Happy Easter…I Think

Kathy and I are hanging out in an enclave in Southwest Florida called Gasparilla Island.For years it has been a playground of the very rich without a desire to be famous. The Duponts and others made this one of many stops for the winter with the centerpiece being the Gasparilla Inn, which is more like a mini Greenbriar than a quaint roadside rest. The long abandoned tracks are still in town, a poignant reminder of long gone Pullmans shuttling swells and hoppers carrying phosphate to the mainland.

We went to mass on Palm Sunday in an oversized chapel that normally held about 150 but was bursting at the seams during Spring Break. The grandmas were in Lily or J McGlaughlin and Grandpa in his faded Nantucket reds with the requisite Guccis or Topsiders with no socks. Nothing gaudy but well kept. Old money has a classy way of telling you they are doing just fine without shoving it down your throat. As the Passion was read I couldn’t help but think about a guy named Jesus who came from a poor background but had made His way over the centuries into folks of all types of bank accounts.

We were not alone that Sunday morn as many other churches were packed with their denominations. All WASP but nice to see people going to church. Not for the religion per se but the upholding of traditions. On the streets you can see the denizens saying hello to one another with air kisses and bro hugs. Kind of like the gathering of the clan. There are no Bentleys or Maseratis. The chariot of choice is a golf cart that is neither fancy nor tricked out. They are four to six passenger models and are festooned with an occasional faded country or college flag and the basic color is rust. The driving age is 14 but no one is watching if the young’uns cruise around the block or further.

You feel that time is standing still and the causeway could be the drawbridge over the moat. Nothing bad happens here in Camelot. If we were threatened someone would just close the gates and life would go on. One has to feel that way about America as we watch the news and word of massacre in Belgium. 9/11 was horrific but we have been spared turmoil for the most part. Maybe it is heightened security but could be it is the Atlantic Ocean that keeps the mayhem makers at bay.

Easter is the sign of new life in a year. The flowers’ shoots pop through the earth with colors that break the grayness of a long winter. Jesus is risen and so are our spirits. You feel revitalized and that first really warm day brings a spirit of renewal. Hey,we made it through another one and clear sailing is ahead. Politics and war be damned.We are just going to kick back and enjoy this one….for now.

Looking out over the Gulf Of Mexico you wish we could just freeze this in time. Ain’t gonna happen. Times change and whether you consider it good or bad, it still happens. The beauty of living in the Land of the Free is that we can do whatever we want. And that too is its tragic flaw. I want you to say whatever you want as long as it’s not hateful or inciting riots. I want you to practice freedom of religion as long as it is my religion. I want you to feel comfortable in bearing arms lest your home be invaded but that right kills kids either on purpose or by accident.
Our spirit of creativity and discovery has let genies out of the bottle and they can never be put back. The Internet has been a boon to many people but it has also become a tool of terror. We don’t want our privacy to be violated and yet we splay our innermost thoughts and our sex lives for all to see on Facebook. Look at the absurdity and quite frankly the depravity of Hulk Hogan being awarded $115 million for some webpage showing him having sex with his best friend’s wife. Sick on all counts.

Computers are being amped up to where their capability doubles every two or three years. Artificial Intelligence(AI) can now beat humans at highly intuitive games. We can replace any organ or bone in our bodies and if we can’t find a decent transplant we can always recreate one by 3D printing. As a matter of fact we can replicate 3D printers themselves by producing clone after clone and on and on. I wonder if it will work on our souls. Can we devise a way to convey feeling such as elation  and heartbreak? Don’t say no without thinking about it first.

Long story short is that places like Gasparilla, the Hamptons and La Jolla are not going anywhere physically any time soon. Nor are the Fergusons, south sides of Chicago nor the barrios of LA. As evenly as the people with it good want it to go on forever, the people with bad are praying it will stop. Where we are today is that everyone has their own agenda and history tells us that can’t be good.

How the hell we are going to pull this all together is a mystery to me? I can rant and rave and hope that someone on either side wakes up and takes the reins before this wonderful wagon goes careening off the cliff. You say, why can’t you be optimistic? I say, give me a reason. I say go beyond this and saying that’s a great idea TTG but I am busy. Politics, corporate behavior and our basic morality needs a long introspection and 200 year plus overhaul. Maybe those 3D printers might do the trick.

It’s Easter and the flowers are growing but we need to weed the beds and put in a lot of fertilizer if this years crop is going to make it. We have to feel the warmth of the sunshine not only on our faces but in our hearts. This all may sound corny but I feel it more than ever. If you think it is going to get better all on its own, think again. Happy Easter.

As always
Ted The Great

Factoids:
Americans buy more than 700 million marshmallow peeps during the Easter holiday, which makes Peeps the most popular non-chocolate Easter candy.
The exchange of eggs for Easter dates back to a springtime custom older than Easter itself in which eggs were given as a symbol of rebirth in many cultures.

Eastern Catholics celebrate mass differently that the rest of us. Not Eastern Orthodox but Eastern United States. They don’t hold hands during the Our Father. The handshake of peace is tepid at best. One guy in a church in NYC told me,”I don’t do that crap.” They leave right after communion and will cut you off in the parking lot while leaving, if you get in their path. Outta my way asshole! Pax Vobiscum.

Them…

Way back when, in the fifties, there was a horror movie entitled, “Them”. A nuclear disaster created giant ants and they kept multiplying in the New Mexico desert to terrorize the populace. I imagine that is probably how the Donald and Co are viewed by a lot of Americans and maybe the world. It got me thinking.

We assign “them” to lot of different types of people ranging from ethnic to regional to religious differences. They become more pronounced in election years as we cast our ballots. Hilary wins the blacks. Donald gets the red necks. Cruz caters to evangelicals and Bernie, socialists in hiding. I am not sure if I am in any of those categories so my choices may be limited. But whoever you are it comes down to us versus them. This is not as much of an aberration as one might think. It may be in our genes.
This goes back a long time ago to Neanderthal man. Then it was us against the rest of the animal world. We got together for common good in so far as security and food gathering. As we started to communicate we went from grunts to simple sentences to eventually complex thought. Sometimes I think we are still stuck at the monosyllabic stage. But I digress.

Them becomes a broad category that we paint with a wide brush. We can categorize with color,accent or dress as in Blacks, Hispanics and Muslims. You probably could include various regions of the US in that dialect thing. Hyperbole seems to be the order of the day and rational thought gives way to rants. If I don’t have to consider the individual or particular circumstances I can get really riled up at whole assemblies of peoples and feel just fine.

