Sober Stuff October 30, 2009March 16, 2017 This much-talked about investment assessment – that I am several days late in sharing – offers an important perspective for investors, policymakers, and voters. And it may lead you to buy some GLD. It certainly strengthens my belief that the last thing we needed this year were tax cuts. They may have been politically necessary; indeed, in today’s world, they almost surely were. But, as argued here at the time, the folks WITH jobs and the folks MAKING taxable profits are not the ones who most needed help – nor the ones whom helping would do us any economic good. The tax cuts did not lead to hiring people; they were used to pay down debt and/or to buy stuff America largely doesn’t need, much or most of it made abroad. Whatever we borrow should be borrowed to put people to work building a solid future – caulking and insulating homes, rebuilding bridges, digitizing health care records, smarting-up the electric grid. (In that last regard, see the President’s remarks Tuesday, where he announced 100 grants totaling $3.4 billion to install smart grid technologies.) Have a great weekend, Einhorn’s sobering assessment notwithstanding.
A More Perfect Union; A Basket of Speculations October 29, 2009March 16, 2017 THE BELL OF FREEDOM Yesterday, Federal legislation aimed at granting LGBT people (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) equal rights was signed into law for the first time in our nation’s history. In some ways it was just a toe in the water and a very small start – it extended the existing Federal hate crimes statute to cover crimes based on sexual orientation and gender identity. But it was a good start, and we soon may have the employment discrimination law extended to cover gays; allow gays to serve in the military without having to lie about who they are; even allow married gay couples the same right as married straight couples. (Right now, a gay couple legally married in Massachusetts or Canada or Connecticut or Spain or Iowa or South Africa or Vermont or Holland is treated by the Federal government as if they were not married at all.) Addressing a group of interested citizens after the signing, the President concluded by recalling the signing of the original hate crimes legislation: In April of 1968, just one week after the assassination of Martin Luther King, as our nation mourned in grief and shuddered in anger, President Lyndon Johnson signed landmark civil rights legislation. This was the first time we enshrined into law federal protections against crimes motivated by religious or racial hatred — the law on which we build today. As he signed his name, at a difficult moment for our country, President Johnson said that through this law “the bell of freedom rings out a little louder.” That is the promise of America. Over the sounds of hatred and chaos, over the din of grief and anger, we can still hear those ideals — even when they are faint, even when some would try to drown them out. At our best we seek to make sure those ideals can be heard and felt by Americans everywhere. And that work did not end in 1968. It certainly does not end today. But because of the efforts of the folks in this room — particularly those family members who are standing behind me — we can be proud that that bell rings even louder now and each day grows louder still. BZ, DEPO, INCY, DYAX I think there’s lots of risk in the stock market even after the small correction we’ve just had or are in the midst of. But with BZ back down from over $6 to $5.21 and the BZ warrants down from a high of $1 to 62 cents year, I was heartened by a research paper yesterday from Lazard Capital. It noted a refinancing of some 15.75% debt with 9% debt and set its price target for Boise Paper stock at $8. I wouldn’t buy it here – I liked the stock better at 37 cents a year ago and the warrants better at 2 cents. But I’m not rushing to sell the final third or so of the warrants. You never know. A basket of mini-drug-stock speculations that might double a year or two from now – to be bought only with money you can truly afford to lose – is INCY (suggested June 11 at $3.40 or so, $5.62 last night) and DEPO (down to $3.02 from $4.50 or so when suggested here the first of this month, so I’ve bought more) and DYAX, yours yesterday for $3.17.
Rachel! Rachel! October 28, 2009March 16, 2017 OPT-OUT As noted in August, many of us would like to see some improved version of the British or French or Canadian system (with our spending vastly more than they do, there would be room for improvement, even as our costs came way down) – but a “single-payer” system is not in the cards. Failing that, we hope a “public option” will be part of the compromise. Yet even that was in trouble in August. Well, here was my suggestion: a “public option” for those states that want it. Couldn’t that pass? So it now [October] looks as though this may indeed be the compromise. But to be clear on how tame this is, and to see the whole spectrum of possible reform, from left to right, see: RACHEL MADDOW ON THE PUBLIC OPTION Here. RACHEL MADDOW ON FOX “NEWS” Here she does four enlightening minutes on the Tea Party schism . . . in the course of which she shows the promos Fox “News” ran to promote the Tea Parties, a part of Fox programming. WHY JOURNALISTS SHOULDN’T BE DEFENDING FOX NEWS Bill Press makes the case here. CORRODED CAR BUMPERS Andrew Klossner: “That “Soft Drinks Hard Facts” document is urban legend. You can find a good discussion here.” ☞ Well, yes and no. Apparently, soft drinks do corrode bumpers – but that’s not such a big deal.
