Wealth

Let's go over this again. Wealth is not money in a mattress. Wealth is a function of value and is created through exchange.

I have five dollars in my pocket. You have an extra hibachi grill in a yard sale. I value the grill more than the five dollars. You value the five dollars more than your spare grill. There is an exchange. Both of us walk away thinking we got the better deal. Net value has increased in the exchange. Wealth has been created. Granted not great wealth, but take it up a notch.

I have $200,000 in the bank (I wish). You have a steady job and weary of paying rent. A loan is made, a lot is bought, a house is built, a mortgage is paid. Net value takes a jump. Wealth is created out of thin air, the breath it takes to make an agreement. This sort of thing goes on every day.

You have a million dollars in mutual funds bearing meager interest because the companies in the fund are not equally brilliant, nor their products uniformly desirable. I have an idea for a product that makes the smart phone obsolete. I exchange an interest in my idea for your million dollars. (Thank you.) A plant is built, people are hired, the product is sold, customers are clamoring to buy. Value is increasing geometrically on a broad scale. Great wealth is created.

This is how it works. This is the only way it works.

But, when taxes are exacted to pay for safety net programs, admirable though their aims, wealth is not created. Transfer is not exchange. Transfer systems work to reduce net value, and destroy wealth. Workers with skills are drawn to the safety net and production is lost. Investors with resources find their returns plundered and decline to engage in the marketplace (or worse, migrate to more favorable markets overseas). Unemployment insurance works to ensure unemployment. How does this come to be called a benefit?

The American economy is getting tired of foundering. As it makes gains in the coming weeks and months recovery will depend on whether our leaders step on the brake or the gas.

Giving It All Away (AB459)

Back in July the Legislature of California voted to award all of California's 55 electoral votes to whomever wins the popular election nationwide. In other words, the Democrat might win the state in a landslide, but the electoral college delegates would vote as a block for his opponent, based on results in the populous east coast. Governor Brown signed this bill (AB459) into law in August.
It is the largest voter disenfranchisement in history, and did not come through
California's well worn initiative system. It was a direct action of the Legislature alone who did not count it wise to refer the matter directly to the citizens. It is important to name the 76 Californians who sold the rest of us out.

AB459 vote 7/14/2011

Assembly votes for the bill:
Alejo Allen Ammiano Atkins Beall
Block Blumenfield Bonilla Bradford Brownley
Buchanan Butler Charles Calderon Campos
Carter Cedillo Chesbro Davis Eng
Feuer Fong Fuentes Furutani Galgiani Gatto
Gordon Hagman Hall Hayashi Roger Hernández
Hill Huber Hueso Huffman Lara Bonnie
Lowenthal Ma Mendoza Monning Norby Pan Perea
John A. Pérez V. Manuel Pérez Portantino
Skinner Solorio Swanson Torres Wieckowski Williams Yamada

State Senate votes for the bill:
Alquist Calderon Corbett Correa De León
DeSaulnier Evans Hancock Hernandez Leno Lieu
Liu Lowenthal Negrete McLeod Padilla Pavley
Price Rubio Simitian Steinberg Vargas Wolk
Yee

Governor Brown signed the bill into law 8/8/2011

Those who voted against are to be commended, few though they be. There
were only 30 across both houses.

What a come down!

The church calendar rightly highlights important aspects of Christ's work in the world: His atoning sacrifice at Good Friday, His resurrection on Easter, Ascension Day, Pentecost. These are vital to the life of the Christian and of the Church. But this season is Advent, and we are tempted to skate right past this particular aspect of His great work.
Condescension, the coming down to our level. His scandalous act that some branches of the church could never embrace, breaking off rather than bending to the story as it is found. God became a man. As Paul the Apostle puts it, "He made himself nothing." (Php 2:7) In order to take our place it was required of Him to be put in our place.
No, that's wrong. He wasn't put here; He put himself here with us. God moved into our neighborhood. It was a journey He set out on and a destination He chose for himself. Passive voice has no place in the work of Christ. He was not sacrificed, but rather gave himself as a ransom for many. He was not put down, but the royal things He was He set aside, and He came down to be with us.
The other aspects of Christ's work we marvel at from one side. We accept his sacrifice on our behalf. We await our resurrection that will be some how like his. We will be caught up. He do the catching. Ours is the passive voice in so much of this.
Except in this-- we are invited to join him in coming down. Paul says in this same passage that our attitude should be like Christ. Condescension can have an awful tone when we use it among ourselves, but it is so fitting of Him who set down everything that made him God over us, and taking on something else to be found as God right next to us.
This season is Advent, and you are invited to move into the neighborhood.

CO2 as percent of total atmosphere

From 1960 to 2010 CO2 in earth's atmosphere went from 0.032% to 0.039%.

Not a one percent change. Not a tenth of a percent change. Not a hundredth of a percent change. Just seven thousanths of one percent change in CO2 levels as part of total composition.

Data collected at Mauna Loa and reported on NOAA website. link

 

Just sayin'

Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible, without surrender,
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even to the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons;
they are vexatious to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain or bitter,
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs,
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals,
and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love,
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life,
keep peace in your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.

Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

Max Ehrmann, American Poet, ca 1920

I was reminded of these words today and wanted to keep them in the collective memory.

The COOKIES were good ...

This afternoon was the first in a short series of "Workshops" in the Chowchilla area for the High Speed Train document review. Tomorrow they are in Le Grand, and Thursday at the Chowchilla Fairgrounds. The California High Speed Rail Authority brought copies of their new draft Environmental Review which people could read individually. Authority specialists helped people find whatever chapter and section they were looking for. If they knew what they were looking for. Handling people one at a time also significantly reduced the 'pitchfork' factor. There was no general presentation. There were no questions from the floor. No microphone. Nevertheless, the workshop quickly took on the air of the Chicago Trading Floor.

People living in the Ave 24, Ave 21, UPRR/99, and BNSF corridors need to carefully review those documents to find if they are on one of the several proposed paths of the HST. Apendix 3.1-A had very detailed satelite photos of ranches potentially effected. People not specifically in line with the tracks also may be impacted by road changes in their immediate area. They'll be putting up a lot of fence along the route.

The workshops in Chowchilla deal with a number of decisions concerning the Wye that will direct San Fransisco trains to Sacramento or to Los Angeles. There are at least four possible routes and until one is finally chosen, the other parts of the HST system cannot be planned. Nay-sayers have called the initial section of the system, the Merced-Fresno corridor (containing the Chowchilla Wye), "the train to nowhere." And it will be a very quiet bit of track for a very long time as the rest of the massive statewide system is built. But it is also the most complex piece of this huge puzzle. It has to start here and grow in both directions, if it is going to be built at all.

The Authority is to be commended for trotting out their charts and graphs, maps and volumes of reports. I am sure there was a wealth of useful data buried there. But buried is how I felt. Anyone planning to attend the two remaining workshops needs to do their homework beforehand. Without a ready question to ask they will find the session less than satisfying. But on a brighter note, the cookies were delicious and the water was ice cold. Galilee Missionary Baptist Church in Fairmead were the perfect host. One of the routes in fact runs very near the church.

The documents are available online and also at a variety of public forums where they can be studied in quiet detail. Comments to the Authority may be submitted online or in person at these workshops. Public hearings on the HST will be held in September. Should be fun!