Politics, open government, and safe streets. And the constant incursion of cycling.

Tag: Policy

Want to Help Arlington’s Bike Transportation Policy Efforts?

Then please consider donating a couple hours of your time.  Arlington County volunteers collect bicycle and pedestrian count information several times a year, and there are still a number of unfilled positions for next week’s seasonal bicycle and pedestrian counts. From David Patton, Arlington County Bicycle and Pedestrian Planner:

We could really use more help to have full coverage at the 20+ locations where we count. The September seasonal count is the most important one of the year, and the one with the greatest number of communities participating. (Here in Arlington we have counted four times in the past year – other places only once.)

To check the sign-up sheet, and for lots more information, please visit the website: http://drop.io/september09bikepedcount

Much of what is there is pretty self-explanatory. Please feel free to write to me at this email with any questions. I’ll be checking it periodically over the holiday weekend.

With thanks, and best wishes for an enjoyable end of summer …

David Patton

I’ve done this before, and I’ll be out there next Thursday, at a minimum.  Very easy, and very helpful.  For more about the National Bicycle and Pedestrian Documentation Project, in which Arlington County participates, visit: http://bikepeddocumentation.org

How I Survived Socialized Medicine (Barely!)

So, earlier today, I found myself in the terrifying position of relying upon socialized medicine. Around 11a, it became apparent that I needed to quickly see a general practitioner (albeit one with a bit of specialised skill). With much trepidation, I rang the number of the nearest office. Having been well educated by my fellow Americans on the evils of socialized medicine, I was certain that I would be placed on a months long waiting list. Nevertheless, I politely made my query, bracing for the worst.

“Yes, Mr. Blacknell, we can certainly see you today. How does 2pm sound? That should give you enough time to get over here.”

What?! I was immediately suspicious. Clearly, I had been tricked into calling some impersonal superfactory of “health care”, where I’d probably only ever get to talk to some bureaucrat who would place himself between me and the doctor, making sure that he approved of all questions and answers. Unfortunately, I needed a doctor, and I needed one now. So, steeling myself against the threat of collective health, I headed to the address I’d been given.

Arriving at the small office, I smelled deception. It appeared to be a one doctor operation, in a small standalone building just across from the local supermarket. But I knew this was impossible. All small businesses are destroyed by socialism, as every American knows. Perhaps this was a clever front, with an above ground entrance leading to an underground warren of government functionaries and outdated equipment. My worst fears were confirmed as I entered:

“Hello, I have an appointment for 2p . . .”

“Oh, hi, Mark!”

I was ensnared by The System already.

Fearing the worst, I decided to play along. Against my better judgment, I confirmed that I was, in fact, “Mark.” And that I’d made an appointment earlier in the day. At this point, the bureaucrat (cleverly disguised as a really nice lady, full of smiles) went in for the kill – “Mark, before you see Dr. X, you’ll need to fill out some paperwork.” Oh, right. Here it comes. The invasive queries. The recording of my every intimate moment for government use. The reams and reams of paperwork designed to deny me any sort of actual health care.

She handed me a clipboard with a single page, printed front and back.

Obviously, this was another trick designed to lull me into a sense of complacency. To be come reliant upon The System. First it’s simplified paperwork, but the next thing you know, you’ll be getting simple health care. Devious, really. However, because 1) I needed to see a doctor, but also 2) because I am dedicated to exposing the evils of socialized medicine to my fellow Americans, I complied. I have to say, I found it very uncomfortable, answering questions directly related to the reason I came to see a doctor in the first place. Ridiculous bureaucracy, really.

Having slogged through the questionnaire, front and back, I handed it back to the cleverly disguised government functionary. She smiled, and – this is where the metal meets the road – she produced a specimen cup. In the interests of protecting your sensibilities, I will just confirm that yes, as the great patriot General Jack Ripper warned us, they’re after our precious bodily fluids. It was when I – fearful of the many consequences that were certain to now befall me – handed back the sample that the government functionary (until then maintaining her clever disguise, greeting everyone as they came in by name) showed her true colors “Thanks, Mark, please have a seat and the doctor will be with you shortly.” HA! Busted. I knew I would be sitting there for an eternity.

“Would you like some tea? Coffee?”

I knew better than to accept such an obvious Trojan horse. In my experience, no real doctor provides any sort of comfort to his patients. So I politely refused, wondering if I’d set off a warning somewhere in Central Administration. About three pages into a 1995 article (see?! Outdated equipment!) on Kiwi nationals in the UN’s peacekeeping efforts in Bosnia, I heard a dark (okay, friendly, but still) voice say “Mr. Blacknell?” I looked up to see what could only have been an evil government agent disguised as a middle-aged and kindly doctor calling for me from within what was probably some sort of worth-estimation chamber. Surely, my fate was sealed.

