Not a bad deal!

Another perquisite of a big time CEO: receive dividends on stock you don’t own. The Corporate Library estimates that 90% of US publicly traded companies pay their CEOs dividends on restricted stock, that is stock that has not yet been vested in accounts of these CEOs, and, therefore, not owned by them. For example, the CEO of Altria received $1,500,000 in dividends last year on his restricted stock.

Another reason why the average CEO of a public company receives 160 times the pay of the average Joe working for that company.

I find this unbelievable and have to wonder how a director could feel he is exercising his responsibilities to the shareholders.

Prescient or lucky?

Two years ago today I wrote the following to the local newspaper.

Let me see if I have my facts straight.

1. Our government wants to attack Iraq in order to prevent a possible use of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons in the future.

But, Iraq does not now have nuclear weapons. North Korea, one of the axes of evil, does. Why don’t we attack them? It’s possible that Pakistan and India may go to war and use nuclear weapons. Shouldn’t we make a preemptive strike on them as the nuclear cloud may reach the United States? And, what about all those nuclear, biological and chemical weapons in the former Soviet Union? Might they not also be used against us some day in the future? Shouldn’t we eliminate that possibility now?

2. On September 11, 2001, we declared war on terrorism.

Will not a war with Iraq increase exponentially the number of potential recruits to Al Qaeda? We’ve been told that the war on terrorism is global. Will waging war against Iraq mainly on our own make it more or less likely that we will continue to receive cooperation from countries around the world, cooperation that is so vital in the battle against terrorism?

3. The estimates of waging this war approach $100 billion.
How much more will a protracted stay in Iraq after the war cost us? Yet, there has been no talk of the havoc this may wreak on our still fragile economy. Lyndon Johnson promised us guns and butter in his crusade in Vietnam. What did that do to our economy?

Add up the facts and only in George Orwell’s “1984” (where “War is Peace”) do they say this war makes sense.

I grew up in a day when Russia was supposed to attack us “very soon”. Our policy of containment eventually led to the elimination of this “very strong likelihood”. What is wrong with using such a policy against Iraq today?

An Embarassment to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts

I’m not sure where Governor Romney of my home state went to school, but it appears he did not pick up much in the way of history or the English language.

Last night in Utah he said, “America’s culture is also defined by the fact that we are a religious people.” Hmm. What about something called separation of church and state?

Then he said, “And we are also unique in that we recognize that the family is the fundamental building block of American society.” And all this time I thought that unique meant the only one of its kind. I guess my Italian cousins don’t think that the family is the fundamental building block of Italian society.

It’s amazing that this guy could even be mentioned as a possible candidate for president. He’s done diddley squat as governor. But, like Bush, he won because the Democratic candidate was weak and ran a poor campaign. When are the Democrats or some other party going to smarten up? Eventually mediocrity will sink us.

Change is in the air?

Perhaps something good may be happening in Egypt as Mubarak has asked that the constitution be amended to allow more than one candidate for president. There are a lot of details to work out and it may turn out to be just PR. But, today we can dream of a freer Egypt. Who knows but maybe tomorrow they'll start freeing some of their political prisoners?

The Almighty Euro

How much help do you give to someone who in the past has considered you an enemy and who could be your enemy one day in the future? That’s the fundamental question vis-à-vis supplying China with sophisticated weapons systems. The US says you don’t give a loaded gun to someone whose past is checkered and whose future intentions toward you are uncertain. Europe – mainly France and Germany – say you do so as his money is good and the future is far away.

I think the US is right in taking a conservative position. What say you?

A step in the right direction

I’ve spoken before about the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), the federal organization that is paying pensioners of some of our bankrupt companies, such as Bethlehem Steel and Polaroid. PBGC is now paying 34,000,000 workers. Last year it ran up a deficit of twenty-billion, largely due to the companies’ under-funding their pension plans. Now, the Administration and Congress are trying to do something about this problem. They’re trying to impose a more standard form of reporting pension funds so that the example of Bethlehem Steel (which told the IRS they had enough money to cover 84% of future benefits, told their investors it was 73% and told the PBGC it was 61%) will not be repeated. And, they’re also trying to increase the amount to be paid to the PBGC by all companies with a defined-benefit plan.

It’s a good move by our government.

