Thoughts Before The Alarm Sounds

      I had a minor operation on Thursday, and have to take it easy for a few days. Anything I write will be short. I will be back next week some time. Please bear with me. Thanks.

      If a water pipe bursts inside your house, whom do you call, your plumber or your pastor? As ridiculous as this question sounds, it is a metaphor for the problem facing President Obama at this time. I am afraid he is going to call the pastor.       We are in the midst of a partial recovery from a reasonably deep recession, and the question for him is from whom to get advice - economists or ideologues. Should he seek advice from men who have devoted a lifetime to studying economics, or from conservative Democrats, Republicans, Tea Partiers and others who got us into this position during the reign of King George (2001-2009)? Should he trust the guidance of pilots who know the waters, or should he let the ones who steered us unto a sandbar take a second run at the beach?       In 1929 the economy was bustling along, and the Gross domestic Product value was at an all time high of $103.6 billion. Then the depre...

      My late mother-in-law was a sweet lady, and I loved her. She always gave lip service to the belief that a variety of people was a good thing, but I know that deep down she disapproved, at least slightly, of those whose lifestyle differed from hers. How do I know? The compression of the lips, or a slight shake of the head was a dead giveaway. After much thinking about it, I have concluded that we all have a similar unstated bias.       Semanticists have long known that we process reality through an unconscious filter: a dynamic pattern of attitudes, habits, internalized values, and modes of thinking. It is through this process that we relate ourselves to the world of things and people, observe and judge them, and express ourselves.       Some of the contents of this filter we receive at birth - certain talents or handicaps; others from our culture – vocabularies, games, dances, greetings ,etc. As a result,...

      Whenever a catastrophe occurs, people in high places are cast into the limelight, some unwillingly, and others because they want to beat everyone else to their fifteen minutes of fame. When that happens, they often come out with pearls of “wisdom,” sometimes speaking with insufficient information; at other times engaging their mouths before their brains are in gear. A classic example, of course, is the well publicized Bushism,…”Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job.” The Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill is no exception. Here are a few examples: Tony Hayward, BP CEO: "What the hell have we done to deserve this?" (Is he kidding?) “I'd like my life back.” (So would thousands of Gulf Coast residents who depend on the Gulf for their livelihoods.) After arguing that safety has always been his top priority, “…that is why I am so devastated with this accident.” (BP has had 760 safety violations in the past five years, and paid $373 million in fines.) Carl-Hen...

      Those zany California voters have done it again. Back in 1978 they sowed the seeds of their present horrendous budget deficit by passing Proposition 13, the People's Initiative to Limit Property Taxation . Among other things, the proposition lowered property taxes by rolling back property values to their 1975 value, and restricted annual increases in assessed value of real property to an inflation factor, not to exceed 2% per year. It also prohibited reassessment of a new base year value except upon (a) change in ownership or (b) completion of new construction.       Because I had bought my property in 1973, I benefitted immensely from the proposition. When I sold it in 2004 the property taxes were approximately $700; in 2008 they were over $4000. The voters had successfully capped property taxes for long term residents and had made sure that tax revenues were well below the inflation rate. It was not the only factor that put Cali...

      The calamity in the Gulf of Mexico is putting strains on the relationship between the USA and the UK. I can see both sides of the problem, but I think we have the better argument.       The British object to President Obama’s calling the bad guy in the Gulf “British Petroleum” instead of “BP.” (In 1998 British Petroleum merged with Amoco and became BP Amoco. In 2001 it formally renamed itself BP, and adopted the tag line “Beyond Petroleum”). They claim it is making the whole British Empire look bad.       I understand the British reluctance to having aspersions cast upon BP; stock price is affected by rumors or bad reputations of any company. Since the explosion of April 20th, BP’s stock price has dropped 50%, or about $90 billion dollars.       As Britain’s largest corporation, BP stock is held by almost every pension plan in the country; BP pays about 1/7 of all dividends paid ...

      tradition, n. the handing down of statements, beliefs, legends, customs, information, etc., from generation to generation, esp. by work of mouth, or by practice. Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary.       In 1750 the ship Nancy arrived in Philadelphia carrying Henry William Stiegel, a German glassmaker and ironmaster. He was an active lay Lutheran and associate of Henry Muhlenberg, who is considered to be the patriarch of the Lutheran Church in the United States.       In 1772 Stiegel donated the land on which the Lutheran church in Manheim, Pennsylvania is now built. The deed stipulated that the cost of the land was “five shillings and ‘in the month of June yearly forever hereafter the rent on One Red Rose if the same shall be lawfully demanded.’”       It is doubtful whether the rose was actually paid to Stiegel, but in 1892, one hundred and twenty years after the de...

