GOVERNANCE BY NARCISSISM

Once upon a time we wanted our politicians to have the good sense to compromise for the good of the country.  Things have changed.

What we really want now is a politician who AGREES WITH US!  After all, don’t WE know how things should be?  Don’t WE know how everybody should think and act?  It’s all about us!  We’re right!  Can’t everyone see it?  And our politicians, ever poll-sensitive, are happy to indulge us.

But the fact is we’re not always right.  And not everyone wants to live as we do.  And even if we’re right, everybody has the right to be wrong.  This insistence on our own beliefs is fine in everyday living, but when we start codifying our beliefs in law, well, our right to do what we want ends at the other fellow’s nose.  Or does it?  All over the country there are attempts to define for us what’s right, and what rights are.  The left tells us one thing.  The right tells us the other.  And if we are to be part of one or the other, we must accept all positions.  If we agree with part, and disagree with part, we are wrong-headed, even evil.  And any politician who dares to compromise, well, he’s a target.  Because he’s not like US!

I realize I’m labeling myself as a pusillanimous pussy-footer, but I’m an inveterate moderate.  I see both sides, and often disagree with both.  I don’t want to impose on anyone my way of life, but neither do I wish to live as the left or the right says.  I will vote for any candidate (if there actually was one) who state that he or she will compromise for the good of the country!  I realize this opens me up to accusations of having no principles, but in truth, I do.  And I try to live by them.  But I am not so enamored of my own brilliance as to think that I know exactly what you ought to think and do in every situation.  If you agree with me on that one point, please, please, please, voice that opinion to your elected representatives.  They really need to hear it - and so does the left and the right!

A Wistfulness For Colorful Language

I’ve always appreciated a colorful turn of phrase.  People used to use language differently, and there were regional differences in expression.  Things have changed.  We’ve all been televisionized, to coin a word that no doubt will be promptly forgotten.  Most people speak in either superlatives, exaggerations, or they speak in neutral - excuse me - neutered, carefully chosen language.  We must not offend anyone.  This occurred to me this afternoon as I sent out an e-mail correcting organizational information I’d previous sent with a mistake, and using the phrase, “Some days you got it...”  Perhaps I should have finished it.  Some of the younger people may not be aware of the phrase, as obvious as it ought to be.
My father loved to play with language, and often repeated phrases he heard in his youth, just for laughs.  My mother used a phrase she heard in her childhood, that something would be done, “God willing and the creek don’t rise.”  I’d always assumed that referred to the Roundout Creek she lived across from while growing up, and that it was a local phrase, especially after I heard a Judge I worked with use it.  Actually, I was informed recently that the “creek” should have been “Creek”.  Benjamin Hawkins, an American statesman and U.S. Indian agent was ordered to return to Washington, D.C. by President James Madison, and he replied, “God willing and the Creek (Indians) don’t rise.”  Ya gotta love it.
The aforementioned Judge used a number of other colorful phrases.  One of the favorites was, speaking to a young lawyer, “Son, I’ve spent more time in the courthouse crapper than you’ve been a lawyer.”  Know why it’s called a crapper?  Bet you don’t.  Thomas Crapper (1836-1910), a British plumber, improved the functionality of the early flush toilet or “water closet”.
The history of language is enjoyable.  So is expressive language.  If you know any good turns of phrase, use ‘em.  Spread them around.  Don’t worry about being different.  Worry about being BORING!  Have some fun!

