Sunday, September 11, 2011

MORONS ... OR SOMETHING BETTER?

I grew up in a country I was proud of and that held out the promise of opportunity to everyone.

I remember delivering newspapers when I was 12 or 13, and generally admiring whoever was Mayor, Governor or President and agreeing with most of what they were doing. I remember being proud of our victories in World War II and of what we had collectively accomplished by becoming “the arsenal of democracy”, being embarrassed when others got into orbit first and proud when we were first to the moon, being awed by all the new roads, dams, buildings and technology being developed and built, being a bit star struck when I first saw New York. I remember traveling in various parts of the world and being proud that America was a country trusted and admired by most of those we met.

I remember political arguments too – Dewey and Truman, Kennedy and Nixon, Reagan and Carter, and other memorable contests. There were always conflicting opinions within the family and among friends, and there were lots of heated arguments – but politics was something widely and often discussed. Almost everyone read the newspapers, it wasn’t considered rude to bring up politics at a dinner party and everyone was expected to have an opinion – and some facts to support it. And though everyone felt strongly, most people wanted to be – and were -- polite.

I went to work when I was 15, and there were plenty of jobs for any kid willing to work. And most kids did want to work, since there weren’t many families passing out big allowances or new cars in that America. Most people had enough money, but very few had lots and everyone was awestruck when it came out that some big shot had made a million dollars in a single year. Almost everyone I knew, except a very few rich kids, went to public schools and if the school didn’t do a good job, the parents were all over the principal and the teachers to get things fixed.

The America I grew up in is gone, and won’t ever come back. As nostalgic as I am from time to time, I also remember that we didn’t have Novocain in those days and I know full well that the politicians of my youth were not inherently better than those who lead today. But there are important aspects of that old America we should all be loath to do without – particularly its ability to build facilities that were the envy of the world, to offer its citizens a best in the world education, to offer abundant jobs and opportunities, and to inspire collective action by an involved citizenry.

But if we want to reclaim those abilities, we are going to have to stop behaving like morons and begin to speak up about the many and obvious lies we hear from our present and aspiring leaders.
Only morons continue to accept statements that are clearly not true. Our politicians – already engaged in another round of the seemingly endless Presidential campaign – this time for an election still 14 months in the future – continue to say things that few if any believe:
• We are told that recovery is around the corner when it is clear that we are either in or about to enter yet another recession and that real prosperity won’t return for many years – and only then if we make major changes soon.
• We are told that jobs can be created by further tax cuts despite the clear reality that our problem is insufficient demand, not a lack of supply. Lenders and companies have ample funds but too few customers – jobs, not lower taxes, build consumer confidence and capability.
• We are told that regulations are strangling our producers, and there are doubtless some excess regulations and some over-zealous regulators. Overall, however, there is clear evidence that ineffective and inadequate regulation empowered those who caused the financial crisis, and that effective regulation is needed to assure safe food, clean water and clean air.
• We are told that Medicare costs must be cut, but our government continues to deny Medicare the right to demand that U. S. drug companies sell it their products at the same prices they charge foreign health care providers or to build a system and staff of quality inspectors to stamp out the billions of dollars of fraud perpetrated against the system.
• We are told we cannot afford to maintain the nation’s infrastructure – our roads, bridges, airports, water and sewer systems, electrical grid, etc. – despite the fact that allowing it to disintegrate will make it impossible for us to compete successfully with other, better equipped countries in the years ahead and doom future generations to an ever lower standard of living.
• We are told that we must spend less on education and must not impose a national educational curriculum despite clear evidence that our children are learning less well than children in other countries.
• We are told that taxes must be cut still further, despite the fact that our government is spending more than it has on services we collectively demand and despite the fact that income inequality is greater than it has been since 1929 and is steadily getting worse.
• We are told that our tax code is too complex – who would not agree – but we lack the will to simplify by eliminating the thousands of pages of regulations that define the many special interest deductions, exemptions and credits.
• We are told that Social Security benefits will exceed Social Security tax receipts sometime soon, but lack the will to increase taxes and adjust benefits to safeguard the nation’s most fundamental safety net.

We all know that what the politicians are saying simply isn’t so. Yet we are increasingly unwilling to talk to one another about our problems, preferring instead to mimic the ideological incantations of the talking heads, whether liberal or conservative. It hasn’t occurred to most of us, apparently, that the words have little meaning and less import. We don’t need labels, we need solutions. Some of those solutions will be “liberal” while others will be “conservative”, and it really doesn’t matter what we call them. To find answers, we need to climb down from our ideological bandwagons and engage one another in real conversations about middle ground solutions that will solve our problems.