Masks, Guns, and a Travel Tip October 27, 2009March 16, 2017 MASKS Denise: “This recent article compares the cheaper surgical masks versus the N95, which filters better if you fit it tightly around the face. It says they are equally effective – but may not be that effective (over 20% infection rate per flu season with either). Other studies disagree. The paper surgical masks are much more comfortable. However, most people will probably tell you to get N95 (which is what I have too). They smell funny, though, and are very hot.” ☞ Better hot than dead. Ken Smith: “This is what you want.” ☞ Not cheap or easy to find, but I got a couple here. GUNS Sheldon Teperman: “Not sure if you’ve been following this tragic story: a church-going, happy and vibrant 92-year-old woman whose life was snuffed out by a stray bullet that came through her window as she cooked dinner. Unfortunately they keep reporting one fact incorrectly. She was very much alive when she came to Jacobi (not DOA). First the ED, and then my team and I and Anesthesia in the OR, struggled mightily and for some time to save her frail, beautiful life. But suffice it to say, there is no technique of 21st Century medicine that could have fixed what that bullet did. When I pronounced her, I was overcome with the futility and the horror of what had just transpired. I am grateful to the OR staff for their usual professionalism and their support in what was a very dark moment in my career as a trauma surgeon. Had there been a chance, Jacobi would have seized it. This morning they arrested a teenager and charged him with murder. Another wasted life. Our society has become inured to this type of violence and accepts, as a matter of fact, that we must have our guns, to remain free. I continue to challenge that assumption – in the name of Sadie Mitchell and in the name of those that have come before and those who are most certainly to follow.” TRAVEL TIP Instead of recycling that wide-mouthed plastic Honest Tea container, pack it, along with a box of Crystal Light Cherry Pomegranate Immunity On the Go or one of its cousins (Antioxidant Blueberry White Tea On the Go, anyone?) Total weight added to your luggage? About 3 ounces. Homeland Security issues? Zero (neither liquid nor gel). So now you check in to your Priceline hotel (one silver lining of recessions: name your own price when you travel), fill up the ice bucket with complimentary ice, pour one packet into the empty plastic container, add water and ice, shake like crazy – and you’ve just saved anywhere from $1 to $12 depending on how you travel. (The packets themselves run around 33 cents* and make the equivalent of two glasses of cold drink that room service would send up at $4 each plus service charge plus tax plus tip plus the time it takes to wait for room service. And don’t get me started on mini-bar charges.) Over a three-day stay, even if you just go down the hall to use the $1.50-a-can vending machine, you could save anywhere from $10 to “real money” on this tip. And avoid the frustration of not having what you want when you want it. The nutritional value is questionable, I grant you. But could these drinks be any worse for you than soft drinks that corrode car bumpers? *I do understand you could just . . . drink water. And save even the 33 cents. But plain water leaves me with cottonmouth. I need to taste something.
Clips Al Franken . . . John Mack October 26, 2009March 16, 2017 SENATOR AL FRANKEN Watch this two-minute clip to get a sense of what kind of senator he’s going to be. Paul Wellstone would be proud. MORGAN STANLEY CEO DESCRIBES THE WEEK FROM HELL This is a longer clip, but it just gets more and more gripping: a firsthand account of the week the global financial system could have collapsed. “Tell Tim Geithner I’m on with Japan . . .” Really: if you want to confirm or recalibrate your sense of what went on, and what kinds of people these are (my view: good people, overpaid), watch this.
Masks, Chops, Fiddles, and More October 23, 2009March 16, 2017 FACE MASKS Amie Home: “While the country continues to debate how we pay for and access health care, how about we reduce health care costs by keeping people from getting sick in the first place? As the family of five coughers filled the rows around me on a full plane last week I realized I was doomed. While I felt bad for the children and parents traveling (unmasked) while sick, I felt worse knowing what I was bringing home to my family. Sure enough, I caught swine flu and gave it to my 5 year old daughter, who has been battling 103 degree fevers for days now. People getting sick costs money and productivity. Why can we not have the will as a country to require masks for coughing people on planes, in doctor offices, and in other public places? Instead we throw up our hands and say, oh well, everyone is going to get it, and it becomes a very costly self-fulfilling prophecy. Just venting because my chest hurts, my oldest daughter is sick, and I dare not kiss my littlest one, all because a family decided they really needed to go on their Vegas vacation despite the fact that they had very sick children with them.” ☞ Ugh. I feel for you – and I thank you for increasing the likelihood I will actually WEAR one of the the little masks I bought (as every traveler should*) years ago – around the time of bird flu? – and have never worn because I’d feel like an idiot. But maybe now you’ve given