Happy New Year

Today is January 2, and it’s my birthday, not that I want to write about my birthday, but it is my birthday just the same.  I’m really curious about all the hoopla about the new year’s resolution thing.

What I hear most is people resolving to lose weight or be a better person or to drop a bad habit like, smoking.  Folks, there is nothing magical about new year’s day.  If you really want to be better, you can do that any day of the week.  Waiting for that one day of the year decreases your chances of success.  If you want to lose weight, waiting until January 1^st to start a diet or exercise program increases the number of days you live with those extra pounds and high blood pressure.  Don’t wait to lose weight, start NOW. 

The same logic applies if your goal is to stop smoking or drinking or whatever bad habit or vice you might want to shed.  I used to smoke a pack a day, for many years.  When my first child was born I became much more sensitive about that habit.  Her mother quit smoking during pregnancy and I often, but not always, abstained in her presence.  I quit smoking on new years day, several times; I gave it up for Lent; I quit on a whim.  Eventually, I quit smoking because I wanted to quit.  Whatever your goal, don’t wait for January 1^st to embark on goal attainment.

Congress has reached a deal to avert plunging over the fiscal cliff.  It was a good deal by modern standards of governing.  But it is a lousy deal. 

It didn’t really avoid going over the cliff, it only postponed hard decisions.  The fact is that our country must make hard choices and our elected buffoons haven’t the stomach or character to do so.  I guess I had forgotten about milk price supports until I read the newspaper article about the “deal.”  Milk price supports and wind farm tax breaks are bad government and bad economic policy. 

Our country was built on a few basic principles, those of free enterprise and capitalism.  We don’t offer price supports for medicine, for clothing, for water, and a multitude of other commodities, why price supports for dairy products?  The price of milk should be set by the market.  Agribusiness is business first and it should compete as any other business.

Back to fiscal cliff though, reaching the deal was not about governing, it was about winning a political battle that has nothing to do with sound fiscal policy.  We continue to spend more money that we earn, and that is bad for America and bad for Americans.  Unfortunately, we lose sight of governing and focus on a deal how that deal will affect us individually. 

Much of the deal centered on tax policies.  The tax system must be reformed, everyone agrees with that, but no one has the balls to do it.  The way to reduce the national debt is to tax the money, follow the money.  The national wealth is held by the largest corporations and the wealthiest individuals, “for unto whomever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more (Luke 12:48).” 

The conventional stupidity is NOT to tax investors because they use their wealth to create jobs, it’s stupid because they do not create jobs, they create, and concentrate, wealth.  Consumers create jobs with their spending habits.  Hence, tax those who are holding the wealth at high rates.  In today’s environment, everyone is waiting to see that happens with national fiscal and economic policy, making us a nation frozen in the headlights.  The deal did nothing to make consumers want to buy, or investors want to invest. 

Corporations holding massive amounts of cash do not want to invest in expansion (jobs) because they don’t know what the near future holds for them.  Fine, don’t invest in jobs; pay a tax instead.  Use those taxes to cut tax rates for middle class Americans who will have more money to spend and watch how quickly companies will start producing goods for consumers. 

Congressmen know this to be true, but they follow a party line that got them elected and prefer to stay in the party box.  This has created gridlock and stalemate for 20 years.  Congress is one of the most reviled bodies in modern American history.  Why then do we not vote them out?  Every community wants to keep their representative because he brings home the bacon and bacon is good for local economies.  I say that “bacon” should be the measuring stick used by an educated electorate to eject a congressman.  Bacon, while good for a community is bad for America.  We need governors and leaders, not politically expedient legislators who sacrifice the country’s future for their reelection.  I vow to vote against all legislators, locally and nationally who put themselves ahead of US.

Last month we had another national tragedy, a school shooting that resulted in 20 children shot dead.  The national outcry was loud, but short lived.

Yes, we need gun control.  We already have gun control, its mostly a matter of where to draw the line.  I cannot buy a .50 caliber machine gun, or a grenade launcher, or a tank.  But I can buy automatic weapons and stockpiles of ammo, with high capacity ammo clips.  These aren’t needed for hunting, or for defending my home.  They are used for recreational purposes – or for warring against fellow human beings, as is the case with criminals.  Guns don’t kill people, people with guns kill people, so we MUST control the guns that criminals can possess.  We must also control guns accessible to mentally unstable people.

Speaking of mentally unstable people, we must do more learn about mental illness, its causes and its treatment.  There are far too many people with mental illness who do get adequate treatment.  They cost us massive resources in lost productivity, in damages families, and daily tragedies.  Whether it’s the lone gunman or the delusional lady in the subway, they cost us a lot.  Yet we continue to cut public dollars to mental health programs and research and we allow insurance companies to limit coverage for patients with mental illness.

Violence is a plague on our society.  It’s everywhere, from video games, to movies, to sporting events.  Is it any surprise that the make believe violence of WWE is played out on playgrounds?  Hollywood dismisses the connection, well maybe YOU and I need to dismiss Hollywood’s products.  People, stop spending your time and money on violent entertainment!