Choices We Make Part I

I grew up in a family of two parents and seven kids. With seven children my mother was a fulltime homemaker and my father was the “traditional” breadwinner. We were far from a wealthy family. While growing up I can’t remember a time when my father didn’t have two jobs and there were times when he had three. My parents made the choice to have that many children. They also gladly lived with and accepted the consequences and responsibilities that resulted with their choices.

With that many children I probably could have qualified for the “free” lunch program at school. I can vividly remember being sent home from school with the application year after year and my father balling it up and throwing it away. When I got old enough to understand what the application was I asked my father why he threw it away? He said that it wasn’t the government’s responsibility to feed me, it was his. Don’t misunderstand me. I didn’t want the school lunch. Mom provided me with a healthy brownbag lunch everyday. I just didn’t understand, if the government was going to give us help, why Dad wasn’t willing to take it.

A few years later I began to understand. When I got my first job and I looked at the paystub I saw the difference between my gross pay and my net pay. Why was there such a big difference? If you’ve ever held and job and I’m sure 99.999999% of you reading this have, you’ve noticed this difference too. Social Security and taxes were taken out. The taxes that were taken, in a small way, went to help pay for the “free” school lunch. (I’ll refrain from talking about Social Security in this blog with the exception of mentioning that while Social Security is certainly social it is far from secure.) My Dad knew that the “free” lunch wasn’t free and that if he had accepted the help it would mean that someone else would be paying for what was his responsibility.

I know that taxes are a necessity. There are things that government has to do. It has to provide for our common defense for example. And there are things that only the federal government can do. I like that when I buy medications, whether prescription or over-the-counter, I feel secure that they have been thoroughly tested. The FDA isn’t 100%, but I know that if it weren’t there snake oil salesmen would still be running around. Knowing that the federal government has things it must do and things it should do I can live with paying taxes. Not that I have a choice in the matter. Well, I do have a choice, but I’d rather not go to prison.

A few nights ago Wolf Blitzer as moderator of the Tea Party Debate of Republican presidential candidates asked how society should respond if a healthy thirty year-old man who decided against buying health insurance suddenly goes into a coma and requires intensive care for six months. Notice please that Wolf said this man decided against buying insurance. This means that he was capable of buying it. He had a choice.

This is an interesting question. We Americans think of ourselves as compassionate people. And indeed we are extremely compassionate. No other country’s people are nearly as generous either in terms of the total amount of money we give to charities or the per capita amount we give. Yet we are also a people that believe individuals are responsible for the choices they make. If I were into skydiving and had made thousands of jumps where I got to enjoy the exhilaration and beauty each and every time I jumped the choice would be mine. If on my next jump the chords got tangled and the chute didn’t deploy correctly the choice to do that jump was still mine, and so are the consequences. For the prior thousands of jumps the consequence was the exhilaration and beauty I got to enjoy. Did that exhilaration and beauty make it worth the one time when the chute didn’t function as expected? I know that this is an extreme example, but isn’t it basically the same question that Wolf posed at the debate? The healthy thirty year-old knew prior to falling into the coma that choosing not to buy health insurance was a risk, but it was his choice. Should the consequences of his choice be thrust upon everyone else?

You may be thinking Mark that’s not a very Christian way of thinking. I certainly don’t want the man to die and I’m not saying that the man shouldn’t be helped. As a Christian I want my church to help him. There is no denying that Jesus would want us to help him. I’m asking is it the government’s responsibility? At what point does my compassion as a Christian become the responsibility of the government? I know that if the man were my son I would prefer to get a knock on my front door and hear I’m from the church and I’m here to help rather than I’m from the government and I’m here to help. I also know that the person from church would be truly compassionate while being prudent in how the financial help was spent whereas I doubt the bureaucrat would have the same compassion or be as prudent.

Obsessed? Addicted? Do I Care?

The answers are Yes, Yes and No.

So, what am I obsessed about? What am I addicted to? What don’t I care about? Oh come on. I know that most people that are reading this are either friends or family so you already know, but for anyone else that might be reading this I’m obsessed about Disney, I’m addicted to going there (Walt Disney World (WDW) in particular, although I won’t rule out going to the other parks), and I don’t care if you think I’m abnormal for being this way.

While I know there are some that think I’m crazy, and to an extent I am, I know that as bad as my obsession and addiction is, I want to assure you my obsession and addiction isn’t nearly as bad as it can be. Yes my friends I am far from being over the top. In fact I think it would be a safe bet that some that are reading this are in a far “worse” state than I’m in. You all know who you are.

How does my obsession manifest itself? I almost always wear something Disney. In truth I can’t think of the last time I wore something that wasn’t Disney related. Well fully dressed anyway. I do have a couple of bathing suits that have nothing to do with Disney. But I only wear them when my Disney bathing suits are in the hamper or wash. I have at least 3 Mickey Mouse (MM) watches, numerous MM pairs of socks, and a couple of MM ties, a MM tie clasp, and my dresser has a draw + of Disney tee-shirts, some of which are of my own design.

