POS - What People Just Aren't Getting About the Debt Fight

Ok so as we all know, the government just went through a messy hissy fit fight over the debt ceiling and spending levels, which was only ended thanks to a temporary solution that likely guarantees we’ll be having the exact same fight again in early 2014. I just wanted to weigh in on a few things that get lost in the shuffle on the fight over spending, some hard truths that either people don’t understand or are willfully ignoring. Too often people just say the soundbite “we don’t have a revenue problem, we have a spending problem.” Unfortunately, that soundbite is wrong; we do have a revenue problem. And until the folks in D.C. on both sides of the aisle (this is a problem facing both Democrats and Republicans, and both parties aren't facing up to these facts) are willing to face that truth, nothing is ever going to change.

What are we spending our money on?

Yes, we currently have been operating without a budget in Washington for some time now, because both sides cannot come to an agreement on a long term budget. Instead, we get these piecemeal continuing resolutions that agree to fund the government at a set amount for a short period of time. Right now, that funding amount is at the levels set forth in the sequester, for a budget on discretionary spending by the government of $988 billion, if the budget were extended out to a twelve month period. What people don’t realize is what that means. Discretionary spending is money the government is choosing to spend, so that covers the following: our military, education, veterans’ benefits, health (the Centers for Disease Control & National Institute of Health), the Food and Drug Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, NASA, NOAA, and many more. This slice of our budget is approximately 30% of what the government spends, and these were many of the services that were halted by the government shutdown. But all the focus is on this 30% instead of on the other 70% of where the government spending goes.

So what is the other 70%? 6% of it is paying the interest on our national debt (currently ~17 trillion dollars), and the other 64% is on mandatory spending programs. The lion’s share of that 64% is Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, which combined are 87% of the mandatory spending. In other words, about 55% of the total federal budget goes strictly to those three programs. So, unless changes are made to those three programs, all the other cuts in the world aren’t going to amount for squat, really.

Keep reading after the jump, there's more! --->

POS on the Page - Bailout by Neil Barofsky

So in my MBA program, we were discussing the sorry state of the economy and who is to blame for the mess our country still is in, 6 years after the housing bubble burst and wrecked things. This book came up in the conversation as a great read, so having read it I thought I'd share my thoughts.

Bailout by Neil Barofsky.  My recommendation: Must Read!

Bailout is an inside account of the TARP program and what went on within the Treasury Department in the waning months of the Bush administration and the beginning of the Obama one. The author, Neil Barofsky, has a unique insiders perspective as to what went on in that time. He was appointed to be the Special Inspector General in charge of Oversight of TARP, aka SIGTARP. In his role as SIGTARP, he was supposed to monitor how Treasury was using TARP monies to help the economy and to protect the money from fraud. During his time in DC, he saw how programs ostensibly designed to help those of us down on Main Street instead wound up helping Wall Street while screwing over the rest of us.

This book will make you angry, very angry, at the massive incompetence and blatant asskissing of Wall Street by those in power in DC. It makes me want to grab a torch and pitchfork and form a mob to storm the Treasury in protest and outrage. The book pulls no punches, and regardless of your political affiliation you have to read this book. Just like I recommended the works of Matt Taibbi in a post a while back (which you can read here), I absolutely recommend this book for all to read. (Additionally, you can read Taibbi's thoughts on the book at this link here). It really helps to explain the financial crisis in clear terms, and it also makes you realize how another financial crisis wrecking the economy is not a matter of if but when, thanks to the government's continued worshiping of Wall Street.

POS - Post election wrapup

So the election has come and gone and we've all had a little bit of time to reflect on the outcomes in all of the races, both locally and nationally.  I wanted to put my thoughts to the page as to how I feel about the outcome of all of the races, so here is my 2012 election wrapup, in nice and easy bullet points format.

