So, yes, I am scratching my head.  I don’t understand how a man, a very intelligent man, with a team of people around him at the level that they are, can be so damn…inconsistent.  Let me explain:

Our new leader, the vaulted “Messiah” as he is spoken of by the hard right…I will just call him Obama.  Well, Obama has named his Treasury Security choice.  Mr. Geithner has a long history of service to this country as well as private financial corporations.  He has spent his time digging in the ditch that is our monetary policy.  It is probably safe to say, on resume’ alone, that he knows how to dig a ditch.  Not only how to dig our ditch, but he has international experience as well, so he’s pretty damn familiar with the other guy’s ditch too.

Now, can someone out in their in the big ol’ Internet cloud tell me how a man, namely Obama can tap this guy, and this guy.  How can you pick such a great ditch digger for the Treasury, but such a unqualified pick for the CIA?

I just don’t get it ladies and gentlemen I just don’t.  Reminds me of my thirteen year old.  One moment seeming so confident, so sure, so grown up…making such a great decision and executing, and the next thing…he is crying cause his Pokemon got hosed.  I just can’t understand the inconsistencies.

Now, the next comment is smaller:  So the guy wasn’t on top of paying taxes a few years ago.  Big deal.  If he hasn’t taken care of that I am sure he will.  I think the fact that has the experience necessary can be enough to say, pay the taxes dude.  By the way, it’s not really illegal to pay them late, as long as you pay them.  I would rather a Treasury Secretary with his credentials owing some chump change of taxes than a guy who has never served in the Intelligence community leading that field.

cl

Edit #1: Just wanted to add that there is a serious fire about this boy not paying his taxes on time and some clerical error with a nanny.  I can’t believe I am going to say this out loud (or more specifically type it in the open), but can we be honest here.  We are talking about not filing taxes right for a few years.  I am guilty of it, so are a lot of people.  it happens.  Should a guy that ran the NY Fed be given some slack for a normal American thing…tax trouble?  I don’t know, but does it deserve the feeding frenzy of Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, and probably Sean Hannity (he has come on the radio yet)?  I don’t think so.  Is it a deal killer for a nomination to a Secretary post?  I don’t think so.  No conviction is associated with the tax problems that I know.  People do let things slip.  Things do fall through the cracks.  We aren’t talking about bribes here.  Or “pay to play” politics.  We are talking about “delayed” payment of taxes.  Can we please put that in perspective.

Edit #2: The talking heads say that the new ditch digger “intentionally didn’t pay FICA taxes (read Social Security) taxes for three years.  That he was self employed and he didn’t pay them.  Now, I guess I should eat a tad bit of crow.  If it can be proven that he did it “intentionally” and was trying to avoid paying approximately $10k a year, that would show some issues.  But, I still think that if there is no criminal case against him it is all for naught.  I am not a fan of taxes and I have screwed up paying them for years.  I pay late fees + penalties for that.  I don’t consider myself a criminal.  It’s not like I have been bribed…I just screwed up and didn’t pay my taxes on time.  They got paid.  I paid a “monetary” penalty for a “monetary” screw up.  At any rate, on paper it looks like the guy is good for the job.  Distractions aside, my point still stands…Obama is inconsistent…picking one guy with a good resume for one gig and the other guy with experience for the job he’s being tapped for.

Vice President Elect Biden thinks that the best thing for us to do is wage yet another “war” on something else.  He is in good company:

FDR - “But in the event that the Congress shall fail to take one of these two courses, and in the event that the national emergency is still critical, I shall not evade the clear course of duty that will then confront me. I shall ask the Congress for the one remaining instrument to meet the crisis—broad Executive power to wage a war against the emergency, as great as the power that would be given to me if we were in fact invaded by a foreign foe.”

The interesting thing here is that we have yet another “War on ____________”.  We have too many of these.  And here we go again, well, literally again.  I have thought for sometime now that the Obama Administration was going to be FDR version 2.0, and things like this really bring it out.

We are fighting a war on this economy and we have found and fixed our enemy, as FDR did and as Karl Marx instructs.  We have found our enemy, but unlike what Pogo says, it is not us.  Well, unless you are an  American Businessman.

We are not fighting the right enemy, which is not uncommon.  I am not an economist, but the enemy is exactly as Pogo stated, it is us.  We are greedy selfish creatures.  And we have passed laws that force us to feed that selfishness.  We borrow too much.  Spend too much.  Have to little in reserve.  We have caused our current economic struggles, no one else, no single man.  And our new “War on the Economy” is not going to fix it.  You can not attack those that create wealth in this country.  You can not go to war with the very people you need to help you win.  Not that you can actually win this new war by the way.  There will not be victory.  Economies can not be conquered.  They are living, breathing, flowing entities of their own.

I will say this, we have a habit of using the wrong strategies in our “wars”.  This one is really no different.  Attacking business, telling people how much money that they can make, telling them who to do business with and taxing them to the point where they can not make profit…not a good idea.  It didn’t work for FDR, and it won’t work well for FDR version 2.0.  You can not attack the very people create the jobs that the rest of us depend upon to pay the light bill.  They will let you when you War…they will take their money, their investments, and their businesses some where else.  They will continue to not hire new employees and will continue to hold on to their money.  You will win, but you will do so by ensuring that there is no longer an economy to fight over.

cl

I don’t know where I got this mindset, not entirely sure why I came across this wealth of opinion, but starting about ten years ago I had an epiphany: If I want to hire someone to dig some ditches, I am gonna look for some one with ditch digging experience.

Yeah, fancy that, having experience.  Seems to be the bane of everyone in this country (the USA for the international readers).  Every kid grows up fighting the experience demon.  They are told they can’t get X job because they don’t have Y experience.  We spend tens of thousands of dollars on higher education to get some vestige of experience, so they can have at least 1/3 of the Y experience necessary to sit for the interview.

But lately I have noticed that it only seems to matter for everyone but those in government.  Don’t get me wrong, I don’t particularly think that there is anything “legally” wrong with a man who has never dug a ditch, giving it a good ol’ American try, but…seriously?  Honestly?  Can anyone in this country with a single brain cell still functioning honestly say that appointing a man who has never done a single bit of “Intelligence” work in their life as the Director of the CIA is a good thing?

I know, the world hates Pres. Bush.  I get it.  We elected a man to the White House simply because he wasn’t Bush.  I get it.  I am a big boy, but please, someone explain to me the logic in this.  And good luck, because there isn’t any.  To be honest in my opinion (regardless of what I think of the new President Elect) this is already a case of dereliction of duty.  This President is already making my family and my country less secure.

The bottom line is that we are in the position we are in the world because we cut the Intel budgets, and lowered the abilities of the CIA and other agencies throughout the 90’s.  Let us compound these errors of judgment (not laying blame by the way) by putting the whole kit and caboodle under the command of a man who has ZERO experience in the field of intelligence.  Thanks Mr. President Elect.  Thanks man.  You’re two little girls (precious as they can be of course) are going to be spending their time behind the walls of a secure private school and a wall of Secret Service agents at home.  Mine, not so much.  My kids will be in little ol’ America small town.  I think my kids deserve the best man for this job.  You have already failed me, my kids, and your Country.  Can’t wait for the next decision you make in my best interest.

Thank you Mr. President Elect for hiring the best ditch digger you can find.

cl