Government Employees Aren’t Sacred Cows

A headline on the front page of today’s USA Today says ”Benefits neglected for civil retirees.” It goes on to say that “State and local governments have set aside virtually no money to pay $1 trillion or more in medical benefits for retired civil servants, a USA TODAY survey found. With bills coming due as Baby Boomers start to retire, states, cities, school districts and other governments may be forced to raise taxes, cut benefits or both — a task made especially difficult in an economic downturn.”

This should not be a surprise. With the economy facing the hardest times it has in years, a person would be naive if they didn’t think it would only affect the “private” sector. I entered the workforce in 1973, when there was a mild recession going on, and I was lucky to get a job. I was also lucky that same company sold products that were viewed as being somewhat recession-proof. In fact, the company managed to do very well in that economic downturn, and many downturns to follow. Our “retirement” plan was called profit sharing, where the company would annually throw a pittance to the employees who were vested in the progam, to be held in an account that could not be touched until they retired. (This eventually turned int0 our 401-k program, where the employee was responsible for his or her own contributions to their retirement program.)

I also worked at that same company during the years where companies tried to maximize their profits, so any time there was any “softness” in the economy, jobs were cut in order to make the profit goals. We took the approach that there were no “sacred cows” and that in order to make the business as lean and mean as possible, there wasn’t any one job, person, product, or function that didn’t deserve scrutiny. It seemed year after year, while many public and privately held companies continued to get leaner and leaner by job and compensation cuts, that out city, state, and Federal government agencies got fatter and fatter and their benefits more out of touch with most non-government companie.

Now, during this severe recession, there is no safe place for anyone to hide. With the taxpayer footing the bill for a much needed bank bailout and a stimulus package, it can’t be expected that the taxpayers will have unlimited deep pockets. Something has to give. While auto workers – current and retired – are going to have to take a hit in their jobs, pensions, and medical benefits to get government relief, the government should also take a look at itself and see if its own compensation practices are out of line with the norm. Personally, I think the autoworker’s pensions and benefits are very rich, and I also think the governments are just as rich. I no more want to use my hard earned and dutifully paid tax dollars to go to bloated union pensions as much as I want them to go to bloated government agencies and their pensions and benefits.

So while I can certainly feel sorry for anyone who is suffering job loss or loss of income as part of this economic downturn, I don’t think our government agencies should be immune from also facing the same challenges and associated cost reductions that currenly face non-government entities. This may be the perfect time for our government agencies to cut out the bloat and save the taxpayers some money. I voted for Barack Obama because I wanted change, and getting rid of waste in the Federal government expenses could be the first place to start. There are no sacred cows.



Check out my blog home page for the latest information, here.



A headline on the front page of today’s USA Today says ”Benefits neglected for civil retirees.” It goes on to say that “State and local governments have set aside virtually no money to pay $1 trillion or more in medical benefits for retired civil servants, a USA TODAY survey found. With bills coming due as Baby Boomers start to retire, states, cities, school districts and other governments may be forced to raise taxes, cut benefits or both — a task made especially difficult in an economic downturn.”

This should not be a surprise. With the economy facing the hardest times it has in years, a person would be naive if they didn’t think it would only affect the “private” sector. I entered the workforce in 1973, when there was a mild recession going on, and I was lucky to get a job. I was also lucky that same company sold products that were viewed as being somewhat recession-proof. In fact, the company managed to do very well in that economic downturn, and many downturns to follow. Our “retirement” was profit sharing, where the company would annual throw a pittance to the employees who were vested, held in an account that could not be touched until they retired. (This eventually turned int0 our 401-k program, where the employee was responsible for his or her own contributions to their retirement program.)