Digital Isn't Always Better

          Well, it’s official.  I’m an old fogy.  It isn’t even a function of years; it’s a function of outlook.  I know someone about twenty years my junior who is an older fogy - he doesn’t do e-mail.  It’s attitude toward the digital age.
It used to be if you wanted to comment on something in your newspaper, you wrote a letter.  The “Speak Up” feature, you called a phone number, and said yes or no, and left a comment.  That phone number doesn’t exist any more.  Things have changed.  I went to call that number, and instead of spending 30 seconds making my comment, I spent five minutes finding the place to vote on my computer, and voting - no comments permitted.  That was most of the fun of voting - you got to make a one-sentence remark that may make the paper.  Who cares if I’m one of three thousand people voting?
Although I’ve used a computer for work for 27 years, and been online for most of the last twenty years (it really was not such a much for the first five), there are certain things I find are still done better the old-fashioned way.  However, one by one it’s becoming impossible to do things any other way.  Why?  Not because it’s better or more effective.  The real reason is because IT’S CHEAPER FOR THE BUSINESSES!  I’ll say that again.  IT’S CHEAPER FOR THE BUSINESSES!
Now I’ve said it, I feel better.  It’s one thing to e-mail a letter to the editor.  And I know young people would rather read the news on their Tablet computer.  I still like to read my newspaper cover to cover.  Looking for something that may not be there, or jumping from link to link isn’t reading the paper.  You miss a lot more that way.  There may be more news online, but good luck finding it.  And if you see a banner headline you want to read after you’re finished with what you’re reading, good luck getting back to that page.  And pop-up ads are a lot harder to ignore than print.  And if I want a product in a print ad, I can refer to it any time I want to - just try finding that ad again online.  And I don’t want to bring my laptop to the table.  It gets in the way, and is at risk anywhere near a beverage.
I like to call companies to make complaints or get service, and actually talk to a human being (assuming that person actually understands English).  Many companies make that impossible today.  They want an e-mail they can ignore, or online chat that doesn’t work half the time, and when it does work, you often get the feeling the guy you’re connected to is multitasking - taking five online calls at once.
I also don’t buy many things online.  My shape is a lot different from a model’s, so I like to try clothing on to see how it’s cut, and read the label for washing instructions before I buy it.  For some non-clothing items I like to actually ask the salesperson questions - not that most salespersons can answer them these days, but that’s for another column.  Also, when you buy from a store you can actually bring the item right home to use, and you’re supporting local employment.  The job you save may be your child’s.
The digital age is useful for finding specific things, at times, and I don’t really want to go backwards, but forgive me if I have some nostalgia for a time when you dealt with people to get things done, and following the news was done somewhat at leisure, and wasn’t all peek-a-boo and pop-ups.

The "Joys" of Volunteering

I don’t mean to toot my own horn, but I am involved in numerous organizations, and have been for a lot of years.  After you’ve been doing this for a while, you get “pegged” as someone who does something in particular well.  I do paperwork well.  In fact, as a court reporter for 35 years, it is assumed I am the best man to be Secretary of whatever organization it is.  In some organizations this also means filing financial forms.  While I do my own taxes, I hate financial forms.  And doing them for organizations is a nightmare, at least until you’ve been in charge of the figures yourself for a couple years.
In one organization I found the previous Secretary was paperwork challenged.  He took minutes, but did nothing else right, and did it with a flair.  It took six months to find his last mistake, and he was Secretary for a year.  In only one organization did I take over a “going concern”.  This year I took over the books of another organization, and was given a check to establish a new bank account where I live, and found three different financial reports with three different balances.  One matches the bank statement for end of last year, one matches a handwritten statement, and one matches exactly nothing.  I asked for the latest statement, and I hope it matches something.  Otherwise, I have to fudge the figures for the annual report at the end of the year.  Fudging figures for forms is a high art that I’ve become quite proficient at.  But I don’t like it.
Last year I took over a Secretary’s job from a man who didn’t even keep minutes.  I found that we were carrying members that were dead as long as six years.  I spent a month or so searching online for obituaries.  He never filed a form, nor did he or the Treasurer ever give a financial report to anyone.  So this year I had to file an IRS form and found that the new Treasurer, who can actually balance a checkbook, had been given a different Tax ID number that the parent organization had for us.  Tonight we’ll check with someone else in the organization to see what Tax ID number he has in his records.  I think it’s a third number.  The one from our parent organization is the correct one.  It’s a mystery.
The problem is there aren’t a lot of people who are willing to take on jobs in volunteer organizations these days.  The result is you get one of two kinds of people taking on these jobs:  The first is the easygoing Joe who says, “All right.  I’ll help you out.”  But who has no idea how to do the job.  Hence, you get records that make no sense, or are nonexistent.  The other one is the busiest man in town - that’s how you get a job done.  When he reaches the limit of what he can get done, he gets burned out, and the figures get farblundget.  If you don’t know what that means, google it.  It means what it sounds like.  I’m beginning to resemble that remark.
A warning to organizations: Be careful who you elect, and if a fellow says he’s too busy, believe him!

