The NYT article I linked to in the last post detailed how the oil industry reaps subsidies. In responding to the article, the oil industry representatives did not refute the tax breaks that the oil industry gets, but rather justified them. One thing to keep in mind is how big and consolidated the oil industry has become. During the nineties deregulation served to help turn the oil industry, financial sectors and corporate media into giants which now use the common excuse of “too big to fail.”
In the NYT article, oil industry officials relied on this old chestnut in their justification for being indulged by government:
“By helping producers weather market fluctuations and invest in technology, tax incentives are supporting an industry that the officials say provides 9.2 million jobs.”
That hearkens me back to the blue-collar worker, whose opinion was sought to represent conservative Republicans before the 2008 election: “Why tax the wealthy, they provide us jobs.”
Yes, the “too big to fail” chestnut and derivatives are ultimately an appeal to the indulgence of us ordinary Americans. We are too helpless to be expected to create our own jobs, dawning the entrepreneurial spirit that is supposed to be a hallmark of this country. “Out of loss comes opportunity” apparently does not apply when the loss of working for a big corporation might mean the opportunity to create jobs in different energy sectors or with smaller businesses in general. And this from conservative Republicans which, in theory, have been against paternalism and centralization at least since FDR.
What? 9.2 million jobs are in jeopardy if we stop the indulgence of oil? I guess we all must be very afraid folks. Fear, one of the most antisocial and common tools of misinformation used to lock in our allegiance to paternalism and centralization, is like catnip to people long indulged.
Tags: Economic Misinformation, Political Misinformation, Public Interest
This feature started with a NYT article about risks that BP has been taking for years. There recently was a related NYT article, titled “As Oil Industry Fights a Tax It Reaps Subsidies,” by David Kocieniewski. This hearkens back to when I first started this blog, in late spring of 2008. At the time oil prices were high and captains of the oil industry were testifying to Congress that the solution was for government to let the free market be.
Friends, I have been writing for awhile now how mutually exclusive a free market and a corporate economy are. At the time that these oil executives were whining about the free market I provided a post, called Subsidies for Oil Dummies, that linked to a list of ways in which government essentially commands an advantage for the oil industry. The oil industry, and those think tanks started by oil money, such as The Heritage Foundation and Cato Institute, were rank with hypocrisy back then, but it appears from this NYT article that they all are turning over a new leaf.
You see, in doing the NYT article the journalist pursued standard practice of getting comments from the oil industry. Rather than deny the accusations/facts of subsidies presented by the journalist, their basic response was to justify it. Perhaps one agrees with their justifications, perhaps not, yet no one should mistake what they want as anything remotely close to free market principles. What they want, and think they deserve, is government commanded indulgence. I suppose with plenty of think tanks, lobbyists, public relations firms and even corporate-endowed chairs at universities, indulgence is probably what they will continue to get.
Before I close this series there was one justification the oil industry offered that really indicts the American people in general for how we expect to be indulged. More on that next.
Tags: Economic Misinformation, Political Misinformation, Public Interest
The last post established that the power of nation states serves to legitimize corporate wealth. The most striking application of this principle has been in the Middle East, where since the start of the twentieth century western intervention has formed nation states in the region with an eye towards oil. Though the indulgence of oil is a systemic problem, and not the result of one rogue corporation, the catastrophe at BP’s Deepwater Horizon rig could not happen to a more deserving corporation in terms of being historically indulged.
We have BP to thank for much of our Middle East troubles. BP was the oil corporation in Iran that gave its native workers much less than American corporations extracting oil in other areas of the Middle East. Iranian workers were living in truly despicable conditions and Iran responded by forming a democracy (yes, you read that right) and nationalizing oil.
