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Sunday, December 25, 2011

Health Risks That Large Factory Farming Leaves Behind - Oprah.com

Elaine had me read this article in November 2011 Oprah magazine about one lady, Lynn Henning, efforts to stop environmental damage in Lenawee County Michigan from the huge Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs).  

Health Risks That Large Factory Farming Leaves Behind - Oprah.com:    The article describes a horrible situation!  Lynn Henning is clearly a hero!  The situation reminds me of Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle"

The article was well written (By Kathy Dobie), however I would fault it for not also including the view from industry and view from the State Regulators.  The industry apparently calls Lynn Henning "a terrorist" -- It would be interesting to hear why they think that.  The CAFO activities described by Lynn Henning and the author sure make the CAFOs look an awful lot like terrorists!  Driving people off the road, Threatening people, Squeezing small farmers off their land by "polluting" them out of business, and illegal dumping of liquid and solid waste.  It would have also been interesting to hear from the County and State environmental health departments.  Do they have injunctions filed?  Do they need new laws to enforce the existing laws?

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Timber dollars for America's counties - latimes.com

Here's another example of how the Federal Government is used to subsidize local taxes. Once the funds start flowing, it is hard to turn it off!

Timber dollars for America's counties - latimes.com:

'via Blog this'

It's time to write off the charitable tax deduction - latimes.com

This Sunday LA Times opinion by Jack Shakely proposes to get rid of the charity tax deduction. He describes doing it as one of the "third rails" of politics.

It's time to write off the charitable tax deduction - latimes.com:

'via Blog this'

I agree with him! The deduction is often accompanied by fraud, and it certainly benefits the wealthy more than the average working person. I can see how it will be difficult to completely eliminate it. However I think the deduction should be "capped" and then gradually phased out. That should greatly simplify our overall tax laws as well.

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Del Mar, NCTD support horn project that could reduce train noise

It sounds like Del Mar is getting a subsidy from NCTD, while Oceanside get's nothing.

Del Mar, NCTD support horn project that could reduce train noise:

'via Blog this'

Flotsam from Japanese tsunami reaches West Coast

Japan Tsunami Flotsam could become a MAJOR problem for the US and cost millions of dollars to clean up. I suspect that there will also be some collisions between debris, and boats, fishing nets etc. I think the US Federal Government needs to help by providing a plan and sharing in the cost of the cleanup.


Flotsam from Japanese tsunami reaches West Coast:

'via Blog this'

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

2011 Quality of Living survey

The quality of living in the United States continues to fall, when measured by most objective standards. Much of Europe, Canada, and Australia/New Zealand are ahead of the highest-ranked city in the US: Honolulu. Our country appears to continue to refuse to make the difficult decisions to plan for the long term, and avoid the "live for today" decisions necessary to improve the overall quality of life.

2011 Quality of Living survey:

'via Blog this'

Sunday, November 20, 2011

FSAs encourage rather than reduce unnecessary healthcare spending - latimes.com

Michael Hilzik wrote an excellent editorial in today's (Nov 20, 2011) Sunday LA Times Business Section. He pointed out how stupid our flexible savings accounts are for medical benefits. In general, they are a good idea, however the devil's in the details. Congress and the IRS distorted the law such that

FSAs encourage rather than reduce unnecessary healthcare spending - latimes.com:

'via Blog this'

The conservative case for healthcare reform's individual mandate - latimes.com

I've never understood why Republicans and Conservatives are against the healthcare reform law. It seems natural, and simply requires everyone to act responsibly and pay for some sort of health insurance. I suspect that the only reason they are against it is "Not Invented Here" syndrome --they don't want Obama to take credit for it. This editorial seems to summarize very well what I think.

The conservative case for healthcare reform's individual mandate - latimes.com:

'via Blog this'

Monday, November 14, 2011

Monday, November 7, 2011

First Report: Is Israel Over? - The Daily Beast

It appears that others are recognizing that Israel's foreign policy is potentially helping Israel to self destruct. Israel had many opportunities to resolve the conflicts in the Middle East, but opted to keep the conflict going, in order to continue the unbelievable amount of United States foreign aid.

First Report: Is Israel Over? - The Daily Beast:

'via Blog this'

Friday, November 4, 2011

More Visitors Leave U.S. Off Travel Itinerary - WSJ.com

The US is losing a lot of tourist business due to the lengthy waits to get visas. See this WSJ article

More Visitors Leave U.S. Off Travel Itinerary - WSJ.com:

Our whole process of arrival at airports is also somewhat demeaning to both residents and visitors, which I think also discourages visitors.

