I was 5 years old during the Summer of Love. I didn't know it was the summer of love. For me, 1967 was the summer of learning how to ride a two-wheel bike and catch a baseball. I didn't know where San Francisco was or that there was a war in Vietnam. I always felt like I kind of missed out on something, by being around during the Summer of Love, but too little to have any idea of what was going on.
This might be part of the reason why The Occupiers have been so interesting to me. While they are literally a poor-man's version of the hippie revolution of 1967, I guess they are the closest thing we have today to counter-culture. I thought maybe the Occupy Movement had enough cachet, enough backbone, and enough conviction to become relevant and recreate some of the social awareness of the Summer of Love. I am a big enough person to admit when I am wrong. I wouldn't insult the Summer of Love by comparing the Occupy movement with it.
There is no more trite cliche than "you can never go back home"...I guess it could be extended to say you can never go back to 1967 either...no matter how filthy you look or how badly you smell. I was in Boston on business a few weeks ago and made it a point to visit "Occupy Boston". What a letdown. Occupy Boston was essentially city of tents that should have been put in the dumpster back in 1967. I don't know if Philip Morris is the official sponsor of the Occupy movement, but when I went to visit it was mostly a bunch of folks who needed a shower standing around bumming smokes from each other. Maybe they were on a break or something, but there wasn't a lot of protesting going on. No chants, no drums, no human microphone speeches. The only activity was a couple of occupiers making a sign letting people know that they needed donations of blankets, coats, socks, men's & women's underwear. I noticed they left soap off the list. I thought about asking if they forgot about toiletries in general, but I was wearing a suit and tie that day and presumed that they probably weren't that interested in hearing my suggestions. They probably should have added cigarettes to the list too, because they looked like they were running low, but again, I didn't want to seem like a butt-insky. In addition to the signs asking for donations of things they needed, there were lots of other signs making ridiculous statements or suggestions like "People before profits" "no electoral college" "tax the greedy, feed the needy" "We have jobs, we need revolution" They have jobs? really? I didn't know camping out in Boston was a job. A little solid advice for them...if they want to keep that job they better quit hanging around smoking cigarettes and get back to work. There were some clearly self-serving signs like "Outlaw Student Debt"...I wonder who wrote that one.
I was really disappointed in the occupiers I saw. Maybe, like the Redsox of old, the Boston Occupiers are just lousy occupiers...the cellar dwellers of the occupy movement. However, I also spent a fair amount of time on the OWS website reading and chatting with occupiers on their forum. Again, major disappointment. Rational ideas and realistic solutions are absent from the OWS debate, pushed aside by calls for a ban on currency and a return to essentially a barter economy. Really? Barter economy? That's how we are going to get out of the nation's financial mess?
Whether they know it or not, the occupiers have some legitimate gripes. The government is out of control. The cozy relationships between Wall Street and Washington are an abomination of our treasured capitalist system. Crony capitalism looks after the fat cats often to the detriment of those trying to work their way up the ladder. What is their solution? Asking for handouts, demanding that debt be illegal, and accusing George Bush of planning 9/11 are not solutions. They are lunacy. Also, camping on private or municipal property making a nuisance of oneself is no way to make an impact on society. I know the occupiers hate leadership and any sense of authority through a hierarchy, but if they want anyone to take them seriously, they need leadership, they need a message, and they need an agenda. Absent any of these they are just smelly loiterers who are running low on smokes. I doubt there are many five year old kids today who are going to look back and feel like they missed something because they were too young to be an occupier.
Monday, November 21, 2011
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Optimism Misplaced?
Not everyone is a big dog person, but I am. I think dogs are great. It's not that they don't have their downside, but on balance dogs are a big "thumbs up". We have had a cocker spaniel for about 8 years. She is a great little dog. While she gets a little put out when she has to spend time in the back yard by herself and sometimes she just can't seem to relax, she is an eternal optimist. I think that is what I like about dogs most. They are by their nature very optimistic creatures. Whenever I see my dog, she is wagging what's left of her clipped tail at a furious pace. No matter what she has been doing or thinking, when she sees any of her family members she is filled with optimism. Is she going to get a meal? Are we going out to throw the Frisbee? Is she getting a treat? Are we going for a walk or a ride in the car? More often than not, she is disappointed and she is not getting one of the handful of activities that make her day. However, every time she sees one of us, she is as optimistic as the last that something good is going to happen.
I think UVa football fans share a lot in common with my dog. We are eternal optimists. We have to be. Every year we begin the season with unreasonable if not unbridled optimism. Sometimes our optimism is rewarded with great games like this weekend's win against a very good, previously undefeated Georgia Tech team. Other times, our optimism is dashed in games like our loss to a solid but over matched Southern Mississippi team. We were very optimistic going into that game. Statistically we were the dominant team. Between the 20 yard lines we were by far the better team, yet we found a way to lose the game. Then there are games like our win against the Idaho Vandals. We dominated the game. We were not just the better team, but the much better team, yet we barely won...in very unsatisfying fashion. I think in dog terms the Idaho game has to be a lot like when my excited dog realizes that her optimism is going to be rewarded by going for a ride in the car...only to find out that the car ride is actually a trip to stay at the vet's kennel while we go away for a week at the beach.
I think that the time is upon us, when ever optimistic yet long suffering UVa fans are about to start getting more treats and less rides to the vet. While this team still has a long way to go to deliver consistently competitive performances against both mediocre and strong programs alike, we are clearly on the right path. Our kids look faster, more often than not they are in the right position, but most importantly, they have a tremendous determination. There is no "quit" in this team. I have seen them make some dreadful mistakes only to bounce right back with a reciprocal stellar play. Mike London and his staff are getting good kids who can play into the program. With only one full recruiting class under his belt and a second due to arrive next summer, we are starting to see the tide turn in our favor. I am sure we have some more rides to the vet in our future, but I can see are a lot more treats and Frisbee sessions in our future than I can recall in a number of years. Is my optimism misplaced? Only time will tell. However, I can state without question that my optimism is as high as it has been in many years.
I think UVa football fans share a lot in common with my dog. We are eternal optimists. We have to be. Every year we begin the season with unreasonable if not unbridled optimism. Sometimes our optimism is rewarded with great games like this weekend's win against a very good, previously undefeated Georgia Tech team. Other times, our optimism is dashed in games like our loss to a solid but over matched Southern Mississippi team. We were very optimistic going into that game. Statistically we were the dominant team. Between the 20 yard lines we were by far the better team, yet we found a way to lose the game. Then there are games like our win against the Idaho Vandals. We dominated the game. We were not just the better team, but the much better team, yet we barely won...in very unsatisfying fashion. I think in dog terms the Idaho game has to be a lot like when my excited dog realizes that her optimism is going to be rewarded by going for a ride in the car...only to find out that the car ride is actually a trip to stay at the vet's kennel while we go away for a week at the beach.
