BAD TIMES TREND

Being a rainy and lazy day I had the time to scan through all three Sunday papers. Two articles were most disturbing.:
The first was a story about a house fire in Springfield which completely destroyed the house although the first unit arrived within  minutes of the alarm. The problem was the truck had only a three man crew which made it difficult to get the hoses to the hydrants and to the fire. This is usually the work of  a 5 man crew. Although other units from cooperating towns arrived within 6 to 10 minutes with additional personnel the fire had  by that time was out of control.


The gist of the story is that with the budgetary crisis the  crews on a firetruck are being reduced to an inefficient and unsafe level and departments have to rely on support from cooperating communities.


Has Plainfield's reduction in firemen reach that unsafe level? We know that more than one truck answers a call but the question seems to be more a matter of bodies than trucks.


The other was a first page story in the Times which addresses one of the changes in medical care which I find to be destroying the quality of care that we were used to. I would advise you to read it. In Part the  article starts:
"Talk Doesn’t Pay, So Psychiatry Turns Instead to Drug Therapy
DOYLESTOWN, Pa. — Alone with his psychiatrist, the patientconfided that his newborn had serious health problems, his distraught wife was screaming at him and he had started drinking again. With his life and second marriage falling apart, the man said he needed help. But the psychiatrist, ********,  stopped him and said “Hold it. I’m not your therapist. I could adjust your medications, but I don’t think that’s appropriate. Like many of the nation’s 48,000 psychiatrists, *****, in large part because of changes in how much insurance will pay, no longer provides talk therapy, the form of psychiatry popularized by Sigmund Freud that dominated the profession for decades. Instead, he prescribes medication, usually after a brief consultation. So ***** sent the man away with a referral to a less costly therapist and a personal crisis unexplored and unresolved.


Medicine is rapidly changing in the United States from a cottage industry  to one dominated by large hospital groups and Dr. Donald corporations, but the new efficiencies can be accompanied by a telling loss of intimacy between doctors and patients."


I have frequently commented that under present insurance company fueled medicare and more so in  the future the one essential element in patient care, personal touch, has been lost. No physician can afford to spend the 15-20 minutes talking with the patient that was the norm in my day. The doctor patient relationship was as important as the treatment and often  impacted on individualizing care.; Now a days the patient is a case number and not a human. Within the next ten years all care will be "cook book recipe" and any deviation from protocol will  subject the practitioner to penalties. 

Why are these two unrelated subjects in the same posting? Because both represent the impact of trying to provide too many entitlements for a society that doesn't have the resources available. Therefore, corners are cut, and the quality of the ultimate service will be severely compromised. They are not unique we can find many more examples of societal deterioration. 


We will be drifting into a two tier society, the oligarchy that has everything and the great underprivileged mass. Welcome to the Middle East.

COUNCIL AGENDA & BOE "BUDGET"

A rapid scan of the agenda for Monday night's Council meeting suggests that it may end at a reasonable time. That all depends on what discussion the "Committee" reports  create.  But more than the allotted 30 minutes for public discussion may be needed to hear all those recruited to uphold the Mayor's veto of last month's Ordinance creating a Recreation Commission. 5 votes will be needed to override the veto and at least 2 are committed to support the Mayor. I will predict that there will be only 4 votes to negate the veto.


I can not  comment  on any of the resolutions without reading the  actual resolution. There is one however  that is a puzzel, item "N".
N-AUTHORIZE APPROVAL TO AMEND THE ALLOCATION OF FUNDS FOR THE WATCHUNG
AVENUE PHASE II RESURFACING PROJECT FOR REMINGTON AND VERNICK ENGINEERS,
300 PENHORN AVE, SECAUCUS, NJ 07094. –ACTING DIRECTOR. FOR THE ACCEPTANCE OF
THE TAX ASSESSMENT ROLL FOR THE PLAINFIELD SID MANAGEMENT CORPORATION AND SCHEDULING A PUBLIC HEARING DATE. -ACTING DIRECTOR.
 This must be a typo and combining two separate resolutions. That can be fixed before meeting time.


