Tax cuts for the rich, interest rate hikes for the poor

House Republicans say we can no longer afford low interest rates for college student loans because that would interfere with tax cuts for the rich to invest in foreign companies. I suspect nothing more from a party that cheers the failure of American companies with American jobs simply because it makes the President look bad. We used to be a nation that invested in ourselves. Now we invest in foreign companies because they are good for our portfolios while making it incredibly difficult for our children to succeed by burdening them with small mortgages just to get the education needed to get a well paying job.

Some say students shouldn't be spending four years in college to learn a career skill. And it would be hard to disagree that someone who just wants to be a mechanic and has no interest in anything else should just go to trade school. Additionally, one can argue that a typical desk jockey doesn't need a four year college education, where they learn about classics such as Beowulf, to be successful in business, be a biologist or to found the next Facebook, but that part of the education is what makes us us by opening our minds (and getting witty references in various derivative TV shows and books).

A highly educated workforce helped make the US the most powerful nation in the world during the  20th century. Now, like other powerful nations of the past, or even startups that become established companies that become complacent, resting on their laurels, and lose their edge, we are content to simply be fat and lazy and not care about the big picture because we have ours. I weep for this nation's future when a talented underclass will be forced to toil at whatever jobs they can find because they can not afford the education that could exploit their talents for the betterment of us all.

What was a typical weekday dinner at your house when you were a kid?

In our busy lives, my wife and I don't have much time to cook during the week. Instead, we cook for the week over the weekend and just nuke thr food in the microwave when we are ready to eat -- this week it is roasted veggies and chicken for my wife and I, turkey burgers I grilled ahead of time for the kids (plus side of that is my wife and I can flavor the food the way we like it). This isn't how it was when I grew up. 

Dinner was what I imagine to be somewhat  typical for the 1970s. Not too imaginative, pretty much whatever could be cooked easily after my mother got home from school (she was a teacher). But it was freshly cooked each night unless we were having leftovers for some reason -- and even then, in those non-microwave days, reheating the food could take a little time.

Most evenings we'd wait for my dad to come home from work between 6 & 6:30, unlike now where my wife and I are rarely home together for dinner as we run around with the kids or go to the gym. TV would go off and then my mom would serve whatever she had cooked which was usually hamburgers, meatloaf (both of which which became turkey meat when the price of red meat skyrocketed), chicken, spaghetti or mac and cheese. Sometimes we'd be tortured with liver but that also went away when red meat prices rose. Can't recall the sides, probably a potato and peas. Beverage was usually juice or soda unless we were having pasta in which case we would have milk. Friday evening was always chicken and challah. If my parents were going out, TV dinners in the metal trays you had to put in the stove would be served instead (which we considered a treat).

Today, as I noted above, it is usually whatever I cooked earlier in the week that can be nuked. Sometimes a frozen hot dog or peanut butter and jelly sandwich is substituted for the burger (which is only recent as it has become nice enough for me to grill again), a salad for my wife and I. The weekend may be a little more traditional, where we make a meal and sit down as a family, but that is becoming less frequent as the children get older. I feel like we are missing something this way but that is the 21st century for you.

Survey says!

A survey of women finds that the average ideal man isn't a vegetarian, prefers beer to wine/cocktails, doesn't smoke, makes makes more than she does, calls his mom twice a week and only takes 9 minutes to get to the gym, which he does frequently. I decided to see how I stacked up:

6'0": Uh oh
Short brown hair: what's left of it.
Brown eyes: Oh dear
Muscular: Yes, under the fat.
Clean shaven: Some times.
Smooth chest: No, the fat left some bumps.
Good fashion: My now wife quietly got rid of most of my clothes after we started dating and hasn't let me really buy anything since.
Can get ready in fewer than 17 minutes: Ready for what? Some things take less time than others.
Wears jeans: Check
Wears v-neck sweater: Nope.

Non-Smoker: Check
Prefers beer over wine/cocktails: Scotch
Admits when he looks at other women: I look but don't really look. Usually if my wife asks "did you see the way she was dressed?" I hadn't. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Eats meat: Not as much as I used to. Also don't weigh as much as I used to.

