Tag: NPR

The Politics of Fear

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photo credit: ag2r

I was listening to NPR this morning on the way to work and they were discussing the use of fear as a political tactic. The story was not what I would consider fair and balance as they asserted that only those who oppose health care reform are making use of the tactic, but one of the people being interviewed about why fear is such an effective tool in blocking legislation stated that fear has the effect of causing us to focus on the problem and divert our energies to addressing the cause of our fear. Of course the implication is that we stop being rational when we are motivated by fear.

As I thought about that it really irked me that they paint people as nothing more than animals – it’s all biology. The truth is that while we are prone to act less than rationally when we are consumed by fear we also have a heightened capacity to think clearly in many high-pressure situations. The key to thinking clearly is that we must not let the fear overwhelm us – let the adrenaline enhance our senses without letting go of our capacity to look at the evidence and make deliberate choices.

Tags civic participation, discourse, Elevated, health care, legislation, NPR

National

Economic Recovery

I was listening this morning to a story on NPR about rising unemployment when an interesting thought struck me. The story was talking about the negative feedback loop of rising unemployment leading to lower housing prices and more economic uncertainty. These factors then dampen consumer spending and keep unemployment high and even encourage more unemployment.

I know it’s a very perverse perspective, but my reaction to that news was that maybe there is an outside chance that our economy will actually undergo the correction that it obviously requires despite the best efforts of Bernanke and Geithner to prevent the necessary correction. If the economy continues to defy the stimulus efforts it may yet reach a solid foundation – but I won’t hold my breath on that.

Tags bailout, economics, NPR

culture

News on the Honduran Coup

Post author By David
Post date June 30, 2009
13 Comments on News on the Honduran Coup

When I first heard about the military coup in Honduras I noticed some reference to the extra-constitutional activities of the ousted president and the attempts by their legislative and judicial branches to check his actions. Soon however I noticed a shift in the news coverage as a party line began to develop. First Hugo Chavez was condemning the coup and then others joined the chorus – including the U.S. Soon the news coverage had been dumbed down to exclude any mention of the real reasons for the coup while focusing on the ideal that “there should be no military coups in the modern world.” (That came from an analyst on NPR.)

[quote]I began to wonder what to do or say as I began to feel that we were being misled but feeling powerless to say anything meaningful because I don’t consider myself to have any expertise on Honduras. Thankfully today I stumbled onto a good analysis at NO QUARTER by Larry Johnson. (Warning – there is one instance of Language I Would Never Use™ in the article.)

Johnson reminds readers of the facts of the case:

For starters the ousted President, Zelaya, had become close buddies with Chavez of Venezuela and was pushing to over turn the Honduran Constitution that limited Presidents to one term. This was not your typical military coup. This had the backing of the legislature and the judiciary. But Zelaya is doing a good job of playing the victim.

My first reaction had been that the United States should not get involved but after reading Johnson’s recommendation that the U.S. needs to engage [quote1]I would clarify my position to say that the U.S. should not get involved internally in Honduras, but that we should also make it very clear that expect others (Chavez and cronies) to not meddle internally in Honduras either. The Hondurans started this on their own and should be allowed to finish it on their own. The only way that any other nation should be involved is if the Honduran’s clearly seek that external assistance.

I was impressed with how accurate Johnson’s assessment seemed to be (and it seemed very consistent with the perceptions of some other people I know who have firsthand experience of living in Honduras), but perhaps I should not be surprised considering that he has intelligence experience specifically in Honduras:

I was the Honduran analyst at the CIA from 1986 thru 1989. I also lived in Honduras running a community development in the campo back in 1978.

Tags current events, Honduras, international, media, military, NPR, unconstitutional

culture

Use the Proper Tool

I have written before about our national propensity to use government when it is not the proper tool for the job. Scott summed my point up very succinctly in a recent post:

There is a proper tool for every job. Use of the wrong tool often produces substandard results. Sometimes it is necessary to make do with what you have. That’s called innovation. But regularly using the wrong tool when the right tool is available is just plain stupid.

One of the basic tenets of classical liberalism is to regard government as a tool to be used only where it is most appropriate; the chief role of government being to safeguard and expand liberty. Many people (from all over the political spectrum) view government as a big stick to be employed in forcing others to conform to their particular view of good.

Government is not the only tool that we often use inappropriately, and sometimes the wrong tool is employed not because it is the tool of choice, but because we refuse to use the proper tool. Such is the often the case with regard to schools disciplining children.

A large number of schools use potentially dangerous methods to discipline children, particularly those with disabilities in special education classes, a report from Congress’ investigative arm finds.

In some cases, the Government Accountability Office report notes, children have died or been injured when they have been tied, taped, handcuffed or pinned down by adults or locked in secluded rooms, often to be left for hours at a time.

Some people would be quick to blame the authoritarian, impersonal schools for their outrageous methods of discipline and while I am far from a believer in the infallibility of schools I think that such blame is misplaced in the vast majority of cases.