I also worked at that same company during those same years where companies tried to maximize their profits, so any time there was any “softness” in the economy, jobs were cut in order to make the profit goals. We took the approach that there were no “sacred cows” and that in order to make the business as lean and mean as possible, there wasn’t any one job, person, product, or function that didn’t deserve scrutiny. (I was lucky to survive many cutbacks and was there 28 years until I decided I’d had enough of the cut-cut-cut mentality and one incompetent boss. But I digress.) It seemed year after year, while many public and privately held companies continued to get leaner and leaner by job and compensation cuts, that out city, state, and Federal government agencies got fatter and fatter.

Now, during this severe recession, there is no safe place for anyone to hide. With the taxpayer footing the bill for a much needed bank bailout and a stimulus package, it can’t be expected that the taxpayers will have unlimited deep pockets. Something has to give. While auto workers – current and retired – are going to have to take a hit in their jobs, pensions, and medical benefits to get government relief, the government should also take a look at itself and see if its own compensation practices are out of line with the norm. Personally, I think the autoworker’s pensions and benefits are very rich, and I also think the governments are just as rich. I no more want to use my hard earned and dutifully paid tax dollars to go to bloated union pensions as much as I want them to go to bloated government agencies.

So while I can certainly feel sorry for anyone who is suffering job loss or loss of income as part of this economic downturn, I don’t think our government agencies should be immune from also facing the same challenges and associated cost reductions. This may be the perfect time for our government agencies to cut out the bloat and save the taxpayers some money. I voted for Barack Obama because I wanted change, and getting rid of waste in the Federal government expenses could be the first place to start. There are no sacred cows.



Check out my blog home page for the latest information,
here.

Lincoln Lives at 200 Years

Courtesy of Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, LC-B8171-7929 DLC
Allan Pinkerton, President Lincoln, and General John McClernand at Antietam.
October 3, 1862.

Today celebrates 200 years since the birth of President Abraham Lincoln. The event was celebrated with a grand re-opening of the restored Ford's Theatre in Washington DC, where Lincoln was assassinated, and numerous other events being held today. Also, prior to his inauguration, President Obama retraced, via train, a trip that Lincoln himself once made prior to his inauguration, and President Obama also used the Lincoln bible at his inauguration. There was also news today that a manuscript of a speech by Lincoln calling on the country to unite during the civil war sold at auction today for 3.4 million dollars.

Abraham Lincoln is a hot commodity these days. And that is something to be happy about. While the civil war was a horrific time for Americans fighting on both sides of the war, and for those that were held in slavery, Lincoln’s drive to unify the United States was the stuff of legends. He didn’t go out and fight the battle himself with guns or cannons, but with his words. His words are still relevant today, as the country still sometimes struggles with racial inequities and with war, our military off fighting in another country in the name of democracy and freedom. While Lincoln was born 200 years ago and is long dead, he continues to have life in the legacy of his actions and words.

With President’s Day coming up on Monday, this could be a good time to reflect on some of the writings of President Abraham Lincoln, and pause and think about what this man did to help make this country strong. USA Today compiled a nice list of links and referencesthat relate to Lincoln, one of them being a link to the Abraham Lincoln Papers from the Library of Congress. And if you don’t have time to read much, take a listen to an audio of the Gettysburg Address that I posted on one of my other blogs quite some time ago, as read by Sam Waterston (of Law & Order fame).

Sometimes we get so caught up in the present that we forget about the distant past, and the events that happened long before us that helped shape out great country into what it is today. Take a few moments to learn and appreciate the past, you may be surprised on what it can teach you!


Gettysburg Address



Note: New video of Sam Waterston from CNN doing three Lincoln readings on my other blog, These Are Their Stories, here.

Check out my blog home page for the latest information,here.

Google Latitude: Big Brother Won’t Be Watching Me

Google recently released an update to the popular Google Maps. called Google Latitude, which provides the ability to track your location real time. It’s been in beta testing for a while, but now it’s ready for everyone to use.

It can be used with any mobile device (like your cell phone), or on your PC. It will track your location in real time, so anyone to whom you allow access to view your location in Google Latitude can see where you are at the present time. (See the short video below from Google, which shows how it works.)