But for a moment let’s think about the concept of banding together. A group can be as few as two people that have something in common. We share ideas and maybe beliefs. When we are small we can be more specific and detailed. As the masses enter, the founding concepts get blurry and a few bullet points are all that matter.

People want to be part of a group. We are social beings but you have to wonder why? Is it security or camaraderie? Necessity or convenience? I think it is just that they want to belong, to say they are part of something. It also denotes acceptance. You have made it and are considered one of peers. The rules become tougher as the old guard want to enforce the founding principles. Beyond rituals there is a feeling that if one gives in at all it will weaken the organization.

Two phenomena occur. Unless it is in itself a group of entrepreneurs or free thinkers there is a loss of individuality. Creativity is looked askance at and new ideas suffer or not depending on your point of view. People are reluctant to speak out or stand from the crowd at the risk of alienating people. Instead of being a contributor you are looked upon as a zealot or rabble rouser.

The second part is the emergence of a “loner”. They can become everything from a solitude seeker to a social outcast. Some people just don’t want to mix it up which is fine but others feel an enormous lack of acceptance by their fellow man or woman. This can grow into  psychoses or paranoia. Our jails are littered with those who have fallen prey to their demotion or nonacceptance and decided it to take to out on the world with a firearm or sword in hand. Now we have new group of whackos and weirdos that society paints with the same wide swath. As our populations grow and categorizations multiply, more and more are left out of the mix and murder and mayhem become the only panacea.

Hobbes and Rousseau et alia have delved far deeper into social contracts than this small brain can muster but it really is intriguing to think of the options. Is the individual the product of society or is society the creation of the individual? We first start to converse and those interactions give way to ideas and beliefs. That in turn becomes a culture over time. Common laws are quantified and we live in harmony..sort of.

There is another way to look at this. Are we the organism or are we just appendages to the mass? I personally like the primary mover part. Without recognizing one’s contribution and effect on society we are at the whim of the world. I happen to ascribe to self determination and the ability to change society for better or worse. Maybe it is a distaste for acquiescence and rather the knowledge that whatever terms we are living under, they can be improved.

Given that, remember we are known by the company we keep. If you are comfortable being a hard right or left go for it. If you are only tending that way take heed and speak up. Maybe this is fodder for a third party. Not one that arises from a pout but one that really wants to draw from both sides of the ledger. If you are a member of a club or organization that does not share your values, either change their direction or quit. What have you lost your mind TTG? No, but maybe some of us have lost our way.

After all this deep cogitation I have arrived at the conclusion I was hoping I wouldn’t get to. The ability to find a middle ground as we are currently constructed is a remote hope and distant possibility. Very distant. Our minds are too closed and quite frankly the effort to coalesce is just not time well spent in our increasingly busy world. Peace, fraternity and egalite`are lofty goals that don’t fly. We are too busy to try to turn “them” into “us”. And that is a tragic but the contemporary state of affairs. I’ll deal with ti.

As always
Ted The Great

Factoids:
What is the social contract theory of government?

Social contract. the voluntary agreement among individuals by which, according to any of various theories, as of Hobbes, Locke, or Rousseau, organized society is brought into being and invested with the right to secure mutual protection and welfare or to regulate the relations among its members. Source unknown but sure makes sense.

Five defining characteristics of stupidity. First, is sheer ignorance: Ignorance of critical facts about important events in the news, and ignorance of how our government functions and who’s in charge. Second, is negligence: The disinclination to seek reliable sources of information about important news events. Third, is wooden-headedness, as the historian Barbara Tuchman defined it: The inclination to believe what we want to believe regardless of the facts. Fourth, is shortsightedness: The support of public policies that are mutually contradictory, or contrary to the country’s long-term interests. Fifth, and finally, is a broad category I call bone-headedness, for want of a better name: The susceptibility to meaningless phrases, stereotypes, irrational biases, and simplistic diagnoses and solutions that play on our hopes and fears. Rick Shenkman,Editor History News Network. Perfecto.
The 10 most innovative countries in the following order: Switzerland, United Kingdom,Sweden, Netherlands, United States, Finland, Singapore, Ireland, Luxembourg, Denmark (Home of LEGO.)

Spotlight….

I was going to be clever and frivolous this week…until Friday night. Kathy and I went to see Spotlight and all I can say is the Academy in Follywood for all its faults and foibles got it right. For the uninitiated it is a film about an investigative group at the Boston Globe called Spotlight and its dogged pursuit of the Catholic diocese of Boston and its horrible handling of pedophilia among several of its priests. This is not going to be a movie review but musings from a long time Catholic who loves great journalism.

At its best it shows what a principled group of reporters can do. They pursued the story for over one year and by all signs got it right. At its worst it shows what it takes to get a story out as editorial boards decide sometimes arbitrarily what gets through and what doesn’t from both a worthiness as well as political perspective. Good ideas sometimes find the circular file because one doesn’t want to make waves or enemies. You have the feeling it is not only the Fourth Estate that exercises the prerogative.

As portrayed and I believe in reality there were no superstars but a group of people who received a tip and delved to find its veracity.They literally turned over every rock and pursued every lead. If you are looking for salacious details they are not there but the underlying misery and guilt of those preyed upon lets the story unfold. It is an indictment of the Catholic Church for sure but it also affects society as a whole. While watching, you can’t help but let your mind drift to every seat of power and apart from the specifics of this particular situation see them every bit as culpable.

I have locked horns with our former bishop about the Church’s response or lack thereof. It wasn’t naivete but an assault on their power base that caused them to cover up and subject those poor bastard victims to intimidation and guilt. We are sacrosanct and holier than thou and don’t you dare challenge us or our decisions. Our failures and perversions are not to be displayed lest one shake the foundations of the Holy Mother Church. By the way our bare knuckled exercise of ordained powers have kept us in the driver’s seat all these centuries. We have history and God on our side. What incredible arrogance!

For those that shout foul please consider there were 87 priests in the Boston diocese that were guilty of the most heinous crimes perpetrated on young people. Let’s take your cries of unfairness and reduce that number by a half. But then multiply that by hundreds of dioceses throughout the US and sadly the world. For a moment let’s even give the offending clerics a pass and say they were sick, sick people. I lay the blame at the feet of the hierarchy. The wealth and power of the Church is over the top and that has been passed on to its district managers everywhere. Now this is the point where I think of the Congress and board rooms and say the religious are not alone.

