what if?

"Dissent is the Highest Form of Patriotism"

So we were told just a few short years ago.  When we had a Republican president, those on the left constantly reminded us that speaking out against the government was our right, a higher calling - and that criticism of such was anti-American and wrong.  Frankly - I agree with those who believe this.  One of the greatest strengths of our nation is that we are free to speak our mind, without fear of injury or incarceration - irrespective of what our views are.

Now, however, times have changed.  We have a Democratic Congress and a very liberal president.  Surely, however, "dissent is the highest form of patriorism" still applies.... Right?

Wrong.

Now, if you don't like the far-reaching, enormous health care bill that Congress passed, you're a racist.  Or a lunatic.  Or an offshoot of the former KKK.  So says the New York Times' Frank Rich, and Washington Post's Colbert King, and so on and so forth.

But, it really is not about race.  And frankly, I am sick to death of hearing that it is.

President Obama could not have been elected president if he had not received strong support from white people.  He did receive the support of many - because many believed what Obama said when he was campaigning and thought that he was the superior candidate for president.

Times change and opinions change.  People are protesting not because they are vicious racists or because they "can't stand to see a black man in charge" or any of the other ridiculous statements that have been made.  They are protesting because they don't see a president who is leading in a "post-partisan" manner.  They do not see a government that is protecting our freedoms and being fiscally responsible.  They are protesting because of the manner in which this legislation was stuffed down our craw, irrespective of what the people wanted.

If you believe the B.S. that has been splattered about today's protestors, in contrast to those who came before them on the left just a few short years ago, then take a trip down memory lane.

Those who slur Tea Partiers and other protestors do so for one very important reason.  They cannot meet the arguments of those who are critical with strong rebuttals.  So - instead, they resort to slurs and slander.

Don't let them get away with it. 

Pictures

Sometimes they're worth much more than 1,000 words.

March 28, 1948

Sixty-two years ago, in the living room of my grandparents' home, Mom and Dad got married.  A big blow-out at a fancy Chicago hotel had been planned.  When my maternal grandmother became seriously ill, however, and was unable to travel to Illinois, the big shin dig was cancelled.  Instead, a small gathering watched Mom and Dad take their vows, amidst wedding cake and champagne.

Their friends said it wouldn't last.  Mom and Dad battled more than most couples, disagreed on more topics, and had (metaphorical) knock-down drag out fights.  Yet, as others divorced - or died - Mom and Dad's marriage stayed intact.

Two years ago in Florida, many of us celebrated the Big 60.  This year, according to a phone report this morning, festivities were more subdued.  Mom and Dad headed out to brunch with a couple of friends, then home to relax for the rest of the day. 

Do the folks look 60 years older in these shots?  (And yes; my apologies.  These photos are "only" 60 years after  the shot on the left. None to post from this anniversary, alas.) 

I'm not sure how much older they look.  I only know that, despite more raging battles and disagreements galore - it's tough to think of any couple that loves one another more than Mom and Dad love each other.

Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad!  Maybe for #63 I'll get some updated photos for ya :)

A Moment in Time

My dear friend Bonnie lost her mom less than a month ago.  Somehow, Bonnie found this snippet of sunshine featuring her mom and dad on youtube.  When she can't sleep at night, it comforts her to watch this half minute of smiles and song.

A bittersweet reminder to all of us to appreciate what we have when we have it.  I will try to remember this important lesson; thanks, Bonnie.

Be Proud, Democrats!

With just one bill, they've sent us careening on a path toward utter disaster.

B.F.D.

"Healthcare has passed; healthcare has passed!"  My friends on the left shout the news, on blogs, on radio, on Facebook.  Soon we will have a world where everyone can go to the doctor as often as they wish, where disease will become something only old-timers comprehend, and where health care, though perhaps not "free" - will be affordable for all.  Sounds pretty darn good, doesn't it!?

Yet wait!  Now that this legislation has passed and has become law, some people are actually reading the darn bill!  Lo and behold, look what they have found.

