Letter to Senator Boxer

Office of U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer

112 Hart Senate Office Building

Washington, D. C. 20510

October 29, 2010

Honorable Senator Boxer:

I am writing to vent my frustrations, of course. Why else does anyone write to a member of Congress? I am also including a few suggestions to clean up the political election process. What a mess this mid-term election has been. The lies, distortion, deception, half-truths and scams we've had to listen to and that a mind-boggling $4.2 Billion dollars spent during this election is deplorable. How did we get here? I would like to hear Chief Justice Robert's opinion now about the Supreme Court's Citizen United decision. Do you think he would have a clue about how bad that decision was? Frankly, I doubt it. Even those touted to be the most intelligent legal minds we have in America appear to be idiots. Do something about that disastrous Supreme Court decision.

I have already voted – by mail. I voted for you. I presume it will be counted, but with all of the corruption in this election, I, for the first time in my life, have my doubts about that. I don't know who is honest and who isn't any more. I also have to tell you that my vote was only to keep the Democrats in power in the Senate and not because of anything the Democrats have accomplished in the past two years. In this election I can truly say that handing over the Senate to Republican obstructionist would be a disaster. A disaster, I'll add, that would be even worse than the financial disaster those very same Republicans caused. We would literally be handing over our government to corporate special interests. Of course, nobody knows which Senator or Representative, Democrat or Republican or Independent, is taking more from the super PACs, Chamber of Commerce or Karl Rove's Crossroads GPS, so I may have voted for you and you may have the greatest debt to special interest for a quid pro quo vote that I find offensive. Who knows except you and your campaign manager, Senator Feinstein? I hope she reads this letter too, because she is just as susceptible to lobbyist and big money as you are. In fact, I hope you pass this letter around – including Republicans – because I don't see a single Senator who has a clue about what “the people” really want or need – even when Mitch McConnell spouts off about “the people” with every other word. If anyone is more clueless than spineless Democrats, it's Mitch McConnell. It should be glaringly clear that corruption in politics and truth and honesty in elections trumps all other important issues in this country, even unemployment and climate change. I never thought that I would live to see the day where so many nuts (Tea Party, if you like) are candidates for offices in our U. S. Congress and that our very democracy and Constitution is threatened by corruption. How do we fix a broken country when every member of Congress is corrupt? It can't be done.

That brings me to my first point, the most important issue in this country as far as I'm concerned, and that is to once and for all make political elections and the actions of members of Congress transparent. I'm talking about the whole spectrum of politics, from your votes on bills and why you voted the way you did, who you get money from, the lobbyist you talk to, the super PACs and PACs you receive money from, a cross reference from those who give you money to the bills you vote on and to your beliefs and ideology. With all of the capability of the Internet, I find it odd that Congressional behavior is still secret or so hard to pin down that it spins one's head. As far as I'm concerned, transparency in politics should be law of the land all the way down to the lowest electable office in a local community, the county clerk. If you think that's impossible, then think again. If Google can create a world-wide search engine that finds literally anything and everything anywhere, including a picture of your house, tracking the money to and actions of elected officials is a piece of cake. The other odd thing about this country's attempts to create a transparent political process is that all non-partisan organizations are non-profit organizations that depend solely on donations. Why is it that “we,” “the people” must donate hard earned dollars for a transparent process? How long does an organization that depends on charity last? Only as long as there is public interest. That's bizarre! OpenCongress.org is a perfect example. It is desperately needed, yet we must voluntarily pay for it. Why isn't it, or something like it, paid for by Congress? Why isn't a project like that, searchable, cross referenced, an easy user friendly system, already up and running in the Library of Congress? It's certainly not because there is a lack of skills and capability in this country, so, do it.

