Happy New Year

I'm still around.
Have not been able to blog much lately.
Very busy at work. Late nights and some Saturdays and Sundays, too.
It will be 2012 in a few hours..I don't know why that causes a slight increase in the level of anxiety and some sense of melancholia.
After all, it's just another number that happens to be next in line while our stream of consciousness continues unabated.
We decided not to go ballroom dancing, nightclubbing or such this newyear's eve. Just a quiet evening inside and a visit with local friends tomorrow for dinner.
Remy, our three year old Papipoo is lying next to my computer and keeps an eye out for what may happen next. He's always ready to do something, anything.
Just ordered another computer from Dell... a Vostro with the latest MS OS and Intel 7 chip.. to replace the one I am using since it is 7 years old and runs XP (not that there is anything wrong with XP). With the tremendous increase in data being transmitted due to video streaming and the like, it is important to keep up to date with the latest technical improvements.
I'm sticking with Dell since the last three computers gave a good accounting of themselves.
Soon, I'll start to process tax returns for the many friends/clients that keep calling me each year. I guess they like the service I provide.
I hope the Iowa caucuses will hopefully launch Mitt Romney as the strongest contender to replace Obama. Don't get me wrong, I like some of Obama's foreign policies but not his domestic policies. His big government mind-set has not produced the hope and change promised. 45% of young people between the ages of 18 and 29 are unemployed. That's very troubling. What are almost half of this age group of young people going to do with their time?
Anyway, we need to get this country back into producing jobs. With stats at an official 8.6% unemployed and supposedly up to 17% not or under-employed.. we need to change course on our domestic economic agenda.
OK, I'm stepping off my soap box for now.
My wish is for all to find peace and renewal of a spirituality that makes us comfortable in our daily lives. Here's hoping for a better year in 1012.

Bruins Win It!

Congratulations to the Boston Bruins in capturing Lord Stanley's cup. They defeated the Vancouver Canucks in a hard fought seven game series. It's good to have the cup back in Boston after a stretch of 39 long years.
Can one be blamed for losing interest in hockey because of such a long lapse without a competitive team?
Especially when one clearly remembers the early 70's when Orr, Esposito, Cheevers, Sanderson, MacKenzie, Hodge, Cashman and Bucyk (amongst others) dazzled the Boston fans at the old Gardens with excitement galore.
I miss seeing Bucyk's hip checks and watching "swoop" Carlton's long reaching poke checks to clear the puck from an opponent's control. How about Sanderson's penalty killing? WOW, those were the days. I almost forgot how gut-wrenching and heart-stopping these playoff games can be for a loyal fan. I got just a flash of it again during the last seven games.

Unions? Are they outdated?

Even though I have never been a union member, I would like to sincerely thank those union members of the past for making my time in the workforce a lot easier than it was way back when. They risked and sacrificed a lot to bring about the 40 hour work week, reasonable wages, work safety, etc. I don't know if I could have lasted in those old workplace environments of the pre-union days.
This process of collective labor representation had its roots in England way back in 1807. For over 200 years, brave men and women have defied the very people who held their means of making a living in their hands. The working conditions these unions fought for these last two centuries have resulted in solid labor laws which are now government regulated and strictly enforced.
So why still have unions?
Many critics will state that today's unions keep wages artificially high. These high wages, while highly desirable to their beneficiaries, tend to ultimately place the workers in a position of losing their jobs to outsourced labor in countries with cheaper standards of living. This short-lived union benefit has a foreseeable end game which is the 800 pound gorilla no one seems to want to address. In this modern world economy this trend has accelerated with each global free trade treaty that's signed.
While private unions still serve their constituents by keeping wages and benefits at a "competitive" level with the private sector, public unions are an altogether different story. They should be done away with as soon as possible. Even the greatly revered liberal Democratic president, FDR, stated that public unions should not be allowed to exist. Even back in the 1940's, he understood the conflict of interest public unions represent.
Collective bargaining between public unions and public officials is a system fraught with the temptation to undermine the political process. The injured party is the tax-payer. In typical negotiations, one side agrees to wage and benefit increases and the other side agrees to supply the financial backing for the other side's reelection. In effect, the negotiators occupy BOTH sides of the negotiating table with the taxpayer picking up the ever-increasing tab. I strongly suspect that this cycle of give and give instead of give and take, without thought of future sustainability, has placed the finances of city, state and country in dire jeopardy.
As recent events have shown, the public union membership up in Minnesota (and other places) need to realize that a large portion of private and non-public sector workers have suffered loss of jobs, pay freezes and the burden of paying a much larger shares for benefits these last three years. The ongoing public union protests are like a slap in the face of every non-public union and private sector employee since what is being protested is the duly elected people's representative's attempt to curtail the continuation of a cycle of raising taxes to satisfy the ever increasing "HIGHER STANDARD OF LIVING" that public sector union employees are enjoying and are fighting to keep. Most non-public and private sector workers had no choice but to adjust to the present economic slump but these protesters seem to be refusing to even budge in the face of obvious state and city financial budget collapse.
No matter how I try, I just cannot find any reason to sympathize with their protest movement. Whenever self-interest trumps the larger common good, it makes for bad feelings and a kind of "us/them" mindset of partisanship.
The good ride is over, it's time to face reality.