Well! Nationalizing oil just won’t do for a multinational corporation so, in a highly ironic move, BP engaged the British government to be their savior, going a step further than the required indulgences nation states provide corporations, but unfortunately not an unusual one. The British government proved to be not much of a savior at overthrowing the Iranian government and came calling to the United States. The CIA, or specifically Kermit Washington, responded by orchestrating a successful coup of a democracy, whose leader had been to our country visiting the Liberty Bell and extolling our virtues.
BP was suckled by not one, but two governments, and perhaps can go on record as the most indulged oil corporation to ever have existed, both in the services provided for their own self-interest and the dire consequences to the public interest. Yet they are not alone as an indulged oil corporation, a disastrous reality to be covered next.
Tags: Economic Misinformation, Political Misinformation, Public Interest
Our indulgence through oil begins, historically, with the indulgence of corporations. The explosion at BP’s Deepwater Horizon rig begins with the first stock issued to the Dutch East Indies Corporation. Here’s a question for you to ponder. What do nation states have that previous city states did not have?
The answer is not great territories or the militias to control them. The answer is not “the wise restraints that make men free” known as laws or democracy. The answer is not public works or a tax system to fund them. The answer is not free market conditions or progress.
The most glaring, unique characteristic of nation states not shared by earlier city states is the business corporation. Granted, they developed somewhat independently. The 100 Year War was a major impetus for nation states and colonial expansion was a major impetus for corporate stock. Yet they developed at close to the same time and have been coevolving ever since, for good reason.
Corporations provide the wealth to legitimize the power of nation states, without appearing as imperial bullies. In return, nation states provide their power and much more, a topic often broached on this forum, for corporations to be able to compete and survive. If we abide by the definition of indulgence as others doing things for you, combined with the realization that corporations simply could not do well or even exist without nation states, while proprietorships could, we must conclude that the legacy of indulgence over oil begins with this historical indulgence of corporations in general.
Tags: Economic Misinformation, Political Misinformation, Public Interest
There is a New York Times article this morning proclaiming that BP has had a “History of boldness and costly blunders.” What the article does not come out and say is that the boldness and blunders, culminating in the oil spill, reflects a history of indulgence at many levels.
We are indulged when we rely on others to do something for us that we either should: 1) do for ourselves or 2) do without. The events leading up to the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion are a testimony to indulgence on the behalf of BP, the oil industry and even the American people in general.
That last claim is meant to make us all pause to reflect. There is a lot of the blame game going on here. People and think tanks with self-interested ideological agendas love to blame either the Obama administration or the BP corporation. Make no mistake, without either of those two “villains” we nevertheless have political and economic systems that would produce other “villains.”
Scapegoating in this case serves only to distract us from what should be the real focus of restoring balance to our social systems. Yet those systems allegedly work for us, in a sense they indulge us. Uncovering this is at least as important as learning about the boldness and blunders of a single corporation. The tragedy of the oil spill will be used as a “teachable moment” for Restoring Social Balance.
Pop responds to the suggestion from Newton Mfg. that he write a book.
July 16, 1964
Dear Beth:
I never know whether you and Mr. Lufkin are kidding me or are really serious. At any rate thanks a lot for “the vote of confidence”.
All the same I can’t punctuate, spell, capitalize or do anything else right that goes with the “writing field” so I don’t know how the “heck” I could ever write a book even if people were interested.
Honestly! I just get in the mood, once in a “dogs age” and something Mr. Lufkin writes or someplace he has been arouses me and then I put it on paper, but you know that I honestly can’t remember a week later what the heck I wrote about. I know his last letter to me was from Bar Harbor, so I must have written something about my younger days there. It is a beautiful place and if you ever come East you should certainly see it. I spent many, many happy years there. In the summer that is. In the Winter I generally “took off”, either on a Yacht that was going South, or I just went to New York and worked for the winter.
Carefree and careless days, those were. I guess the only way I ever could write a book would be for you to help me and to save up my memories for me, so keep up the good work and some of these days “we will sit down and go over the possibilities.” I think though that almost everyone in the world sometime or other thinks that they are a writer, but that doesn’t mean that they are. I just like to write to people, and I expect I always will.
