Posts tagged Thoughts
On Propaganda & The Mormon Church…
The following are my personal opinions relating to the Pro-Mormon ad campaign I have been seeing ads for. I do not believe that anyone should be limited in their religious belief, but I do believe that they should be able to soundly defend their beliefs and that no belief system is above question.
I have a problem with propaganda. The billboards and advertisements proclaiming that “I am a Mormon” offend me. To base the credibility on an entire religion on the fact that it also has some very nice and normal people as members is loathsome. At its heart Mormonism, like all religions, is a missional organization. They desire converts to accept their beliefs. Beliefs that are outrageous and have proven malleable with time. If you desire to convince someone to accept your beliefs then do so with your scripture and with your arguments, but not with a syrupy campaign about what nice people also happen to think the same way as you.
On Elites…
“Newt Gingrich, whose campaign was twice left for dead and came back to win a landslide victory in South Carolina, used his victory speech Saturday night before a raucous crowd of hundreds to attack the “elites in New York and Washington,” whom he identified as President Obama and the news media.”
-Gingrich Has Kind Words for Rivals and Venom for ‘Elites’, Nate Silver- NY Times
If he is defining an elite as anyone who holds a position of power how could Gingrich himself not be considered an elite? The House of Representative has had sixty-one speakers in its history or which Gingrich is one.
I’m sorry, but anyway you look at it Gingrich has been an elite in Washington and would like to be again.
Rick Perry & A Flat Tax
Q: But for those at the top, it is hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions of dollars for them.
Rick Perry: But I don’t care about that. What I care about is them having the dollars to invest in their companies. To go out and maybe start a business because they got the confidence again because they actually get to keep more of what they work for. If that’s what comes, I’ll take that criticism. Because what I’m interested in is getting Americans working.
Rick Perry is proposing a 20% flat tax. If you are already against a progressive tax system my commentary on this will be mostly meaningless.
The effective tax rate on the top incomes in our country has fallen for the last twenty years, and we have not seen a commensurate investment in business and job growth that Governor Perry claims will happen with a tax cut.
My issue here is with how wealth is created and what the extremely wealthy do with their money. If you have a job and are earning this kind of income it is unlikely you will use your money to start a new business employing hundreds of out of work Americans tomorrow. You are already tremendously successful and being rewarded for it. The earnings will, most likely, be invested into the stock market. Those companies will work to create the best possible long-term growth strategies.
This probably means pursing growth in a BRIC1 country. The money invested in American multi-national companies will go to support their growth in an area that will give the most return on their investment. This isn’t a bad thing, but when proposing a flat-tax under the guise of propelling domestic growth an understanding of the flow of capital in a global economy is necessary. It will not result in a substantial reshaping of our economy or growth in jobs.
I have spoken about income inequality before. How we address this is still unknown to me, but as a nation there are better uses of our national resources than a flat tax that will actually result in a stronger, and hopefully, more equitable economy.
This tax plan will never be implemented, but I am weary of hearing people talk about the wonders that a flat tax of any kind represents.
1. Brazil, Russia, India, China
Nationalized Healthcare Works.
“The results question why we need a big set of health reform proposals … The system works well. Look at the US and you can see where choice and competition gets you. Pretty dismal results.”
[…]
Using the latest data from the World Health Organisation, the paper shows that although Labour’s tax-and-spend strategy for the NHS saw health spending rise to a record 9.3% of GDP, this was less than Germany with 10.7% or the US with 15%.
Yes, the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, found that the United States health care system was, “among the least efficient and effective.” This is hardly news.
There is a very real need for substantial health care reform in this country. It will not be easy, but conversations must be grounded in fact. The British health system saves more lives than the American one, proportionally, at a cheaper cost to their society.
I admit that these changes cannot take place over night, but we must put aside preconceived notions and perceived moral high ground about free markets and American exceptionalism to actually set about the work of improving the state of our nation as a whole.
The House Of Representatives
Following the Debt Limit Debate? Well, I am. This is the type of thing I love. Yes, it’s dysfunctional and looks terrible for everyone, but I always watch these things waiting for the behind the scenes deal making to be made public once a law is passed.
Currently, I think that a bill might not be passed, and we might actually default on our obligations. There couldn’t be a worse case scenario. Nobody wants that. Except for a group of Republicans who are convinced that they, somehow, have our national best interest at heart.
Our legislative body must be able to compromise. It is the only way that they can work. I am not saying that the Democratic party has offered the ideal solution or that I disagree with the Republican aims of removing government waste. I might, and probably do, disagree with what is considered waste, but I am all for being a good steward of public funds.
This particular situation is not the time to make a principled stand. Congress has made obligations and they must give the Treasury the authority to meet those obligations. To pass laws and then somehow act like there’s no money to pay for them is absurd. They must take responsibility for their actions.
TL;DR - My current outlook is bleak with a dash of frustrated. Let’s hope I’m proven wrong.
On The Debt Ceiling…
This newspaper [The Economist] has a strong dislike of big government; we have long argued that the main way to right America’s finances is through spending cuts. But you cannot get there without any tax rises. In Britain, for instance, the coalition government aims to tame its deficit with a 3:1 ratio of cuts to hikes. America’s tax take is at its lowest level for decades: even Ronald Reagan raised taxes when he needed to do so.
