How to win elections by tuning out the extremes. A simple four point plan for a second Clinton Presidency

I'm getting worried that Trump is starting to believe his rhetoric on trade. A Trump that actually believes the nonsense that comes out of his mouth is almost as dangerous as a Sanders administration would be. With this in mind I put together these four simple points that would ensure a Clinton victory in the November and marginalize both of the political extremes

1. The DNC needs to allow the remaining Super Delegates to openly support Clinton ending the race now. It is common knowledge that they do and the Sanders Campaign has only strengthened their support for Clinton over the past few weeks. There is no positive gained by allowing the charade that it ever was a race to continue.

2. The DNC needs to shut Sanders out of the convention. His supporters aren't going to vote for Clinton anyway and they can only cause trouble for the Democrats in the general election by forcing the platform too far to the left much as the Tea Party forced the Republicans too far right. The three states that matter in a general election, Florida, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, are not going to be swayed by "progressive" ideas.

3. Openly court the anti-Trump Republican establishment. Give Mitt Romney a prime time speaking slot at the convention. He could deliver a "whatever divides us is smaller that what unites us" speech aimed the pro-business socially moderate Republican voters in swing states. Clinton should also comment that Romney would make an excellent Treasury Secretary.

4. Tim Kaine as V.P.

No You Cannot Have A Pony or Why Government by Compromise is Necessary

Once again the tired old "politicians are dishonest" mantra is being bandied about, mostly at Secretary Clinton, with little forethought or reason behind it. The fact that Secretary Clinton is, for the most part, basically honest is completely ignored by her detractors. The fact that her detractors often vehemently support one of three politicians who could at best be considered honest in the strictest George Costanza sense of the word would be amusing if they weren't so dangerous.                                                          

That the supporters of Donald Trump, who don't even believe that Trump is honest (he's not which is why found himself in so much trouble over abortion lately since he is pro-choice but has to pretend to be anti-abortion), or Senator Cruz who is either the GOP's Costanza or just doing an excellent job of playing the roll, he always wanted to be an actor,

dislike and distrust Secretary Clinton is to be expected in this day and age. It is unfortunate that we have a political environment were opposition has been replaced by enemy however it is what we have.

It is another thing all together for the supporters of the left wing Costanza, Bernie Sanders, to hate Secretary Clinton and call her a liar for acting like a responsible adult. People on the left dislike Secretary Clinton because they see her as someone who will say anything to get elected and wont follow through on her promises. She wont. What they are missing is that neither will Sanders, nor will Cruz or Trump. No Candidate promising anything that requires massive tax increases or eliminating the IRS or the Department of Education will be able to fulfill those promises.

Forcing candidates to take stances they do not believe in and that the majority of the country doesn't share then being angry with them when those stances are not acted on is what causes dishonesty in politicians. If a politician was honest and admitted to the voters that manufacturing jobs are never coming back not because of outsourcing but due to automation said candidate would have no chance at being elected. When that candidate is elected and there are no new jobs the candidate is called a liar and criticized for breaking a promise. A promise that the candidate knew (Trump) or should have known (Costanza) was lie but made because the voters expect to hear it.

It is the voters who demand these promises be made in order to win a parties nomination that are responsible for their own disappointment and disillusionment. The United States has a population of 320 million spread out over 50 very distinct states. These are in effect 50 different countries each with their own culture, values, and needs. This is why a "Political Revolution" is not going to happen. One need look no further than the election of 2012 to see evidence as too why expecting change is foolish. President Obama won 62 percent of the electoral college while only winning 51 percent of the popular vote. While that was an electoral landslide it was in no way political mandate. One has to go back to 1972 to find a time in which a President won more than 60 percent of the vote which would constitute a mandate. For the record that President was Nixon.

What makes this country work, and it does work rather well, is that the government is, by design, limited. If one group with minority values, be those the values of the tea party or the progressive movement, finds themselves in a position to actually push those values on the rest of the nation that does not share them than we will at best see a government shutdown at worst out in out revolt. We are a nation of compromises. If activists on both sides are unhappy then the system is working correctly. If the nation were to elect a President who insisted on large tax increases coupled with huge spending increases tried to pass a budget with a congress where members of both parties were philosophically opposed to large tax increases (don't kid yourselves even the Democrats wouldn't vote for Sanders tax plan) the federal government would shutdown. If the President were to dig in their heels and refuse to compromise there could be a constitutional crisis unseen since Andrew Johnson was in office.

In order to keep the lights on and prevent a greater economic collapse than the one in 2008 the nation requires leaders that are willing to compromise with the opposition. While some out there may consider them mediocre

they are in fact statesmen. A President has to not only be the leader of those who voted for them but those who did not. It is amusing that the spouse of the last President to leave office with an approval rating above 70 percent and who herself would be an excellent leader and carry on that tradition is so demonized. Bill Clinton excelled at being leader of those who didn't vote for him and we need a president like that again.

While I do not agree with Secretary Clinton on many issues, I still prefer Kasich, I see her as a strong leader who would manage the country the way an executive should. The other three out there act like petulant children who take their ball home when they don't get their way. It is that kind of childish behavior that is so damn dangerous. The nation needs a President that passes a budget and vetoes all the dangerous legislation that congress can think of.