In fact I had a letter from my grammar school teacher in Maine yesterday. She must be all of 90 years old, and I have written her several times a year for all these years. In those days she (one teacher) taught ALL the grades in once school and some of us at least manage to make a living even if we did not have air conditioned lunch rooms, huge auditoriums and all the fanfare that goes with school today. Someday I’ll sit down and write my memories of her and schooldays. OK? I walked two miles each way to grammar school and four miles each way to high school, and today my own children can’t go to the Post Office a few hundred yards away without taking my car. Well I am WAY behind this week so I better get going. Thanks for “the pat on the back”. If YOU think it’s worth it someday I’ll give it a try.
Sincerely,
Leon
Tags: Pop's Letters
I previously posted an email sent to me by my former high school sweetheart. Here is another plea I received from the one sister that can be a donor.
Dear Friends and Loved Ones,
Some of you are aware of my family’s genetic illness called Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD) that my two older sisters Kim and Kathy have, that I do not have.
My father and his siblings had PKD and probably his father before him and now it is our generation’s turn. Diagnosis usually occurs in the twenties with little progress in the thirties and forties, but starting in the fifties the disease takes off and kidney functionality declines exponentially. There are no symptoms to speak of – no pain, no compromised lifestyle — until the disease reaches advanced stage, and kidney functionality decreases to mortal crisis: at 15% functionality a transplant can be done if a living donor has been identified; at 10% functionality, if there is no donor, dialysis is the only option. The average wait on a cadaver donor list is five years. The average life expectancy on dialysis is five years.
A Medical Perfect Storm
Last fall when the latest results came in from my sisters’ interval testing that Kim was at 25% functionality and Kathy was at 20% functionality, they both received referrals to Yale New Haven Hospital to start the proceedings for transplant — the only thing needed is 2 kidneys. Needless to say I was immediately tested. The good news is, I was tested as a donor to Kim (and I matched, YAY!). The good news is, I was tested as a donor to Kathy (and I matched, YAY!). Yeah, yeah, I know what you’re thinking “you can only donate one kidney to one sister, right?” Yes, and even though this could be perceived to be a dilemma (after all, I do need one kidney for myself), we still feel blessed that all options are wide open for all of us, with none of us ruled out. Even the doctors say they have never encountered these remarkable odds – that 1 of 3 sisters equally matches 2 sisters needing donation; apparently we are a medical Perfect Storm!
That Which We Seek, Seeks Us
We have all kicked into high gear to locate a second donor – rather than pausing to consider to whom my kidney will be gifted, all efforts on the part of all three of us are focused on the best possible outcome for all: four persons participating in transplants – two as donors and two as recipients. We are confident that a second kidney is out there; we just need to help the donor locate us! Today Kim’s and Kathy’s kidney functionality are at 17% and 20% respectively (transplant occurs at 15% functionality), so time is of the essence as we reach out to our communities with our remarkable story – to ask for help in spreading the word far and wide that three sisters are seeking one kidney and to ask you: is there a part that you or your loved ones might like to play in this remarkable experience?
What is Entailed?
What does donating a kidney entail? Here is a bit of what is involved: All donor medical expenses are paid by recipient health insurance. Donors and recipients each have their own personal medical team – including a surgeon and a nurse coordinator — so that donation inquiry and medical records are entirely confidential and there is no conflict of interest. Donor health and well-being are the primary goals of the donor medical team. The inquiry process starts with a confidential phone call to the nurse coordinator at Yale New Haven Medical Center and a medical history is taken over the phone (a donor is ruled out if there is a history of hypertension, heart disease, obesity, diabetes, lupus, cancer, or kidney stones). If the medical history is cleared a simple blood test is taken and sent to Yale, to determine blood compatibility between donor and recipient. If blood is compatible testing is done to determine the potential donor’s health (i.e. CAT scan). Once the potential donor’s health is cleared, donor surgery is done laproscopically with a standard recovery time of 3-6 weeks (covered by employers under FMLA). There are no long-term effects and the donor lives an uncompromised, normal life span. The process starts with a confidential phone call or email to the nurse coordinator at Yale New Haven Medical Center (Miles Narido, RN, milagros.narido@ynhh.org 203-688-8372).