      When I was a working accountant, there was one comment which I heard time after time, not only in the business world, but in other settings as well, e.g., church councils, civic organizations, etc., and it irritated me every time I heard it: “We never did it that way before.” I always thought that if we had some system going for, say, five years, it may not need to be upgraded, but we should certainly consider that possibility.       Even before discussing any changes, the person who made that remark usually came up with several reasons why a new system would not work.       Today we often hear the catchphrase “think outside the box,” meaning to be creative. If Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, et. al. had not heeded that advice, I would not be writing this because no one would ever have heard of a blog. Of course, I also need to give credit to the inventor of the internet, Al Gore(?)     ...

      On June 2nd, umpire Jim Joyce called Cleveland Indians’ runner Jason Donald safe when almost everyone in the stadium, as well as the entire TV viewing audience, knew he was really out by at least a full step. The exceptions were Joyce and Detroit Tigers’ pitcher Armando Galarraga, who was covering first base on the play. Joyce was wrong and Galarraga wasn’t sure. He had been called up from minor league team Toledo only 16 days earlier.       It was a bad call, but it would probably not have been the object of undo excitement if it had happened in another game; they happen all the time. But this game was special, the call cost Galarraga a perfect game – 27 batters and 27 outs.       In the entire history of major league baseball, there have been only 20 perfect games. Even Nolan Ryan, who threw seven no hit-no run games, never pitched a perfect game. Unbelievably, two of them occurred earlier this season. ...

      Many people are calling the BP oil spill Obama’s Katrina. The reference, of course, is to the inefficient response of the Federal government to the catastrophe incurred when hurricane Katrina came ashore along the Louisiana coastline in 2005. So how do the two events compare?       As a result of Katrina, at least 1,836 people lost their lives, and an estimated 1,000,000 people were redistributed from the gulf coast states to other areas. As of July 1, 2006 it was estimated New Orleans had lost almost 220,000 residents. On March 30, 2010, 260 families were still living in trailers provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.       The government has been criticized for its slow response to Katrina, but under the National Response Plan, the responsibility for the management of such disasters lies with local authorities until they ask for help. New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin had ordered an involuntary ...

      Memorial Day, formerly Decoration Day, was originally observed on the 30th of May. (The bill changing it to the last Monday in May was passed on June 28, 1968. It became effective at the Federal level in 1971.)       Decoration Day was originated in 1868 by order of the head of the Grand Army of the Republic. It was supposed to be a day when the graves of the war dead were to be decorated with flowers.       There are two versions as to why May 30th was chosen - one declares that at that time flowers would be in bloom all over the country; the other says that it was chosen because it was not the anniversary of any particular battle of the Civil War.       My first remembrance of a particular Memorial Day is the one in 1941. At the time I had been taking music lessons for eight or nine months, and had been participating in the “junior” high school band for most of that time. The “...

      Please bear with me for a little background on my main subject.       As with most nations, the U.K. is experiencing serious problems with its financial system. For the calendar year 2009 the UK budget deficit was 11.4% of GDP, and its general government debt was 68.1% of GDP. Although the UK is not a member of the European Common Market, these ratios compare to the market’s targets of 3% and 60% respectively. As a result Queen Elizabeth II gave an austerity speech on the opening day of Parliament this past Tuesday.       Some of the queen’s comments outlined changes to the traditional political system, e.g., a new voting system for members of the House of Commons, fewer and more "equal-sized constituencies," and the right of voters to recall elected lawmakers who are found guilty of serious wrongdoing. In the near future there will be proposals to make the House of Lords “wholly or mainly elected.” ...

      Two recent news stories make me wonder whatever happened to common sense. Both are taken from the Lancaster Pennsylvania Intelligencer Journal/New Era.       Four years ago a local woman was going through a very rough period in her life. She had been through a divorce, her daughters were all grown and had left home, and she was suffering from a debilitating illness which left her in a wheelchair. Unable to perform her preschool teaching job, she was stuck in depression.       One day she found a tiny bird which had fallen from its nest. It still had fuzz on its head and had not yet grown feathers. In spite of the fact that experts predicted it would not last more than three days, she nursed it back to health.       The bird eventually grew into a female house finch. After it learned to fly, it had the run of the house. It didn’t like the darkness, so her “mother” got her a night...

