Healthcare Repeal, Tax "Reform" and Wealth Inequality

From my perspective there are a couple of forms of wealth. One is the product of creating significant value through research, innovation, high-risk and subsequently reward. Wealth and value creation through this method generally rewards investors, executives and in a business that is structured well -also creates wealth for its employees.

The second (and shadowy method) is related to transfers of wealth -not creation of value. An example of this would be a $200 million dollar estate that's divided among a couple of heirs. No societal value or innovation occurred -the heirs just receive massive trust funds. While it could be argued that the estate was created through innovation -it's likely that it was accumulated through major advantages such as being subjected to very low tax rates for many years or in the case of some -no taxes at all (much lower rates than a working person would have to pay). In a post-Citizens United America -each generation of wealth becomes more insulated and removed from the hardship and challenge of everyday life. At the same time -they become far more powerful and influential in the political process.

This NY Times article titled "Behind New Obamacare Repeal Vote: ‘Furious’ G.O.P. Donors" helps describe why wealth accumulation (and wealth inequality) is important. If asked, the majority of people in America (whether GOP or Dem voters, conservatives or liberals) would likely say that we need a healthcare system that provides effective patient outcomes, is affordable, provided timely care and left no person without access to care -most people would say "yes, we want that". The challenge would then shift to cost containment and massive system redesign (including Big Pharma and a cultural shift from reactive care to preventative) to provide high quality, cost-effective care for all.

While much of the focus until September 30th will be on the Graham-Cassidy ACA repeal bill (that by all accounts from non-partisan analysis would have disastrous consequences for millions of Americans) there will also begin to be pressure upon "tax reform". There are many obscenely wealthy people dictating these policies to the GOP -so they can save billions of dollars in taxes -and shift the responsibility for our federal budget and national debt to working Americans as well as our impoverished. These serve as important examples of why extreme wealth inequality is antithetical to a representative democracy. When a very small percentage of the privileged few can drive legislation and policy that benefits no one except for themselves -"We the People" are no longer being represented by government. If we study Kansas -we can see the impact of the "Trump/Ryan/McConnell" version of "reform". It's tax cuts that provide massive benefit to their wealthy benefactors, followed by massive deficits -which translate into slashing public education, social safety nets, elderly and youth programs, affordable housing and other vital programs. (Originally posted on https://civ.works)

GOP, Wealth and Climate

There is a fundamental problem with "adapting" to climate change as former ExxonMobil CEO (and now Secretary of State Rex Tillerson) states in an article from five years back when he describes all of us as stupid and the press as lazy. 

The issue is economics. Not everyone has $250 million in assets as Rex does. "Exxonasaurus Rex" might believe that if one of your homes is inundated with flood water -you simply take your family to one of your other homes -perhaps a flat in Manhattan, your ranch in Montana or your expansive Spanish-style home in Southern California.

Tillerson's $5.6 Million Dollar Washington DC Home (Adapting well!)

The issue of "adapting" that Rex speaks of is related to wealth. While this Administration embraces coal, tar sands, coastal oil drilling, pipelines through aquifers and sacred lands -they have no concern about your economic ability to "adapt". 

The perspective of the Trump Administration is -if you are the CEO of Energy Transfer Partners or have a significant amount of your wealth parked in ExxonMobil, Chevron or others in the extraction industry -we will protect you and benefit you (and please keep those big campaign contributions rolling in).

From the GOP perspective if you haven't acquired significant wealth -you are probably voting for the wrong people anyway -so we hope you are all strong swimmers.

This is why we must create our own "people-powered" massive voting wave in 2018 and beyond. Without bold climate action -it may already be too late for the survival of future generations. We cannot afford another Administration, Congress, Governors or State Legislatures that are putting profit and wealth concentration for their largest donors above a livable planet. If we are still arguing about email servers -we will be as responsible as climate deniers for a future of misery inflicted upon our children and grandchildren. 

The Glaring Flaw in James Damore's Memo on Bias ("Google's Ideological Echo Chamber")

James Damore, Ex-Google Engineer

James Damore was terminated from Google on August 7, 2017 after publishing his July, 2017 memo about bias at Google titled "Google's Ideological Echo Chamber -how bias clouds our thinking about diversity and inclusion".

I have some experience with publishing famous (infamous?) letters -just preceding my departure from another major SF area technology company -Oracle.

Mr. Damore's memo provoked many comments, thoughts and reactions -as any discussion about bias and inclusion should. American society remains deeply divided and until we can have respectful discussions on issues where we sharply disagree -there may be law, regulation and enforcement however if there is not a conceptual understanding of the fundamental issue we will never heal our divide.