My biggest purchase has to be the purchase of membership in the Disney Vacation Club (DVC). DVC is the Disney version of a timeshare. My wife and I “own” (it’s actually a lease since membership does expire) at Disney’s Beach Club Villas and Disney’s Old Key West, two of Disney’s deluxe resorts. The only regret I have in buying into DVC is that we didn’t do it sooner. We love the resorts where we’ve stayed.

Beyond my wardrobe and DVC membership I am always perusing Disney related websites, with my favorites being tagrel.com, allearsnet.com and mousesavers.com. Tagrel’s is a forum type of site where members ask and answer each others questions about Disney. Beyond it being a forum to exchange Disney knowledge Tagrel’s is a community. I have met and have become close friends with many of the members there. Allearsnet has a forum, but more than a forum site it’s an on-line encyclopedia for people planning trips to Disney parks. Want to learn about the accommodations, dining, parks and things to do outside of the parks? Allearsnet is, in my humble opinion, the place to learn about these things. Mousesavers is sort of an on-line magazine that is constantly updated with ways to save money for your trips. Since I learned of mousesavers I have saved hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars because of the tips I learned there.

Oh yeah, there’s one other thing that will show my obsession. Inspired by this collage,

(picture collage used with permission of Gary Cruise)

I ordered my own set of vanity plates. If you’re on the road and see

 

give me a honk and a hi Mark wave.

Why am I addicted to going on trips to WDW? Have you ever heard the expression the only difference between men and boys is the price of their toys? In a nutshell that’s the reason. When I go to WDW I turn into the 9 year old boy whose parents took him, two brothers and a sister on a cross-country camping trip to visit Disneyland back in 1966. When ever I’m at WDW I get to be a kid again where my only care is having as much fun as I want to have. Along with that, and maybe beyond that, is the world class service that Disney cast members (all employees of Disney are cast members) provide to all of their customers. Disney cast members make me want to come back time and time again. It doesn’t matter if you stay in one of the deluxe, moderate or value resorts when you stay at one of the Disney owned onsite resorts you are treated as a valued customer whose business is truly appreciated. That attitude is not confined to the resorts. It is found throughout WDW including all 4 theme parks. We in the community of Disney fanatics call that sharing the magic or spreading the pixie dust.

Why don’t I care if I’m thought of as abnormal for going to WDW time and time again (16 trips in total with another one forthcoming)? I guess it’s because I know what a great vacation going to WDW is. I can go to WDW on a 6 night, 7 day vacation, not set foot in one of the four theme parks, and have a vacation that anyone would envy.

What I don’t understand are people that ask incredulously “You’re going there again?” These are the same people that go to the shore, or the lake, or the mountains year after year and think there’s nothing strange about that. Well there isn’t anything strange about going to any of those places year after year and the same is true about going to WDW year after year. So if you don’t like or think it’s strange that I go to WDW time and time again, guess what? I don’t care.

Common Sense Economics

I want to talk a little about economics. Admittedly I am not an economist, but I’m also not an idiot. I like to think I have, at the very least, an average amount of common sense. Using that common sense is how I am going to discuss economics.

Let’s say that I have a product. It doesn’t make a difference what the product is so long as it is something that other people either need or desire. I know that I want to maximize my profit on this product. The question economically is how? Do I sell as many as possible? The logical way to sell as many as possible is to price my product at my costs. But that doesn’t maximize my profit. In fact there is no profit selling at cost. OK so let’s raise the price as much as possible. Well I am now maximizing my profit on each unit of my product, but I’m not selling nearly as many. So I’m still not maximizing my profit. In fact if my price is too high I won’t sell any at all. In order to maximize my profit I have to find the price that is somewhere between selling at cost where there’s no profit and pricing it so high that I’m not selling any at all where there is again no profit.

This is how the tax structure should work. Obviously if the tax rate is zero revenue to the government will also be zero. Conversely if the tax rate is 100% revenues will also be zero. Who is going to want to work if every cent they make is confiscated by the government? The optimum tax rate has to fall somewhere between zero and 100%. There is only one way to find out what that rate is and that’s to change the rates until the optimum rate is found.