I think that the time is upon us, when ever optimistic yet long suffering UVa fans are about to start getting more treats and less rides to the vet. While this team still has a long way to go to deliver consistently competitive performances against both mediocre and strong programs alike, we are clearly on the right path. Our kids look faster, more often than not they are in the right position, but most importantly, they have a tremendous determination. There is no "quit" in this team. I have seen them make some dreadful mistakes only to bounce right back with a reciprocal stellar play. Mike London and his staff are getting good kids who can play into the program. With only one full recruiting class under his belt and a second due to arrive next summer, we are starting to see the tide turn in our favor. I am sure we have some more rides to the vet in our future, but I can see are a lot more treats and Frisbee sessions in our future than I can recall in a number of years. Is my optimism misplaced? Only time will tell. However, I can state without question that my optimism is as high as it has been in many years.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
The Economics of Shovels
Obama always talks about "shovel ready" projects. He likes to tout shovel-ready jobs that he can fund with money the govenment borrows from abroad... or at least he always talks about the first part of that statement. I wonder if Obama ever used a shovel or understands a shovel's value in the market. I am sure he undertands the theory of the shovel and maybe even the physics of the shovel, but does know why we need shovels or know all of the things I can do with a shovel? Based on his speech yesterday about raising taxes yesterday, I don't think he knows anything about shovels other than that if he needs one, he should be able to come over and take mine.
I think Obama's speech yesterday was a complete capitulation to the economic doldrums we have seen since 2008. A campaign speech versus a policy speech, the subtext of Obama's speech was that you can't get more by earning it in our economy today. Instead, you can get more by taking from the mean guys...the millionaires and billionaires. The president told us that the way for us to get more for everyone is to take it from someone else. How is that going to work?How is that leadership?
The president snarked "it's not class warefare, it's math" Really? For someone who is supposed to be so smart, he doesn't seem to be very good at math. Beyond all the false comparisons in the "Buffett Rule" and his ommissions about double taxation of corporate taxes, how can he miss the simple math that the federal spending has far outpaced the capacity for even the most robust economy to support it? How did he miss that math? How can the president miss the math that job creation is essentially zero. What is the math behind creating jobs by taking money from one pocket and putting it in another? Did the president quanitfy the lost jobs and economic output in our domestic energy industry? Where is that math?
I think the only math problem the president has is that the math behind his proposals doesn't work.
I think Obama's speech yesterday was a complete capitulation to the economic doldrums we have seen since 2008. A campaign speech versus a policy speech, the subtext of Obama's speech was that you can't get more by earning it in our economy today. Instead, you can get more by taking from the mean guys...the millionaires and billionaires. The president told us that the way for us to get more for everyone is to take it from someone else. How is that going to work?How is that leadership?
The president snarked "it's not class warefare, it's math" Really? For someone who is supposed to be so smart, he doesn't seem to be very good at math. Beyond all the false comparisons in the "Buffett Rule" and his ommissions about double taxation of corporate taxes, how can he miss the simple math that the federal spending has far outpaced the capacity for even the most robust economy to support it? How did he miss that math? How can the president miss the math that job creation is essentially zero. What is the math behind creating jobs by taking money from one pocket and putting it in another? Did the president quanitfy the lost jobs and economic output in our domestic energy industry? Where is that math?
I think the only math problem the president has is that the math behind his proposals doesn't work.
Monday, September 19, 2011
A Jobs Bill that Doesn't Cost a Dime...and will fill Govt Coffers
I don't have many rules in my staff meetings. However one rule I do have is that you can't gripe about something without an idea or suggestion to fix the problem. I don't like President Obama's jobs bill nor his plan to pay for it. I don't dislike it because I don't like Obama or because I favor rich fat cats. I don't like his plan because it won't work. It has not worked in the past and it won't work now. This position is not political or personal, it's just reality.
If I make this comment, it is now my obligation to propose an alternative that will work. None of this is new, nor is it brain surgery.
1) The Tax Code - scrap it in total and start over. Propose a new tax system that at its inception will be revenue neutral. Tax all income above the national poverty rate at a single rate - likely less than 20%. No deductions for mortgages, charitable contributions, child credits, nothing. Corporations pay the same rate...and they get a one time tax holiday to repatriate foreign earnings at 10%. 1% national sales tax that requires a 3/4 majority in congress to raise. Everyone pays at a lower rate and they can do their taxes on the back of a cocktail napkin.
2) Obama Care - Scrap it and start over. Everyone outside of the Obama administration, his cheerleaders in the mainstream media, and his storm troopers at Salon, MoveOn, etc knows that this is a bad plan. Using the media analogy of passing legislation is like making sausage, if we made sausage when passing Obamacare, then we made a bad batch of sausage and it is giving the American economy a stroke. Scrap this bad plan and start over. There are laudable ideas in the 2000 pages of Obamacare, great, use them and a starting point, but getting this boot off the neck of the economy will create millions of jobs.
3) Invest in domestic energy production - Our high energy prices equate to a surtax that we transfer to the OPEC nations every day. Drill offshore, drill in Alaska, mine oil sand and shale and we will drive our energy costs down. We will create real jobs - we won't have to make up fictional statistics about "saved" jobs, rather we will create real jobs in an industry sector that his been shackled by our government for years.
You know how much these ideas cost? Nothing.If Obama announced this as his new plan, markets would soar, energy prices would drop, unemployment would trend down. Let's not forget the other consequence of this plan...government revenues would soar. I am not an advocate of starving the government, but rather than doubling down on policies that have failed and spending money we don't have, why not give this a whirl. The results can't be any worse than the proposal on the table. If Obama proposed this, his second term would be secure. Heck, I'd probably vote for him if he could get this plan passed before the 2012 elections. Want to put the ball in the Republicans court and see if they bounce it off their knee out of bounds? Try this plan and see what those guys do. I know what I would do, I'd high-five my buddy Obama.
If I make this comment, it is now my obligation to propose an alternative that will work. None of this is new, nor is it brain surgery.
1) The Tax Code - scrap it in total and start over. Propose a new tax system that at its inception will be revenue neutral. Tax all income above the national poverty rate at a single rate - likely less than 20%. No deductions for mortgages, charitable contributions, child credits, nothing. Corporations pay the same rate...and they get a one time tax holiday to repatriate foreign earnings at 10%. 1% national sales tax that requires a 3/4 majority in congress to raise. Everyone pays at a lower rate and they can do their taxes on the back of a cocktail napkin.
2) Obama Care - Scrap it and start over. Everyone outside of the Obama administration, his cheerleaders in the mainstream media, and his storm troopers at Salon, MoveOn, etc knows that this is a bad plan. Using the media analogy of passing legislation is like making sausage, if we made sausage when passing Obamacare, then we made a bad batch of sausage and it is giving the American economy a stroke. Scrap this bad plan and start over. There are laudable ideas in the 2000 pages of Obamacare, great, use them and a starting point, but getting this boot off the neck of the economy will create millions of jobs.
