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Mary Kathryn Johnson
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You Made Your Bed Now Lie In It

10/14/2013

4 Comments

 
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Living in California, I have an advantage...a crystal ball of sorts...in seeing the direction this ship called The U.S.A. is headed.
  
Let me look into my crystal ball, and tell the future for you.

California has the highest income tax rate of all the 50 states.  


California is also the largest employer in the state.  Yes, the state government employs more people than any private or publicly traded business in the Golden State.


California has two cities so far that have declared bankruptcy.  The main obligations the cities of Stockton and San Bernadino are failing to meet are government employee pension and benefits programs.


Unfortunately, there are not enough people paying California's highest tax rates to supply the union negotiated contracts for public employees to receive their guaranteed retirement benefits.


Let me be more specific.  


Every union represented employee of the State of California, and every union represented employee of each city in California receives a guaranteed lifelong retirement pension if he/she completes the contract negotiated time filling the chair in the job, no matter how well he/she performed it.  


This pension is not tied to any Mutual Fund or Stock Market Investment.  

It is 100% GUARANTEED. 


Don't you wish your IRA or 401K didn't fluctuate with the market? 


Consequently, CalPERS (Public Employee Retirement System) is $87Billion (yes that's with a "B") underfunded, because the funds collected and invested are nowhere near the $225Billion guaranteed in the union contracts.

Some teachers in my local school district are a perfect example.
  • One Kindergarten teacher receives over $80,000 in pension PLUS over $25,000 in fully paid medical, dental and vision benefits each year.  
  • Two other married retired school teachers received over $170,000 a year in their combined pension. Unfortunately, the wife recently passed away, but her husband continues to receive her full share of the pension - still $170,000 a year total.  

Gee, I wonder why the husband is currently looking for some tax breaks, because he now is in the upper-middle class - the very socio-economic class his angry, anti-CEO union reps have fought against. 

This pensioner is now trying to find ways around the very taxes that continue to pay his pension.  


Taxes in the state of California have had to increase to try and catch up to the bleeding that is uncontrolled spending.


Consequently, large and small businesses are leaving the Golden State in droves - actually they are being enticed to move by other states like Texas and Arizona.


How does this relate to my crystal ball, you ask?


California is the golden canary in the economic underground mine shaft, and that canary is suffocating, because the mine is quickly spreading the toxic fumes of government overspending dictated by lobbyists and unions.


The Federal Government is going the way of California.


The foggy mist in my crystal ball whispers the following in my year:
  • The Federal Income Tax Rates must increase for everyone (not just those making over $250,000/year) in order to keep up with the raising of our debt limit.
  • The Federal Government will become the largest employer in the country.  How many jobs did Obamacare create in order to double my personal healthcare insurance?  Yes, my coverage stayed the same, but doubled in premiums and yearly cap, but my Federal Government can give me a handout to bring them back down to the same affordable level prior to The Affordable Care Act.  (Thanks for your willingness to help me pay for my healthcare increases with your taxes.)
  • Taxes will continue to increase, but won't be able to keep pace with spending and pensions.
  • Large and small businesses will flee to other countries (wait, isn't that already happening?)  Can you say "苹果"?  That's "Apple" in Chinese.
  • The U.S.A. will go the way of the Roman Empire, and implode under it's own weight.

I know I sound as doomsday as Professor Trelawney, but I don't just whine.  There are a few ideas I have to pump fresh air down this mine shaft, and they are all centered around what I learned raising my kids - People rise to whatever expectations you set, and are more confident when they are more self-reliant:
  • Ban all unions from any public employment organization.  We have a choice to shop at companies whose union employees contribute to their products.  We don't have a choice to pay the taxes that support the salaries, and union dues that give a guaranteed pension even beyond death to someone who also can't be fired for poor performance.
  • Ban all lobbyists (retired politicians will then be forced to get real jobs at normal salaries.)
  • Transfer all government pension plans to IRA's, 401K's or Social Security like every other American.
  • Transfer all medical, dental and vision plans held by government employees to the same private payer insurance plans held by every other American before Obamacare became the "UnAffordable Care Act."
  • Fundamentally change the welfare and disability systems to include temporary benefits that are paid during an equally paid re-training program to get individuals with able bodies and minds to work, and on the road to self sufficiency.  Every part of the government that relates to government assistance, welfare and disability must talk to every other part, so they all work toward the same good for people in need.
  • Workers whose unions have negotiated them out of a job, and sent their jobs oversees can ask those unions for some of their dues back for re-training.
  • No government employee, from the President on down to the last Federal/State Project Manager has a guaranteed pension.  I'm sure a good book deal can be had, but I would self-publish if I were you.
  • Politicians are required to have worked a "real job" in the private sector for a minimum of 10 years prior to holding any public office.  Hopefully, this will give them some idea what kind of life their constituents live.