Perchlorate

Heck, I can hardly even spell the word. Nonetheless, there is an interesting controversy underway that has been generated by an interim EPA decision that larger (twenty-four times larger) doses of perchlorate than previously recommended are now to be considered safe.

Most of the perchlorate in this country is produced to fuel rockets and other weapons. The problem with it is that it affects the thyroid. Too much of it will change your metabolism for the worse and will severely impact the development of your kids and grandkids. The greatest concentration of perchlorate has heretofore been discovered in our water supply, particularly that near military bases and the plants that create perchlorate. It has now been found in the water supply of 35 states. It has also been found in milk and lettuce. The FDA has started looking for it in other foods.

Last week the EPA announced a new ‘reference dose’ for this substance. A reference dose is the daily exposure level thought safe for those most sensitive to a particular substance. The new reference dose for adults is twenty-four parts per billion of perchlorate in drinking water. Previously the reference dose was one part per billion.

The controversy arises because the EPA is not following the guidance of the panel that issued the report that is supposedly the basis of the EPA’s decision. That panel is called the National Research Council; it is part of the National Academy of Sciences. The chairman of the panel said that in order to translate their recommended reference dose into a drinking water limit you have to adjust the dose for an individual’s body weight and water consumption – just as you adjust doses of medicine for a particular patient’s weight. If the EPA did make this adjustment, then the recommended dose would drop from twenty-four parts per billion to four.

Cynics say that the setting of the recommended dose was influenced by the Pentagon and the defense industry as it will dramatically lower their clean-up costs. Of course, these cynics also believe in global warming, another example of doomsday science.

Sigarchi and Saminejad are in jail

The BBC has the story as to why we should be concerned not only about Messrs. Sigarchi and Saminejad but also about other Iranian bloggers.

Spending our dollars

So, If Bush’s budget passes as presented, we citizens will spend almost $200,000,000 to promote sexual abstinence in FY2006. Ignoring for the moment the question of whether the money should be spent on this program, how does one compute the financial return on this investment? I suppose the White House can trot out various reasons for making the investment, but they are very likely clouded in questions of morality, which, as we well know, is an area where reasonable people can disagree. It’s harder to disagree with the numbers, provided one agrees with the algorithm.

An article in yesterday’s New York Times Magazine prompted me to make some calculations on the financial return we are foregoing as a result of changes made in the Pell Grant regulations in 1994.

You may recall the ‘90s as a decade where we ‘got tough on crime’. One of the overlooked aspects of this policy was the denial of Pell grants to prisoners, the sentiment being why do anything for these criminals other than punish them. It didn’t matter that this policy flies in the face of just about all studies into recidivism. They’ve concluded that a college education lowers the rate of recidivism; in a few cases, the rate has gone from 35% to 1%. More typically, the rate has declined from 30% to 8%.

In 1994 there were 350 prisons offering college level courses to their inmates. Today, there are 12. Let’s assume that at each prison there are five inmates enrolled in the college program, or a total of 1690 who no longer take courses. Using a non-college recidivism rate of 30%, we’ll have 507 returning to prison. That 507 drops to 135 if we use the 8% college recidivism rate. That’s a difference of 372.

If we assume an annual cost per inmate of $25,000 (which, I think, is low), the annual cost to house these 372 is $9,295,000. If they’re in jail for three years, we’re up to $27,885,000. The cost of the Pell grants is $2000, or $3,380,000 for the 1690 inmates in the program in 1994. Multiplying this cost by a three year stay yields $10,140,000. Or, a savings of $17,745,000. I suspect that this amount (seventeen million) pales when compared with the cost of the crimes committed by those non-college inmates who return to jail.

Where would you rather spend our money? On some nebulous advertising program or on reducing the crime in this country?

Another Item from The Strategic Studies Institute

CONFERENCE REPORT
WINNING THE WAR BY WINNING THE PEACE:
STRATEGY FOR CONFLICT AND POST-CONFLICT IN THE 21st CENTURY

Fifteenth Annual Strategy Conference
Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania
April 13-15, 2004
Lloyd J. Matthews
December 2004

FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The conference architecture did not provide for a canvass or survey of participants’ views on particular issues, so it is not feasible to arrive at consensus findings and recommendations. However, informal analysis of remarks by panelists and other speakers reveals such strong recurrent endorsements of some proposals that it will be
useful to highlight them. While no claim to unanimity can be made regarding these positions, it can be said that a number of participants expressed support for them in one guise or another, and that few if any voices were raised in opposition. The positions in behalf of which significant support was expressed are as follows.

