Going to the Dogs

President Obama says dog meat is tough.

The largest voting block in the nation appears to also be the most ill-informed. Jim Geraghty at National Review Online suspects this phenomenon is to blame for news stories about the destiny of President Obama’s dog, Bo.

I doubt there are many Republicans or conservatives who are genuinely outraged or bothered by young Barack Obama eating dog meat during his years in Indonesia.

But the tale of Mitt Romney putting the carrier of his family dog, Seamus, on the roof of his car has become liberals’ favorite knocks on the all-but-certain GOP nominee.

According to a study conducted by Doug Schoen of Newsweek, the most well informed voters are those firmly on the Democrat left, followed closely by those firmly on the Republican right. The voting bloc most completely unaware of a reality outside of a television screen was self identified conservative Democrats.

Far right Republicans and far left Democrats, informed and opinionated as they are, aren’t going to cross over on election day. So campaigns must focus on the “mindless middle.”

Geraghty finished his post, “The dueling dog stories represent each campaign making Hail Mary passes to reach these low-information voters.”

Whatever your politics, you have to admit that the jokes about Romney putting his dog on the roof of his car can’t compare to those of Obama putting his dog to the roof of his mouth.  I’m sure we’ll see the best comments from Jake Tapper’s story on Obama’s diet repeated on Leno, Letterman, and on facebook posts.

Don’t Miss theTea Party Rally this Saturday

From my favorite writer:

I’ve never been big on rallies.  My husband can attest that I don’t need motivational speakers to acerbate my political ire.  While I love to have like-minded citizens to my home to share a meal and friendly discussion, no group of people I have to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with, in the sun, on pavement, is likely to engender fond feelings in my heart, no matter what their views on freedom.

But in this instance, I have to follow my head and ignore my heart.  Tea Party rallies are changing the political rhetoric in this country.  Don’t get me wrong, our government is still corrupt, self-dealing and purposefully inept (a veneer of ineptitude covers a multitude of malfeasance).  But the rhetoric is changing.  Our chronically liberty-ambivalent Republican nominee is feeling the heat from the Tea Party, and will likely pick a voice for freedom as his vice presidential candidate.  Paul Ryan, head of the Congressional Budget Committee, has presented a budget that actually acknowledges our country has a debt problem.  And all around the country, fat cat, establishment local elected officials are getting off their ADA compliant, plus sized thrones, and courting local Tea Party leaders.  None of these corn-fed hogs cares a whit if I have my neighbors over to my house and complain about the royalty, but when I join tens of thousands of other fed up citizens to stand in the sun at the Capitol and send my blood pressure into the stratosphere, the royalty starts to wonder what it would look like if all those angry folks picked up torches and pitchforks.

Saturday, April 14th at the State Capitol.  Make them tremble.

http://norcalteaparty.com/2012/april-14th-california-revolution-rally/

Stop Special Interest Money Now initiative set for the November 2012 ballot

Interesting ballot measure headed for the November ballot. I haven’t read the title and summary, but here’s a short explanation: http://stopspecialinterestmoney.org/press/news/27?_c=10hhzuanlftdtx9&1=1

Jon Coupal of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association wrote an op-ed in support of the measure here: www.ocregister.com/opinion/government-348133-special-contributions.html

Limiting a US citizen’s freedom of speech through campaign contribution limits seems wrong, but so do compulsory union dues as a condition of government employment.

One thing I did right

If anyone has ever enjoyed reading something I’ve written, credit has to be given to my better half. She’s a gifted writer and my favorite proofreader, editor, and literary spice rack.  I woke up to this in my inbox, it’s what she does when the parasite growing in her uterus won’t let her sleep:

What’s Wrong with the Paul Ryan Budget? Absolutely Nothing.

Paul Ryan, Spawn of Satan. He steals from old people and makes babies cry.