      On April 10, 1912, the luxurious ship, Titanic, set sail from Southampton, England enroute to New York City. Carrying over 1,300 passengers and a crew numbering just over 900, the “unsinkable” ship was the largest vessel afloat.       Its 159 furnaces burned 600 tons of coal and produced 100 tons of ash each day in order to achieve a top speed of 23 knots.       Some of the most prominent people of the day were traveling in first class; the passenger list included names such as Astor, Guggenheim, Strauss and of course Margaret “Molly” Brown (better known as the Unsinkable Molly Brown because of her efforts in aiding other passengers as the ship sank.) In today’s dollars, passenger rates ran from $900 in steerage to about $100,000 in some first class cabins.       The first hint of trouble came at 1:45 pm on April 14, when the ship Amerika warned that there were icebergs ahead. I...

      I first published this post on November 7, 2009, with the title “A Christian Dichotomy.” I think it bears repeating.       In 2007, Jamie Leigh Jones testified at a Congressional hearing that she had been gang-raped in 2005 by as many as seven co-workers while working in Iraq for KBR, a subsidiary of Halliburton. After an Army doctor examined her and gave forensic material to her employer, she was placed under guard in a shipping container, where she remained without food or drink for 24 hours. Finally a friendly guard gave her a cell phone which she used to call her father. She was released only after her father asked the US embassy to intervene.       When Jones tried to take legal action, Halliburton/KBR used a clause in her contract, which required disputes to be settled by arbitration, to block such action.       In 2007, Jones filed a joint civil suit against Halliburton/K...

      Because of the nomination of Dr. Rand Paul to be the Republican candidate for Senator from Kentucky, I have decided to take a closer look at Libertarianism. I must admit that on first glance it sounds appealing.       According to the Libertarian Party’s web site, “Libertarians strongly oppose any government interfering in their personal, family and business decisions. Essentially, we believe all Americans should be free to live their lives and pursue their interests as they see fit as long as they do not harm one another. In a nutshell, we are advocates for a smaller government, lower taxes and more freedom.”       According to Libertarianism: A Primer by David Boaz, “Libertarians defend each person's right to life, liberty, and property-rights that people have naturally, before governments are created. In the libertarian view, all human relationships should be voluntary; the only actions that should be...

      The day after winning the Republican Senate primary in Kentucky, Libertarian Rand Paul suffered an attack of foot-in-mouth disease. In an interview with MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow on Wednesday, he was asked whether he believed businesses should have the right to refuse service to African-Americans.       Yes,” Paul said. “I’m not in favor of any discrimination of any form. … But I think what’s important about this debate is not written into any specific ‘gotcha’ on this, but asking the question: what about freedom of speech? Should we limit speech from people we find abhorrent? Should we limit racists from speaking?”       Paul has previously gone on record as favoring the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in the public domain , but believes that the government has overstepped its powers by extending non-discrimination to the private sector. In other words, government can require non-discrimination in organizations tha...

      Finally I can turn on the TV without having to watch Arlen Specter Swiftboating Joe Sestak’s military career, nor do I have to put up with Sestak holding forth on Specter’s switch of parties and cozying up to President George Bush throughout most of his Senatorial career.       Both stories were true; Sestak repeatedly showed a clip of Specter admitting he changed parties in order to be re-e-lec-ted, and another of President Bush telling how he could always count on Arlen. Of the two, the switching of parties was probably the most effective; in the eyes of the voters it branded Specter as untrustworthy and not a true Democrat.       As to Sestak’s military record, the following is from the Navy Times of July 25, 2005: “Deputy Chief of Naval Operations (DCNO) Vice Adm. Joseph Sestak was administratively reassigned July 25 by new Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Mullen, according to Rear Adm. T. McCreary...

"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" Emma Lazarus – The New Colossus (On the base of the Statue of Liberty)       The State of Arizona recently passed a strict immigration law which gives the police broad powers to detain any person suspected of being in the country illegally. Unless suspects are carrying proper documentation, it is the intention the law to prosecute and deport them.       Officers are not only allowed to question suspects - they are required to do so. Anyone who thinks police officers are not enforcing the law is allowed to sue the local government or agency. Not carrying immigration papers at all times is a misdemeanor. Several other states, including Pennsylvania, are considering passage of similar legislation.       A...

      [The Lord] said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree which I commanded you not to eat?” The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate.”       Genesis – New Revised Standard Version.       One of the tasks I had to perform at my job as a cost accountant was to speak to factory foremen to determine the cause of irregularities in production costs. In particular, one man stands out in my memory; his first response when I asked about a problem was always, “Whose responsibility is that?”       It was not my job to establish responsibility – my job was to 1.) pinpoint the problem, 2.) fix it, and 3.) set up safeguards so that it didn’t happen again. But the foreman’s first impulse was to determine where to point the finger. (No, not that finger.)       When I had my accounting busin...