Behind the Gun Problem

My oldest brother, who fought in 3 wars, was a gun enthusiast. He owned quite a collection and took care of them lovingly, just as he did his MG convertible, his Dunhill pipes and other possesions. He liked good scotch, sported a slightly dented Zippo lighter and wouldn't have accepted an AK 47 as a gift. He wasn't a member of the NRA, the National Rifle Association, to my knowledge. Got the picture?

Many gun enthusiasts have very different views. They own guns because they're proclaiming their fear and loathing of the federal government, for whatever reasons, and their paranoid determination to protect their gun rights under the 2nd Amendment to the US Constitution. When President Obama became president in 2008, they actually believed he would try to take their guns away and they bought as many guns as they could afford, just as they are now, following the Aurora, CO theater massacre. It's astounding. These gun owners are regularly enflamed by Wayne La Pierre and the National Rifle Association, which is the most powerful and aggressive lobbying organization in the country. Members of Congress are terrified of the NRA and will not dispute even it's most outrageous claims against the president or anyone in their way. They have won so much to guarantee people the unlimited ability to own as many guns as they want, the only goal left for them is to have the government give each baby born in America a nice new 45 cal. automatic.

We know that the leadership of the NRA wants to continue to lead their organizatiion as long as poissible, but what about the gun owners they represent? Aside from white militia settlements in the hills of some states, and the people who have moved on from paint balling, I think we are looking at some very angry and bewildered men seeking to deal somehow with the immense social changes they have experienced in recent decades.

 The role of men has changed and so has the very definition of what it means to be a man and they don't like any of it. Often passed over because of their educational limitations, income inadequacy  inevitably moves into their bedrooms. Their very manhood is threatened and so they carry weapons to improve their self image and seek to return to the good ole, less complicated  days of  yore.


 

$32,000,000,000,000 and Counting

A recent report by a former chief economist at McKinsey & Co indicates that super rich Americans have stashed away some $32 TRILLION in secret foreign bank accounts to avoid paying taxes on their good fortune. It doesn't surprise me much because everyone knows there are two parts to becoming super rich. One is to make the big, big bucks and the second is to avoid paying taxes on them. Each requires special skills.

Last week Mitt Romney was insisting that he would reveal no more than two years' tax returns in his bid for the presidency. His wife, Ann, said "We've given you people (the press) more than enough." Clearly, they don't want anyone combing through their records because former Gov. Romney knows all the tricks of making big money and taking advantage of every option to keep it. Maybe that explains why the Republican reaction was so strong when President Obama (and Elizabeth Warren) commented that all American entrepreneurs benefit from outside, read that government, help in putting their fortunes together.

 If someone gets super rich, in his mind, it's because he is a genius, able to struggle successfully against labor unions, hostile environmental regulations, foreign competition and a host of other hurdles put in his way by an out of touch government who won't even let him bribe anyone. He is a super hero entitled to 100% of his winnings and indebted to no one, least of all the government at any level. Corporate welfare is a figment of some lousy Democratic leach who doesn't know what it is to meet a payroll. Highways, railroads, international trade organizations, patent protections, special deals that abound, the Commerce Dept. etc. mean nothing. "I did it my way," like Frank Sinatra, and now it's mine and if you're nice, maybe I'll give some of it away to my college or church. Some of these moguls may not truly understand what the government has done to help them, but most do and chose to take a rather haughty stance on the issue. If anyone doesn't like it, too bad. Billionaires don't need anyone. In fact, what the big dogs fear most is being a sucker or being fooled like some common worker who commutes, no matter how nice his office.

