#549 – Dick Bernard: Part Two. The slow but certain suicide of Capitalism

/1 Comment/in , , , , , , /by

I’m not an enemy of Capitalism. From my earliest years some deference was paid to the person who lived in the biggest house in town; who occupied a position of status or rank; the most “successful” relative…. Right or wrong, they were thought to be deserving of being a bit better off.
Today, Capitalism funds my retirement pension (unless its most ruthless advocates achieve a goal of destroying my Union which provides the funding to assure my private pension solvency.)
I also have no apprehensions about Socialism. Indeed, without very strong elements of Socialism in the American economy, Capitalism would die, and Capitalism knows it, but doesn’t have the common sense to know when to quit bludgeoning the middle class and government, which are largely creatures of Socialist largesse – public schools, health and the like.
Examples to debate are endless. The Bible quote in last Sunday’s Passion (see it here) was a most interesting one, cutting the apparent Capitalist of the day considerable slack in how she spent her money.
Oh, if it were so simple.
If I were to pick an exemplar of unfettered Capitalism it would be desperately impoverished Haiti, once the jewel of the French Empire. You can find many examples of extreme wealth there; elite families benefit by friendly laws and have destroyed competition. As one gets richer and richer and richer, defeating a potential competitor is easy.
Poor as it is, I’ve heard post-earthquake Haiti described as a “goldmine”. So, somebody has a monopoly on cement; someone else on school uniforms, etc., etc., etc. And the wealthy in Haiti can enjoy their lifestyle wherever in the world they wish, while the overwhelming vast majority of the people subsist. It is a society of, by and for Capitalism; and in the last 100-200 years it is largely of the American variety. Its cruel circumstances were imported from France and the U.S., largely.

In our own U.S., the Capitalist impulse towards self-destruction is harder to see than in Haiti, but nonetheless it is apparent. We are killing ourselves.
The accelerating imbalance in wealth in America (and elsewhere) is apparent to anyone who cares to look. Last Sunday, 60 Minutes had a segment on burgeoning art markets for the super wealthy.
The wealthy have far more than enough. But, it seems, the more they have the more they want.
A friend of mine, a retired corporate manager and no friend of government or taxes, described this dynamic a few days ago, without intending to do so.
He and his wife spend February and March at one of those Florida Gulf Coast condominium complexes, and they had just returned home.
We were chatting, and the topic got around to where they stay each year.
They rent: $5,000 a month. Two bedroom, 9th floor, Gulf side.
We chatted: The owners of their condo have three or four homes. The 19 floors of their condo has over 100 units; only 6 are year round residents. The condo they rent cost $1.3 million when purchased a few years ago, and probably on a good day would now sell for $600,000. Monthly Association fees are $891, and my friend guessed that the place is rented perhaps four months a year. Most of the year it is empty. There are additional costs for upkeep. There are numerous other similar buildings in this community….
One can gather how a conversation about government, taxes, liberals, unions, etc., would go at dinner in one of the restaurants in this wealthy ghetto. Likely the owners pick as their legal residence the state which has the lowest taxes, and extract every entitlement that they can.
Yes, we have always had the better off, and mostly they were accepted and respected.
But like the semblance of balance necessary to keep a tub of clothes on spin cycle from ruining the wash machine, the obsession with more and more wealth – escalating inequity – is ruining everyone, including the very wealthy.
The wealthy are already a victim of their own greed – imprisoned by their own wealth – but its all they know. The rest of us will just tag along as their (and by extension, our) self-destruct mission continues…unless we decide to do something about it in our still free elections.
Happy Easter.
(Part one is here.)
UPDATE April 4:
John Borgen: Yes, we are a country of the corporations by the corporations for the corporations. Making profit is our holy grail. So many believe they will strike it rich, win the lottery, inherit the big bucks. Consumerism is our religion. Our citizens are drunk on TV, sports, video games, alcohol, drugs, sugar, gossip, blame, selfishness, American elitism.
Ah, the rugged individual! The entrepreneur who cashes in. Only in America!
I heard on the radio,according to the Gallop organization, the top three happiest countries are Denmark, Norway and Finland. The USA
is # 11.