me the courage to put health over embarrassment when I board Jet Blue tonight. *But did I buy the right kind? I have no idea. Readers will chime in and enlighten us? MORE LAMB CHOPS Ralph Mason: “I like Obama. He’s a huge improvement. But it’s hard to see our President talk about reform and change while standing before a crowd of people paying 15k per plate, many of whom are part of the very fabric of what has gone wrong in our economy and who are apparently without any remorse or even doubt about their role. I think we need to see a little more FDR in Obama even if it means he loses a few plates at the next fundraiser. Here’s what most Americans see while Obama’s in NY.” ☞ Ralph links us to a Wall Street Journal story about political contributions. I’d like to take a minute to give you my take on this. The first thing to say is that anyone who fails to see the connection between money and politics must be four years old. And the second thing to say is that anyone who fails to favor “clean elections” or similar campaign finance reform must be a Republican. (Okay, that’s a little strong, but just a little.) But the third thing to say is that there is a big difference between the effect of contributions on individual legislators and the effect of contributions to the DNC (or, when he was running, to Obama’s campaign itself). Because the fourth thing to say (don’t worry; I have only ten fingers) is that, thanks to a lot of pushing from our side, the amount of money any individual can give a party committee like the DNC in a given year has been reduced from “unlimited” – we had one guy who gave us $12 million in 2002 – to $30,400. That’s still a lot to you or me, but in a sea of more than $60 million the DNC will raise this year – the bulk of it from small contributions – $30,400 really doesn’t amount to that much. A fifth thing to say is that – even though it legally could and the RNC legally does – the DNC accepts no money from federal lobbyists (of whom there are more than 10,000 in Washington, each intensely interested in legislation and each with a checkbook), just as the Obama campaign did not. Likewise, we do not (but the RNC does) take money from Political Action Committees. So the truth is, no one is getting any bridges named after him – let alone a law passed, a regulation modified, or a policy changed – because of a $30,400 contribution to the DNC. And, by the way, the donors at this dinner were not “part of the very fabric of what has gone wrong in our economy and who are apparently without any remorse or even doubt about their role.” At my table were one sculptor; one computer services executive; three lawyers; one art dealer with a strong side-interest in caulking America’s energy leaking houses; and one retired Republican entrepreneur whose wife and daughters had twisted his arm to do this (he was a good sport, but left only partially converted). Others in the room I knew included an heiress from Vermont and her son (an artist); a young hedge fund guy and the mother of his three kids (his passion is education reform); a magazine publisher; the former mayor of Denver; a labor lawyer and his very activist liberal wife; a retired advertising mogul and his wife; the employee of a mega-philanthropist; the head of a major bank that received no TARP money; and some real estate moguls. Virtually everyone in the room was giving to see their taxes raised, not lowered; to see health coverage made universal even though they already have it; to see the President succeed with tough financial regulatory reform even though some of them are in finance. That’s why they were at a DNC dinner, not an RNC dinner. MUSIC ED. James Musters: “That was a good high school orchestra you linked to last Friday [just listen to them play], but some Venezuelan kids have them beat. The Times of London music critic rated them #5 in the world – not #5 in youth orchestras of the world, #5 in the world amongst all the great orchestras. It’s an outgrowth of Venezuela’s providing a classical music education for everyone, rich or poor. Back in the USA we are still trying to figure out a way for everyone to get health care, while the countries that have had it for decades are working on quality of life: The Finnish government just made broadband Internet access a guaranteed legal right of all its citizens. And the Venezuelans are providing classical music education, and an instrument, to all kids, no matter how poor.” ☞ Well, first off, those Ohio kids were from just one high school. Your ringers were, basically, national champions, culled from an entire country – and some of them appear to be about 30. No wonder they play so well. Ringers, I tell you! Ringers! But of course it’s terrific to see how the Venezuelans are using violins to fight violence. That first link above tells the inspiring story. Jacqueline Greenberg: “After sharing with all of us this wonderful high school orchestra, why not post information to help funds these kids. Many of your readers currently help the schools their own children attend, but we could all use the random acts of kindness of strangers (please excuse the mixed metaphor/literary quote).” ☞ Happily: Newark High School Orchestra Fund Park National Bank c/o Cindy Neely P.O. Box 3500 Newark, OH 43058-3500 GOT PLANS FOR SATURDAY? Click here to join one of thousands of actions around the globe tomorrow to bring attention to climate change.