Mr. Damore understands the controversy his memo creates and prefaces it with a section near the beginning. When making many of  the assumptions -he provides evidence and a compelling case to support his perspective.

Nevertheless -the reason I find his argument to be seriously flawed is it makes an assumption that all opportunity, gender/race constructs and other attributes in American society in general are equal. My experience with both women and men over nearly 40 years in the technology industry is that when women are in engineering or leadership roles they are often stronger and more resilient than their male counterparts because they have had to overcome gender-based bias and societal convention.

From a race perspective consider the African American experience in our society. Often people in technology are insulated from being precluded from voting, having to sit at the back of a bus, not being allowed into diners, and treated as less of a person than another purely on the basis of the color of skin. And while we think about this in terms of American history -it's not history -it's the brutal reality many face today not knowing if their child is going to suffer the consequence of violence on the streets or at the hands of the very people who are paid to protect society. If you believe that affirmative action programs have fully addressed racial injustice in America -I urge you to play the game of Monopoly with a few friends.

You can travel around the board -however you, specifically are not allowed to own property your first twenty times around the board. After those twenty times around the board you receive some advantage -perhaps to recognize this unjust history -you are allowed to purchase any property that still exists at 10% off. The issue is after generations of inequality -the game has already been decided and you have been crushed under the weight of vast wealth disparity. I know this greatly oversimplifies the experience -however it is a simple example of a corrective behavior having minor impact after generations of injustice does not address root cause.

From Rebecca Onion's Slate Article

Back to considering gender, a quick review of any article such as Rebecca Onion's Slate article “Unclaimed Treasures of Science” would have provided new and important input into Damore's perspective and perhaps corrected or evolved his analysis which is misinformed and misguided. When you begin to try to solve a complex multi-term mathematical equation and you begin with a deeply flawed assumption -the outcome is wrong.

It's also a very important reason we must teach real history in school -so future generations can make their own mistakes -not repeat the brutal mistakes of past generations based upon faulty or missing knowledge. We must fully teach history -what we've gotten right and what we've gotten wrong for the benefit of the future.

The initial reaction to attack or embrace Damore's memo however causes many to miss a very important point. We do need the space in our society to have thoughtful and respectful discourse about areas of passionate disagreement. Government intervention to address inequity and injustice in our system will remain important until we can have such difficult conversations free from judgement, fear and retribution. Damore talks about this as "Psychological Safety". If Damore had an environment where these issues and people's generational experiences could be shared in a non-threatening manner -Damore certainly has the intellectual capacity (and hopefully the empathy) to adjust his perspective.

The launch of civ.works

We believe that our society is too often divided into political teams, polarized and paralyzed. We see a wave of negative political ads, stories of corruption, and simply tune them out in an effort to disenfranchise ourselves. We see government—not as a group of people that represent us—but as people separate from ourselves as citizens. We might feel the wealthiest Americans are not taxed fairly. We might feel overburdened with taxes, debt and regulation.

We claim the other side lives in a bubble.

The other side claims we live in a bubble.

This one-sided divide, however, isn’t always present. At times of great tragedy, for instance, we see the compassion and generosity of people who open their hearts to those suffering the consequences of an earthquake, flooding, or fire—regardless of party lines. During such times we see people around the world coming together as one, all sharing the same sky.

It’s not just in moments of tragedy when these divides close. Looking  inside a classroom and seeing children of different races, genders, and belief systems learning together shows how unified our country can be. The observation of two different families living under vastly different circumstances, yet yearning for the same things, immediately tightens the divide. Ultimately, we all want many of the same things: Safe, good tasting drinking water. Smog-free air to breathe under a blue sky. Opportunity for our children to receive an education, and learn a trade or a profession that leads them to live better lives and have more opportunities than past generations.

These are some of the thoughts behind civ.works. The idea that there are more things that unite us than divide us. That we want similar things for our families and our future.

WHAT WE HAVE BUILT

We are building a comprehensive web and mobile social platform for civic engagement. The social part of civ.works has launched. It is a privacy-protected, invite-only social network.

• Privacy-protected means we do not sell your data to anyone. Your profile data, your likes, your comments and posts are all yours. This is very important. Many of you may know that political operatives used the data from major social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter to further manipulate and divide us with fake news and propaganda during the most recent election cycle.
• Invite-only is important for a few reasons. We think it will help us control the number of people that sign on to social media to simply troll and and disrespect others. It also helps us cautiously grow and plan our data center needs so we can provide a good, responsive experience for the civ.works community.

The service costs $3.99 per month to use (however it is free to members of the academic community with .edu email addresses).

This is because we don't sell advertising or your data. When you sign up,you are helping us cover the costs of a small core staff, the hosting expenses, and most importantly:completing the rest of the software engineering for a comprehensive platform.

