john maddente | midwestern clarity

I 'd like to wish (all seven) readers of this blog, a safe and joyous Christmas season.  This site can now also be accessed at another domain: maddente.com  God bless you and here's to a healthy and prosperous 2010! Wikipedia image

Rick Santelli, CNBC T his morning I watched CNBC's Rick Santelli talking from the Chicago Board Of Trade.  His so-called, "Santelli Rant"   has been watched on YouTube over a million times and his sentiments today, once again, represent the views of many Americans who believe in living within one's means -- it's how we were raised -- but we lack a microphone. Rick Santelli was in fine form this morning while debating Steve Liesman .  The topic was banking reform and Mr. Santelli made a case for an elegantly simple cure -- raise the banks' capital requirements.  Another CNBC commentator astutely chimed in that this is the same risk premium banks require when a homeowner has a marginal credit history -- the bank looks for more cash in the deal -- a bigger down payment to compensate for the risk of default. Why can't we use the same mechanism to minimize chances of another banking meltdown?...

I've heard from friends with ties to Columbia, that conditions have dramatically improved across the country, although impressions of that nation's difficult past still linger around the world.  Tonight during Anthony Bourdain's show  about Columbia, I watch as he visits Medellín and interviews locals - many of whom suffered enormously during the Pablo Escobar period of the 1980s.  The people appear proud, hopeful, even happy.  Mr. Bourdain says something to a local that reminds me of a rueful Richard Nixon speaking to White House staff in the final hours of his presidency: "Only if you have been in the deepest valley, can you ever know how magnificent it is to be on the highest mountain." 

W hen the topic of healthcare reform took center stage this summer, I felt that "healthcare reform" had suddenly become code for " let's change health i nsurance ."   I was certain that I was missing something like the "3.5M jobs saved or created " metric  I wrote about last March .  I thought I was the only one disturbed by how stimulus programs would be "measured" and conveyed by this administration because I wasn't witnessing views similar to my own.  Surgeons, Wikipedia In my opinion, the healthcare reform yardstick that counts, is the one that actually lowers healthcare costs for the greatest number of patients.  But that isn't how we frame the national debate and measure success or failure.  Is an expanded insurance pool run by the government going to achieve this goal?   I don't know, but uniformly lowering the cost of that pill, that surgery, that MRI, whatever it is -- would benefit us all.  I do not see how the...

T his week, the author of a  Barron's cover story posits that it's time for the Fed to raise interest rates.  The macro debate for and against doing so, I'll leave for economists.  The argument in favor of raising rates, however, sounds like this...  The Barron's article titled, "C'mon Ben!" is accompanied by a reminder that keeping rates so low "hurts savers."  Additional fallout from a low rate environment mentioned by author Andrew Barry , includes the stoking of inflationary flames and erosion of the dollar.   It's too bad that the policy notion of helping savers to save more, seems to fall on deaf ears.  The Fed keeps the cheap money flowing, but also keeps our returns from savings accounts, money markets, CDs, etc. -- at paltry levels.  When will we reward citizens who save and invest conservatively, instead of the masses who borrow primarily to consume, or organizations incented to make highly-levera...

C ontrast two recent cases that received national media focus: the arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. and video tape of ACORN employees giving advice to individuals posing as operators of an under-aged prostitution business. In the first case, the President declares that law enforcement officers in the Gates case, " acted stupidly " then he hosts an awkward reconciliation meeting over beers on the White House lawn.  In the second case, the President demurs when asked to share his opinion about the ACORN workers and Congressional action to stop federal funding for their organization. President Obama did say that actions he viewed on the ACORN videotape were " inappropriate " and deserved to be investigated, but then he added... " This is not the biggest issue facing the country. It is not something I'm paying a lot of attention to ." Nor should he have paid much attention to a civil disturbance involving one man in Cambridge, Mas...