Grab a Mop! October 22, 2009March 16, 2017 It makes me a little nuts I can’t find the video of the President’s speech last night on-line – several TV cameras were rolling, and I saw snippets of it on the news – because as well as the transcript reads, actually hearing and seeing him say these things is even more compelling. As I said yesterday . . . boy are we ever fortunate to have this guy. I know we’re out of practice, but it’s really okay not to be cynical: THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary __________________________________________ Immediate Release 2009 October 21, 2009 REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT AT DNC FUNDRAISER DINNER October 20, 2009 Mandarin Oriental Hotel New York, New York 6:21 P.M. EDT THE PRESIDENT: Hello, everybody! Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Please, everybody have a seat. Back to your salads — (laughter) — or whatever they’re serving. [Tomato mozzarella, decent but not great; best lamb chops I ever ate; a so-so apple tart “pre-set” when we sat down; good fresh-brewed coffee after the President finished speaking; basically, what would have been about an $80 dinner at a nice restaurant, yours for $15,200. – A.T.] It is good to be back in New York. (Applause.) Always great to be in New York. I — for those Yankee fans out there, you’re still up 2 to 1. (Applause.) You should be all right. I love this town, and I — want to know how much I appreciate everything that so many of the people in this room have done, not just for me, but for the country as a whole. There are a lot of folks here who were on the frontlines of our campaign, and people who devoted their time and their energy and their reputations to backing some guy nobody had ever heard of. (Laughter.) And I will never forget that. And not a day goes by that I don’t think about the obligations that I have as a consequence of this extraordinary honor that’s been bestowed on me — the obligation I’ve got to every American and everybody who put their hopes into a cause that wasn’t just about winning an election, but was about changing the country. Now, it’s been nine months since the Obama family packed up and moved to Washington. And I want to report that Malia and Sasha are doing very well. I got more requests for Malia and Sasha meetings during the photo line than — (laughter) — you can’t afford a fundraiser involving Malia and Sasha. (Laughter.) I just want you to know. I’m cheap. You guys can’t afford that. They are doing great. Michelle is obviously an extraordinary First Lady. (Applause.) And we’ve got Bo, my dog, who — I now rank fourth in influence in the house — (laughter) — behind Michelle, Malia, and Sasha. I’m slightly ahead of Bo. (Laughter.) But he’s coming on fast. (Laughter.) It’s important for all of us to remember, I think, what was happening less than a year ago when we walked into the Oval Office, because I notice that there’s been a little bit of selective memory going on, some collective amnesia on the part of some folks about what we were facing. We were seeing an economic crisis unlike any that we had seen in generations. We were losing 700,000 jobs per month. Our financial system was on the brinks — brink of collapse. Economists of every stripe were suggesting that we might slip into a Great Depression. That was just nine months ago. And think about what we’ve done since that time. We acted boldly and swiftly to pass a Recovery Act that’s made a difference in the lives of families across America. As promised, we put a tax cut in the pockets of 95 percent of working families in America — the most progressive tax cut in history, benefiting 7 million families right here in New York. (Applause.) We extended and increased unemployment insurance to help 12 million people get by during tough times. That’s helped more than a million folks here in New York. We made COBRA 65 percent cheaper so that if people were out there looking for jobs, they could actually still keep health care for themselves and their families. (Applause.) We provided relief to states, including New York, to make sure that teachers and firefighters and police officers weren’t laid off. According to initial reports, this has saved some 250,000 jobs in our schools all across America — 250,000 jobs; teachers that would have been laid off had it not been for the Recovery Act. We supported more than 30,000 loans to small businesses, including nearly 2,000 in this state, helping to create thousands of private sector jobs. But the Recovery Act wasn’t just about tax cuts; it wasn’t just about providing emergency relief for middle-class families and working families who bore the brunt of this recession. It was also the largest investment in education in American history. Think about that. The largest investment in education in American history — and one that is promoting reform in states all across the country. It was the largest investment in clean energy in American history. (Applause.) It was the largest boost to medical research and basic research in American history. (Applause.) And it was the single largest investment in our nation’s infrastructure since Eisenhower built the interstate highway system in the 1950s, an investment that’s putting people to work all across this country rebuilding not just our roads and our bridges and crumbling schools, but also creating a whole new infrastructure, a smart grid to help clean energy travel from where it’s produced to where it’s needed — broadband lines extending into communities that don’t have it. So that was pretty good for the first month. (Applause.) And then we kept on going, and we passed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, because I think women should get paid the same as men for doing the same work. (Applause.) We lifted the ban on stem cell research to begin restoring science to its rightful place in America. (Applause.) We extended health insurance to 11 million children in America — (applause) — 4 million of whom previously had no insurance at all. We passed a service bill named for Ted Kennedy, which is encouraging folks to give back to their communities all across the country, expanding Peace Corps and AmeriCorps. We passed legislation to protect consumers from unfair rate hikes, and the most comprehensive credit card reform legislation in a generation. We passed laws to make sure that our children weren’t being targeted by big tobacco companies, and housing fraud legislation. These were all things that we had been fighting for for years, that we signed into law in the first nine months. And for the first time in history, we’ve begun to put in place a new national policy aimed at both increasing fuel economy and reducing greenhouse gas pollution for all new cars and trucks