• More troops are required for the war in Iraq. By a wide margin, this was the most frequently and emphatically voiced finding, often expressed in the soldier’s phrase, “We’ve got to get more boots on the ground.” In fact, many presenters spoke of the troop increase not as a need, but as a foregone conclusion: “There will be a troop increase.” And in stating this, they were not referring to Secretary Rumsfeld’s emergency increase of 20,000 soldiers announced several weeks ago.

• The date September 11, 2001, marked a historic juncture in America’s collective sense of security. Our presumption of invulnerability has been irretrievably shattered.

• We need greater international participation in the Iraqi nation-building effort, preferably under the aegis of the UN. Significantly, not a great deal was offered about how this step can now be achieved, although most participants appeared to favor greater multinational involvement.

• As soon as possible, we need to turn the reins of Iraqi government over to an indigenous entity that will be viewed as legitimate and that will have the muscle to maintain order. However, it seemed to be assumed that for an indefinite period, a Coalition troop presence would continue to be necessary in an overwatch posture, even after an Iraqi government takes formal control.

• A finding corollary to the foregoing was that the U.S. Government, under whichever political party, must summon the will to stay the course. To pull out prematurely, with Iraq still unstable, would be a catastrophe of unimaginable proportions.

• Even with some troop increases, the U.S. strategy in Iraq will continue to be a moderate, hold-the-line approach until the presidential election of November 2004. After that, decisive changes can be expected.

• The only credible institutions for mounting nation-building efforts are the Army and the Marine Corps, but even they are maladapted for such work. Faced with this dilemma, several conferees were inclined to explore the concept of constituting civil reconstruction corps (modeled after CORDS in the Vietnam War?) subordinate to the joint task force commander.

• We cannot replicate Western-style democracy and representative government in Muslim-majority states of the Middle East. This was an oft-stated theme, despite the Bush administration’s declared determination to proceed with democratization. The implication was that when we propose democracy in a state like Iraq, we are, in fact, speaking of qualified democracy, at least at the national level, with embedded structural bars to the emergence of radical Islamic rule.

• There can be no military solution in Iraq, only a political solution. This sentiment was expressed often but rarely explained. It seems to mean that the militarily victorious Coalition cannot successfully impose a reconstructed Iraqi government on the people by fiat and brute force. Rather, a successful reconstruction, i.e., one that is legitimate, viable, and appreciably democratic, can emerge only from the broadly inclusive participation and concurrence of a deliberative body representative of the country’s political, ethnic, and religious
constituencies.

• In the global war on terrorism, conclusive victory in the classic sense is probably unattainable. This sentiment was rarely expressed outright, but was implicit in the frequent use of such terms as “war of unlimited duration” and “war of uncertain outcome.” The sentiment was also present in the view of those who regarded the best attainable result as a gradual rapproachement between the haves and have nots of the world. Here, economic integration and equality, with a consequent dissipation of alienation and mutual hostility, offered the best chance of ultimately nudging the two camps to a peaceful modus vivendi.

More Threats

Yesterday our President gave us more of his ideas on bringing peace to the Middle East:

“Clearly, if I was the leader of Israel and I'd listened to some of the statements by the Iranian ayatollahs that regarded the security of my country, I'd be concerned about Iran having a nuclear weapon as well. And in that Israel is our ally, and in that we've made a very strong commitment to support Israel, we will support Israel if her security is threatened."

Strong support of Iran’s enemies and the object of hatred in the Middle East is one way to calm matters down, I suppose.

Fighting the Insurgents

“Insurgency in Iraq: A Historical Perspective” is another interesting paper from the Strategic Studies Institute, an arm of the Defense Department. It was written by Ian Beckett, who has written a couple of books on insurgencies and has taught at war colleges here and in England.

He identifies what he thinks are the essentials of successful counterinsurgency campaigns since 1945. They are:

• A recognition of the need for a political rather than a purely military response to insurgency (emphasis mine).
• A coordinated civil and military response.
• Coordination of intelligence.
• Separation of insurgents from the general population.
• Use the minimum necessary minimum force.
• Implement long-term reform to address the grievances that led to support for the insurgency in the first place.