3) Invest in domestic energy production - Our high energy prices equate to a surtax that we transfer to the OPEC nations every day. Drill offshore, drill in Alaska, mine oil sand and shale and we will drive our energy costs down. We will create real jobs - we won't have to make up fictional statistics about "saved" jobs, rather we will create real jobs in an industry sector that his been shackled by our government for years.
You know how much these ideas cost? Nothing.If Obama announced this as his new plan, markets would soar, energy prices would drop, unemployment would trend down. Let's not forget the other consequence of this plan...government revenues would soar. I am not an advocate of starving the government, but rather than doubling down on policies that have failed and spending money we don't have, why not give this a whirl. The results can't be any worse than the proposal on the table. If Obama proposed this, his second term would be secure. Heck, I'd probably vote for him if he could get this plan passed before the 2012 elections. Want to put the ball in the Republicans court and see if they bounce it off their knee out of bounds? Try this plan and see what those guys do. I know what I would do, I'd high-five my buddy Obama.
Friday, September 9, 2011
The Minimalist
I have never been what I would consider a minimalist. If the fit of my suit britches is any indication lately, I am anything but a minimalist. I have also never been a good distance runner. In fact I have never finished a distance race of any note in anything higher than the bottom 15% of finishers.
So what is the intersection between these two realities? I would like to run one last marathon before I hang up my distance running pursuits. I will be fifty when I make this last race attempt. Maybe the appeal of the alliteration is the appeal...a final and fifth finish at fifty has a nice ring to it. However, I am not built for distance running. Short stocky legs, thick build, a catcher's speed, distance running is not my natural state. If my survival in the wild depended on my speed, I would meet my Darwinian demise in short order.
After four marathons in the past 9 years, I am starting to ache. When I go for my sporadic runs of 4 or 5 miles today...I ache. My knees ache, my ankles ache, my left heel aches.
Over the past few months, I read articles about how barefoot running was the new craze for distance running. If you had aches and pains while running, the solution was minimalist running, natural barefoot running. I was a skeptic to say the least. Then I started to see articles about minimalist shoes that simulated the effect of barefoot running, delivering all its benefits while protecting your feet from rocks, pavement, etc. I was curious. Was this a way to get the benefits of barefoot running without the risk of gashing the bottoms of your feet or worrying about running on hot pavement?
I bought a pair of New Balance Minimus shoes last weekend. I have done three runs of roughly 3.5 miles in these "barefoot" shoes. While the jury is still out on whether or not they cure the aches and pains I had running in traditional shoes, there is no question that they created new and acute pains in my legs by using muscles I never knew I had in my calves and thighs. Apparently, running barefoot promotes an entirely new gate in one's running stride. It is almost like learning to run all over again. When I woke up in the morning after my first "barefoot run" I felt like I had run a full marathon...getting to the bathroom was a struggle, not because of exacerbation of the normal aches, but I had new and acute strains that were greatly amusing to my lovely wife who found the whole idea of minimus shoes and simulated barefoot running a little bit "out there".However, after 20+ years of marriage, she has learned to find the humor in my experiments.
I am not sure how this story will end. I am going to try to do 4 miles tomorrow morning in my barefoot shoes. It is my intent to run the 2012 Richmond Marathon in barefoot shoes. I am not a minimalist, nor a good runner. It is my hope that combining these two negatives will have a positive result. If you see me running in these ridiculous looking shoes, I expect to be heckled, so don't hold back, any humorous heckling will take my mind off my aching calves.
So what is the intersection between these two realities? I would like to run one last marathon before I hang up my distance running pursuits. I will be fifty when I make this last race attempt. Maybe the appeal of the alliteration is the appeal...a final and fifth finish at fifty has a nice ring to it. However, I am not built for distance running. Short stocky legs, thick build, a catcher's speed, distance running is not my natural state. If my survival in the wild depended on my speed, I would meet my Darwinian demise in short order.
After four marathons in the past 9 years, I am starting to ache. When I go for my sporadic runs of 4 or 5 miles today...I ache. My knees ache, my ankles ache, my left heel aches.
Over the past few months, I read articles about how barefoot running was the new craze for distance running. If you had aches and pains while running, the solution was minimalist running, natural barefoot running. I was a skeptic to say the least. Then I started to see articles about minimalist shoes that simulated the effect of barefoot running, delivering all its benefits while protecting your feet from rocks, pavement, etc. I was curious. Was this a way to get the benefits of barefoot running without the risk of gashing the bottoms of your feet or worrying about running on hot pavement?
I bought a pair of New Balance Minimus shoes last weekend. I have done three runs of roughly 3.5 miles in these "barefoot" shoes. While the jury is still out on whether or not they cure the aches and pains I had running in traditional shoes, there is no question that they created new and acute pains in my legs by using muscles I never knew I had in my calves and thighs. Apparently, running barefoot promotes an entirely new gate in one's running stride. It is almost like learning to run all over again. When I woke up in the morning after my first "barefoot run" I felt like I had run a full marathon...getting to the bathroom was a struggle, not because of exacerbation of the normal aches, but I had new and acute strains that were greatly amusing to my lovely wife who found the whole idea of minimus shoes and simulated barefoot running a little bit "out there".However, after 20+ years of marriage, she has learned to find the humor in my experiments.
I am not sure how this story will end. I am going to try to do 4 miles tomorrow morning in my barefoot shoes. It is my intent to run the 2012 Richmond Marathon in barefoot shoes. I am not a minimalist, nor a good runner. It is my hope that combining these two negatives will have a positive result. If you see me running in these ridiculous looking shoes, I expect to be heckled, so don't hold back, any humorous heckling will take my mind off my aching calves.
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Doing Homework
Since no one likes to do homework while they are on vacation, I thought I would do my patriotic duty and do Obama's homework for him. BTW, I don't care if Obama is on vacation. He should get a vaca like anyone else. From a political point of view his timing and location are a bit odd, but it's his vacation, I don't care where he goes. If I were in charge of his public persona though, I would have suggested a working staycation to show solidarity with those who are having a tough time in the current economy, but it is his vacation, he can do whatever he wants, I really don't care However, since he is on vacation, the least I can do is prepare a jobs plan for him to present after labor day. If he actually does this, he will be elected to a second term, without question. So it would be my suggestion that he take this plan, turn it into a speech and get ready for his second term.
A job creating plan does not have to cost a dime, so there is no stimulus, no presents for corporations, and no need for infusions of foreign cash. Here we go:
1) Overhaul the tax code - I am sick and tired of social engineering through the tax code and it doesn't work, it is a drag on the economy. Governments trying to pick winners and losers in the market and the economy through tax policy has been an abject failure and has left us a tax code that is far too complicated and ineffective.
Single individual tax rate of 17.5% (I have some flexibility on the optimal rate) for every dollar earned above the poverty rate. No deductions for anything, no loopholes for anyone. No real estate interest rate deduction, no earned income tax credit, no nothing, no deductions, no credit. Everyone can figure out their tax liability with a pencil and paper and 5 minutes of time.
