The Growing Disconnect between the "sane" and "fiscally sound" Beltway Insiders and the Rest of Us

The DC Beltway is one of the last big factory towns in America. The factory is the government/political/military/intelligence industrial complex. In addition to many people directly employed by the government, there are a lot of contractors, think tanks, lobbying firms, and ancillary businesses that support the factory. Ironically, Paul Ryan made a career for himself by working in the factory from lowly staffer to now Vice Presidential nominee. He went from sweeping the factory floor to being second in command.

Unlike most factory towns in America, the Beltway factory does not have to worry about jobs going overseas or about H1B visas being imported to work in the Think Tanks for pennies on the dollar. No, the Beltway factory never closes it doors. Never stops hiring, and it's employees gain a certain economic level of comfort that most American workers dream about.

This economic comfort has created a wide disconnect between the Beltway insiders and the rest of us. Whether you've just graduated from college or are entering your 50s, your life is about dealing with debt, finding employment, job insecurity, and just trying to save something, anything for retirement. There are no Think Tanks in Cleveland. There are no policy institutes Michigan. There is just daily survival.

This is why it's so easy for the "sane" and "fiscally sound" Beltway Insiders to look dispassionately at the growth of entitlements and fret that something must be done. They see entitlements as numbers on a page. The rest of us see entitlements as life boats saving us from dying in the streets. They do not see current tax rates for the wealthy as a problem, as they themselves are part of the top 10% tax earners or their clients are. increasing taxes on the rich mean increasing their own taxes. They have no problem advocating extending the retirement age because their jobs don't require any physical labor.

When it comes to war, they wax eloquently about the need to invade and occupy any nation deemed a "threat". They have no problems writing columns or appearing on shows like Meet The Press or Face Nation calling for an invasion. Why not? Their children won't have to fight. Someone else's child does. And, they quickly shelve their "sane" and "fiscally sound" arguments, because it's a time of war for Pete's sake. Damn the deficit. We are a super power, and we cannot allow [fill-in-the-blank-nation] to acquire nuclear weapons!

Once we go to war, the bills come due, it's back to "we must cut entitlements" because we have a looming fiscal crisis on our hands!

The Beltway insiders live in a different world from you and me.

Republicans Create A Crisis and Then Use Social Programs To Pay for the Crisis

First, they create a "deficit emergency" by cutting taxes on the wealthy. Then, they use the resulting deficit as a means to gut social programs. This allows them to seem "fiscally sane" and "sober stewards of the goverment".

This same pattern applies to military spending. They used 9/11 to start a war in Iraq, and then they use the war to maintain bloated military spending. John McCain wanted us to invade Libya, Egypt, and Syria in order to justify more military spending. Now, they want us to invade and occupy Iran which would mean even more military spending.

They are creating these emergencies because they cannot defeat social spending at the ballot box. Even with all of the propaganda by Fox and the corporate media, they still cannot convince the American people to vote against domestic spending programs such as Medicare, Social Security, and Education. They need a "deficit crisis" in order to make the arguments against social spending.

Here's my answer to the "fiscally sane": Let's return to the Clinton tax rates. Then, let's cut the defense budget down to a post-cold ware budget. Let's end the drug wars. Let's do the sensible spending first, and then let's talk about cutting social programs.

Understand This: You Will Need Medicare When You Get Old

There is no saving/investing strategy that you can use which will pay for your health needs when you are in your 60s. None. Ryan's vouchers WILL NOT COVER your insurance premiums.

If Ryan's plan is enacted, it will literally be a death sentence for anyone aged 55 and under. You're only option will be to move to another nation. You will not be able to live in the U.S. when you are 65 or older.

Polyamory Reality Show on ShowTime

Anyone watching this show? If so, what do you think?

The show is very trashy, pretty much soft-porn. However, it does raise an interesting point. Can poly amorous relationships work? Given the divorce rate, is monogamy really superior?

Mass. Dems, How Will The Ryan Selection Affect the Senate Race Between Warren and Brown?

Any insights? I gotta think that this may put Warren over the top in a close race. Brown will have to distance himself from the Romney campaign.

This Election Is Now About The Future of Medicare. Dem Congressional Hopes Boosted.

The Romney campaign just gave Obama and the entire Democratic party a major gift. They have effectively conceded an election based on the economy to an election based on whether Americans want to continue Medicare or not. In addition to being dogged about his taxes, Romney will now have to answer questions about Ryan's plan to basically voucherize Medicare.

Meanwhile, the Democrats are drooling over the prospect of spending the next 3 months debating the future of Medicare. Not only will such a debate help the president, it will also help several Dems in tight congressional campaigns across the country. Now, congressional Dems won't have to either defend or run away from Obama. Now, they can just use the Medicare fight as their sole issue.

Just look at the coming debate: An extremely wealthy man, Romney, who only paid approx. 13% of his income in taxes, who won't release his tax records for prior years, who wants to cut taxes on the wealthy even further than they are now, and now wants to gut Medicare in order to balance the budget.

Any Dem that cannot run a decent campaign against this theme should really re-consider politics as a career choice.

Dear White Working Class Voters Who Don't Support Obama....

For various reasons (which I won't get into here), you do not like Obama, and you plan to vote against him. However, you are getting older. You will NEED Medicare and SS when you do. If you're lucky, you have either a pension or some sort of retirement fund, yet even if you have that, without Medicare, your retirement plans are cooked. Paul Ryan's plan threatens Medicare. It replaces it with a coupon to buy health insurance, and that coupon AINT GONNA BE ENOUGH.

We are all different races, sexes, sexual orientation, ethnic groups, religious affiliations, national origins, etc. The one thing that we all have in common is that we all get old if we are lucky, and we have to protect ourselves as one group.

You need to vote for Obama this fall to protect yourself as you age.

Thank you.

American Women in the 2012 Olympics -- A Triumph of Liberalism

I Worked in Bangalore (India) -- The Heart of IT Outsourcing

The people of India are industrious, hard working people, but the idea that they have superior IT skills is highly doubtful. The people are predominantly working class and poor. The majority of them do not even have personal computers in their homes.

I went to India to assist a friend with his start up business. I was there to interview and recruit talent to the new venture. We placed ads on India's Monster.com, and we used local recruiters. We got very few responses to our ads. We were told that most Indian IT workers did not have computers in their own homes, so the only way that they could respond to emails was on their jobs during their breaks. Ultimately, the venture failed due to the inability to recruit talent.

Additionally, I rarely saw anyone with a laptop or any other personal computer. If you work in software development, then you know that you have to constantly update your development skills even when you're not working. I would go to various cafes where there would be groups of young people, and none of them had computers. Walk into any cafe in America, and everyone has a laptop in front of them. So, how is it even possible for these people to have these "better-than-Americans" development skills when they don't even have personal computers.

Currently, I am updating my ASP.net MVC and Sharepoint development skills. After I get home from work, I sit in front of my computer and work through tutorials in order to develop these skills. You need a computer in your home in order to keep your skills up to date. It's simply not possible any other way, even if your job trains you.

Finally, if importing H1Bs is truly about American IT skill deficiency not pay, then the vast majority of imported IT workers would be coming from Northern Europe, not India.

What's All This I Hear About Mitt Romney Picking Natalie Portman As His VP

Natalie Portman is a fine actress, and I've enjoyed her work. However, she's just not qualified to be Vice President of the US. She does not have nearly enough experience. She would be a terrible pick.