How would you say we have done in Iraq? Looking at the list, I don’t think we’ve done very well.

Another point he makes is about the size of the security forces. In Northern Ireland it is 20 per 1000 inhabitants, in Iraq it’s 6.1 per 1000.

Do Rumsfeld and company read what their underlings are writing?

Yes, the Iraqis have voted. Yes, they are moving towards a form of democracy. But, will the insurgents be defeated? Are we winning the “hearts and minds” of the Iraqis? Was this war worth the costs to us and the Iraqis?

Some feel that Bush is riding high now because of the Iraqi and Afghanistan elections. He may be. But, like Bush’s economic policy(?), what will the costs be tomorrow?

Get thee behind me, Satan

More than fifty years ago I witnessed an exorcism in post-war Italy. A priest was exorcising the devil from a teenage girl lying on a cot in a cell in the basement of the Cathedral at Assisi. I thought then and think now that the girl must have been emotionally disturbed but, in the Italy of those days, emotional problems were in some circles considered to be the work of the devil.

Fast forward to 2003 Milwaukee. An autistic child, eight years old, was killed while the minister and members of the Faith Temple Church of the Apostolic Faith tried to exorcise the devil from the child.

And today comes news of a new class at a seminary affiliated with the Vatican: how to exorcise the devil.

The British Navy is not to be outdone as they have just authorized a sailor to be the first Satanist; he can now practice Satanic rituals while the ship is underway.

This is the 21^st century. Isn’t it?

Moving towards reality

Yesterday, Bush took the first real step towards reforming Social Security. In New Hampshire he acknowledged the possibility of raising the $90,000 cap. If he follows through on this, it will be a significant step towards resolving the problem. Let’s hope he doesn’t “forget” his statements.

Dream Worlds

Some people won’t accept reality. And the National Hockey League is a perfect example of the type of people I’m talking about. They have believed that their minor sport is really desired by the entire sports world of the US. They have failed to see that the sport’s appeal is limited, just as that of soccer has been limited in this country. As a result they invested money in undesirable markets and paid players more than they could afford.

Despite a later start in this country, soccer had a better chance of succeeding than did hockey. Most of the Gen-X sports fans played youth soccer; far fewer of them played hockey. However, the people who tried to make soccer another American staple realized the unlikelihood of succeeding and scaled things down to a financially viable level. The owners and players of the NHL have been unwilling to do so. Thus, they will not be playing in their 81^st year.

More 1984 Speak

American Jobs Creation Act – another misnomer in our 1984 world. Last Fall the Congress passed this law which, one would think, would have some specific clauses that attempted to fulfill the title of the act. Think again.

The law allows companies to bring to the US the profits they have sitting in foreign accounts and as a motivator to do so enables the companies to pay a tax of 5 ¼% on these profits instead of the more typical 35%. Since there is about $320 billion sitting in these foreign accounts, the savings for these companies amounts to almost $100 billion, or slightly more than was asked for to cover our adventures in Afghanistan and Iraq for the next several months.

To obtain these savings the companies have to approve a ‘domestic reinvestment plan’ spelling out what they intend to do with this gift. Among the more common uses: buy companies, brand building, pay down debt, pay legal liabilities. Do you see ‘job creation’ listed?

The Law and Justice

How the Catholic Church has changed since I was an altar boy! And I’m not talking about the sex scandals. NPR reported today that the Archbishop of St. Louis, Archbishop Burke, has issued an interdict to the board of St. Stanislaus parish, the leading Polish parish in the archdiocese. The next step after an interdict is excommunication; an interdict prevents one from receiving the sacraments.

From this distance it’s impossible to figure out where truth and justice lie. The web site of the archdiocese devotes a fair amount of space to making its case. Their basic argument seems to be that the church directors illegally changed the bylaws to remove the archbishop from having ultimate control. And, they’ve assembled a raft of documents, from the original agreements of 1891 to the archbishop’s letters of 2005. Frankly, they make a good case.

But then you read that the archdiocese of St. Louis, like so many others, is in the church closing mode at the same time that they are paying off the victims of the clergy sex scandal. While the archbishop says he will not sell the church property, he does want to be the only vote in controlling the church assets. The archdiocese refers to the denial by the Vatican of the church board’s petition in November as another indication of the stubbornness of the board; yet the newspapers report that the Vatican overrode the opposition of Polish bishops who supported the board.