Think about Watergate, Clinton, GM,Volkswagen, JP Morgan, Bear Sterns, Lehman, Enron, BP, Madoff to name a few before you cast the first stone. It is considered dangerous to your career if you don’t  look the other way. At the same time we see every type of transgression and dismiss it saying we are just following orders or even worse using it as get out of jail free card. 50 shades of gray is not a tacky novel but a way our consciences and outrage shift and bend to make every situation different and somehow palatable.

I am not a boy scout or trying to adopt some sense of righteousness but I can’t help but think our keen sense of right and wrong becomes duller over time. One of the most telling lines in the movie is a Lebanese lawyer named Garabedian who states in a very Irish Catholic town that,” It takes a village to raise a child and it takes a village to abuse one”. We don’t worry about political correctness but how we will look to our fellow man or woman. Hey, we have to work together or see each other at the club. Don’t want to get the evil eye you know.

I came away feeling incredibly sorry for the poor parishes of North and South Boston, Revere and the Elmhursts and Woodsides of New York. These places grew up as places of solace for poor immigrants. You were known not by where you lived but what parish you belonged to. It wasn’t a Sunday go meeting place but in many cases the center of your life. You went to school there, were an altar boy and your mom and grandparents made novenas for those who had gone to war or a dad who had lost his way. The titular heads of this family were the pastor and his curates. It was a place of trust and unfortunately who one trusts one becomes vulnerable. Kind of like when one puts faith in a company where they work, a boss they loved to work for or even a company they invested in for a better life later on. Not so simple to just say one of the oldest and most revered pillars of decency is besmirched. They, my friends are not alone.

This is a far cry from the pithy piece I wanted to write but I hope you understand that after seeing the movie and cogitating for many hours I had to open up and maybe yes for once not look the other way. Those shades of gray become a lot more black and white when one puts a Spotlight on them. I felt deep down a bunch of emotions and I just wanted to share that with someone. I guess that was you.

As always
Ted The Great

Factoids:
Newspapers today have for the most part forgone investigative journalism. It is too time consuming and expensive. People want headlines not deeply involved analysis. Too bad.

It is estimated that some 5,000 priests are guilty of sexual predation in the US which is about 5% of the clergy. Of those that have come to light it appears that 80% of worldwide offenses have been here in the US but the factors enabling people to come forward are incredibly difficult to quantify.

If there are 5,000 rogue priests that means there are 95,000 out there who are for the most part wonderful and decent people. The Catholic Church has led all other charitable organizations in the help of the sick and the poor. I have known priests and religious my entire life. Many of them are close friends whom Kathy and I treasure. In all those encounters over 65 plus years I have never encountered even a scintilla of impropriety.

Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc. is a grassroots nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality of investigative reporting. IRE was formed in 1975 to create a forum in which journalists throughout the world could help each other by sharing story ideas, newsgathering techniques and news sources.

 

True Grit….

In a big country like ours, life is full of contrasts. We go from the canyons of New York City to the Grand Canyon of Arizona. We celebrate Senior Chief Edward Byers and give him the Congressional Medal of Honor for shooting the enemy and showing incredible bravery in the retrieval of a hostage. We wonder in disbelief how another human being could go into a lawn mower parts factory, take people hostage and cut them down indiscriminately? We admire people with plenty in our land and then we look askance at people with plenty of nothing. Amazing place.

We are known for our pluckiness and resolve. I wonder not at what makes people successful but what keeps them coming back for more when they are knocked down. You read of every manner of being who has put up with failure only to try for that brass ring or a new start time and time again. How about people who have overcome handicaps of every sort both physical, mental and financial? What is it that makes them hang in there in the face of unbelievable odds?

This is not just a romantic concept that finds its outlet in “chick” flicks. There is something going on here that demands study by all of us. Warren Buffett took many economists and pundits to task in his annual letter this weekend. He said we can figure out how to live on 2 1/2% growth rate and have a good life. But if you listen to the Donald, our country sucks and if you harken to Bernie and at times Hilary our good times are behind us unless of course you elect one of them. Maybe it is time for America to rebel not only against politicians but all the bad news we have been hit with.

We all have something that has gone wrong in our lives. We have lost jobs and loved ones. A child has been gravely ill or diagnosed with a horrible malady. Maybe we have lost our faith. Maybe we have lost our face. Anyone who tells you they have not been through a crisis of one sort has somehow missed out on life. Of course we all know one or two braggarts who have never lost money in the stock market or on a business deal. Their marriage and kids are perfect. Good for them in their fantasies. Don’t dare look below the surface.

Psychology Today tells us “Resilience is that ineffable quality that allows some people to be knocked down by life and come back stronger than ever. Rather than letting failure overcome them and drain their resolve, they find a way to rise from the ashes” Fair enough, but do we all have the capability? Strangely enough we all do but some just don’t want to listen to their internal “Knute Rockne” speech. You know that they take some sick pleasure in wallowing in self pity and the idea the world is against them.

There was an interesting study at the University of Michigan into bouncing back from adversity. It seems that those that recover have the ability to understand the gravity or sorrow in situation and deal with it while others keep reliving the vile experience over and over again. They can’t neutralize their emotions. “Get over it” is not in their lexicon. Yes, the sensitive are more prone to getting stuck. So are those that do not plan well or who are reticent to make decisions. Yet those traits are acquired not inherited.

As I think back on my life I can’t count the times I have been knocked down. Some incidental bumps and others head on collisions that have taken their toll. Some are self inflicted. I have a tendency to speak my mind which I know will shock all of you. That doesn’t always work well. I also am prone to taking chances and thank God I have a wife who is a good sport or at least she says she is. But I do have the ability to look myself in the eye and admit I have screwed up. There are two keys hidden here. A good support system and the ability to call a spade a spade.

But the rebound is not automatic. It takes work and that is where people flater. You mean there is no pill for this or that? Sorry,but no. I am too old, too tired,too busy, too stressed to deal with it right now is the common litany of excuses. I went back to weight training this week and of course overdid it. Walking like an invalid has me questioning a second day of madness. Something inside says forget it but there is another that says get off your ass and do it. Guess which one won out?

That was a frivolous example and many of you are facing much more trauma than a sore butt. There was a couple in church on Sunday with their severely palsied boy of 18 or 19. I know many of you who have lost loved ones and yet have faced things full frontal. If I were a 55-60 year old today who had lost his job I don’t think I would be up for TTG’s message of hope. But then again somehow we survive. Somehow we make sense of all this.