When the State of California goes bankrupt, I'll know the nation is not far behind, but I won't say I told you so. 

I'll just start learning Chinese.

Mary Kathryn Johnson
Author ~ Entrepreneur ~ Mom

@SayBumpandTweet
Everything MommyLoves
Say Bump and Take a Left
4 Comments

The House and Obamacare - Two Wrongs Don't Make a Right

9/19/2013

2 Comments

 
American Flag over San Francisco Bay and the Golden Gate Bridge
The ideal days of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington are far behind us as Republicans in the House try to finally get rid of the Affordable Care Act by defunding it while funding a higher national debt. 

I wish Mr. Smith would return.  

Better yet, I wish our politicians would actually work for us rather than themselves and their parties.

Current political motto:  Self ~ Party ~ Unions/Corporations ~ Lobbyists ~ Constituents

My ideal political motto:  Constituents ~ Party ~ Self

You can find my take on the current Stopgap funding bill vote coming up on Friday in my article on Yahoo! News.  

I would love your opinion.


Mary Kathryn Johnson
Author ~ Entrepreneur ~ Mom

@SayBumpandTweet
Everything MommyLoves
Say Bump and Take a Left

2 Comments

Old MacDonald Had a Labratory, E-I-E-I-O

8/6/2013

0 Comments

 
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I have to give credit where credit is due.  When our dinner conversation last night turned to the news of the day, which included scientists creating beef in a lab, my youngest, Riley, said, "Mom we won't have red barns in the country anymore, we will just have white lab buildings."

Here again...out of the mouths of babes.

Hubby started talking about 30 years from now, sitting around the table saying, "You can't even tell it's not real."

My oldest corrected Dad on the fact that it will still be real, etc., then said, "I hope I'm not sitting at this table still in 30 years." (can you tell he just turned 15?!)

*Sniff* Mom moment when I realize he will be grown and gone sooner rather than later.

Seriously, though...fast forward 30+ years, and we will no longer have packaged meats and butcher shops in supermarkets.  We will probably have egg cartons along side, beef cartons, chicken cartons and pork cartons, all packaged with stem cells, and we will have a countertop growth chamber for our protein staples.  We won't even need to be scientists to grow our own meat.  The patented stem cell growth system will be automated, like a bread maker.  Only, this will be a meat maker, and the scientists who patented the process and the meat maker will be leading the NASDAC in genetic engineering growth stocks.

Will this solve the world hunger crisis?



Probably not.  (The world will always be divided into the haves, and the have-nots.)


So, before you run out and invest in this scientist's company during it's initial IPO, think about the other things that will be affected by this "manufactured beef":


  • What's going to happen to the fertilizer industry?
  • Where are we going to get our leather products?
  • Where do we get the bovine stem cells?  *hint - pregnant cow embryos anyone?
  • How do we handle spontaneous genetic mutations in our kitchen that produce green hamburger patties?
  • What do we do with all the grassland now available?  *hint - anyone need more GMO soybeans?



Don't say my 11yo and I didn't warn you.


Mary Kathryn Johnson
Author ~ Entrepreneur ~ Mom

@SayBumpandTweet
Everything MommyLoves
Say Bump and Take a Left


0 Comments

Pencils vs. Pensions

12/30/2011

1 Comment

 
Pencils vs. Pensions
Picture this...

You walk into Target, and there is a perky, young thing holding a fabric-lined basket that matches her red shirt, greeting you with, "Would you like to make a donation to our organization today?  Your contribution will allow us to buy some much needed supplies like toilet paper, light bulbs and hangers for our displays.  Otherwise, we employees have to buy these things ourselves.  Every little bit helps, so whatever you can give is sincerely appreciated...(wink)"

You think to yourself, "What?!  Doesn't management supply those basic necessities for this place through the money they collect with sales? What a cheap place, asking me for a donation over and above what I already give them when I buy stuff!  Where is all their money going? I'm outta here..."

I know what you're saying...What an unrealistic, 'way out there' scenario, Mary...where are you going with this?

Okay, now picture your local public school.  If you have kids in public school, you don't have to imagine where I'm going.  How much have you given to your kids' classroom, and the school PTO/PTA to allow the students (your kid) to have basic tools for their job (aka learning)?  Pencils, Erasers, Glue, Paper, Markers, Tissues, Hand Sanitizer, Paper Towels...Buying junk during fundraisers for the purchase of a shade structure over the playground so the kids don't burn themselves on the metal while playing when school starts at the beginning of August and it's still 100 degrees...

