New Problems, Old Solutions

By Matthew Dunn

                The Roman politician and philosopher Cicero once said, “Not to know what has been transacted in former times is always to be child.  If no use is made of the labours of past ages, the world must always remain in the infancy of knowledge.”  Too often in today’s world people look for new solutions for today’s problems.  However, many times they fail to realize that past civilizations dealt with many of the same issues.  So, in light of that, here are some modern day problems, and how we might solve them with techniques used in the past.

The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

                These two groups of people have fighting for control of a strip of land that is around the same size of New Jersey since Zionist Jews started moving to the area in the early 20^th century.  Many attempts at peace have been made since 1993, but the situation remains completely unsolved.  Israelis continue to occupy the West Bank with their military, and Israeli settlers continue to settle there, even though this land is supposed to be part of the state of Palestine.  Palestinians continue to find ways to attack Israel leading to Israeli military invasions of their territory.  Violence continues, Israelis feel insecure, Palestinians live in permanent occupation, and there is almost no talk now of any solution.  So what is to be done?

                Some have argued that a two state solution is effectively dead, and a one state solution would be preferable.  In this solution all citizens would be given equal rights regardless of ethnicity.  However, this would not be appealing to Israelis because the Zionist belief is to create a Jewish homeland for the Jewish people.  So, if Israelis are unwilling to give full civil rights to all people, then perhaps they should follow the example of Islamic civilizations that lived in the Middle East centuries ago.

                Islamic civilizations were very successful at getting people of other religions to convert to Islam.  This was because when they took over a region, they would offer Muslims a tax exemption.  People of other religions were allowed to practice, except they had to pay a non-Muslim tax.  Because of this, Islam spread very quickly in regions where Muslim armies conquered.  I propose that the Israelis follow this example.  They should raise a tax on all non-Jews in Israel and the occupied territories.  If people then convert to Judaism, then they can avoid the tax.  Once Muslims become Jews, then they will be allowed to become full citizens of Israel.

                Once a large amount of Muslims convert to Judaism and gain full civil rights, then most of them will probably no longer wish to attack Jews.  Those who do not convert will be forced to pay a tax, they will be denied citizenship to Israel.  The choice would obviously be beneficial for Palestinians who converted.  Not only will it decrease the amount of enemies to Israel, but it will also raise more tax revenue.  Strict Muslims will also find, that there are plenty of sects of Judaism that follow many of the same strict practices.  When the Israelis make the option of becoming a Jew beneficial to the large Muslim population of the Holy land, then they may find that a better state will be created.

The European Debt Crisis

                Many of the countries of Europe are struggling with economic problems.  Under the terms of the European Union, countries which use the Euro as a currency can only retain a certain level of debt.  Many countries of Europe have gone over this level and have gone into crisis.  This has led the countries which have the most debt to follow austerity policies and unemployment has followed. 

                The European countries with the most problems should just leave the Eurozone and re-create their old currencies.  Countries like Greece, Spain, and Ireland are not on equal footing with countries like Germany and France.  They should not use the same currency.  If these countries leave the Euro, then they will have much weaker currencies and their exports will be much less expensive.  In addition to this, once they have their own currencies then if they have problems with debt, then they have the option to default on their debt, and no other country will tell them how to run their finances. 

                Now, this is not a decision to be taken lightly.  There is no doubt that this will have some short term bad effects for the countries of Europe.  However, rather than going from crisis to crisis, Europe needs a long term solution, and the countries who have had the most trouble, will never be able to get back into the levels of debt required by the EU without shady accounting practices.  In terms of defaulting on debt, countries such as Spain, Portugal, and Greece have a long history of defaulting on their debt.  These countries were empires and when their empires collapsed, they were not able to pay their bills. 

                Defaulting on debt, if it has to happen is not always a bad decision.  Ecuador defaulted on its debt several years ago intentionally.  After they defaulted the value of their bonds plummeted, and then Ecuador bought the bonds back from their creditors at a fraction of the price.  Nation-states should be allowed to make their own decisions about their economies, without foreign interference. 

The U.S. Economy

                Although the U.S. economy has recovered from the worst times of the recession, the U.S. still faces economic problems.  The U.S. has a high trade deficit, with many more imports coming in, than exports leaving.  This has led to high levels of debt and a low number of manufacturing jobs in the U.S.  Like the other two examples, the U.S. needs to go back to history to find solutions.