Does this sound about right? Believe me, it is. Many really big shots are very generous. They build hospital wings, college dormitories and endow professorships, the arts and and more. They expect thanks and recognition, but they don't want oversight or inquiries about where they put their hard earned money. Like Mr. Romney, they will pay whatever the law demands, but they will work very hard to keep that amount down (it stifles their creativity, you see) and to hide as much as possible. That's just good business isn't it? The answer is no, if you are anything more than an egomaniac who won't or can't see beyond your own interests. "Think not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country," said Jack Kennedy and it was good advice. As for those secret account people and their $32 trillion, let's draft them or force them to do community service, but not until they have been outed and penalized for their lack of loyalty to the country that helped them do so well.

Libor, Zoloft and the Good News

 Libor is the London Interbank Offered Rate which determines the cost of trillions of dollars of  loans banks make to each other every day. It may concern you and me in ways we do not understand.

Zoloft is a drug which many anxious people use as they contemplate the ravages of time upon their minds and bodies and the results, or lack of them, they have achieved during the time period under consideration.

The good news is that neither really matters.

To be more explicit, recent revelations about rigging of the Libor rate reveal business corruption almost everywhere on an unprecedented scale. If you are a crook, Libor is the Triple Crown, the Academy Award, and the Mega Lotto prize combined. Be prepared to hear a great deal about the Libor scandal unless, of course, it all gets swept under the rug as too big to prosecute. In either case, keep your Zoloft handy because it is immensely depressing.

Think for a moment about opportunities almost everyone in business has observed to go bad, about deals proposed that were shady or choices made for fast but improper profit, or accommodation. (Just look the other way, Joe.) They abound in many, even most business and professional careers of every type. Individual people failing to do what they know is right and instead doing something they know is wrong; that's what's sick in America and the entire world today.That's what is eating away at the pillars of our society in America. Do we not realize that when someone proffers such opportunities to us it is actually a personal insult, not a useful collaboration possibility? Men quickly recognize a bar solicitation, but they sometimes miss the full implications of other more subtle choices that wouldn't withstand examination in broad daylight. But wait, here's the good news

Our travails today are just a wrinkle in the fabric of time, a down tick, if you will, in a chart that shows a powerful, even inexorable, upward trend. We have recognized in Democracy a form of government that gives people control of their destinies and what a fight it has been to vanquish kings and empires, etc. to arrive where we now are. Our present government in the United States has been called dysfunctional, but everyone knows how to fix it and it will be done!

Similarly, capitalism has soundly defeated communism and today offers its benefits to millions more yearning to be free and prosperous. Is it perfect? No way, but once again, everyone knows what has to be done to clean it up and make it better and that too will be done!

Lastly, the really Good News! We have in Christianity the religion built on love and redemption that makes people literally new and gives us hope for the life everlasting. Our God will raise up for us new leaders, more skilled and more dedicated than in the past and they will shun Wall Street and persevere in the trenches where the big decisions about right and wrong are made 24/7. Let it be so!

Events, Deah Boy!

Back in the fifties when Harold MacMillan was prime minister of Great Britain, someone asked him what would determine the success of his tenure. "Events, deah boy,"  he replied, in his richest Oxford accent, which in this country is known as Long Island Lockjaw.

And of course he was right. At this moment we have in America several major events pending, the return of some troops from Afghanistan, the Republican and Democratic conventions, the continuation of the Bush tax cuts, raising the debt ceiling, and so on. Will there be an Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear bomb making facilities, or some move against Syria? The timing is really bad for such matters, but that's the way the cookies crumble.

Our national discourse these days is only a step away from brawling. Congressmen call the president a liar and raise money as a result of their rudeness, or they state with impunity that dozens of Democrats are actually Communists. Others say the President is not even an American citizen and should be impeached!Still others call for the resignation of the Attorney General and claim that liberty will die in America if the president is re-elected. Against this background, a ship sunk or an attempted assassination of any person with name recognition might have powerful and unimaginable consequences.Literally anything is possible today and that's why I don't think anyone knows what might throw the election one way or another. We have created a toxic environment almost anyone can use for mischief and mischief at the wrong time can sway voters. Sliming your opponent pays, lying and misrepresenting facts is as normal as apple pie and it those tactics fail, go after spouses, children, anyone with ties to your enemy.