#527 -Dick Bernard: Day One, Business and Art and Music Day, at the Nobel Peace Prize Forum at Augsburg College, Minneapolis MN

/0 Comments/in , , /by

UPDATE March 8, 2012: A personal photo album from the entire Nobel Peace Prize Forum is accessible here.
A wonderful Jazz combo from Augsburg College opened the 2012 Forum, first with a fine rendition of John Lennon’s Imagine, and Sting’s We Work the Black Seam Together.
It was a neat beginning to a superb day, jam-packed with thought provoking talks and workshops on the general topic of Business around the Forum’s theme: “The Price of Peace”. We came home very tired and very satisfied.
There is no adequate way to condense six jam-packed hours into 600 words or less. Here’s an attempt.
The first day was fully subscribed.
In the general sessions, Alf Bjorseth, chairman of Scatec As, gave a highly informative talk on “Renewable Energy:The Business of Renewing Peace & Stability”; Republic of South Africa Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool, discussed the role of business in stabilizing the wider world and local communities as well; at the close, South African Sakumzi “Saki” Macozoma, five year veteran of infamous Robben Island Prison, talked about Business and the Price of Peace in Post-Apartheid South Africa. (click on photos to enlarge.)

Alf Bjorseth, at right, with Johnathan Mann, March 1, 2012


S. Africa Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool and responder panel March 1, 2012


Sakumzi "Saki" Macozoma Mar 1, 2012


All three of these talks, which were live streamed around the world, are archived and are already available for viewing on-line at the Forum website. They are all well worth the time. Bjorseth and Macozoma’s talks were followed by q&a expertly moderated by CNN’s Johnathan Mann. Ambassador Rasool’s talk was followed by a responder panel moderated by Caux Roundtable founder Stephen Young and including Roger Conant (International Investment Advisor), Doug Tice (Minneapolis Star Tribune), and Carol Kitchen (Land O’Lakes).
The sessions for the next two days will be live-streamed as well.
Attend if you can. Register on-line here.
Between major sessions today were a wide array of workshops.
My choices were Business Innovators as Pillars of Peace; and Feeding 9 Billion.
The Feeding 9 Billion workshop was especially interesting, organized by Land O’Lakes, and expertly presented by five persons.
The meeting room was packed to standing room only, and after brief and interesting presentations by five very impressive people, one a native of Kenya, we divided into small groups.
I joined the group facilitated by Bob Beck, a Regional Agronomist (Illinois), Winfield Solutions. There were perhaps a dozen in his ‘circle’, and it was most interesting to note the demographics of our group, and the assorted opinions expressed on various issues relating to U.S. business assistance in other parts of the world. Two women in the group, one Ethiopian, one from India, had strong opinions; others fed in as well with assorted points of view. Beck handled the conversation very well.
Even in 15 minutes discussion, it was possible to conclude that the issues addressed are by no means simple. Words like “honesty”, “trust”, “government”, “business” swirled around. When you sit in circle with people of differing points of view you can learn something. Points of disagreement? Of course, there are those. In human society, where differences are where it’s at, in-person consideration of other points of view is essential.
South Africa has emerged as the informal general theme for this years conference, and Thursday and Friday I’ll hear F. W. DeKlerk speak. DeKlerk won the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize with Nelson Mandela. DeKlerk and Mandela together, and the imperfections of the last 19 years in S. Africa, demonstrate that reaching peace is hard work, and a forever process; slow, but better than the alternative.
Sitting next to us at today’s closing was a young Black man. My spouse struck up a conversation with him. He was a Fulbright scholar from South Africa….
Did we solve the world’s problems today? Will we tomorrow, or Saturday?
Of course not.
But it was great to be a participant in today’s Forum, and I expect the same Friday and Saturday.
Attend if you can.
Follow up posts on Day Two and Day Three are found here and here.