As I work in hospice I have been involved in many final hour situations. The human body no matter how diseased or broken is an amazing thing. There are telltale signs the end is near. One of the most dramatic is that the patient’s extremities get cold. The blood is no longer pumping there. The body knows it is in trouble and tries at all cost to protect the torso and use whatever it has to preserve the strength in its most vital organs. When you would almost expect a person to totally acquiesce they are fighting with all they know. That is true grit. Let’s hope we can fight as hard for our world that we so cherish.

As always
Ted The Great.

Factoids.

SEAL training is over 50 weeks long. The recruits are constantly pushed physically and mentally with each week getting worse not easier.Hell week has you sleeping no more than four hours a day and under incredible pressure for the remaining 20. Around 1000 start out and about 200 make it to receive their SEAL trident. During training they can opt out by taking their helmet off and ringing a brass bell three times. I imagine it would kill me to have to do that. Here’s to those that make it.

The Donald called out Sen. John McCain for not being a war hero. He flippantly said heroes don’t get captured. McCain broke a leg and both arms upon ejection from his plane and lasted over five years in the Hanoi Hilton. I call that resolve and a healthy pair of you know whats.

Special Note from my nephew :
Some of you probably know Glen Doherty passed away during the 9/11/12 attacks in Benghazi. Glen was a good friend of mine who made the ultimate sacrifice protecting his fellow Americans. In order to remember and honor Glen, his family set up the Glen Doherty Memorial Foundation to celebrate Glen’s life and his passion for igniting the human spirit through adventure and education.
The best way I can honor my friend is by asking for your help in locating Veterans that may qualify for one of the scholarships offered by the Glen Doherty Memorial Foundation. Additionally, I am looking for members of your community to donate to this worthy cause. Donations can be made directly at http://www.glendohertyfoundation.org/.

This fund provides scholarships, subsidies, and gifts to current and former special operations professionals in one of four ways:

•Scholarships for current or former Special Operation Professionals used for traditional education
•Scholarships for current or former Special Operations Professionals used for vocational and non-traditional training
•Subsidies and grants for the children of Special Operations Professionals to attend camps that build leadership
•Gifts for the families of Special Operations Professionals and Foreign Service Officers, where a loss or life-changing debilitating injury has been suffered, to be used for recreation as a way of supporting the family unit through positive outdoor activities

Any donations or recommendations for scholarship recipients would be greatly appreciated!

Inside Ted’s Head…

We are now into the fifth year of Ted’s Head. We have made new friends and we have lost some others over the years. Some have passed on and others have passed out from this insanity that I put out most weeks. Our numbers range from 200-500 per week depending on how bored people are. I am grateful for every one of them .

The plot line is simple. As my poor wife will attest my mind idles at about 75-80 MPH most of the time and when I get really wound up, look out. I hope I can be considered observant of people and events. It’s not ESP but just a fascination and wonderment at life and all the crazy things it throws at us. Rather than knowledgeable I would rather be considered intuitive or my old favorite, pragmatic. There is only so much we can control.

Most weeks I start thinking about what interests me most around Saturday or Sunday. I am a bit of a news wonk, reading at least two newspapers a day and spending a fair amount of time on line and making PBS news somewhat mandatory. I just like the fact that their news stories are 10-15 minutes in length rather than a 60 second sound byte. I love the WEEK because it takes a news piece and gives you contrary viewpoints. At no time are you told it has to be this way or that. And then I just put thoughts on paper and somehow they seem to make sense….or at least I hope they do.

I am always asked if I am conservative or liberal? Or should I say someone will say, “Oh yeah, I know the way you feel about this or that.” You probably don’t. I have worked with the homeless and in hospice so I am going to try to help my fellow man. Yet the easiest way to get me going is to say,”You owe me.” I will help, but you better be putting in the effort.

Government is a necessary evil…to print money and safeguard the populace.I think we have gone way too far in its involvement in our lives. People were never meant to be lifetime politicians. They were supposed to come, serve their time and then go back home to their livelihoods. I think the whole idea of civil service exemptions from punishment and firing are an absurd overreach of a concept that started out one way by the founding fathers and now has taken on a wholly different life of its own. The government itself has grown so bloated and out of control there is no way to trace money and programs. But it is the grist for the politician’s mill and I don’t see that changing anytime soon.

I am not anti capitalist nor anti rich which from time to time some of you have suggested. I find “obscene” wealth to be tawdry. Conspicuous consumption and a desire for things are just childish to me. Those are personal feelings but not a cause celebre. Do what floats your boat! At the same time my most detested trait is arrogance. To act in a way that refuses to take into consideration your fellow man just goes against my grain. I have never felt above or below anyone. My archbishop told me once he thought I had a problem with authority. I probably do, but it is a healthy irreverence for titles and supposed superiority. I always call priests by their first name. Not to be disrespectful but to say we are all in the same boat. Otherwise, Father you can call me Mr. Kenny.

I am not a tree hugger per se but I do think we are screwing up this blue marble we live on. If you study the planet and its systems you realize very quickly this is a well oiled machine. Everything whether it is a food chain or the Gulf Stream makes sense and is part of a process. In the Industrial Revolution we were eager and avaricious but weren’t privy to the data and science that we have today. Today as rational people we have to take steps to change. I guess it comes back the that old hubris thing that I hate so much where we say up yours, we are going to do what we want, no matter what.

As far as the world I don’t think we can or should be the world’s policeman. I think our allies have been playing us like an A Flat wherein we are the beef in any alliance and they pay little more than lip service. For the last decade and a half we have spent over 2 trillion dollars and have very little to show for it. The rest of the world was doing its thing while we were jackassing around in the Middle East. Brings back memories of Viet Nam. It actually is a self fulfilling prophecy because contrary to Dwight D. Eisenhower’s warnings we have a marriage made in heaven with defense contractors and our government living up to the specter of the “military industrial complex.”

I hope you all don’t agree with me. We all have disparate opinions. But and it is a huge BUT that we should have to ability to discuss it rather than immediately drawing sides. People are petrified of discourse because they fear if they listen they might find out they agree with some thought or ideation that is contrary to what they have put stock in for so many years. If they are iron clad stubborn they don’t have to worry about it. “That’s my story and I am sticking with it. End of discussion.” We will never grow as people or a country if we adapt that position.

All I can really hope for is that I get you to think. My buddy,Leonardo Da Vinci would think about a problem for several days. On one hand he might look at it this way. That afternoon, a totally different perspective. And then another. More often than not his solution was an amalgam of thoughts over the several days. I guess this is why he is one of the few people in history that I would attribute word “Genius” to. He was.