sold in the United States. (Applause.) And while I was in line, I was talking to a few folks who are involved in the environmental movement, and they will affirm — we’re not doing this with a lot of fanfare — that we have been as productive in cleaning our environment and focusing on the big challenges having to do with our air and our water as any administration that’s been around in a very long time. For decades. If we stop now, if we didn’t do anything else for the next three months, we would have had one of the most productive legislative sessions in decades — already. (Applause.) Now, that’s what we’ve been able to do at home. I’ve got a few things going on abroad. (Laughter.) We’ve begun a new era of engagement. We’re working with our partners to stop the spread of nuclear weapons, to seek the long-term goal of a safer, more secure world that is free of nuclear weapons. (Applause.) We are — we’re working in concert with nations on just about every continent to stem our global economic downturn and to confront climate change. We banned torture. We’re rebuilding our military. We’re reaffirming our alliances. We’ve begun to leave Iraq to its own people. We’ve made progress in taking the fight to al Qaeda, from Pakistan to Somalia to Indonesia. We’re making progress there, too. But the reason you’re here tonight, the reason I’m here tonight, the reason Tim Kaine is doing such an extraordinary job as our DNC chair, even though he’s got another job as Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia, is because we all know our work is far from over. There’s still far too many Americans who are out of work right now; they’re seeing their hours and their wages reduced. There are too many Americans who are subject to the whims of the insurance companies when it comes to their health care, being dropped or discriminated against because they’ve got a preexisting condition. Too many millions can’t afford insurance in the first place. We know that we still face enormous challenges in this country, and that’s not news to you. Lately there had been some discussion — you know, what’s taking him so long? Health care seems to — it’s been nine months, we haven’t solved world hunger yet. (Laughter and applause.) And I try to explain to people, part of what was remarkable about the campaign that we ran, was it wasn’t easy. That’s how we knew it was worth it. We knew we were fighting against the status quo and fighting against inertia. And it took a lot of hard work and a lot of effort and a lot of defying the odds. That was part of what made it special. And I know you guys didn’t sign up for this election because I was a sure thing. And you didn’t sign up because you thought that somehow all the fun stuff of the election would just keep on continuing into governing. You know, the poster was nice, and we had “Yes we can,” nice slogans — (laughter) — but that’s not why you did this. You did this because you understood that we were at a crossroads in our history; that the future of our children, our grandchildren, our great-grandchildren was going to be at stake, and that we were going to have to completely rethink how we were dealing with key sectors of our economy and key aspects of our national security. So you understood that now is the time to build a clean energy economy that will free our nation from the grip of foreign oil and generate new green jobs in the process, jobs that pay well and can’t be outsourced. You understood that now is the time to transform our education system so that every child is prepared to compete in this new global economy, that now was the time to make sure that we put new rules of the road in our financial sector to prevent the kinds of abuse and excess on Wall Street that led us to this crisis. You understood that. And you also understood that the insurance companies and the banks and the oil companies might not be crazy about some of these changes; that they were doing just fine under the status quo. So nobody thought this was going to be easy. We talked about this during the campaign. While I’m in New York, I want to stress something about this financial reform effort. The financial industry is essential to a healthy economy and to the well-being of our economy. That’s why we stepped in to prevent a collapse that would have had far-reaching and devastating consequences for the American people — steps, by the way, that were not wildly popular and still aren’t among the American people. But it was the right thing to do. But we also know we should never again have to face potential calamity because of reckless speculation and deceptive practices and short-sightedness and self-interestedness from a few. So if there are members of the financial industry in the audience today, I would ask that you join us in passing what are necessary reforms. Don’t fight them, join us on them. (Applause.) This is important for our country. And in the long run it will be good for the financial industry to have a level playing field in which everybody knows the rules and everybody knows that the rules will be enforced, and people are competing not by how confusing you can make things and how you can avoid rules, but competing because you’re offering innovative good products that are helping grow the American economy and putting people to work out on Main Street. When I hear some folks who had just been taking taxpayer bailout money suddenly say, “What do you want from me?” — when I hear stories about small businesses and medium-sized businesses not being able to get loans despite Wall Street being back, very profitable, that tells me that people aren’t thinking about their obligations, our mutual obligations to each other, the fact that we’re in this together. So what’s true for financial reform, what’s true for energy reform, is also true for health insurance reform. You know why this is so important. You know if you’re an employer, you’ve seen what’s happening to the premiums that you’re paying on behalf of your employees; and if you’re an employee, you’ve how your employer is passing on some of those costs to you. Premiums have doubled over the past decade. They could double again in the next decade. Millions of people in this country have been discriminated against because of preexisting conditions. More and more companies are dropping their coverage; more and more families struggling to pay health care even as insurance out-of-pocket costs rise year after year. Now, here’s the good news. We are closer than we have ever been to passing health insurance reform that will make quality, affordable — (applause) — that will make quality care affordable for people who don’t have insurance, and it will bring stability and security to people who do have insurance, and that