The Generalist

One's identity is far more than one's profession.

Social Justice

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Rethinking Economic Beliefs

For many years I was a believer in the idea that taxation throttled back the economy and inhibited prosperity. I bought into the idea that government spending somehow diverted money from those who produced stuff. I was wrong. It’s never been more clear than in recent years when we watched massive tax cuts trickle up as corporations bought back their own stock to enhance the value of executive stock options.

Historian Heather Cox Richardson’s Column concludes, “As the [trickle-down] system comes under increasing scrutiny, Biden’s renewal of traditional economic policies is showing those policies to be more successful than the Republicans’ system ever was. If Americans turn against the Republican formula of slashing taxes and deregulating business, those at the top of the economy stand to lose both wealth and control of the nation’s economic system.”

June 7, 2024
Two big stories today that together reveal a broader landscape. The first is that the Bureau of Labor Statistics today released another blockbuster jobs report. The country added 272,000 jobs in May, far higher than the 180,000 jobs economists predicted. A widespread range of sectors added new jobs, including health care, government, leisure and hospitality, and professional, scientific, and technical services. Wages are also up. Over the past year, average hourly earnings have grown 4.1%, higher than the rate of inflation, which was 3.4% over the same period.

She notes that claims for unemployment insurance were up a bit despite the favorable job numbers. I’d be interested to know if there is a seasonal uptick as schools let out and summer pastimes beckon–but that’s my cynical side speaking.

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Good Political Ad?

I rarely see political advertising that I like. Most of it goes directly to the trash now. Not only is it not credible — disinformation and deception are routine and unremarkable these days — but often it offends my intelligence.

This piece is different. It frames core liberal values in a Thanksgiving dinner metaphor that even the children around the table can get. There’s a chance that a genuine conversation about what matters could be started.

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Don’t Look Up!

The news each day has sobering similarities to the theme of the satirical film. The Guardian, as part of an appeal for reader financial support said:

We face an epochal, unthinkable prospect: of perhaps the two greatest existential threats – environmental breakdown and food system failure – converging, as one triggers the other.

So why isn’t this all over the front pages? Why, when governments know we’re facing existential risk, do they fail to act?

Looking back on previous human calamities, all of which will be dwarfed by this, you find yourself repeatedly asking “why didn’t they … ?” The answer is power: the power of a few to countermand the interests of humanity. It always has been, but the stakes are now higher than ever.

The Guardian (fundraising email 7/28/23)

Russia seeks to prevent Ukraine’s food crops from being distributed, and crops elsewhere are in peril due to man-made environmental changes. Yet here at home GOP leadership talks of hobbling or eliminating our government’s Department of Environmental Protection.

Don’t Look Up!

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On Walls

My column from Sunday’s (July 16, 2023) Courier Times is reproduced below. I’m one of about a dozen panelists who take turns writing the From a Faith Perspective feature for the paper.

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Back to Civics!

This article from The View in Time Magazine’s current issue makes a case for a return to teaching basic civics. Democracy depends upon people being free to have differing opinions and learning to arrive at a compromise.

Our children (to say nothing of most adults) are ignorant of how our systems of governance actually work. Predatory opportunists now exploit that ignorance. Isn’t it curious how so many of our biggest national problems could be resolved if people had the goodwill toward each other to listen and seek equitable solutions?

We must learn to wage peace at home and abroad.

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Servant Leaders

Lately, I have been thinking about being a follower. It’s a natural human trait to both follow and lead, depending on circumstances.  And it says a lot about my personal spiritual growth when I examine how I do both. In family matters, business, and politics we reveal who we are by how we lead or who follow.

Here is my column as published today in the Bucks Courier Times.

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Songs of Democracy

The popular uprising against authoritarianism, tyranny, and deception has given rise to parody in song. The talent matches the cleverness. Enjoy!

[Added 12/8/20]

The COVID-19 pandemic should not have become a political issue. But it is. Disregard for the practices that protect others became an expression of right-wing individualism. Late in the 2020 campaign the right began advocating for abandonment of the curve-flattening practices that slow contagion. Driven by the desire to restart the retail economy, GOP leadership flaunted maskless super-spreader events. While experts rallied to oppose this wrong-headed notion, the President persisted.

Coronavirsu Rhapsody lyracizes the issue.

Updated 210115

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No Helmet, no mask = free [not!]

In the world of bikers, rules about wearing helmets are often considered overreach. One of the pleasures of motorcycles is being out in the elements: feeling the alternation of cool and warm air on your face, smelling fields and forests as you pass. The helmet is a barrier.

Likewise, the COVID-19 mask is shunned. But neither of these items of safety gear is for the wearer alone. Accidents and contagion affect many more people. This two sentence news item from Time Magazine dramatically underscores the far-reaching social consequences of ignoring precautions.

Fun loving, party hardy, macho bikers have cost society more that 12 billion ($12,000,000,000) plus spreading suffering that’s impossible to quantify.

I haven’t heard how the town of Sturgis is doing. Could it have been worth it when the economic benefits are accounted for? This is a preview and a demo of what may happen this fall. The administration continues to downplay the threat. The president and his faithful followers continue to scorn mask use. Yes, he’s grudgingly begun to appear wearing a mask, but he makes no bones about not liking it.

Meanwhile the death rate hovers at 5,000 souls a week and experts estimate it will rise from the present 200,000 total to over 400,000 in December. At one point the president and some of his staff proffered the idea of letting COVID-19 run its course so that herd immunity could develop and the people’s lives (and the all-important economy) could return to normal. The Lincoln Project has vividly panned this bad idea in a recent political ad.

The ad is over-the-top harsh, and my initial reaction was that it’s deceptive. But then I considered the president’s actions of late. He’s pressured the CDC to recommend NOT testing people who are not symptomatic. He’s holding maskless rallies in indoor venues. He’s pressured schools to open before they are prepared to do so safely. The GOP legislature hasn’t passed enabling legislation, so the Democratic Governor’s mitigation rules have been declared unconstitutional. The President routinely contradicts his own experts’ assessments of risks and the timeline for vaccine protection. And he’s attacking mail-in ballots to necessitate in-person voting at crowded polling places.

All of those acts would be consistent with a plan to reopen and briefly enjoy the election week illusion of normalcy while COVID-19 does its grim work. Although millions would eventually die, the surviving 99% would be “fine.”

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Coalescence?

All the candidates we are watching vie for limelight–each of them has his or her cohort of backers, and each of them presents issues that motivate some element of the liberal base to back them. My concern has been not knowing how these diverse followings can be fused into a groundswell of grassroots support.
Enter Tom from the shadows at the back of the stage, not from stage right, not from stage left. Kinda looks like he may have been there all along working as a grassroots organizer. Listen to this guy. He may have what’s needed…

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A New Story?

George Monbiot knows how to turn it around– the political disorder of our era, that is. And, he’s humorous!

No kidding, you really must watch this TED talk. He brings together many of the elements the sages have identified as the source of our disunity and he suggests a path to deliverance. That’s not bad for just 18 minutes, right?