There seems to be some legal merit on the archdiocese’s side, but the law and justice are not always the same. To me, this looks like another case of the people revolting against the centuries-old domination of the clergy. At the parish meeting the vote was 299 – 5 in favor of opposing the archdiocese.

Requiescat in Pace

You’ll read analyses of Arthur Miller’s career from many more knowledge than I. But, for someone who went to college in the ‘50s, Miller, along with Wilder and Williams, was clearly a very important playwright. I was fortunate in that most seasons at the Charles Playhouse in Boston included a Miller play. There were four that stood out in my mind and, more importantly, my soul: Death of a Salesman, The Crucible, All My Sons and View from the Bridge.

“Death of a Salesman” took on somewhat of a mystic cast when I started my own company and was out there on a wing and a prayer trying to make the sale. And, of course, the New York production (and perhaps the movie) featured Lee J. Cobb, the consummate actor for a Miller production. I never saw the Dustin Hoffman version but have the feeling that he could not have been better than Cobb.

“The Crucible” was the play for those who were opposed to the McCarthy era in America. The tribulations of John Proctor resonated with many who never had to face the difficulties of many intellectuals, including Miller, in 1950s America.

“All My Sons” and the “View from the Bridge” were lesser plays, but the View spoke to many who, as we aged in a new country, tried to recapture something they never had.

Will we remember Miller’s other plays? I think not.

Would Miller have become as famous had he not married Marilyn? Some would say no, but Miller was as much a star in his field as DiMaggio was in his. And, in the world of the playwright in the third quarter of the 20^th century Miller was as much a star as Joe DiMaggio in the world of baseball.

What planet is the federal government on?

When I worked, all the budgets we created took into account possible revenue as well as likely costs. As treasurer of a non-profit, my budget considers possible revenue as well as likely costs. As a member of the town finance committee, I always have in mind the town’s tax base as we review the town’s expense and capital budgets. That is, any sensible person considers both revenue and expense when making financial plans. Why doesn’t our federal government?

In both the profit and non-profit worlds I have no real control over the revenue that will come in; I can do things that increase the likelihood of our revenue goals being met, but I can’t guarantee it. The town has the power to increase revenue by raising taxes or fees and, as a taxpayer, I have to pay my taxes.

Why has there been so little mention of the revenue side of the federal financial position by the administration? They have so much more control over revenue than any non-governmental entity. This country does not exist solely to wage war. We are a country for the mutual benefit of all our citizens.

June 10, 1963

I came across these words of John Kennedy.

"What kind of peace do I mean? What kind of peace do we seek? Not a Pax Americana enforced on the world by American weapons of war. Not the peace of the grave or the security of the slave. I am talking about genuine peace, the kind of peace that makes life on earth worth living, the kind that enables men and nations to grow and to hope and to build a better life for their children - not merely peace for Americans but peace for all men and women - not merely peace in our time but peace for all time."

Not a word about the form of government of nations at peace nor a paean to America. Quite a contrast to what is said now.

Another New England Triumph

It was a lot closer game than most had expected. The Patriots won because they were better coached in what to do in the waning moments of close games. Philadelphia did not know how to use time. They took too long getting back to the huddle. They did not get out of bounds when they could have. They caught passes at the scrimmage line when there was no hope of any sort of return. They couldn’t operate without a huddle.

Had they made better use of their last 2+ minutes, there may have been a different result.

Starve the beast

Today’s NY Times claims to have some details on the federal budget to be proposed by Bush, whose goal is to keep the budget growth less than the rate of inflation. Translated that means cuts. Cuts that is for most departments but not the Pentagon; they get a 4.8% raise, not counting the costs of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Discretionary spending at Health and Human Services is cut by 2.4%. Yet, the programs promoting sexual abstinence will get a boost of 25% at the same time the Low Income Energy Assistance Program will be cut by 8.4% (How much did you pay for your last gallon of oil?).

I ask again. Wouldn’t Bush’s tax cuts have paid for these programs? Where are this country’s values?