I am not looking for a 60% marginal tax rate, but for all American citizens our average marginal tax rate is at its lowest point since World War Two. I don’t see how two wars and averting a financial armageddon could ever logically lead to sustaining that tax level.
Five Districs, No Representation?
From last weeks Austin Chronicle. As a resident of Austin I already thought that it was ridiculous that I could be represented by the same Congressman as my dad who lives in Tomball, TX a suburb of Houston 2 1/2 hours away from here.
Our state legislature has worked to ensure our counties’ and cities’ interests at the national level are not given the representation they deserve. We are the fourth largest city in the state. We may not be solidly Republican but this drive to ensure Republican super-majorities in this state at all levels is unfair.
I know that whatever party is in power will act to strengthen their position, but I can’t help but be upset when it effects me personally. This map will be in effect next year and then it will get kicked out by the courts because, somehow, there are more white majority districts in this map than the one we have now even though the percentage of whites in this state has dropped in the last decade.
Politically, this is short sighted. The minority voters of this state will soon be a solid majority and I don’t expect them to forget which party actively tried to keep them underrepresented.
On Lobbying…
“Four months after the Federal Communications Commission approved a hotly contested merger of Comcast and NBC Universal, one of the commissioners who voted for the deal said on Wednesday that she would soon join Comcast’s Washington lobbying office.”
This is not ok. I understand that these industries are related and that it is in Comcasts’s best interest to hire someone with working knowledge of the internal politics of how the F.C.C. works, but I ruffle at the thought of being allowed to do so immediately after leaving a public post.
I do not think that lobbyists are evil or that public servants are, but they are people. People like their friends. People like their coworkers. People like to do business and favor their friends.
The F.C.C. is set up to be in the interest of the public and Comcast to their shareholders. I do not know that there is an immediate conflict of interest that is taking place here, but this will lead to an immediate level of familiarity between the two organizations that I am not alright with.
Sometimes, the State must make decisions that are to the detriment of the business community but in the best interest of the public that they represent. These decisions aren’t always clear, but I do not think that what is good for business is always good for the American public.
This is representative of a problem that I think exists between corporations and our government. I would like to vote for representatives who would be willing to place mandatory non-compete requirements for working for related government offices and lobbying groups.* I don’t see this happening anytime soon, but I think that the public voice is at a crisis because of its inherent inability to form a consensus and pool money in the same way that a multi-national multi-billion dollar corporation is.
These companies are not necessarily evil, but I believe that The State’s first responsibility is to serving its private citizens and all other concerns come after that.
TL;DR - What’s good for GM is not always good for America.
* Ms. Baker signed the current administrations ethics pledge and will not be able to lobby anyone at the F.C.C. until two years after her departure in June. This is not a law, and I would like something legislated.
Daily chart: which countries have the largest number of people per legislator? Of the world’s 22 most populous countries, Britain has by far the most parliamentarians per head. Only China has more legislators in total, and India has just over half as many to cover 20 times the population.
I’ve wondered about this. Could there be a very real argument to increasing the number of legislators in The House and The Senate. Not by a ridiculous amount, but technology has certainly changed the ability of our government to keep up with more active legislators. Seriously, Chinese citizens, at least nominally, and Russian citizens are better* represented than American citizens.
What if we doubled the number of seats in the House and Senate? This would maintain the bicameral balance of power and allow greater political diversity in the House which could lead to better representation. This could also alleviate partisanship by allowing legislators to have a better grasp and connection to their constituencies.
I am not necessarily advocating more direct democracy, but drastically changing the current power structure by diluting it. Here’s a fun (read: depressing) article from The Economist about the challenges facing California due to their experiments in direct democracy.
*Fewer people represented means more access to the legislator by the constituency and hopefully better representation. Let’s call this “The Small Classroom Argument”
wanderlustandtethers replied to your post: Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990
I’m curious how parody ties into this.
Parody is usually covered under Fair Use provisions in copyright law. The Visual Artists Rights Act, I believe, applies to the original work of art. This way I can’t buy your art and then because I own it place my brand on it and place it in advertisements or on display in publicly.
Fair Use is not applicable in commercial situations. If you are using someone else’s work to earn money then it is not covered. Even for entities such as College Humor who regularly post parodies of popular songs their use of the songs is not guaranteed. I saw a panel during SXSWi a few years ago where their lawyers talked about receiving a letter from Billy Joel’s lawyers demanding they take down a parody.
Their lawyers crafted a letter claiming Fair Use protection because it was a parody and Joel’s lawyers let it drop, but had they not there is no way of knowing how the court would have responded. Fair Use cases so rarely go to court that the standards to determine what is Fair Use is so vague, and rightly so.
Claiming fair use may not be the smartest move to make depending on if you can stomach the legal costs that might come, and the uncertainty of how courts might respond.
UPDATE
timhackbarth replied to your post: wanderlustandtethers replied to your post: Visual…
I would like to proffer a correction based on my comprehensive knowledge of how Wikipedia works: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ca…
Tim comes through with actually using Wikipedia. I should have clarified that parody does not mean you can’t earn any money of your creativity, but that parody is not a commercial advertisement.
*Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer, and in no way does the above constitute legal advice.