WHAT’S COMING NEXT

Next month (March) we will launch the "Action" part of civ.works.

Regardless of the party in power, a new administration leads to  policy changes that impact a variety of issues, including:

• Healthcare
• Education
• Climate
• Voter rights
• Civil rights
• Immigration
• Women's Rights
• Retirement security
• Environmental issues
• Foreign policy
• Taxation
• Local employment

If any of these issues are important to you, civ.works is the place for you to take action. We understand that with each issue there might be twenty different organizations competing for your time and money. There are a lot of civic action-based organizations out there, and the worst case scenario is a case of "action fatigue".

That’s why civ.works will focus on providing you with time-sensitive actions, aggregated and presented to you with clear options so you can engage t with only  the issues most important to you based on location. Instead of trying to keep up with many different lists,emails, or Facebook groups, civ.works makes civic engagement as easy, organized, and succinct as possible for the entire community.

Later this year we will add the "Aspire" part of civ.works. This is where we bring people together, to build consensus on the issues we have in common and work together toward societal outcomes, -whatever the issue,and regardless of political side. We don't believe you have to be a Republican to want a growing economy and you don't have to be a Democrat to want to enjoy a clear blue sky.

We hope you will join us and become part of our growing civ.works community. We are building something very powerful—together.

Once more unto the breach, dear friends

As we struggle with an effective way forward there are critical areas I will be working to address -and am happy to collaborate with all that believe as I do (regardless of political ideology) -that the incoming Executive Branch represents a clear and present danger to America and the world.

1. Protect and defend: When I think of our most vulnerable -I think of the impoverished, people of color, undocumented workers, refugees, Muslims, indigenous people and the LGBTQ community. I must now add a whole new sector of people -scientists. I had some recent discussions with people on the research edge -working to solve horrific disease such as ALS and Parkinson's or addressing catastrophic climate change. They are now under very real threat of being fired, ostracized or worse -without the protection they once had by our Federal government. These are people we should celebrate as heroes. Whether you are a Democrat, Republican -regardless -these brave men and women are trying to ease human suffering, improve our quality of life and help guide our decision-making so there is less risk to people and planet. I am deeply disturbed by this horrific new attitude toward those dedicated to the furtherance of human knowledge.

2. Educate and Inform: In a well-informed (predicated upon fact, not propaganda) and educated society -we would not elect and provide nuclear codes to a failed game show host. While some have said to be patient with the President-elect -his choice of Steve Bannon -and every Cabinet post selection has created nothing but extreme concern (with the possible exception of someone with the nickname "Mad Dog") -we know that there will be no room for negotiation -the intent is to assail American society on all fronts to serve as a distraction for the real objective -the consolidation of wealth and power. There must be meaningful conversations everywhere about the role of politics and economics in our daily lives -predicated upon facts. It can't just be in university classrooms or the left talking to itself. People do need to understand that when WalMart enriches its shareholders by $6.8 billion dollars while WalMart workers file for $6.2 billion in relief from poverty -THAT IS A TAX -and a tax of the worst kind -an externality. It is not creating value, strengthening America or growing the economy -it's merely moving money from working Americans to the wealthiest Americans. I am evaluating emerging platforms that provides a chain of custody for the flow of information such that it is not opinion built upon a foundation of propaganda to look like news.

3. Focus on Outcomes: When we begin from purely a liberal or conservative perspective and argue about social welfare versus corporate welfare, forests versus jobs, taxes as an investment versus taxes as a burden -what is it that we are really saying? I do not know any liberals that want a system that rewards unemployment. I can't think of any conservatives (with the possible exception of Dick Cheney) that would say -go ahead and inject toxic chemicals near our drinking water supply. We must work to agree on the results we all want for a strong, growing and united America. When we shift to outcomes -we have far more in common then when we argue about specific policy. Let's get back to what we have in common as Americans -then let's look at the best path to implement legislation and economic policy in a manner that is accountable, transparent and participatory for all.

4. Achieve Scale: A handful of people can help influence -however ultimately it is masses of people necessary to drive imperative change in government -in a sustained way. We will not agree with everyone on everything. We must remain focused on the greater good and remain united. Divided we are marginalized and conquered. One minute we are arguing about an email server -the next minute Rex Tillerson is being given the keys to the White House -and to drilling for Oil in the Arctic and everywhere else. Betsy DeVos is placed in charge of the public education system she seeks to destroy. We must understand the big picture. I will not get everything I want -but I will still work shoulder to shoulder with you to strengthen America and to improve the quality and dignity of life everywhere.

I'm presently looking at open source technology components and how to quickly amass capacity to build a platform for both on and offline methods to address the points above and am grateful for all that seek to extend, evolve and participate.