#504 – Dick Bernard: Church, State, the Stadium, and We, the People

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

This morning, as usual on Sunday, I went to 9:30 Mass at Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis.
Not as usual, I entered through the door directly beneath the west bell tower. I noticed a new marble step there. That door has been blocked off by yellow police tape for a long time – most of a year – because a 300 pound piece of the 100 year old structure had fallen off the facing of the bell tower sometime during the night many months ago. It had damaged that particular step. It could have been a catastrophe had people been entering the church at the time.
Back home I read the front page article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune about the news-making conflict between Basilica, city, state and the Minnesota Vikings over the possibility of a new stadium whose property would begin a football field length away from the north end of Basilica property. You can read all about the conflict here. The Basilica is enlisting we parishioners to come to its defense – that’s how Power works.
The story is a good old-fashioned clash of the titans. I’m very loyal to the Basilica, active but disgruntled Catholic for a number of reasons, not a sports fan, but not particularly upset about the prospect of a new stadium for the Vikings somewhere – though I don’t see it as needed, etc., and the so-called Linden Hills site makes little sense. I’ve raised my objections but I see a new stadium as inevitable.
But the elements of this particular story got me to thinking about another aspect of this kind of conflict between powers-that-be…and those with seemingly less power.
I keep thinking back to 1965, the year I arrived in the Twin Cities. It was my most difficult year, ever. My wife was dying at University Hospital and I was broke in a strange town, living briefly with her relatives in south Minneapolis, then in a rooming house not far from the University, and later working at the then-Lincoln Del in St. Louis Park to survive.
If my memory has not failed me, some time that summer I watched the demolition of houses in the path of soon to be Interstate 35-W going south from downtown Minneapolis. This was a “clear cut” project through people’s houses. This is how it happened everywhere as this system we now take for granted was being constructed in the late 1950s and 1960s.
The easiest neighborhoods to cut through were the poorer ones – no effective resistance. And the routes were constructed so as to be most convenient to those more well-off and powerful….
Later, in 1968 I believe it was, The Lowry Tunnel at Lyndale and Hennepin was constructed to facilitate traffic north on Interstate 94, literally across the street from this same Basilica of St. Mary.
The Basilica was spared, but not the neighborhood, but the incessant traffic has done its damage to the Basilica and is at least part of the cause-and-effect of that 300 pound piece of stone falling off its face….
Now its the Vikings who demand something new and extravagant, and will likely get it after the Republicans decide how to position themselves to be in opposition; then claim credit, but blame the Democrat Governor Mark Dayton for the resulting mess. It’s just how it is.
Personally, I’ve done my part as a citizen, written my letters, gone on record with the people who represent me.
If there is to be a stadium, it ought to be the Metrodome, which came in under budget and on-time when it was constructed about 1980 and is a perfectly situated place.
If, stupidly, we’re going to build a new and unneeded stadium, we ought to have the guts to pay for it through taxes, rather than more gambling, the most destructive tax of all.
But this is a fascinating look at how power works, and if those ‘power to the people’ folks are going to exercise their power, they ought to be learning some lessons from this to begin shifting attitudes.

Related, here’s a personal discussion about POWER, here (scroll down).

Some of the kinds of "power" which can be wielded by people. There are many more, at play in the stadium location conflict.

#499 – Dick Bernard: Political Communication; Communication in the U.S. Political Sphere

/0 Comments/in , , , , , , /by

This mornings e-mail brought a most interesting post from Just Above Sunset (JAS), one of my favorite bloggers. Today’s post, Longing for Vigilante’s, concerns Politics and the Communications Profession. It is quite long, but worth the read, and accessible here*. I filed an off-the-cuff comment (later in this post, certainly a “rant”), and the entire conversation brought to mind a reflection on political communications in days gone by….

