Conservatives Hate the Environment?

I recently heard that someone had said "all Conservatives hate the environment".

Then I spoke with several friends that had just gotten back from China.  All of them said that the air pollution was awful.

So it seems to me that though China is supposedly Communist, they seem to embrace the Conservative belief that little or no regulations is the way to go.  I mean we want growth, right?  I mean people will make the right decisions, right?  And we want low cost solutions, right?

Thoughts?

Facts and Details: China Environment
Google Photos

Women Driving USA to Socialism?

Well, I am visiting my incredibly Conservative parents.  I  told them a little about Would Shoulda Coulda.  In particular, I discussed the hypothesis that our society's choice to give "Women the Right to Vote" could have led to more Liberal results over the past ~90 yrs.

My rationale is totally based on stereotypes and wild assumptions.  So take this with a few grains of salt...  Very simply, sometimes women tend to be more community based and nurturing than men.  There are exceptions and this may be changing, however historically this seems to have been the case.

Of course I was met with shocked disbelief...  I am used to that...  Thank God they Love me anyway...

So what do you think of this crazy hypothesis.  Possible or not?  Rationale?

People Unite !!!

I can almost here the Wall Street and Conservative crowd saying "Let them eat cake"...

So is this the rebellion the Liberals have been talking about or just another passing fad?

Do you think the cell phones of the protesters say Motorola or LG/Samsung?

What about their cars?  GM/Ford or Toyota/Honda?

How would us established citizens feel if our portfolios were cut in half because Wall Street stopped worrying about corporate profits?

Thoughts?

HP: Occupy Wall Street
CBS: Occupy Wall Street
CNN: Occupy Wall Street
TC Daily Planet: Occupy Movement in Mpls
Minnpost: Occupy Wall Street

Peace Activists Confuse Me

As I drove past the corner of Rockford Rd and Winnetka last night, I saw some folks out holding up various signs. (ie PEACE, GET OUT OF AFGANISTAN, etc)  This along with all the news and commentary of late (see example below) got me thinking...

• Would getting out of Afganistan really serve the cause of PEACE? 
• Or would it serve the cause of VIOLENCE?

I can think of many reasons for getting out of Afganistan, some include:

• Stop the wounding and death of American soldiers
• Stop the excessive spending of American tax dollars
• Butt out of a foreign nation's internal strife
• They've been fighting forever, unlikely to change anytime soon

However I can also see potential negative consequences, some include:

• Women's rights in Afganistan disappear again.
• Tribal killing increases again.
• Drug production and terrorist training proliferate again.

So I am unsure what we should do? 

As a test of the Peace protester's beliefs, I think we should remove all Policeman from the Minneapolis streets for 6 mths.  I would be interested to see if the city would be more or less peaceful after the 6 months.  Of course, Mexico may give us some indicators of what may happen.  (Mexico)

I am thinking that pulling the troops out of Afganistan may be the right thing to do for America, but I am not naive enough to think that it will enable peace in Afganistan.

CNN Afganistan

No Taxes No Vote !!!

A friend of mine asked me to propose this to you folks, just to see what kind of comments this would generate.  To give you some background, he is pretty conservative however he has someone close to him that is on the "public dole". (ie got a refund for more than they paid in...)  The rationale is pretty straight forward, if you are not smart or driven enough to earn a modest taxable income, should you really help guide the country with your vote?

Though it is probably illegal for some reason, do you think people should lose the right to vote if they do not pay Federal Income Taxes for a period of time?

An analogy that comes to me is my local PTA, I do not get to vote on how the funds are spent if I do not pay dues...  Even though my child attends the school and I contribute to the fund raisers.  Should the USA be any different?  If so, why?  If not, why?  Thoughts?

A different topic...  Cupboards and countertops are installed...  Everything looks great !!!  All I have left to do is to blow more insulation into the attic where I shoveled it off when installing the recessed lights...  Though I'll probably do the whole thing while I am up there...  I mean it is ~26 yrs old and settled, and natural gas isn't getting any cheaper.  Yippeee, I may get back to my hobbies at some point !!!

Woulda, Shoulda, Coulda

It seems that "hindsight is certainly 20/20" in the case of bloggers.  Here are a few turning points of interest.  I wonder how a few slight changes may have impacted our country???

• The citizens of the US Colonies had decided not to rebel against England.
• The citizens of the USA had decided to accept slavery and not fought the civil war.
• The citizens of the USA had not given women the right to vote.
• The citizens of the USA had decided to enforce prohibition instead of repealing it.
• The citizens of the USA had not become involved in WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Middle East, etc.
• The citizens of the USA had left the plight of the poor, weak and needy to the private charities and work houses.
• The citizens of the USA had banned Unions.
• The citizens of the USA had not made Public Education mandatory.
• The citizens of the USA had converted the country to a full fledged Socialism or Communism.
• The citizens of the USA had chosen to not support the progressive tax system.
• The citizens of the USA had not chosen to set and enforce pollution limits.