As you may know Tuesday the BOE approved an amended and final Expenditure portion for the 2011-12 school year budget.  The major changes from the preliminary one present  the previous month: are all on  page 1&2 . Total expenditures has risen 1.5 million over the first draft.. The Charter Schools allocation is $989,112.00 ore than in the first draft.Some items appear less but in reality are still there under a different account number. There are two new line items; 20-231- Title  1 CO WER CONTRIBUTIONS? for $428,955.00 and #20-236t- TITLE 1 SIA SETUP for$124,979.00.


Since there is no revenues listed to counter expenditures this can only be considered  a part of something to be voted at the next Board meeting.

Thomas Friedman

Noted author and NY Times columnist Thomas Freidman in the March 1, 2011 paper wrote a perhaps tongue in cheek  analysis of the unrest in the Arab World. I has missed it but thanks to Dr. Andrew Yood I have no read it and feel it should be shared.

For copyright reasons I can't copy it but by hitting the link it can be my guest column for the day.LINK  Read it!!

Monday the Council is back in action, I hope to preview Saturday enough to post the next two days about local affairs

QUESTION

Today is national "Sister City Day'. Does Plainfield have a Sister City?

Debt Control

We are living in a world of turmoil. In the Middle East there is a wave of popular uprising against oppressive governments. Although it has overthrown the in place regime in several countries  It is still ongoing in others.  Where  the popular uprising  resulted in the dictator abandoning power the key factor was this the unwillingness of the Army to take aggressive action against the demonstrators.

Libya is exception. Although of dictators in other governments have  when  the Generals and the Army has withdrawn its support, Qadhafi has used mercenaries to support his rule.  In Libya there is no reluctance to shoot unarmed civilians.

We are well aware how this unrest in the Middle East is aggravating our economic crises . There are marked increase s in product costs especially petroleum products. This will of course have impact upon all government budgets. All governments are searching for ways continued to operate and are not finding any ideal solutions.

Nearly 50% or more of any government units expenditures goes towards wages and especially to purchase; pension plan funding and healthcare . This is the area which is under attack. Savings can be attained by decreasing the work force, but at a certain level the governmental body can no longer function .

In order to preserve a functioning government the leadership has to find ways to reduce employees’ costs. The target  falls upon the  Public Services Unions and their contracts. The goal is to reduce the “perks” that these contracts require. The funding for pension plans and health benefits which in many cases is almost 100% by the state will now require a significant contrtibution from the employee.

One of the problems the unions are blamed for is the provisions in their contracts for a defined benefit pension plan and at best a minimal contribution on their part to the pool. Business long ago found that it made economic sense to switch employee pension program to a 401(k). The State, County, and local government units failed to do so. At the same time the states were raiding their pension funds increasing their debt in their pension plan’s funding.  For some states it is still possible to manage that debt by substituting a 401K plan for the existing defined benefits plan. Several states are considering changing the 401(k) formula however the pension plan underfunding in California and New Jersey would only worsen the plans by such a change.

There are three Republican governors who are "confronting the public unions". Gov. Daniels and Indiana has already by fiate [Executive Order] mandated changes in pension plan and health care funding. Gov. Christie in New Jersey is actively and publicly engaged in conflicts with the various unions in order to improve a better financial picture in New Jersey. Gov. Walker of Wisconsin  ios in a state of active conflict with  labor and  the capital in Madison has been under “sit in” siege for almost 2 weeks.

In two states , Indiana and Wisconsin,  the minority Democratic senators have fled from their state to Illinois in order to prevented the  needed  quorum for a fiscal matter’s. vote. This tactic was used  in Texas last year and there state troopers were dispatched to bring  the legislatures back.  However  no State borders were (or could be) crossed.

There is an intrinsic danger To Democracy when  a political minority can by  boycotting a legislative body  thwart the will of the majority.  Indeed these individuals are making the vote of the public majority worthless.  There action may be legal but its is morally repundgent. It is a bastardization of democracy when legislation can be blocked by the inaction or absence of  a minority membership.