Learning to Be Comfortable with Uncertainty
In this time of uncertainty, we can’t be shy so we ask that you please give mindfulness to the possibility of being a donor and to circulate our story to friends and family as widely as possible. Perhaps you will feel called to be a donor or perhaps it will be one of your loved ones or a friend of a friend. If you aren’t suitable to be a donor for any reason we hope that you will help us by advocating on our behalf. Whatever happens, my sisters and I want to express heartfelt appreciation for the thought that you give to the possibility, for your prayers and meditations, and we thank you for taking the time to read this letter.
Below are some very good websites for further information and a link to a newspaper story. In addition to communicating with us via email, you can find us on Facebook under Three Meris.
http://www.newstimes.com/default/article/Sister-s-kidney-not-enough-for-two-siblings-who-563962.php
American Association of Kidney Patients www.aakp.org
American Transplant Association www.americantranslant.org
National Kidney Foundation www.kidney.org/transplantation/livingdonors
Living Kidney Donors Network www.lkdn.org
These are just a few; you can find others via Google.Warmest Regards,
Michelle Ward
michelleward_us@yahoo.com
Wordward Editing
wordwardediting@gmail.com
http://www.editorsforum.org/display_info.php?mid=821
Tags: 005 Personal
Blogs have the means to see which posts get the most traffic, an indication of both quality and appeal. Yet occasionally a popular post is being hijacked and distorted by another blogger to mean something other than intended. One of my posts stands alone in regards to being frequently hijacked – the one on presidential campaign spending.
First of all, I myself got the data for this post from the Center for Responsive Politics. That is clearly stated on the post, and I’m automatically suspect of any blogger that wants to go third-hand with this information. I recently saw a unique spin/distortion which suggests a dubious reason why that particular blogger may not want to cite something like CRP directly. In conjunction with other derivative data, he used it to show no correlation between campaign spending and federal spending, with the implication that the escalation of campaign spending is not a problem. CRP could address this misinformation with bigger weapons, but I’ll do my best.
I’m going to assume the blogger (for whom I wish to provide no identity or traffic) falls under the category of “free market libertarian” or, more accurately stated, “puppet libertarian” (with corporations as the puppet masters). Free market libertarians are very big on curbing traditional subsidies, particularly to agribusinesses. I support this position, though for a different reason than many of the “free market libertarian” think tanks that were founded with oil money. However, this is not the typical, nor the most beneficial way that governments command the economy to benefit large corporations. Another early post of mine cited some of these benefits for the oil industry, a topic to be revisited soon.
Make no mistake, when campaign spending contributes to any such benefits commanded by government to make the economy work better for corporations than proprietorships, campaign spending is a problem. The same can be said for any kind of benefit government might bestow as a result of Buckley v. Valeo determining that money is an expression of free speech. The fact that we have the misinformed noise of a buyer beware economy, rather than seller beware, with people further misinformed that this is perfectly natural, is one of many other manifestations of this problem.
That campaign spending does not correlate with federal spending is, at best, irrelevant. More relevant is that campaign spending escalates faster than GDP, the assertion of the original post, as this is a likely indicator that misinformation is at work in our political system.
Tags: Political Misinformation
Kim (Ward) Polhemus is a dear friend of mine. She needs help.