Yeah we need jobs in the US. Jobs in the hospitality industry are good ones because they hire the lower skilled citizens and give them a way to work up to better paying positions. They also bring in foreign currency to help our balance of payments.
However our paranoia over immigration and terrorists have (rightly so) made it difficult for people to come to the US.
China now holds much of our money and has an immense population--if even a small percentage of them visited the US we'd be doing great!

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Military Update: TRICARE Fees, Retiree COLA

It looks like Congress is going to further erode the military retiree medical benefit:

Military Update: TRICARE Fees, Retiree COLA:

Plan for high-speed rail more realistic and pricey

Plan for high-speed rail more realistic and pricey:

I agree, we have to prioritize what we spend on. I do have mixed emotions on high speed rail. I'm astounded at the cost projections for this project. However I'm also astounded at the costs of our new aerospace systems.
  • $70B for 173 F-22s --which may or may not see actual air-to-air combat against peers.
  • $1 Trillion to own and operate the fleet of F35s (see this WSJ article).
  • I know you are aware of the breathtaking costs of our new space systems.
Much of the cost of our high speed rail is in buying and preparing rights-of-way. Once the Government owns the rights-of-way, it becomes an asset to the taxpayer. New aircraft depreciate, and only resemble an asset if they help us win a war. The cost and value of the rail right-of-way land is only going to go up. If we are ever going to build a high speed rail, it seems that it would be better to buy that land now, rather than later, when there is even more development to relocate. When the Washington beltway was built it cost $1 Million/mile. Now sound walls on one side of a freeway cost more than $1 Million/mile. When the Century Freeway in LA was built the 17 miles cost $2.3 Billion ($135 M/mile). An expansion of 30 miles of I-5 here in San Diego is proposed to cost only $4.5 Billion ($150 M/mile). In comparison, the high speed rail is roughly an 800 Mile project at $100B --$125 Million/mile. It's in the "ballpark."
Yes, the high speed rail may not have a good return on investment (ROI) in comparison with other business endeavors. However airports and freeways don't necessarily have good ROIs either, if based only on revenue earned by landing fees and freeway tolls. There are other ways of evaluating ROI for transportation projects: See this.
I'm in favor of a "slow and steady" approach to improving our transportation infrastructure. We need a vision of where we're going, and a plan to get there. However we don't need to rush into it. We can spread this project over 30 to 50 years, if necessary - no time pressure.

The public voted for high speed rail. Diane Harkey, the State Representative of our area is continually pushing to kill it and other similar ones. I know that if her right-wingers were in power, the first thing they'd do is push through this sort of project, and propose large bond issuance.

Monday, October 31, 2011

Bank of America Fee for Debit Card -- wrong fee!

I understand why BofA needs to come up with a new revenue source to replace the ones "legislated away" by Congress.  However, I think "taxing" the Debit card isn't the right service to tax.  It seems to me that they should charge for the over-the-counter services provided by their tellers.  The few times I actually go to a bank it always seems that the people in line ahead of me are doing activities that could be done better an an ATM --and a lot less costly to the bank.  The tellers represent a large labor expense.  The "brick and mortar" bank buildings represent a large real estate expenditure.  Why not charge for those services.  If people are charged extra for using a debit card, they will begin using checks instead!  Check processing is now "free" at most banks -- although, I'm sure that even with the new electronics, the check processing costs more than a debit card to process.  Why not charge a small fee for each check processed?   Some of those consumers who are now using debit cards could switch to credit cards -- however many of those users would be paying their balance off each month, so the bank won't be making that much more revenue.
I think most consumers are aware of the relative costs business encounters for the services provided.  They understand that most of the debit card processing costs involve "fixed costs" involved with the hardware and software, while those that require labor are a large variable cost.  I believe consumers would understand the need for charging for teller service and check processing vs charges for debit card processing which is done electronically

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

San Diego Area Hikes

Prescilla Lister writes regular articles in the San Diego Union Tribune describing local interesting hikes:

Judge sides with city on marijuana co-op closures | SignOnSanDiego.com

Judge sides with city on marijuana co-op closures | SignOnSanDiego.com:
I'm sorry to say that Judge Prager probably made a good ruling in this case. It was a "narrow" subject, in that the state law did not provide any guidance on local zoning.
However the intent and spirit of the proposition was clearly to allow local pot shops to operate.

The state badly needs a new proposition on the ballot to clean up all of this nonsense. It appears to me that the police and district attorneys are "sore losers" since most of them opposed the proposition in the first place, and are desperately trying to protect their jobs.

Our state legislators could clean up the mess too--but they just can't seem to get anything done.