Maybe it’s just me, but why does this mildly creep me out? Are we giving away too much information about ourselves? Granted, you need only allow access to those people who you want to see your location, but the fact that the information is being collected by some outside source bothers me a bit. I’m not worried about my relatives seeing my whereabouts. They already know that on the days and times that I blog a lot I am nailed to my chair in front of a computer. But do they really need to potentially see where I am every time I leave the house? My concern is what other people can do with this information. Maybe I grew up in an area where the book “1984” by George Orwell with “Big Brother” watching you was a concept that terrified, but this does seem too much like “Big Brother” to me. A recent article from Computer World speaks to some of the risks:

Used correctly, such a system can offer great benefits, but misuse can be equally damaging. Even if Google have built a 'privacy-positive' system there are residual privacy risks, which include:

Latitude installed on mobile devices without the users' knowledge - for example, a jealous partner installing it on their partner's phone to track where they go (if they have physical access to the handset then this should be trivial to accomplish);

Hacks used to install Latitude on a handset without the need for physical verification, or to suppress warning messages that the service is running;

Users simply forgetting that their handset is transmitting their location when they go somewhere that they wish to keep from others;

Unauthorised access to back-end services such that an unauthorised user can track individuals' locations.

Privacy advocates have already commented on these problems, but my biggest concern is the inevitability of irresponsible sharing of location data by users who don't really know the other parties involved. Take a look at the willingness with which many social networking users will share a lot of personal information with people that they've never met before. It would be very easy to integrate Latitude with Facebook or Myspace, and as soon as that happens, users will open up their location to their entire address book, or even to any user at all. It would then seem to be a matter of time before we see frauds, burglaries and physical assaults inspired by a user's location.


Yikes! Too much information can possibly get into the wrong hands. And despite the fact that Google reportedly says they won’t be storing the information about your location, somehow I just don’t trust that it will stay this way. The next thing you know, someone could be issuing subpoenas for the information and people could find their harmless trips and jaunts to come back to haunt them in ways they never expected, or in ways I can’t even imagine yet. OK, I am watching too much Law & Order.

I suppose that part of my problem is that I have always been a private person, and likewise with web services like Facebook and Twitter, I just don’t see the need for someone to know where I am and what I am doing every minute of the day. My life is not so important in the grand scheme of things that I have to report on every little detail. By the way, I do have a Facebook account, but I only have two friends, both are relatives. I don’t feel like that makes me some sort of social loser. If I want to keep in touch, there is always my double-secret personal blog, a phone, and email for those people I don’t see regularly. They are also busy enough that they don’t need to watch out for what I’m doing.

I wrote the other day about turning up my nose at Twitter – and I may be softening on the issue as it relates to my blogs. But Google Latitude is just too much for this private person to bear.






Check out my blog home page for the latest information, here.

Rod Blagojevich: Crazy Like A Fox or Just Crazy?

When I turned on The View today, I was taken a little by surprise. Part of it was seeing Barbara Walters “sitting” at the table with Whoopi, Joy, and Sherri. But she wasn’t really sitting there, they had a large TV screen there in her place, with her appearing remotely. It reminded me of the animated Fox show from years back – “Futurama” – where they used to have those famous heads in the jars. It was, well, weird. But Barbara was there because she was going to do a remote interview of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich on the show. You see, Blagojevich decided to go on The View rather than stay in his home state while his impeachment hearings were being conducted.

Blagojevich had also appeared that day on NBC’s Today Show in a taped interview, and also earlier in the day on ABC’s Good Morning America. Clearly he wants to take his case to the people, seeing that he thinks he is being shut out of his own impeachment proceedings. He insists that he did nothing wrong, and thinks he cannot get a fair hearing in Illinois because he is unable to call witnesses on his behalf, who he believes can clear him.