Presidential race thoughts:

• So Obama won, and won big (at least in the electoral college).  As I said on my election night mini-post, I predicted he would win all of the swing states except for North Carolina and Virginia.  I was right with the exception of Virginia.
• That's my 2nd accurate prediction with the presidential race this year.  Back in the winter I predicted Romney would be the GOP nominee before the South Carolina primary even occurred.
• I'm not too surprised with the outcome of the election.  Romney was a terrible candidate for the GOP.  Plenty of better options stayed on the sidelines, instead setting their sights on 2016.  Instead they nominated a man who couldn't release his tax returns because they'd reveal something damaging, he couldn't run on his record as a governor because it was too liberal for his base, his flip-flops on positions wrecked the public's trust, and he got killed running on his business cred because of how Bain Capital destroyed a lot of companies.  Not a smart choice by the GOP really.
• This election will really go down in history as a missed opportunity for the GOP.  With 4 more years, Obama has a chance to cement his legacy, and by the time 2016 rolls around, Obamacare will be set in stone and extremely difficult for the GOP to repeal.
• Speaking of 2016, and the future, the GOP really needs to work on expanding their party.  Obama killed Romney among Asians, Hispanics, and African-Americans, by wider margins than any other Democratic candidate in history.  As America heads towards majority minority within a generation, if the GOP doesn't find a way to reach those groups, they will be demographically irrelevant within 30 years.  They're also going to need to find a way to reach out to the youth demographic, but unfortunately as long as they continue to be hard line on gay marriage, they will probably struggle with the under 30 vote.
• The above is especially true among Hispanics.  Less than 20 years ago, New Mexico, Nevada, and Colorado were red states.  Now they tend to go blue, thanks in part to their growing Latino populations.  If the GOP doesn't do a better job with Hispanics, they stand to eventually lose Arizona and Texas as well.  And once they lose Texas, they can kiss their chances at the White House goodbye, thanks to the Electoral College math.  Maybe they might change their minds about their opposition to the Electoral College after all?
• Man this was a fun week for schadenfreude.  There was Donald Trump's Twitter meltdown/call for revolution (link below in the misc items section), Karl Rove denying reality on Fox News on election night, Ann Coulter all despondent on the radio, Dick Morris' downfall after his extremely inaccurate election prediction of a Romney landslide, and this Tumblr - probably the funniest thing I've seen in awhile.
• On the local radio here in Chicago, they were interviewing a man from Ohio about why he voted for Obama.  He explained that he was a laid off manufacturing employee and he stated he lost his job because he and his company "got Bain'd" when his company was bought out and his job shipped to China.  I fully support the term "got Bain'd" entering the lexicon.  It was little things like that that helped lead to Romney's defeat.

After the jump - my thoughts on Congress/Senate races as well as the major referendums on ballots across the country.  Read on!

POS - Funny secession rebuttal

So secession has been in the news lately, with upset red staters calling for the union to dissolve because they are pissy that Obama won reelection.  I was emailed this funny rebuttal by my dad and wanted to share it with you because I thought this was too good not to share.  Enjoy!

Dear Red States:

We're pissed at your attitudes and politics and we've decided we're leaving.

We in the Blue States intend to form our own country . 

In case you aren't aware that includes California, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Iowa, and the rest of the Northeast.

We believe this split will be beneficial to the nation and especially to the people of the new country of The Enlightened States of America (E.S.A).

To sum up briefly:
-You get Texas, Oklahoma and all the slave states.
-We get stem cell research and the best beaches.
-We get Andrew Cuomo and Elizabeth Warren. You get Bobby Jindal and Todd Akin.
-We get the Statue of Liberty. You get OpryLand.
-We get Intel, Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook, & Google. You get WorldCom.
-We get Harvard. You get Ole' Miss.
-We get 85 percent of America's venture capital and entrepreneurs. You get Alabama.
-We get two-thirds of the tax revenue. You get to make the red states pay their fair share.
-Since our aggregate divorce rate is 22 percent lower than your Christian Coalition's, we get a bunch of happy families. You get a bunch of single moms.

