America is my country. This is my America the Beautiful and I share it with you and yours.
Imagine my disbelief today when I was told that Trenton voters have been urged not to vote.
Trenton churchgoers have been advised to stay away from the polls this November.
At first, I thought someone was joking. Then several people chimed in that this was indeed the case. Everyone had a different slant on the story, but it all boiled down to the fact that church leaders, pastors, preachers in Trenton want voters to stay home.
Ministers are preaching from the pulpit that this election is a lose-lose for their churchgoers. When I asked for particulars, I was told the following:
1. If you vote Republican, you vote for a Mormon. (OK. That is no secret, what is wrong with that?)
2. Romney is a Mormon and therefore he is not a Christian...or anti-Christian...or just working with the Devil and believes in polygamy. (Come on people, this is the 21st Century)
Well, it looks like a slam dunk for the President. That is until the preaching continues thus:
1. If you vote Democrat, you will be voting for a black man who is in favor of gay marriage, which is a sin... (What? GLT tolerance has permitted more people to contribute to our nation's diversity. Also, not every American is a Christian so the Bible is not universal doctrine.)
2. The President is a black man who is not behaving like a black man...( guess you can't please everybody. President Obama has turned out to be color-blind)
Going to church is a rich experience and a welcome chance to recharge spiritual batteries. It seems to me that these local clergy need to have their heads examined.
There is supposed to be a separation of church and state in this country. This is a heck of a good reason to reinforce that.
Meddling in affairs of state by superimposing individual religious preferences is absolutely contrary to our Constitution.
Clear your heads, everyone. If some robed chucklehead bellowing from a pulpit is trying to get your attention and sway your vote, walk out!
Churches presently enjoy tax exempt non-profit status in the City of Trenton. If parishoners do not go to the polls, that situation can be very neatly corrected.
This is a glorious and open society with Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddists and Hindu. There are also Native American, Wiccan, and many other faiths, worshiping side by side and tax exempt, in our City of Trenton.
We do not have a State Religion with good cause.
Our culture and its mores are based on principles set down by our founding fathers. If you remember in the very beginnings of our country, only people who owned land were able to have a voice in determining the future of the republic. Women had to petition to be heard and finally got the right to vote reinstated in the twentieth century. That's right. If single, and property owners, women and free Blacks could vote under the original Constitution. By 1809 the states had taken that away. The Civil War emancipated slaves, but women were shut out until more recently. One of the most cherished and sacred privileges a citizen can have is to vote.
When election day rolls around, tension builds and television ads for the candidates drive us nuts. It is all part of the decision making process. Finally we take our ideas and preferences to the polling place. Pressing levers behind curtains, or marking paper ballots the old fashioned way, we take a stab at making our voices heard. We do our part to steer our ship of state to the next four years of hope or disaster.
If you don't vote in this election, kiss your place in the community,
"Goodbye."
Seniors vote.
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Bubble Up, Not Trickle Down
Some time ago, I suggested that a ten percent raise in Social Security Benefits would spur the US economy faster than another "bailout". Consider this:
Most of the money theory floating around presently makes a big deal about the old-fashioned idea of "trickle down". This means throwing funds at big business to make it so happy that new jobs will budd and burst off like maturing amoebas.
Ick. Messy. Running a country like Jackson Pollock paints.
Surprise, surprise...it does not seem to be working.
Business moguls and their boards of directors have to answer to stockholders and everyone is on board with the capitalistic notion of making money---not spending it. Bonuses have to be earned and accounted for, dividends are nice, poison pills make sure that noone steps on your parade, and the orgy continues. So where is the money?
The problem in this present business climate is that big business is hoarding (gasp, choke, urk!) the surplus monies they were supposed to be reinvesting. Reinvesting in capital improvements, plant expansions, research and development, and even jobs is on major hold because the international climate is uncertain. The value of the dollar changes so rapidly that there is a real dread of making a big mistake by making a Big Move.
Whatever, whatever, is an economist to do?
Senior citizens, living on Social Security, are not worried about the "Big Move". Seniors are more concerned with the nitty-gritty and down to earth problems of food, shelter and medicine. Even a ten percent increase in a thousand dollar check is a big difference in an elderly person's life style.