Why do we think it's unrealistic and ridiculous for Target to ask for donations for basic supplies to keep the place running, but we just go along with our Public Schools doing so?  I know this is a complicated issue, with teachers salaries traditionally being poverty level, but even though the education of our kids doesn't make one a millionaire, thanks to the Teacher's Union, it aint poverty, baby! The lowest starting salary for an elementary school teacher is in North Dakota at $24,872/yr, and the highest is in Connecticut at $39,259/yr.*  Since the Federal Poverty Level for a family of 4 is $22,350**, if that teacher in North Dakota is a single parent of three children just starting out in the teaching profession, I would feel for them, but if they have a spouse with another income, I'd feel better.

Since most of the households who send their kids to the local private school (and many who do not) pay taxes to support said school, I can't imagine that the teacher salaries are the problem.  (I haven't addressed the benefits, like medical and retirement, however, which far outweigh current salaries in the school budget).  I applaud anyone who can get full medical benefits for themselves and their families...I wish I had them, and don't begrudge anyone who does.  I take issue with the retirement benefits, however.

Now, before my teacher friends on Facebook "unfriend" me and banish my kid to the back of the room with a dunce cap, hear me out, please.

In order to be a teacher one MUST belong to the Teacher's Union.  Therein lies the problem, I think.  Since I'm not a teacher, and don't belong to the union, I can't speak with any certainty or intelligence on the actual day to day goings-on of the organization.  I can only say that I don't think a union should be involved in any government agency or job.  A union is not a fair institution in a company where the employees can actually vote on who their boss is...why would anyone need protection from someone he/she actually chose as a boss, and can then fire a few years?!

I don't have the answers to the question, "So what do we do to change this?"  I can only start by removing all unions from public service positions, and giving full salaries to all government employees (including politicians) ONLY while they actually have the job, and not one day later.  Take the current retirement benefits program and use it to increase current salaries, so employees can invest in their own retirement programs.  This way, they can actually build their own wealth and leave something to their families if they so desire, rather than, when they die, allowing their retirement money to simply go to some other government retiree.

The political climate is hopefully changing faster than global warming, but real change will require the realization that we are all part of a community, and some of us cannot benefit greatly by the suffering of others without major consequences - hint...has anyone's lifestyle changed since 2007?  We have already proven that the current system doesn't work, so this is a call to action for the 'powers that be' to actually study "line by line" to find the inequities, and give us, the people paying for them, a chance to fix them.  Sure, a few people will scream when their undeserved riches are take away, but since when has this been a country 'of the few...for the few...by the few'?

Wait...I guess it is right now...

If you have a better idea on how to institute Federal and State change, please share.  At least one person is listening, and that's a start.

References:
*http://www.teacherportal.com/teacher-salaries-by-state
**http://www.coverageforall.org/pdf/FHCE_FedPovertyLevel.pdf

---Mary Kathryn Johnson 2011

1 Comment

Uncommon Political Common Sense Part 2

12/7/2011

0 Comments

 
Uncommon Political Common Sense Part 2
Serving as a Federal or State Politician is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, serving their term(s), then going home and back to work. Do you know of any Politician who has actually worked at a job for more than 5 years?

I think the following should happen immediately:

1. No Federal or State Politician will receive any pension or tenure for his/her time in any political office. A Politician collects a salary while in office, and no pay from the American people when out of office.

2. Every Politician (Past, Present and Future) participates in Social Security. All funds in any political retirement fund move to Social Security immediately, and the accounts are then canceled.

3. Every Politician has the right to purchase his/her own retirement plan just like every other American Citizen.

4. No Political body can ever vote themselves any pay raise. The position held will receive a pay raise each year that is equal to 3%.

5. The only Health Care provided to any Politician is that which is also available to any other American Citizen.

6. Every Politician must abide by every law that is also imposed upon every other American Citizen.

7. Any contract made with any Politician during his/her time in office will be void as of 1/1/12, and no contract can be entered into during a Politician's time in office.

If you agree or disagree, please let me know. If you agree, please tell me how we can make these things happen immediately . . . not twenty years from now.

Next we can tackle the Unions in the Public Sector.

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Uncommon Political Common Sense Part 1

11/29/2011

0 Comments

 
Uncommon Political Common Sense
I know that the title of this post is oxymoronic - with the emphasis on "moronic" - but why does it have to be this way?

All your answers are flooding my Mac'Brain through it's wireless network. I know, it's the nature of the beast.

I'm too young to have seen Mr. Smith Goes to Washington when it was first released, but I can tell you that NOTHING in life is new! Cicero talked about it in ancient Rome, and The American Tea Party Movement talks about it today.

