2012 07 20
Economic Buddy System
A bold new idea: the economic buddy system. For every million dollars one makes over a specified amount, say 100 million, they adopt a person/family that exists under the poverty line and supplements said person/family's income up to a specified minimum, perhaps $30,000 per annum.
In the extreme case of those with zero income each $1,000,000 would thus service approximately 30 beneficiaries.
The distribution of would be overseen by the private firm of Unwin Partners, Ltd., for a nominal administration fee.
Under this system someone like Bill Gates with an estimated net worth of $60 billion could easily buddy up with 59,900 people at a total cost to him of only $1.797 billion, a mere bagatelle.
And the elegant beauty of this plan is that since American civil law thoughtfully confers “personhood” to corporate entities, they could not be exempt from the requirement to buddy up.
2012 06 21
The Republican vs Democrat mindset: go to Other People's - Smart Idiots
2012 07 04
Note: I submitted this to about a
dozen newspapers around the country, including, mostly as a lark, The
Tehachapi News. Wonder of wonders they printed it this week.
The
strategy I've outlined will never be adopted by an American politician
(they could never bring themselves to trust the voting populace to
remain attentive while they were out of sight - perhaps rightfully so). But
it has been an abiding fantasy of mine for years and I finally took aim
and fired. ------ Mark)
AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA
Dear Mr. President,
I believe that you should address the American people as follows:
“The
job of being your President is a demanding one, so demanding that I
cannot allow myself to be distracted by the necessities of a
reelection campaign. Therefore, I will not take time away from the
critical business of seeing to the welfare of this country and you,
its citizens. I do not have the kind of free time that Governor
Romney has and cannot run around the country making speeches and
glad-handing crowds. I must rely on my deeds and accomplishments
while in office and depend upon the good common sense of you, the
voters.
“The
solutions to the problems that confront America today can no longer
be held hostage to the whims of an obstructionist, do-nothing
Congress. The steady stewardship of a determined and undistracted
Chief Executive is the vital tool required to overcome the current
deadlock.
“There
is no shortage of able speakers who can give voice to the goals,
intentions and ideals of my Presidency. I intend to let them do so
while I attend to the critical business at hand.
“Therefore
I will devote two hours each week, on Sunday evenings, to address the
issues raised during the week. For those two hours, questions will be
answered and specific campaign issues addressed. The rest of my time
during the week will be devoted to administrating the government you
elected me to shepherd. Thus will we establish a rededication to the
ideal that the common citizen has a natural birthright of access to
the bounty of this great nation, and further establish that this
bounty is not the sole province of a wealthy minority.
“I
will not divert my attention from the functions of government to
fence with Governor Romney. We will meet in the scheduled debates,
but that is the extent to which I will go. My positions on the
critical issues of the times are clear and unaltered. So, others will
rise to the public forum to speak to the issue of my reelection.
“Theodore Roosevelt described the Presidency as a, “bully pulpit," and so it is. But that bully pulpit is not to be used to ensure the continued occupancy of an incumbent. It is to be used, not merely to praise America’s virtues, but to demand that those virtues be vigorously enacted in the daily lives of her citizens. To that goal I have been and remain firmly and fully dedicated.”
I am convinced Mr. President, that you will find the America people far more attracted to an approach of this nature than they are to attack ads and negative campaigning.
Respectfully submitted,
Mark Allen Pelkey
Tehachapi, California - 93561
2012 06 07
To those Americans who say it matters not who gets elected I reply:
It does matter to every family whose child came home in box from Iraq; to every surviving veteran who will spend the rest of his life missing an arm or a leg or his sanity; to every COPD sufferer whose breathing is that much further labored as a result of the evisceration of the EPA; to every small investor whose future has been shattered by the rapaciousness of de-regulated Wall St.; all of these and more would have been spared had Bush not stolen the election in 2000.
2012 09 08
Iraq War: “A fictional [illegitimate] war waged by a fictional [illegitimate] president to pursue a familial vendatta”.
2012 09 12
Politicians toss around the term “not enough jobs” or “we must create more jobs” as if “more jobs” was some was some sort of magical, discretionary substance that could be applied as a salve to the ills of an economy. “Not enough Jobs” equals “too many applicants” (i.e., people). As the population increases and technology grows more sophisticated the availability of “jobs” in any traditional sense of the word can only become more and more constricted. (And a message to the “quick fix” happy-talkers: the only jobs that can be “created” immediately are those funded by the government to establish and bulwark the social and physical infrastructure of society.)
2012 02 02
No Congressional election under the current system can possibly be effective. Turning out the old rascals only allows for the seating of new rascals because the system has been fundamentally corrupted by lobbyists. Under the new rules lobbyists will be regarded in the same light as looters and shot on sight. Thus relieved of distraction by influence peddlars those elected can more fruitfully attend tothe jobs they were elected for: seeing to welfare, protection and benefit of those who elected them.