Consider that funding from Social Security is spent in the middle segment of the economy. If someone needs to eat, that person is not likely to put a down payment on a fur coat or 42 foot yacht. Social Security payments go to a restaurant, a local shop or even a US Savings Bond for a grandchild. This is a steady segment of the economy that will produce jobs. That Wendy's or MacDonald's restaurant hires local people. Staples, Walmart, Target, Petsmart, Lowes, etc. are not bringing in executives in jets to man cash registers. No, not at all. The jobs that senior-spending support are definitely in the middle or lower middle of the employment range and correspond to that part of our country-wide recession hit the hardest.
Jean Batiste Say was the origin of the popular phrase that "supply creates its own demand." But if you cannot find a market before your goods are discounted, you are out of luck. One example is Kohls discounting 30 percent, handing out 20 percent coupons, and then topping it off with cash coupons for another visit. If you have a bloated inventory, you have to get cash flowing. John Maynard Keynes (uncle of Quentin Keynes, my African explorer friend, as per previous blog) observed that when people did sell something, it did not guarantee that they would spend the proceeds. In previous recessions, folks have been known to chipmunk and stash money in a mattress. I guess nowadays it would more likely be in the freezer behind the pizza rolls....whatever.
My point is that there is going to be more turnover and less hoarding in the middle of the economy.
And that is my soapbox for the day.
Seniors rock.
Most of the money theory floating around presently makes a big deal about the old-fashioned idea of "trickle down". This means throwing funds at big business to make it so happy that new jobs will budd and burst off like maturing amoebas.
Ick. Messy. Running a country like Jackson Pollock paints.
Surprise, surprise...it does not seem to be working.
Business moguls and their boards of directors have to answer to stockholders and everyone is on board with the capitalistic notion of making money---not spending it. Bonuses have to be earned and accounted for, dividends are nice, poison pills make sure that noone steps on your parade, and the orgy continues. So where is the money?
The problem in this present business climate is that big business is hoarding (gasp, choke, urk!) the surplus monies they were supposed to be reinvesting. Reinvesting in capital improvements, plant expansions, research and development, and even jobs is on major hold because the international climate is uncertain. The value of the dollar changes so rapidly that there is a real dread of making a big mistake by making a Big Move.
Whatever, whatever, is an economist to do?
Senior citizens, living on Social Security, are not worried about the "Big Move". Seniors are more concerned with the nitty-gritty and down to earth problems of food, shelter and medicine. Even a ten percent increase in a thousand dollar check is a big difference in an elderly person's life style.
Consider that funding from Social Security is spent in the middle segment of the economy. If someone needs to eat, that person is not likely to put a down payment on a fur coat or 42 foot yacht. Social Security payments go to a restaurant, a local shop or even a US Savings Bond for a grandchild. This is a steady segment of the economy that will produce jobs. That Wendy's or MacDonald's restaurant hires local people. Staples, Walmart, Target, Petsmart, Lowes, etc. are not bringing in executives in jets to man cash registers. No, not at all. The jobs that senior-spending support are definitely in the middle or lower middle of the employment range and correspond to that part of our country-wide recession hit the hardest.
Jean Batiste Say was the origin of the popular phrase that "supply creates its own demand." But if you cannot find a market before your goods are discounted, you are out of luck. One example is Kohls discounting 30 percent, handing out 20 percent coupons, and then topping it off with cash coupons for another visit. If you have a bloated inventory, you have to get cash flowing. John Maynard Keynes (uncle of Quentin Keynes, my African explorer friend, as per previous blog) observed that when people did sell something, it did not guarantee that they would spend the proceeds. In previous recessions, folks have been known to chipmunk and stash money in a mattress. I guess nowadays it would more likely be in the freezer behind the pizza rolls....whatever.
My point is that there is going to be more turnover and less hoarding in the middle of the economy.
And that is my soapbox for the day.
Seniors rock.
Friday, September 14, 2012
New Jersey History
New Jersey History
Here is some great information on what makes NJ tick. If you want to know where you are going, you have to know where you have been.
Here is some great information on what makes NJ tick. If you want to know where you are going, you have to know where you have been.
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
This Business of Medicare Vouchers....
For several weeks now, I have had a Google Alert for news of the Ryan Plan for Medicare. Not surprising, it scared the heck out of me.
Ryan's plan was conceived because there is a fear that Medicare is running out of time to be able to balance its books.