According to CNN, “Blagojevich missed deadlines this month for answering the impeachment charge and for filing a motion to dismiss, a spokesman for Illinois Senate President John Cullerton has said.”

Clearly, Blagojevich thinks that he can do better for himself by bringing his case directly to the public. I have to admit that his claims made me go back to look at the impeachment process. So in that aspect, Blagojevich may have made his point that someone can be impeached without apparently having a formal hearing where the person can present a defense. But what he forgets is that impeachment doesn’t necessarily mean he will be removed from office. In essence, it’s similar to an indictment process for criminal trials; it’s just a step in the process. President Bill Clinton was impeached, yet he remained in office and carried out his duties, as no further action was taken to remove him from office.

But while Blagojevich may be raising awareness of what may seem unfair about the impeachment process, he loses points for evading the issue when asked for simple answers on what he really did say. He continues to say that when all the facts are presented by relaying the full content of his conversations, the context of his comments will help vindicate him. For me, seeing Blagojevich’s need to state his case to any major media outlet that will listen, I’d have to say he doth protest too much. I also believe that where there is smoke there is fire, and it will be very hard in my mind for Blagojevich to be able to put some of his recorded comments in context to the point that they would vindicate him.

Now he’s had his chance to state his case to the public, I think at this point he needs to zip it. If he feels his rights are being violated, he needs to get an attorney and file his complaint through legal channels. Maybe if he’d done that earlier, he wouldn’t have missed a chance to make his motion to dismiss.


Check out my blog home page for the latest information, here.

Barack Obama and Managing Expectations

With the inauguration of Barack Obama to the highest office in the land – President of the United States – his clock starts ticking to turn the country’s economic situation around. But he has already been working to manage expectations. In his latest speech on Sunday at the Lincoln Memorial (transcript here) he made his latest comment on the issue:

I won't pretend that meeting any one of these challenges will be easy. It will take more than a month or a year, and it will likely take many. Along the way there will be setbacks and false starts and days that test our fundamental resolve as a nation. But despite all of this - despite the enormity of the task that lies ahead - I stand here today as hopeful as ever that the United States of America will endure - that the dream of our founders will live on in our time.


While the country is becoming swept up into all the inauguration excitement and the pomp and circumstance, we all have to be cautious that we don’t expect the Obama administration to fix everything immediately. The economic problem the country is experiencing right now did not occur overnight, possibly even getting its beginnings in the Clinton administration and picking up a full head of steam with the Bush administration. I place a lot of blame on Alan Greenspan, whose tenure dates back to the Reagan administration, and who may have set interest rates too low and for too long during the George W. Bush administration.

We must give our new president the time he needs to make things right. How long? I have no idea. The United States didn’t pull out of the Great Depression overnight, and I suspect that while we may see some signs of recovery within the first year, I think there will still be some hard times ahead for at least Obama’s first full term. My biggest concern is with Congress, which has historically served as a roadblock to many good things that would serve the country well. If we hold anyone’s feet to the fire, it should be them.

But we also need to look at ourselves to look to make change. People must stop living beyond their means. Even if credit loosens, people should still be cautious and not spend money that they know they don’t have. The era of “he who dies with the most toys, wins” is over.

The inauguration doesn’t mean the work is over. It is only just the beginning.



Check out my blog home page for the latest information, here.

Ann Coulter “Guilty” of Being The Vilest Woman in American (Maybe The World?)

Guilty - of being vile?

Ann Coulter is hitting the talk and news show circuit in order to promote her book, “Guilty.” Yet each time she opens her mouth, the only person I can find guilty is Coulter herself - guilty of being vile and despicable.

Part of the latest brouhaha started when the Drudge Report had claimed that The Today Show had canceled her appearance and banned her for life because of their liberal media bias and comments made in her book. Coulter appeared on the Hannity & Colmes show prior to her originally scheduled Today Show appearance and talks openly about NBC’s action in booting her from The Today Show which she seems to think is a setup: (See video, more afterwards.)