Dear Friends, This is a difficult email to write and it is likely to be long, so I ask you to please bear with me. You may know I have Poly Cystic Kidney Disease (PKD). This is a progressive genetic disease that causes cysts to grow on my kidneys to the point of making them non-functioning. There are few symptoms, no treatment and no cure. I have known about it for many years and am now at the end stages of kidney failure. I am looking for a kidney donor in order to have a ‘preemptive transplant’. If I can find a donor, I can have a transplant and avoid spending a shortened life on dialysis. I have as little as one month, but hopefully as many as six months of kidney function left. Getting on a donor list is not an option because the wait time on a donor list is longer than the life expectancy on dialysis.
I have 2 fantastic sisters. Michelle is the healthy sister and my sister Kathy has the same disease I do. Kathy is in end stage kidney failure also. She and I have kidded for years about having to be nice to Michelle so she’ll give us her kidney. Our plan was for the three of us to get tested and whoever was the closest match to Michelle would have the transplant with her. As is sometimes the case, God has other plans. The tests showed Kathy and I are both exactly the same match to Michelle. So, without the Wisdom of Solomon, we are left to try to figure out who gets the kidney from Michelle and how we leave one sister without a lifesaving transplant. Our solution is to find a second donor so that we are both able to go on to lead a normal life.
Maybe you will feel called to be a donor or maybe it will be someone you know. I am sure my new kidney is out there somewhere and is coming to me. I just have to be patient until God reveals where it is coming from. I can’t be shy and ask you to please give prayerful thought to the possibility of being my donor and to circulate my story to friends and family as widely as possible.
Here is a bit of what is involved. The donor has his or her own surgeon and transplant coordinator so there is no conflict of interest. The donor’s health and well-being is the primary goal. The donor surgery is done laproscopically and the recovery is about 3-4 weeks. There are no long-term effects and the donor has a normal life span. My insurance covers all donor medical expenses. My husband and I will cover any out of pocket expenses and lost wages during recovery. The process starts with a phone call to the transplant coordinator at Yale (Miles Narido, RN, 203-688-8372) to give a medical history. A donor will be ruled out with any of the following; history of hypertension, heart disease, obesity, diabetes, lupus, cancer and kidney stones. From there it is a simple blood test to determine compatibility. If, by God’s grace we are compatible, we go from there. Below are some very good websites for further information.
Thank you for your prayers. What ever happens, I want you to know how very much I appreciate the thought you give to this possibility.
Peace,
Kim Polhemus
American Assn of Kidney Patients www.aakp.org American Transplant Assoc www.americantranslant.org National Kidney Foundation www.kidney.org/transplantation/livingdonors These are just a few; you can find others on Google.
Tags: 005 Personal
Find out why American sailors would get more drunk than their British counterparts.
Speaking of foolish chaps, and we used to take care of our own in those days as there were very few insane hospitals, and also there were very few insane. Foolish, half witted Etc but none too dangerous or at least that was what we thought. One (a true story this is) comes to my mind by the name of Clem Walls. He used to wander about the Countryside and everyone knew him and everyone put him up for the day, night or even few days that he decided to stay. Wandering about one night he decided that he wanted to stop at the Butterfields and so about midnight he “tapped, tapped, very lightly on the door to gain admittance. Finally Mrs. Butterfield thought she heard a noise and came down the stairs and found Clem at the door. She said “Oh! It’s you Clem! Why didn’t you knock louder”? Clem replied very gently “I was afraid I’d wake yer up Mrs. Butterfield”. So that to Clem’s simple mind was a very good reason, even though he wanted to get in.
Yes! You just avoided the crowd, before the fourth is the time to go to Bar Harbor. I will say however that years ago I think you might have liked it. On the Fourth of July there were immense crowds of course as they came from all over Maine to Bar Harbor but they were “more fun”. The steamer Moosehead and Norm Begger I don’t think the last is spelled right, used to run continually from Mt. Desert Ferry (that’s on the Mainland below Ellsworth) to Bar Harbor all day long. The Harbor was full of Battleships, both British and American, and of course all the beautiful yachts. The Bands and parades and fireworks were something to see. A British Man o War was always dispatched to the important ports on Fourth of July, and of course Bar Harbor was IT in those days. Newport was in second place. I never COULD just see why that the British choose to remind themselves of what a “whopping we gave them” on this particular day when we were celebrating that fact, and I don’t have to tell you that there ALWAYS was a pitched battle between the British and American “Tars”.
