Monday, September 23, 2013

With liberty and justice, but not equality of income for all

We've heard about the "1 percent" ad nausea.  I finally got a chance to sit down and watch the compelling documentary film "Inequality for All", featuring former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich. 

He makes a strong argument for the problems that the growing inequality of income among Americans portends for our future.  No other developed nation has the level of disparity between the rich and the poor than the U.S. has and the film shows up how the gap has only widened since the era of our greatest prosperity.

I will write a review of the movie for the website I review films for, but I wanted to make note of it here, because it points out something most people ignore.  The biggest problem isn't just the fact the rich earn the bulk of the income.  The biggest problem is that they don't spend enough to make up for the reduced spending of those who have seen their incomes shrink, or disappear.

In February of 2012, data was uncovered about the real cost of making the iPhone.  A few months later, www.businessinsider.com published an article that claims Apple's profit of $452 per unit would shrink to "only" $293 per unit.  That would mean that rather than making 71.9% profit on these incredibly popular phones, they would make less than 50% profit.

Now when you're one of the workers who could be working to make those phones in the U.S. while earning over $20 per hour in salary, plus benefits, you'd be the first to advocate for Apple to settle for only a 40% or 45% profit.  But that isn't the attitude of the shareholders, the owners of the publicly traded company.  The CEOs earning millions in their luxurious corner offices, with all those 'perks' get that because they are focused on what's best for the shareholders, not for the nation.

So perhaps someone can explain to me why Costco is paying its workers much more on average than WalMart and the Costco CEO says that it is more cost effective?  More on this tomorrow.

* * *

I mentioned having seen "Enough Said" on Sunday and what I'm going to mention here would be considered a *SPOILER*.  So if that would bother you, skip down to the next section.

There is a scene in the film where the character played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, "Eva", is at a celebratory dinner with her daughter, ex-husband, his new wife, and her two best friends; to celebrate the daughter's graduation and upcoming college experience. 

At one point the server returns to the table and asks if anyone needs anything and her ex-husband says to bring "some bread".  Eva points out that no one has asked for bread, her ex doesn't want bread so there's no need to bring any.  He responds that someone will eat it and insists.

Then we hear the story behind this.  Turns out she has a weakness for cookies, bread and other such goodies and when she was married to her ex-husband, she didn't want to keep them in the house.  She couldn't resist the temptation. 

Naturally when the bread comes, she's the only one who eats any.

Now this is a perfect example of an issue where both sides have valid points, but they refuse to see the other perspective.  Is it reasonable for one spouse to ask another not to keep something they like to eat in the house, because they can't control their urge to eat it?

Not in my opinion.  I love V-8 juice, even though I know it's bad for me.  If I have any in my room, I will drink it.  So I don't keep it in my room, or anywhere else within my control.  If I really, really want some, I have to go to the store to buy it.  I don't want it that badly.  But I don't share this room with anyone.

If I had a roommate, or a spouse or whatever, and they liked V-8 and wanted to keep it in the room/apartment/house, I'd have to learn to control my urge.  It would be patently unfair for me to insist that none be allowed because I can't control my urges.  The only exception I can think of to this rule would be keeping alcohol in a home where one of the residents is an alcoholic.  That I might understand a ban on.

Conversely, there was no good reason for him to ask for additional bread.  If someone wanted bread, they could ask for it themselves and make sure they got the basket.  If someone else wanted some of what was brought, they could ask for it.  But putting temptation in front of Eva when it wasn't necessary to do so was also wrong.  Strangely enough, both characters were convinced that they hadn't done anything wrong at all.

No wonder relationships are so damn complicated

* * *

You may or may not have heard of Azusa Pacific University.  If you want to know more about the school itself, go here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azusa_Pacific_University.

I mention this because I'm about to propose something radical.  I want to change the Civil Rights Act of 1964 just a tad and it is because of something happening at APU as the school is known.  It has to do with a theology professor there who was known as Dr. Heather Ann Clements until she announced that she is a transgendered man who now refers to himself as Dr. Heath Adam Ackley.  The school asked him to step down and he agreed although the administration says it is now engaged in thoughtful conversations on the issue. 

I understand the rationale behind giving churches an exemption from the anti-discrimination requirements of that landmark law.  I don't want to change the ability of churches, and private colleges/universities like APU to do so.

