July 31,2016 Thoughts

We were told by the US Supreme Court that corporations are akin to people and have to be afforded the same rights as people; the Citizens United case.  I recently read in The Nation (March 7, 2016)-ok I am behind on my readings-that corporations can deduct on their income taxes "customized company-sponsored pension plans" paid to their CEO's.  Being done by half of the 383 Fortune 500 companies that provided info.  The plans cover the CEO's for the "rest of their lives", while the same companies  have done away with "guaranteed monthly compensation" for the average employee.

Now if corporations are people, then people must also be corporations and allowed the same rights.  Thus I will pay my wife-as the CEO of our family-a monthly pension check and then deduct that cost from my income taxes.  Seems only fair. 

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I am one to be more concerned about domestic policy, but foreign policy developments are setting us up for some major disaster. 

First, we have been building up or modernizing our military forces and arsenals at a considerable rate.  The new F-35 plane will cost us billions, the Navy wants a new class of submarines with nuclear capability, the Air Force says we need to replace the B-52 long range bomber and build another ICBM missile to replace the Minuteman III.  

Second, we have allowed NATO (and the US) to take on the defense of former Soviet republics in the Baltic region.  We now have Russia completely surrounded by our military might.

Third, we are about to elect as President (Hillary Clinton) who is clearly a "hawk" on foreign policy, meaning she is want to flaunt our military power in the name of national interest.

(I hate to note this here, but Donald Trump says we should not pledge ourselves to the defense of countries that do not pay their share of the expenses of NATO; specially Baltic nations.)

Fourth, it should also be remembered that when nations are in the midst of domestic turmoil and bordering on civil war-racial or economic-their develops and atmosphere that is ripe for governments to use warfare to take their citizens minds off their differences and unite to defend the homeland.  A case could be made that the domestic issues in this country are at that point.

My musings for today.

I am  trying to stay off Facebook to give my friends a rest from hearing my excellent political commentary.  I don't want them to have to say "I wish I thought of that".  Anyway here are come comments for today.

1.  Clinton delegates: she still does not have enough earned delegates to win the nomination outright. If the super delegates don't stick with her, the convention would be wide open.  Some democracy we preach.  After a full season of primaries and caucus's the voice of the people is still going to take a back seat to the political establishment.  And we want to sell out system around the world?  A system where those who vote stick their finger in an ink well to indicate they voted might be better than the millions we spend to get a result that is highly suspect.

2.  Donald Trump is taking aim at NATO and questioning why we should be spending our money to defend places that don't spend their own.  It is dangerous to tell former republics of the Soviet Union we will come to their defense if Russia attacks.  How would we respond if Hawaii and Alaska decide to go it alone and Russia makes a defense treaty with them.  Going "ape shit" would be my guess. Trump is going to get a lot of people nodding their heads in agreement with his anti NATO spending plan.  I have been thinking for a long time that the US  should just pull its forces back from most of the areas in the world we have them and tend to business in this country.  Isolationism I know some will say, but we are spending billions on places in the world where the money would do more good here at home.  George McGovern use to say in 1972 "Come Home America".

3.  New Jersey legislature has come up a plan to fund the highway construction program in the state by raising a sales tax (gas tax) every gallon purchased and compromising with anti tax conservatives by ending the estate tax and giving back other tax breaks to select groups, like seniors and veterans.  So conservatives that want to re-distribute wealth.  Well this is exactly what this plan is.  It shifts the burden of paying for transportation needs from the very wealthy to the middle class and poor.

Trump and Authoritarianism

Donald Trump's appeal to many may be to those who crave an authoritarian approach to life.  It may not be his racism after all, or his put down of women in his appeal to white men.  It could very well be that many of us today want an authority figure, someone who is a "law and order" man.  Someone who will make decision for us and take charge.  As Erich Fromm once penned, people want an "escape from freedom" for it is much easier to follow than to decide for oneself.  Interesting concept for a party that keeps stressing individual freedom (at least for the buying of weapons).

Trump and Muslims

Donald Trump says he would ban all Muslims from entering the US "until we can figure out what is going on".  Some of his supporters may want to deport Muslims or in other ways impinge on their right to practice their religion.  For someone who believes that half of the Second Amendment to the US Constitution allows just about anybody to buy unlimited quantities of firearms thus portraying himself as a defender of the Constitution, I wonder how he rationalizes the First Amendment which states "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;"  Maybe he has just forgotten to read that part.

Ex-Patriotion

With all the talk of late about people choosing to leave the country if one or another presidential candidate wins in November, I got thinking about what it would take for someone to make that choice.  

Apart from those who leave to escape the law or hide assets in Aruba, what would cause a person to become an ex-pat? (if anything)  I wonder if any non-Jewish Germans left their country in the late 1930's when it became obvious that Hitler was taking the country to war for reasons of conquest or opposition to his policy toward the country's Jewish population?  

In this county would it be the arresting of all people of the Muslim faith (as suggested by one candidate)?  Would it be the policy of torturing POW's or killing of the families of suspected terrorists?  Would it be a sense that the country is following an immoral domestic program, or the suppression of the Constitution to allow for dictatorial powers by an executive?

In the 1960's and 70's countless young men left due to the conduct of a war, but many did so to escape the military draft, even thou some left for reason of moral opposition to an unjust war.

During the era of Jim Crow and the early civil rights campaign, people did not leave to oppose our racial relations issues.  People in the south did not leave over the wide-spread lynching of black Americans.  So what would it take for some people to move to Canada or Ireland?
Update Aug 29, 2016.  The number of Americans living abroad (nonmilitary US citizens) estimate to be 8.7 million.  In 1999 there were 4 million.  Accuracy may be in doubt.

News items of interest to myself that I once would have posted to Face Book I will now post here.  July 2016.

July 2016:  Hillary Clinton's E-mail investigation is in the news (and has been for quite a long time) again because the Congressional investigation has ended at a cost of $ 7 million.  I would like to know "how many jobs did that congressional effort create?"

Trump's comments about Mexicans and Muslims (negative always) has created a attitude in this country that bigotry is fashionable again.  People in the public eye can create a atmosphere that makes others follow along.  JFK created a atmosphere of public service and many young people went into teaching or the Peace Corps; a positive impact I would note.  Jimmy Carter made conservation  fashionable and people walked more and drove slower and wore sweaters instead of turning up the heat and using more electricity.  On the other hand, Ronald Reagan made it fashionable for us to hate the government and there are now militia groups arming themselves so they can take down the government if they so desire.  Now Trump, with his tirades against Muslims and Mexicans and immigrants has increased the occurrence of racial and group hatred.  And instead of blaming Trump for the impact of his actions, we blame Obama for them.

At the end of Bill Clinton's term of office the budget had a pretty nice surplus.  Al Gore and democrats wanted to set that money aside to fund Social Security well into the future.  Put the money in a "lock box" Gore said.  George Bush and the republicans wanted to return that money to individual tax payers.  Because Bush won a corrupt election the surplus was returned to individuals, the vast majority going to the wealthy like himself and Dick Cheney.  Now with the Social Security fund is running low the republicans want to cut the benefits to Social Security.  How anybody today depending on SS to provide basic needs and voting for republicans has to boggle the mind.