                In the beginnings of the United States Republic, the U.S. faced great economic problems.  Some observers predicted the United States wouldn’t even last.  Into this stepped Alexander Hamilton.  Hamilton proposed the United States put high tariffs on foreign products in order to encourage American manufacturing.  This would also raise much needed revenue.  Tariffs were a very essential part of U.S. trade policy throughout the 19^th century.  Other well known politicians such as Henry Clay, Benjamin Franklin, and even Abraham Lincoln believed very much in tariffs.  Today, tariffs are very low and companies can have their products manufactured anywhere and brought back to the U.S. relatively cheaply. 

                So, the U.S. needs to pass restrictive tariffs on foreign products.  Companies which employ workers overseas, will need to pay high tariffs if they want to sell their products in the United States.  This will lead to a rise in employment in manufacturing in the United States, as most large companies will do anything to avoid taxes.  In addition to this foreign companies, will begin to locate more of their manufacturing in the U.S. in order to gain tax free access to the American marketplace.  And lastly, if foreign companies don’t manufacture things here, they will still mostly likely want to sell their products here, and the tariffs will help our government raise revenue.

               

                So what it seems the world might benefit from is a sense of nationalism.  This does not have to be an imperialist nationalism where countries try to dominate others.  It can be a more human nationalism, where countries look after their own citizens better.  It will be the type of nationalism, where nations will say that these are their people, and we are going to do our best to allow our people to live the best lives that they can. 

Mike Rowe and "Dirty Jobs"

By Matthew Dunn

Recently on Real Time with Bill Maher, television host Mike Rowe appeared.  Mike Rowe is the host of The Discovery Channel show, Dirty Jobs.  The premise of this show is that the host visits various regions around the country and shows really disgusting work that some people do.  The point of this show is to show the types of things that ordinary people have to do, in order to make our lives comfortable. 

                On the episode of Real Time, Mike Rowe talked about his initiative to support the skilled trades and hard work.  He said that the worst advice in the world was given to him by his high school guidance counselor to pursue a college degree.  He also said that there was a poster that had a picture of a college graduate and a picture of a dirty blue collar worker and it said underneath to work smart and not hard.  A picture of this poster can be seen on Rowe’s website http://profoundlydisconnected.com/.  The message of this poster is that blue collar work is degrading and difficult and college will lead to better jobs.  He believes that this is a problem, because now we have many people going to college, but we have a shortage of people who can work in skilled trades.  By promoting the skilled trades, presumably he is trying to solve unemployment problems in the United States. 

                I take several issues with Rowe’s point of view and his television program.  First is Rowe’s personal background.  The recently cancelled Dirty Jobs, was about hard working Americans doing difficult, dangerous, but beneficial work.  So what is Mike’s background?  He went to college and then got a job doing a very dirty job of being an opera singer.  He then went on to work for the very dirty industry of home shopping and voice over work.  If you are expecting us to do work, that you yourself did not want to pursue, I learned in college that makes you a hypocrite. 

                My second issue is basically with this old adage that Americans don’t want to do those jobs.  People want to go to college and pursue more creative careers and they neglect blue collar work.  Well that may be true for a lot of people, but I’ll bet there’s a tremendous amount of unemployed people in this country right now, who would be willing to work in any number of Mike’s “Dirty Jobs”.  If companies need people to do their jobs, they could go to any big city and find a tremendous amount of people who would work for them.  If they don’t have the skills, why doesn’t the company pay for their training?  Oh, that’s right because they want the schools to do their work for them.  So, basically the purpose of schools is to give a handout to corporations in the form of workers?  Mike gave the example of Caterpillar Inc. as one of the companies that couldn’t find workers.  Caterpillar Inc. is a billion dollar company, I’m sure they can afford to train some people. 

                One of the things that Mike forgot to mention is how poorly many dirty jobs pay.  Dirty jobs often are considered the lowest of the low, not because of the work that is done, but because of the pay.  I bet you have tons of people signing up to do the dirtiest jobs in the world if the pay was good.  There is no job dirtier than a sanitation worker, especially in New York City.  In New York being a sanitation worker is considered a good job.  However, a New York Times story about a sanitation worker who passed away recently reveals that he was making around $58,000 yearly around his time of death.  That’s not that much considering the work and how important it is to society.  Yes, they get a pension and can retire after 20 years, but how long do you think people can do that work?  Having them only work 20 years also gives people an incentive to retire and open up spots for new people.  The New York City Sanitation Department also has a notoriously long waiting list for jobs.  Guess people want to do dirty jobs after all. 

                Lastly, maybe people don’t want to go into the trades because those aren’t very good jobs.  Much of trade work is seasonal, and if you talk to many people who work in the trades, you will a lot of people who have been out of work.  Also a great deal of trade work is not only dirty, but dangerous.  Unless you are going to pay enormous sums of money, I doubt you are going to find many people who want to do work requiring them to put their life on the line.  That’s part of the appeal of Dirty Jobs in the first place.  To show us how the other half lives, and to be grateful that we don’t have to do that work.

