Another Memorable Quote

"The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty, and all forms of human life." - John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Memorable Quote

"Deficit spending is simply a scheme for the confiscation of wealth."
- Alan Greenspan

Become a NeoLib!

I recently discovered that a handful of people other than Jack Mercer actually stop in from time to time to read my humble blog. Although this is now the second post I've penned after claiming to go on hiatus, I assure you the break is real (for this blog anyway).

I wanted to direct all of my two or three readers to NeoLibs, a blog that is contributed to by more people and updated more frequently than this one. Pretty much all of the stuff I'll say from now on will be there.

Thanks for reading!

The Mind-Numbing Cost

Here's a quick thought for us all:

The most conservative estimate I have seen yet for the cost of the war in Iraq is $750 billion. Keep in mind two things when digesting this number: it is literally the most conservative I have seen (some analysts have suggested it will cost us $2 trillion!) and it does NOT take into account human lives lost - it is simply a monetary measure.

Now think about the rising cost of a college education. I think it's safe to say the more people in our country that attend college the better, and everyone loves a scholarship. If the government paid 100% tuition AND room & board for a TOP TIER college such as, say, HARVARD, it would cost roughly $30,000 per year per student.

That means that we could have spent this money on providing 6,250,000 kids with FULL FOUR YEAR SCHOLARSHIPS TO HARVARD (or any other $30k university). That's six and a quarter MILLION all inclusive scholarships.

Even if you're a strong proponent of this war, you have to admit its outcome is questionable. That's the nicest thing I can say about it, personally. Our government "of the people" could have sent the entire states of Mississippi and Louisiana to Harvard for free. Instead we have Iraq.

Break Time

Most of my posts on this humble blog have been sort of large scope, philosophical themed ones. They have addressed my general feelings toward general political subjects. It's been helpful to have some feedback and kick around ideas about ideals.

Lately, however, I have been feeling a need to get more "down and dirty" - to talk about specifics and make suggestions for tangible results. Results, after all, are what it's all about.

Sticking to specifics and tangibles requires thoughtful research and serious time spent on analysis. These things, unfortunately, don't usually make for entertaining blogging. Never the less, this is the direction I would like to concentrate my efforts. I would like to transition from "talking" to "doing", but I need to first know what it is I really want to accomplish.

I am saying basically that I am going to stop updating this blog. Probably not forever, but most likely for quite some time. I am going to develop specific plans for improving specific areas that I feel need improvement in our world. When I have enough ideas to run past you, I'll return and post them for scrutiny and debate.

Until then, thank you for reading.

Peace

Wal Mart, The Anti Christ?

There's been a lot of talk about retail behemoth Wal Mart lately. Honestly, I'm not sure what to think about the whole thing. I would like to ask philosophical question about it...

In the United States if an employer is over a certain size it must offer its full time employees certain benefits. Wal Mart is notorious for using two part time workers in situations where one full timer could get the job done nicely (this is but a small window into Wal Mart's controversies, and it is the only one I'll focus on for now). The difference, of course, is that it is cheaper to pay two workers $6.50 an hour @ 20 hours a week each ($6.50 * 20 * 2 = $260)than it is to pay one full time worker and have to give him/her benefits ($6.50 * 40 = $260 + cost of benefits). Wal Mart gets A LOT of "bang for their buck" because the "part timers" usually don't work only 20 hours, they work 39 or 24 or whatever the maximum the state allows to still be called part time is.

Now this is not illegal and I'm not necessarily saying it should be, but it does pose an interesting quandary. As we all know, $6.50 an hour isn't enough to live in general, and because the employee only works 39 hours they are without health insurance. Wal Mart actually suggests to its employees that they get on welfare. So these costs that Wal Mart has skirted by one hour per employee are now handed directly to the taxpayer. This is one definition of "corporate welfare". The public picks up the slack for a private enterprise.

What is the alternative? Do we use government's power to force Wal Mart to down size? If there are 30,000 part time employees willing to do full time work, then perhaps the company can sustain 15,000 full time employees with benefits?