Crowe case plaintiff Houser settles lawsuit - SignOnSanDiego.com

In the Stephanie Crowe case, the 4 police officers, assisted by a psychologist made a bad situation worse by destroying a family and terrorizing the three young boys. Yes they finally obtained a bogus confession, which was later thrown out when the police finally identified the real murderer.

Finally, one of the boys Aaron Houser received a settlement from his lawsuit against the police. It is absurd that the amount of the settlement is being withheld from the public. The only reason for keeping it confidential is to protect the police officers and psychologist from having to own up to what they cost the taxpayer. Even though some, or all, of the settlement may have been paid by insurance, the premiums for that insurance have been and will be paid by the taxpayer. The officers and officials, including the prosecutor and district attorney appear to have gotten away with their crime.


Crowe case plaintiff Houser settles lawsuit - SignOnSanDiego.com:

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Newport council to OK more dredging - Daily Pilot

This article says that Newport Beach plans to dump 300,000 cubic yards of "relatively clean sand" 5 miles offshore. Newport council to OK more dredging - Daily Pilot:

Why can't we get some of this sand dumped offshore in Oceanside instead? We need the sand!

Sunday, September 18, 2011

America's too-costly war on terror - latimes.com

The financial costs of our war on terror have not been accounted for.
America's too-costly war on terror - latimes.com

I think there needs to be an independent watch dog agency who performs accounting for every decision made by Federal or state government, showing the total cost of each decision.


Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Starve The Beast


I'm certain that the current Republican strategy is to "Starve the Beast" --see in Wikipedia below:
Starve the beast - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

The Republican Party wants to spend for their "pet" projects when they have power --even if it requires immense deficit spending -- but to do so, they have to force the Democratic Party, when in power, to cut spending and raise taxes, if required.

That probably would be OK, if the Republicans spent money wisely. However during both of the Bush presidencies, there was more "pork" (earmarks) in the budget than ever before. Much of it was very wasteful (bridge to nowhere, for example), unnecessary wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. They fought for reduced regulation in business which prompted the Enron collapse, and then the mortgage industry collapse -- both of those events cost the government immense amounts of money that was all borrowed.

Monday, August 22, 2011

Jon Huntsman: Does a "center right" presidential candidate have a prayer? - Political Hotsheet - CBS News

Jon Huntsman appears to me as holding to the "true" Republican positions -- except his position on abortion. The traditional Republican Party position, in general, is to allow people as many freedoms as possible, promote free markets, and maintain a strong military to protect our country from foreigners. The far-right-wingers sort of hijacked the party at the beginning of Reagan's second term.

Jon Huntsman: Does a "center right" presidential candidate have a prayer? - Political Hotsheet - CBS News

I would think Jon Huntsman would have a good chance at unseating Obama, since he would be able to attract a lot of the moderate voters.

It still amazes me that so very many Republicans honestly do not believe in the "theory" of evolution or that the earth is warming up!

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Iowa Straw Poll: A carnival that kills campaigns - Political Hotsheet - CBS News

It appears to me that all of the Republican candidates are trying to be further right than the others.
Iowa Straw Poll: A carnival that kills campaigns - Political Hotsheet - CBS News
I think that all of the Republican candidates this year are each trying to appeal to the so-called Christians who believe in these precepts:
1. Believe strongly that torture, the death penalty, destroying our environment and carrying guns is the Christian thing to do.
2. Put blacks, Latinos and gays "in their place," and do not help the poor, disabled, elderly, or disadvantaged children.
3. Eliminate abortion and birth control because their bizarre religion thinks that releasing God's souls into the world, and that God will solve overpopulation for us.

Somehow, I think that there is a very small group within the US that agrees with all of the above. If the Republican party really wants to select a good candidate, they should look for a moderate that doesn't espouse most of those opinions and alienate so much of the general US public. Then they willhave a chance at getting a good percentage of the moderate Republicans who do not believe all of those precepts.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Dear Congressional delegation: Make us proud, not ashamed

Dear Congressional delegation: Make us proud, not ashamed

I agree with Logan, it would be nice if our San Diego delegation would work together. It would be even better if our California congressmen would work together. If they would vote as a "block" on some of the important issues, it could help to resolve a lot of the state's problems. Quite often they seem to vote along party lines, instead of what is best for California.

One example was prior to the 2000 census, the Republicans pushed through restrictions on census counting methods that forced the use of mathematically incorrect statistics in order to reduce the population count in cities. As a result, California's population was under-counted, and the state lost millions in federal revenue each year through the whole decade. Had the Republicans in CA voted against it, the proposal would have died --but they were concerned that it would put the party at a disadvantage if more people were counted in cities than rural areas.