College degree: And then some
Earns more than you: She works for the state and is union. No way I can match that.
Drives an Audi: Subaru. When you live in the NE and have kids you get practical. It's nice to have a car go "bring it on" when you have to rush a kid to the doctor/hospital during a snowstorm

Loves shopping: Home Depot, the Apple Store, Costco, Barnes & Noble -- check. 21 Forever, hell no.
Watches football: Check. It's good to be a Giants fan.
Can swim/bike: Check
Can change a tire: If I can get the f***ing lug nuts off
Has driver's license: Check. But if we still lived in Brooklyn not having a license wouldn't be the end of the world,
Likes dramas and reality shows: Some I do.
Can get to the gym in under 9 minutes: I can get to the treadmill in the garage in 2 minutes.

Calls mom 2x/week: Since she had her stroke a few years back, she has a lot of trouble communicating. So instead we visit every three weeks or so.
Says I love you only when he means it: We're married almost 15 years.
Is sensitive when you're upset. See last answer.
Has a good sense of humor: Well that depends on the person, now doesn't it?
Wants a family: Got one already. What we really want is someone to watch the kids for the weekend so we can get away now and then for grownup time.

In other words, 43 year old married nerd.

Memories

I just saw an article about a child's earliest memories and it got me thinking. I can't actually date my earliest memory for sure. I have various memories such as climbing the stairs to my dad's parents walkup in Brooklyn or my mother's parents summer home, both of which were out of the picture long before I was 4, but I really don't know how old I was. Same for a funeral or an unveiling (Jews have a little ceremony about a year after death dedicating the gravestone) that all could have happened before the memories I am certain of.

So, my earliest memory that I can date is from November or December 1970. I'm in my mother's car, at night, age 2 1/2. I was in the front seat, we were entering the Belt Parkway east at Flatbush Ave (NYC) and had just picked up my new puppy and were on the on the way home. The car was a 1965 Ford Falcon, white exterior with a red strip and red interior. Beautiful car.

Next earliest is about 5 months later, around my 3rd birthday and is much more clearer. Same car, cloudy day, late winter or early spring, we stopped for traffic on the LIE, the UPS truck behind us did not. I went flying into the front seat (pre-seat belts, 2 door car so when we were hit I went forward and pushed the seat onto my younger sister). My 8 month or so old baby brother was in his carriage (top came off, bottom with wheels in trunk) on the back seat next to me and slept through the initial accident. I remember the rear view mirror was hanging weird as my mother, after making sure we were all ok, threw the car into park. She was mad. She got out of the car, put the hood up and smoke poured out of the engine (just fluids, no fire). That seemed to set her off and as the UPS driver rounded the driver's side to speak to my mother she lit into him and started yelling him.

And I mean YELLING. I had never seen her so angry before (she later said the driver had turned white realizing he hit a car with a pregnant woman and three children under 3). She ripped him a new one. I'm sure I heard words from her I never heard before but my brother's crying (my sister and I had woken him up) drowned it out. The next hour or two are a blur but I remember being towed home and thinking that was neat.

The car, which actually held up pretty well after the crash, was wrecked after that (not much body damage but the frame was cracked -- my dad said that was how cars were made then, or at least that model). That was the last cool looking car my parents ever had. After that it was all huge, tank like family sedans. Today, I don't know if my car would hold up so well against a UPS truck, my wife's Civic certainly wouldn't. And an unbelted 3 year old in the back, an unbelted 2 year old in the front and an infant not in car seat would earn my mother all sorts of traffic tickets and probably a call from child protection.

The funniest memory I have from my early childhood though occurred a few years later, in the spring or summer of 1974. I was convinced President Nixon was going to climb up the fire escape to break into our apartment to steal our scotch tape. It took my parents awhile to convince me otherwise.

Religious release time

Now that Mitt Romney has pretty much secured the Republican presidential nomination, I'm starting to see the inevitable articles about his Mormon religion. I don't get it. Why do people care? Isn't this a nation of religious freedom. 