Coulter on Hannity & Colmes



Of course, when NBC's The Today Show called the bluff and had her on the day after her originally scheduled appearance, she denied saying that she made any such comments, saying "I didn't say that. That was from a reliable news report that, by the way, has never had to retract a report on exploding GM trucks...like NBC." She added, "It apparently took the 'Today' show eight hours to remember that there was a Wednesday show that I could be invited back to." But Coulter went on to show what I think is her intolerant side in this video: (more after the video.)

Ann Coulter on The Today Show January 9, 2009



She then went on to CBS’s Early Show and continued her style of being close-minded and intolerant. In fact, at one point, she goes on and on so much that Harry Smith has to repeatedly tell her to “take a breath”: (more after the video)


CBS Early Show January 9, 2009



And today on ABC's The View, the whole panel – even Elizabeth at one point - was on the attack, clearly disgusted with Coulter’s intolerant view of things. They took exception to her rigid opinions on single mothers, who Coulter seems to blame for all crime in America, and said she had the statistics to support her views. At the very end, a clearly annoyed Whoopi Goldberg said to Coulter something like “You can dish it out but you can't take it, can you?” Here's the video:





It’s obvious that Coulter doesn’t seem to care who she alienates, because she thinks all this TV exposure will help sell her books. Coulter’s books may appear to be best sellers, but one has to watch the “bulk sales” numbers, which often come from specific groups who buy the books to distribute as “freebies” or incentives. Of course, I would imagine even the staunchest Republicans may be getting tired of Coulter’s increasing escalation of extreme intolerance and divisiveness. Personally, I think the party is going to begin to distance themselves from Coulter. As Elizabeth Hasselbeck’s recent trip to the White House to visit with the president was featured on The View the same day of Coulter’s appearance, I found myself wondering if the likes of Hasselbeck is what the Republican party prefer to have as an unofficial representative? With the trouncing that the party received in the last presidential election, it would not be a surprise that they would want a kindler, gentler woman to be their torch bearer than the harsh, closed-minded Coulter.

After seeing Coulter's recent television appearances, I think that I have officially become sick of her and the ugliness of what she represents. She may have a valid opinion somewhere in what she says, but it is certainly hard to find them when she seems hell bent on pointing fingers at everyone else. She may be the vilest woman in America, and I think the tide is turning against her and others with her closed-minded opinions. Hopefully her book will do nothing but gather dust, eventually to end up in someone’s recycle bin. That may be the only good it would ever offer.



Check out my blog home page for the latest information,here.

Blagojevich Impeachment – It Should Have Come Sooner

Sometimes our government agencies – local, state, and federal – move at a snail’s pace. The news release on Friday January 9 that Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich was impeached was welcome news. But the Illinois elected officials took way too long to take this action. Their delay allowed Blagojevich to appoint a replacement for Barack Obama’s senate seat - Roland Burris. Mr. Burris may be a very capable person, but his appointment by a man who allegedly was trying to sell the senate seat and who was arrested for his actions certainly can cast doubt on Burris’s worthiness for the job. As I mentioned here in early December, I think we need to change the whole process of allowing a governor, or any one person, to appoint replacements for senate and congressional seats.

But the secondary part of this issues is the fact that the Illinois state government seemed to move at a snail’s pace. Blagojevich was arrested in early December and released on bail, and it seems it took the state officials a month to decide to impeach him. Sure, a person is innocent until proven guilty, but maybe the standards should be set just a little higher for our elected officials.

My opinion is that if you are an elected official and are arrested or indicted for a crime – ANY crime – then the people should have the right to suspend potions of your authorities immediately. And by immediately I don’t mean it should take a month to do it. Our elected officials must find a more expedient way to protect their constituents from other elected officials who are not operating within the confines of the law. We can’t afford a government that moves like molasses and makes life just as sticky!


Check out my blog home page for the latest information, here.