Lastly everyone asks what is this whole thing with Ted The Great? Very simply, I grew up on Wall Street with many buddies.They went on to become mucky mucks in high places. I called a glitterati one afternoon and his rather officious secretary answered with all the stuffiness she could muster. When I attempted to engage her in light banter she demanded,”Who is this?” I calmly said,”Ted” Really irritated, she sneered, “Ted who?” I just blurted out,”Ted The Great” and the rest is history. It’s a total spoof.

Thanks so much for listening today and as often as you can.

As always
Ted The Great

Factoid.

I figure I have written around 250,000 words of blather over these years. The are all included in the archives of the website, https://tedsheadco.wordpress.com I hope you would think enough of this lunacy to pass the web address to some fiends or mailing lists you may have . Always fire back at me when you think I am out of line or God forbid you might agree.

Sea Changes….

Sea Changes….

I have always been a proponent of the pendulum theory. Call me a student of history or just a cockeyed optimist. It always seems that no matter how crazy things get, there occurs a righting moment. That’s a nautical term where the ship can list over only so far. If it goes beyond it, the mighty vessel capsizes. If it holds there is soon a return to equilibrium or and even keel as it were.

Last Saturday morning as I opened the Wall Street Journal’s Review section I was hit right between the eyes by Charles Murray’s discussion of “Trump’s America” which I think was poorly titled. I passed the article on to a few of you stating it was not political and I don’t think it was. It defined an anger and frustration that could have been amped up by either The Donald or Bernie. A frustration that can only be described as an alienation from what has made America great.

Let’s say the American tradition or creed as Murray puts it has been egalitarianism, liberty and individualism. Fair enough. Point being that the  middle class doesn’t feel the love and are backing the two outsiders. They feel and its true that over the last few decades that have at best been treading water financially. The old formula of work hard, raise a family and do your best has produced a bitter taste rather than the sweet nectar of accomplishment.

They want to lash out at Wall Street but that is just an address. There is an elite of the media, legal fields, finance and technology that embodies raw power and separation from their lesser brethren. When I was growing up I guess you could say we had money and many of those around us did also. But we never knew it or even more importantly betray any sense of elitism. We were part of the town, church and school in every sense of the word. If you got on a high horse there was mom or dad more than willing to knock you off it.

Egalitarianism was alive and well in Manhasset, NY. You played ball with every ethnic and racial group. Yes, there were plenty of blacks. It seems the affluent, whatever that means, were neat but not gaudy. We lived in nice homes but if I were to go there today I would not describe them as opulent. If people had wealth they did not flaunt it. They wanted to fit in rather than stand out. Their weal was not hidden as much as worn well. Then things changed.

Probably the seeds were sprouting some twenty five years ago. A lot was not enough. Some wanted it all. Everywhere we became driven by ROI. Find the fastest,cheapest way to deliver product and mom and pop did not enter the discussion. This is not a diatribe against capitalism a much as a description of what happened to a whole lot of people as a result. Wealth no longer described a nice lifestyle but a race to have it all and fast. And there were casualties. Those were not bums but nice guys who saw their way of life and dreams shattered. And they are fodder for our opportunistic politicians.

Establishment is not selling. Each party is wringing their hands trying to find the right message but the natives are restless. They are galled and they are impatient. They have been buying the Kool Aid for too long. It no longer slakes their thirst. As we grow larger and larger we have to deal with the masses. Treat people as groups not individuals. Gotta have a rule for this and that and the government becomes stifling rather than empowering.

Add them up and our American creed as we knew it seems to be fraying at the edges if not completely threadbare. We lash out at the immigrants and if we send them all back home everything will be all right again. Really? A lot of these people are more than hard working and resourceful. Family and religion for all it defines are terribly important to them. We started off for the most part as Anglo Protestants. Gradually that morphed into Catholic, Judaeo Christian and yes a melange of Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists and whatever. Pardon me but I think that is what makes us great….or at least did.

This election cycle as obnoxious as it is becomes defining. There is a considerable part of our populace that are pissed off for one reason or another. I happen to believe that the middle class have a case to make. They are not on the dole as so many of our lower class are. They see the poor as living off the fruit of their efforts and the dependency is not easing. Men don’t work and fewer and fewer are married. Numbers of unwed mothers are soaring and the resources to sustain them are incomprehensible. They have also been outed by the upper class. The rich and famous like things just fine but a lot of what they have has to a large degree been on the back of productivity and cost cutting. Trickle down is exactly working out as planned.

Somebody or some party might figure this out. We can’t have healthcare and free tuition for all. At the same time we can’t be insular and pay lip service to the shills of conservatism. It’s ironic that Nino Scalia died this week. He was a strict wordsmith when it came to the Constitution. It’s not today that set the end lines but what was happening in the 1700’s. The founding fathers laid down the rules and we agreed to live by them. But once again those were based on egalitarianism, liberty and individualism. Do we still believe it?

I am not sure if the ship is going to right itself or if it should? I just hope we put some real thought into our collective cultural future as well as our economic one. I would hope the WSJ and other media outlets would put in as many articles as this one as they do on the IMF, The Middle East, the price of oil  and the Fed. That would really be a sea change…and for the better.

As always
Ted The Great

Factoids:

None to speak of.

 

Dream the Impossible Dream….

I am not sure which was more fun,Sunday or yesterday here in the foothills of the Rockies. The boys in blue and orange came through big time in the Hyper Bowl and the victory parade that ambled down 17th Street was typical of our ways. Simple and by most accounts somewhat homespun.

I went with my 9 year old grandson and we staked out our spot about two hours prior to the start of the celebration. Little by little others streamed in and soon we were seven deep up and down the avenue. Then there they were, riding on fire trucks from the city and neighboring municipalities. No one was left out of this party. Some of the players were wearing their game jerseys and other were definitely Casual Friday. Anders noted that Aquib Talib was drinking a beer and another Bronco was smoking a cigar. At least no one was smoking pot that we noticed or smelled.

Now please understand there were one million in attendance. No big deal for the east and left coasts but our metro area has a population of only 2.5 million. The state comes in at 5.3. No one was minding the store and no one really cared. The fascinating part was that everyone dispersed within 45 minutes of the end of the ceremony and there was only one arrest. We then came home and watched “Martian” and then my man had hockey practice at 6:00 PM. We didn’t pull up the sidewalks but things got back to normal without an abundance of debauchery.

What struck me most about the game was that no one was giving us a chance. Hey, the spread was 5, not 25 points but no-one cared. Superman was going to run over us until we found some kryptonite and a has been but brilliant defensive coach in Wade Philips. Sunday and yesterday I started thinking about this thing called Hope. Not Clinton’s Arkansas or Obama’s punch line but that little nugget that resides in all of us.