Some years ago I read a fascinating historical novel, Bones of Plenty by Lois Phillips Hudson.
Hudson’s novel is set in rural North Dakota in 1934, in the area of a small town west of Jamestown, and not far from where my Uncle Vince has spent his entire life. Vince was 9 years old in 1934 (he just turned 87), and in conversations he has described that year as the worst year in the Great Depression.
There is much to this novel, but what brought it to mind today was reflecting on how communications took place in 1934. There were newspapers and journals, then, many of which printed most anything submitted by readers. There was no glut of information. Some citizens had telephones; radio, while existing, was not accessible to the masses.
The main way people communicated, then, was in person, face-to-face, after church, in the saloon, at the town hall, or in assorted settings in the town and country.
These were not people who necessarily agreed with each other: some loved Roosevelt, some hated him. There were all of the things that cause relationship dilemmas in the present day. But the fact of the matter was that they were stuck with each other, and as a consequence, whether they liked it or not, they had to figure out ways to survive, together.
It occurs to me that we no longer feel that need to relate with others, politically, and we are hurting ourselves immensely, as a country. We isolate ourselves in “pods” of particular interests/biases.
This is unhealthy to the future of our society.
*
After I read Just Above Sunset, I dashed off the following, which I have chosen to not edit in any way. Best to catch the emotions of the moment. It is my rough draft, as it were.
The photos at the end of this post are of elders and a student in conversation two days ago in Minneapolis. It was a privilege to witness their chats.
Here’s to real, genuine, communication as it used to be!
*
(Posted to Just Above Sunset [Jan. 13 2012]) “[I begin with] my last sentence, apologizing for the length of the following rant. Sorry. I hope at least one person reads this!
There is certainly research around on this most important topic, but nobody will read it.
My guess: most Americans don’t even read headlines, much less content, and in these days can’t be bothered with discerning fact, so they depend on their outlet of choice: Fox, Daily Kos…endless similar sources right and left.
I’m just a common dog in all of this. I’ve noted that the first paragraph and the last are important. the headline may or may not be unbiased. Pundits often stick in the middle of their column, somewhere, a CYA paragraph, in case somebody calls them out for their bias. They can then say, truthfully, what is really false: “see, it was right there, and you just didn’t read it.” The lead story on TV is always sensational, and there is no “depth of coverage” worth those words outside of, perhaps, 60 Minutes. And on an on and on.
There is a lot of money to be made by the media in political advertising, and we schmucks will pay the bill through campaign contributions to our favorite candidates.
Years ago I coined a phrase, [essentially] “we have too many news people, and too little news” [actually, “more ways to communicate less“]. Of course, as I say, I’m just a common dog and have no way of proving that, and the words are too common to do a productive internet search of that and prove my case. But “my” phrase has been out there for years.
We have become a nation of idiots.
‘Opinions’ have replaced any semblance of ‘facts’ or ‘truth’.
Or maybe we haven’t lost it all just yet.
Just a couple of days ago an elderly friend of mine (actually, he and I are the same age, but what the hey?) was talking with a young woman, who’s working on her senior thesis at her university in Philly area. [first photo, below. click to enlarge] I had taken her over to see him. She happened across me last summer, and I think she’s glad she did. He observed to her, and I agree with him, that the vast majority – the silent middle in this country – is up to something. But it’s quiet and uninteresting and too hard to ferret out, so it won’t make the news. If he’s right, and I think he is, we’re at a time of a profound shift in attitude, but it’s far too boring to cover: like watching paint dry. News is entertainment today.
My college friend is the future we’re, pardon my French, ‘shitting’ on as we play our games. They will remember. We lived in the golden age of “America”, and we lost perspective. Who doesn’t know someone who’ll freely admit “I’m spending my kids inheritance.” It’s more than our kids money we’re spending. We’re spending their future, too.
So the commercial media (which unfortunately includes almost all media now – even lonely bloggers need to pay for their computer) will continue to “ambulance chase”, and in one way or another adopts the famous mantra: “we report, you decide”. And the politicians and their image makers will lie through their teeth, knowing it doesn’t make any difference at all: today’s quote is all that matters, and that people will forget by election day.
As a disinterested relative of mine is fond to say, “they all lie”, which gives her permission to ignore any responsibility for her own choices.
One parting shot: last spring we saw a movie that came and went quickly, but is back in DVD and on demand as of Jan 3, 2012. It is called I Am, The Documentary. I wish everybody in the world could see it, and then talk about it. Check it out on the internet. As the subtitle says: “The shift is happening”.
I hope.”
Sign me: someone who cares.

Bob Milner and Allison Stuewe, Minneapolis MN, January 12, 2012


Interviewing Lynn Elling, Minneapolis MN, January 11, 2012


UPDATE January 14, 2012
* – Comment intended for “Rick the news guy” referred to in Just Above Sunset. Rick was apparently on the “ground floor” at the founding of CNN. I don’t know if this comment will reach Rick. I rarely watch CNN now, but what I see suggests that it at least is attempting to act as a legitimate news source, compared with someone like Fox News (to me, “faux news”).
I thought you might be interested in the following:
I spent considerable viewer time with CNN in the early years of the station. My first vivid memory was Wolf Blitzer reporting from wherever he was during Desert Storm in 1991. He did a great job, as I recall.
In October, 1996, I was watching CNN when I finally had enough and turned off the television, permanently. It was in the heat of the political season and one Newt Gingrich looked me straight in the eye through a CNN camera and told a bald-faced lie, with great sincerity. It was my last straw. I don’t remember what the lie was, but I know it was Newt. I wrote a column about it which was published in my college town paper in December of that year. The column is [Politics 1960 vs 1996001].
I am no longer a TV fan, though I watch it for brief times, including evening news. I pretty rarely watch CNN these days.
The most recent experience with CNN was another unfortunate one: I went to Haiti in December, 2003, and spent a week there learning about Haiti from people who were favorable to President Aristide, including his foreign press liaison. This was a time of tension before the coup, and, in fact, we were in the press liaisons home when she got the phone call about the big demonstrations forming near the capitol.
I really knew nothing about Haiti before that trip, and I was astonished at the diametrically opposed ‘spin’ from the American government and press, and people who liked and respected Aristide, particularly when it became clear that he was to be deposed largely through U.S. efforts [personal opinion here].
One of the worst events for me was one evening when I learned that CNN would be interviewing President Aristide in Port-au-Prince. I think the guy doing the interview was Anderson Cooper, though I could be wrong on that. It’s not terribly relevant. What turned me off was how condescending and dismissive the CNN interviewer was to Aristide. He was treated like he was some small town mayor, rather than as President of a country. I’ve never forgotten that.
The news business is difficult, no doubt. I do know a bit about how it works, and I don’t think it is working at all well today.
Thanks for listening.