With the Blue States in hand we will have firm control of 80% of the country's fresh water, 92% of the nation's fresh fruit, 95% of America's quality wines (you can serve French wines at state dinners) 90% of all cheese, 90 percent of the high tech industry, most of the US low sulphur coal, all living redwoods, sequoias and condors, all the Ivy and Seven Sister schools plus Stanford, Michigan, Cal Tech and MIT.

With the Red States you will have to cope with 88% of all obese Americans and their projected health care costs, 92% of all US mosquitoes, nearly 100% of the tornadoes, 90% of the hurricanes, 99% of all Southern Baptists, virtually 100% of all televangelists, Rush Limbaugh, Bob Jones University, Clemson and the University of Georgia.

We get Hollywood and Yosemite, thank you.

We're taking the good weed too. You can have that crap they grow in Mexico.

Sincerely,

The Blue Wall


Yeah, this about sums up the brainpower behind the calls to secede.

  

POS - 4 more years!

It's 845 PM Central time on election day.  As of right now the polling is incredibly close in most of the swing states, but Fox News has called WI and PA for Obama, and he's leading pretty well in Ohio as well.  I really don't see any way in which Romney pulls off an upset here.  Even though we will be waiting on Florida for awhile, currently separated by about 2,000 votes out of 6 million cast, I feel pretty confident that this election will be going to Obama & the Dems are going to retain the Senate, while the GOP keeps the house.  For swing state predictions - Obama is going to pick up all but Virginia and North Carolina.  That's just my gut feeling.

Now the GOP has no one to blame but themselves.  They nominated a guy that flip-flops like crazy.  Had they had a competent nominee, perhaps they could have won.  They're going to have to do some soul searching now, the question is will they work across the aisle or will they dig in their heels and be even more obstinate?  I guess we'll find out as they address the fiscal cliff coming at the end of this year.

I am glad that Obama will win, and I hope this is not a premature celebration, but WOOOHOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!

POS - Go Vote!

If you haven't voted early, go vote today!  I'm sure you all know where I stand and who I'm planning on voting for (not that my vote matters thanks to the electoral college, as I complained about in this post earlier) but whether you agree with my political views or not, still go vote.  Voting is a great responsibility and a great right that so many around the world do not get to enjoy, so go make sure you enjoy that privilege!

POS - My stance on gay marriage

I'm really tired of gay marriage being an issue in this country.  We seriously have so many far more important things to focus on right now with this country, things that will have ramifications for generations such as the economy, healthcare, the environment, or many other subjects.  Gay marriage should be so far down on our nation's list of priorities, but it seems like it keeps coming back up in election after election.

Here is my stance on gay marriage:  Who cares?

Seriously, if two consenting adults that love each other want to make a commitment to each other, why is it my business or anyone else's business that they want to do so?  I find it a little ironic that the political party most opposed to the institution of gay marriage, the GOP, also advocates shrinking the size and scope of the government.  Yet they want to keep the scope of the government large enough to be involved in the bedrooms of consenting adults.  Seems a little bit hypocritical to me.

But anyways, I am not opposed to gay marriage for one simple reason - I am opposed to all forms of discrimination.  I myself am a part of a heterosexual interracial marriage, a marriage that would have been illegal in some parts of the U.S. less than half a century ago.  Who am I to deny the right to marry to someone else? A right that I wouldn't have had if I had been born a half century earlier instead of the 1980s.

But wait, what about the sanctity of marriage?  Gay marriage will ruin that!  My response to that:  bullcrap.  You know what has ruined the sanctity of marriage?  No-fault divorces, shortlived celebrity marriages (Kim Kardashian's 72 days, Britney Spears' 55 hours, I'm looking at you!), and drive-through wedding chapels in places like Las Vegas.  Seriously, if you can get married without getting out of your car, then the sanctity of marriage was already irrevocably damaged long before homosexuals began being allowed to marry in some states.