Sorry to be somewhat redundant on the psychological vein but it bears repeating. Our world is full of terror and turmoil. We have naysayers like the sportscasters that say no way. Fear and cynicism have turned a lot of us into a rather jaded lot. Listen to me son, I know what I am talking about and you don’t have a chance. That idea! How stupid and we can all go back to our cocoons of stability and yes mediocrity to exert our smugness once again. Not me. I can dream with the best of them.

The real distinction is the one between fantasy and possibility. I was one of the millions of whackos who bought a Powerball ticket but I really didn’t think I was going to win. There were some that were betting their life on it and therein lies the tragedy. I cogitated more about what makes something happen.

A business plan is essential, not only for some crazy new idea but perhaps for life. Whenever I start a project I try to clearly state what my objective or goal is…that is beyond saving the entire world. Is it achievable and worthwhile? One or two sentences at most. Then you look at the ways or steps you are going to employ to get it accomplished.If I am going to make something, how do I get the necessary manufacturing capability, capital, distribution etc.

Lastly do I have the requisite knowledge or talent to pull it off? Believe it or not that last piece is the biggest stumbling block. Very little beyond nuclear physics is beyond our purview and yet day after day people do not dare to dream the impossible dream. Quixote and Sancho tilting at windmills? Our landscapes are littered with good intentions and great ideas. I wonder why people fall short? Is it the inherent nature of man to fail or quit?

What is that thing that says, step out on a limb? I think it resides in dog headedness or determination. The eye on the prize. It is tough to run the gauntlet of doubt and criticism. Only the foolhardy or incredibly tenuous survive against all odds. It isn’t a win one for the Gipper speech but rather a real belief in what you are doing that propels one beyond the realm of concept. But what teaches that?

I think we here in the free world and especially the United States don’t know. We are soft and supplicant. We would rather have things done for us than do them for ourselves. Whether call it the Nanny or Welfare State we constantly have our hand out both financially and psychologically. Tell me what to do and you can also do it for me if you like. Seems that when things get tough we sit on our collective asses and wait for someone to bail us out. Who or what is this savior? Is this why we look to Bernie or Donald? I think we have to look within ourselves.

Success does not come in a pill. There is no You Tube for striving and resourcefulness. Everything good or bad in our lives is the result of a decision we made. On the other hand all this does not mean we cannot have a soul. People need a hand from time to time but should not seek help forever. How can we preach responsibility and compassion at the same time? We have to figure that one out to go forward.

In the current election cycle we are told the people are mad as hell and maybe they are? But what are they really mad at? Life is pretty damn good whatever your echelon. Surely the system is screwed up almost beyond repair, but who put these people in office? Is a country that lives on revolving credit with 16-20% interest rates really ready to come to grips with $19 trillion in long term debt? Doubtful.

Is the dream impossible? Only if we look at it as fantasy. The goals are achievable and yes we can create systems to fix the deficiencies. The two key ingredients are grit and a person or persons to enact the plan. Unfortunately I don’t see either just yet. Let’s just keep hoping. Go Broncos!

As always
Ted The Great

Factoids:

World wide, there are about 300 million persons trying to start about  150 million businesses. About one third will be launched, so you can  assume 50 million new firm births per year. Or about 137,000 per day. As  firm birth and death rates are about equal, the same number of active  firms, say 120,000 probably terminate trading each day–world wide. Were there that many bad ideas?

The man who is a pessimist before 48 knows too much; if he is an optimist after it, he knows too little.
Mark Twain

It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all, in which case you have failed by default.
J. K. Rowling

You have to have hope. The opposite is despair and that ain’t no life at all.
Unknown

In La La Land…

The Magical Mystery Tour is wrapping up another segment. Due to my medical hiccup last year we didn’t go anywhere. Kathy of course has accepted this as a challenge for this winter and it is almost like the bags are never unpacked. Considering the fact Denver is knee deep in snow I think I like her style. We are spending our children’s inheritance.

As I sit looking out over the water I do wonder if I was meant to be a beach bum for the rest of my life. This thing called happiness comes to mind and you contemplate on what it really is. I went to the net for guidance and as one might imagine there are anywhere from 6 to 100 rules to define happiness. I will try to distill them down to a manageable few.

When I started my topic sheet for the week it was going to be “Compared to What?” For most of us we define our lives by comparing it to someone else’s. At the beach, am I shorter, taller, fatter, thinner, tanner or as in shape as this guy or that? Walking down the shore you see this or that mansion. You wonder who the hell can afford a pad worth $7 or 8 million that they only go to two or three times a year? Maybe they need a house sitter? I think we will send Kathy instead of me with that proposal.

This brought me to the concept of positive psychology as espoused by a very cool doc by the name of Martin Seligman. We are not going to delve deeply into your toilet habits as a kid to figure out why you are unhappy. We are just going to change your way of thinking. Sounds simple and some ways it is. We are defined as a person by 50% genes and about 10% environment. That leaves you with 40% you can work on. It defines the concept of working with the hand you are dealt. You are defined by you.

That is the first and foremost premise. Love yourself. Don’t beat yourself up. This is not an egotistical, narcissistic brand. It is being honest with yourself and realistic in your expectations. You can dream big and you should but don’t make it so absurd you will never realize your goals. I am not going to shoot 65, dunk a basketball or have a billon dollars. But I can work out, work on my golf game and try to manage my resources in a meaningful way. You are in a word honest with yourself.

If you are authentic then should not feel uncomfortable with letting others in. Happy people are social and outgoing and at the same time genuine. They don’t hold back. They smile like they mean it and it comes from the soul. They have an ability to get below the surface of you and life. They don’t wear their heart on their sleeve but are not afraid to bare their innermost feelings. They will expect the same of you. They will listen and respect what you have to say rather than jumping on you for your beliefs or background.

They surround themselves with positive people. How many times do you get sucked into a conversation with a bunch of grumpy old men or women? The conversation turns to politics, religion or the economy. You can feel the temperature rising and the venom gets more unbridled. Let’s really get things cooking with Obama, Hilary, Cruz, abortion, Muslims, Jews and throw in your favorite sports team for good measure. People love to sing from the same hymnal and everyone storms out the door feeling much better for having vented their spleen. Sounds like fun, doesn’t it? Huh? To what end?
Happy people listen. They don’t fight for the conversation to show their brilliance but want to learn from you. Let me sit down and consider an alternate point of view. Your problems or accomplishments do not have to take center stage. I really blew this one earlier this week. A friend was going through a tough time and I couldn’t wait to tell him about my latest insights into that end of life thing. What a jerk I was. But on another note here I am admitting it. I screwed up and as friends I hope he will forgive me.