 John Maddente photo Ever attend a tea party? They don't serve tea at this kind, but visitors do receive a generous helping of speeches and opportunities to express themselves. Yesterday on a sunny afternoon at Milwaukee's Veterans Park, thousands of attendees were treated to a litany of views on issues including our federal and state tax climate and sweeping health care and environmental proposals. This was an audience that is passionate about their country and freedoms, but also well behaved and well informed. Nationally-acclaimed author Michelle Malkin roused the crowd with criticisms of left-leaning figures including Carol Browner, Director of the White House Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy whom Malkin referred to as a "Beltway Swamp Creature" (ouch), Attorney General Eric Holder "Chief Endangerment Officer" and "union thugs" (in particular she cited Andy Stern and the S.E.I.U. ). A number of speeches sounded out a...

H ere are two current examples of how the Fourth Estate still serves the public interest. 1.  Locally, in my home town of Milwaukee, readers were shocked and angry to learn how their tax dollars are squandered (again) by a $350 million state child care program that is routinely plundered by a number of providers, including one -- who as a result of Journal Sentinel investigations -- turned herself in to state authorities.  Fine reporting indeed, by Ms. Raquel Rutledge and others at the Journal Sentinel. Read more about the scams they uncovered at www.jsonline.com/cashinginonkids 2.  Ninety miles south of me, another series by the Chicago Tribune exposes corrupt admission practices at the University of Illinois, as well as other cheats and cronyism throughout the Land of Lincoln. Here's the spot to read, "State of Corruption" . I'm not sure how we'd learn about these issues if old fashioned, gumshoe reporting didn't occur.

J ulie & Julia is a new film starring Meryl Streep and Amy Adams. I watched the film yesterday alongside sixty or so other theater goers. For anyone who loves Julia Child (as I do) the film is worth watching. Meryl Streep's depiction of the late great gourmand, is stunningly good. It's easy to replicate the oft parodied high-pitch voice, but Ms. Streep's cadence and accent on choice syllables is so faithful to the real deal, it's almost unsettling. It was a great performance. The screen writer of this movie is Nora Ephron whose style I didn't care for before the film.  Before seeing the film, I listened to two separate Nora Ephron interviews. Her tone and lack of enthusiasm during both interviews left me with the distinct impression she felt she was doing us a favor by sitting for them. At least, that's how she sounded. However, while viewing the film yesterday I realized something else -- she takes cheap shots. Example: In this movie, Amy Adams plays...

C heck out this article by Michael Hirschorn in The Atlantic (July/August 2009) in which Mr. Hirschorn examines how a printed magazine like The Economist can thrive, while other printed weeklies it competes with -- notably Newsweek and Time -- are languishing. Print publishing success in the digital age may lay in what Mr. Hirschorn describes as "razor-sharp clarity and definition" and owning and knowing a particular niche instead of trying to replicate one owned elsewhere. In the case of The Economist, Mr. Hirschorn asserts that the magazine "...canvasses the globe with an assurance that no one else can match" and " ... prides itself on cleverly distilling the world into a reasonably compact survey .'' Mr. Hirschorn,  a contributing editor at The Atlantic, made a frank admission that his own magazine, "...has never delivered impressive profit margins."  Impressively profitable or not, his piece is worthwhile for anyone inter...

I'll simply provide a link to a CBS poll, taken this month, that reports an astonishing share -- 51% -- of the GOP views Ms. Palin as unqualified to be an effective President.  I guess I posted too early.  Here's the link , if you care to review the poll description. I'm seeing more evidence to support my suspicions and I'll probably post no more about Ms. Palin as a VP choice because -- as the data increasingly shows -- I don't need to.

Glad I'm not alone. A recently-released ABC News/Washington Post poll with a sampling error of plus or minus 3% shows that not only is Ms. Palin's support waning across the political spectrum, it is also slipping among Republicans as a whole . Like the 83% of Republicans surveyed, I believe that Ms. Palin shares our values. However, almost four out of ten Republicans (and 57% of Americans overall) also say we doubt her ability to "understand complex issues." Which is another way to say what I first wrote last November - that, as much as we like what she stands for, she lacks credentials for national office. Sarah Palin, Wikipedia The Washington Post quoted one gentleman, thus : "Rick Buila, 38, of Sharonville, Ohio, who works in finance and voted for the McCain-Palin ticket in November, said his opinion of the governor has changed. `I don't think that she is cut out to be on the national stage,' he said. `I look at her education and her backgroun...