Back in the 1980’s when the Tip O’Neill lead Congress and Ronald Reagan lowered the tax rates revenue to the treasury increased. In fact they more than doubled. This shocked many of the experts who expected just the opposite to happen. Unfortunately for every dollar that the treasury took in Congress spent two dollars, but that’s a different topic. Not only did revenues to the treasury increase, but employment went up as well. How could this have happened? The answer is pretty simple. When people are able to keep more of what they earn they are able to spend and save more. When they spend more demand for the products they want goes up thereby causing manufacturers and service providers to hire more people to meet the demand. More people being employed means there are more tax payers contributing part of what they earn into the treasury. If instead of spending more they decide to save what the government is no longer taking this is also good for the economy. More money being saved means lenders have more funds available to loan. More funds available to be lent means interests rates go down. When interest rates go down people and businesses are more willing to take out loans. Individuals use these loans to buy houses, cars and all sorts of products. Businesses use these loans to expand their businesses thereby producing more goods and services and hiring more employees to provide those goods and services.

Now let’s stop and think for a second. If lowering the tax rates does all of this good stuff what happens if tax rates are raised? Just the opposite happens. Treasury revenues go down and unemployment and interest rates go up and the economy contracts.

...Than For One Not Guilty Person to be Convicted

Here I go again. Once again I find myself sitting here about to complain. What is it this time? The Casey Anthony trial is the short answer. Actually it's not the trial itself or even the verdict. It's the reaction to the verdict. I know this trial was on T.V. and that thousands of people watched at least part of it (I am not among that number). However many thousands tuned in I doubt very much that anyone other than the jury, the judge, the prosecutors and the defense team heard and saw every piece of evidence that was presented.

It is painfully obvious that school systems across the United States need to bring back Civics as a core requirement. I was taught in school that our judicial system is set-up so that it is better for ten guilty people to go free than for one not guilty person to be convicted. This might sound stupid to most people and to a degree it is. It's stupid right up to the point where you're the not guilty person.

Juries do not find defendants innocent. They find defendants either guilty or not guilty. Just because a jury finds a defendant not guilty does not mean that the defendant was innocent. It merely means that the jury did not find enough evidence to convict.

All juries are charged with weighing all of the evidence and testimony that was presented to them and to come to a verdict based on that alone. If they are to come to a guilty verdict they must be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt. Take notice what that says. It doesn’t say up to a reasonable doubt. It says beyond. It means that before voting guilty a juror must know in their heart that the accused did the crime. No matter how heinous the crime it is not a jury’s job to see that the victim gets justice. That’s the job of the prosecutor. The prosecutor must present a case to the jury that convinces them so fully that they cannot possibly vote for acquittal.

When a trial begins the accused is to be considered not guilty by each and every juror. If after all of the evidence is presented and the closing arguments are made a juror is convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant did the crime then, and only then, should they vote to convict. They should not and must not vote to convict if they feel that the defendant probably did the crime. If you have a feeling about something you’re not convinced.

Since the verdict in this case came down on July 5, 2011 I have witnessed on social media outlets a backlash against the jury. People have been crying out that justice for Caylee has been denied. Their fury is misdirected. If their outrage should be directed at anyone in this case it should be at the prosecutors. The prosecutors didn’t present the jury a convincing enough case that left it with any choice but to acquit.

The day after the verdict juror number 3, Jennifer Ford, said on ABC News "I did not say she was innocent," but also, "I just said there was not enough evidence. If you cannot prove what the crime was, you cannot determine what the punishment should be." Another juror, juror number 2 is quoted in the St. Petersburg Times as saying "everybody agreed if we were going fully on feelings and emotions, she was done”. “I just swear to God...I wish we had more evidence to put her away. I truly do...But it wasn't there." It is obvious that the jurors took their responsibility very seriously. And that is as it should be.

What Part of Limit Don't They Understand?

Our representatives in Washington DC are at it again. Some of them are insisting that the national debt limit must be raised. This country is $14 TRILLION in debt already and they want us to go further into debt. Maybe I shouldn't have spelled out trillion as that doesn't show exactly what I want it to show. Here's what it looks like as a number; $14,000,000,000,000.00. Yes, that's 12 zeros before getting to the decimal point.

What does that mean to you and me? Well, based on the 2010 census, the U.S. population is 310 million. Dividing $14 TRILLION by 310 million means that each of us is in debt to the tune of $45,161.29. That's over and above your mortgage, car payments, college loans and any credit card or other type of personal debt you may already have. My household consists of 3 people so combined our share of the debt is $135,483.87.

Unfortunately the $45,161.29 figure is also too low since only people that actually pay taxes are really in debt since they’re the ones that will actually pay it. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics May 2010 figures the unemployment rate was 9.1% or almost 14 million people. Further, while I am aware that there are tax payers that are less than 17 years old, the vast majority of those younger than 17 don't pay taxes. So we now have to deduct 74,181,467 (according to the 2010 census) from the 310 million. That brings the number of people that can pay the national debt down to almost 222 million people. Now deduct illegal immigrants which is conservatively estimated at 14 million (a figure I personally think is low) people. Now we’re down to 208 million. Guess what that does to each of our shares of the national debt. It brings it up to more than $67,300.00. If you're married that's $134,600.00 for you and your spouse. If those in Congress that want to increase the debt ceiling get their way all it will do is increase your share.