Corporate tax rate of 15%. No loopholes, no deductions. Income on foreign operations and investments can be repatriated at 15%. A rush of cash will come back to the US for investment in the business.
1% national sales tax on everything except food and medicine. This will make sure that everyone is vested in and paying into funding government. The more you consume, the more you pay into the system. Any attempt to raise this rate will require a 3/4 majority of both houses of congress.
2) Repeal Obamacare. Face it, this is bad legislation adding to both the uncertainty and cost of doing business. It has been scored by the CBO as adding a trillion dollars to the national debt over the next ten years. The plan is a loser and an example of bad government. Admit it and set about fixing the problem. Stat over. Get non-partisan instustry experts to weigh in. Commit to a market-based system of competition across the national landscape. No protections for healthcare providers within state lines. Everyone providing healthcare must compete nationally.
3) Raise social security and medicare benefit eligibility to 70 years old for anyone under 50. People are living longer and pulling way more out of these programs than they paid in. That's wrong. Raise the age at which folks start to pull benefit out of the system, which will grab a few more years of contributions and maybe we can start getting these runaway programs under control. I would also start some level of means testing that would reduce benefits to wealthy retirees. The wealthy retirees would still receive a reduced level of benefits - they have to, they are owed. They paid into the system for years, they are entitled to at least the amount of their payments into the system plus interest compounded at the risk free rate over the course of their working careers. However, if I have done well and have a very good retirement income, I should not pull more out of these soon-to-be insolvent systems than I paid in. I could have several levels of testing to try to best align people's retirement incomes with the funds they paid into the system over their working careers.
4) Corporate welfare stops. Farm subsidies, ethanol subsidies, manipulating commodity prices, tax breaks for pet industries, etc. The government should not be in the business of picking winners and subsidizing industry it deems more worthy than others. Business will either succeed or fail on its own. That is what free markets are about. Let them do their jobs.
5) Foster domestic energy development. Drill off the coasts, in Alaska, and in the Gulf of Mexico. Harvest oil shale and coal. Authoize new nukes and refining plants. We can be energy independent in 10 years. Get it done by letting business go to work creating our own energy. If solar & wind energy is part of that equation, great, I hope it does well, but it has to compete with the next best alternative. No intervention by the government to provide an advantage of one energy source over another. Imagine the rush of investment and hiring in an energy sector that is unfettered by capricious and punitive government regulation.
There you go. A plan that will spur economic growth and make every ones April 15th a lot less stressful. It will drive up tax revenues and hiring by creating an environment in which capital and investment are rewarded which will result in massive investments in business which will result in very brisk hiring.
More jobs, more tax revenues, and far less debt. Seems like a no-brainer to me. I want Obama to enjoy his vacation, so I did his homework for him. I don't expect any thanks, but I am looking forward to participating in the coming economic boom.
A job creating plan does not have to cost a dime, so there is no stimulus, no presents for corporations, and no need for infusions of foreign cash. Here we go:
1) Overhaul the tax code - I am sick and tired of social engineering through the tax code and it doesn't work, it is a drag on the economy. Governments trying to pick winners and losers in the market and the economy through tax policy has been an abject failure and has left us a tax code that is far too complicated and ineffective.
Single individual tax rate of 17.5% (I have some flexibility on the optimal rate) for every dollar earned above the poverty rate. No deductions for anything, no loopholes for anyone. No real estate interest rate deduction, no earned income tax credit, no nothing, no deductions, no credit. Everyone can figure out their tax liability with a pencil and paper and 5 minutes of time.
Corporate tax rate of 15%. No loopholes, no deductions. Income on foreign operations and investments can be repatriated at 15%. A rush of cash will come back to the US for investment in the business.
1% national sales tax on everything except food and medicine. This will make sure that everyone is vested in and paying into funding government. The more you consume, the more you pay into the system. Any attempt to raise this rate will require a 3/4 majority of both houses of congress.
2) Repeal Obamacare. Face it, this is bad legislation adding to both the uncertainty and cost of doing business. It has been scored by the CBO as adding a trillion dollars to the national debt over the next ten years. The plan is a loser and an example of bad government. Admit it and set about fixing the problem. Stat over. Get non-partisan instustry experts to weigh in. Commit to a market-based system of competition across the national landscape. No protections for healthcare providers within state lines. Everyone providing healthcare must compete nationally.
3) Raise social security and medicare benefit eligibility to 70 years old for anyone under 50. People are living longer and pulling way more out of these programs than they paid in. That's wrong. Raise the age at which folks start to pull benefit out of the system, which will grab a few more years of contributions and maybe we can start getting these runaway programs under control. I would also start some level of means testing that would reduce benefits to wealthy retirees. The wealthy retirees would still receive a reduced level of benefits - they have to, they are owed. They paid into the system for years, they are entitled to at least the amount of their payments into the system plus interest compounded at the risk free rate over the course of their working careers. However, if I have done well and have a very good retirement income, I should not pull more out of these soon-to-be insolvent systems than I paid in. I could have several levels of testing to try to best align people's retirement incomes with the funds they paid into the system over their working careers.
4) Corporate welfare stops. Farm subsidies, ethanol subsidies, manipulating commodity prices, tax breaks for pet industries, etc. The government should not be in the business of picking winners and subsidizing industry it deems more worthy than others. Business will either succeed or fail on its own. That is what free markets are about. Let them do their jobs.
5) Foster domestic energy development. Drill off the coasts, in Alaska, and in the Gulf of Mexico. Harvest oil shale and coal. Authoize new nukes and refining plants. We can be energy independent in 10 years. Get it done by letting business go to work creating our own energy. If solar & wind energy is part of that equation, great, I hope it does well, but it has to compete with the next best alternative. No intervention by the government to provide an advantage of one energy source over another. Imagine the rush of investment and hiring in an energy sector that is unfettered by capricious and punitive government regulation.
There you go. A plan that will spur economic growth and make every ones April 15th a lot less stressful. It will drive up tax revenues and hiring by creating an environment in which capital and investment are rewarded which will result in massive investments in business which will result in very brisk hiring.
More jobs, more tax revenues, and far less debt. Seems like a no-brainer to me. I want Obama to enjoy his vacation, so I did his homework for him. I don't expect any thanks, but I am looking forward to participating in the coming economic boom.
Monday, August 8, 2011
When Leadership Goes on Vacation
Without question, one of the greatest leaders in American history was Abraham Lincoln. If you have not read "Team of Rivals", do yourself a favor and read it when you have some free time. It will provide a stark contrast between effective, hard-nosed, courageous leadership and what we have inflicted upon ourselves by electing Barack Obama to the most important and complex executive leadership position in the history of the world.