Bringing America Down to Everyone Else’s Level

I saw in the paper today that Social Security is expected to go belly up three years sooner than previously expected.  Medicare will last about the same as previously calculated, even though there were cuts of two percent in benefits.  Why?  More boomers are retiring early due to the economy.  In discussing the reasons for this decrease in Social Security’s durability, the one thing nobody is mentioning is the payroll tax cut!  Why not?  Did everybody think you could just cut income, keep on spending, and NOT HAVE THE MONEY RUN OUT SOONER?!?  Remember, the “payroll tax cut” is a cut in Social Security income (F.I.C.A.).
There used to be some common sense in public discussions of issues, but, of course, THINGS HAVE CHANGED.  The Democrats and Republicans continually fight over where to cut taxes, and where to spend the money we don’t have, while ignoring consequences that we’ll have to deal with, but they may be out of office before then, so why worry?  I’m worried.
          As William Falk noted in the recent issue of The Week, private pensions began disappearing more than 30 years ago, and being replaced by 401(k) plans.  However, the average savings by Baby Boomers is only $78,000.  That’s far less than one would need, even with a pension!  And most of these are people without pensions.
Whether you support Obama or not-so-compassionate Republicans, one things is certain if we go on this way: Benefits will be cut; taxes have been cut; the deficit will balloon; and the United States will go bust like Greece.  And I don’t think Germany will bail us out.  China to the rescue!
          Here’s what I think will happen to us socially:  Three-quarters of baby boomers will be unable to afford their homes.  Their kids, already squeezed into undersized places, will be hard pressed to find a bedroom for mom and dad, justifying it by taking mom and dad’s Social Security check for room and board, and asking them to watch the kids to save on day care.  Three, even four generations will share quarters, pooling dwindling resources to provide a home for the family, as everyone scrambles to get whatever work they can so they can eat.  Forget vacations.  Forget college tuition.  Look for college loan defaults, and a further downward spiral of home values.
Some of this sound familiar?  My parents lived through it - it was called the Great Depression.
          What can you do about it?  First, urge your elected representatives to repeal the payroll tax cut, and compromise on adjustments to Social Security for the good of the country.  If small changes are made now, disaster can be avoided later.
          Second, save more money for retirement!  Even if the politicians insist on pandering to stupidity and shortsightedness, and your neighbor insists on being stupid, there is absolutely no reason, or excuse, for you being stupid.  Plan now!  Urge everyone you know to do the same.  The Republicans would let you go down the drain.  The Democrats would spend us all into the same drain.  But having money set aside will keep you from going down that drain with them.
Back in the eighties we were the “Shining City on the Hill”, and a majority of the world wanted what we have.  I said then to bring them up to a fraction of what we have would bring us down to a fraction of what we have.  We’re still headed there - in a handbasket.

Another Passover

      Another Passover come and gone.  I used to have the energy for this.  Things have changed.
      For those unfamiliar with the requirements of a kosher home on Passover, here's what occurs.  We have completely separate dishes, pots, pans, flatware, baking dishes just for Passover use.  We bring them out of storage a few days before Passover, clean the kitchen thoroughly, carefully packing away the year-round stuff, so nothing that has touched leavening can touch the Passover stuff, and store it.  Then we put the Passover stuff in the kitchen, so that Passover cooking and baking can be done.  We clean as much of the house as we can in the time allotted, especially the common areas of the house. At the end of the eight days we repeat the process in reverse.
      Why?  It's based on the Torah, through 3,000 years of rabbinic interpretation and understandings, and rulings encompassing changes in technology.  After all, self-cleaning ovens were uncommon not many decades ago.  Some things are far easier than great-grandma had with her coal stove.  Thank heaven.
      Still, while turning the house upside down once a year has its benefits, it takes a considerable amount of energy, which I find in decreasing availability every year.  I now use younger legs to carry the boxes up and down the stairs whenever available.
      Also, while my daughter and son-in-law worked during the intermediate days to get the house they just bought ready to move into, we had our two grandsons all week.  I loved it, but it makes me wonder how we raised three kids ourselves.  Answer:  It was over twenty years ago.  Memory plays tricks with us.  We thought it was hard then.  What was hard was emotionally dealing with things for the first time, whereas what's hard now is physically it gets more difficult, but it's now the twenty-somethingth time.  Every little thing is no longer a crisis.  Every last-minute emergency is no big deal - indeed, it's expected.
      That's the best part of getting older - knowing we've been through the wars, so to speak.  We've dealt with this before, and if we just keep going a bit longer, we'll deal with it again.  And we did!  And we still managed to find the energy to enjoy ourselves.  And it took less time to get back to normal than before.  There is a certain satisfaction to that, and knowing that some things that change, change for the better.
      Next year in my daughter's house!