If things get any worse, let's just sit down for a moment and have a spot of tea.

The Chief Justice and the Pope

Chief Justice John Roberts sided with liberal members of the Supreme Court last week in an historic vote largely upholding Obamacare. He did so for many cogent reasons that Pope Benedict XVI might do well to ponder.

First, Chief Justice Roberts took a positive, expansionist view of his leadership role. He was looking for a way to preserve Obamacare rather than demolish it. He was thinking about what was best for Americans and the Supreme Court that he leads. He did not wish to give the Republicans still another enormous 5-4 victory and further diminish the court's reputation for objectivity and fairness.

Chief Justice Roberts is almost as isolated from public pressure as the Pope and both men, of course, have life tenure. Surprisingly, it would appear that the Chief Justice is capable of seeing the big picture better than the Pope. The court that will forever bear his name is in serious trouble, deeply divided and increasingly bitter with each other and the public. (Justice Scalia went out of his way recently to dis President Obama and the president recorded his displeasure with the third branch of government and the Citizens v. United case in a recent State of the Union message. Moreover, I thought Justice Scalia's derisive reference to reading the 2,000 page Affordable Health Care law was truly tasteless and offensive. I do expect supreme court justices to read legislation. That's what we're paying them to do.)

As for the Pope, the Roman Catholic Church is in abysmal shape, stricken as it is with doctrinal division, pedophile priests and incredible myopia. With the greatest respect, the Pope needs to search his heart and move to change errant policies and ease the agony of his flock. People of good will everywhere suffer for their catholic friends and pray for their well being.

It's pure fantasy, I imagine, but what an opportunity there is now for healing! What if Pope Benedict XVI were to come to Yankee Stadium in the sack cloth of a penitent, barefoot, no golden garb, no regal trappings, and humbly express his most abject contrition for his sins and those of his bishops in the performance of their sacred duties. What if he apologised for persecuting American nuns, and abandoned some of the dumb orthodoxies of his church, like permitting only men to be priests. Oh, what rivers of grace would flow down, what glory would shine upon Yankee Stadium as the Holy Spirit rushed through the crowd as it did on Pentecost. The whole world would know that the Pope was thinking about the needs of his people and the sacred image of the Roman Catholic Church. That's what the Pope is supposed to do, kind of like the Chief Justice of the world's most powerful nation - a veritable city on a hill that, with God's help, has led the world in the past and now needs a little refurbishing.

Supreme Isolation

Back in the sixties, I was a junior partner in one of the country's largest stock brokerage firms and I   represented the firm at a meeting of business leaders (I was a spear carrier in this parade) in Newark, NJ to discuss the city's problems. I met all the brass, including the city's very controversial police chief. He gave a fine speach emphasizing what his department was doing to ensure law and order and especially to protect property values, which were zero at the time because of the infamous Newark riots. Everything was low key and business like. And then there were some questions and one touched upon the US Supreme Court. The Chief went ballistic! The smooth veneer slipped off and he literally raved about those unspeakable morons on the Supreme Court of the United States of America. His audience cringed with horror.

I wonder what can and should be said about the men and women of today's Roberts Court? How about that a majority of them are blind to reality, blatantly political or simply out of touch with the world we live in? One could say none of the above, or only that five of them are capable of really monstrous error and it would be a serious indictment. What else can one call Citizens v. United wherein corporations are people and allowed to give unlimited amounts of money in political elections as a matter of free speach? Has it really brought about what they wanted? Would the founding fathers have approved?

Does anyone, except maybe David Koch, really believe that we need more money in American elections? Over and over we have seen what happens when big sums of money become involved in these campaigns which seem never to end - more mudslinging, nonstop attack ads, more dirty tricks. Money from wherever it can be found, pollutes the our political process to the point where facts don't matter and logic gives way to theater. Bucks trump (no pun intended) everything because they can buy the best spinsters, the most imaginative attack ad promoters and contrived public " moments", even if they are shortlived. Nothing matters except election day and, of course, the type of post election spin game that got George W. Bush elected by the Supreme Court we're discussing.