Personally, I am not smart enough to pretend I could have made a better choice than the citizens made back at that point in time. (especially w/o the benefit of hindsight)  However I am certain that some of you are willing to try.  So what would you have changed?  What other turning points did I fail to note?

Overall this self governing thing has worked out pretty well it seems.  Or maybe you would have preferred a "Benevolent Dictatorship" that hopefully shared your beliefs?  Or my co-workers in China seem to like their efficient Government, just think of a Fall with NO political attack ads...

National Debt - Summarized

I found this fairly straight forward, though of course they blamed only the Politicians and not all of us Constituents.  Maybe it is hard to look in the mirror, and it is probably a bad idea for a writer/news organization to blame its readers...

CNN - National Debt 5 Minute Primer

Another interesting link.
GAO: Debt Ownership

The Rich Spend Poorly?

To my question: "Do they save or spend too much?"


I found Hiram's answer fascinating: "They tend to invest too much, and spend in ways that are wasteful."

Primarily because I have no idea what it means.

In my personal life I keep 2 sets of books.  The first is the income and spending side.  These are the funds I earn at my job and spend way too fast.  The second is the long term savings or net worth accts.  Thankfully my Parents beat it into my head to start saving some of the "income" early and often.  Of course, this meant I had to be willing to live "below my means" in order to start that nest egg.  Now that nest is pretty sizable, usually growing and I am certainly not touching it until the "income" side starts to decrease.

I don't see it as terribly different for most of the "Rich".  Bill Gates has a huge nest egg that he has grown over the years.  This nest egg funds the ongoing operations of likely hundreds of companies.  He really isn't going to break into it, and would we really want him to?

As for spending "unwisely", is there such a thing?  I mean no one would benefit if one went out and burned a pile of money.  Other than that it seems that someone always benefits from most other transactions.

Being a "buy and use" it guy, I have never understood collectors and what they choose to buy.  Yet even in this seemingly senseless transaction, many people gain.  Look at the Antique Roadshow...  Someone with excess money buys an old painting for $10,000.  The agent gets a cut and the seller get cash.  Then these folks can reinvest their gains or use them to pay employees, go to the D\dentist, buy clothes and even pay taxes.

I will never understand how folks think the Government spends more wisely...  Thoughts?

Trickle Down Doesn't Work?

I was going to write some thoughts regarding "trickle down" and then I ran into this link over at MNPublius.

NY Times The Limping Middle Class
NY Times Prosperity/Regression Graphic

It definitely has some interesting graphics, though I am pretty sure I disagree with a fair number of his comments.  In particular with regard to his thoughts that we should be more like Germany.  Though us Minnesotans surely do like sending our money to VW, Audi, BMW and Mercedes Benz.

So what do you think of the graphics and his comments/analysis?

As for my trickle down story.  Last winter I commented on MNPublius that I had seen some excellent examples of "trickle down" while snowmobiling on Lake Mtka. (ie several mansions were being remodeled) Of course one of the more Liberal commenters took exception to this...  He thought it was WRONG that people had to SERVE the wealthy to get their money...  It was very strange considering we live in a service economy.  I assume he thought higher taxes and more handouts were in someway more ethically correct. (strange values out there)

The reason this came up was because though I am upper middle class, I have been spending a great deal of money on home improvements this Summer.  To me this what trickle down is all about.  And it really hit home when I was up at the cabinet maker's shop and saw that he was employing some neighbors to build our new kitchen cabinets.  It occurred to me then: the Large Corporation that pays me, I pay the Cabinet Maker, and he pays local employees and suppliers.

Now if we all bought USA goods and services, trickle down would work much better.  Instead we buy VW, Audi, BMW and Mercedes Benz, and send the money flow to Germany. (or Korea, China, Japan, etc) Maybe we could fix our economy and improve the worker incomes by just changing our buying habits.  No Governement intervention required...

It was interesting that the graphs shifted in ~1980, which is about the time buying "non-American" became fashionable.  Before that most folks would not have been caught dead with that "foreign junk" product.

G2A Made in America: The Myth?

Shutdown, or Cassellius & Dayton?

Well, I have been checking occasionally for the updated MN School Report Cards and they are still not there.  Last year they were posted by early July.  And this year the kids did them on a computer...  So why the delay???  Did the 3 wk shutdown delay the posting by 2 mths?  Or is their a political conspiracy afoot?

In the mean time, here are some interesting links.  Enjoy...  I am going back to sanding cabinets...

MN Dept of Ed RAS Report Card
Star Trib  New Grad Rate Formula
Asian Scientist US 32nd in Math

EPA Moratorium and Ads

I just heard a radio ad that was attacking Erik Paulsen for siding with the lobbyists to in essence "pollute our air and harm our children".  I found this hard to believe since he has kids also...