#498 – Dick Bernard: Haiti. Thoughts on the second anniversary of the earthquake

/0 Comments/in , , , , , /by

There are, of course, many perspectives about realities in Haiti. Following are three for the second anniversary of the earthquake, January 12, 2010. Comments are solicited. Access at the end of this post.
The Haiti micro-finance Fonkoze had a very interesting one hour Webinar on the situation ‘on the ground’ in Haiti on January 11, 2012. It can be heard/seen online here.
A significant book, Tectonic Shifts, released this week, gives many perspectives on the aftereffects of the Haiti earthquake. Details including full description of contents here.
My personal thoughts: Today is the second anniversary of the devastating earthquake in Haiti. A year ago we had Bell Ringing for Haiti at the moment of the earthquake. It was very successful. This year there are any number of commemorations of the awful event.
Haiti recovery continues, though slower than desirable. There have been and continue to be many very serious problems.
I choose a ‘good news’ message this year.
In October, 2011, my friend Paul Miller sent the following photo, taken June 1, 2011, somewhere in the Port-au-Prince area of Haiti (click on all photos to enlarge).

Natalie Miller and Lavarice Gaudin, Haiti, June 1, 2011


The photo was of Paul and Sharon Miller’s daughter, Natalie, with Lavarice Gaudin of WhatIf? Foundation, looking at locally grown Haitian agricultural produce to be used for the food program at Ste. Clare church in Port-au-Prince. (You can read the WhatIf? and Ste. Clare story here.)
This photo is a shining sign of hope for Haiti.
In November, Lavarice came to Northfield MN as a guest of the Haiti Justice Alliance, and on November 9 we heard him speak at the University of Minnesota.

Lavarice Gaudin, November 9, 2011, at University of Minnesota


I’ve been around the Haiti Justice community long enough to know the drill: there is injustice; you can go to Haiti and see injustice; someone comes from Haiti to speak about injustice. And the injustice continues.
But I’ve been seeing increasing evidence that the action conversation between Haiti and the massive number of NGOs involved in Haiti is slowly but perceptibly changing, and WhatIf?/Lavarice Gaudin/Haiti Justice Alliance together are one piece of what I hope is increasing evidence of change from a charity to a justice model of outside involvement in Haiti.
Lavarice – who we first met in Miami in March, 2006, on a visit with Fr. Gerard Jean-Juste – is native Haitian, college graduate. I had the privilege of meeting Fr. Jean-Juste at Mass in his Ste. Clare parish in early December, 2003, subsequently following his life through trial and tragedy…imprisonment and ultimately death at a too-young age. On that March, 2006, visit, I was put in touch with Fr. Jean-Juste through Lavarice Gaudin, who in turn I had learned of through passionate Haiti advocate and Haitian Marguerite Laurent (“Ezilidanto” in one of the google references to Jean-Juste, above).
I mention all of this because there are endless networks between the U.S., other countries, and Haiti. Unfortunately, the dominant ones, as our own government, have too often been negative and oppressive and dis-empowering to the Haitians.
But there are very positive networks as well. They don’t all agree on tactics and strategies, but the important thing is that they are working tirelessly for justice, part of which requires self-determination for the Haitian people, who have been denied that self-determination.
I was attracted to that photo of Natalie and Lavarice because of the many things it symbolized.
Here was a young, idealistic, American college student, an intern for WhatIf? Foundation. Here also was a Haitian with lots of talent and lots of ideals who moved easily in the U.S. and in Haiti, and who had come back to Haiti to work for a more secure future for the people of his country.
And here, symbolized by the growing corn in the field, was a Haitian farmer, who if I recall Lavarice’s words correctly, was paid for use of his land, and also paid for the produce of the land, which was in turn used to feed the people of Ste. Clare.
Certainly, this is just one example, of many, but it is an example.
A couple of days ago I had occasion to use that warm Haitian proverb, common in many cultures: “Men anpil, chay pa lou” (“Many hands [make] the load lighter.”)
This proverb presumes people working together, not at cross purposes. Many hands fighting each other does not make “the load lighter”.
The road to change is long and very, very difficult, but I hope that year three after the earthquake will bring more and more progress and true recovery to the wonderful people of Haiti.

Fr. Gerard Jean-Juste and parishioners at Ste. Clare Parish Port-au-Prince Haiti December 7, 2003


Enter the word “haiti” in the search box of this blog and you will find many references to Haiti.
My personal web site re Haiti is here. It includes a comparative map, and historic timeline. Yes, it needs updating….

#467 – Dick Bernard: Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid. Reform? Cuts?

