

One was talking about how the bankers have 3,000-5,000 lawyers and lobbyists working full-time to thwart the implementation of new banking regulations that would curb their ability to roll the dice like they did a few years ago.  That drunken binge ultimately required the taxpayers spend several trillion dollars to bail them out.  

Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Act which sought to reign in the banks, but the banks have fought every word, every paragraph, every attempt to implement it, and they're winning the battle.  Dodd-Frank is still pretty much an empty shell at this point.  That would make it Lawyers, 1; The People, 0.

The other article told of how Bronco Bama and Mittens Romney both have thousands of lawyers fanned out all across the country looking for the slightest excuse to file a lawsuit in order to thwart the will of The People in next week's election.  Make that Lawyers, 2; The People, still 0.

The US today has over 1.1M lawyers.  I say we keep a few hundred and then send the rest to the Northeast to help clear debris and haul trash.  In other words, to DO SOMETHING CONSTRUCTIVE!

That, or it's off with their heads!  (Hey, I'm trying to be fair about this, 'cause, you know, I'm a compassionate kinda guy.)  *wink*

S

Who's running this asylum?

A couple of years ago I was invited to a presentation by a 4-star Air Force General who was the commander of Air Combat Command.  After his talk during the Q&A he was asked what his biggest fear was and he said a cyberwarfare attack against the US.  

As we all know, we live and die by computers.  They're both a blessing and a curse.  If some douchebag terrorist hits a few evil keystrokes how screwed would YOU be?  We might soon find out.  In recent days Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and several other major banks have experienced some sort of cyber attack, credit being taken by an arab group.   

So what are we collectively doing about it?  Apparently nothing.  That's because The Cybersecurity Act of 2012 failed by a 52-46 vote to pass the US Senate earlier this year.  This was a bill sponsored by Sorta-Independent Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and Republican Susan Collins of Maine, and supported by Brick Obama.  It would have set up a voluntary program of security measures to bolster protections for critical infrastructure networks like water supply systems and electrical grids and banks from attacks by rogue hackers and foreign nation states.

You know who killed the bill?  Lobbyists for the US Chamber of Commerce.  On que Republicans fell in line and voted "no".  They said the bill would have "imposed debilitating pressures on businesses to establish cybersecurity measures."

How is this a partisan issue?  Won't measures to protect our infrastructure and banks help businesses, the Republican's core constituency?  Once again short term profits trumped longer term common sense.  

When some a--hole sitting in a cave somewhere in Hell-istan gets his feelings hurt because someone painted an eye patch or blacked-out a front tooth on 'ol Muhammad's Polaroid and fries our power grid and freezes up our bank accounts, let's all march on the headquarters of the US Chamber of Commerce and ask 'em, "So, how'd that work out for ya?"

S

I want THEIR tax guy....

Several news sources reported over the weekend that the most valuable, most profitable company in the world, Apple, is a tax-paying lightweight.  Or to put it another way, Apple is a tax-avoiding heavyweight.  


Last year Apple had profits of $34.2B dollars, yet paid only $3.3B in taxes.  That's a rate of just 9.8%, which is 1/3 less than the average corporate tax paid by other Fortune 500 companies.  By comparison, Walmart paid a rate of over 24% in corporate income tax.


And it's all perfectly legal.  How'd they do it?  By claiming that most of their profits were made by Apple entities located in foreign, low-tax places such as Ireland, the Netherlands, and various post office boxes in the Caribbean.  US taxes are paid based on where "value is created".  If you were making cars or appliances or almost any other tangible product, the place where the factory is located would be where "value is created" and that's where taxes would be paid.  But with intangibles like patent royalties and intellectual property that can be pretty much anywhere they want it to be.  That's why 70% of Apple's profits are made *wink* outside the US.


I don't blame Apple or any other company who takes advantage of this gaping tax loophole.   I blame our congress who created it and does absolutely nothing to fix it.  But with a TRILLION dollar deficit why wouldn't they at least try, you ask? 

Simple....campaign contributions, aka legal bribes.  "Big Bidness" likes our tax system juuuuuust the way it is, thank you very much....subsidies, loopholes and all.  And they make lots of "contributions" to make sure it stays that way.  (And BTW...they're "legal" bribes only because those receiving the bribes are the same ones who get to define "legal".  Pretty sweet, huh?)

S