Passover - a Busy Time

      I don't feel very curmudgeonly this time of year - too busy even to post.  When you keep kosher, getting ready keeps you hopping.  For those who don't know what's involved, we clean, remove the year-round dishes, pots, etc. from the kitchen, store it out of sight, bring up the Passover set, clean the cabinets, clean and install the Passover set, and clear the house of any "chametz" - leavening - to prepare for the season of our freedom.
      What does that mean, the season of our freedom?  Some 3,400 years ago, our ancestors were brought out from slavery by God's strong hand - but is simply being brought out enough?  The actions of our ancestors in the wilderness proves it's not.  They were "at liberty", but were still controlled by their own fears and passions, conditioned by their slavery.  I've had those who don't understand the limits placed on us by our religious beliefs tell me I'm a slave to those limits.  But without limits placed on our behavior, are we not slaves to our passions?  Who are we, and what are we?  What do we do with that liberty?  Even the Founding Fathers of this great country spoke of liberty, not freedom.  Once we had liberty, each person had the opportunity to choose what to do with it.
      Our sages teach without the constraints on us placed there by God, without a purpose, we are at liberty, but not truly free.  A person's mind can be free, even if he is not at liberty, but when we choose what we do with our liberty, and we choose well, we are truly free.
      May in this season we all choose well what we do with our liberty, so that we may be truly free.

Internet - the Time Eater

     I know I'm a dinosaur, but I don't quite get all the new internet sites.  When I was a young man I called friends, went out and did things with them, and was, frankly, quite busy.  I still am.  I'm active in several organizations, and have difficulty finding time to get things done.  Even finding time to blog once a week is difficult.  That used to be the norm.  Well, Things Have Changed.
     The plethora of websites that people have time for boggles the mind.  Facebook is the best known, I guess.  Everybody posts what they're up to, check what everyone else is up to, lets the world know everything about them.  When I want to let someone know, I call.  If I'm short of time, I e-mail.  There isn't much I want to tell the world about myself.  Someone checking out my Facebook page won't find out much of what I'm up to, even if they're on my short list of friends.
     Then there's twitter.  I really don't get that one.  People "tweet" every little thing they do - how do they have time to actually "do" anything?  And who really wants to know?  I'm too busy actually doing to "tweet" you, and except for my wife, and perhaps a couple friends, I may not want others to know what I'm doing.
     And then there's the endless e-mails forwarded.  Please, before forwarding to me, please check it out on snopes.com.  I flush most of the junk people send me.
     Now we have Pinterest - you pin up things of interest to you, for all the world to see.  I guess that's useful to some - you can save things to check online later, and it will always be there - if the site succeeds.
     I guess what I don't get is where are all these people getting the time to spend online?  What is it that they're not getting around to?  Don't they have any hobbies or interests?  Are they really that efficient in getting things done?  Or don't they have a life?  To me having a life means actually seeing people!  At the computer, time has no meaning - you look up and it's three hours later.  Personally, I'd rather do that in the garden, or reading.  Why did staring at a screen replace human contact?  Are our personal contacts that unsatisfying?  Is bowling so boring?  Or is physical activity just too much trouble?
     Others have said this before, and better, but if you are busy living, I don't see how you have the time to hunt around online for meaning - and that includes reading this blog.  If you do, I'm flattered, but better you should read, paint, garden, clean your closets, call a friend!

Tier VI - A Missed Opportunity

     It used to be if you worked on a job for a long time, you got a definite pension when you retired - especially in Civil Service.  Well, things have changed.

     The details aren't clear, but the New York State Legislature passed a pension deal in the middle of the night.  (When else?  Why should they do something when anybody is actually watching what they do?)  The details aren't clear yet, but new workers will pay more for less.

     In the interest of disclosure, I am collecting a Tier III pension from New York State.  Am I bankrupting the state?  No.  According to Comptroller DiNapoli, the pension plan for N.Y. State workers is quite solvent.  So where is the problem?  Apparently local municipalities have offered more than they could afford.  Unfortunately, any deal on those also affects all state employees, too, since the state administers all public pensions.  I'm not certain I understand this, but apparently it's so.

     Actually, I've never been opposed to some pension reform, but it's been my feeling the state and municipal pensions should all have the same rules.

     First, the changes I favored:

          1.)  Increase all pension contributions to 4 percent, no more.  It will instead be 3 percent to 6 percent, depending what you make.  It will now be possible to get a raise in pay, but a cut in take-home pay.

          2.)  Collect the contributions during an employee's entire career.   For some strange reason the state during the 1990's decided to stop collecting contributions after ten years.  This they don't appear to have changed.  When I heard this, my response was, "That's nuts!"  And it is.  However, there's a Yiddish expression that translates, "When they give, take.  When they take, scream."  So I took.  I had no say when they took, so I wasn't going to refuse when they gave.

