Corporations as People?

A corporation is authorized to act legally as a person. A corporation does have some similarities to a person. For example both have an instinct to survive. But it is doubtful you could ask a corporation to “do the right thing” when it means sacrificing corporate viability. Cases: Carbon Based Extraction (coal, gas and oil):  survival depends on the world continuing to burn carbon. A lot of their corporate asset value is in the ground and they want to get . . .

Who Votes?

The framers of the Constitution assembled at Philadelphia in the summer of 1787  were educated students of history familiar with the philosophies of Locke, Montesquieu and Aristotle. In 350 B.C.E., Aristotle wrote in Politics about three forms of government and how they evolve: Form: Starts As: Becomes: Rule by One Monarchy Tyranny Rule by Few Aristocracy Oligarchy Rule by Many Polity Democracy Aristotle had some interesting warnings about “Democracy”: The poor can outvote the wealthy and ruin a state by . . .

Mercenary War Globalism

Talk about Globalism: Blackwater or as it has called itself since 2011, Academi, is now a division of Constellis Holdings based in Reston, Virginia. Marketing Description of Services: “integrated security and technical operations, domestic and international training, security assessment and analysis, risk mitigation, and technology solutions.” In plain words: Runs an army for the United Arab Emirates using recruits from Latin America, Sudan and elsewhere to prosecute the Saudi led war in Yemen with a wink and support from the . . .

51st State

It is time for Puerto Rico to become our 51st state. The People: With 3.337 million people (2017) Puerto Rico has a larger population than 21 states and a density higher than all 50. As a state it would fall approximately between Connecticut and Iowa. The largest city is San Juan, the island’s capital. It has a population of 395,326 (2010), making it the 48th largest city in the U.S. History: Prior to Columbus’s discovery in 1493 on his second voyage . . .

Nationalism or Globalism

Globalism: Goods, capital and people should be able to move freely across borders. Versus Nationalism :  Asserting sovereign control over one’s country. Nationalism is at the core of Brexit and the US election of 2016.  A troubling aspect of this nationalism is its penchant for xenophobia and for ethnic and religious exclusion. It panders to fear of threats to linguistic, religious and cultural norms and wants to weaken global structures such as the World Trade Organization, NATO, the United Nations or . . .

Big Enough?

How much is enough? Let’s face it as a species we misbehave. We require the police to maintain daily decorum and using history as a predictor, we need a military just in case. The DoD request for 2019 for $716 Billion says they need more: “To address the scope and pace of our competitors’ and adversaries’ ambitions and capabilities, we must invest in modernization of key capabilities through sustained, predictable budgets. Our backlog of deferred readiness, procurement, and modernization requirements . . .

Blended Cultures

We are not replacing ourselves. But,we need more workers. Maybe immigrants could help? The National Center for Health Statistics has calculated the US  birth rate for 2017 at 60.2 per 1000 women between 15 and 44 or 1.76 lifetime per woman (3% lower than 2016). This extends the 47 year US sub-replacement trend.  This means that as older generations age out of the workforce, there will be an increasingly skewed ratio of retirees to working Americans. A thoughtful immigration policy could . . .

Profiles in Courage

Where is Courage? Commander Chief of Staff Migrant Mother Afraid of: Others Reporters Competition Criticism Being ignored Medal festooned General afraid of: The Commander (See left) Afraid of: Violence at Home Abject Poverty Childish bragging, petty feuds, and incoherent strategies “Honor, this is the bedrock of our character” But has the courage to risk everything for her kids Yes, it’s obvious. We need to stop this silent coup with a course correction!

We Win You Lose

America First – good for the bully maybe not the citizens. Hello Congress!! America First (or we win you lose): NAFTA, Eurozone, TPP, G7, UN Human Rights Council: all multilateral groups. The commander doesn’t like them because It is easier to sqeeze one on one – otherwise they tend to gang up. USA, with less than 5% of world’s people, does not have the proportionate influence it had seventy-two years ago after World War II. The U.N. was established in . . .

Borrow and Pay

When to Borrow? When to Pay Off? US Government Debt: Treasury Bills, notes and bonds are fixed income, considered safe investments with relatively low interest rates. The current National Debt of $15.5 trillion equates to a debt-to-GDP ratio around 81 percent based on the most recent second quarter GDP of $19,2 trillion. According to the World Bank the tipping point is 77 percent (the point at which debt begins to have an adverse effect on economic growth) – we have . . .