War Causes Inflation ...

War Causes Inflation ...

Throughout history after every war there has been inflation. In ancient Rome, the Caesars would dilute the gold coins with base metals to inflate the currency. In the US it has happened after every war. Sometimes the effect has been delayed by prudent economics -- such as the EE bonds during WWII. However the inflation eventually came, it just took a little longer.

I think we're in for a huge round of inflation as the US economy picks up again as a result of the immense Bush deficit spending to pay for two unnecessary extremely long wars.


Monday, August 8, 2011

S&P Seen Surrendering to Tea Party - Bloomberg

I was suspicious that the S&P ratings downgrade was a political statement--I think this article provides evidence of that. Thanks Sean!

S&P Seen Surrendering to Tea Party - Bloomberg

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Boldrin and Swamidass: A New Bargain for Drug Approvals - WSJ.com


This editorial in July 27 2011 Wall Street Journal really has a good approach to simplifying the whole drug approval process.

Boldrin and Swamidass: A New Bargain for Drug Approvals - WSJ.com

We do want any new drug to be safe. However I'm not sure that the Government needs to get involved in a drug's effectiveness.

If it isn't effective, doctors won't prescribe it! Hospitals won't use it, and government medical insurance shouldn't pay for it to be prescribed.

I would add two more conditions onto a revision of the law as proposed by Michele Boldrin and S.Joshua Swamidass in this article:
1.A patent on the new drug might be pending--but should not be approved until the drug is proven effective.
2. The drug company must maintain an on-line database that shows the number of patients using the drug and the reported side effects and "improvements" reported. That provides the public all of the information necessary to make decisions on whether or not to use the new drug. Of course patient privacy must be protected. Also the site has to be open to the public, and presented in a way that non-doctors could understand.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Jared Polis: Raise Revenues, Not Taxes - WSJ.com

I would love to see the US stop fighting against revenue opportunities and start "collecting" on them. This congressman has a great bunch of ideas: Jared Polis: Raise Revenues, Not Taxes - WSJ.com

Device Raises Fear of Facial Profiling - Emily Steel and Julia Angwin - News - AllThingsD

I have mixed emotions about facial recognition. I think it should be legal. Small towns have always been able to recognize "strangers in town" -- so this is just a tool to get us back to that era.

Device Raises Fear of Facial Profiling - Emily Steel and Julia Angwin - News - AllThingsD

However, since I've owned L1Identity Solutions stock for a long time, I'm concerned that this company BI2 seems to have pulled ahead of it!

Monday, July 25, 2011

Republican Freshman Blames Obama For Debt From Iraq War | ThinkProgress

My concern is that when the Republicans say it long enough, loud enough and often enough (with help from Fox News and Rush Limbaugh, of course), people will actually believe it!

Republican Freshman Blames Obama For Debt From Iraq War | ThinkProgress

Friday, July 22, 2011

The Sunny Side of Smut: Scientific American

The right-wing and religious nuts from every religion and in every country have been fighting for decades (centuries) against what they call pornography or smut. It appears from this study, that the problems they attribute to smut aren't actually caused by it.
The Sunny Side of Smut: Scientific American

It would be interesting to see a similar study made of violent movies and video games. Does scenes and games depicting murder, robbery, rape, and mass killings incite violence? If not, then maybe the US Supreme Court was correct in allowing children to buy violent media. If so, then the Court was wrong in allowing children to buy violent media, while banning them from buying subjectively defined "pornography" -- Their decision was along the lines of "Make war, not love."

Friday, July 1, 2011

Strauss-Kahn case: 4 ways French and American law differ - The "perp walk" - CSMonitor.com

I've always thought the "perp-walk" tradition in the US should be illegal. It is basically a publicity stunt done by the police department and prosecutors to attempt to build public opinion against the accused.

Strauss-Kahn case: 4 ways French and American law differ - The "perp walk" - CSMonitor.com

I also think I agree with the French privacy laws that protect personal activities from the public. Why should our romances, hobbies, family and health details be permitted to be tossed around in the public? Of course, if someone is running for public office, or if they post those details voluntarily on web sites, that makes it public.

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Israel Gaza Blockade

This is interesting.  Apparently there is going to be another attempt to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza.  http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-borer-gaza-blockade-20110626,0,3515948.story

It should put Israel in a difficult position of denying aid to people who have been "locked away" for an extended period.  If Israel fires upon this ship, it would seem to be an act of war --after all it is freedom of the seas.  I would like to see US warships support this attempt.  After all, Israel is the ONLY middle east country who has attacked the US, and it is the only middle east country which routinely spies on the US -- we've caught many spies and have deported them over the years.  Why should we help them?  They've got nuclear weapons and would like to use them against their virtually unarmed neighbors.