F orward-thinking Republicans might thank Peggy Noonan for explaining what too few of us have the courage to say -- Sarah Palin -- was unhelpful for the party. I can't match Ms. Noonan's eloquence, but I can identify with what she says in this piece entitled, "A Farewell to Harms" in which she pours some truth serum with her signature wit. Peggy Noonan, Wikipedia If you are one of my five  six readers, you may recall when I just couldn't take Ms. Palin's performance any longer and consoled myself in this November 8, 2008 post . Yesterday morning, I called in to a local radio program to express similar Palin-related thoughts (Joy Cardin takes my call @ approximately 9 minutes and 42 seconds into the 8 AM program on this tape if you care to listen). Look, I recognize and deplore the torrent of abuse leveled at Ms. Palin and her family by the vicious Left, but we can't trot out unqualified national candidates and expect the jerks that take cheap...

I wrote a piece for a colleague (minus a byline) to express views concerning Wisconsin's recently-enacted budget bill.  Several of my passages on our state tax system and our well-funded education system, had to be deleted for my colleague's political purposes. I understand. However, I'll publish below some thoughts that didn't make it into the published version: "The largest recipient of state appropriations from the general fund continues to be publicly-funded elementary and secondary schools. According to a fall 2008 analysis by the nonpartisan Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance, enrollment in public schools declined for five consecutive years and declined precipitously (greater than 20%) in 51 districts. Yet, the Legislative Fiscal Bureau projects a statewide $200 per student increase in the current biennium. Due to the manner in which public schools are funded, that increase in spending, coupled with a decrease in state aid, will be back filled by higher sch...

T he Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports today that a judge has allowed the furloughs (days off without pay) of some public union workers to commence in accordance with Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker's order -- starting Monday. It's unfortunate, that instead of supporting his fiscal responsibility, the County Board continues to jawbone the County Executive and the unions, of course, continue to file lawsuits. All this for a measly five hours off a week. I have never understood why organized labor behaves as though pay (and benefits most of us dream of) ought to be guaranteed . I have not read their contract, but I cannot fathom any responsible authority agreeing on behalf of county taxpayers to anything more than the rest of us live with AKA an " at will " employment arrangement. The concept is quite simple. Either party (employer or employee) can sever their relationship with the other, for any reason, at any time. This morning I recalled former Preside...

Y esterday morning at the beautiful Discovery World facility at Pier Wisconsin, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett participated in a panel discussion on Wisconsin's transportation needs and how to fund them. The event was also attended by Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker, who had some decidedly different ideas than the Mayor. Tom Barrett, Wikipedia At one point, Mr. Barrett cited two separate polls to conclude: few citizens want services cut (one poll), yet few want to pay for them in the form of higher taxes (a second poll). Of course . However, if you require people to choose between them (think one poll), perhaps many would choose to hang on to more of their own money, even if the service pool must shrink.  Leadership requires one to make unpopular choices.

A week has elapsed since I wrote about Maureen Dowd . I thought by now she would have acknowledged an intentional 43-word copy job, followed by a sorry-I-forgot-to-attribute apology.  I think that's all it would have taken to make this saga go away. Ms. Dowd points out that she had indeed given proper credit to two other writers and so by her reckoning, she could not have planned to copy from a third. Two out of three isn't bad. I'd have preferred to hear her say she was working too quickly, or she was distracted when a bird smacked into her office window, or whatever, but that after she used the work of another writer, she simply forgot to credit the author, but had meant to do so. I would have bought that, but it isn't what we are asked to believe, which is why this episode is extraordinary. Maureen Dowd, Wikipedia The essence of her account is this: After communicating with a friend about another person's work, she plopped some sentences in her colum...

The answer is yes. Forty-three words without attribution, a poor excuse and by now, I suspect, a truth audit of her work is well underway. Had Ann Coulter done this, the New York Times (and perhaps Ms. Dowd herself) would have hung her from the highest limb. My prediction is that Ms. Dowd will either come out and declare she knew what she was doing after all and apologize profusely within the next week, or she's finished as a nationally-syndicated columnist.

