A sweeping wind came through Los Angeles yesterday evening and brought biting air, while wiping away the smog. And it reminds me of the feeling I have every four years, in fall, where I’m usually trying to figure out political choices between the least of several evils. But for once, I’m actually looking forward to winter, 2009, and whats to come.
In 2000, McCain seemed like a reasonable guy, and someone that socially liberal folks could get behind. Apparently, McCain decided that particular incarnation of him had no chance at winning in 2008, so we get the Karl Rove-GW Bush Republican mold running, and really, there isn’t much appealing about this incarnation. He doesn’t have any strong policies, he doesn’t have a positive vision, and he picked a really terrible vice president. So clearly McCain is the greater of two evils.
But looking at the Democratic opposition, it is clear we do not have a Kerry or a Gore. Instead we have a real progressive who is in a climate where comprehensive health care can be enacted, corporate control/lobbyist influence diminished, and climate change policy enacted. So there isn’t a lesser of two evils mentality here. Obama genuinely seems like he could be a very good president to tackle some of these major issues.
There is concern amongst the net roots that the $700 billion bail out will handcuff Obama’s ambitious plans, but Robert Reich disagrees. Essentially, he claims that our deficit as a percentage of GDP is low (3%), and that the best cure for a recession is spending programs to rebuild infrastructure and get the country back on track, as WWII did for the depression era. Given an era when the investment class is calling for more government intervention in the financial markets, and not less, and when middle class America is worried about their retirements in 401K, among other issues, it seems like a good time to enact Medicare-for-all. Despite the heated jeers of “socialist” by McCain supporters, these folks seem to be a small reactionary group. Or at least I hope so. Because these policies are not socialism.
It is clear we need government intervention into the health care market, which is spiraling to a demise. And it is clear that government has a big role in science research in alternative energies, and implementation of clear energies in the private sector. Companies are very hesitant to spend huge sums of capital for solar panels, for example, when the return on investment comes in 20 years. Government tax breaks and credits are the key to making these technologies fit into a company’s timeline.
On another note, did things really have to be so lopsided in this year’s presidential election? McCain was the only Republican candidate that stood a chance of winning, but he blew it. He had to turn hard right to win his party’s nomination. But what if he had gone straight to the center after the primaries, like Obama did. What if he had picked a social moderate as a running mate - perhaps a pro-choice woman. The social conservative base would be pissed, but would folks like myself have to think twice about the ticket? Perhaps. It clear that McCain is getting blown out, and even without the economic crisis, Palin is wearing thin (and guilty of abuse of power in Alaska), and his overall electoral prospects looked weak. Rather than embrace his “mavericky” self, he embraced the “Agents of Intolerance” whom he previously condemned. And as a result he casts a light on a dying ideology.
It is too early to take an Obama win for granted. The race will probably tighten up. But I look forward to 2009, with the first act of a new President Obama to draw up a 16 month timeline to withdraw our forces from Iraq.
Airborne Toxic Event, a band from Los Feliz, CA, has a series of acoustic versions of their songs that are completely amazing. The song below, gasoline, features brush hits on a snare and an upright bass, for a version that surpasses the album song.
I saw Beck last night, performing with his father and string orchestra conductor, David Campbell at the Hollywood Bowl. The show was well designed. He started off with Loser, the song that propelled his career, to get it out of the way, and raced through 3 minute arrangements of Odelay, Hell Yeah, Timebomb, and other classics. The orchestra came out for 4 to 5 songs, to wonderful effect. I was disappointed before by the last strings/band collaboration at the bowl, when I saw Belle & Sebastian and the Philharmonic in 2006. In that case, the music was just too diffuse and the melody and vocals were washed away in over-orchestration. But not so, with Beck, probably because David Campbell did much of the original orchestration for the Beck albums anyway. And finally, I forgot about the ability to put on great light shows at the Bowl, and the Beck producers took full advantage of using light to amplify the effects of the music.
King of King is an amazing, gripping documentary about the title for the national high score for the original arcade version of Donkey Kong. As insane as that premise sounds, that is completely true.
Billy Mitchell, as an awkward teenager, set the high score in Donkey Kong in 1982 that stayed intact for 20 years. As a dark horse competitor appears on the scene, from Seattle, in 2005, this documentary documents Billy’s descent to ridiculousness to defend his title. It is clear that this record is what provides Billy the confidence to run his own hot sauce business, to dress in a unique style, and is the basic pillar of his self worth. To watch Steve Wiebe, the challenger - a school teacher with a passion - nip at his heels with grace and cool, is a display of total unbalanced competition between two competitors who barely compete in the same moral sphere. And did I mention that this is a documentary?