Things are going to change in American elections, but how soon, no one knows and how much more damage can our system take? Americans are deeply disturbed and disillusioned by the present horror of our political system, to which a misguided Supreme Court has contibuted mightily. It's ironic like a Greek tragedy, and look where the people who invented democracy are today. They are protesting in the streets of Athens. Will Americans follow in Washington? Without big changes very soon, you can be sure of it.

Let's look at Sheldon Adelson, the casino mogul. Why would he put tens of millions that we know about into Republican coffers? He is alleged to be singularly interested in the State of Israel and we assume that he wants the lowest possible corporate tax rates, but is it possible hes has invested secretly more millions in Mitt Romney because of some deal he's made to protect Israel against Iran? Romney has been outspoken about his determination to prevent Iran from achieving a nuclear weapon. If Mr. Adelson hasn't made a deal for his millions, what if the Koch brothers want to emulate him?

If you think such pay to play deals are nonsense, consider what former British prime minister John Major testified to a week ago in the parliamentary inquiry into whether Rupert Murdoch is fit to wield huge business power in England. Mr Major essentially said that it was a rare event for a visitor to sit before a British prime minister in his office and demand a major change of national policy in return for the support of Mr. Murdoch's newspapers. Mr. Major refused to comply with Mr. Murdoch's demands and lost his support and the next national election, at least partly as a result

Mr. Adelson's money couldn't save Newt Gingrich and maybe corporate billions won't put Mr. Romney into the White House, but what about huge money in state races. We saw recently where Gov. Walker won his recall election in Wisconsin by outspending his rival 7 - 1. That may be enough to turn any election, but it's clearly possible now. Maybe Citizens v. United will be reversed or modified one day, but for now we are self inflicting great wounds on our wonderful country with this kind of foul play which serves further to drive out decent people like Olympia Snowe and Richard Lugar. These are trying days for the Supremes and I wonder if they know they aren't living up to what's expected of them..

Barry's Baby Reprise

Back in June, my blog "Barry's Baby" outlined briefly the disgust to which Americans can expect to be treated as the dirtiest political campaign in American history gets under way. It's happening as we blog.

My prediction noted, in part, that the Republicans would use the tactics taught them by the late, but unlamented Lee Atwater: they would attack the president's strengths, not his weaknesses. Indeed, those tactics worked beautifully on John Kerry who was and is a war hero, but was successfully branded as a phony by Karl Rove, George Bush's great "architect" of victory.

Mr. Rove is at it again, as he attempts through a superpac (Crossroads GPS) to paint Elizabeth Warren, the consumer advocate who is going to unseat Scott Brown and become junior senator from Massachusetts, as the person who helped pay big Wall Street businessmen fat bonuses using TARP money! Nothing of course could be further from the truth. Prof Warren is anathema to such business leaders who are staunchly defended by Republicans in Congress.

In addition, this week President Obama, who has been widely praised for his handling of foreign affairs, came under attack from Mitt Romney and other Republicans for favoring terrorists rather than the people of Israel! I'm doubling down on my bet that this is going to be the most revolting political campaign of modern times. Donald Trump is still casting doubt on the president's citizenship and it is only a matter of time before he and Atwater's other heirs claim Barry has an illegitimate child somewhere, or offer some similar calumny.

Nah, that's not it.

David Brooks is a brainy guy who writes very well as a conservative columnist (and author) for the New York Times. His recent article entitled "What Republicans think" is, however, considerably off the mark.