I am tired of hearing about the bad hand Obama was dealt when he took office. Lincoln did not exactly inherit a basket of fruit when he took office. President Buchanan left a pending disaster when he left office. Having read read several books on Abraham Lincoln, I don't recall him griping about the mess he inherited. That's because Lincoln was a leader. He took the heat when things went wrong. He surrounded himself with talented people and he got things done. He owned the problems. He communicated ideas, solutions, and strategies to a nation torn apart by war. He considered himself president of the entire nation, even the part of the nation in rebellion.
Please contrast this to president Obama. In one of his most inept, self-serving, and shameful speeches ever, on a day when markets across the world were looking for resolute strategies and actionable ideas Obama delivered a blame-shifting, petulant, weak-kneed harangue that further rattled skittish markets.
When Obama took the reigns of power in 2009, he had literally zero leadership experience and zero executive experience. We are paying the price for that now in a big way. I have never led a major public corporation or been a public executive. However, I have held executive leadership positions in small companies and local leadership positions in large companies. This does not make me an expert on executive leadership, but it gives me infinitely more experience than Barack Obama. Here are a few tips for the naive yet condescending "leader" of our nation:
When things get rough, your people look to you for strength. They want a rally point. They want direction. They want to hear what you think and more importantly what you are going to do to make things better.
When things don't go well, leaders take ownership. They take responsibility for the situation at hand, whether they caused it or not. Leaders don't care how we got here, leaders care how we are going to get out of here.
When business or the economy is in the tank, people want assurances that you are in charge, that you understand the problem, and that you have clear and actionable plans to reverse course. People don't care about blame, they aren't interested in the rear view mirror. Employees and citizens are forward looking. They have obligations and responsibilities. They have dreams and aspirations. Passing the buck, making excuses, and blaming others for the current state of affairs does not advance the ball. The opportunity cost of lost time and energy dreaming up blame-game strategies is something real leaders will not pay under any circumstance.
The democrats and republicans all have attack dogs and paid mouth pieces to lead their partisan charges. Barack, you need to let your hired guns do their jobs. Let David Axelrod worry about vilifying the Tea Party, you have work to do and problems to fix. You don't have time to waste worrying about how to make your opponents look bad. (here is a little free advice, republicans are pretty good at making themselves look bad without any help)Instead, you need to figure out what it means to be a leader. You need to bring your on-the-job executive training to an close and start leading this nation. Develop a plan Mr President. Quit passing the buck. Quit attacking the Tea Party. Quit blaming President Bush. You are the president, you are supposed to be leading this nation. We are in trouble, get off your high horse, quit playing the blame game, and fix the problem. (Here's a little more free advice - a thriving economy spins off much more in tax revenues than a shrinking one. Economies don't thrive on government spending. Excessive government spending represents an opportunity cost of capital not being put to its best use. If you don't understand this, go talk to Walter Williams, he will explain it you.)
Barack Obama, you are president of the United States. You are the most important executive in the world. It is time to start acting like it. Your incompetence is crushing us. No one cares whose fault this is. It is time to solve the problem. If you had any executive acumen or leadership experience, you would know this already.
Leaders lead. Politicians assign blame. Which one have you been for the past 3 years? No one gave you this job, you asked for it. It's past time to start doing it like a leader and not like a politician.
I am tired of hearing about the bad hand Obama was dealt when he took office. Lincoln did not exactly inherit a basket of fruit when he took office. President Buchanan left a pending disaster when he left office. Having read read several books on Abraham Lincoln, I don't recall him griping about the mess he inherited. That's because Lincoln was a leader. He took the heat when things went wrong. He surrounded himself with talented people and he got things done. He owned the problems. He communicated ideas, solutions, and strategies to a nation torn apart by war. He considered himself president of the entire nation, even the part of the nation in rebellion.
Please contrast this to president Obama. In one of his most inept, self-serving, and shameful speeches ever, on a day when markets across the world were looking for resolute strategies and actionable ideas Obama delivered a blame-shifting, petulant, weak-kneed harangue that further rattled skittish markets.
When Obama took the reigns of power in 2009, he had literally zero leadership experience and zero executive experience. We are paying the price for that now in a big way. I have never led a major public corporation or been a public executive. However, I have held executive leadership positions in small companies and local leadership positions in large companies. This does not make me an expert on executive leadership, but it gives me infinitely more experience than Barack Obama. Here are a few tips for the naive yet condescending "leader" of our nation:
When things get rough, your people look to you for strength. They want a rally point. They want direction. They want to hear what you think and more importantly what you are going to do to make things better.
When things don't go well, leaders take ownership. They take responsibility for the situation at hand, whether they caused it or not. Leaders don't care how we got here, leaders care how we are going to get out of here.
When business or the economy is in the tank, people want assurances that you are in charge, that you understand the problem, and that you have clear and actionable plans to reverse course. People don't care about blame, they aren't interested in the rear view mirror. Employees and citizens are forward looking. They have obligations and responsibilities. They have dreams and aspirations. Passing the buck, making excuses, and blaming others for the current state of affairs does not advance the ball. The opportunity cost of lost time and energy dreaming up blame-game strategies is something real leaders will not pay under any circumstance.
The democrats and republicans all have attack dogs and paid mouth pieces to lead their partisan charges. Barack, you need to let your hired guns do their jobs. Let David Axelrod worry about vilifying the Tea Party, you have work to do and problems to fix. You don't have time to waste worrying about how to make your opponents look bad. (here is a little free advice, republicans are pretty good at making themselves look bad without any help)Instead, you need to figure out what it means to be a leader. You need to bring your on-the-job executive training to an close and start leading this nation. Develop a plan Mr President. Quit passing the buck. Quit attacking the Tea Party. Quit blaming President Bush. You are the president, you are supposed to be leading this nation. We are in trouble, get off your high horse, quit playing the blame game, and fix the problem. (Here's a little more free advice - a thriving economy spins off much more in tax revenues than a shrinking one. Economies don't thrive on government spending. Excessive government spending represents an opportunity cost of capital not being put to its best use. If you don't understand this, go talk to Walter Williams, he will explain it you.)
Barack Obama, you are president of the United States. You are the most important executive in the world. It is time to start acting like it. Your incompetence is crushing us. No one cares whose fault this is. It is time to solve the problem. If you had any executive acumen or leadership experience, you would know this already.
Leaders lead. Politicians assign blame. Which one have you been for the past 3 years? No one gave you this job, you asked for it. It's past time to start doing it like a leader and not like a politician.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Another Easy Problem Made Hard
Debt problem? Well, this is pretty easy. Stop spending so much dadgum money, and quit committing to spending so much dadgum money in the future. The problem goes away very easily following this simple strategy. Want to solve this problem? Great, let's get to work:
ObamaCare...gone. I just saved us well over a $ 1 trillion dollars over the next 10 years.
Cut funding for Iraq and Afghanistan by 50% by the end of the coming fiscal year, and then by 75% the following year. Lybia, not spending another dime bombing Lybia. I might let New York ship their garbage over there an dump it in Moammar's front lawn, but that should be revenue neutral. Hell, given what those trendy Manhattanites throw away, I might be able to sell that junk and turn Moammar's lawn into a revenue center. New Yorks' junk is Lybia's trasure. I just saved another trillion plus over the next 10years.