                So since Discovery Channel has cancelled Mike’s show I recommend he start a new one.  This one will be called Shitty Jobs.  Mike and his crew will do work like working in a fast food restaurant, or Wal-Mart, or health care aide in nursing homes.  Not only will they do this work, but then at the end of the episode, they will get the same pay as the people who did the job, probably no more than $10 an hour.  That wouldn’t be reality television,  that would be REALITY.  I’m sure this will be a step down from Mike’s position on Dirty Jobs, where I’m sure he probably made more an episode than the people on show made in a year.  Something tells me, Mike probably isn’t going to want to do that for long.  

One Upping Ronald Reagan

By Matthew Dunn

               

                “The nine scariest words in the English language are I’m from the government and I’m here to help,” said President Ronald Reagan.  This quote pretty much sums up how Republicans have felt about the government since the 1980s.  They have wanted to deregulate, privatize, and lower taxes at any cost.  Since the 1980s they have taken major steps to carry out this mission with a great deal of success.  However, I would argue, that they haven’t taken it far enough.  

                There is still way too much that the government is doing.  One of the things that they have done way too much of, is that they have regulated and taxed everything.  Regulations and taxes are the things that are killing business in the United States.  The government needs to get out of the way and let business do what it does best, make profits.  Like Grover Norquist, I believe that government spending should be where it was before Teddy Roosevelt and all the Socialists took over.  The government is hampering business and we need to liberate business from the government.  However, the current Republicans, who claim to be for smaller government haven’t done enough.  There are some things that they haven’t proposed, which need to start being on the table.  I propose a seven point plan for deregulation and lower taxation to make our economy boom. 

1.       No more taxes on the rich!: I’m sick and tired of people blasting the rich people of this country.  The rich are the job creators and they are our betters.  Rich people today have gotten a very bad rap.  We should be saluting the 1% not bashing them.  These are some of the most oppressed people in the country.  I hear that some of them have to make do with only 3 houses, 4 cars, and only one helicopter.  So in order to elevate the wealthy members of the United States to where they should be I propose ending all taxes on people and businesses who have assets of over one million dollars.  Just think how competitive our country will become in the world economy if we do this.  Wealthy companies and individuals will have so much more disposable income to spend.  Think of all the boats, cars, houses, and servants that they will be able to buy.  Think of all the art museums and symphony performances.  Recently I’ve been watching Downton Abbey, which takes place in England in the early 20^th century.  That was a society that knew how to treat its rich people.  Rich people all had personal servants, huge palaces, and titles that ordinary people had to address them by.  That was a society that knew how to treat its wealthy people.  We need to start having that kind of society in this nation.  A society where if someone wants to get ahead, they better start saluting their betters. 

2.       No more entitlements:  Our government spends way too much on entitlement programs, like social security and medicare.  People should not be entitled to these things.  When the rich people of America stop having to pay oppressive taxes, then there will be plenty of open jobs as their servants.  Then the rich people will take care of their servants, as long as they dedicate their lives to their lords.  And if rich people don’t care for their servants in their old age, well then that’s just too bad.  Don’t worry, we’ll have plenty of jobs in textiles, and we all know old ladies love sewing.  And we’ll have a lot more people with money, thanks to no taxes on the rich, and we can hire old men to patrol the streets yelling at everyone.  Who yells better than old men?

3.       Child Labor Laws:  Children in this country have it way too easy.  This has led to a problem.  In other countries, like India and China, there are no restrictions on child labor.  This has led their economies to become more competitive than our own.  Children will work for almost nothing, they don’t know any better.  When we can start hiring children to work in factories, then the manufacturing jobs will start coming back to the U.S.  I’ve been to other countries and I’ve seen children do a great job of selling things on the street.  American children are so lazy, let’s discipline them with some good old fashioned hard work.  Besides what are they really learning in school anyway?  How to sell drugs?  How to think?  What a waste of time.  In addition to this, we can get the old men to be the slave drivers in the factories, kill two birds with one stone. 

4.       Immigration Reform:  America has way too many illegal immigrants.  So I propose we legalize all of them immediately.  Now I know there is a lot of you out there who are going to oppose this, but hear me out.  What we will do, is completely open our borders to anyone who wants to come and work in this country.  Now to prevent terrorism, we will keep detailed dossiers on every single one of these people.  We can farm this out to Booz, Allen, Hamilton and all kinds of private security companies.  Then we will tax all immigrants who have lived here for less than 25 years 50% of their income.  This will help us pay for military security that we will need to police the country (because remember we can’t tax rich people because they create jobs).  Also the more immigrants we have in this country, the more downward pressure on wages that will be created.  When enough downward pressure on wages happens, then jobs will start coming back to the United States.  Plus think of all the new servants for wealthy people. 