/0 Comments/in , , /by

A few days ago three of us (photo of the other two at the end of this post) engaged in a brief conversation about the Big Three safety net programs of the U.S. Government: Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid.
I am six years into my Medicare years so I know from experience how it works (very efficiently); ditto for Social Security. I have somewhat less knowledge about Medicaid, but neither is that an alien concept to me.
The question was raised: “what are your thoughts?”
I responded that I wasn’t concerned about talk about “reform”. The immediate retort from one of the others was “but the issue is CUTS”.
Good point.
Still, I have a hard time sharing the rage of that old guy (probably younger than me!) in the AARP commercial who threatens the wrath of 50,000,000 members if anybody dares try to cut AARP members earned government benefits (I’ve earned those same benefits, too; I’m also one of those 50,000,000).
But I don’t think it’s quite that simple as simply rejecting CUTS or REFORM.
Here’s why I think we should be a bit more flexible.
These are huge programs with long histories and from time to time careful review and prudent adjustment are very appropriate. Indeed, these programs have been reformed from time to time over their respective histories. It is a natural part of the process.
Sure, there are the nefarious elements who say they would like to eliminate the programs, but even given that possible fact, I’m not sure the near hysteria I see in my e-mail inbox is warranted.
On the one hand – the consumer – the issue is about receiving a particular benefit, say medical care, for a certain cost. Certainly I wouldn’t want mine “cut”. Might some aspects be “reformed”? Of course.
I don’t think anyone expects to get Medicare et al for ‘free’. After six years I know that there is a substantial cost: Medicare premiums paid out of the Social Security check; additional premiums for supplemental insurance which is essential; extra for non-reimbursable deductibles; plus payment (in our case) for what we consider essential Long Term Care insurance to cover the possibility of very expensive nursing home care later.
There is nothing that comes for nothing. Directly or indirectly we paid into these programs for years, and in the case of Medicare, we continue to pay. It isn’t “free”.
On the other side of the transaction, I also am very aware that all of those Medicare, etc., dollars go somewhere, and the most likely somewhere is into the pockets of the companies, doctors, etc., who receive Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements, or the stores and others who derive secondary benefit from those Social Security checks received by so many of us. (I once lived in a fairly large community where it was said that the major income stream for the town was Social Security checks. It was down economic times there, and I think it was right. Get rid of Social Security and that town would have been dead.)
Absent Medicare and Medicaid, many people would not be able to afford even essential care, which would take money out of the pockets of those in hospitals, clinics, etc. Even insurance companies would lose. Procedures now paid by Medicare and Medicaid, eliminated, would HURT the entire health industry, and hurt it badly. Think almost routine procedures (today) like cataract operations.
Very simply, it is in NO ONE’s selfish interest to “cut” anything – including those who are mistrusted on the other side of the conversation. But without reform, the programs are not sustainable long term.
It is, in my opinion, in EVERYONE’s best interest to look at possible reforms to, for instance, attempt to deal with rampant corruption – false billings, etc. – which cost everybody.
It is frightening to even consider the possibility that maybe there are some things that might be done to make a great system even better especially in today’s political climate.
But I think the alternative is even worse, and sooner than later many issues need to be addressed.

Nancy Adams and Barb Powell Oct 29, 2011

#464 – Rev. Dr. James Gertmenian sermon: A Culture of Contempt

/0 Comments/in , , /by

NOTE FROM DICK BERNARD: An advantage of having even a small network to communicate with is the ever present, and increased, possibility of a nugget dropping in unannounced and unexpected.
Such is the October 16, 2011, sermon “A Culture of Contempt” of Rev. Dr. James Gertmenian, pastor of Plymouth Congregational Church in Minneapolis.
Rev. Gertmenian’s is a powerful and very timely commentary, related to and generally commenting about the currently raging Occupy Wall Street, 99%, Gospel of Success and similar movements.
Here, with Rev. Gertmenian’s permission, is the pdf of the sermon: Gertmenien Oct 16 11001 The sermon is also accessible in its entirety, including the audio version, here.
My friend who alerted me to its existence, Mike Romanov, said this: “I’m Jewish, but this really moved me. You probably know his scriptural references much better than I.”
The Christian Scripture Text is Luke 1:39-56. I include here that text as it appears in my grandmothers 1906 Douay-Reims (Catholic) translation: Luke 1 39-56001
Dr. Gertmenian applies this text in his sermon.
Whatever your relationship with religion, organized or otherwise, I urge you to read and reflect on Dr. Gertmenian’s message, and then act.