I need to explain why I voted for you, but to do that, I need to explain why I didn't vote for your opponent. The reason I didn't vote for Carly Fiorina is the ideological rut that she's stuck in, the same ideology that has been sold as a bill of goods to us for the past 30 or 40 years and that ultimately caused our economic meltdown. She is a typical free, unleashed market capitalist who could care less about the serfs and peasants she hires and fires. Do I need any other proof than the thousands of jobs she sent overseas? Your campaign ad is correct about that. Ironically, all of us were sold the idea that capitalism was the great equalizer, the answer to economic equality the world over, that those overseas employers would eventually raise their standard of living to ours and all would be hunky-dory. It didn't happen and it never will. There is no utopia after all. But, do you get it? Do you understand what unleashed capitalism (Republican capitalism) has done to this country? Twice in the past one hundred years! You would think we would remember the history of only 80 years ago, but we didn't. Will we ever learn?

Here's what happened. Starting about 30 years ago in the 1970s the average wage of the middle class began to level out and decrease year after year. Only a few days ago a report was released that said, once again, that the average wage in America decreased again, to $505 per week. In all that time productivity has gone up; women started working, technology improved, automation improved, all to make the average worker super-productive – and super-profitable for companies. Hewlette Packard, for example, Carly's old company, earns $406,000 per employee according to the latest data on TD Ameritrade. As of last year, it had 304,000 employees world-wide and, even though its US employees average around $84,000, the huge number of its overseas employees more than likely bring the overall average HP wage down to $500 or less per week, $26,000 per year. So, HP made $380,000 profit per employee last year, some of which went directly into HP CEO's pocket just like it did in Fiorina's day. The real problem is that for the long term Hewlette Packard is doomed, along with all other companies doing the same thing, because nobody earning $500 a week can afford their laptops. The only way those wage earners, the consumer, can buy a laptop is to buy it on credit. And, we already know how far credit goes. Not very far. There is a limit, and then the economy crashes – we saw it happen. Meanwhile, all of that profit transferred to the rich and the banks who suddenly found themselves with so much cash that they devised even more complex schemes to make even more money, such as Credit Default Swaps that insure the risk. With wages down and deeply in debt, the consumer has nothing left to keep the economy running. By sending those jobs overseas, Carly Fiorina put a nail in America's coffin as sure as an invading army could have done. That's why I didn't vote for her.

What to do? The only thing left to do if you really want to get the economy going again, and the government out of debt, and America going again is to realign the tax burden to redistribute the wealth back to the middle class. Less taxes for the middle class and higher taxes for the rich and corporations. You will need also to, somehow, start bringing up the average wage to a level relative to productivity. You really have no choice in this. There are a whole host of social problems that have and will continue to occur if you don't, including declining education standards, increase in welfare, increase in healthcare costs, diseases, ignorance and all that goes with that. Do I need to explain everything? It is a national security problem that threatens the foundation of America. Anger, frustration, insurrection, violence are only the beginning. You're going to catch a lot of flack for this idea. It is a socialist idea. But, it turns out, that capitalism is just as dangerous as socialism or Marxism when taken to extremes . It should be obvious to even the man on the street that a little moderation in the use of both economic systems will work a lot better than the extremes of either. In fact, no government exists for long using one or the other system alone. When our consumers can afford the products companies produce without relying heavily on credit, this country will be restored and the American Dream will be restored. You have to do it. CEOs of corporations should support this idea, too. That's what they do; they sell stuff to consumers.

I should mention that Carly Fiorina also has a different idea about what the American Dream is. She believes that “the Dream” is all about becoming someone like her; getting to the top, filthy rich and all powerful. But, that never was the American Dream. That Dream was only that an average person could be employed, make a livable wage, have a family and enough money to educate its children and own a home and the amenities that go with that. That's it. Fiorina spoiled that for thousands of her employees as most other corporations did when they refused to find other ways to become more efficient. They took the easy way out and hurt America by doing it.

In any event, I appreciate the opportunity to vent my frustrations with Democratic leadership and the Party of “No.” I hope you take the opportunity of your reelection to actually get something done this time and stop trying to compromise with Republicans. You failed miserably by not passing a public healthcare option because of so-called compromise. They have repeatedly obstructed your efforts and they've already said they're not going to compromise, so take them at their word – don't even try. And, stop the nonsense of the two-thirds vote and filibuster and for God's sake get a Senate President with some balls. Maybe that's Senator Schumer if you retain the majority in the Senate. If not, then stonewall the Republicans. They have no good ideas.