Comparisons

I really don’t want to be seen as someone who knocks his country. But, at the same time, I believe in facing reality. Here are some comparisons between the US and other countries that concern me:

• Europe has 87 prisoners per 100,000 people, US has 685.
• According to the World Health Organization the US is the largest spender per capita on health care but ranks 37^th in quality of service.
• In GDP per hour the US ranks behind Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany and France.
• Per the OECD, one American adult in five is in poverty, one in fifteen in Italy.
• The EU gave away $36.5 billion in development aid in 2003, the US gave $12 billion.
• Each American lets 20 metric tons of carbon dioxide into the air each year. Each European exhausts nine.

Do these comparisons concern you?

1984 anyone?

It’s been a while since I read ‘1984’ by Orwell. But, the inability to escape the regime’s propaganda – except for a glitch that enabled Winston Smith to do so - stuck in my mind. I know that Orwell was quite prescient (e.g. the “war is peace” gobbledygook of the present administration), but I was surprised to learn that in North Korea every home has a speaker that spouts the regime’s ideas from morning to night.

And there are other ‘quirks’ in this member of the axis of evil:

• Foreigners riding the main railway can’t see the countryside as there are high walls preventing this.
• Entire families have been slaughtered because one member maligned the Leader.
• Kim Il Sung, who is dead, was named perpetual president.
• The few churches that were left open were staffed with actors whose job is to greet foreign visitors and talk about the regime’s tolerance.

Ritalin is not always a blessing

Very interesting article in today’s Wall Street Journal discussing the impact of Ritalin and similar drugs on creativity. The article asks whether the efforts to control kids with ADHD will prove to limit the creativity of these kids when they become adults. The article by Jeffrey Zaslow quotes from “The Gift of ADHD” by Lara Honos-Webb: “a person who focuses better taking Ritalin can be like a horse with blinders, plodding along. He’s moving forward, getting things done, but he’s less open to inspiration”.

William Pollack of Harvard Medical School feels that too many kids are given the drugs with only cursory evaluations. Certainly, in some cases, kids need to be tranquilized. But in many cases the tranquilization is done to make the kid conform or to ease the parent’s role. Some people were not born to be conformists; we need them in the world. Some people need to learn that being a parent is not an easy task; drugs are not always beneficial even if prescribed by a doctor.

I Solemnly Swear

In 2002 the president pledged to increase funding to combat world poverty to $5 billion a year starting in FY2006. FY2006 is around the corner and now the tune is $3 billion.

In the 2003 State of the Union address the president said he would increase AIDS funding by $10 billion over the following five years. To do so, he would have to appropriate $6.4 billion over the next two years as he has only asked for an additional $3.6 billion thus far.

In 2004 the president signed a bill authorizing 2000 new Border Patrol agents. It would be nice if he also authorized the funds to pay for these agents.

And still his tax cut should be made permanent. Make sense to you?

State of the Union: February 2005

I really can’t stand to watch State of the Union messages. The repeated rising and applause is ridiculous. But, supposedly, the speech outlines the president’s aims for the coming year(s) and, in theory, lets him give his opinion of where the country stands today. So, last night while President Bush was speaking, I went to the White House web site and read a summary of the speech. Yes, there were a lot of platitudes, some noble aspirations, maybe a good idea or two. But did it give a reasonably true picture of where the country is today. You be the judge.

The assertion: Over the last four years, Americans have come together to overcome great challenges.
My take: In my 67 years I have never seen the country so divided.

The assertion: We opened new markets abroad.
My take: Our trade deficit is the highest ever.

The assertion: We created 2.3 million jobs over the past four years.
My take: I guess it depends on how you define ‘creation’. The 2.3 million is very close to the number of jobs lost in the first three plus years of this administration. Only the Hoover administration lost more jobs.

The assertion: The budget reflects the country’s priorities of ensuring economic growth and fighting the War on Terror.
My take: I guess record trade deficits, record fiscal deficits, a weak dollar, rising outsourcing, the emergence of China and India as global economic powers equate to economic growth. Just like the colored alert system and taking off your shoes at the airport lead to a safer country.

The assertion: Tax relief must be made permanent.
My take: That way any social service programs can go down the tube.

The assertion: The President’s plan will reduce the rising cost of health care.
My take: Just as the Medicare prescription drug benefit will reduce the cost of health care for some individuals while making the entire Medicare system less tenable.

The assertion: His plan encourages conservation.
My take: This is the first time I’ve heard him mention the word.