Brooks says that Republicans see the current economic crisis here and abroad as the beginning of the end for the welfare state, which President Eisenhower fostered and successive presidents of both parties encouraged and funded. Now everyone has gone too far with the benefits and the house of cards is crashing. It's possible he's prematurely right, but where's the evidence? Who says so? Most of our congressmen/women don't show any sign of having world views or the ability to express them if they did. "Nah, that's not it" was my thought almost immediately, as I read his column.

What Republicans are doing is just another version of "starve the beast", ie the federal government. Did Scott Walker talk about a world view as he attacked labor unions and went after Planned Parenthood in Wisconsin? Does Paul Ryan really think the world can be fixed by socking it to the poor? There's been nothing from John Boehner about the big picture and who would listen if he did see beyond DC? Eric Cantor has spoken breezily about telling people the US can't afford retirements or benefits anymore, but he's really focused only on easing John Boehner into early retirement. Beside this, we haven't been nearly as negligent as the Greeks or those other countries where people take naps in the middle of the day and retire at 50 with full pay.

Our American  crisis would be far along on the way to recovery, in fact, if our government were functioning at even a modest level. Instead, at a time of intense crisis wherein millions of Americans are suffering severely, our politicians are working energetically against each other, focused on old partisan issues like abortion, birth control and RACE, whether it's stated or not. It is positively dumbfounding and disgusting to the point of being traitorous.

We're at a profoundly sad time in American and world history when American leadership is so greatly needed and there is nothing in Washington except gridlock, acrimony and one party's determination to bring down our first black president and return to the good ole unregulated Golden Age of the great tycoons. I don't think Republicans are really thinking at all.

Ah, Springtime II

Spring always brings graduation days and related commencement speeches. In anticipation of numerous invitations to speak that have not materialized, due no doubt to economies imposed upon the US Postal Service, I have prepared remarks I will share with you, minus all the drivel about hard working graduates and long suffering parents.

You are graduating at one hell of a tough time and your century is going to be just as difficult as mine, or more so. Think about that for a minute. There are so many problems you need to solve immediately I am only going to touch on one because of my concern for your physical well being. That problem is simple fairness and justice, the stuff  that you supposedly learned about in grade school.

When people do bad things they must be identified and punished. If there is to be law and order in this land that we love there has to be accountability. Without that guarantee things go down hill fast. Fair and equal justice is a core value. If the core rots everyone is in terrible danger and in many cases justice delayed is justice denied. That's what is happening as I speak.

So tell me, esteemed graduates, should people who betray the trust of our nation by leading us into 2 wars (!) improperly and under false pretenses be punished at least minimally? Too tough a matter for this fine day? OK, let's consider something less complicated: should people and institutions who brought our banking system almost to its knees and caused a mortgage crisis of unprecedented severity (great pain to millions) be punished or rewarded?  How about the rating agencies, Moody's, Fitch and Standard & Poors? Want to throw in the SEC and the robo signers speeding foreclosures along the way?

Getting down to the bone, what kind of justice should be handed to the top CEOs at the too big to fail banks, Citi, Goldman, Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan Chase? Shouldn't we include for punishment also some of the directors of those companies who have been grossly neglient and careless? Why that's anti-business thinking, at best, and contrary to our free enterprise system in addition, you might say. I must be a commie for even thinking of such an assault on the democratic system. No way! I want it to continue better and stronger than ever and that can be achieved only by putting some accountability back into the mix. It has been missing for too long in this age wherein no one ever resigns and few are convicted. Remember Sherman in Tom Wolfe's Bonfire of the Vanities?He wondered if he'd be socially ostracized for his infidelity and other sins that had become public information only to discover that all was well and his friends merely shared his discomfort while he endured his 15 minutes in the spotlight.

Consider also now what to do with leaders who deliberately publish campaign information they know to be false, or totally twisted? The headline is front page news, the retraction, if there even is one, is on page 37, next to cat-up- a- tree stories. America's election commisssions and ethics committees are jokes and are simply augmenting the decay of our society.