I know I am being naive, but I really don't care about a candidate's religion and think none of us should too. The only thing I care about is someone shoving their religious views down my throat, insisting that state and church should not be separate, and force me to follow their ideals, such as suggesting that an embryo gets full citizenship rights upon conception which leaves a lot of questions unanswered, such as will a mother be prosecuted for murder if she miscarries in the first month, while unaware she was pregnant, because she had a few drinks? You want to live your life according to the Christian bible? Fine with me, but don't make me do the same.

I'm Jewish. That means, basically, I don't like ham, don't want cheese on my hamburger and can live without bacon. I think that last one makes me the anti-Christ in some circles.

I think of myself as an American first and a Jew second. Aside from the food and the importance of education (it was never a question of if you were going to college but where), my religion has definitely influenced my opinion on politics and other matters important to Jews, such as Israel (I can see both sides of the Palestine argument and both have some really good points). But, significantly, it has affected my views on religious freedom, which I interpret as not only being free to worship God or not worship God as I please, but to also not have someone else's religious values shoved down my throat because of their interpretation of a 2000 year old plus book. Then there is the fear of what would happen if some of these religious fools really got into power. Jews, even those who have mainstreamed and are not particularly observant, tend not to do well under those regimes.

I belong to a temple but these days it is more for cultural reasons than spiritual. While I generally enjoy the experience, finding the rabbi's sermons meaningful most weeks, consider the prayer time as mediation time where I get up and stand every few minutes (just unplugging from the world for a few hours can be very relaxing),  listening to the choir, while I wait for my kiddish snack, services stopped being truly meaningful in my heart a long time ago, about when I realized the stories of the Bible are exaggerated and probably based on some myth from long ago. For example, a flooded out valley in a time when people rarely traveled far from their own valley could very well feel like the end of the world by flooding. I'd like to think there is something after life, and I'll find out one way or the other eventually (and will never know if there is nothing).

I don't know what Mormons believe in and, frankly, I don't care. I'm more interested in whether Obamacare will be repealed under Romney. whether my taxes will go up, whether Medicare will still exist in a few years and other issues that are important to middle class people. Whether or not I vote for Romney in the fall will have nothing to do with his or my religious values and everything to do with what I feel is the right track for this nation. And that is what we should all really be concentrating on.

Incompetent HR Departments and Facebook

Another day and another story about how horrible it is that employers are requiring prospective employees to hand over Facebook passwords. I say that everybody is looking at this issue the wrong way. The real issue is what employers have human resource departments that are so full of fail that they are setting them up for a major lawsuit?

 An employer may not ask about my religion, age, marital status, organizations I belong to and several other protected classes during an interview -- it is illegal. By looking at my Facebook page today (which is set to the most private setting Facebook allows) they will see pictures at some recent events I have attended and comments I have made. Just from there they will know if I am married, of a certain age, whether I have children and what my religion is (they will also see I'm a Mets fan, which some would argue should also be a protected class). From this they may surmise I wouldn't work on certain days due to my religion or parental obligations,  I wouldn't want to travel extensively or wouldn't want to work 36 hour days (lawyer joke -- if you ever worked at a big Manhattan firm you'd get it).

And this was just my page. We have married gay friends and family whose marital status is noted on their page. Pregnant friends and family who share the news on their page. Older friends and family who note that they are moving along in life on their pages. By looking at their pages, their prospective employers will have just found out information that they are not allowed to ask.

Now, if I, or any of the people I mentioned above weren't hired we could potentially turn around and file a claim with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against them because, by looking at our Facebook pages and obtaining information they are not allowed to ask, they have just opened themselves up to claims of discrimination (religion, age, politics, pregnancy). Pretty dumb on the employers part. 

You want to Google me? Fine. You may or may not find this blog (one of the pluses of having a common name) and I don't post anything here that you couldn't find out anyway -- and truthfully, probably the same for my Facebook page as pretty much anything I have on there I'm not really hiding. But, my Facebook page is rather lame and tame these days --  posts aren't of drinking binges and doing illegal things, they revolve around normal, mundane things that people my age and in my position in life tend to do. Professionally, my LinkedIn page is a better barometer of how I will be as an employee.

But hey, if being lazy and demanding my Facebook password to know my religion and what political organizations I may belong to are so important, my lawyer (my wife) is standing by. Bring it on.