I entered, senses ablaze, ready to defend myself from malpractice, medieval equipment, and/or death panels. I was in the belly of the beast.

[What followed, I cannot reveal here. It was, without a doubt, obviously part of some conspiracy to fool me into telling my fellow Americans that I received excellent evaluative and prescriptive care. I knew it was fake when I spent 10 minutes chatting with the doctor about our travels and skiing and the nature of local tourism. A wiley one, she was. I will always remember her parting words, though. “Take care, Mark, and have a great time [insert name of socialized hell]. Please call me if you have any questions.” Pure, unadulterated socialism.]

Exiting my time with the doctor, I was prepared for the worst. This is where they would find out that I was not part of the collective, that I was a free American who has no option to be part of refused to be part of the evils of socialized medicine. Surely sirens would sound and lights would blaze, indicating that should not be allowed to leave the premises with my life intact.

“Oh, no problem, Mark. That’ll be [US$ 50.00], if that works for you.”

Oh, ho. Clearly, this was part of another clever ruse to disguise the fact that no one outside of The System is ever allowed Into The System. Me, a well-off American, would never be granted treatment in this workers’ paradise. I decided to prove this fact by feigning a lack of cash, and asking if they would take my American Express. When they refused, it would provide the string I’d need to unravel this blanket of deception.

“No worries. It’ll just take a second.”

Hmm. Cleverer than I thought. So clever, in fact, that I simply handed her my card, was charged, and left (even with the copy of everything, that I pointedly asked for near the end.). As I set out to cross the street on my path back to my hotel, though, the reality of the system was finally revealed. I stepped up to the road, and looked left, as any red-blooded American knows to do. And I began to cross the road when all of a sudden, a TRUCK CAME BARRELLING DOWN THE STREET FROM THE RIGHT. This is how they make it work, people! They kill everyone by driving on the WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD, thus saving future health care costs!

Read this again. Do you want to have this sort of experience in the US? I think the answer is obvious.

Time for a Better Cuba Policy

Sounds like Obama’s going to take some steps in the right direction with respect to the US’s policy on Cuba:

At today’s daily White House briefing, White House Spokesman Robert Gibbs will announce that the administration will lift travel, remittance, mail and business restrictions relating to the Communist nation of Cuba.

The changes will allow unlimited visits to family members on the island as well as unlimited remittances — the cash recent immigrants to the U.S. send to relatives back home. President Bush imposed stricter restrictions on both in 2004.

Well past time for this.

Update: Steve Clemons gets at what almost immediately bothered me about this policy change.  First, opening up travel only to Cuban-Americans is a necessary, but insufficient step, towards a better Cuba.  Second, creating a right (in this case, to travel to Cuba) based on ethnic origin (especially when it is not aimed at correcting a situation related to it)?  A really poor idea.

Think AIG’s Bonuses Were Bad? Read This.

Megan Slack, over at Alternet, reports on what appears to be an important story that has yet to be picked up by bigger news organizations:

Dennis Kucinich sent out a round of letters to top Treasury officials Monday morning, questioning how much they knew about bonuses paid to Merrill Lynch executives that totaled $3.62 billion, nearly 22 times the total bonuses paid to AIG executives. The payouts made up more that 36 percent of the TARP funds the financial institution received from the Federal government. [emphasis supplied]

Kucinich points out that unlike AIG, the bonuses were not locked in by preexisting contracts and were performance bonuses, as opposed to retention bonuses.

From Rep. Kucinich’s letter:

The Merrill bonuses were 22 times larger than those paid by AIG ($3,620 million versus $165 million). They were also very large relative to the TARP monies allocated to Merrill. The Merrill bonuses were the equivalent of 36.2% of TARP monies Treasury allocated to Merrill and awarded to BOA after their merger. The bonuses, awarded mostly as cash, were made only to top management at Merrill. To be eligible for the bonuses, Merrill employees had to have a salary of at least $300,000 and attained the title of Vice President or higher.

The Merrill bonuses were determined by Merrill’s Compensation Committee at its meeting of December 8, 2008, shortly after BOA shareholders approved the merger but before financial results for the Fourth Quarter had been determined. This appears to be a departure from normal company practice, since the type of bonus Merrill awarded was a performance bonus that, according to company policy, was supposed to reflect all four quarters of performance and was paid in January or later. In this case, however, the bonuses were awarded in December before Fourth Quarter performance had been determined.