          3.)  Raise the retirement age one or two years, at least for white collar workers.  This they did.

          4.)  Limit pensionability of overtime.  This they did not do.

     What they did that I opposed:

          1.)  401(k) pensions.  This they didn't impose (hurray), although they made them available to nonunion workers.

          2.)  Defined contribution plan, whatever that is.  I guess that means you know what you're putting in, but don't know what you're getting out.  If you sign up for this, I've got a bridge to sell you.  It's unclear yet if anyone is getting this.

          3.)  Different contribution rates for different pay levels.  This they did.

     So let's look at what they did.  Acting like thieves in the night, they raised the contributions for all but the lowest paid employees, but didn't change the length of time of contributions.  You can get a raise in pay, and take home less, but they won't, apparently, be collecting after ten years.  Someone please explain this.

     They raised the retirement age one year, without differentiating between white collar and blue collar (as a court reporter I took expert testimony that the average blue collar worker is not physically able to do his job after age 57 or 58).

     They cut what each year of service means, so that the pensions will be smaller, or service noticeably longer.

     They did NOT limit pensionability of overtime, allowing people to boost their pensions a lot in their last few years.

     But police and fire department pensions are not subject to any part of this deal.  While I generally strongly support the police and fire departments, they are among the most expensive pensions, and at least some limitation of pensionability of overtime would have been reasonable.

     Lest you think N.Y. State employees are getting wealthy in retirement, according to the New York State Comptroller's office, two-thirds of N.Y. State retirees get less than $20,000 a year in pension.  The average New York State pension is $18,000 per year.  The average CSEA retiree (the largest state union) gets $14,000 per year.  The average figure of $18,000 includes pensions of professionals!  You figure what the average grunt is getting!

     And what really gripes me about the new figures is that the threshold figures (such as $45,000 for paying more than 3 percent) are set in stone, so that as prices, and salaries rise, those in the lower salaried jobs will pay a higher percentage!  This is part of the race to the bottom.  And it was done to deal with a problem that's been greatly exaggerated, and without solving some of the structural problems that will still be with us!  They have hurt the working class without doing more than nibbling around the edges of the problem.

     Governor Cuomo will have to be back asking for more.  On this issue, he's wrong, and the legislature is both gutless and stupid!  They missed a chance to stand up to him, and yet also have meaningful reform, without shafting the working class.  More pain to come.

Politics and Money

       This is the first of what I intend to be approximately a weekly blog on whatever is on my curmudgeonly mind.
       It used to be that most funds spent in local political races were, well, local.  Things have changed.  And this is not a recent development.  I remember in 1986 the Town of Poughkeepsie (N.Y.) Board was roughly split between Democrats and Republicans.  The Democrats wanted more information before approving a proposed mall.  The state Republican party sunk $250,000 into the Town Board race.  The Republicans rammed through the development at an “emergency” meeting while two Democrats were out of town.  The next election brought a six-to-one Republican majority.  Coincidentally, the corporation that owned the proposed mall, which headquartered half the state away, just happened to have donated $250,000 to the state Republican coffers.  The normal total amount spent on those races before that was $40,000.
       Well, since I was young things may have changed, but since 1986 I think things have not changed much.  My state assemblyman passed away, and his predecessor, whom he defeated, is running to get the seat back.  His opponent has sent out one or two flyers.  He has sent me an average of five or six a week.  When he was last in office, I never got a visit or mailing from him or his staff at all.  In the last ten days I’ve received two visits and two phone calls from his campaign.  What I want to know is where is this money coming from?  The local Democratic Party (his party) has usually been underfunded and in disarray.  Obviously, the state Democratic party desperately wants this seat back.  I had been supportive in view of his previously clean record, but any time someone has eight or ten times the funding of his opponent, I’m suspicious - just who is paying for this election?  Not the local people.
       I guess funding can be more obvious now.  Thank you, U.S. Supreme Court!  Corporations are people, too.  And anyone can contribute to any race, anywhere.  That means you and I, and corporations, could conceivably contribute to election races in any state in the union, and with “soft money”, as much as we want.  You or I, or any corporation.  Exxon-Mobil and I have an equal right to contribute all we wish to any election, anywhere!  How egalitarian.
       As Anatole France wrote, “The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread.”  Who has more money, large corporations, or you and I?
       Normally I just listen to positions, and try to choose the better candidate, but when one candidate has far more money than the other, I don’t care what his position is - it clearly is horizontal when it comes to contributors.
                       Comments may be sent to HershelMendel@gmail.com