Ah, but the unhappy people want to take on that grudge forever. It gets deep in their gut and they will never let you up for air. Somehow bile is not in that recipe for happiness. Resilience is such a part of life. Live in the now not yesterday. I have often said I can’t take back what I said five seconds ago regardless of how I might try. Move on mes amis.

Most of all you have to work at it. I took a variety of tests at authentichappiness.org. Go ahead, try them. They are free and no one will ever know the results. It puts you somewhere on a chart of others your age and lot in life. I found that I need work on a lot of things which is fine. I consider myself a pretty happy guy but there is plenty of room for improvement.

Doc Seligman says there are three types of happiness. One is purely pleasurable. That ice cream, fast car or big house. Feels fantastic..at least for the moment. Then there is an enjoyment that comes from being engaged in life. You are working hard, winning small victories every day, taking pleasure in simple things and this is usually more than enough for all of us. Lastly there is the joy of fulfillment. You really get that you are doing what you are put on this earth for. You are using your talents to the best of your ability and maybe just making this world a little better place to live.

All of this is highly subjective. We are all so incredibly different. You don’t see the same hues that I do and we hear a musical note oh so differently. We can make generalizations but must realize the answer lies within and for us alone. La La land is good for the soul. It doesn’t have to be at the beach. It can be in a set of headphones at your home or office or just a walk in the park I hope you will join me in trying harder. It should be fun.

As always
Ted The Great

Factoids:

Happiness..noun “the experience of joy, contentment, or positive well-being, combined with a sense that one’s life is good, meaningful, and worthwhile.” As good as any.

“If you want happiness for an hour — take a nap.’
If you want happiness for a day — go fishing.
If you want happiness for a year — inherit a fortune.
If you want happiness for a lifetime — help someone else.”
Chinese Proverb

Each morning when I open my eyes I say to myself: I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn’t arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I’m going to be happy in it.
Groucho Marx

When I was in grade school, they told me to write down what I wanted to be when I grew up.
I wrote down happy.
They told me I didn’t understand the assignment,
I told them they didn’t understand life…Unknown

“A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.”
Herm Albright (1876 – 1944)

Some of you might think this is all a bunch of crap. That is your prerogative I feel for you because you have never experienced the highest of highs and lowest of lows. You have never understood the euphoria of success and the nobility of defeat. You have never smiled and seen a face light up.  Ted The Great

One Year To Live…

I am taking a bit of a sabbatical from working at hospice. It is not from burnout or disbelief in a wonderful discipline. It is just a time to step back to see if there is a better way to use my crazy talent for dealing with death and those that it affects from patient to family to friends. I wish I could tell you why the thought of the final days does not give me the willies. I guess I just view it as much a part of life as being born.

I have spoken many times of the fact that I don’t know of anyone who has beaten the rap. We have all been subject to the gut wrenching suddenness of a car accident or an airplane crash to a relative or someone we know. Death by disease is more commonplace but when it strikes a child or beautiful young mom or dad, the poignancy is magnified and find ourselves asking the perennial question of why? I am always amazed that people question how God could let this happen?

I am looking at all this in a variety of ways. Is there a better way to do Hospice? More importantly how do I get people to understand it better. It was always a bit of deep frustration to see a gurney roll through the front door and know that person had only a little more than a few days if not hours to live. We were glad they came but we could have made things so much more comforting if the had talked to us weeks and months earlier. I remember an eighty something man who accompanied his wife and the sheer acquiescence in his voice as he sobbed,”I just couldn’t do it any more.” Why have we failed to get the message out properly? Dunno.

Understanding comes with the exchange of ideas. Words like death, mortality and even hospice cause a drastic tune out of the senses. It is said that many people who receive the bad news from an oncologist or cardiologist never hear what is being said past the first few fateful words. So many of our patients over the years said they never had the conversation. Docs are an egotistical lot and that is a good thing. They think they can cure you of anything and to tell you that you are going to die is a devastating prognosis that no one wants to tell another human being. Even more so it is an admission of defeat. Finally we are teaching in med school how to improve one’s bedside manner. They are making progress but it is slow in coming.

A friend sent me an article about a group out of New York (where else?) who have put together a series of seminars called, “How to Live This Year as if It Were Your Last.” It actually runs nine months but who is counting? It is not so much for just the dying but for everyday blokes to contemplate mortality. From Wall Streeters to housewives. Now if you look into this it is actually done by two Buddhist monks. Here and now thinking. Don’t put your life on automatic.They probably get a little too mystical for me but I love the idea. What the hell would you do?

To begin Kathy and I have travelled a lot lately so I will not be visiting the Taj Mahal. I am growing weary of long flights and besides the slums and crowded streets of India aren’t exactly beckoning. I would go back and hang out in Amalfi or Hawaii for at least a month or two.Got to have my water fix. I could then eat plenty of pasta without any guilt. Nice glass of red and perhaps a cigar after dinner. Would I opt for the $250 vino? Probably not. Not being frugal but practical. A good question to ask though.

I would of course have my buddy Kath by my side if she could stand it. We just celebrated 45 years last Saturday and at dinner she was still smiling. Do you think she was acting? I have had so many wonderful friends over the years I would at least want to let them know how much they have meant to me. Undoubtedly I would try to wrench every last fun time out of my kids and grandkids but I would have to do it without being maudlin.

I would want to write. A lot more than I do now. No, don’t worry, Ted’s Head won’t become a daily occurrence. Just something to be put away and looked at someday. Then you could decide if I had anything worthwhile to say or if this guy was really as whacky as he seemed.Somewhere I would have to sneak a letter to my wife telling her just how much she has meant to me. I would want to figure out some way to reach out to people I have wronged in some way. Try to just make it right but then again that it might be a tad selfish to think that way. “What the hell took you so long, asshole ?” might be a very valid reply. Hold that thought.

Lastly I might try to put together a course like those far out priests of Zen did in the Big Apple. I would try to free people of their fears and prejudices. That is the most striking thing of knowing the end is near. You would no longer have to put on airs. You could bring out that crazy whatever that resides inside of all of us but convention says no way you can let out. You might want to sing or act. Critics be damned.
Isn’t life nuts?