Ooooh, the Lefties are in a tizzy. HuffPo, The Daily Beast, Politico, The Daily Kos, the AP, USA Today – they’re all rubbing their hands with glee at those stupid Republicans’ latest gift. Big, bad, rich Republicans and their crazy Aunt Tea Party are at it again, trying to force old folks to eat Alpo by slashing God-given Medicare benefits to seniors. The Ryan Plan is political posturing, they say. It will never pass, it’s short on critical details, it will scare precious AARP members away from the Spend and Spend Party, and it will irritate Aunt TP because it doesn’t go nearly far enough.

I have to admit that many of these accusations struck a chord with me, especially when I visited the website for the Ryan Budget and was assaulted by a full-page campaign ad for Paul Ryan that was weirdly missing the “Ryan 2016” logo. This is obviously a political ploy, and Ryan is the one raking in the name ID and the TV face-time.

Take a deep breath – just a few years ago, Republicans weren’t even acknowledging a debt problem. The Ryan Plan doesn’t take our national death – I mean, debt spiral seriously enough, but unlike the Democrats (and many in his own party) at least the young Congressman recognizes it publicly and has offered something resembling a solution.

In my opinion, we don’t have 28 years to balance the budget. I have kids who want to live their own lives, not pay for their parents’ and grandparents’ follies. But you know what? I’m not offended by Ryan. Politicians are going to be politicians. Our Founding Fathers understood the nature of man and the nature of men with power. That’s why they sacrificed everything to give us a government with limits. If Paul Ryan thinks that playing my song will win my heart, he’s right. Keep on strumming, brother. For as long as you’re taking requests, I’m all ears.

It has been working, folks. Your outrage has reached the ears of the mighty, and in the interests of keeping their might, they’re at least offering us rhetoric. If we keep up the pressure, they will keep moving toward smaller government, more accountability and less waste. Don’t slack off!

Can you believe she married me?

 

 

Goldman Sachs executive resigns in disgust

Seven years ago, I struck out on my own to provide an alternative to the brokerage industry I had come to loathe.  Greg Smith, a Goldman Sachs executive who quit his job with an open letter to the NY Times (and a not-so-subtle hand gesture to Goldman Sachs), nailed every point in my sales pitch to my clients. You can read it here: Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs

I’m not surprised by the content of Mr. Smith’s letter.  When I was starting out in a large brokerage firm, the top producer in my office explained that an investment advisor is just like a shoe salesman.  He doesn’t try to find the best shoe for his customer, he finds the shoe he can get the customer to buy.

I’m grateful Greg Smith had the courage to share his frustrations, whether the letter was sincere or not  (Is it just me, or does his resignation letter read like a resume?).  Either way, it should serve as a reminder to every investor that no amount of brokerage industry schmoozing can compensate for investor education.

Also, a thank-you to Aaron Klein, CEO of Riskalyze, for bringing this article to my attention:

CALPERS considers more honest pension reporting, staffers recommend against it

CALPERS is lowering investment return expectations, but not honestly. Their actuaries are more concerned with retaining their jobs and political power than in honest accounting. The CALPERS chief actuary has openly advised the CALPERS board to lie to the public about expected investment returns.

Read the article in the Sacramento Bee here:  CalPERS considers caving to demands for honest accounting

The decision by CALPERS will acknowledge what we’ve known for years. Despite the denials from PERS apologists, local pension plans are even more underfunded than PERS had been telling us.

Why does the Placer County Water Agency board insist on on passing these monstrous costs on to our children and future ratepayers?

Placer County Water Agency Board Awards Raises, Ignores Economic Pain in Community..

A well written and researched article by Gus Thompson of the Auburn Journal. Let me know what you think: CLICK HERE  Placer County Water Agency pay hike 

Here’s my take on the raises:

The public wasn’t privy to the discussion leading to raises or given a chance to weigh in before the raises were handed out. Here’s some of my reasoning for opposing the PCWA staff recommendation and the vote of my board:

1. PCWA has undertaken many compensation studies. Our pay is competitive with any other utility in our region and our benefits are the envy of all.