Before you judge me as some fringe political supporter, and disable my connection to your Mac or PC Brain by hitting that little 'x' in the corner, re-read the title of this post. I am referring to anything that is specifically 'Political'.

Unfortunately, the "Dictionary" link on my desktop (I have a paper version of the Dictionary on my bookshelf, but why get up and walk over there when I have it 'at my fingertips'?) lists five definitions of the word 'political', four of which support my sarcasm.

Is there anyone in existence anywhere in the United States of America that is truly Political: (adjective) of or relating to the government or the public affairs of a country?

Anybody?!

My kids (and yours) would love to have a viable country to inherit in about 10 years, so we don't have much time.

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A 10 year old...Seriously?

11/11/2011

4 Comments

 
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I am sick to my stomach.

'Outraged' does not even begin to describe my anger.

I have a 10 year old son.  Big, beautiful brown eyes, and a dimple when he smiles, which is often.

I have a 10 year old niece.  Freckles, fiery and all girl...who also plays a mean soccer game.

Two stories in the news made me do a double intake of breath when I heard and read them.

When Jerry Sandusky was seen in 2002 violating a 10 year old boy in the coaches' locker room at Penn State, no one called the police.

Called the police????

Maybe its the 'mom' in me, but I'd like to think that if I walked in on that, I would have gone 'Mama Bear' on the supposed adult, and made him go limp in more ways than one! 

An article by Bill Phillips explains the possible reason the assistant coach, who actually witnessed the violation of the 10 year old boy, chose (on the advice of his father) to report the incident to Joe Paterno only, and not the police, was because psychologically,

“Men are still socialized to not show vulnerability, so it’s easy for others to make us feel like we’re being too emotional, that we’re big babies.”

Men still know right from wrong.  A man having sex with a boy is a scene very few people would find 'normal', so I wonder how long it took the memory of that 10 year old boy's face to cause that assistant coach to start suffering from ulcers.

~~~~~~~

I then read another article about a 10 year old girl giving birth to a baby boy in Mexico.  The girl was only 31 weeks along when she gave birth, so the baby stayed in the hospital, while the girl was released to go home.  She visits the hospital daily to breastfeed.

Breastfeed?  A 10 year old is breastfeeding a baby?

Here again, my small, naive mind cannot conjure such an image.  The article went on to say that,

"The Puebla state Attorney General's Office is now investigating whether the girl could have been raped and who the father is..."

Could have been raped?

Since the article also points out that the minimum 'age of consent' is 12 (which also sickens me), is there any other option besides rape?   

I will not accept an excuse like, "she looked much older than she was", because once she opened her mouth to speak, SHE WAS 10!

Seeing a parent discipline a child in the grocery store using corporal punishment is one thing.  Seeing an adult sexually violating a child, or the obvious result of such an act is quite another.

Why are there still adults allowing the abuse of our most precious gifts ~ our children?

As Edmund Burke once said: “All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.”

Why is anyone upset that Joe Paterno was fired?

Why?

4 Comments

Speaking of...'Ya Know...

9/15/2011

0 Comments

 
The Legacy of Political Correctness
Do I believe in anything? 

Do I stand for something (or sit for something at my computer for that matter)? 

Do you?

Do you say it with authority, or dance around it like a school teacher discussing Spring rather than Easter, or Winter Break rather than Hanukkah?

Has this climate of 'Political Correctness' created the current generation of communicators?  Our kids now say 'ya know..., rather than I Think....  Have we raised them to always test the waters before giving their opinion, lest they offend someone?

Do they have an opinion?

Have we invited them to discuss it with us, their parents?  Or, are we content to just let them plug in to the likes of Paris Hilton, The Kardashians and Angry Birds without a thought to plugging them into their future as intelligently-speaking, society-contributing adults?  I love Taylor Mali's opinion ~

Most parents I have met, both in person and online definitely want the best for their children, and don't talk this way.  Maybe I'm just an older parent, and communicate more with older parents who speak and believe like me. 

Who am I kidding?  It's not like I've never said, "Whatever", while rolling my eyes (I'm so glad I don't have girls).  Or, at least I'm not so totally clumsy that I, like, totally broke both my legs when I was 8 months pregnant!  I mean, like, Epic Fail!

Okay, that one I totally did.

Do you, "question authority" AND "speak with it"? 

Do you allow your kids to do the same?
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    Hi, I'm Mary, a woman constantly working toward becoming a Master of herself and all things named Duane, Evan, Riley, Seren, Linus and Katie ~ that's why it's so messy around here.


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