Sincerely,

David Clark

cc: Carly Fiorina

Sam Zell, Just Another Lewd, Obscene Con Man after all.

When Sam Zell bought the Tribune Corporation, I thought the Contra Costa Times would be saved, as well as the Los Angeles Times. I read both of these newspapers and they were good newspapers back then. Man, was I mistaken, and naive. Sam Zell, it turned out, was just another con man out to make a bundle on the backs of the employees and the bankruptcy of a company. He was just another Private Equity firm that typically uses other people's money to make millions and ruins the companies they buy by putting it deeply in debt to pay themselves. Go look at the Simons Mattress Company as a good example. It's a miracle we have jobs in this country at all. The article, At Sam Zell’s Tribune, Tales of a Bankrupt Culture - NYTimes.com, says a lot. Back then, the details of the deal were not known to the general public. I thought that Zell had put up "all" of the money. It turns out that he used the employees' pension fund to pay for the greater majority of the cost of the Tribune leaving the employees with nothing. What a sleaze bag.

But, the Contra Costa Times continued to be a good newspaper for several months, then it was sold to the Bay Area News Group, a group of Sam Zell's buddies and part of the scam in the whole transaction, and the newspaper changed. You wouldn't have noticed the change, though, if you were not following the right-wing movement and didn't know the right-wing language. I noticed it. I knew the language and the antics they pull. The first thing I noticed was the advertisements in the form of fake news and the change in opinion columnists. The new columnists were decidedly right-wing. It came to a head for me in August 2009 and I sent this letter to Contra Costa Times warning them (as if I have any influence - laugh out loud!). The final straw prompted me to write this, because of a blatant lie printed in the Contra Costa Times as a pseudo-ad/news item. I cancelled my subscription. "It's only an ad," they editor said. "Why would you cancel because of an ad?" She asked. "Because it's a lie," I said. "If you can't write the truth, what good are you." I was pissed. "We present both sides," she said. "Bullshit isn't the side of anything," I said. Maybe I busted her eardrum when I slammed the phone down. But, I'm sure she went on oblivious to what she'd done and without the slightest tinge of regret, just another airhead.

At the same time I stopped reading the Los Angeles Times for the same reason. By that time, the editor at the L.A. Times had been fired because he refused to fire a few journalists. Zell, it was reported, wanted them fired because he was going to replace them with so-called "other" journalists who did nothing more than Google searches for the latest news, very similar to what I (and CNN) do, and are no better than news junkies and not real journalists at all. I began to have a different opinion of Zell and I began to search out news articles on Zell and learned that he's just another greedy, obscene con man.

There were a lot of articles about his con jobs, but two stand out as pure greed. The first was a report on his and Stewart Resnick's Kern County Water Bank, a huge man-made lake. While Resnick is the majority owner, Zell keeps his involvement hidden in the back rooms of Sacramento politicians. The big deal about the "Water Bank" is that California pays it to store water from the Sacramento Delta, a major habitat for every fresh-salt water fish that spawns in California rivers, so that water from the delta can be used for Southern California's population, primarily Los Angeles. The Bank is supposed to be managed to save both the delta and provide drinking water in an arid region. But, Resnick, and Zell, of course, don't do that. They are killing the delta. They are paid by the State of California to store the water, then they charge water utility companies in the south outrageous prices for the water, which, of course, are passed on to customers. They manage the water to keep prices high, you can bet on that. They could care less about the delta, or even if the delta is able to supply water to south in twenty years. They're happy if they get their short-term profit. It's all a sleazy water con job.

Zell's other con job had to do with rent controls in Contra Costa County. The county set limits on a number of mobile home parks to keep the rent low for low income, mostly elderly on Social Security, renters. The low rents, however, keep the property value low. Zell bought a number of those properties, about ten acres each, for less than $5 million each. That's an outrageously low price for California property! He then sic'd his 20-plus lawyer legal team on Contra Costa County to eliminate the rent controls, which, if eliminated, would cause the property values to raise to market value, $20 million or more for each property. When that didn't work, his legal team put a voter proposition on the county ballot to eliminate the controls by voter approval. I don't know whether that worked or not, but I hope it didn't.