The assertion: His plan encourages alternative sources of energy, including hydrogen-fuel, clean coal and ethanol.
My take: What about ‘fuels’ such as sun and wind?

The assertion: Taxpayers spend six billion hours every year on paperwork and other headaches.
My take: Divide the six billion by the population of 300,000,000 and you get twenty hours per person. Is that too much time away from the tube? How many people actually spend as many as twenty hours?

The assertion: Re Social Security, we must not jeopardize our economic strength by raising payroll taxes.
My take: We’ll just borrow the money and add to the record deficit that will eventually kill us if we don’t take steps now.

The assertion: We’ll improve state criminal justice systems.
My take: What happened to the separation of state governments from the federal government?

The assertion: Taking the fight to the enemy – with the essential help of our allies – has made America safer.
My take: Would there be more or fewer terrorists today if we had not attacked Iraq? Would the attack have had greater legitimacy if we had our allies, France and Germany, with us?

The assertion: In partnership with nations of the broader Middle East, the President is advancing political, social, and economic reforms in the region.
My take: Isn’t this butting in on the affairs of supposedly sovereign nations, some of whom are our allies?

What is net income?

When I was in the software business, Computer Associates (CA) had a nasty reputation of providing little or no service to the customers of those companies it had acquired. It made a lot of short term money doing this. Recent years – and lawsuits alleging financial chicanery - have demonstrated the foolishness of this approach, which was rather atypical.

But, it does keep its books like many large and small companies of today do. The headline in the January 26 edition of the Wall Street Journal reads CA net doubles, helped by acquisition and currency. The headline does suggest some doubt should be cast on the “doubling” of net. Reading further, one sees that the so-called “net” income did not include one-time events and amortization of costs related to past acquisitions. When did the definition of net income change? When I was younger the only question you had was whether it was net before or after income taxes.

Another Good Op-Ed from Wall Street Journal

Eliot Cohen, Professor at the Nitze School at Hopkins, asks us to look at our failures as well as our successes relative to Iraq and, most importantly, to acknowledge in clear language the fact that we have failed and we have succeeded. He asks us to “honor the 8,000 families of dead and wounded American soldiers by facing the unpleasant truths, because even if blunders characterize all wars, blunders they remain”.

A basic management principle: the first step is fixing a problem is to recognize it. It would be nice is our country adopted it.

China again!

China has now surpassed the US as Japan’s largest trading partner. Their 22.2 trillion yen in trade with Japan was about 10% larger than that of the US (20.48 trillion yen). Both imports and exports from China grew more than 15%, while Japan exported 2.3% more to us in 2004 than 2003 and imported 1% less from us. Step by step. Country by country.

The Hazards of Winter

Our 89 year old neighbor had quite an interesting 24 hours. It began with an oil truck being unable to make a delivery because her driveway had not been plowed. Amazingly, we were able to get the plow person to remove the snow so that the oil truck could supply her with oil the same day.

Later that day another neighbor went to shovel her walkway. He smelled oil and, sure enough, the tank was leaking. During his investigation in the cellar, he noticed a water leak. Putting his finger in the oil tank ala the Dutch boy and the dike, he was able to call my handyman wife. After checking things out, my wife called the Town and, lo and behold, a short while later the Fire Chief, the Health Agent and a Policeman came to our neighbor’s house. They were able to stem the oil leak and, mirabile dictu, convince a very stubborn old lady to spend the night elsewhere, namely my house.

In the meantime our shoveling neighbor stayed at his post until the oil company people came and pumped the oil tank into barrels. First thing this morning, he called a plumber and waited while the water leak was fixed. This is all done while he should have been tending to his paying customers, as, of course, his time was a gift to the old lady. Then, he took here home. However, he will be returning every few days to move the heater line from one barrel to the next until all the barrels are used and a new oil tank can be brought in.

It was good to see a variety of people working without compensation to help someone in real need.

Am I Callous?

Increasing the death benefit to our soldiers is long overdue. It’s one of those ideas about which all of our politicians will wax eloquent. Yet, it’s another case of not thinking through the costs of this really good idea.

The cost for the casualties to date in Iraq alone is about $350,000,000. A drop in the bucket surely. But it’s something that should be funded without taking funds away from another equally deserving idea. It’s just another reason not to make the Bush tax cuts permanent.