Raise Social Security age by 2 years for anyone under 55 and index all future increases to inflation. Boom, just saved another trillion plus.
I haven't even started on Medicare and Medicaid yet. I guarantee there is trillion of saving is each program over the next ten years, minimum.
Subsidies for Ethanol...over. Really easy one there, I saved billions, lowered food prices, and cleaned up the environment in one swoop. Feeling hot today, so let's keep going.
In 5 minutes, I have cut spending by well over 7 trillion dollars, probably even more.
Need more revenue? Done. I am cutting the corporate tax to 10% and wiping out the loopholes, so now every profitable business is paying into the coffers no matter how much they pay their tax attorney...in fact they can probably put those folks to work creating value for the stock holders instead of figuring out how to sidestep paying taxes. Guess what else? Those trillions of profits trapped over seas because no rational business person would repatriate them at 65 cents on the dollar, all those bucks just came home to momma and are driving net new investments in the domestic private sector.
BTW, since the doom of ObamaCare is now gone and business knows what it will cost to hire new employees, unemployment is getting ready to drop...driving up tax receipts and driving down billions in federal aid to unemployed families.
If the CBO would score me on this, I am thinking over 10 years just saved at least 8-10 trillion in spending and drove tax revenues through the roof with robust economic growth, and I did all this for free. Once again, simple problems made very difficult by our geniuses in Washington.
I'd like to have those ninnies who write for Salon and The Daily Kos try to come up with a better plan. After they finished complimenting each other on how smart they are, admiring the new ripped up t-shirt collection, and cursing former president Bush, I am pretty sure they would settle on a plan to raise taxes on those mean "rich" people who buy things, hire people, and provide capital for markets that need it. Corporate jets would not only lose their tax breaks, I am pretty sure they would be banned...except the ones that Al Gore, Jane Fonda, and George Soros use. I am guessing oil would be taxed more, so we would have less of it. That's helpful.I am pretty sure we would spend more money we don't have on green energy projects that don't work. When green energy is ready, I am pretty sure the capitalists left in this country will figure out how to make a killing by making it affordable and accessible to the masses. If Washington provides it through subsidies, it will be as successful as ethanol. 'nuff said.
We have 300M people in the United States. Is everyone going to love my plan? Nope. But I am not trying to make everyone love me, I am trying to solve the problem. Maybe that's where things go awry in Washington. If Obama was as freaking smart as he thinks he is and as his minions on MSNBC tell us he is, you'd think he could figure this out on his own. That Ivy league diploma is losing a little bit of its shine.
Well, that didn't take very long. You can thank me later.
ObamaCare...gone. I just saved us well over a $ 1 trillion dollars over the next 10 years.
Cut funding for Iraq and Afghanistan by 50% by the end of the coming fiscal year, and then by 75% the following year. Lybia, not spending another dime bombing Lybia. I might let New York ship their garbage over there an dump it in Moammar's front lawn, but that should be revenue neutral. Hell, given what those trendy Manhattanites throw away, I might be able to sell that junk and turn Moammar's lawn into a revenue center. New Yorks' junk is Lybia's trasure. I just saved another trillion plus over the next 10years.
Raise Social Security age by 2 years for anyone under 55 and index all future increases to inflation. Boom, just saved another trillion plus.
I haven't even started on Medicare and Medicaid yet. I guarantee there is trillion of saving is each program over the next ten years, minimum.
Subsidies for Ethanol...over. Really easy one there, I saved billions, lowered food prices, and cleaned up the environment in one swoop. Feeling hot today, so let's keep going.
In 5 minutes, I have cut spending by well over 7 trillion dollars, probably even more.
Need more revenue? Done. I am cutting the corporate tax to 10% and wiping out the loopholes, so now every profitable business is paying into the coffers no matter how much they pay their tax attorney...in fact they can probably put those folks to work creating value for the stock holders instead of figuring out how to sidestep paying taxes. Guess what else? Those trillions of profits trapped over seas because no rational business person would repatriate them at 65 cents on the dollar, all those bucks just came home to momma and are driving net new investments in the domestic private sector.
BTW, since the doom of ObamaCare is now gone and business knows what it will cost to hire new employees, unemployment is getting ready to drop...driving up tax receipts and driving down billions in federal aid to unemployed families.
If the CBO would score me on this, I am thinking over 10 years just saved at least 8-10 trillion in spending and drove tax revenues through the roof with robust economic growth, and I did all this for free. Once again, simple problems made very difficult by our geniuses in Washington.
I'd like to have those ninnies who write for Salon and The Daily Kos try to come up with a better plan. After they finished complimenting each other on how smart they are, admiring the new ripped up t-shirt collection, and cursing former president Bush, I am pretty sure they would settle on a plan to raise taxes on those mean "rich" people who buy things, hire people, and provide capital for markets that need it. Corporate jets would not only lose their tax breaks, I am pretty sure they would be banned...except the ones that Al Gore, Jane Fonda, and George Soros use. I am guessing oil would be taxed more, so we would have less of it. That's helpful.I am pretty sure we would spend more money we don't have on green energy projects that don't work. When green energy is ready, I am pretty sure the capitalists left in this country will figure out how to make a killing by making it affordable and accessible to the masses. If Washington provides it through subsidies, it will be as successful as ethanol. 'nuff said.
We have 300M people in the United States. Is everyone going to love my plan? Nope. But I am not trying to make everyone love me, I am trying to solve the problem. Maybe that's where things go awry in Washington. If Obama was as freaking smart as he thinks he is and as his minions on MSNBC tell us he is, you'd think he could figure this out on his own. That Ivy league diploma is losing a little bit of its shine.
Well, that didn't take very long. You can thank me later.
Friday, July 1, 2011
No Mas! - Probabaly not what you are thinking....
This is for my niece Lindsay who told me I needed to lighten up in my blog posts...
A while ago, one of the many delightfully wandering and inane conversations over beer with one of my good friends, who I have known since 6th grade, meandered to the Tom Hanks movie “Castaway”. Why the conversation went there, I have no idea, but in the random walk of conversation topics, this was just as likely as any other topic. My friend stated that he would not have lasted a week as a castaway on an island because as he aged his eyesight had gotten so bad that not only could he not read a stop sign without contacts lenses, but he couldn’t see a stop sign without contacts. He stated that as soon as his contact lenses dried up, he would essentially became the “blind castaway” and walk off a cliff he couldn’t see in broad daylight. The thought that popped in my head as he described his likely fate as a castaway was…”reality show” somewhere in this tale of woe was a great reality show.