We can create a better America, but only if we start tuning out the false messages and focus on the fact that if we want our country to do better, it’s going to take a huge collective effort.
The first step should be to recognize that there is no easy way out of our present problem. We have dug a deep ditch, and to get out, we are going to have to stop digging, and change our ways.
For some time, until we recapture the vitality that has always characterized our country, everyone is going sacrifice something and we will have to coalesce to insist on some major changes:
• Most will pay higher taxes. Like it or not, our government cannot provide the package of services we collectively want without more revenue. Hopefully, we will simplify the tax code, chop out all the loopholes and deductions, and adjust rates to produce the funds we need while simultaneously reducing the enormous inequality that has crept into our country. We’ll raise more money, improve productivity by saving millions of man hours now devoted to filling out tax forms and have some modest impact on equality.
• Some will sacrifice leisure, and either go back to work or seek a second job. Many will sacrifice the larger car, the larger house, or the second home they covet. Some will eat at home more often and many will have to spend more time working to improve the performance of their local school than they would prefer. Everyone will have to either use less or pay more for energy.
• We need to move fast to get America back up to speed. We’re about $2 trillion behind in maintaining our infrastructure, and the very first thing we should do is create a big public/private infrastructure bank and use it to put several million Americans back to work fixing and building the facilities we will need to make America #1 again.
• We need to get our kids back in the game by teaching them more intensively than we have been doing. We need a national educational curriculum administered by attentive local authorities. We need more mathematics and more science, more demanding vocational training programs, longer school days and years, and better teachers. It will cost more – but is there a better investment than our kids?
• We need a national energy program to free the country from dependence on others. We need to use the Infrastructure Bank to build a better electrical distribution grid. We need legislation to require more intensive use of natural gas, higher gasoline taxes to discourage excess gasoline use and better public transportation options.
• We need to fix Medicare. Requiring drug makers to offer Medicare their lowest prices and stamping out fraud are both easy to do – and both will yield enormous savings. To take advantage of Medicare’s low administrative costs, we should offer every citizen the option of joining. While some may choose private insurers, I think most will opt into the public system.
• We need to fix Social Security – and this is one we know how to deal with. Lots of studies have established that a combination of tax increases and benefit adjustments, including means testing for our wealthier citizens, can promptly put Social Security on the path to a solid future.
• And finally, we need to re-create the middle class by restoring the link between productivity and compensation. It’s a sad fact that average per hour compensation has not increased, in real terms, since the late 1970s. Productivity has risen dramatically, but the returns on that productivity have gone almost exclusively to either capital or the highest earners in our society. The result is a higher level of income and wealth inequality than we have had since 1929. Whether that discrepancy gets fixed through revisions in the tax code, by reforming corporate governance or by strengthening the union movement, we all need to face the fact that equality matters, and that we can have neither a dynamic economy nor a politically cohesive citizenry if a small percentage of the people have most of the money.
To accomplish any of this, we’re all going to have to do a better job of educating ourselves, of listening carefully to the other guy’s point of view and talking to one another about how to get America’s mojo back.
I hope we will.



21 comments:

  1. Thx Bob... Sure do miss you!

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  2. Bob,

    Well said.

    We need a grassroots movement to help spread this message. Let's call it the "American Party," and let's get back to being great Americans.

    Doug

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  3. As always, your words are spot on, candid, non sugar coated truth.

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  4. I could'nt agree more!

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  5. By strengthening the union movement....... Never thought those words would come from you..... Great blog, I agree totally

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  6. Mr. Crandall, you are a true American. And I thank you for the time you put into making American Airlines the best in the world while you were there. You provided your employees with great benefits and a fair income which allowed us and our families to live a worry-free life. I think I speak for every pilot, flight attendant, mechanic and fleet service clerk when I say that. We miss your leadership.

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  7. Mr. Crandall, I would hope to see means testing used on welfare and disability recipients long before social security recipients. Taking into consideration, the people who paid into social security had no choice and what they are getting back is only what was promised. Most welfare recipients have paid little to nothing into the system, which they seek to pull money from. You speak of “strengthening the union movement” unions served and may continue to serve a purpose on a small scale but for the most part all they do currently is weaken companies and demand unrealistic compensation while delivering mediocrity at best. If wages were to have increased to and average of $50 per hour all this would cause is a gallon of milk costing $30 and a gallon of gas to be $25. The things that need to be done to bring the United States back to its place at the front of the pack are not tax related.
    1) Immigration reform, way too much money being earned and no taxes being paid on it.
    2) Means testing for welfare and disability, I would estimate less then 50% being legitimate
    3) You mentioned the “average per hour compensation has not increased, in real terms, since the late 1970s. Productivity has risen dramatically”
    Let me say I think productivity has increased dramatically but not from the worker more so from the use of machines and such designed to assist the worker, paid for by the company or corporation. Granted the hourly wage has not increased that dramatically however inflation has been kept in check for the most part as well.