According to a report by Congress's Joint Committee on Taxation, the individual mandate in Obamacare lacks any real enforcement mechanism:

The penalty applies to any period the individual does not maintain minimum essential coverage and is determined monthly. The penalty is assessed through the Code and accounted for as an additional amount of Federal tax owed. However, it is not subject to the enforcement provisions of subtitle F of the Code. The use of liens and seizures otherwise authorized for collection of taxes does not apply to the collection of this penalty. Non-compliance with the personal responsibility requirement to have health coverage is not subject to criminal or civil penalties under the Code and interest does not accrue for failure to pay such assessments in a timely manner.

Let's see.  The law requires that everyone secure health care coverage, one way or another.  But, if you don't get coverage, then there is no way for the government to penalize you.  Add in a requirement that no insurance company can turn you down for health coverage, whenever you want it, and ... as Daniel Foster (or our Vice President) puts it, you've got:

A B.F.D. Without effective enforcement of the individual mandate, and with proscriptions against denying coverage on preexisting conditions, you've got yourself the potential for a pretty big moral hazard.

Once people understand the rules of the game, how many people do you think are going to get health insurance before it's really necessary?  Right.  Probably only the same chumps who think they're actually supposed to pay back what they've borrowed on their homes ... and we know that, thanks to our president, there are going to be fewer and fewer of them, too.

Selfish? Or .....

Over and over, my leftist friends have told me through the years that I am selfish.  I am selfish because I don't want higher tax rates - despite the fact that given my current circumstances, at least in theory I would stand to benefit more short term than I would be harmed.  I am selfish because I don't support "health care reform" - although I really do - just not this form of health care reform.

I am not against taxes collected for critical services that our government should be providing.  Yet, let me ask you this.  Does this seem like something which should demand higher tax rates?

Amazing Grace

Part of why I have virtually no time for what if? blogging while at a national bridge tournament is this.

Elite partnerships. Star players. Grueling competition. Yes, the first-ever Platinum Pairs had all this and more.

Yet, make no mistake. Although the field was chock full of experts, reaching the final cut depended not on your celebrity ranking, but on your score. One player in that field was not a national champ, did not have tens of thousands of masterpoints, and her name is not known throughout the bridge world. Still, her matchpoint score was better than that of many others, and she earned the right to play the final day. Meet Grace Jeklin.

This was the most fearsome field I had ever faced - but Grace kept on truckin' and made it through.  (I, on the other hand, exited after the first day.)

Stories like this one are but one more reason why I so love this game!

For more highlights of our tournament, check out here.

Contracts

Are made to be broken.  That is the lesson that the current administration is teaching to our children and our people.

The Obama administration plans to overhaul how it is tackling the foreclosure crisis, in part by requiring lenders to temporarily slash or eliminate monthly mortgage payments for many borrowers who are unemployed, senior officials said Thursday.

Banks and other lenders would have to reduce the payments to no more than 31 percent of a borrower's income, which would typically be the amount of unemployment insurance, for three to six months. In some cases, administration officials said, a lender could allow a borrower to skip payments altogether.

Don't laugh.  You could be the one forced to pay the bill for someone else's misfortunes next. 

Every Cloud has a Silver Lining

Here is Barack Obama's.

Dean Nelson says as far as he knows, there have never been as many black Republicans running for Congress as there are this year.

Asked why that’s the case, the vice chairman of the Frederick Douglass Foundation ^[1], a conservative group of black people who promote smaller government, pointed to an unlikely inspiration for the Republicans: Democratic President Barack Obama.

“I think with his success, it has given a level of hope and expectation for African-American candidates, whether they’re Republican or Democrat that you know hey, this is something that can be done,” Nelson said in an interview with The Daily Caller.

Because many black conservatives share the same type of political experience Obama had at the state level before going to Washington, Nelson said, many are saying, “doggone it, I should throw my hat into the ring and I might be able to have success.”

