Oath of Office

Enough of this divisive, Woke, Socialist, Counter Culture crap! It's time to return to our governing doctrine’s premise that promoted life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, our Declaration of Independence and Constitution. I have no idea how these dissidents managed to gain such a loud voice in our democracy in our society, but it’s time to put a stop to it. Our representatives in State and Federal offices have performed a disservice to their electorate, and to their country, in flaunting their solemn oath of office as stated in the constitution when they solemnly swore they would support and defend it against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that they will bear true faith and allegiance to the same—time to hold their feet to the fire for their lack of compliance. 

Schumer Twist

Chuck Schumer’s editorial in the WSJ recently attests to how the left is trying to spin the Republican's criticism of investment managers' ability to use ESG (environmental, social, and governance standards) as somehow “tying investors' hands.” Seriously, when did implementing more regulations ever result in more investment options?  “Let the market work,” says Schumer suggesting that a hands-off policy will lead “naturally” to the “consideration of ESG factors.”  Rubbish. Infecting markets with woke ideology will not pave the way to more investor options. “Eliminating ESG would do the opposite,” he says, “forcing their views down the throats of every company and investor.” By their, he means Republicans. But isn’t the imposition of ESG standards forcing woke ideology down those same throats?  Of course not, because it’s the left’s ideology.  The point that everyone is missing is that the Republican proposal is essentially a regulation to prevent more regulation. 

Retirees Beware

None of the blue states are exactly kind to retirees, some more so than others. Yet, it continues to amaze me when our elected officials keep using Social Security as a political football, knowing the program is headed toward insolvency as early as 2035. But never do they address Medicaid funding. Instead, we keep importing more low-skilled immigrants who will require public assistance. Between SNAP, the new catchy non-stigmatizing acronym for food stamps, home heating assistance, rent subsidy, WIC, a women, infants, and children supplemental food assistance program, and a myriad of other programs to benefit the poor, the average Medicaid recipient receives upwards of $60000 a year in benefits. And in Blue states like New York, 36% of the population is enrolled in the program. That’s 7.3 million people bellied up to the public trough. Granted, that number includes the truly needy and the disabled. But how many of those are non-disabled?  It’s not like the state social services will keep track of fraud; that system is understaffed and overwhelmed, particularly with New York State requiring social workers to have a master's degree. And is there an incentive to get off the program?  Or to have fewer children? Of course not. Instead, our government chooses to ignore the elderly, those who worked hard and paid into the system, choosing to heap more benefits on the non-productive segment of the population. In a word: Unsustainable.  And another: unethical. 

Disappointing Cavuto

Listening to Neil Cavuto do a piece praising the 4-day work week based on a British study that has shown that four days is somehow more productive than 5, and remote workers are more productive than those at the office. Really? Have those folks been on the roads at 2:00 in the afternoon on a workday?  I’m going to have to call him  on this one, he lacks the perspective to make such an endorsement. There’s no way workers are miraculously 25% more productive when literally left to their own devices: surrounded by kids, television, the refrigerator, PlayStation calling to them, and the dog at the door.  Not to mention that highly addictive cell phone burring on the dining room table. Decisions, decisions. Respond to the office email or check my watch list on eBay. And how exactly are they measuring productivity? It’s not manufacturing, so there’s no product to measure. Is this perhaps just more internet sleight of hand? In my experience, I have found my post-Covid attorneys, payroll specialists, customer service reps, insurance representatives, and accountants less responsive, more difficult to track down and speak to directly, and more content to communicate by email. It may be perceived as “work,” but to the consumer, it is less convenient, less timely, and certainly less efficient.