There is absolutely no reason why homosexuals should continue to be denied the exact same rights as heterosexuals, such as the tax breaks for married couples, visitation rights in hospitals when your partner is dying, and countless more things that gay couples are denied now.  The Declaration of Independence calls for us to have the inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  Any law restricts someone's pursuit of happiness is in violation of the core ideals of our nation.  That is why the anti-gay marriage lobby is pushing for a Constitutional Amendment to ban gay marriage.  It is because deep down they know that bans on gay marriage are unconstitutional, and the Supreme Court will rule that if they ever decide to take up a gay marriage case (which some day they will).

Also, think of the economic boom if gays are allowed to marry.  You just know their weddings will be fabulous!  Think of the economic stimulus!  Legalizing gay marriages will be a direct shot in the arm to the economy, yet another reason in this crappy economy to go ahead and legalize them now.

Bottom line, there is absolutely no reason that two consenting adults shouldn't be allowed to marry.  The state governments should be issuing them marriage licenses just like two heterosexual people can receive now.  If religions don't want to perform the ceremonies, then fine, they can have a civil ceremony or have their ceremony performed by a friend of theirs.  It's not like you can't become an ordained minister online anyways.  I just want this to become legalized so it will go away and stop being a political issue, so we can get back to focusing on what really matters in this country.

POS - A letter to Senator Durbin

In my business law class this semester during my MBA program we were assigned a writing assignment to write a letter to a government official.  I figured I might as well post it here as well as send it to Senator Durbin, the Democrat Senator from IL, who is the Senate Majority Whip.  It's my thoughts on immigration and also how it needs to be an issue addressed before the election, not after.  So, enjoy!

Senator Dick Durbin

711 Hart Senate Building

Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senator Durbin:

            I am writing to you today about an issue that I feel is extremely important and should not wait until after the November election.  To give you some background on myself:  I am a registered voter in the state of Illinois, and I voted for you both in 2002 and 2008, and in 2006 I volunteered for the Tammy Duckworth Congressional campaign, and I am a consistent voter in all elections, both primaries and general elecitons.  (I am registered as a Republican however, so I can pull a GOP ballot for the primaries in IL to try and make sure that a candidate I hate never gets to the general election).  I am 30 years old, hold a masters degree, married, and have a newborn son.  I am a seventh generation American, but my wife is a naturalized citizen who came to the country legally when she was 7, and the issue that I feel needs to be addressed by our government as soon as possible is the topic of immigration.

            In 2008 then candidate Obama promised to make immigration an issue he would tackle in his first year in office.  Unfortunately, he wasted his political capital on a healthcare reform bill that although noble in intent was extremely poorly sold to the American public, resulting in people hating a bill that in reality they would actually like if they just understood the bill.  Because of this, he allowed immigration to fall by the wayside, and a major campaign promise he made went unfulfilled.  This should not be the case, as not tackling this issue is giving the GOP an opportunity to steal a major voting block from the Democratic Party.  There are estimated to be over 10 million illegal immigrants in this nation, and many millions more recent legal immigrants as well here on student or worker visas, and millions of recently naturalized citizens as well that now are able to vote in elections.  Traditionally, immigrants, especially Latino immigrants, tend to vote Democratic, but if a number of Latinos feel that President Obama betrayed them by not acting on immigration, they might either vote GOP or simply stay home in November.  With how close this election is likely to be, and with the country’s future hanging in the balance, you need to use your role as Majority Whip to get your colleagues to push as hard as they can to get immigration brought to the floor, and part of the political conversation for the fall election.  Just like the recent push for the Buffet Rule, the Senate needs to make a similar push for legislation benefitting immigrants, in order to force it as a wedge issue for the fall.  The Buffet Rule is allowing the debate for the fall to be cast in a class conflict, the 99% vs the 1%.  Having the GOP be just as obstinate on immigration as they are on raising taxes on the wealthy be a heavily discussed topic in the news cycle will cause Latinos to realize that they should not vote for a party that they might agree with on social issues such as gay marriage or abortion.  This will cause Latinos to feel that the President & the Democratic Party are working for them, and that the GOP is actively working against them, and will ensure that the Latino vote remains solidly Democrat for years to come.

(read the rest of the letter after the jump)