Oh and before Sanders supporters get angry at me for describing him as George Costanza don't forget who Costanza was based on

Ain't Afraid of No Ghosts

So the "Paper of Record" has been pulling at our collective heart strings this holiday season with an expose on lives of the homeless in New York.  What confuses me is why we are supposed to feel anything for this family of ten living in a shelter. Call me Scrooge if you want but there is no way we should feel anything but contempt for these irresponsible people who proceeded to have eight children with no apparent means to support them.

I know that I repeatedly harp on the population point but here I go again. In the past 20 years the population of New York City has grown by nearly 10 percent. With much of that population growth being of wealthier individuals. The population density is extremely high here and this coupled with improvements in city life puts a premium price on everything. It would be next to impossible to raise a family of eight children on a million dollars a year here. The fact that the oldest of this families children is 11 means that they were all conceived during the economic realities of the 21st century. Large families are vestigial remnant of a time with a high infant mortality rate and need for large human labor force and should only be seen as socially irresponsible in the 21st century. There are no excuses for this kind of behavior from adults.

At some point we have to tell these people if you cannot afford to care for your children there will be consequences. We cannot continue to support a world that is so overpopulated. If you want to decrease the worlds wealth inequality stop having so many damn kids. I am ready for your Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future now. They can join me in my annual holiday Star Wars marathon just remind them to bring booze.

"Do the Reich Thing"

So former Labor Secretary and last living Hobbit Robert Reich has been all talking about income inequality and why the recovery is so "anemic" in his opinion. Reich states that the post World War II economic boom improved life for everyone while claiming that the stock market boom of today only those on the top. There is one key factor he is not considering. Population.

The population of the United States in 2010 was just under 309 million people in the post war boom of 1960 it was 180 million people. Taking a look at household incomes in 2010 we see that 50 percent of the country lives in households making over 50,000 dollars a year. This is equal to 86 percent of the total population in 1960. Looking further we see that 20 percent of all Americans live in households with an income over 100,000 per year. This number equals 34 percent of the population of the United States in 1960.

The reason for low wages is that there are more people than there are jobs. The growth of the population has outpaced the growth of jobs necessary to make society run. One need look no further than North Dakota where the population is so small that Walmart is hiring cashiers at 17.50 an hour to prove my point.

Just because there are more people does not mean that there will be more jobs. As I have pointed out time and again technological advances has made much of the past's human labor irrelevant.  The economy is doing fine for the majority of Americans it just cannot support a population that has grown by 72 percent in the past 50 years. If only Bob Barker had encouraged people to spay and neuter their neighbors at the end of every Price is Right.

Pimping is Easy and Completely Unnecessary

Now is when I shock you all by siding with workers against management. The Manhattan federal courts recently ruled that the dancers at Rick's Cabaret were not independent contractors but were in fact employees. This ruling means that Rick's was in violation of the law by not paying the dancers a wage. The issue here is how the club forced the girls to share their income earned from lap dances and private dances with the club.

A person receiving a percentage of income earned by dancing for giving you a  place to dance, protecting you from being harmed and telling you how you must behave at work is a pimp. I am not saying that strippers are having sex for money but they are performing acts of a sexual nature for money and in this instance the club owners were acting in the same manner as pimps.

I have nothing but the highest regard for strippers holding them in almost as high esteem as I do bartenders. Pouring a nice glass of whiskey being one of the few professions more noble than stripping. However I have absolutely no respect for pimps be they strip club owners, night club promoters, live music promoters or actual pimps.

Rick's in this instance was way too greedy. They owners should have been happy selling drinks at premium price because of the entertainment at the club. They should have been happy paying their security off of the income earned from the cover charge. There was simply no reason that the club should have been taking any of the money earned by the dancers.

It is with this entry that I unleash a new crusade, at least until I get bored with it, against pimps of all kind.

These Kids Today With the Hair, the Makeup and their Box Socials

So first day back from Labor Day and right away there is an article about why Gen Y is terrible. This article as been written so many times I all but ignore it in most cases. However since I needed to get back into the flow I figured I would swing at this (also setting up a rant as to why Labor Day is so 19th Century). The article linked once again mentions how members of Gen Y are ill prepared to fit into the labor force, that they are selfish and don't have the commitment to the company previous generations had. This is true if you assume that the previous generation's world still exists.

It does not. The 40 hour work week and staying with the same company for 40 years has gone the way of newspapers, music videos on MTV and compelling network dramas. All the technological innovations that have been discussed in this blog ad nauseam  have not only made physical labor obsolete but it has also made a non flexible work system obsolete. Those of you who currently work in an office how much of your work could you do with a cell phone and a WiFi connection from anywhere in the world. Do you actually have to be on site? For the most part you do not. Which is why you are reading this blog while at work.

The fact is get used to the way Gen Y operates for they are what will move the economy. It is the products that they want that will create wealth. The fact is they are more prepared to live in the world of today than boomers or Gen X is. Society will be run on their terms soon enough so might as well just sit back and enjoy the freedom.

Proof GTFU has a Heart After All

Yesterday the New York City MTA stop the Q train for nearly two hours in order to save two lives. A pair of four week old kittens were on the tracks. The cats were fortunately rescued and are at the Animal Care and Control Center of  East New York where they will be available for adoption in a few weeks. I fully support this rescue mission. Now had it been a couple of humans well unless it was a couple of really good looking women I say it's their own damn fault for getting on the tacks.