will slow the skyrocketing costs of health insurance for our families and our businesses, our state and federal budgets. Nothing could be more important in terms of getting our fiscal house in order than finishing the job on health reform. There’s still details to be ironed out, still disagreements that we’ve got to work out, but for the first time we’ve passed bills through every committee. They are now starting to be narrowed. There are negotiations taking place. And we’ve got people who are engaging even if they don’t want to engage because they’re starting to realize it’s not a matter of whether, it’s a matter of when. All the bills that have been passed, despite the various differences, all of them would provide help to millions of people who don’t have coverage. Understand, 29 million — under the Baucus bill — 29 million people who don’t have health insurance would now have health insurance, according to the Congressional Budget Office. All the bills would prevent insurance companies from barring you because of preexisting conditions. All of them would set up an exchange, a framework so that businesses, self-employed individuals, could buy in and leverage the fact that there are millions of people as part of a pool so that they can get a better deal. So we are nearing the finish line. With your help, we are going to cross it. And there are going to be some fierce arguments in the days ahead. That’s how it should be. That’s how our democracy works. But I want all the Democrats who are in the house — (laughter) — to understand what a profound potential achievement this is, and stay focused on the goal line. Sometimes we like to have our little intramural battles; that’s fine. The American people need this. I want all non-Democrats who may be here, or may be watching to know that I believe in a strong and loyal opposition. I believe in a two-party system where ideas are tested and assumptions are challenged. That’s how we strengthen our proposals. That’s how our democracy works. (Applause.) But what I reject, what I don’t have a lot of sympathy for is folks who are just sitting on the sidelines and rooting for failure, whether it’s on health care, or energy, or the economy. (Applause.) What I reject is when some folks suggest that we go back to the policies that got us in the mess in the first place — as if we didn’t just go through what we’ve been going through. I said this before, last week at a fundraiser. I don’t mind cleaning up the mess that some other folks made. That’s what I signed up to do. But while I’m there mopping the floor I don’t want somebody standing there saying, “You’re not mopping fast enough.” Or, “You’re not holding the mop the right way.” (Laughter.) Grab a mop! (Applause.) Why don’t you help clean up? (Applause.) Everybody in Washington — Democrat, Republican — we all have a responsibility to rise to this occasion; to look past our differences; to recognize that we have to move beyond the failed policies and broken politics that allowed our toughest problems to go unsolved for decades. When you look at the health care debate, you’ve got a whole bunch of Republicans who are saying, yeah, we should do this — except those are all retired Republicans — Bob Dole and Bill Frist and — last time I checked they’re not socialist. And they think it’s important for us to get this done. That’s a model for what everybody needs to be thinking. Roll up our sleeves and help to make this country the kind of country it should be. In the end, the people I meet across this country, they aren’t looking for a lot. They’re not looking for government to solve all their problems. They just want a chance to succeed. They are modest hopes — they want a job; they want to be able to get an education. If they’ve got a good idea, they want to be able to get some financing to start a business. They want to retire with some dignity and respect. They want to be able to send their kids to college. They’re asking for the opportunity to make the most of their own lives. That’s it. It’s the chance every American deserves. That’s the American Dream. That’s the promise I’m working to fulfill every day. And at this rare moment in history, I want you all to know that without your help I can’t do it. Like I said before, what we’re trying to do is big, and it’s hard. If it was easy, somebody else would have done it. And it now falls to us. And I hope that everybody here is willing to recapture that sense of excitement that comes from a big, but achievable challenge. Not the superficial excitement that comes from Election Day, but the excitement that comes from knowing we took on something that had to be taken on; we didn’t kick the can down the road, and we didn’t push it off on somebody else, but instead we decided we were going to be the generation that puts things on better footing for those coming behind us. That’s what tonight is about. That is what our efforts are about. And if you’re willing to stand with me and work with me and occasionally march with me, I’m absolutely confident we’re going to get it accomplished. Thank you very much, everybody. God bless you. God bless the United States of America. (Applause.) END 6:43 P.M. EDT ☞ Grab a mop, folks. Even if you choose no heavier a lift than suspending cynicism and rooting for success – without demanding perfection. (Demanding perfection, when it comes to a contentious situation, is just as obstructionist as fighting reform.) And if you can go a step further, join Organizing for America. And if you are so fortunate as to be able to help fund Organizing for America by contributing $30,400 for two lamb chop dinners, e-mail me your phone number. There is nothing in the world I enjoy more than taking down credit card information. (Think of the frequent flier miles!) Steve G: “Re those $30,000 lamb chops you wrote about yesterday, maybe they could give one of these folks, below the poverty line, half a plate? This is MY party? The party of the working people? Is there no shame?” ☞ The money goes to help move the President’s agenda, which is all about the things you and I care about. Dems move millions out of poverty . . . then the other team comes in and lowers taxes for the rich, freezes the minimum wage, and watches as millions move back in the other direction. I am personally SO grateful to the wealthy folks who are willing to give these big dollars to help, even though they know we mean to raise their taxes. The good news, FWIW: most DNC money now comes NOT in big checks but from a sea of small ones. After the President left us to our lamb chops, he motorcaded a few blocks south to a crowd of 2,700, most of whom chipped in $100 or $250, and gave virtually the same speech all over again. That video, I did find. You can watch it here.
