Fish Bones

I think most of us have encountered a few bones in a delicious piece of fish … not enough to spoil the meal, but still a small blot on our prandial perfection.  This irritation also occurs in politics. Often, someone running for political office, who espouses views that are mostly congruent with our value system, still may have a few quirks that cause us to think twice.  He doesn’t believe in evolution.  She, on religious grounds, opposes abortion or gay marriage.  He once smoked marijuana or used cocaine.

The question then becomes … do we let perfection become the enemy of the good?  I believe too often we do … particularly if this political-office aspirant's quirk is belittled in the media. Isn’t it funny?  Pope Francis can be against abortion but he is for income redistribution … so he is an OK fellow.  Whereas a Tea Party member, who wants to rein in big government, yet mimics Pope Francis on this social issue, is castigated by the national media and then by the voters.

It constantly amazes me how much influence the media can have in public opinion formation.  We are witnessing this dynamic at work today in the brouhaha surrounding Governor Chris Christie.  He has a very strong personality and likes to have his political way … often the conservative way.  And yet he still won an overwhelming re-election victory in a deep blue state, New Jersey.  But, as soon as he starts edging out Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential polls, these assets are suddenly turned into liabilities.  I am fascinated watching how the media is trying to pull off this legerdemain.

We voters certainly are a fickled bunch … that’s why we too often stick with fish-fillet candidates.

Afterthought: Actually there are people who won't eat fish at all because of the bones.  The analog in this context is the single-issue voter.  ("if you don't pay for my birth control, you won'y get my vote!")  Such are the bane of the democratic process.

The Squeeze

When I was a newbie to the world of finance, as a programmer at the Bank of New York, I had a boss that said something that set me back on my heels.  He expressed the elitist feeling that paying higher taxes to keep the lower classes mollified was not such a bad thing.  I guess that this quid pro quo had never entered my mind at this point in my life ... but of late I have thought about it more and more.  Clearly limousine liberals reflect this notion to a fair-thee-well ... while at the same time hiring lawyers and tax accountants to minimize their actual tax burden.

And what is the result of this "let 'em eat cake" attitude?  To use Senator Elizabeth Warren's phrase (herself a plutocrat) "the middle class is getting hammered."  This is because they do not have the benefit of all the tax avoidance schemes of their betters ... or access to politicians to write new ones ... nor do they receive much of the largess directed to their poorer brethren. I have written before about the squeeze being put on the middle class ... please read: Middle-Classness and pay particular attention to the chart in the referenced Washington Post story.  If this growing divide is obvious to the statisticians, it must also be obvious to the politicians.

Anyone who can add two and two must also see that Obamacare is also constructed to put pressure on middle Americans.  Something like 80% of those signing up on the health care website are being placed in expanded Medicaid (read free or heavily-subsidized health insurance) while the upper classes are either now being exempted from this law by our fearless leader ... or already have no-sweat Cadillac coverage. The ones again getting squeezed are individuals in the middle class who, having lost their existing coverage, are now being forced to pay higher premiums, higher co-pays, higher deductibles  ... or all three.  This law's true intent is now becoming evident -- income redistribution.

Let me unwind the political logic here.  If those sucking on government teats will vote Democrat ... and those well-off liberals, who share my former Bank of New York boss's attitude, will vote Democrat ... and the middle class is disappearing ... who is left to vote Republican?  All the juice will be out of the orange.