Of the more than 30 black Republican congressional and senatorial candidates running for office this election cycle, the Frederick Douglass Foundation held a leadership summit for more than 15 of them this weekend.

“Because [Obama's] policies are so out of touch with most of America I think specifically you have black conservatives that are looking beyond just the image. They’re looking at policy and how it impacts us,” Nelson said.

He also said there’s “a stronger network of visible black conservatives than many have not seen in the past.”

“What we found is a lot of candidates are feeling like, ‘Hey, I’m not an island by myself, there are other black Republicans who are out there who are not afraid to say it,’ and I think that that has given them a greater sense of confidence,” Nelson said.

Hope and Change

For those of you who voted for President Obama, is this the kind of hope for which you were hoping?

Caterpillar Inc. said Wednesday it will take a $100 million charge to earnings this quarter to reflect additional taxes stemming from newly enacted U.S. health-care legislation.

The world’s largest construction equipment manufacturer by sales, warned last week that provisions in the legislation would subject the company to federal income taxes on the subsidies it receives for providing prescription drug benefits for its retirees and their spouses. …

The charge is expected to be a one-time cost, but Caterpillar has argued that higher taxes and other potential cost increases related to insurance coverage mandates in the legislation will hinder the company’s recovery this year after a 75% plunge in income during 2009.

“From our point of view, a tax increase like this cannot come at a worse time,” said Jim Dugan, a Caterpillar spokesman.

Is this the change you wanted?

Farm equipment maker Deere expects after-tax expenses to rise by $150 million this year as a result of the health care reform law President Barack Obama signed this week.

Most of the higher expense will come in Deere’s [DE  60.94    0.45  (+0.74%)   ] second quarter, the company said on Thursday. The expense was not included in the company’s earlier 2010 forecast, which called for net income of about $1.3 billion. …

The law could raise expenses for large U.S. employers. Industrial companies, which typically have large numbers of retirees, may be among those facing the biggest bill. Caterpillar had argued before the legislation passed that health reform would put it at a disadvantage against global competitors.

Now we have two American-based manufacturers that suddenly have a quarter of a billion dollars less capital than they did on Saturday.  That’s just two companies.  How much more capital will that grab from American businesses?  We’ll start seeing it in their financial disclosures soon enough, and it will run into the tens of billions of dollars, perhaps more.

I myself am horrified.  Then again - this administration did not earn my vote.

Are you glad that the president got yours?

The Force of Failure

Often, I believe that one critical component that separates the right from the left is responsibility.  The right believes that holding people personally responsible, barring exceptional circumstances, is critical for a functioning society.  The left appears to believe that people more often than not are victims:  victims of others, victims of bad luck, victims of their own poor choices. Whatever the reason, the left seems most often to believe that people should be "saved" - rather than live with their own choices.

Perhaps hand in hand with this thinking is the notion of failure.  Almost none of us ever want to fail.  We want success, wealth, love, accolades, power - and failure figures into none of it.  Oddly enough, however, failure is a necessity.

When government becomes a player and tries to prevent the failure of market participants, its decisions are almost invariably corrupted by the political process. Government overseers tend to be less attentive and careful because they are playing with taxpayers' money rather than their own. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are the poster children for what is wrong with "state capitalism" or "economic fascism," in which the government leaves nominal ownership in the hands of private individuals but exercises control by regulation and taxation.

It is an illusion that the government and regulation can save us from ourselves.  Do not misunderstand; I am not a nihilist and I completely agree that some government regulation is essential.  Yet, the government should be an overseer - not a caretaker.  When you remove the ability of people to fail, you remove their need to have good judgment, to work hard, to plan for the future - in essence, you remove most of the qualities that create successful adults.

Just like any leftist, I would love some ideal world where no one was poor, no one ever went hungry, no one went without medical care or love or shelter.  Yet, unlike the leftists, I realize such a world is impossible to achieve.

The closest we can come to a world we want is to continue to stress that people be responsible for themselves - and to appreciate that if they are not, then failure is not only a very real option; it is a likely one.