I, though will always have a soft spot in my life for the British Tar. They literally saved my life once. The fourth always wound up for us young people of dancing age (and I dearly love to dance even now) at Dreamwood Ballroom at the top of Iresons Hill in Hills Cove. It was a huge place and the finest ballroom in the East and used to have such Bands as Rudy Vallee, Paul Whiteman, Guy Lombardo, Meyer Davis, and all the rest. Of course the place was crowded with both British and American sailors. I asked a cute little redhead to dance and when she got up to dance with me an American Sailor said “this is MY dance” I said “you heard the lady” and he pushed me away from her and when he did I hit him and knocked him down. Well sir! In less time than it takes to say Jack Robinson, I was not only knocked down by another sailor but they literally swarmed over me. Immediately some heavy set British Tars sensed that I would be killed if I did not have immediate help, started (and I hate to admit this) tossing those American Sailors off me as though they were “chips”. When they got me free, they said “run matey as fast as you can go for the woods, we will take care of these but the rest of em will be after you”. I did not hesitate to take their advice and got into the woods and up into a big Pine tree. Sure enough about fifty of them swarmed into the woods saying “I think he went over here or I think he went over there.” After about an hour they gave up, BUT to make sure I tossed a broken limb into the woods to see if it would bring a rush of sailors, and I was armed with a very substantial piece of the tree myself in case they rushed me. I got to a house I knew, explained my predicament and called a taxi from Bar Harbor to come up and get me. When we went over the top of Iresons Hill there were about 50 sailors on each side of the road waiting for me to come out of the woods.
I have always been grateful to them, and especially so as the several Policemen on duty did not dare to interfere, and being the outspoken chap that I always have been, I took the time off the next day to go and tell them “that they were a Hell of a fine lot of brave men” to stand by and see a citizen of the Town damned near killed and saved only by the bravery of the British Sailors. Believe me and this is no Fairy Tale, it was said that at “The Sink” an old dance hall in Bar Harbor that in years gone by there had been people killed in Sailor’s Brawls.
We (civilians) were warned never to go to “The Sink” while “the ships were in” and we seldom did, but Dreamwood was supposed to be the ultimate in dancing, protection and what have you so that is why we went there. Anyway the ships all “weighed anchor” at around 4 a.m. on the morning of the 5th so I never got a chance to thank my rescuers, and so help me God, I never was as scared during the whole of World War II as I was on that night at Dreamwood.
Also while I am on the subject don’t think that I am a traitor to the American Sailor, as I was one myself, but in all honesty I will have to say that the British Tar will make two of him when it comes to brute strength. Those boys God Bless em, had a sailor in each hand and handled them with as much ease as I would a kitten. One reason being I suppose that the Americans were always drunk and you seldom saw the British Tar drunk as he had his daily allowance of “grog” aboard ship, whereas the American being denied such a luxury filled himself up on “canned heat”, Vanilla, Jamaica Ginger, strained alcohol or whatever he could get his hands on. They also went about their business calmly and methodically as was aptly proved during the “buzz bomb” prior of the last War over London. I want to say again that “my hat’s off to the British Tar”. I don’t know how I got into all this as I know you are interested in History, stories Etc but I am sure my personal History is of not much interest but I could not help but remember it as I so often do on a beautiful morning when it’s a pleasure to be alive. I literally owe my life to a dozen British Sailors. I don’t know what the heck ever happened to “the redhead”. She probably wound up the night dancing with “my tormentors”, but needless to say “I couldn’t care less.”
Nuff said for now anyway.
Sincerely,
Leon R. Sinclair
P.S. Tell Beth or was it Ruth – she can save this for our book.
Tags: Pop's Letters