5.       Eliminate National Parks:  We have so much available land in this country, but we don’t use it because it’s protected.  We need to use every bit of land in this country to make it productive. What a waste of space.  Who really gives a crap about some big trees and a big canyon.  Boring! You know what people like casinos!  We can turn Yellowstone into Vegas North.  Wrangell-St Elias National Park in Alaska covers over 32,000 sq kilometers of space.  Just think of how many cell phone towers, shopping malls, and bars we could fit there.  Just think, you can party in Alaska, all day and all day! We need to use every bit of land in this country to make it productive.  Privatize all of the national parks so it can be used for private development.  We could use that land for drilling oil, or building new resorts.  Just think we are going to have more rich people with more money.  Why do we want them going on vacation to other countries?  Keep them here.  Hell, if they stay in the United States we should pay them to go on vacation.  Just think of the great jobs that will pop up in the tourism industry, like carrying bags, personal assistants, and cleaning up rich people’s toilets. 

6.       Workplace Safety and Health Codes:  Workplaces get such a bad rap for being unsafe.  Health inspectors and all those government agencies make us pay a lot in taxes so they can police us.  I’m sick of it.  I don’t need to know if my restaurant food is clean, I can see if it’s clean or not ok.   Besides with all the extra money going around, the well to do will be able to own plantations like in the good old days, and all the food will be freshly prepared.  Plus, if we get rid of the regulations on safety, think of how much more business the healthcare industry can take in.  I’m tired of people being able to sue for anything they please.  These frivolous lawsuits are driving up the costs for all of us.  So the next time sometime slaps your ass at work, just be thankful for the attention sweetheart.

7.       Unions and Collective Bargaining:  These need to be gotten rid of ASAP.  From Twinkees to professional sports, unions have destroyed our sacred American institutions.  Now union busting techniques have been very good for the last 30 years, but it needs to happen faster.  Laws need to be put in place to outlaw unions.  Just think of how attractive we will look to companies all over the world, when they know that people in the United States don’t have a right to organize.  I know what you’re saying, “Don’t people in a free market system have the right to choose if they join a union?”  Forget that.  Workers don’t know what’s good for them.  We all know rich people always make the right decisions.  We need to put our complete faith in them.  Unions like to say that they helped make the weekend possible.  Wrong!  God is responsible for the weekend.  He rested on Saturday for Jews and on Sunday for Christians. 

So there it is.  A seven point plan, to help business succeed in America.  If we help business succeed, I know they will always have all of our best interests at heart.  And if you don’t like the system don’t worry, we will deregulate the drug market, and make it legal to get all kinds of uppers and downers over the counter at your pharmacy.  Regulations requiring cigarettes and alcohol only be sold to people over the age of 21 will also be removed, so all those children who are working can get just as wasted as the working adult.  And if you still don’t enjoy this new America, well then we’ll also deregulate the assisted suicide industry as well.  

In A Delaware State Of Mind

By Matthew Dunn

                Taxes:  we all hate paying them.  We pay them when we buy things, we pay them on our income, and we pay them on our homes.  Every year most of us hire some kind of tax expert to try and help us save a few bucks on our taxes.  We love to complain about taxes and how high they are.  But as much as we complain, we always do it, partly because we want to be good citizens, partly because we have no choice, and partly because we don’t want to go to jail. 

                There is one group of people that hates paying taxes more than any other group in the United States though.  These are the people who are in charge of America’s corporations and large businesses.  However, unlike the rest of us, corporations have the ability to escape taxes.  Sometimes, they do this by lobbying Congress to change tax laws and sometimes they do this by hiring highly skilled tax professionals.  One way which has come under more scrutiny in recent years, is that corporations move their bases of operation to places which have much lower taxes, to so called “tax havens”. 

                This was explored on a piece in 60 Minutes.  Journalist Leslie Stahl visited tax havens and also visited with corporate leaders to discuss this issue.  In her report, she spoke to corporate officials, and economists who thought that the corporate tax rate of 35% in the United States was much too high.  Companies could move their bases to other countries, and pay a much lower rate.  Stahl interviewed John Chambers, the CEO of Cisco, and Chambers defended this practice.  He said that because corporate taxes are lower abroad, then companies will move there.  When this happens unfortunately the United States will lose tax revenue and jobs. 