So what should Congress do? Do I really have to spell it out for you? In your household, if you, for whatever reason, went credit card crazy and increased the amount you owed to an almost unreachable ability to pay off, what would you do? I can tell you what I would do and have done. I cut up the credit cards and quit making the hole I was already in any deeper. It's that simple. No matter what those that want to increase the debt limit say, it is that simple. If you agree I beseech you to contact your Congressional representative and Senators and tell them to cut spending and do not attempt to increase the national debt. Things may be, and probably will be hard for a while as they were for me, but in the end a valuable lesson will have been learned. And we will all be better for it.

Ch Ch Ch Changes

On the first day of my college philosophy class the professor asked, by a show of hands, if it was possible to step into the same river twice. Almost all of my classmates thought that of course you could step into the same river twice. I didn’t raise my hand. The professor noticed this and asked me why? I told him that because rivers flow and time constantly moves it was not possible to step into the same river twice. The river wasn’t the same river the second time it was stepped into nor was the person that stepped into it. If nothing else, they were both older. My professor agreed with me and announced that there is one universal constant in life. That one constant is flux. Everything that ever happens everywhere is in a constant state of flux. What is flux? Flux simply means change.

Life is constantly changing and you never know when and how it will change. Last night I was home relaxing watching American Idol. Outside there was an early spring mixture of snow, hail and rain. Other than the weather it was just a typical Tuesday night with nothing going on. Then the phone rang. How often is it that our lives suddenly change and it begins with the phone ringing? The caller ID said it was coming from Nicky’s (my nephew/god son) cell phone. This in itself wasn’t unusual. My nephew is a responsible, caring young man. He’s taking some evening classes at the local community college two nights a week. For convenience sake on the nights that he has classes instead of going home he sleeps at our house. So getting a call from him on a night he’s expected to be with us telling us he’s going to be late or that he’s already eaten, or that he’s going to the gym isn’t out of the ordinary. My wife answered the phone and it wasn’t that typical phone call. He was calling from his car where he was pinned in because he had just been in an accident. Shortening the story, other than some superficial burns on his arms from the airbag and his knee being somewhat banged up, he’s expected to be fine.

On October 14, 2001 my son Robby was diagnosed with leukemia. He was 12 years old. He underwent 3 ½ years of treatment and is fine today. It goes without saying that his, my wife’s and my lives were profoundly changed because of that diagnosis.

My point in writing about change is that there is no avoiding it. And being that there is no avoiding it we have to accept and deal with it. You’ll notice I didn’t say embrace it. Who would want to embrace having their child diagnosed with leukemia? Or having their car totaled? No sane person would embrace those situations. However we can and must deal with changes. On the night of learning about Robby’s leukemia my wife Janice and I were devastated. This devastation lasted just that night. Janice stayed with Robby at the hospital while I went home to care for our dogs and get some essentials. When I got home I sat on the couch and bawled my eyes out. Naturally I prayed. I also sent an email to every one of my contacts letting them know what was happening. The next day I went to the hospital where Janice and I set our minds on what had become the one overriding goal in our lives, curing our son. From that point on we dealt with this change that fate had put in our path. We didn’t embrace it, but we did deal with it. And that is what everyone has to do with change.

A People to Admire

As anyone that has a radio, television or is able to read a newspaper knows last week the nation of Japan was struck with an earthquake measuring 9.0 on the Richter scale and numerous after shocks. If this wasn’t bad enough this quake was followed shortly thereafter by a devastating tsunami. These twin disasters have, as of 3/15/11, killed a confirmed total of 3,373 people with the death toll rising every day. Estimates are that the total killed could be more than 20,000. Along with these natural disasters is a potential disaster of melt downs in nuclear power plants. Millions of people are now homeless where whole towns have been washed away.

How have the Japanese people responded to what has happened to them? How are they dealing with the shortage of housing, food and fuel? Well the answer as of this writing is remarkable. I have not seen, heard or read about any civil unrest in Japan. While I am not surprised by this I have to express my heartfelt admiration of the Japanese people. While I would hope that if a disaster of this magnitude were to have occurred in the United States the people of this country would respond similarly I have extreme doubts this would happen. I have good reason for my doubt. Do you recall what happened after hurricane Katrina hit the U.S. gulf coast? If you need a reminder take a look at this video. Post Katrina Looting  As Carl Quintanilla noted even those charged with preventing this from happening were involved in the looting. He said they were police, but to me they looked like they were security guards Regardless of whether they were police or rent-a-cops doesn’t make a difference. Their behavior was just plain wrong, and they knew better. I would ask that you compare that behavior with this report from the 3/15/11 airing of the NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams. Extraordinary Resilience (you have to watch the commercial before the story) A stunning difference, don’t you think? We should all strive to follow the examples the Japanese people have displayed.