Miscellany

I have to start off this week's post by patting myself on the back for correctly calling this year's Grammy winner for the second year in a row.  Mumford & Sons, a terrific new band that has reignited a genre took the honors with its album, Babel.

My second correct judgment came in my assessment that the correct analysis of Washington DC is to view DC as an alcoholic or drug abuser in denial.  Sure enough, Nancy Pelosi made my case for me by arguing that "It's almost a false argument that Washington has a spending problem?"   Huh?   Every hear that kind of talk from an alcoholic?   "I don't have a drinking problem," they proudly announce.  Yeah, well, this is the third time this month you left your car parked your car up on the lawn.

I won't bore you with a full critique of the State of the Union speech.  It contained its expected litany of Big Government solutions to all our problems and conveniently forgot to mention that we don't have anything left on our tab for Big Government solutions.

But I have to pick out a couple of egregious items.

First is Obama's newfound support of manufacturing.  And he proposes to help manufacturers by creating manufacturing hubs (yet another project from the Bureau of Central Planning).  But before we launch off on that escapade, let's take stock of what the Obama Administration has done for manufacturers so far.  He has raised taxes, particularly on Sub-S corporations.  He has inflicted Obamacare on them.  The EPA has unleashed a torrent of new rules on them.  His energy policies (and fiscal policies) have increased energy costs for them.  The Department of Labor (with its unconstitutionally appointed members) has empowered unions, with the most outrageous example of its attack on Boeing for attempting to open a plant in nonunion South Carolina.   Dodd Frank has incrementally made financing more difficult.  I have a simpler solution than manufacturing hubs.  How about just stop inflicting the tax and regulatory torture?

The second knee slapper was Obama's criticism of "sequestration."  True, it is a blunt instrument and arises out of a complete lack of discipline and ability to responsibly budget.  But President Obama forgets that sequestration was HIS idea.  The saner and more responsible approach was Bowles-Simpson, which he kicked to the curb.

I could go on, but I won't.  The true nature of the severity of the division in our politics became very apparent to me on Tuesday night.  I am fortunate to have some very bright and very well educated friends on both ends of the political spectrum.  During the State of the Union, emails clogged my inbox.   My liberal friends are still swooning over the Obama mystique.  "Visionary," "intellectually substantive," "strong agenda," were some of the comments I received.  My conservative friends had things to say like, "every time he speaks, I throw up a little in my mouth," or "is utterly contemptuous of the restraints the Constitution places on him."  It's interesting that equally educated people can see things in such markedly different ways.

Sadly, however, the opposition is in a shambles.  I note that two groups of which I am a member- the Republican Party and the Catholic Church are in complete disarray.   Both are sorely lacking in young, vibrant, competent leadership.  There is hope for the Republicans in Marco Rubio.   We'll see about the Catholic Church.  I am hoping they will use this transition to truly revitalize the Vatican.

You'll Never Hear About It

I have a bold prediction.

The Republicans lost in '08 to Barack Obama, in part because of the war in Iraq.  We all know the controversy and arguments around the decision to oust Saddam Hussein, and the failure to adequately plan for a post-Hussein Iraq undoubtedly cost American lives.

Ultimately, however, I believe that Barack Obama's domestic policies will ultimately lead to more premature American deaths than George Bush's decision to invade Iraq.

These deaths will arise out of at least two areas.  First, there will be deaths that arise out of  Obamacare.  I have been reading more about the U.K.'s experience with nationalized healthcare.  While  we have not gone that route yet (the true liberals would like to take us there), we have taken the first step, and President Obama's former head of Medicare, Donald Berwick, famously announced that the U.S. health system was "trapped in the darkness of private enterprise."  This gives you a hint of where they ultimately would like to take us.  Great Britain's death rate after major surgeries is four times what it is here.  And a recent study showed that care was so poor at hospitals administered out of the mid Staffordshire trust that hundreds have died.  The "death pathways" (yes, Sarah Palin was right to be concerned) misdiagnose people regularly leading to even more deaths.

It is true that we aren't on the UK system yet, but the law of supply and demand dictates that putting more people in the system without increasing the number of doctors and facilities will increase treatment delay, and some number of delays will have fatal consequences.  Doctors here at Mt. Sinai (which serves mostly Medicare and Medicaid patients) are deeply concerned over whether that hospital will be able to remain open after Obamacare reimbursement levels are cut.  Some of those people will defer treatment.

So much for compassion.

The other  policy decision that  will lead to more American deaths is in CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) standards.  CAFE standards are known to cause at least 2,000 deaths and 20,000 injuries per year, and that number has been confirmed by several independent sources, including the National Academy of Sciences and the NHTSA.  This is simple physics.  To meet the mileage requirements, cars must be made out of lighter materials.  These materials do not stand up as well in high speed collisions.  President Obama recently mandated that these standards be gradually raised to 54.5 MPG by 2025.  Hundreds more highway deaths will result, even though CAFE standards have not shown to be effective in lowering fuel consumption.

You will never hear about it.  You will never read about it.  It will be dark, insidious and silent.  But I predict that the cumulative effect of Obama's domestic policies on mortality in just these two areas over time will eclipse American deaths resulting from the invasion of Iraq.

Bet on it.

Late to the Party

This will not surprise anyone that really knows me, but once again, I was late catching a wave.  I spent much of Super Bowl weekend catching up (or really starting up) the immensely popular PBS series, Downton Abbey, which follows the British aristocratic Crawley family during the early part of the 20th century.  I now understand the show's popularity.  It is well written, well-acted, and excellently portrays British class structure during that time.  I'm really not a TV watcher, although I did get hooked on Friday Night Lights, which I thought was exceptionally well done.  I am similarly hooked on Downton Abbey, although for different reasons.  I was never highbrow enough to be a regular Masterpiece Theatre watcher.  But this is different.  It contains the FNL character development in a Masterpiece Theatre setting.

I am fascinated by the rigidity of British class structure, where stratification occurs, is layered and is important even within classes.

One aspect of the series jumped out at me, and that is the disdain for work.  In an early episode, a family member that is in line to be an heir is a practicing lawyer.  He is looked down upon for "Gentlemen don't work."  Similarly, his mother is held in contempt because she wished to do volunteer work at a hospital.  What was most esteemed was to be part of the moneyed leisure class.

I find it an interesting contrast to early 21st liberal thought in America.   In contrast to early 20th century British society, the vast majority of the top 10-20% of earners in America work like dogs.  Even the reviled 1%, the Wall Streeters, business owners, lawyers, doctors and the entrepreneurial class work constantly.  Many forego vacations and routinely put in 16 hour workdays, and are extremely devoted to their craft.  And while they do so, the bottom 20-25% work little at all or are employed by The State, which rarely demands that level of devotion.

Perhaps a century ago in Great Britain, it was true that "Gentlemen don't work," and the lower classes worked hard for little and little hope for advancement.  But in 21st century America, gentlemen and ladies (i.e. the top 10%) work endlessly and tirelessly and then are reviled by our President for doing so and not "paying their fair share,"  although they pay 70% of the taxes.

My, how times have changed.