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Journalism and other myths.

Back to the Future … ?

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As the slow ride towards sequestration continues it’s hard to find anything more to say.  The possibility of a significant economic downturn and genuine pain being felt by many people has failed to move the parties towards any progress.  How can government be this dysfunctional?  How did it get this bad?

In attempting to answer this question I decided to take the Zen approach of unasking it instead.  This led to a wisdom all parties must take heed of – both in this quote and in the larger context:

As we peer into society’s future, we – you and I, and our government – must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering for, for our own ease and convenience, the precious resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without asking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage. We want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to become the insolvent phantom of tomorrow.

This is a part of President Dwight Eisenhower’s Farewell Address, delivered 52 years ago.  The whole address, beyond the famous parts, is well worth absorbing today.

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Forbidden Fruit?

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How can a company have too much money?  If you believe hedge fund manager David Einhorn, Apple certainly does.  Many in the tech industry “view their self-importance by the size of bank accounts,” according to this Apple investor, and he’s aggressively promoting a unique way of distributing the $137B Apple cash reserve to shareholders ahead of the company’s annual meeting on 27 February.

While Apple’s attitude is on trial – in the courts, the stock market, and the media – it’s hardly an unusual position for a technology driven manufacturing company.  What is unusual is how Einhorn is approaching that pile of cash and how it is distributed.  This may be more evidence that the days of corporate raiders as we know them are over and a potential new golden era for tech companies is ahead.

Right now we still have a fight to finish before anyone can claim victory.

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Minimum Wage

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“Let’s tie the minimum wage to the cost of living, so that it finally becomes a wage you can live on.”
– President Obama, State of the Union Address

With these words a new policy direction was announced.  It’s not a small move, especially since it’s both the biggest effort to combat the Depression since the Stimulus Act and the biggest challenge to Republicans outside of the budget negotiations (which largely go nowhere).  But for many progressives a higher minimum wage is long overdue.  Even more important, linking it to a “living wage” sets a precedent that has not been a part of policy in most of my advancing lifetime.

How does this go down?  It’s a fight we haven’t seen for a while, so it’s hard to tell.  But it’s very popular and backed by solid research as a sound public policy.  If only it went even further …

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State of the Union

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The State of the Union address is Washingtoon pomp at its finest.  Everyone makes sure they have the right special guest and place near the teevee cameras to scene and be seen.  But this year  it’s also an important event because the newly elected President tells the nation what his last term will be all about.  This is my rough “live blog” of the big show.

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Another Pledge Drive!

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It’s Pledge Drive time at Minnesota Public Radio!   That means one thing to me – I better get my own Pledge Drive in while I can.  It’s been two years since I tried an in-blog pledge drive, and the results were mixed. But I have to try again.

Welcome to another Barataria in-blog Pledge Drive!  There’s a survey at the end where you can tell me just what you think anonymously and easily, whether you give or not.

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