2. We don’t have a turnover or a recruitment problem at PCWA. We filled 22 full time positions last year due mostly to retirements. I’m told when a position opens, applicants have lined up into the parking lot before business hours for the chance to be considered for employment. A private sector engineering friend of mine claims that PCWA’s salary scale is easily more generous than that of the private sector, and our pension benefit is 9 times more generous. We don’t have anything near a recruitment problem.

3. I’ve been fighting to change our pension benefit formula for new hires since winning election 3 years ago. CAL-PERS has told PCWA that we have a $20,000,000 unfunded liability. That figure is based on ridiculously optimistic investment earnings expectations; If we can believe studies out of Stanford University, the actual liability could easily be more than double that.  Until we fix a broken pension system, every dollar in salary we pay today increases the financial liability of our children.

4. Despite media cheerleading for Obama, the economy is still sour. People are hurting, including PCWA ratepayers. How is it anything but callous and cruel to hand out across-the-board raises when many of those paying for the raises are out of work (or if they’re lucky, working harder for less pay)?

5. I’ve heard the sentiment from my board that,  “we have to look out for our people.” And agency staff explained in the Auburn Journal article that we needed to hand out raises to preserve employee morale.  It’s not the job of my staff to be as concerned about employee morale as voter, taxpayer, ratepayer, and public morale. That’s my job, and I’m doing it. For me, in addition to PCWA employees, “our people” includes every taxpayer, ratepayer, and voter in the 5^th District of Placer County.

6. A handful of managers, some named in the article, were only recently hired. Coming to PCWA was most likely a raise to each of them.  Even if it wasn’t, they were obviously satisfied with what the agency offered them to come aboard.

7. PCWA has excellent employees. Not one union dues-paying employee asked the board, or me, as a member of the board, to consider raises.  One mid-level employee expressed to me that he thought it was stupid to give his position a raise right now.  I don’t believe that PCWA workers genuinely expected to receive raises during these difficult times. But at the end of the day, our employees don’t set their pay. Responsibility rests with our elected representatives (for you in District 5 that’s me).

My thanks to PCWA General Manager, David Breninger. He generously and wisely turned down a raise I believe the board was prepared to give him.

No Clouds to Seed

Just in case someone else is fascinated by cloud seeding, here’s an interesting article in the Tahoe Daily Tribune:

Cloud seeding projects can’t get underway without storms

Cloud seeding in California can add as much 300,000 acre feet or about one four-hundredths of Lake Tahoe to the state’s annual water supply. Depending on the storm, cloud seeding can add 5 percent to 10 percent of precipitation than would’ve dropped normally, said Maurey Roos, a hydrologist with the Department of Water Resources.

But conditions must be right for seeding to be effective. Air temperature at storm altitudes, usually around 9,000 feet, must be around 23 degrees Fahrenheit. The storm must contain “super-cooled” liquid, or moisture that’s colder than freezing, and must not have too strong of winds, Roos said. And for airplane seeding, the storm must be high enough off the ground for the craft to fly into.

So far this year hasn’t produced too many chances. In the Tahoe-Truckee area, there have only been six cloud seeding operations from their ground generators so far. Last year, Desert Research Institute conducted 25 to 30 by March, Huggins said. In the American River area, the airplanes have seeded seven times, Roos said.

PCWA Pay Hikes Make the Auburn Journal

My thanks to Gus Thompson for his reporting on this: Across-the-board 2 percent raise for Placer County Water workers

 

CalPERS Exceeds Expectations

I’m sure they exceeded somebody’s expectations, but they sure missed their own.

CalPERS earns 1.1% on investments in 2011

It falls short of the 7.75% average that actuaries say CalPERS needs to meet obligations.

Shortfalls on investment results must be made up with contributions from taxpayers and ratepayers.