To understand the complete context of Mitchell’s actions, one must watch the bonus materials, as Steve, Mitchell’s best friend, describes the paranoia surrounding the Twin Galaxy’s officiating society. And did I mention that this is a documentary?
I just watched a documentary called Take by Naomi Klein and Avi Lewis and I highly recommend it. The movie documents the efforts to rebuild Argentina’s economy, and heck, civil society, by reclaiming factories that have gone into disuse since the Argentinian economy catastrophe of 2001. Some of these factories were abandoned by owners who did not appreciate the worker’s efforts to organize for working standards. Others were locked up and are waiting for a corporate welfare rejuvenation program from the central government. The previous workers, mainly unemployed and robbed of their dignity, follow a model wherein the factories are taken over and products are produced again, only the factories are owned by the workers. This is done on shaky legal ground, and as the movie shows, the factories can be reclaimed by the previous owners by eviction through the judiciary.
There is gripping footage in the movie, particularly of the leader of the movement to reclaim an auto parts factory. You can see what a normal middle class life the family had before the economic downtown, and then the aftermath when no working opportunities remain. His wife explains how humiliating it is for her husband not to have any employment opportunities, and you can see it in his eyes. He explains that his young kids ask him when he is going back to work.
There seems to be a strong emphasis by the filmmakers, or perhaps this is just what is expressed by the 200 worker-owned factories they visit, to emphasize that the “worker-owned” aspect of their initiative, using some of the language used by the Soviet Union and other socialist nations. At the auto parts plant, they have decided that everyone gets paid the same. It seems to me that this frame is not a useful one for Western ears, but perhaps the devastation that capitalism has wrecked upon Argentina is enough that people have reconsidered the age old impressions they have of ’socialism.’ As the writers of the movie point out, this ’socialist’ movement is not a state sponsored one like in the Soviet Union, but one that is from the “bottom-up,” an organic reclamation project. Then again, it still seems that these large scale industrial factories could not exist without a capitalist framework. The capital required to build the facilities and acquire the equipment is certainly more than the 30 or 40 workers could accumulate themselves. But, clearly the owners of these factories have prospered and long recouped their capital, with a profit. Perhaps this points to a new model of industrial production, which utilizes capital in a way to build a sustainable, worker-owned production facility.
This documentary is highly recommended, and make sure to watch the bonus “Making of the Movie.” It shows that a group of committed activists is capable of making a high quality production that can reach an audience larger than the choir.
Since California’s Supreme Court recently affirmed Gavin Newsom’s law-breaking same sex marriages in 2004, same sex couples are lining up to get married, creating a unique situation where social justice meets economics.
Wedding planners, bakers and hotels began booking more business almost immediately after the state Supreme Court’s May 15 decision overturning a ban on gay marriage. Citing pent-up demand, one UCLA study projects that same-sex unions could provide a $370-million shot in the arm to the state economy over the next three years.
Add to this the fact that California will allow anyone, from any state, to be married, and we are looking at an uptick in the hotel and travel business as well. Some of these businesses may ignore Adam Smith’s “invisible hand,” and out of prejudice, and pass along the business to another, eager vendor. But I suspect, as the recession continues and gas prices escalate more, some of these businesses will cave in and suppress their prejudice for good, hard power of the competitive marketplace.
Here is an example where a policy that is correct on its merits can also tangibly benefit a larger society (though it would be easy to argue that very act of approving these marriages already benefits society). But perhaps this economic boost may be what prevents California voters from approving a measure to outlaw the marriages again. Whatever it takes, in my view. And if this act by the judicial branch provokes some engagement between the different sides on the issue, it will have well been worth it.
***UPDATE - the original post just criticized FedEx. Turns out my package is UPS. That makes two flaky overnight delivery services.
I want to warn you about UPS’s overnight 10 AM service. Just because it costs you 15 or 20 bucks for this express service does not mean that UPS actually delivers your package by 10 or 10 30 AM. Save your money or find another overnight service (maybe DHL deserves another look?)
As I sit here, at 11:45 AM, waiting for my guaranteed-delivery 10 AM Coachella tickets, I am reminded of a situation a year ago, when I was waiting for the delivery of an urgent medical product for work via FedEx. Rather than come at 10:30 AM, it came at 1:30 PM, despite my urgent calls to the local FedEx dispatch office. I even offered to meet the driver half way to no avail.
I have a friend who is single-handedly trying to destroy FedEx. They once lost his license to practice, and were never able to find it. It took him months to acquire it in the first place, at great personal expense, so he was pissed. As for me, I have no desire to knock FedEx or UPS out of business, but perhaps utilizing other services and bringing attention to the fact that EXPRESS DELIVERY IS A JOKE AT FEDEX AND UPS will kick some competitive dynamics into play and cause them to improve or drop their service. DHL, this is your time to shine.
