8/18/12 Musings

In no particular order.

Everyone will agree that this election is critically important one in terms of the philosophy of government.  Are we going to have a government that fosters efficiency in health care insurance delivery or one that relies upon the private sector which has delivered the mess that we are in and made our manufacturing (with some singular exceptions) internationally uncompetitive?  Are we going to be a society that provides a social safety net on a fair uniform basis or one that sends poor people to die in the gutter as in merry old England?  Are we a society that taxes the rich fairly and promotes education while controlling defense budgets or are we one that puts defense budgets above all else and does not tax the rich fairly?  Are we a society that believes regulation protects us from the worst behavior of the private sector or one that allows the private sector run wild and leave the costs of clean up (or the impossibility of clean up) on society or just those who happen to live near there?

Government has a role to play but so far the Obama campaign is not defending the it.  They need to turn this campaign into positive themes and I hope they do it soon.

Meanwhile, 90 million people are unlikely voters.  They are either unregistered or registered and unlikely to vote.  The former favor Obama over Romney 43% to 14%.  The latter favor Obama 43% to 20%.  I don't understand how people can fail to vote if they care about the manner in which government operates.

Meanwhile, what is it about Banks that they cannot fix themselves.  How hard is it not to do business with a terrorist state that is blacklisted.  Now Deutsche Bank is being investigated for Standard Chartered type behavior.  and I am still mad about the LIBOR mischief.  What has happened to ethics in global banking?

Now on to my grandfather's native land.  Putin's inability to keep the cute female puck rockers out of jail for committing verbal protests either means there are limits on his power or he is embarking down a path of ending any political freedom to ensure that he is as close to a czar position as possible.  I will keep my investments there limited to state owned enterprises and be very aware of any dubious behaviors toward honoring legal obligations as I doubt that a court will protect a foreign investor's interest.