Failure is a powerful and necessary force.  Do not remove it; the results will be dire.

Word Cloud

What do people think of Congress?

This.

A Great Speech

Finally I am home from my national tournament.  Not one of my better ones; no great successes to report.  Perhaps having begun with the flu and a migraine - and ending with a migraine on my way home plus a nasty cold - contributed to less than stellar results.  In any case, despite no fireworks for me, I nevertheless had a marvelous time competing with and against friends from around the planet at the world's greatest mind game.

And now - something else great.  A speech about Israel from its Prime Minister.

Israel, like any democracy, has its imperfections but we strive to correct them through open debate and scrutiny. Israel has independent courts, the rule of law, a free press and a vigorous parliamentary debate - believe me, it's vigorous. I know that members of Congress refer to one another as my distinguished colleague from Wisconsin or the distinguished Senator from California.

In Israel, members of Knesset don't speak of their distinguished colleagues from Kiryat Shmona and Be'er Sheva. We say - well, you don't want to know what we say....

In Israel, self-criticism is a way of life, and we accept that criticism is part of the conduct of international affairs. But Israel should be judged by the same standards applied to all nations, and allegations against Israel must be grounded in fact.

One allegation that is not is the attempt to describe the Jews as foreign colonialists in their own homeland, one of the great lies of modern times.

In my office, I have a signet ring that was loaned to me by Israel's Department of Antiquities. The ring was found next to the Western wall, but it dates back some 2,800 years ago, two hundred years after King David turned Jerusalem into our capital city. The ring is a seal of a Jewish official, and inscribed on it in Hebrew is his name: Netanyahu. Netanyahu Ben-Yoash. That's my last name. My first name, Benjamin, dates back 1,000 years earlier to Benjamin, the son of Jacob.

One of Benjamin's brothers was named Shimon, which also happens to be the first name of my good friend, Shimon Peres, the President of Israel.

Nearly 4,000 years ago, Benjamin, Shimon and their ten brothers roamed the hills of Judea.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The connection between the Jewish people and the Land of Israel cannot be denied. The connection between the Jewish people and Jerusalem cannot be denied. The Jewish people were building Jerusalem 3,000 year ago and the Jewish people are building Jerusalem today. Jerusalem is not a settlement. It is our capital.

Bill Plays Bridge

Bill Gates has arrived at our National tournament in Reno.  Just prior to the main event, Bill kindly met with some very excited kids.  Then - on to the competition!

Friends and Foes

Day after day of grueling competition - along with snapping photos, writing stories, aiding my real estate clients and trying to get a few hours of shut eye leaves not too terribly much time for blogging! I miss everyone - but - really won't be back in the saddle until I return to Minnetonka.

This article, however, caught my eye. 

It is nice to see a real display of emotion from the normally dispassionate Obama administration. Unfortunately, if predictably, its ire is directed not against America's enemies but against one of our closest friends.

Vice President Joe Biden, in Israel on March 9, publicly "condemned" the announcement by the Israeli government that another 1,600 homes would be built in East Jerusalem. He claimed the decision undermined "the trust that we need right now in order to . . . have profitable negotiations." Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton piled on, phoning Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to personally chew him out about this "deeply negative signal." Even the White House politico, David Axelrod, joined in, calling what happened "an affront" and "an insult."

If the White House has expressed similar outrage about other "affronts" and "insults," I missed it. For example, there was the Axis of Evil summit in Damascus on Feb. 26 featuring Bashar Assad of Syria, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah of Hezbollah and Khaled Meshaal of Hamas. They called for a Middle East "without Zionists and without colonialists," mocked U.S. attempts to separate Syria from Iran and demanded that Americans "pack their bags and leave" the region.

Are your friends perfect?  Mine are not; neither am I myself, sad to report.  As Max Boot puts it:

Why is the administration so hard on Israel -- the most liberal and pro-American country in the region -- when it's so soft on its despotic neighbors?