The real blame lies in the fact that many parents fail to enforce discipline in their homes and even among those who do enforce discipline in their homes all too many make themselves unavailable to take on that responsibility when their children require more discipline than can reasonably be applied by a teacher in charge of more than a dozen students. What’s worse, is that we cannot even safely place the blame fully on the shoulders of the individual parents. Too many of them are forced into situations where they cannot devote themselves to parenting full-time. (Sometimes they just feel forced into those situations.)

As a society we have set too low a value on the role of parenting – placing it completely secondary to economic productivity. We have set expectations too high for our material and economic standard of living – where the luxuries of yesterday must necessarily be necessities today. Consider cell phones for every family member over the age of 10, cars for everyone over 16, cable TV, computers, game consoles, television sets in every room, dance-lessons, sports, and hobbies for each day of the week.

None of these things is intrinsically bad, but together they form unreasonable and unsustainable expectations and they destroy the possibility for most stable families to keep at least one parent available to take care of their children when needs arise.

Not only that, but we expect the schools to provide many of those hobbies through requiring gym, art, and music classes as well as extracurricular sports. The result is that even where there are parents at home and available the children often spend too many hours under the care of their teachers and not enough under the influence of their parents. This serves to lessen the parental influence and offers incentive for parents who would otherwise be available to commit themselves to other activities lest they feel they are wasting their time.

The problems are complex and interwoven so that any hope of identifying the solutions is dependent on our recognition of how and when any given tool can be used and insisting on using each tool in its proper place rather than finding favorite tools and trying to make this reduced tool set suitable for all our needs.

Tags children, connections, Education, Elevated, family, government, ideal, NPR

National

Obama’s First 100

Today is day number 100 for the Obama Administration. This has been a benchmark of measurement for every administration since FDR. There will be lots of stories in the political media attempting to measure how he is doing as a president. This morning on NPR they perfectly captured the measure in only six words:

His backers give him high marks.

I add my own perspective as someone who is not sold on Obama but holds out hope that he will eventually do the best job he could do by focusing on those areas where he is right (things like real increased transparency in government). My position is largely unchanged from when Obama was elected and when he was sworn in.

If we simply add the fact that those who oppose him give him low marks we can easily see the correct answer to “how is Obama doing in his first 100 days?”

The answer is that 100 days is too soon to tell how Obama will fare over the course of 1461 days (or 2922 days for two terms). This is perfectly typical. We could not have known after 100 days what things Bush was going to do well and which things he was going to botch horribly over his two terms. The same can be said of Clinton or any of his predecessors.

So, Happy 100 Days Mr. President. May my greatest hopes for your tenure be realized or at least may we come closer to my greatest hopes than we come to my greatest fears.

Tags Bush, Clinton, history, media, NPR, Obama

culture National

“Our Hands Are Tied”

Despite rumors to the contrary, this country is still based on the rule of law – especially when the law favors a guy who has a "bonus" in excess of $6 Million dollars coming to him. By now almost everybody has certainly heard about the $165 Million of bonuses being paid to AIG execs. In a discussion on NPR this morning Renée Montagne asked why the government could not cancel the payments considering that they own 80% of AIG through their $170 Billion in bailouts. The answer was that the government can’t just rip up an existing contract because this is a country ruled by law. That is a nice answer that is true on the surface so long as you only give it a passing glance in near total darkness. Just since the beginning of this year Congress has passed a law allowing judges to rewrite the terms of an existing, legal mortgage contract. (I use that example not because it is better or worse than nullifying the payments of bonuses stipulated in a legal employment contract but because it is so similar to what we are saying can’t be done because we are a country ruled by law.)

The question remains, what does all this mean. We do not actually want to become a country where the government can come alter a private, legal agreement anytime they decide it would be a good idea to do so. Let’s see what we can learn from some of the options that have been proposed.

Tear Up the Contracts

If we want to admit that we are not a country that follows our own laws this would be the best course of action. That’s not going to happen because it runs contrary to our sensibilities as a nation. We may break our own laws, but we won’t admit it openly like this. A "bonus" that is guaranteed is no bonus, it’s a salary – one that these executives have proven they don’t deserve. A company that would offer or even accept an employee on such compensation terms should not be receiving a government bailout – in fact it should not even be in business.

Executives Voluntarily Forgo Their "Bonuses"

This would be the morally correct course of action for those who stand to receive their bonuses. This won’t happen because those who will receive the bonuses know that having AIG on their resume for 2008 may make them virtually unemployable for a while if they ever need another job. They also know that AIG is not financially sound even with the government money it has received so they can’t be assured that their current jobs won’t evaporate. They are going to take what they can get legally for as long as they can so that they can ride whatever storms may come their way.

Give Them Another Bailout

This one won’t sound popular on the surface – and it won’t happen either – but I have to throw it in here. This was an early idea of mine. The government should offer AIG another bailout that would be structured like so – The government gives AIG another $135 Million in bailout money on the condition that all those who stand to receive bonuses sign a contract that nullifies their bonuses – thus the company receive the benefit of an extra $300 Million while the taxpayers only foot another $135 Million of the bill. If AIG refuses the offer (which they would) it would prove that they don’t need the money as much as we were told to believe they were – just like the stories on NPR this morning about all the banks who are opting out of the TARP funds because of the "excessive" restrictions that Congress has written into the TARP legislation (plus those who want to opt out, but aren’t sure they can). The fact is that many of the businesses that are taking our government funny money are doing so because it’s being offered more than because they need it. (Why put yourself at a competitive disadvantage if you can stomach the attached strings?) I hope that Congress continues to make these funds more and more restrictive.