Zell is a con man. There's no doubt about it. I see that Resnick is funding Jerry Brown's run for governor. I'm sorry to see that, if it's true. I'm sure Zell is in the mix as well. And, I'm sure that both are deeply involved with Meg Whitman, too, although maybe not with direct contributions to her campaign. She doesn't need outside donations. Wonder what would happen if everyone voted "None of the Above?" Would we get better choices on the ballot? Probably not. Is there an honest businessman or politician out there?

Dave

A Farmer's Freedom

Last night I watched most of this 2008 documentary (I missed the beginning), Food Inc, A Controversial PBS Documentary | HyTek Gamer, in which Monsanto Corporation, the huge agri-corporation based in St. Louis, MO., controls 90% of grain producing farms in America. Controlling more that 60% of any market used to be a monopoly, but maybe not anymore. And, it's a damned shame. When I was a kid working on my brother-in-law's and sister's farm, we kept some of the grain we harvested for seed for the next year; corn, soybeans and wheat in silos or barns. And, I got the impression, although I was way to young to understand, that we sold the extra seed we had on occasion, and once or twice gave it away to a few farmers that were really hurting. Farmers can't do any of that anymore, even very small farmers. In one example, a farmer who owned only three acres, hardly more than a gardener, grew soybeans for seed to sell to local farmers at a much cheaper price than other sources, primarily Monsanto. But, Monsanto sued him, "blacklisting" him, scaring away all of his friends and those farmers who bought seed from him and bankrupted him. He only owned three lousy acres and they sued him! The message was that Monsanto will sue whether it will win or not just because it can. With legions of lawyers and billions of dollars to spend, Monsanto can bully just about anyone, government and farmers.

The other message I got was that farmers are not free to grow what they want, set land aside for nature to restore the land when they want or even sell their crops when they want. And, always, they must return to Monsanto, their boss, for instructions. I once thought that being a farmer would have been the best life I could want. That there was a "Freedom" in farming like no other occupation I could have chosen. I regretted not trying it, even if I failed. But, after watching the documentary, I have to say that my temperament would have gotten me in a lot of trouble. If there's anything that gets me riled, it's somebody else telling me what I can and can't do with the things I own as long as I live within the law and I don't harm anybody doing what I want. The message from the documentary was that farmers are not free. They are slaves to Monsanto. I would have had a very difficult time living with that.

It is curious that Monsanto knows what farmers do. How does it know when a farmer who owns only three acres is growing soybean seeds? How does it know that he is selling the seed? And, how does it know who buys it? A three acre farm is so small, that it just barely registers on a detailed map. It is a shocking revelation that through the electronic and digital transactions that record a sale and purchase of grain that Monsanto would learn the minute details of that transaction. It must be through Monsanto's government connections, perhaps with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), that Monsanto gets a record of all grain sales and purchase transactions that it can then match to its own corporate records to generate an "unmatched" list that it passes to its lawyers; a "target" list. Otherwise, how could it happen? Does the FDA do the processing and give Monsanto the unmatched list? Na, I have a problem believing that the FDA is THAT corrupt.

But, one item of interest the film reported is the swapping of Monsanto Executives in and out of FDA Executive positions, and other government positions, year after year, in the past sixteen years of the Bush and Clinton Administrations. There have been plenty of opportunities to blend together the two data processing systems, FDA and Monsanto, into nearly one data management system. That's easy to me. I understand how that is possible. It was also easy in today's world of corporate lobbying and government corruption to get Congress to pass laws requiring that farmers, mill and elevators, grain storage businesses and the Farm Bureau report grain production and transactions to the FDA.  So, I don't doubt that there's a trench dug from the FDA directly to Monsanto with a high-speed optical fiber sending transaction data, even bank accounts, to Monsanto's data processing center. Ten seconds later, or less, Monsanto's lawyers know who the culprits are who are asserting their freedoms. That's scary.

So, keep Monsanto's in business - Vote Republican, the corporate flunkies! I want another chance to say "I told you so!"

Or, you could watch the documentary. It's worth it, but it will make you angry if you're for "Freedom." It may even change your politics.

Dave