    As far as closing tax loopholes and assisting schools in meeting the goals we set for them and many other things you mentioned I would agree. For the most part we seem to have the same goal but have a difference of opinion on the route to get there. Each thinking the other will no doubt come to a dead end.

    And YES I totally agree with holding our politicians accountable, and not letting them get away with the things they do.

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  8. Bob,

    I've written those same words over and over in countless emails to our elected officials yet I hear what you do, circus music. In the age you grew up not only did people respect our leaders, our leaders did what was right for our country not for their party or bank account. I would encourage you to do what Warren Buffet, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultzf and others by with holding support until they fix things. Hit them in the pocket book and they'll listen. I would also encourage you to take on the cause of Unions who as your well aware are being stoned by foolish behavior and the false belief that they are evil.

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  9. I would love to believe this came from the real Bob Crandall. However I don't think so. I have my reasons and if it is him, he has the means of getting a hold of me.

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  10. Awesome words from an awesome man... we miss you at AA.....

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  11. If this really is Bob Crandall and he really wants to get the medias attention then the next blog will be in the form of a You Tube video. If not then this whole blog is suspect?

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  12. As a foreigner, on the outside, I always think you should keep it together - for yourselves, then for the rest to envy.

    After the launch of the A380, I hoped the 747-400 would not be the last 747, that there would be a competitive model against the A380. The 747-8 will be that plane. Not larger, but fair comparable economics - broadly (neither will agree).

    So too the US need not be the biggest economy to stay competitive, advanced, and maintain/increase the standard of living of its people. Hopefully, the day that America is surpassed in sheer economic size, it is a country strengthening its core population and values, not one being bid to idiotic opposing political ideas. That's most countries. There needs to be a leader.

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  13. Every time I hear some politician open his mouth all I think of "is this the best we can do"? Most people do not want to hear the truth as any change will cause some pain in their existence.

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  14. Very well said. Thanks for speaking with such a clear voice on these important matters. It pains me too to see elected officials who care more about their ability to maintain power than to actually USE that power to affect positive change

    On your recommendation I have just finished reading both the Transportation Infrastructure report and the Simpson/Bowles Commission report. These documents lay out the lion's share of the huge problems that we face. Let us hope that apathy on the part of the public and power-mongering on the part of the public officials do not bring this country to its knees.

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  15. To anonymous and Noel Padilla, are you really implying that someone is committing identity theft and writing this blog unlawfully as an assumed name? Why? For what gain? I have written Mr. Crandall and asked him a question only he can answer. I will let you both know how that turns out.

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  16. Bob Crandall was one of the toughest, most powerful, insightful leaders I have worked for hands down!. He demanded commitment from every employee and that meant from the very top to the very bottom. My AAirline is in the toilet thanks to a laack of leaadership and innovaation. I beg you bob, please help, please make us whole again as we were under your leadership. I'm not gonna have much to offer you to fix this problem because our current leadership is going to take everything and then leave without shaame. I'll give you commitment and passion which they cannot taake. Bring it on Bob and we will follow! (by the thousands!).

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  17. I might have a hard time naming 3 successful leaders in the airline industry that could pull the employees at AA out of the mess their in. Mr. Crandall would certainly be the top on my list only because his sickle would hack through the corporate bloating in days. And the board know's that. good luck to you all at AA. My advice... let the judge restructure. Or, convince Mr. Crandall........One more time?

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  18. Mr Crandall, are you going to save AA?

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  19. I'll get all my friends to pay you a "dollar" a day! AA is flopping around like a fish out of water! Soon they'll be the fish at the bottom of the lake!!!!!!

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  20. I guess we made it to the "bottom of the lake".

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  21. We all wish for the good ol' days Bob, but as they say, you can't turn back the clock. I like to read a lot of alternative biz blogs to get the real news and not what MSM wants us to hear. For a thoughtful insight on why we will never see the 1950's again, check out OfTwoMinds.com/blog by Charles Hugh Smith. "The golden era of the 1950's/60's was an anomaly, not a default setting". Lots of good links on his page also.

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