Reduce Their Salaries to $1 for 2009

I wish (but doubt) that the nation is not foolish enough to fall for this ploy. This is the most likely course of action because it is the one that AIG has proposed. Most of the people getting these bonuses should not even be employed based on their past performance. Reducing their salaries would be a generous act even if we were to also strip their bonuses. Besides, they may take a salary of $1 for the year, but they will also take a new bonuses next year after our outrage has died down (and they’ll weather our new outrage again if need be). Most of them are receiving bonuses that exceed the annual income of the majority of American households. They can live on the $1 salary comfortably if they want to because of the bonuses that that "punishment" would allow them to take.

Tags bailout, Constitution, laws, money, NPR

culture

Breaking the News

I have been learning a lot from Breaking the News and noticing my perspectives on media, politics, politicians, and public debate changing. If I could spend about two uninterrupted days I would love to write a full reaction to the book. As it is I am planning to write a series of posts focusing on different aspects of the subject that the books covers. If anyone wants to get a headstart on me so they can debunk my thoughts (or enhance my understanding) they could prepare themselves by reading chapters 1, 4, and 5 of the book (possibly later chapters will be added to the list).

Also, I realized a flaw this morning in my assumtions to the question I asked yesterday. The assumption were that newspapers disappeared but radio and television remained. If that were the case little if anything would change because NPR (radio) already does as good a job at thoughtful commentary and reporting as most or all of our current newspapers.

Tags book review, media, NPR

National

The Best Day to Vote

As a perpetual proponent of incresing voter turnout, I enjoyed considering the story on NPR about Rethinking The Tuesday Vote. I’m not sure when voters would be noticable less busy than Tuesday – especially considering that we would not want the vote to be on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday as each of those days is sacred to one major religion or another. If we ever find an easy way to increase voter turnout that would not cost lots of money we should do it. (I thinkthat changing the day of the week would be easy to implement so long as there is advanced warning.)

Tags civic participation, elections, NPR, voting

culture State

Embracing Broad Perspectives

Post author By David
Post date April 28, 2008
5 Comments on Embracing Broad Perspectives

I was listening to a story on NPR about young Indians abroad returning to help their country. One statement that caught my attention was the assertion that Indians who have lived in Western cultures have experienced the problems and some of the attempts to fix problems that the West has been dealing with for decades and which the Indian culture and economy are just beginning to experience as the economy there expands. Because of their perspectives from other nations they have a unique ability to help India avoid some pitfalls that the West has seen – if enough people will listen to them.

Later I was having a conversation about transportation issues in Utah and it occurred to me that the same phenomenon applies here. People in Utah who have spent appreciable time back East in areas of higher population density are much more likely to be supportive of mass transit options, tolling, and other transportation options that are often distasteful to those who have lived in the sprawling west all their lives. If those with the perspective of having lived back East are heard we might be able, as Utah continues in its rapid population growth, to avoid some pitfalls such as becoming another concrete urban jungle like Los Angeles. Only if we start making better use of transportation infrastructure options besides increasing amounts of asphalt.

Trax is good, FrontRunner is good, but lets try to make sure that such transportation options are part of the fabric of the area, not just an anomaly that feeds people into the downtown Salt lake City area.

Tags FrontRunner, international, NPR, transportation

State

Myth Perpetuation

Just as our Task Force is getting started, NPR has a story on John McCain’s perspective on the issue. They outline his preferred approach – which seems generally right, and then they perpetuate one of the myths that might sink any meaningful reform.

“The problem is not that most Americans lack adequate health insurance — the vast majority of Americans have private insurance, and our government spends billions each year to provide even more,” McCain has said. “The biggest problem with the American health care system is that it costs too much.”

McCain wants to get people to buy their own insurance, rather than get it through their jobs. NPR’s Julie Rovner reports that McCain would accomplish this in a variety of ways: giving people tax credits, encouraging more people to set up tax-advantaged health savings accounts, and letting them buy insurance policies across state lines.

And no mandates for McCain. If you don’t want health insurance, you don’t have to get it.

What do you think of this plan? Would tax breaks encourage you to buy your own insurance? Is a mandate to have health care a good or bad idea? (emphasis added)

A mandate that everyone be insured is not a mandate that they have good health care (it would be impossible to mandate that everyone have good health care). Health Insurance ≠ Health Care. So long as we confuse the two the insurance industry will sway the debate in their own favor. Giving everyone insurance, no matter what method you use, will not guarantee that they have good health care.

As our Utah task force held their first meeting (which I could not attend) I was worried that they would not actively try to include consumers among their stakeholders, leaving the influence to industry professionals and lobbyists. I was very encouraged as I listened to the audio of the meeting when Senator Killpack listed consumers among the five major stakeholders for the task they are tackling.

Tags health care, myths, NPR