Why aren’t we seeing more on this?

Washcycle on the Bicycle Commuter Choice Act Benefits

Washcycle (as usual) has the info you need. This time it’s about the recently issued IRS guidance on the benefits allowed under the Bicycle Commuter Choice Act.  Check it out and send it along to your HR people.  I can’t help but think that it was a poorly drafted bit of legislation, though.  Because really, could this have been intentional?

The bicycle commuter act passed last year excluded bike commuter benefits from an employee’s taxable pay, up to $20 a month. However, if you receive the $20 bicycle commuter benefit, you can not receive any other transportation benefit such as commuter highway vehicle, transit pass, or qualified parking benefits in that same month. This is different than with transit and parking. If you want to, you can take the $230 transit benefit AND $230 in parking. But for cyclists, you can either have $20 for biking or up to $430 for using transit and driving (sigh).

The US Financial Industry

Around September, when this mess was getting some play in the public eye, I used to joke that it wouldn’t be such a bad thing if the financial industry just blew up.  That we could rebuild something much better from the pieces than what we had with the present whole.  I still say that.  I’m not so sure I’m joking all that much anymore.  Two graphs, from a story in the Atlantic:

financial industry compprofit graph

The numbers at the bottom are 10 year terms, starting in 1948.  And yes, that uptick starts around 1980.  From the article, titled The Quiet Coup, by former IMF chief economist Simon Johnson, is summarized:

The crash has laid bare many unpleasant truths about the United States. One of the most alarming, says a former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, is that the finance industry has effectively captured our government—a state of affairs that more typically describes emerging markets, and is at the center of many emerging-market crises. If the IMF’s staff could speak freely about the U.S., it would tell us what it tells all countries in this situation: recovery will fail unless we break the financial oligarchy that is blocking essential reform.

Break it.  Blow it up.  Let’s just have a plan for putting it back together beforehand, yes?  And one more suggestion: don’t leave that plan to the people who put us here in the first place.  (Of course, that’s the even bigger joke, right there – yes, there’s a problem, but who’s going to fix it?  Not the people in power now.  This is the hand that fed (and clothed, and housed, and . . .).)

The (Geo)Politics of Food

A very interesting (and hopefully alarmist) overview of the state of food production across the world, from Der Spiegel:

[Environmental] trends are taking a significant toll on food production: In six of the last eight years world grain production has fallen short of consumption, forcing a steady drawdown in stocks. World carryover stocks of grain (the amount remaining from the previous harvest when the new harvest begins) have dropped to only 60 days of consumption, a near record low. Meanwhile, in 2008 world grain prices have climbed to the highest level ever.

[ . . . ]

Today we are witnessing the emergence of a dangerous politics of food scarcity, one in which individual countries act in their narrowly defined self-interest and subsequently accelerate the deterioration of global equilibrium. This began in 2007 when leading wheat-exporting countries such as Russia and Argentina limited or banned exports in an attempt to counter domestic food price rises. Vietnam, the world’s second-largest rice exporter after Thailand, banned exports for several months for the same reason. While these moves may reassure those living in exporting countries, they create panic in the scores of countries that import grain.

[ . . . ]

The current surge in world grain prices is trend-driven; some of these trends expand demand and others restrict growth in supply. On the demand side, these trends include world population growth of 70 million people a year, a growing number of people consuming more grain-intensive products, and the massive diversion of US grain to ethanol-fuel distilleries. During the last few years, the United States’s use of grain for ethanol has nearly doubled the annual growth in world grain consumption from 19 million metric tons to more than 36 million metric tons.

This isn’t theoretical.

China’s Labor Troubles: Yours, Too?

The Times Online reports:

Bankruptcies, unemployment and social unrest are spreading more widely in China than officially reported, according to independent research that paints an ominous picture for the world economy.

The research was conducted for The Sunday Times over the last two months in three provinces vital to Chinese trade – Guangdong, Zhejiang and Jiangsu. It found that the global economic crisis has scythed through exports and set off dozens of protests that are never mentioned by the state media.

Now, I’m taking that with a grain of salt – not because I particularly doubt the sources in the article, but because I’ve found that it’s so much “news” about China is passed through filters that result in the China that writers and reporters think you should see, instead of the China that is.  That said (and here is where my own filter kicks in), if things really are moving towards massive unrest in China, I think that’ll hit Western consumers just as hard as the financial mess.  All those cheaper places people have started shopping at, lately?  Direct pipeline of goods from China.  And when that pipeline gets interrupted by unrest?  Where are these stores going to turn?  As best I can tell, they don’t have any other meaningful options.

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