Lastly, is it just or fair that a tiny portion of our nation's population ends up fighting our misbeguided wars? I know you're draft bait, but this question may be the clincher for whether or not you got what you came here for and whether or not you'll be able to do good stuff with it. Thanks for inviting me and accept my appologies for not delaying my departure to answer questions. Did I mention that  I was on the varsity track team?

The Green Berets of Grief

Over the Memorial Day weekend, I saw on TV a young woman and mother of one make as fine a tribute to her killed-in-combat husband as I have ever witnessed. She was a Green Beret of Grief.

Green Berets are renowned as highly intelligent fighters who have been trained to jump out of airplanes, climb vertical cliffs, ford raging rivers and eat snakes, if they need to." They show their pride in their training and in what they do by wearing green "covers" on their heads. They are proud soldiers.

The young woman I watched exercised tight discipline on her emotions; she was dignified, smart and brave. She had felt the pain of all humanity and she was stronger because of it. Her personal strengths had been augmented and refined into something of which her husband would have been immensely proud. She could  become a national leader, if she so choses. 

For those in great grief with or without an attachment to the military, deep comfort can be found in the teachings of a Jewish carpenter who was meek and mild but had power to command the wind and walk on the waves. "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted," he said. They have been marked by their encounter with the pain of the world that extends even to the animals and their comfort contains an enablement to march on and do even more. Our loving God has "consecrated to them their deepest distress" and it shows, for those with the discernment to recognize the subtle signs. There is no glistening medal or unusual hat, but they have been healed and sent back into the fray as Green Berets of Grief.

Lions and Hyenas

When I was in Wall Street, it was a very good place to be. It was respectable work and I felt like I could earn good money and help other people to do the same thing. My beliefs have changed greatly in the intervening years and I haven't been able to recommend a career on "the Street" to anyone in decades. A Wall Streeter still looks great in a $5,000 suit with all the hand made accoutrements, but even that may be coming to an end.

Romney has made much of his experience with Bain Capital, where he made millions (and still does) and helped to bring into our lives some success stories like Staples and The Sports Authority. He calls himself a private equity expert, but now people are beginning to understand that he might also be called a corporate raider, even maybe a bottom feeder and I don't think he's going to be able to keep up the masquerade as a Lion of Wall Street when he may more closely resemble a hyena or a vulture. At Bain, Romney who was the Founder and CEO, was focused exclusively one making a profit for himself and his partners and not all of his efforts were successful. None of his moves were altruistic, unless one imagines that removing roadkill is useful work. He chose his field, declining to be an investment banker or hedge fund manager, so it isn't unfair to ask why the much less attractive field appealed more to him

When Bain, or a similar enterprise, takes over a failing company there is much dirty work to be done that most people would find extraordinarily ugly. Often the buyers avoid getting their hands bloody by bringing in CEOs with colorful names to do the wet work. Al Dunlap, who was known for his brutal efficiency as "Chainsaw Harry" comes to mind. These new bosses fire everyone in sight, strip out benefits for those remaining, sell off anything removable and then see if the parts can be sold for a tax advantage or somehow be made profitable enough to recover their highly leverage investment. Sometimes the resultrs are re-leveraged so management can get every possible advantage. Inevitably, it is hell to work for a company that has been tajken over. Employees are scared stiff and productivity is pushed to the max. There will be no bowling teams working and no little leaguers sponsored. I believe Mr. Romney saw a chance to run a financial firm and make big money and that was enough.

When people think of American big business, they tend to envision Ford assembly lines, oil rigs in the Gulf or huge drug companies, but there's a seamy side, too, that few like to contemplate, except Mr. Romney and others with similar business interests. This is seldom high minded stuff, it's Wall Street at its worst and Americans need to know it's there, out back behind the handsome facade. The law of the jungle prevails in business, but I don't believe this kind of business experience is what I'd prefer for the leader of the free world. Mr. Romney might do better to talk more about his experiences as governor of Massachusetts, but he can't do that, can he?