#460 -Dick Bernard: Clueless at the Top

/0 Comments/in , , /by

Last week I had the time to act on a long avoided task. I took on our long neglected bookshelves.
Among the collected works that caught my eye was a book I had purchased in 2005, “Clueless at the Top, While the Rest of Us Turn Elsewhere for Life, Liberty and Happiness” by Charlotte and Harriet Childress. The essence of the book is captured both in the title and at its helpful and informative website, here.
It’s hardly a revelation that we Americans live in a hierarchical (pyramidal) society – perhaps we’re inclined to a hierarchical structure. We seem to want somebody in charge, particularly someone to blame. But the collective body is often ill served by these same clueless leader(s). (I suspect you have someone in mind as “clueless” already.)
Most noticeable are the clueless ones at the top of the big hierarchies: the leaders of the country; of big corporations. They’re convenient targets. Indeed they can do immense damage by virtue of their position. But most likely in the course of any day we will witness many other hierarchies down to the most basic, seemingly never-ending (and endlessly controversial) biblical one: “wives, submit to your husbands” (Colossians 3:18).
At whatever level, hierarchies often create big problems.
As I relooked at the Childress’ volume, it occurred to me that we are ALL “clueless”, every one of us. Within each of us there is the constant struggle between belief and reason, between knowledge and faith, between the easy route and the hard. We lurch between wisdom and cluelessness, hopefully with a bit more wisdom than stupidity!
Sunday night, for a single example, I watched the 60 Minutes segment on recently deceased Steve Jobs, visionary founder of Apple and easily one of the people at the pinnacle of the hierarchy called success. Jobs is legendary and deservedly so (I type this blog on part of his legacy: an iMac).
At the same time, Jobs died at 56, still youthful in his career; his death came at a very early age in contemporary America. In a fateful decision some years ago, he apparently chose to not follow advice to get surgery for cancer when that cancer could conceivably have been cured. Rather, he opted for alternative means which did not work. He followed his own advice, and it served him ill.
Mr. Jobs apparently was no different than the rest of we mere mortals in at least the cluelessness aspect.

So, what to do.
The only reasonable place to start dealing with this cluelessness issue is within ourselves, starting exactly where we are, not even bothering to look elsewhere for people to blame.
Last May we saw a documentary which will be publicly available in a month or two. It is entitled I Am, the Documentary, and its main take-aways for me were 1) the inherent democracy of the natural world, the ability of natural systems to work together cooperatively; 2) what was called The Power of One: the capacity each one of us has to make a positive difference not only for ourselves, but for society at large.
Sunday night, after 60 Minutes, we watched a public television special on “Radioactive Wolves” at Chernobyl 25 years after the catastrophic nuclear meltdown in 1986. What sticks with me from that program were two things: 1) the natural populations (wolves and the like) seem to have recovered without apparent significant long term damage; 2) all that remained of human presence was the abandoned and stark evidence of former human occupation, including the virtually completely abandoned city of Pripyat.
As Chernobyl et al demonstrate daily, there is a great abundance of “Cluelessness at the Top” amongst we humans.
Let’s do what we can within our own individual “pyramids” to make this planet we occupy a better one.

#458 – Dick Bernard: The Vikings Stadium

/0 Comments/in , , /by

If you live in Minnesota or vicinity, and you give even the tiniest bit of attention to news, you will know that THE MINNESOTA VIKINGS NEED A NEW STADIUM (or so they claim). What is more real is that they WANT a Stadium.
MN Gov. Mark Dayton has called for a Special Session of the Legislature before Thanksgiving to decide what obligations will be assumed by Minnesota Taxpayers to build this new facility, wherever it happens to be built. His is a prudent political decision.
Personally, I have no particular interest in the issue. I think the Stadium will be funded, and taxpayers will pay lots of the cost, and I think it will be a very stupid decision, and I will so advise my legislators, but it won’t interfere with my daily life. It’s only a few hundred million, after all. Heckuva deal.
I attended a single Vikings game in my life, back in the early 1970s before sophisticated cameras and large TV screens, and I had arguably the worst seat in the stadium: beyond the end zone, in perhaps the third row up along the third base line at old Met Stadium. I could see the football in the air when it was being passed or kicked. I could discern progress only by cheers, boos and public address system, and by the long sticks showing where on the field the team was.
It was a horrid experience, never to be repeated.
This doesn’t deter the pitchman for the National Football League (NFL) saying yesterday “Great Cities are defined by the great institutions that they support”. This quote was on the front page of yesterday’s Minneapolis Star Tribune, above the fold.
Quite obviously he was talking about taxpayers supporting NFL football.
What a joke.
The Vikings have never won a Super Bowl, and are having a rotten season this year.
Since I don’t follow the game, I only see the aftermath in the morning after coffee crowd who mostly watched the game on television.
These days, there isn’t much animated conversation about The Team. The Vikings have died and gone to hell…quite literally.
Still, when all is said and done, my prediction is that even in these dismal economic times, when everything else is being cut, the State Legislature will find a way to involve ‘we, the people’ in helping along the wealth machine that is the NFL and its teams, including the Vikings GETTING THEIR STADIUM.
So, how much should this matter? Of course, points of view differ.
Real roughly, it seems that perhaps 1 of 1,000 Minnesotans actually attend the home games of the Vikings during the season, and, likely, most of these attend more than one game or are season ticket holders.
Very few care much about what the stadium looks like, or what amenities it has.
Lots of others (not I, thank you) watch the games at home or in other gathering places. But their time is not occupied by seeing how wonderful the corporate boxes are, or how good the obscenely priced drinks or food at the stadium are.
You could play the game in a large warehouse, with a green screen (a la the weatherman’s invisible screen) and sound effects, and nobody would know the difference. There’s a great plenty of authentic crowd pictures and noise already archived.
That would be much more efficient.
But in the end, we’ll cough up several hundred million dollars one way or the other, to preserve a home team which doesn’t perform especially well, and most of us will never see the inside of their stadium. There’ll be another coach, another quarterback, a new tight end…by Super Bowl XC (we’re approaching XLVI in a few months) THE VIKINGS WILL WIN!!! And that new stadium will have to be replaced, again.
What happens between now and the Minnesota Special Session, and after, will be political fodder in 2012. Gov. Dayton knows this; so do the legislators.
The real losers will be the school kids, the small rural cities and country, the poor, the people who suffer loss of revenue or services to help satisfy a greedy industry and its satellite businesses dependent on it.
Sad.