Alright, enough of this madness or as friend told me my stream of consciousness. I hope I don’t bore you but on the other hand it is fun to look at life from a totally different slant. Just letting it rip. As if I had one year to live. It is wild and crazy and well, liberating. I hope in some way you can enjoy that same type of zaniness I put on these pages. With that end so poetically near I can’t tell you how alive it makes me feel. Life is good. I hope you can taste all its beauty. One year to live? I have a lot to do I’ll let you know how I progress.

As always
Ted The Great

Factoids:

When we are near death we don’t worry about how much money we have, whether you are white or black or Muslim or Christian. I don’t care what you think of me. There is a strange devil may care attitude which in the most ironic of moments is the first time in our lives that some of us actually live.

Every day 250,000 die for one reason or another.

In that seminar in NYC one couple divorced. He wanted to buy a motorcycle and she said he was riding alone because she was moving to Paris…without him. C’est la guerre. Another woman with breast cancer went to live with her sister in Hawaii.

With death facing one in the eye we say we want to do this and that. We make our laundry or bucket lists. Why do we have to wait? Why not now? Oh that’s right. You are too busy.

Too Big Not To Fail…..

 

We were at a dinner party the other night and I sat next to a lovely young woman who by her own admission was an avowed liberal. Fair enough. She said she was for more government and power to the people. I asked her if she felt that universal healthcare was appropriate? Of course. I then asked if we could afford the ultimate in treatment for 320 million Americans. For instance there is a new drug for cancer that would give someone with cancer an extra three months of life but at a cost of $250,000. Needless to say there was a pregnant pause in the conversation.

In these days of presidential aspirations we are being treated to all manner of hyperbole when it comes to what this candidate or that will do for you. Bernie is selling the everything for free Kool Aid and there is a large group that is drinking it up much to Hilary’s dismay. On the other side the Donald is going to build the wall that is bigger and better than anything in China and of course we are going to build a hundred more ships and yada yadda. How are we going to pay for it? Just leave it to Carl Icahn.
Leaving all the discourse aside I have reached the conclusion that we cannot afford one more iota of growth in government. No more programs, departments, sub secretaries or weapons systems. We have grown too unwieldy and beyond any genius of management. We spend $3.8 trillion per annum which is about 20% of our GDP. About $450 billion of that is money we don’t have, ergo the deficit. Including defense we have about 4 million employees in the federal government and nationwide there are 20 million in the employment of the public sector.

We have had a fiasco here in Denver which is the problem in a nutshell. As a center for veterans in the Rocky Mountain region, Denver is home to a rather large and antiquated medical facility. Some 20-25 years ago it was determined a new or renovated medical center was needed. Coincidentally the University of Colorado was building an entirely new campus in nearby Aurora. A proposal was made to share facilities with the Vets with equal advantages to both. The cost was to be around $325 million. Not so fast, TTG. The American Legion of all groups weighed in and said our boys needed a stand alone independent operation. Presto chango our congressional delegation fell in line and now we were headed to a singular development at much higher cost.

The story gets worse. The architectural firm got out of control and started designing block long atriums and zigzagging and curved walls. If you have ever built you know the cost of these versus squared off walls. Beyond belief the whole operation was started without a firm price. Finally they agreed to $604 million on the fly but only if the design was changed to more normal specifications. This agreement was handwritten on a legal pad which the builder and the VA signed. That’s for 1.2 million square feet and 12 buildings….on a yellow piece of paper.
Long story short the bill has now climbed to $1.73 billion and the number of beds lowered from 182 to 148. They still have the custom doors, windows and wooden floors. That does not include furnishings and equipment which add another $340 million. I can’t make this stuff up. And construction will not be completed until 2017. An aberration? No, the VA are having the same types of problems with hospitals in New Orleans and Florida.

Now you say let’s make someone pay for this lunacy. Can’t do that because the project managers and internal designers have taken early retirement. By the rules of Civil Service they are untouchable. I wish it was just the VA. The F35 jet fighter is overwrought with overruns and capabilities that are far less than first envisioned. The web site for Obamacare was originally pegged to cost $465 million but came in at $825 million. Go back to those 4 million workers doing who knows what with little management oversight. I guarantee there are people working in offices on programs that were shut down years ago and nobody knows why they are there.

There are three pieces to the puzzle. First and foremost is the agency. People have champagne tastes on beer budgets because it is not their nickel. They put everything into the design and then proceed to submit change orders well into the project. They have no profit and loss statement to worry about. They intentionally lowball the estimates. Usually the viability of a project is judged by its ability to make economic sense. They know that once we get into this or that the government vis a vis the politician will come through with the additional funding. But if the real facts were known if never would have gotten off the ground in the first place.

The second piece is our elected representatives who have gotten there because they have brought this to that governmental spending piece to their home district. He or she will do everything in their power to keep it there and crow to the electorate. And of course the supplier is there contributing to his campaign. Northrop Grumman, Raytheon et alia have strategically made sure that some portion of that ship or plane is manufactured in every congressional district in the country.

That is just bricks and mortar and hardware. We have not even begun to speak of medicine and wellness. Day care, food stamps, anti poverty programs, housing, transportation, airports…shall I continue on? The enormity and complexity of the problem boggles the mind. Forgive me if the latest and greatest idea doesn’t give me a warm fuzzy.

My solution is this. For the next two to four years we do nothing new. Congress and the executive branch twiddle their thumbs.They can do that. We put the departments on a budget. You want to do this? Then eliminate that. Forget about balancing the budget by 2020. Do it now at all cost. Now you and I can vote the bums out.We can all give up our sacred cows. But you and I know that won’t happen and that is why I say we are too big not to fail. It’s inevitable and incredibly sad.

As always,
Ted The Great

Factoids:

It is estimated that due to fraud and poor management the US Government pays out over $125 billion on funds annually that are unnecessary or illegal.Over the last five years, the GAO said it has made 440 recommendations across 180 areas where federal agencies can cut back on fragmented, overlapping and duplicative spending programs, but as of November 2014, only 29 percent of the actions were fully addressed, according to the report. Congress refuses to hold their feet to the fire and bureaucrats stonewall.

We have a debt of over $18 trillion. How much of that as noted above is the residue of waste and fraud ? We pay interest on that every year. That is the most galling of all to me.

Over the past three years, the Government Accountability Office found 162 areas where agencies are duplicating efforts, at a cost of tens of billions of dollars. Government agencies are spending billions on new mapping data — without checking whether some other government agency already has maps they could use.It took the GAO three years to identify the federal catfish inspection programs in triplicate, inefficiency of fragmented military uniform procurement, and overlap in almost 80% of drug treatment programs. I rest my case.