What I want to propose is that we eliminate their tax-exempt status.  If a private institution that is allowed by law to discriminate can do so, then they can continue to do so.  They just can't remain a tax-exempt organization.  Donors that support such institutions will no longer get a tax break for their donations.  Schools and churches that insist on the right to discriminate will have to reorganize as in years where they run a surplus, that would be taxable income.

The courts have been wildly inconsistent on this issue.  In 1971 in Coit v Green, the USSC ruled that private schools in Mississippi that engaged in race-based discrimination cannot retain their tax-exempt status.  But in Bob Jones University v The United States, in 1983, the USSC ruled that the IRS' revocation of the school's tax exempt status was constitutional because it was based on "...practices contrary to a compelling public policy."  It was the school's decision to continue denying admission to students involved in interracial marriages or interracial dating that led to the revocation.

But then in 2007, in a case called John Doe v Kamehameha, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the preference policy that essentially bans anyone not of Hawaiian descent from being admitted to the Kamehameha School, is constitutional.  The case was going to be appealed to the USSC but the parties settled before that appeal was argued.  Reportedly the school gave $7 million to the plaintiff and then sued when the plaintiff's lawyer disclosed the amount of what was supposed to be a confidential settlement.

So where the courts would come down on this idea is unknown.  But if we know that schools discriminating in their admissions policies on a racial basis is wrong enough that their tax-exempt status would be forfeit if they insist on maintaining such a policy, then a policy that says the transgendered can be fired because of "scripture" seems to me to be just as wrong.

Just an idea.

* * *

Random Ponderings:

At first glance, the idea that a 2 year old had to have bariatric surgery to combat his obesity seemed totally wrong.  But we'll never know if the problem was that the parents could not stick to the diet initially prescribed to them, or if there was another problem.  Since the child's BMI is now in the normal range, and before he was suffering from sleep apnea and bowing of the legs, I guess it was the right move.

A lot of people are now saying that the Emmy won by Michael Douglas last night is proof he has been "ignored" or "taken for granted" by the Oscars and other movie awards during his brilliant career.  That he's made a lot of movies where he was very, very good is true.  But let's look at something.  He won a Best Actor Oscar in 1987.  He won a Best Picture Oscar in 1975 for producing "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest."  At this moment there are only five men alive who have won more than one Oscar as Best Actor.  Douglas doesn't do "supporting" roles, although he may at some point.  Maybe it's just that his work in his films following "Wall Street" weren't worth of more gold?

Would someone please give Will Ferrell the name of someone who does child care?

Would someone else please let Jane Lynch know that Converse wants their Chuck Taylor's back?

Maybe if I hadn't been boycotting the Emmy telecast last night over their choice to give a special honor to Corey Monteith while not paying Jack Klugman, Larry Hagman or Eileen Brennan the same honor, I might have noticed the lack of diversity among the nominees, winners and the show itself as noted by Ellen Pompeo.

I'm not sure who to root for in a case where the IRS is being sued for trying to regulate people who prepare income tax returns for others, for money.

Big kudos for the Atlanta parents who had paid for their daughter's wedding reception only to find the wedding was cancelled; who then fed dinner to 200 homeless people.

* * *

This Date In History:

1122 – Pope Callixtus II and Holy Roman Emperor Henry V agree to the Concordat of Worms to put an end to the Investiture Controversy.
1338 – The Battle of Arnemuiden was the first naval battle of the Hundred Years' War and the first naval battle using artillery, as the English ship Christofer had three cannon and one hand gun.
1409 – Battle of Kherlen, the second significant victory over Ming China by the Mongols since 1368.
1459 – Battle of Blore Heath, the first major battle of the English Wars of the Roses, is fought at Blore Heath in Staffordshire.
1568 – Spanish naval forces rout an English fleet, under the command of John Hawkins, at the Battle of San Juan de Ulúa near Veracruz.
1641 – The Merchant Royal, carrying a treasure worth over a billion US dollars, is lost at sea off Land's End.
1642 – First commencement exercises occur at Harvard College.
1779 – American Revolution: John Paul Jones on board the USS Bonhomme Richard wins the Battle of Flamborough Head.
1780 – American Revolution: British Major John André is arrested as a spy by American soldiers exposing Benedict Arnold's change of sides.
1803 – Second Anglo-Maratha War: Battle of Assaye between the British East India Company and the Maratha Empire in India.
1806 – Lewis and Clark return to St. Louis after exploring the Pacific Northwest of the United States.
1821 – Tripolitsa, Greece, is captured by Greek rebels during the Greek War of Independence.
1845 – The Knickerbockers Baseball Club, the first baseball team to play under the modern rules, is founded in New York.
1846 – Astronomers Urbain Jean Joseph Le Verrier, John Couch Adams and Johann Gottfried Galle collaborate on the discovery of Neptune.
1868 – Grito de Lares ("Lares Revolt") occurs in Puerto Rico against Spanish rule.
1889 – Nintendo Koppai (Later Nintendo Company, Limited) is founded by Fusajiro Yamauchi to produce and market the playing card game Hanafuda.
1899 – American Asiatic Squadron destroys a Filipino battery at the Battle of Olongapo.
1905 – Norway and Sweden sign the "Karlstad treaty", peacefully dissolving the Union between the two countries.
1908 – University of Alberta in Alberta, Canada, is founded.
1909 – The Phantom of the Opera (original title: Le Fantôme de l'Opéra), a novel by French writer Gaston Leroux, is first published as a serialization in Le Gaulois.
1913 – Roland Garros of France becomes the first to fly in an airplane across the Mediterranean (from St. Raphael France to Bizerte, Tunisia).
1932 – The Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd is renamed the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
1936 – First ascent of Siniolchu by a German team.
1938 – Mobilization of the Czechoslovak army in response to the Munich Crisis.
1942 – World War II: The Matanikau action on Guadalcanal begins U.S. Marines attack Japanese units along the Matanikau River.
1943 – World War II: The Nazi puppet state the Italian Social Republic is founded.
1950 – Korean War: The Battle of Hill 282 the first US friendly-fire incident on British Military personnel since World War II occurred.
1952 – Richard Nixon makes his "Checkers speech".
1959 – Iowa farmer and corn breeder Roswell Garst hosts Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev.
1959 – The MS Princess of Tasmania, Australia's first passenger roll-on/roll-off diesel ferry, makes her maiden voyage across Bass Strait.
1962 – The Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts opens in New York City.
1969 – The Chicago Eight trial opens in Chicago.
1973 – Juan Perón returns to power in Argentina.
1983 – Saint Kitts and Nevis joins the United Nations.
1983 – Gerrie Coetzee of South Africa becomes the first African boxing world heavyweight champion.
1983 – Gulf Air Flight 771 is bombed, killing all 117 people on board.
1986 – Jim Deshaies of the Houston Astros sets the major-league record by striking out the first eight batters of the game against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
1988 – José Canseco of the Oakland Athletics becomes the first member of the 40–40 club.
1992 – A large Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb destroys forensic laboratories in Belfast.
1999 – Celebrate Bisexuality Day was first observed in the United States.
1999 – NASA announces that it has lost contact with the Mars Climate Orbiter.
2002 – The first public version of the web browser Mozilla Firefox ("Phoenix 0.1") is released.

Famous Folk Born On This Date:

Augustus, Roman Emperor
Kublai Khan
Victoria Woodhull
Typhoid Mary
Walter Lippman
Walter Pidgeon
Aldo Moro
Mickey Rooney (Happy 93rd birthday!)
John Coltrane
Mighty Joe Young
Colin Blakely
Ray Charles
Romy Schneider
Sonny Vaccaro
Julio Iglesias
Marty Shottenheimer
Mary Kay Place
Bruce Springsteen
Peter David
Rosalind Chao
Jason Alexander
Chi McBride
Elizabeth Pena
Ani DiFranco
Matt Hardy
Matt Kemp
Joba Chamberlain

Movie quotes today come from "The Wedding Singer" because there is a song by "The Boss" on the soundtrack:

Robbie: Are you drinking, too?
Julia: No, it's Coca-Cola.
Robbie: Are you sure? There's no rum in that Coca-Cola?
Julia: I'm not a big drinker. And if it was, I'd probably be puking more than that kid!
Robbie: Oh, I don't think anybody could puke more than than kid. I think I saw a boot come out of him.

#2

Robbie: All right, remember - alcohol equals puke equals smelly mess equals nobody likes you!

#3

Father of the Bride: Hey, buddy, I'm not paying you to hear your thoughts on life. I'm paying you to sing.
Robbie: Well, I have a microphone, and you don't, SO YOU WILL LISTEN TO EVERY DAMN WORD I HAVE TO SAY!

#4

[at a job interview for a bank]
Mr. Simms: Do you have any experience?
Robbie: No, sir, I have no experience but I'm a big fan of money. I like it, I use it, I have a little. I keep it in a jar on top of my refrigerator. I'd like to put more in that jar. That's where you come in.