I know when I see a giant corporation take advantage of the system like that it angers me, but what can be done? Seriously. I welcome all suggestions.

The Score Card

So the Patriots have made it into the post season again. After a slow start they have rebounded to win 6 of their last 8 games. They struggled through adversity that would have destroyed most other teams and emerged at the top of their division (albeit a weak one), earning home field advantage for the first round. It is this ability to stay focused and stay true to their nature as a pro football team that makes the Patriots such an inspiration. They are a perfect unit without ego that embodies the concept of "team". Their goal is ALWAYS the same, regardless of what week it is: win the next game. It could be week 1 or the super bowl, they play with the same level of heart and passion every time. They are champions regardless of the season's outcome.

The goals of a professional sports team are obviously more cut and dried than those of a nation. While the Patriots season will either end in a playoff defeat or a super bowl victory (victory!), our country's goal will never be attained. First off, it's hard to judge how we're doing as a country. What metrics do we use? Are we more wealthy than we were 100 years ago? Check. Is our infrastructure humming, providing distance-spanning networks for businesses and consumers? Check. Is their less poverty at large? Check. Are our citizens healthier? Check. Are our citizens better informed? Check...

So, as a society, we have improved in a number of ways. These improvements are proof that we've done some things right but, as I said, our ultimate goal will never be attained. There is no super bowl to win. Our country, like ourselves, requires constant improvement. If we set our sites on the impossible task of perfection but take pride in each victory along the way, if we strive for excellence in all things, we will be assured, despite any adversity, that we are headed down the right path.

Of course when it comes to the every day grind we have to speak in specifics. We have to scrutinize each and every crossroad and make sure the direction we proceed is consistent with our pursuit of excellence. Where have we gone lately, United States of America? Have we kept our lofty ambitions in mind? Unfortunately, there are several areas where we have failed; where our leadership has failed in its duty to represent us. Did we strive for peace instead of war? No. Did we focus on fiscal solvency instead of a mortgage state? No. Did we reduce the undemocratic powers of government, as opposed to moving toward fascism? No. Did we assure our children that our Earth will be healthier tomorrow than it is today? No. Are we safer?? Although debatable, most signs and most polls point to no.

So let's compare the two men at the helm of our Patriots and our country. Belichick has not produced a perfect record. No one expects him to, but his team is clearly headed down the right path. Bush has been far from perfect, but are we headed in the right direction? Have we been striving for excellence at every opportunity? I'm sure my opinion is evident. What is yours, fellow American? Can we be proud of how we handled the last six years or, if we could do it over again, would we do more things differently than we would do the same? That is the true test of leadership.

Checking In...

Just because it's a few days old now I wanted to make sure people read this article over at NeoLibs. It's a sort of long piece by our friend Jack with a few comments including a sort of long one by me.

Chime in if you'd like.

Hello Goodbye

We've had many discussions on this site, at NeoLibs, and at News Snippets about our wondrous president. Here's an observation:

He's floundering. Sunday's break into Family Guy was the final straw for me. He needn't interrupt my programs with his lame excuses and faint reassurances that everything will be fine in Iraq and with this doomed war on terror. As I've said before, the best case scenario is a good one: stability and democracy in Iraq. I hope beyond hope that we get there - I'm with the president on that one. It speaks volumes, however, that despite the fact he can't run for re-election he is trying this hard to get public buy in (three years later!). In fact, we could sensibly conclude that he's probably trying to reestablish credibility within his own party. As we've discussed in the past, Republicans are no longer the party of conservatives. They are, in general, just as corrupt and misguided as anyone and both sides of the fence are seeing it now. It's almost as if the most divisive president in recent history is ironically creating solidarity through his ineptitude. Kudos to you, Mr. Bush, for getting Republicans and Democrats, liberals and conservatives to agree on something: you're bad for the country. Now please resign Nixon style so we can get on with our lives.

The Day After Yesterday

Let's have this discussion over at NeoLibs, shall we?