Wake the f*ck up America ...

With the CIA report about Russia hacking both Democrats and Republican servers (but only releasing Hillary/Democrats email), Trump imploring Russia to hack Hillary's emails, Trump's former campaign chair Paul Manafort's ties to Russia and reporting of Trump computers communicating with Russian based computers -

How much additional evidence do we need to know that Trump encouraged Russian interference in the 2016 election, at a minimum people working for Trump had a financial stake in a favorable relationship with Russia and then Russian actors did interfere with the election.

During Gore v. Bush -as battles to stop the recounts by then Governor Jeb Bush, Secretary of State Katherine Harris and others -Democrats meekly accepted the results of a clearly tainted election -and as a result, massive tax cuts for the wealthy, two wars with no exit strategy, subsequent chaos in the Middle East (that we are still mired in today) and our economy on the brink of collapse.

Are we going to sit around and do the same thing 16 years later? The future of our children and grandchildren are at stake. We need a clear understanding from the President, the Department of Justice, the NSA and the CIA to assure us that we will have an elected President -not the installation of a Russian puppet.

The Electoral College should be legally precluded from voting until a full scale and thorough investigation is complete and that we have a path forward in these uncharted waters. Simply shrugging our shoulders and moving forward with Trumputin is spitting in the face of everyone that has suffered, bled and died for our aspirations of democracy.

http://www.slate.com/…/was_a_server_registered_to_the_trump…

https://psmag.com/foreign-interference-in-american-election…

http://www.nytimes.com/…/paul-manafort-ukraine-donald-trump…

http://www.reuters.com/…/us-usa-election-cyber-russia-idUSK…

Election 2016 -The Autopsy Report

The biggest failure I see is the continuing lack of resources for a sustaining engine for progressives/liberals. We have never developed a well-funded counter to the Lewis Powell memo -which built and continues to provide the engine for the GOP political machine that grows more powerful in every election cycle.

We continue to react to every fire that is started -instead of bringing together labor, environmentalists, women's rights organizations, youth groups, the LGBTQ community and many more. We work in silo's. We've abandoned some Red states completely.

Ask yourself this -in a well-educated, well-informed society could Trump (or a Tom Cotton, or a Dennis Richardson) happen? Could Oregon Measure 97 lose?

We can blame superdelegates. We can blame Hillary, We can blame Bernie. We can blame the DNC. But at the end of the day -we fund candidates. We provide resources (to great groups that deserve them when they are under siege -like NARAL Pro-Choice America or Planned Parenthood). But what are we doing really?

We are reacting to every battle in every cycle -trying to convince a less educated and less informed populace why progressive/liberal ideas are better for all of us. We give up or laugh at people with "Government out of my Medicare" signs. I do it. However -they each represent OUR FAILURE. When people think government is our problem (when we the people are government). When people believe that the Affordable Care Act is standing between them and affordable health insurance and actually causing rates to climb (without the understanding of the relationship between Insurance industry or Big Pharma executive pay and bonuses).

We will send $27 to Bernie. We will send $27 to Hillary. And that's still important -but we are reacting. The time to become proactive was after the 2000 cycle. It's been 16 years and what have we done? What have we built? Courageous people like Sheldon Drobny and Anita Drobny founded and built Air America -they poured their heart and their own resources into it -and it paved the road for two terms of President Obama. But when they tried to raise money for progressive media infrastructure -who was there for them?

We need a media platform, rapid response capability, a people's counter to ALEC (the people that unleashed "Stand Your Ground" -never forget Trayvon Martin), and an easy method for all of us to participate and engage politically and economically (participatory democracy and budgeting). The tools we need are out there -but if we don't bring them and people together -and fund the effort -we will be fire fighting until we are all consumed by fire. http://civ.works can help build a platform for our future -and bring people together across ideologies -and you may think it's an interesting concept -but will you help us fund it? Will you contribute $5, $10, $20 a month to help proactively build OUR machine -while I personally continue to reach out to Our Revolution, Brand New Congress, Revolution Messaging, Represent.us, the State Innovation Exchange and others to work cooperatively?

When we lose school board races and the right wing controls the textbooks -how do we reach into communities and counter the redaction of climate change? The removal of slavery, the trail of tears or other history from our textbooks in which our societal actions have been horrific (because they are not "patriotic" enough) is abhorrent.

We need our version of the "machine". And it doesn't mean we give up what we are doing -our architecture needs to allow local autonomy and action -but provide the mechanism for all of us to work together in a coordinated and cooperative way. If we don't begin now -we will continue to erode any hope or chance for the America we know we could build for the future that is possible -predicated upon opportunity, justice, courage and community.