U.S. budget deficit: Borrowing and spending the GOP way - latimes.com

I agree with this article and It is certainly believable, since it was written by Mike Lofgren who was a Republican Congressional Staffer.

U.S. budget deficit: Borrowing and spending the GOP way - latimes.com

The only time that Republicans seem to get excited about balancing the budget is when the other party is in office. Bush cut taxes and started unnecessary wars to help keep the economy from tanking. Now the Republicans don't want any economic stimulation (deficit spending) because they don't want the economy to recover prior to the 2012 elections.


Thursday, June 23, 2011

Autopsies on the decline - latimes.com

Autopsies have been on the decline for decades. See this article:

Healthcare: Autopsies on the decline - latimes.com

I think it is a mistake. I think there should be an independent organization with a separate budget to perform autopsies for medical quality control.

The percentage of deaths that get autopsies does not need to be very high -- possibly 1 or 2%. However they need to be done against standards. The data collected needs to go into a database, and there should be enough randomness in the sampling technique to insure that deaths all over the country are subject to autopsies.

Saturday, June 4, 2011

The Battle Over Power of Attorney - WSJ.com

Interesting discussion about power of attorney in the Wall Street Journal. It sounds like what ever you do to try to do good estate planning could result in making the attorney's rich -- particularly if the family feels like they are being treated unfairly.
The Battle Over Power of Attorney - WSJ.com

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Editorial: 10 terrible tax breaks - USATODAY.com

USA today on 31 May 2011 had a great editorial that described 10 tax breaks that are provided to many different constituencies. Here is a link to the editorial:

Editorial: 10 terrible tax breaks - USATODAY.com

These tax breaks cost the country about 300 Billion in tax revenue and in many ways distort the free-market economy in ways that may hurt the overall economy. They also contribute to the terrible complexity of our income tax laws.

I think these may be the "top 10" breaks -- but I believe there probably a hundred or more "lower value" tax breaks that hide "under the radar" and benefit some small groups of special interest groups.

Sunday, May 29, 2011

The GOP Fights it's own ideas on healthcare

It appears to me that the Republicans are being obstructionist and going against basic Republican principles to fight the new healthcare law. This article in the LA Times explains how the Conservatives and Republicans for decades have tried to require everyone to buy their own health insurance and have proposed bills to do it. Now that we have a law on the books to do just that, the Republicans are backpedaling. It might be because the healthcare law is called "Obamacare" --even though it incorporates many of the ideas the Republicans have tried to sell.

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Are we facing the end of the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage?

At some time, the US mortgage market must change. I believe this article describes only part of the adjustments to come.

Are we facing the end of the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage?

I do believe that Fanny Mae and Freddie Mack have "distorted" the free market, because they have not been able to adjust their terms for the many different situations. One size fits all doesn't work for mortgages.

Mortgage rates should be adjusted depending upon the risk involved in the loan. Yes FICO score and appraisals are a big part of the formula. Loan to value ratios, payment to income ratios and rent cash flow do have a big effect on the risk.

Lenders do have a table of rates that take many of those factors into effect. The length of the loan generally affects the rate -- the longer the term (30 yrs) the higher the risk to the lender, so the interest rate is higher.

However, the dreaded "prepayment penalty" has been "under priced" -- in other words if a borrower opts to accept a prepayment penalty the rate reduction has never been properly priced. If the prepayment penalty option came with a big enough discount, borrowers would opt for it. That would make the marketability of the mortgages much better.

Likewise lenders do not offer a discount for a "recourse loan" vs non-recourse. Most American loans are "non recourse" so that borrowers can walk away from their home and the lender has to recourse to attach the rest of the borrowers assets. I think this increases the risk the lender takes. Why don't they offer a half percentage point discount for "recourse loans" -- of course that would probably mean that all "non-recourse" loan rates would be higher.

Likewise, it appears that people buying a second home get a big break. I believe anyone buying a second home and obtaining a mortgage should be required to get a "recourse" loan that puts all of their assets at risk if they default on the loan.

Psychology: Americans persist in irrational and counterproductive behavior - latimes.com

Why do the right winger's in America continue to push for counterproductive solutions?

Psychology: Americans persist in irrational and counterproductive behavior - latimes.com

Global population: Defusing the population bomb - latimes.com

This is an excellent commentary on the problem of the earth's population.

Global population: Defusing the population bomb - latimes.com