Happy MMXI

I am still around and hope to blog again on a regular basis soon. Right now I'm moving way too fast to transfer thought into words.
To all my blogging friends, I wish a healthy, joyous and prosperous new year.

Political Gridlock

Now that the Republicans have taken control of the House of Representatives and brought a larger representation to the Senate, there is one thing we can be certain of for the next two years.
Gridlock!
The combination of Obama's leftist idealism and the hyper-partisan ism of the Democrats and Republicans dooms our political system to grind down to a halt.
As I search my mind, I just cannot conceive of any of these current political actors "reaching out" or "compromising' in any true sense of the meaning of those terms.
Yes, it's true that they are telling us that they will "come to the center" to get needed legislation passed but who believes their words anymore? The public is jaded and has such a low opinion of the political class in total that their words now carry the same weight as used-car salesmen. My apologies to used-car salesmen.
Hope springs eternal, however, and I'm going to be looking for those brave few exceptions in the political arena to "just do their job" and rediscover the true meaning of compromise. Compromise, when one thinks about it, is really the only tool at their disposal to accomplish their sworn official duties.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Health Care

It looks like the Democrats are in trouble this November.
Losing the House majority looks definite.
The Senate may also be in jeopardy according to some political pundits who claim to know these things.
With renewed strength on their side of the aisle, the Republicans will most likely try to starve (financially) the new Obamacare (aka National Health Care Reform) just passed and just getting under way.
I would like to remind all those hopeful Republicans that while this new health plan may have been "forced" on us by the current administration at a very bad time, economically speaking, it nevertheless has some solid reforms that should stay.
Sure, the dependent coverage extension to age 26 is just plain silly and should be done away with. This is just a government social engineering ploy and all it really accomplishes is to keep young adults infantile and dependent on their parents for another few years. It's ridiculous.
Some reforms, however, should stay.
Among them, abolishing lifetime and annual limits of coverage, pre-existing conditions and keeping many of the preventive care provisions. There are a few others.
Our health insurance system before these reforms was unfair and the long term prognosis will only lead to more and more class hatred and social upheaval due to health services availability for only the well-healed, so to speak.
Don't throw the baby out with the bath water.
There are many worthy and needed reforms in this package. I sense that with some tweaking, a general consensus may be achieved which will strengthen our nation's health system and make it more equitable to a larger sector of the public.
To dump the whole package would anger most of us voters immensely.
I firmly believe that anger would then be heard loudly in the 2012 elections.

The "Special Interest" Curse.

My country, the USA, is still the most desired place in the world to live, prosper and pursue happiness despite all the bad news seen daily in the media. Our political system is currently under heavy stress, however, and will need every freedom-loving citizen to come to its aid.
We must DEMAND no less than "full disclosure" from all our representatives in order to relieve this stress.
The stress of which I am talking about can be described simply as political pandering by both sides of the aisle to the ever inreasing special interest groups.
Our system of governance is, and has been, under assault from groups which seek special favors and lobby heavily with money and the promise of votes. I am not talking so much about the lobbying efforts by industry and union representatives who may seek general policy direction for their constituents. These efforts usually seek to benefit and improve the entire nation's social and economic picture.
I am talking about groups who are seeking favors aka "mandates" which will directly result in transfers of wealth utilizing our taxing system. Once implemented, these policies most often result in taking money away from not just the very wealthy but working citizens and giving it to groups who claim victim hood in one way or another.

Please do not get me wrong.
Some are legitimate and should be given our full attention and compassion.

Here's the problem.. not everyone is a victim and deserving of "special treatment".
The victim groups have steadily multiplied into an industry of its own. Colleges and universities have created study courses which have lent legitimacy to many groups who were considered "fringe" at best just a few years ago. These groups have evolved into movements claiming to be historically oppressed and thus owed special treatment as victims. Demanding economic and social justice they have become a major factor in the corrupting influence in our present political system.
Here's how it works.
Career politicians need money in order to defeat their opponents. The special interest forces invest vast sums to the candidate for favorable policy decisions. Once elected, political favors and election funds become an accepted quid pro quo understanding.
This political game, winked at as just an oddity for so many years has become so pervasive as to become a corruption serious enough to become a danger to the stability of the entire system. The majority of the populace is starting to recognize this and is becoming agitated.
Now I know what some might say about my little rant and thus miss the point of this piece completely.
Some might be strongly tempted to say; which groups are you talking about?
I am not equipped to make such judgements and even if I made an attempt this would lead us completely off point.
The point is not about the justification of which group to favor or dismiss but the actual long term effect that this relationship between politicians and special interest representatives has on our political system. It has become clear even to the average citizen that our political system has evolved to become just a wealth transfer scheme benefiting those who have found a way to "game" our system. As hard-working taxpayers they feel more and more "ripped off" and are rapidly loosing any respect for Congress and the President not to mention local government.
The Obama team's election promise was "full disclosure". Where is it?
All lobbying money to elected officials should be disclosed no matter its source or value.
The problem is that back room deals and favors for votes are dispensed right in front of our eyes and we are powerless to stop it.
Am I the only one so frustrated?