That is a bit of nonsense if we are to accept another government form of accounting as being the unassailable truth. This is like looking up at Mount Fuji and knowing that gazillions of people before you have made it to the top. However if you don't feel like you will be able to breathe, or your knees won't take you that far, you are indeed likely to be skeptical of someone who tells you it is going to be duck soup. In this case, miso and duck soup. At any rate, you don't believe that this bozo has all the facts.
Well that is the case with the Paul Ryan Plan for Medicare. I don't care what anyone says, I want to have the facts for myself.
And thus the Google Alert that force feeds me article after article concerning this skinny numbskull's well meaning attempt to innovate. Only problem is that his ideas are really not that original.
For example, his savings for Medicare, which are going to come from vouchers, are the same as the savings projected by the Obama Administration for current policy changes. The Ryan plan will divert the savings into the national "defense fund" whereas Obama will use the monies in medical areas.
Haven't we had enough of Republican war mongering...excuse me, war policy? Somewhere in the Obama numbers is one TRILLION DOLLARS for future projected costs of the disabled coming home from these recent war exercises in Iraq and Afghanistan.
My heart bleeds for our young men and women who thought they were doing the right thing after 9/11 and found themselves less than they were before. They are coming home as heroes but jobs are not waiting for them and, if disabled, jobs may never be there in the same context as they were before.
We are coming up on Grandparent's Day. Every year for a decade, it has coincided with the 9/11 weekend. The Grandparents Grove at Mercer County Park is gorgeous this time of year and the Office on Aging maintains a bulletin board with a calendar and all sorts of news. Check it out!
Perhaps this year we can remember and celebrate family values and traditions while embracing changes in our society. Perhaps it is the desire to leave something of ourselves behind, but seniors are especially good at thinking of others. We must look ahead at those challenges to our economy and how we can now reach out and help our disabled soldiers move forward.
By the way, the Ryan vouchers have been estimated to cost the average senior between $6,000 and $12,000 extra, above present Medicare amounts, just to keep comparable coverage.
This column will include further information and investigation into the options put forth by changes in medical coverage during 2012.
Seniors Rock!
Ryan's plan was conceived because there is a fear that Medicare is running out of time to be able to balance its books.
That is a bit of nonsense if we are to accept another government form of accounting as being the unassailable truth. This is like looking up at Mount Fuji and knowing that gazillions of people before you have made it to the top. However if you don't feel like you will be able to breathe, or your knees won't take you that far, you are indeed likely to be skeptical of someone who tells you it is going to be duck soup. In this case, miso and duck soup. At any rate, you don't believe that this bozo has all the facts.
Well that is the case with the Paul Ryan Plan for Medicare. I don't care what anyone says, I want to have the facts for myself.
And thus the Google Alert that force feeds me article after article concerning this skinny numbskull's well meaning attempt to innovate. Only problem is that his ideas are really not that original.
For example, his savings for Medicare, which are going to come from vouchers, are the same as the savings projected by the Obama Administration for current policy changes. The Ryan plan will divert the savings into the national "defense fund" whereas Obama will use the monies in medical areas.
Haven't we had enough of Republican war mongering...excuse me, war policy? Somewhere in the Obama numbers is one TRILLION DOLLARS for future projected costs of the disabled coming home from these recent war exercises in Iraq and Afghanistan.
My heart bleeds for our young men and women who thought they were doing the right thing after 9/11 and found themselves less than they were before. They are coming home as heroes but jobs are not waiting for them and, if disabled, jobs may never be there in the same context as they were before.
We are coming up on Grandparent's Day. Every year for a decade, it has coincided with the 9/11 weekend. The Grandparents Grove at Mercer County Park is gorgeous this time of year and the Office on Aging maintains a bulletin board with a calendar and all sorts of news. Check it out!
Perhaps this year we can remember and celebrate family values and traditions while embracing changes in our society. Perhaps it is the desire to leave something of ourselves behind, but seniors are especially good at thinking of others. We must look ahead at those challenges to our economy and how we can now reach out and help our disabled soldiers move forward.
By the way, the Ryan vouchers have been estimated to cost the average senior between $6,000 and $12,000 extra, above present Medicare amounts, just to keep comparable coverage.
This column will include further information and investigation into the options put forth by changes in medical coverage during 2012.
Seniors Rock!
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