Testing Your G-IQ and Your HPI October 21, 2009March 16, 2017 THE $30,000 LAMB CHOPS There was nearly balloon-boy-level coverage of a $30,400-a-couple DNC fundraiser that was to be held in New York last night headlined by the President (followed by a much larger, less reported-on $100-and-up fundraiser / health-reform rally). Both went off beautifully, with thousands in attendance overall, and I can’t wait for the transcript of the President’s remarks to be released – and I hope the video – so I can post them here (probably tomorrow) for you to make your own judgment. Boy, are we ever fortunate to have this guy. I know we’re out of practice, but it’s really okay not to be cynical. TEST YOUR GLOBAL IQ It’s a pitch for the Clinton Global Initiative – but why not see how many of these 10 quick questions you get right? HOW HAPPY ARE YOU? Behold the Happy Planet Index. No need to identify yourself as you answer the questions. I’m happier than average, it says. But how can I not be? I have you! ELECTRIC MOTORCYCLE At $12,000, you may want to wait until Best Buy begins discounting the Enertia. But you can watch a coupla dudes driving these silent hogs* from Detroit to the White House and follow their progress here. *Do I sound convincing as a biker?
Hope, Hope, Hurray! But Not in Uganda October 20, 2009March 16, 2017 HOPE FOR THE FUTURE DEPT. James Musters: “Brilliant! Roof Tiles Change Color to Save Energy.” They turn white when it’s hot, black when it’s cold. Time will tell whether they can be made sufficiently rugged and cheap. HOPE FOR THE FUTURE DEPT. – II Could we be just half a decade from a treatment for cancer – even cancer that’s metastasized? In case you missed it Sunday, Lesley Stahl’s “60 Minutes” report gives real hope. SOCCER BALLS FOR KIDS DEPT. If you like kids – or photography – or Sting – check out this clip from The Power of the Invisible Sun. If you wind up buying it as a holiday gift for someone, you’ll also be providing an indestructible soccer ball to a youngster via the Hope Is a Game-Changer Project. AMERICAN CHRISTIANITY GONE GROTESQUELY WRONG DEPT. So a bunch of evangelical U.S. senators and congressmen have helped lead Uganda to legislation that would crack down on same-sex intimacy, already punishable by life in prison. If it passes, Wayne Besen reports, just making a pass could buy you seven years in prison, while failure to snitch on someone within 24 hours would be punishable by up to three years in prison. What version of the New Testament do these fundamentalist senators and congressmen read? I prefer this Saint’s point of view: “Jesus Christ to me, is probably the most compassionate and revolutionary thinker of all time. Look at his teachings. Look at what he preached. He would not endorse any type of inequality, this type of inhumanity. He would not be on board with that. . . . By and large in this country the issue of gay rights and equality should be past the point of debate. Really, there should be no debate anymore. . . . ” – New Orleans Saints linebacker Scott Fujita And this from retired Episcopal Bishop John Shelby Spong: I have been part of this debate for years, but things do get settled and this issue is now settled for me. I do not debate any longer with members of the “Flat Earth Society” either. I do not debate with people who think we should treat epilepsy by casting demons out of the epileptic person; I do not waste time engaging those medical opinions that suggest that bleeding the patient might release the infection. I do not converse with people who think that Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans as punishment for the sin of being the birthplace of Ellen DeGeneres or that the terrorists hit the United Sates on 9/11 because we tolerated homosexual people, abortions, feminism or the American Civil Liberties Union. I am tired of being embarrassed by so much of my church’s participation in causes that are quite unworthy of the Christ I serve or the God whose mystery and wonder I appreciate more each day. Indeed I feel the Christian Church should not only apologize, but do public penance for the way we have treated people of color, women, adherents of other religions and those we designated heretics, as well as gay and lesbian people.