Several years ago, when I was training for my second marathon, I became overly sensitive to even moderate heat and/or humidity. When I am exercising, working in the yard, or running with my luggage down a long concourse to catch a flight, if there is a trace of heat or humidity, I start to perspire…profusely. My golfing friends have noticed this (how could they not?) and now I am the justified object of ridicule when I have to change my shirt after walking 9 holes. I usually forget that my shorts are plaid and pack a second shirt that is striped which helps my back nine immeasurably. The last time I sweated out my golf shirt and was changing to my backup, I had a thought pop in my head…”reality show”.
Ideas bounce around in my head for a long time before they fuse with other equally ridiculous ideas and are merged into a ridiculous concept. Sitting on the tarmac waiting to takeoff this week, my two reality show ideas fused into what I think is a winning idea.
Let’s take two people, like my friend and me…with seemingly minor ailments in modern, civilized society, and put them on separate but essentially equal remote tropical islands as castaways and see how harmless ailments are magnified into intolerable handicaps until the ailment eventually becomes their undoing. The show would be called “No Mas!”. Here is how an episode might work:
My essentially blind friend would be put on an island by himself with a film crew to record his every move and make sure he does not actually walk off a cliff once his contacts dry up.They would film him trying to forage for food, chasing what he thought were edible rodents that turned out to be rocks. Chasing what he thought was a harmless edible monkey that turned out to be a feral boar with 4 inch fangs. Assume he was able to fashion a fishing spear while he could still see. Now imagine him throwing the spear trying to catch fish after his contacts have dried up. If a fish was large enough for him to see, it would likely be a submerged bolder or a shark the size of Jaws….either way, spear fishing rocks or man eating sharks is good reality show fun. Imagine he was able to find crabs to eat. Any crab he could see would be enormous. In his blinded state, he might be able to grab a giant crab, but there is no way he could see to fend off the crab’s giant pinchers. So a crab-grab is really a suicide mission of the hand (manocide?) Food might be within his grasp, but there is going to be hell to pay. Viewers would certainly be treated to a series of slapstick head bumps and trip-and-fall events as well as tossing and losing his fishing spear at objects, none of which were fish….zainey reality show fun.
On the flip side, I would be on another island, doing everything I could to either preserve fluid or find fluids. I imagine that my stay would be more of a game of strategy but no less futile. Do I just try not to sweat, or do I risk sweating, looking for water, knowing that the drain and the bottom of the tub is letting water run out faster than I am finding it? How does one not sweat in the tropical heat and sun? I can imagine trying a conservation strategy first. Standing up to my neck in sea water trying my best not to sweat until the sun goes down and it is safe for me to move around. Given my acute ADD, I suspect I could stand still in neck-deep water for maybe 10 minutes before I became totally bored or totally paranoid and convinced that I was going to be attacked by a school of piranhas. Conservation having been tried and failed as a way to win the game, I suspect I would then begin a futile search for water – looking for dew drops on leaves that dried up while I was standing in water up to my neck, running around looking for streams that don’t exist, all the while sweating like a mule. I expect strategy would devolve into beating coconuts to death. The race for hydration would be on…could I refill the tub before the last drop ran out, before my competitor declared “No Mas!”?
“No Mas!” ends when one of the castaways has had enough and raises the “No Mas!” flag signaling he has had enough. Alternately, the castaway could light a roman candle that spells out “No Mas!” in firework smoke. The first castaway to declare “No Mas!” would lose, unbeknownst to the other castaway. This is where “No Mas!” really takes shape. Say I declare “No Mas!” first. I lose the game, but also I get picked up by a helicopter and flown to a tropical Four Seasons to recover from my ordeal. My competitor stays on his island, bumping his head on tree limbs and getting his hands mauled by crabs…despite that fact he is the unwitting “winner” of “No Mas!”. Once he declares also “No Mas!” he would be declared the “No Mas!”winner….and told that I had been sunning myself at the Four Seasons for the past week. I suppose he would get a check for like $ 200K or something and maybe I get the runners up check that for “No Mas!” which is the other “No Mas!” joke because the runner up check is for “Nada”.
Maybe I haven’t had enough sleep, but this sounds like good clean fun to me, fun until the point when I have to declare “No Mas”. We could follow this up with “Celebrity No Mas!”
A while ago, one of the many delightfully wandering and inane conversations over beer with one of my good friends, who I have known since 6th grade, meandered to the Tom Hanks movie “Castaway”. Why the conversation went there, I have no idea, but in the random walk of conversation topics, this was just as likely as any other topic. My friend stated that he would not have lasted a week as a castaway on an island because as he aged his eyesight had gotten so bad that not only could he not read a stop sign without contacts lenses, but he couldn’t see a stop sign without contacts. He stated that as soon as his contact lenses dried up, he would essentially became the “blind castaway” and walk off a cliff he couldn’t see in broad daylight. The thought that popped in my head as he described his likely fate as a castaway was…”reality show” somewhere in this tale of woe was a great reality show.
Several years ago, when I was training for my second marathon, I became overly sensitive to even moderate heat and/or humidity. When I am exercising, working in the yard, or running with my luggage down a long concourse to catch a flight, if there is a trace of heat or humidity, I start to perspire…profusely. My golfing friends have noticed this (how could they not?) and now I am the justified object of ridicule when I have to change my shirt after walking 9 holes. I usually forget that my shorts are plaid and pack a second shirt that is striped which helps my back nine immeasurably. The last time I sweated out my golf shirt and was changing to my backup, I had a thought pop in my head…”reality show”.
Ideas bounce around in my head for a long time before they fuse with other equally ridiculous ideas and are merged into a ridiculous concept. Sitting on the tarmac waiting to takeoff this week, my two reality show ideas fused into what I think is a winning idea.
Let’s take two people, like my friend and me…with seemingly minor ailments in modern, civilized society, and put them on separate but essentially equal remote tropical islands as castaways and see how harmless ailments are magnified into intolerable handicaps until the ailment eventually becomes their undoing. The show would be called “No Mas!”. Here is how an episode might work:
My essentially blind friend would be put on an island by himself with a film crew to record his every move and make sure he does not actually walk off a cliff once his contacts dry up.They would film him trying to forage for food, chasing what he thought were edible rodents that turned out to be rocks. Chasing what he thought was a harmless edible monkey that turned out to be a feral boar with 4 inch fangs. Assume he was able to fashion a fishing spear while he could still see. Now imagine him throwing the spear trying to catch fish after his contacts have dried up. If a fish was large enough for him to see, it would likely be a submerged bolder or a shark the size of Jaws….either way, spear fishing rocks or man eating sharks is good reality show fun. Imagine he was able to find crabs to eat. Any crab he could see would be enormous. In his blinded state, he might be able to grab a giant crab, but there is no way he could see to fend off the crab’s giant pinchers. So a crab-grab is really a suicide mission of the hand (manocide?) Food might be within his grasp, but there is going to be hell to pay. Viewers would certainly be treated to a series of slapstick head bumps and trip-and-fall events as well as tossing and losing his fishing spear at objects, none of which were fish….zainey reality show fun.