Love Lost?

My results at my North American Bridge Championship have been less than stellar - to say the least!  Still, my love affair with bridge is not ended.  It's still the finest mind game ever created.

What can we say about the love affair between the Democrats and Jews?  Is it on its way out?

The Obama administration has taken the admonition to “Keep your friends close but your enemies closer” to a new level. They want to make love with their enemies while taking their friends to the woodshed and beating the living daylights out of them. And take them they did, time after time. First Biden, then Hillary, then some semi anonymous character at the State Department dressing down Ambassador Oren (talk about disrespecting your betters!), then on to the talk show circuit with the droning Gibbs and Obama’s “best Jew” David Axlerod. His other “best Jew” Rahm Emanuel was nowhere in evidence, as far as I know. (Interesting, that).

But back to my lede. Is the Jewish love affair with the Democratic Party about to end? I know many will be skeptical. And they should be. But I suspect something is brewing. This kind of excessive and weirdly paternalistic attitude to the state of Israel, directed so clearly from the top, seems to come out of a kind of unexamined personal animus. The long record that Obama has of friendship with virulent enemies of Israel has not gone unnoticed.

As the old saying goes; only time will tell.  Let's hope that the rest of the time this week is kinder to my bridge performance, too!

Gone But Not Forgotten

The Republicans used to be in power; then they lost it. Too much corruption, too much campaigning and not living up to what they said they were going to do, too much abuse of power and too little listening to what people really wanted.

Is it now the turn of the Democrats to get booted out of office?

The country is moving away from big government, with distrust growing more generally toward the role of government in our lives. Scott Rasmussen asked last month whose decisions people feared more in health care: that of the federal government or of insurance companies. By 51 percent to 39 percent, respondents feared the decisions of federal government more. This is astounding given the generally negative perception of insurance companies.

CNN found last month that 56 percent of Americans believe that the government has become so powerful it constitutes an immediate threat to the freedom and rights of citizens. When only 21 percent of Americans say that Washington operates with the consent of the governed, as was also reported last month, we face an alarming crisis.

Health care is no longer a debate about the merits of specific initiatives. Since the spectacle of Christmas dealmaking to ensure passage of the Senate bill, the issue, in voters' minds, has become less about health care than about the government and a political majority that will neither hear nor heed the will of the people.

Voters are hardly enthralled with the GOP, but the Democrats are pursuing policies that are out of step with the way ordinary Americans think and feel about politics and government. Barring some change of approach, they will be punished severely at the polls.

I'll Have a Double

Our government today.

 

Imagine you have a friend who has a budget problem.  Every month he spends more than he earns.  His credit card bills are piling up.  He is clearly on an unsustainable path.  Then one day he comes to you with an idea.

Friend: I am going to take off a few days from work and fly down to Bermuda for a quick vacation.

You: But isn't that expensive?  Won't that just add to your growing debts?

Friend: Yes, it is expensive.  But my plan is deficit-neutral.  I have decided to give up that half-caf, extra shot caramel macchiato I order at Starbucks twice every day.  I really don't need that expensive drink.  And if I give it up for the next three years, it will pay for my Bermuda trip.

You: Well, then, how are you going to solve the problem of your growing debts?

Friend: I am going to figure that out as soon as I return from Bermuda.

You: But in light of your budget problem, maybe you should give up Starbucks and skip the Bermuda vacation.  Giving up Starbucks could be the easiest way to start balancing your budget.

Friend: You really aren't any fun, are you?

This conversation is meant to illustrate why claims of deficit-neutrality in the healthcare reform bill should not give much comfort to those worried about the U.S. fiscal situation.

 

Are you scared?  I am.  Maybe I should have a double of something else.

Other People's Money

 
I love the colors - and what an attractive, mountainscape type of design.

When you realize, however, that this is a chart of entitlement spending that explodes in the future, delight may turn to horror.

What happens when you run out of other people's money?  With these projections, we may soon find out.