In a  4^th State that is actively focusing on its public service unions  as a source of its fiscal woes, Ohio’s Senate on 3/2/11 passed legislation that would:  

• Identifies areas not subject to collective bargaining, such as health care benefits, pension pick-ups, privatization of services, and work force levels such as maximum classroom sizes for teachers. 
• Bans striking for all public employees 
• Allows all current contracts with public employee unions to be re-opened as if under fiscal emergency.
• Allows collective bargaining rights for state employees on wages, hours, and terms and conditions of employment, within limits.
• Bases future pay increases on merit and keeps those merit raises within established pay ranges.

Christi may be opting for something along these lines.  However unlike Ohio where the Republicans control both houses of its legislature and the Governorship, in NJ the Democrats are in control of the legislature. He will not get everything he wants.

If the big three Public Service Unions had cooperated freely and made concessions when requested this legislation will not be needed.  Instead as in  the PSS's new contract there are annual raises and no evidence of any give back. That when compared with the lack of a COLA increase in Social Security does not sit well with the Seniors.

Just as management is necessary to run business and governments, the Union is needed to protect the worker. Problems arise when union leadership feels so powerful that they can place their membership in to a superior position over  society. The draconian measures listed above would not have been a consideration if these 3 unions had universally adjusted to the present fiscal crisis.       


Addition , 9:30 AM: The Ledger notes today that Christie and the "Unions" are planning talks. It appears that our Governor would preserve the unions and rid us of Civil Service  constraints. This is similar to his attack on teacher tenure.

FOR TODAY

There is nothing more frustrating than having to wait for a "service visit" which is open end as to time but supposedly specific for the day. One can usually count on the serviceman to arrive at 5:30 PM or 8AM but there always is  the chance. Thus one has to postpone needed errands as long as possible since the minute you turn the corner the awaited truck will stop in your driveway.

That does not explain no serious blog today but is a contributing factor. However  Like Tony Rucker and Bernice Spring nature subjects become a concern.

The Squirrel problem is a real one.It is not one however that made a major impact on my  flowers ,. since the Deer took care of all  my tulips and several other ornamental plants. The Squirrels have done me a favor. Every year I can look for Daffodils and crocuses blooming in weird areas such as  a stone gravel filled "swampy" part of the rear yard., or in the middle of my lawn or i the woods nearby.

There were years  of a constant battle with those critters on how to freed the birds and not the squirrels. Posts with large baffles were only a temporary solution, they would climb a tree and jump onto the feeder.

I did have a simple and cheap  answer by stringing a thin wire between two not too close trees and hanging the feeder high enough off the ground that they could not jump  up. The effectiveness of this arrangement laid in the 2 plastic liter soda bottles on each end  through which I had run the wire and a little duct tape to keep the bottles in place. \The bottles would spin freely as the animals tried to cross over and they would fall off only to try again. This worked well until our local herd of Deer decided that they liked bird seed.

Since  last weeks postings drew comments that were far above the usual blasting "Sharon", Bush, or Christie or Obama's Democrats emails we co0nstantly get, I am hoping as soon as I can finish the next serious opinionated post that it will have similar results. Almost made me feel that I was writing the New York Times.

BREAK TIME

For the past three days I have written my  impression of our "Fractured Economic Society" and the burden of  Universal Heath Care and the funding of pension plans on  that society.I am still trying to sort out my own thoughts about Public Service Employees'  unions. That may take a few days to put it into order.


In 1770, long  before the "Tea Party" made its appearance, Alexander Fraser Tyler wrote his 'Cycle of Democracy:

"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over lousy fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average of the world  great civilizations before they decline has been 200 years. These nations have progressed in this sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; from faith to great courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to selfishness; from selfishness to complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependency; from dependency back again to bondage." (Boldface mine)

Could this nation with its many entitlements be following such a course. The increasing national debt and addition  of more entitlements is just like a Madoff/Ponzi scheme. Both Republican and Democrats, Industries top level executives and  labor leaders must start working together  to control our finances.


One local step will be the BOE meeting tonight devoted to its budget. My mild malaise permitting I shall try to be there.