On the flip side, I would be on another island, doing everything I could to either preserve fluid or find fluids. I imagine that my stay would be more of a game of strategy but no less futile. Do I just try not to sweat, or do I risk sweating, looking for water, knowing that the drain and the bottom of the tub is letting water run out faster than I am finding it? How does one not sweat in the tropical heat and sun? I can imagine trying a conservation strategy first. Standing up to my neck in sea water trying my best not to sweat until the sun goes down and it is safe for me to move around. Given my acute ADD, I suspect I could stand still in neck-deep water for maybe 10 minutes before I became totally bored or totally paranoid and convinced that I was going to be attacked by a school of piranhas. Conservation having been tried and failed as a way to win the game, I suspect I would then begin a futile search for water – looking for dew drops on leaves that dried up while I was standing in water up to my neck, running around looking for streams that don’t exist, all the while sweating like a mule. I expect strategy would devolve into beating coconuts to death. The race for hydration would be on…could I refill the tub before the last drop ran out, before my competitor declared “No Mas!”?
“No Mas!” ends when one of the castaways has had enough and raises the “No Mas!” flag signaling he has had enough. Alternately, the castaway could light a roman candle that spells out “No Mas!” in firework smoke. The first castaway to declare “No Mas!” would lose, unbeknownst to the other castaway. This is where “No Mas!” really takes shape. Say I declare “No Mas!” first. I lose the game, but also I get picked up by a helicopter and flown to a tropical Four Seasons to recover from my ordeal. My competitor stays on his island, bumping his head on tree limbs and getting his hands mauled by crabs…despite that fact he is the unwitting “winner” of “No Mas!”. Once he declares also “No Mas!” he would be declared the “No Mas!”winner….and told that I had been sunning myself at the Four Seasons for the past week. I suppose he would get a check for like $ 200K or something and maybe I get the runners up check that for “No Mas!” which is the other “No Mas!” joke because the runner up check is for “Nada”.
Maybe I haven’t had enough sleep, but this sounds like good clean fun to me, fun until the point when I have to declare “No Mas”. We could follow this up with “Celebrity No Mas!”
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Summer's Special Challenges
It is officially summer and the travel season is in full swing. For better or worse I have been a pretty frequent year-round traveller for many years. I can't help but notice that the attire of the American travelling public seems to be in a perpetual state of decline. Summer seems to bring out the worst in travel attire. Airports, train stations, hotel lobbys are all pretty much the same story. Rag-tag travellers, frequently sporting clothes that should have been tossed years ago.
It is odd that people seem to intentionally dress down when travelling. I understand travel dress that is comfortable, but some of the outfits of the travelling public are at best ridiculous. Walking to catch a train this week in Union Station, it seemed that each gate had a cadre of clowns getting ready to board their train, each more ridoculously clad than the last. It kind of makes me pine for the days that I have seen in old movies and news clips, but never experienced when people dressed up when they travelled. Rich, poor, black, white...male travellers were wearing coats and ties, female travellers in dresses. What drove me to long for the days of dressing up to travel? The male foot, that's what.
I have nothing against the male foot. In fact, I am a fan. I have two myself and use them daily. They have carried me across the finish lines of four marathons. They get me to work every day. I walk 18 holes far more often than I ride. I don't know what I would do without them. However, there is a fact about the male foot the travellers need to understand. The male foot, while tremendously useful, is neither attractive nor decorative. Its asthetics are the inverse of its functionality. It needs to be kept away from sight. Especially when travelling, the male foot needs to be like a good umpire crew in a baseball game. They are doing their job, the game could not proceed without them, but when they are at their best, no one notices them, they are essentially invisible. The male foot needs to be similarly invisible when travelling. The only thing that makes an airplane meal on a cross country flight less appealing is sharing that meal with exposed male feet in flip flops.
While the male foot in flip flops or sandals is the nadir of the male traveller's woredrobe. A close second is the sockless male foot stuffed into a flimpsy black Italian loafers, when wearing shorts. Who in the world thinks this is a good look? When your mother told you that if you were in an accident, she hoped you would be wearing clean underwear...I think she assumed that your outward appearance would not include fat feet stuffed into loafers paired with short pants...while you stood in line to board your flight to Paris. Maybe Parisians are rude to Americans because they can spot us a mile away.
No one is ever going to call my sense of fashion hip or trendy. Puttering around the house or the neighborhood, I am the first one to choose comfort over style and am all for flip flops and shorts. However, I think we can get the male foot undercover where it belongs. I call on wives and mothers everywhere to help keep the male foot hidden from view. Help us help you. This is not the time to be polite. We are drowning in a sea of bad male footwear. I think this is a case of "by any means necessary". Ladies, this fight is up to you. Good luck, like always, we can't help ourselves and are counting on you.
It is odd that people seem to intentionally dress down when travelling. I understand travel dress that is comfortable, but some of the outfits of the travelling public are at best ridiculous. Walking to catch a train this week in Union Station, it seemed that each gate had a cadre of clowns getting ready to board their train, each more ridoculously clad than the last. It kind of makes me pine for the days that I have seen in old movies and news clips, but never experienced when people dressed up when they travelled. Rich, poor, black, white...male travellers were wearing coats and ties, female travellers in dresses. What drove me to long for the days of dressing up to travel? The male foot, that's what.
I have nothing against the male foot. In fact, I am a fan. I have two myself and use them daily. They have carried me across the finish lines of four marathons. They get me to work every day. I walk 18 holes far more often than I ride. I don't know what I would do without them. However, there is a fact about the male foot the travellers need to understand. The male foot, while tremendously useful, is neither attractive nor decorative. Its asthetics are the inverse of its functionality. It needs to be kept away from sight. Especially when travelling, the male foot needs to be like a good umpire crew in a baseball game. They are doing their job, the game could not proceed without them, but when they are at their best, no one notices them, they are essentially invisible. The male foot needs to be similarly invisible when travelling. The only thing that makes an airplane meal on a cross country flight less appealing is sharing that meal with exposed male feet in flip flops.
While the male foot in flip flops or sandals is the nadir of the male traveller's woredrobe. A close second is the sockless male foot stuffed into a flimpsy black Italian loafers, when wearing shorts. Who in the world thinks this is a good look? When your mother told you that if you were in an accident, she hoped you would be wearing clean underwear...I think she assumed that your outward appearance would not include fat feet stuffed into loafers paired with short pants...while you stood in line to board your flight to Paris. Maybe Parisians are rude to Americans because they can spot us a mile away.
No one is ever going to call my sense of fashion hip or trendy. Puttering around the house or the neighborhood, I am the first one to choose comfort over style and am all for flip flops and shorts. However, I think we can get the male foot undercover where it belongs. I call on wives and mothers everywhere to help keep the male foot hidden from view. Help us help you. This is not the time to be polite. We are drowning in a sea of bad male footwear. I think this is a case of "by any means necessary". Ladies, this fight is up to you. Good luck, like always, we can't help ourselves and are counting on you.
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