Dead Peasants And DNDN Puts October 19, 2009March 16, 2017 ‘CAPITALISM’ I finally saw Michael Moore’s ‘Capitalism: A Love Story,’ and you should too. There is much in it that’s simplistic or manipulative, but it is at the very least three things: rivetingly interesting, moving, and thought-provoking.* And as you watch you can do the same two things I did: try to find the flaws in his argument; try to figure out how things should be (unless you think they’re perfect now). *Note to Michael Moore: please don’t quote the last part of that sentence without also including the first part. An example of a flaw, it seems to me, is the section on Dead Peasants Insurance. The section is introduced with a tearful family in financial crisis because the husband has died young. They have discovered that his employer had taken out a policy on his life naming itself as the beneficiary. So the guy dies, the company gets a fat check, shares none of it with the family, and you are meant to feel outrage. Indeed, a great many big-name companies have done the same thing, taking out policies on tens of thousands of their employees. The younger and faster the employees die, the more money the companies make. A memo is shown expressing concern that death rates are below projection. This is offered as an example of how greedy and heartless capitalism is. Yet it’s actually an example of how nutty our tax system is and of how many of our brightest minds are wasted finding ways to outwit it. If you insure tens of thousands of employees, the insurance company can take a little bit for its trouble and still, after the tax advantages, you, the employer, can expect to come out ahead. Which is an example of our system at its least productive – absolutely no productive benefit comes from this – but that’s not the point the movie makes. The movie makes it seem as though the companies hope you’ll die young. That they’ve done all this not as a reprehensible tax dodge, but as a way to make money from your death. Yet that’s nonsense. Insurers are not in business to lose money. So unless employers are actually finding ways to speed the death of its employees (committing murder in order to defraud the insurance companies) – which Michael Moore nowhere alleges – this is just a tax avoidance ploy. Dead Peasants Insurance has nothing to do with the point Moore uses it to make. So that’s a flaw. And it’s not the only section of the movie you will find simplistic or misleading or manipulative. Then again, you can’t possibly watch ‘Capitalism’ without empathy for its victims. The suffering across the land is real, and brutal, and takes on an extra dimension when you see some of it, not just read about it. You can’t possibly watch ‘Capitalism’ without being concerned for the viability of our system. How do we get out of the hole that years of over-borrowing, over-consumption, over-extension (e.g., Iraq) and under-taxation have dug us into? Michael Moore is talking revolution. He shows 1944 footage of FDR calling for a second bill of rights – the right to a job at a living wage, to health care, and more – and saying that we need to set to work attaining these rights as soon as we win the war. Well, we won the war and, as Moore points out, Japan, Germany, and Italy, all now enjoy the rights FDR was talking about (we sent folks over to write their constitutions) but we don’t. He thinks we should. How much longer will people feel the financial vise tighten before they greet the news of $140 billion in Wall Street pay and bonuses with real anger? The left wants to channel anger at the corporations and the banks. The right wants to channel anger at illegal aliens, welfare moms, unions, elitists, and ‘government.’ Both sets of targets are wrong. (Not to say any of those targets are perfect actors.) But the anger is real and the problems are real and this movie will surely get you thinking about both. From where I sit, the President is spot on in trying to reform health care (Moore’s ‘Sicko‘ shows how much room we have for improvement) . . . in calling for a strong Consumer Financial Protection Agency . . . in looking to direct more resources to infrastructure and science and education . . . in planning, sooner or later, to restore Clintonian tax rates on those at the top of the economic ladder* . . . and more. *I say: sooner. Even as we speak, hedge fund managers who earn $100 million in ‘carried interest’ on money they themselves do not have at risk are taxed at a 15% capital gains rate . . . something that everyone from Warren Buffett to some hedge fund managers themselves finds outrageous – yet, so far, Congress, even with its large Democratic majority, has not acted to fix this. Michael Moore is Woody Guthrie with a camera, Ralph Nader with a sense of humor, a truly good and brilliant man who loves his country even more, arguably, than those who blindly defend everything about it.* Of course, on balance, Ralph Nader wound up doing more harm than just about anyone who ever lived; and capitalism, skillfully regulated, is a terrific force for good. But don’t miss this movie. *Note to Michael Moore: please don’t quote that sentence without also including the next one. DNDN If we’re lucky, Dendreon’s prostate cancer drug will be proven effective and I’ll lose money. Fine with me, if it meaningfully extends lives. That would be terrific. But my guru thinks it is not effective and will be turned down for FDA approval next year. So here’s a bet that will make sense for some people to make: Buy (say) six January, 2011, DNDN 20 puts for around $500 each. Total cost: $3,000. Each put gives you the right to sell (‘put’) 100 shares of DNDN to someone at $20 each. The stock is near $30, so the puts have no current intrinsic value – they are ‘out of the money.’ If the drug is approved, sell your puts for next to nothing and you will have a $3,000 short-term capital loss to lower your 2010 taxable income. If you are in the 35% tax bracket, that saves you about $1,000, so you’re really out $2,000. If the drug is not approved, the stock could easily drop below $5, and the right to sell it at $20 (‘let me put it to you this way’) becomes worth $15 or more a share – 600 times over in this case (each put represents 100 shares) – so you could well realize $9,000 on your $3,000 investment for a $6,000 gain . . . and if you waited a year and a day from the time you bought them, that would be a lightly-taxed long-term capital gain, leaving you with perhaps $5,000 after tax. My guru is generally – but certainly not always – right. If we assign odds of 50/50 to his being right this time, the bet is $5,000 you win, $2,000 you lose. You really, really, really, really could lose. Indeed, in this scenario, you’re as likely to lose as not. So this is under no circumstances a bet to make with money you can’t truly afford to lose. But for some, it may be a good bet to take.