                This is a view shared by a great deal of corporations within the United States today.  Recently, Apple CEO Tim Cook, appeared before the U.S. Senate, and scolded the government for its outdated tax system and its outrageously high corporate tax rate.  Because of these tax conditions, corporations move part or all of their operations to countries like Ireland, where they have a friendly tax environment.  However, not all companies move abroad to gain favorable tax status.  A lot of them move within the United States, to Delaware, to get the same treatment that they can get at international tax havens.

                Delaware is a very small state, both in area and in population.  Besides current Vice President Joe Biden and the fact that it was the first state, I can’t off the top of my head think of anything that it’s famous for.  However, Delaware has been known in business circles for quite a long time.  That is because Delaware has a long history of creating favorable conditions for business. 

                The number one favorable condition for business in Delaware, is the fact that it has no corporate tax rate.  This alone would draw great amounts of business but it is not the only reason.  Delaware also has no laws against usury (loaning money at excessive rates of interest).  This is why almost all of the credit card companies are based in Delaware.  In addition to these conditions, Delaware is famous for its Chancery Court.  Delaware’s Court of Chancery, is considered the leading court in The United States in matters of business law, and many companies prefer to use this court in sorting out their business disputes.   Delaware is home to many prestigious corporate law firms so they can access this court system.

                Because of these conditions, Delaware has become a great state for doing business.  Delaware has over 800,000 businesses chartered.  This is especially amazing considering that the current population of Delaware is under 1,000,000.  That makes as many businesses as 4/5 of the state’s population.  Besides credit card companies, Delaware has been a favorite location of companies who package complex financial instruments, which most of us first became familiar with during the financial crisis. 

                So Delaware has created wonderful business conditions, and in return many businesses have opened up shop there.  Delaware has combated the so called anti-business policies of the U.S. government and given business a place to thrive.  However, although business in Delaware may be thriving, many of the people who live in Delaware are not. 

                According to the most recent study from the United States Department of Labor, Delaware’s unemployment rate is 7.2%.  This puts it at the 31^st highest unemployment rate in the nation.  For young people who are hoping to enter the skilled workforce, the only major state university in the state of Delaware is the University of Delaware.  The tuition rate for Delaware residents is currently at $11,192 a year for state residents according to U.S. News and World Report.  The University of Delaware is also ranked by the same report as the 75^th best college in the nation.  In contrast to the University of Delaware, UC Berkeley, long thought of as one of the best colleges in the United States and #21 on the same list, had a tuition rate of $11,767 a year for state residents.   Add to this, that Delaware does not have any public law or medical schools, and it appears that Delaware students have a very limited and expensive options when it come to professional degrees.

                Delaware also made national headlines in 2009, when their legislature voted to allow gambling on sporting events.  Although this move, was criticized by some major sports leagues, Delaware saw it as a necessary step to helping its fiscal woes.  Delaware had been running a large state deficit, and gambling was seen as a way of bringing revenue into the state.  When states run deficits, they cut public services which negatively impact many citizens of those states.  So even by creating a friendly climate for business, Delaware was not able to solve its fiscal and employment problems.

                What might be seen as possibly the most troubling aspect of Delaware though is the condition of its largest city, Wilmington.  Although Wilmington is one of the centers of business in the United States, Wilmington has an unemployment rate that hovers around 10%.  With these consistent high rates of unemployment, Wilmington also has a great deal of problems with poverty, health, and crime.  Wilmington has one of the highest rates of HIV infection, leading to a type of public health crisis in the local community.  In 2010, Wilmington had 27 homicides.  This may not sound like a lot, but also consider that Wilmington is a city of only 70,851 people.  This gives Wilmington a homicide rate of 38.10 people murdered per 100,000.  This homicide rate gives Wilmington a higher homicide rate than Johannesburg, South Africa, considered one of the most dangerous places in the world.  Indeed for reasons like this, Wilmington is considered one of the most dangerous cities per capita in the country, and 98% of American cities are considered safer than Wilmington. 

                Many American states and cities seem to be starving for revenue at this time.  Corporations complain that corporate taxes are too high and they have to go elsewhere to employ people.  However, states will not solve their financial woes by catering to business’s needs.  Delaware, has about the most friendly business environment, and it still has a host of problems.  In fact, Delaware is largely exploited by businesses and businesses generally just use Delaware as an address without providing meaningful employment to the citizens of the state.  If state leaders want to find solutions to their fiscal woes, then they will have to stop bowing to the needs of wealthy businesses who always seem to be trying to get something for nothing. 

*Much of the information for this article was found in Treasure Islands: Uncovering the Damage of Offshore Banking and Tax Havens by Nicholas Shaxson.  This very detailed book provides information about corporate policies and tax havens all over the world.