W e are fortunate enough to have a young student from France living with us these days. It is her first visit to our country and we are learning as much (or more) from her, as she is learning from us. After attending high school classes with my younger daughter for a week or so, we prompted our guest to share her honest impressions. She noted that students here strike her as somewhat more disrespectful to their teachers than what she is accustomed to in her native France. Where are our children learning how to behave this way?  Oh, that's right -- it's us.

I t hit me while driving someplace and listening to the radio, maybe a month ago -- that the President was talking about the outcome of his stimulus package while using the now oft-repeated phrase about three and half million jobs being, "saved or created." (Freepik image) I'm hearing it again as I watch one of President Obama's acolytes on "Meet The Press" and so I'll ask you dear reader... how does one accurately measure a job saved?  How can one record a job loss that didn't occur, but might have occurred under the circumstances? Data on new jobs created are obviously available and broadly examined -- but jobs saved?  It seems like a clever mechanism to avoid any rigorous assessment of the relative success or failure of the stimulus plan. What's actually been created , is simply a new rhetorical device called "jobs saved".  That phrase is designed to portray an anemic employment picture as something more robust, even i...

"Dear Senator Kohl, I am writing as a private citizen to voice my strong opposition to the bill misleadingly labeled as the `Employee Free Choice Act' also known as Card Check. The coercive leadership of organized labor does not need additional tools to intimidate ordinary men and women who prefer to remain outside the union. I would urge you to speak out against this legislation and expose it for what it is -- a catalyst for union demagoguery. I am not against organized labor per se, but I am against bullies and thugs gaining ground with sanction from Congress. Respectfully, John J. Maddente"

I f you had never met Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker, you'd be hard pressed to spot him in a crowded room.  Mr. Walker is an average-looking man, with plain features and an unassuming demeanor. Even his name is common. He looks like a million other guys. I made his acquaintance last year after he introduced himself before a debate with his election opponent, Lena Taylor.  Scott Walker Wikipedia image Yes, a common guy he is, but don't be fooled -- Mr. Walker packs a wallop and his piece in this morning's Wall Street Journal , " Why I'm Not Lining Up for Stimulus Handouts " defines his fiscal moorings and shows why he has drawn acclaim among conservatives and some moderates in Wisconsin and scorn from progressives. Mr. Walker mentioned what other politicians know -- but often fail to highlight -- which is that our current fiscal calamities, were abetted by individuals -- not just banks, not just regulators, not just mortgage brokers, not just ...

H edge fund executive Oscar Schafer in a Barron's interview (January 12, 2009, "Hang on Tight!") described our current economic condition thus: " The world is experiencing a giant margin call ." Yes, a giant margin call enabled by easy credit extended to millions of people who couldn't afford as much home as they purchased, or cashed out equity to finance a lifestyle they couldn't afford, before defaulting on their mortgages which equated to securitized time bombs that were gobbled up by over-leveraged financial institutions.  How did it all happen?  It began with policy makers in Washington who wanted to guarantee home ownership for anyone with a pulse. The Fed left open the spigot of cheap money by keeping rates too low for too long and America became intoxicated by illusory home price appreciation. This party was joined by money center moguls trying to juice returns by making big bets upon this whole sorry misuse of credit, until the house...

I felt sorry for him as he approached the lectern with a sheepish smile. A s Kissinger reminded Nixon, history will treat him better than his contemporaries. His policies precluded another attack since 9/11. To conclude otherwise is to posit that the other side simply stopped trying to harm us after 9/11.  The President deserves credit and at least grudging acknowledgement from his political opponents -- for stalwart efforts to fight terrorism and protect Americans.   I'm reminded of another parallel with Nixon. Richard Nixon asked readers this question in one of his later books: if America does not lead in this world -- who will? I repeated the question in one of my columns and a rebuttal came from a letter writer who declared that the correct answer to this question is -- the "leaders"  of other countries .  Unfortunately, the world has always been replete with 'leaders' like Stalin, Hitler and Hussein that refuse to back down.   This Presid...

Regarding point #2 from my previous post concerning Al Franken, I'd like to thank my nephew who alerted me to an outstanding  political cartoon (from  Michael Ramirez  a two-time American Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist.).   Even if I could draw, I couldn't improve on the way Mr. Ramirez makes his point in IBD.