Back to the Middle (except on the propriety of tyranny by the minority)

1st of all Joe Nocera's column this morning highlights the need for proper scientific review of everything related to the environment and reveals a detailed study that shows fracking does not release high levels of methane into the atmosphere and contribute inordinately to global warming.  If only the anti-global warming people required their science to be as well reviewed by peers as these guys did.

Joe Nocera's Column

When done safely for the local water supply, fracking is in the national interest because we send fewer $ to the sheiks who fund Al Qaeda.  It is also a self-reliant way to develop better batteries and non-fossil fuel methods for producing electricity in a gradual way.  It also reduces our Current Account Deficit so we sell fewer bonds to foreigners.  Fracking is good when ground water is protected and that is essential and is done 99.x% of the time.  Cabot, which fouled water in PA through carelessness, will be paying a long time for fouling ground water.

2nd, China is on it's way to changing its GDP growth drivers in a gradual way.  No more can it be export led and Current Account Surplus driven.  It needs to be domestically oriented and they know it.  This will be good for Chinese securities and I am holding onto my Golden Eagle bonds.  Hank Paulson rises from the disrespect he received for inventing TARP which saved the country from a depression.

Hank Paulson's OP-Ed


I decided yesterday the only way out of this %^&*'ing mess in the Congress is to fold the authorized spending of the government into the debt ceiling.  While failing to authorize spending already authorized by previous votes (why is that necessary?) to get something is tyranny by a minority and I cannot support that, there is precedent for budget negotiations during debt ceiling debates.  There is a story in the NYT that that is what the voters of Iowa who elect Tea Party leader Steve King are really concerned about.  What Iowa voter's really think 

But within that is the core problem for the GOP.  Doing something about spending means addressing Social Security and Medicare.  I support some level of means testing in Medicare and the change in the inflation measure in Social Security (the current one is tied to wage rates, not inflation directly, and includes compensation for higher productivity.  You can even fiddle with age eligibility a little.

But as Susan Collins points out, the GOP noticed somewhere since George Bush II was President, that a lot of their voters think social security and medicare are their right, do not come from the Government, and are against any changes.  And the GOP has fostered that belief by attacking the things President Obama has tried to do in Grand Bargains.

Susan Collin's column

Essentially, what we have today is the oddity that the GOP supports maintaining Medicare Spending (without any promotion for end of life counseling - something that might reduce the average $300,000 per person spent on dying individuals in ICU's every  year) while fighting to eliminate ObamaCare which will provide access to affordable health insurance for people not on Medicare.  This war on ObamaCare is essentially a crass generational war with the elderly fighting to keep the younger people from having access to insurance if their employer does not provide it.

I have gone on and on in numerous posts about how our current system of health care is financially broken.  But I did not previously consider it a generational war between beneficiaries of entitlements (and that is not what it is for every single individual) but in the aggregate, that is what it has become.  The GOP supports the elderly, and the Democrats support people of all ages, while recognizing that the elderly must contribute to the balancing of the budget (some GOP agree with that).

And that is today's thought on the %^&*'ing mess in D.C. and why I think there may be Grand Bargain to wrap this all up.  Do something about spending, which is the reason the Heritage Foundation invented HeritageRomneyObamaCare.

And if you read this far, go see GRAVITY.  This is the best movie of the year so far.  We saw it on an IMAX and were riveted to our seats.