Science Spun

Yesterday I was barraged on my commute to work and the ride home by NPR in full attack mode, claiming Governor Ron DeSantis is introducing “anti-trans” legislation in Florida. NPRs premise is that early intervention with puberty blockers, cross-sex hormone treatment, and surgery are all “gender-affirming” care that “saves lives.” To plead their case, they interviewed two mothers of trans children and one female endocrinologist who cited examples of intervention that allowed their trans-kids to “blossom” into their true selves and “thrive” while stating that the science supports gender affirmation treatment with a long history of documented success. Ahem. No, it does not. Granted, with politics creeping insidiously into the scientific literature, I’m sure you can find an article somewhere to support your thesis, no matter how far out of the mainstream it may be. And recall that in the field of psychology, the majority of data from studies in the field cannot be reliably reproduced. The respected journal Nature determined “over half” of the studies could not be reproduced, and NPR themselves reported that only 13 of 21 selected studies showed the ability to have the data duplicated. A large collaborative study found reproducibility in only 39 of 100 studies. In fact, European literature seems to have determined that those that underwent irreversible procedures were, in many cases, more likely to suffer from regret and suicide. And they’ve been at it a lot longer than we have. And whatever happened to the psychiatric community lecturing us about the development of the adolescent brain being incomplete until the age of 23?  So now we will allow children going through puberty, perhaps the most confusing time in their lives, bombarded with mixed messages courtesy of the internet, to make irreversible decisions about their bodies and their development. We don’t even allow those under the age of 18 to get tattoos, yet we are considering letting them make decisions about genital mutilation.  And how do you explain a Missouri fifth-grade grade peer group, where after one member “came out” as transgender, all the other females in the group suddenly decided they were transgender as well?  And then, a Missouri transgender clinic subsequently advised that the school must affirm all of them as transgender. Fifth graders are 11 years old, you idiots. Is there an adult in the room? Or maybe a medical professional without an agenda? It seems that all the professionals weighing in are specialists in the field of gender affirmation treatment or work in a facility that , offers gender reassignment interventions. Rarely do we hear from those who don’t benefit from promoting gender affirmation treatment, and almost always the self-anointed experts, or the parent pleading their case, is female. Why is that?  Is this fad or fashion? Yet another social media driven aberration spiking right along with the parallel increase in mental health issues associated with teenage girls and the rise of Facebook, Instagram and Tik-Tok?  With the proven fallibility of studies in psychiatry, the proven increase in anxiety and depression amongst teenage females, the groupthink cases of trans identity, and suppression of data contrary to the growing gender affirmation industry, perhaps DeSantis is a voice of reason in seeking to prevent knee-jerk reactions to implement irreversible medical procedures to treat a poorly understood phenomenon.

Morning Blues

Listening to the news while reading a recent WSJ article set me off on the wrong foot this morning. The article advises NY having 36% of its residents on Medicaid, a figure the state says we “should be proud of” because NY ranks 8th lowest in uninsured. Our enrollment has gone up 57% in the last decade. How is this sustainable? It annoys me to no end when I hear our politicians talk about how social security will cease to exist after 2035 without intervention to raise taxes or decrease reimbursement to providers. This after most recipients worked their whole lives paying into the system. But does anybody ever talk about reducing the Medicaid roll, cutting benefits, or reinstalling work incentives? Never. Why is that? If ever there was a government program rife with fraud and abuse…..that’s it. My head is exploding.

Contradictions

 It amazes me how we choose to apply discrimination in the name of equity wantonly. Recall equality relates to equal opportunity, whereas equity ensures equal outcomes. What could go wrong? We can now discriminate on the basis of race in college admissions, medical school admissions, and admission to pilot training programs in the airline industry. We are waiving tools to measure academic performance, no longer requiring students to take the PSAT, the SAT, MCATs, and LSATs, all proven yardsticks to predict academic success.  Advanced placement courses in high schools are being eliminated for being discriminatory towards students who can’t perform to the standards required for placement. Students like those in Baltimore where, despite an expenditure of $17500 per student, precisely zero students are grade proficient in mathematics. The democrat solution, of course, will be to throw more money at the problem despite studies showing no correlation between expenditure and performance or just eliminate the achievement tests altogether and push these kids through the system. Perhaps the Baltimore school superintendent needs additional incentives beyond their $444,000 yearly salary to improve academic performance. Just keep moving the goalposts. Like a recent study showing that Swedes are the happiest citizens on earth, the conclusion was we just have to change the definition of happiness, and we too can be just as happy. Really?  As comedian Billy Connolly once opined: “times may change, but standards must remain.