See the first link for some thoughts regarding why we should slow down the EPA's good works.  And the second to listen to the ads.
WSJ An EPA Moratorium
Environmental Defense Action Fund 2011 Ads

I find it interesting since the EPA has been overwhelming our industry for 10+ yrs by requiring cleaner burning diesel engines.  And it is going to continue for another ~5 yrs.  By the time we are done we will need very clean fuel, lots of expensive hardware on each machine, and the air coming out of the stack will sometimes be cleaner than that going into the air cleaner. EPA Tier Timeline

The upside is that it has given Engineers some great job security.  The downside is that the equipment keeps getting more expensive, which is passed on to all of us citizens via higher construction costs and taxes.

So when is good, good enough?  How much are you willing to pay for excellent?

RAS STEAM and Transportation

First off...  Sorry for being an irresponsible and inconsistent blogger lately.  Hopefully in ~3 wks my life will return to somewhat normal. This Summer has been CRAZY... (ie built paver patio, boat damaged/repaired, family member with ruptured disk/surgery, and finally a kitchen remodel, and work as crazy as ever....)  Lord I hope it slows down soon.  The upside is that I am learning a lot of information and developing some new skills. (ie paver prep/installation, fiberglass repair, recessed lighting install, the mechanics of the spine, sanding and staining of Maple, etc, etc, etc)

The topic of today is STEAM...  And NO I did not say STEM...  Apparently the Magnets committee has decided that STEAM is the best alternative. (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics)  It kind of reminds me of the sales tax increase we passed awhile back.  "If you can not get enough votes, throw someone else's concerns into the mix" (ie sales tax = environment and arts)  Worked well for the Sales Tax, not sure it makes a good school strategy.  Thoughts?

The second topic is the potential outsourcing of RAS Transportation. It is definitely a decision that needs to be considered, but researched carefully.  There could be some very interesting consequences for the better and worse.  The definite upside is that it would pave the way to selling off the current ESC/Bus Garage site. Then the District personnel could be placed in or distributed across other less expensive already owned sites.  Thoughts?

8Aug11 Worksession packet
15Aug11 Board mtg packet
Sun RAS could save $1 million
Sun RAS STEAM

Please Let Me Lower Stds

Well, if not raising funding each year is considered a cut...  Is not raising standards each year considered cutting standards?

If so, then our Commissioner of Education is asking permission to do just that.  Standards were supposed to increase until 2014 when "No Child Was to Be Left Behind".  Of course this was difficult at best and impossible at worst given the lack of control we have over Parenting or the lack thereof, and the Households these kids come from.

However it was an admirable goal.  Too bad the Educational establishment spent more time and energy vilifying it instead of trying to attain it.  (been there, discussed that)

So what do you think of the waiver request?  Is it a good move or permission to leave kids behind?  (Oh, those poor "Unlucky" kids, we forget them again???)

KARE11 MN Seeks Waiver for NCLB
Star Trib MN Wants Waiver from NCLB
MPR MN Seeks Wauiver from NCLB
MinnPost Educators Cheer Waivers
Ed Week Waivers Offered
Dept of Ed Flexibility and Waivers

The Emeperor's New Clothes

When I heard the news the weekend, I thought it is about time...  There have to be some consequences to this "spend more than we raise" or "raise less than we spend" mentality.  There would be in our personal finances, and there should be for our Society as a whole. (aka USA)

CNN S&P Downgrades U.S. Credit Rating

And of course the Administration is looking to manage the spin.

CNN Obama Official: Move "Way Off"

And the nervous investors are off and running....  Since I am a couch potato investor that stays pretty much invested all the time, I am sure this will do terrible things to my on paper net worth...  (note to self: don't look for a year or so...)  Good thing I am 15+ yrs from retirement...

CNN Sell First, Ask Questions Later

So what do you think?

• Are you dumping your equities as fast as you can? Or staying put?
• Is this the beginning of the end?  Or just another bump?
• Was S&P correct in taking the action they did?
• Were they naive like the child, or very brave to say what they did?
• Will there be retribution against them?  What?
• Who is to blame? The spenders?  The no tax hikers?

Debt Mgmt and Women's Health

I found these comments by Daniel Mitchell very interesting in a cynical sort of way.

CNN  Debt Deal: Politicians Win, Middle Class Loses

And of course the posturing and spinning is continuing...
Fox News  Tax Hikes Impossible? Think again...

So what do you think?  Who is winning and who is losing in this deal?  Will it work?
_____________________________________________
On another topic:
Fox news: Women's Health
HP Free Birth Control

Doesn't this just make sense?  Or promoting moral decay?

I think it makes a great deal of sense...  If unlucky kids are severely taxing our Social Systems and Public Schools, then let's help those Unlucky Moms not have as many kids...  Seems pretty simple and logical...