#456 – Dick Bernard: Who's Rolling in Dough?

/0 Comments/in , , /by

Recently House of Representatives Whip Eric Cantor admitted that there is a problem with the disequity in wealth in this country. The brief commentary, here, is worth reading.
Probably a more honest assessment of who has, and who deserves, and how they get what, was this letter to the editor in yesterday’s Minneapolis Star Tribune. The letter could be a useful springboard for conversation; far more useful than playing the information game on Rep. Cantor’s court.
Here’s the letter:
“State Rep. Carly Melin, D-Hibbing, said the Occupy Wall Street crowd is bringing a voice back to working people and the middle class. But Wall Street already gave a voice to my father, a Coca-Cola truck driver out of the Eagan plant, and to millions of working people.
In the ’80s, he researched, then invested $10,000 in a junk stock and made a fortune, in his opinion. No broker — he trusted only his own counsel. He then researched and invested in other stocks, both risky and mainstream, and made more money. Over the years, he turned the $10,000 into $4 million. Boy, did he find his voice, nagging everyone he knew to invest in the stock market.
Everyone wants the dishonest bums on Wall Street out, and no one was happier than my father when they caught a crook on Wall Street or in Washington. Melin’s real interest is in vilifying Wall Street itself. You never hear her, or others like U.S. Reps. Keith Ellison or Barney Frank, speak of how many millions of Americans of modest means became middle-class or rich when they took a chance on Wall Street.
My dad said that the way to make money for your family is to get up and go to work five days a week or more, save, and invest in the stock market. No guarantee — but when it comes to ideas that work, I would take the advice of a working man or businessman over the theories of a politician.
MAUREEN HANSEN, SAVAGE”
One expects a high profile politician like Cantor to distort and manipulate by omission or commission. Voluntary sharing of wealth has never worked, ever. There might be an occasional glimmer of guilt: think of those ubiquitous Carnegie libraries which still dot towns and cities nationwide. But by and large, once you get addicted to acquiring of wealth, you are equally addicted to retaining control over it.
Maureen Hansen lays out a more ordinary scenario: her Dad figures out a way to make a fast buck in Wall Street Junk stocks, and did well.
She admits there is no guarantee of riches, but her Dad got very lucky in the casino-for-the-little-guys that is Wall Street. He basically hit the casino jackpot by gambling the American Way.
If it were only that simple.
There is a big untold back story to Ms Hansen’s fascinating letter.
One would guess her Dad is deceased. If not, he certainly will be.
If he’s lucky and his pile continues to grow, and she is an only child, will she inherit this wealth? And, if so, is this wealth she inherits wealth that she “earned”?
By accident of birthright, does she then deserve to be rich? And someone else poor?
There are endless questions in this business of wealth distribution. All that is absolutely certain is that there is a hideous imbalance in wealth in today’s United States and those have more’s have shown little or no inclination to share their bounty with those who can’t imagine such wealth, much less being able to invest in the stock market.
The “lucky duckies” who have nearly cornered the wealth in the United States have got a heckuva deal, and Eric Cantor and his ilk know it.
And they have no interest or inclination to share…. After all, they hope to participate in this largesse of the 1% themselves, someday.