Dick Conoboy
Total number of comments: 811
Recent Comments by Dick Conoboy
Janis,
My apologies for not have seen and moderated your comment when it appeared. I am happy that your plan is working for you but the sad truth is that your experience is not replicated across the board while the Medicare Advantage program steals billions of dollars from the Medicare Trust Fund. You may want to read the comment below yours from B. Sadie Bailey.
A substantial explantion of the rationale to vote NO on 8201 straight from Sen Bob Hasegawa:
"I apologize in advance for this long-ish message to discuss my objections to SJR 8201 on the ballot. Thank you for Voting NO on this ill-advised Constitutional amendment.
Here's why I Voted NO on SJR 8201 in the Legislature and why I'm asking you to please also Vote NO on the ballot.
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Please Vote NO on SJR 8201, a Constitutional Amendment that changes our state Constitution to allow our Long Term Care Trust Fund, funded by a payroll tax, to be invested (gambled) in the stock market. This proposal was rejected by the people at the ballot 5 years ago but has resurfaced again, this time with a $1/4 Million war chest.
I have both pragmatic and philosophical concerns about this proposal.
Pragmatic Concerns
Currently, our state Constitution prohibits gambling with taxpayer dollars in the stock market. Instead, it requires us to invest only in safe and essentially guaranteed investments like Municipal bonds, which are safe and guaranteed by the people. Municipal bonds return around 3.5% to over 5% based on the term length of the bond. The State Investment Board (SIB), who will likely be responsible for investing these funds into the stock market if 8201 passes, targets a return rate of around 7.5% in Wall Street, but of course this is not guaranteed and fluctuates greatly with larger economic cycles, which are out of the SIB's control.
It can take years for the stock market (and our taxpayer dollars invested in it) to recover from a crash. For example, consider these more recent economic downturns: Dot-Com bubble bust, the Great Recession (Housing bubble bust), and the Covid bust:
* From 2000-03 (Dot-com bust) the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) lost one-third of its value and took 7 yrs to recover (NASDAQ took over 15 yrs to recover).
* Around 2008-09 (Great Recession) the DJIA lost half its value and took over 5 yrs to recover.
* In 2020 (COVID) the DJIA fell over 37% in less than six weeks from February 12, 2020 to March 23, 2020.
During times where Wall Street fails to meet expectations that have been budgeted for, there's really only two recourses: 1) cut benefits, or 2) raise taxes. What are elderly supposed to do when the Long Term Care benefits they’re relying on are cut? Or what are workers who are already falling behind supposed to do when the payroll taxes they’re already paying for this benefit are raised?
No one knows where our economy and the stock market is going in the future, especially now with all the economic and political uncertainty we’re facing. This vote is about whether we keep prudent fiscal management policies of our tax dollars and retain those Constitutional protections, or do we discard them which, if changed now, will be lost in perpetuity, i.e. forever lost--It will impact generations to come.
If this measure is passed, we’d be throwing away the guaranteed ‘bird in the hand’ for the proverbial ‘two in the bush.’ This is a risky gamble with hard-earned taxpayer dollars, which we can ill-afford to lose when we’re relying on all those dollars to be there for services when they are needed. Chasing a possible marginal increase of 2-3% in a gamble on Wall Street over safe municipal bond returns, at the risk of losing some or maybe even most of our Trust Fund principle, is not a wise gamble nor a fiscally responsible choice and breaches our fiduciary responsibility to the people.
Worse yet, passage of this amendment opens the door for advocates to expand privatization of our tax revenue beyond the Long Term Care Trust fund and emboldens them to also retry their previous attempts to open up more, or all of our state's funds to speculation on Wall Street (see past failed bills and votes by the people against similar proposals below). This type of privatization of our tax revenue can spiral out of control.
Philosophical Objections
Besides the pragmatism of fiduciary and fiscal responsibilities, there's also the philosophical reason this is a really bad idea--If we're considering gambling our tax dollars that Wall Street corporate stocks will rise, we also must consider the following question,
"Where do Wall Street corporations get their profits from?"
The obvious answer is corporate profits come from the pockets of their workers and consumers. And of course, their Wall Street corporate aim is to maximize profits, which they do by keeping wages as low as possible and prices for their goods and services as high as possible. So, by betting on Wall Street, we're betting that the corporations will win, i.e. they'll succeed in maximizing their profits created by their workers and consumers by keeping wages as low as possible and prices as high as possible.
This helps explain the growing financial pressures on regular folk, which most of us are all facing now. Wages are not keeping up with inflation and the costs of living, which are escalating out of control along with corporate profits.
Asking workers and consumers to vote against their own self-interest is a very cynical view of the world, whereas our Constitution currently requires us to adhere to our fiduciary responsibility to the people by investing in safe and essentially guaranteed financial instruments like municipal bonds, which is really investing in the public good for projects we, the people need, i.e. investing in ourselves and our communities. This proposal basically shifts our fiduciary responsibility from acting in the best interests of the people, to acting in the best interests of shareholders—rooting for the stock market to maximize profits.
Furthermore, what happens when the Legislature is asked to consider corporate or industry regulations, tax preferences, or other issues that have an impact on Wall Street traded stocks? This brings a ‘conflict of interest’ question into many decisions the Legislature is faced with—is our fiduciary responsibility to the people of the state, or to shareholders?
I don’t think anyone disputes the need to fund Long Term Care for our growing numbers of elderly, but the plan, which has yet to pay out a single benefit, was originally passed by the Legislature 6 yrs ago without a reasonable financing plan, let alone a well vetted program implementation plan, and some proponents are now getting desperate. Desperation is not a good mindset for changing the long-standing fiduciary duty or protections in our Constitution and making such a critical financial decision to allow gambling our hard earned tax dollars into Wall Street.
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Since we have no budget to run a campaign (proponents of 8201 have raised $1/4 Million so far), the best way to help defeat this proposal again is by word of mouth--talk with your friends, family, neighbors, local news outlets, and organizations you belong to and let them know about this proposal and your opposition to it.
I have faith that most voters will see through the paid commercial advertising noise. Nearly every constituent I’ve spoken with thinks SJR 8201 is a bad idea. Their initial reaction when they hear 8201 changes the Constitution to allow investment of our multi-Billion dollar Long Term Care Trust tax revenue into the stock market is almost always, “That doesn’t sound like a good idea!”
Some related articles:
How Corporate Democrats Led to the Trump Era
Excerpt: "The Democratic Party establishment now denounces President Trump’s vicious assaults on vital departments and social programs. Unfortunately, three decades ago it cleared a path that led toward the likes of the DOGE wrecking crew. A clarion call in that direction came from President Bill Clinton when, in his 1996 State of the Union address, he exulted that “the era of big government is over.”
No Kings Day Needs to Remove Democratic Party Influence in Future Events
Excerpt: "More critically, No Kings Day, in its future events will need to prioritize acts of civil disobedience, define the role of local government’s ability to resist ICE, mobilize public confrontations against invading federal forces, explore the role of unions as the country mobilizes for an inevitable general strike.
I am not going to discount the value of having seven million people show up to protest the Fascist, genocidal Trump regime, but we need more from No Kings Day. We need to swiftly transform No Kings from a Democratic Party spectacle to a grassroots resistance movement."
The Unspeakable Behind No Kings
Excerpt: "Why do the American people continue to be fooled, no matter what political party is in power? Where does the amnesia come from? Most U.S. citizens do not know where their wealth and comfort come from. And, when insights attempt to give birth to wisdom, the fog of confusion surfaces: Whenever the truth threatens one’s core belief system, there is an urgent need to deny its reality. That is always why the pain of obedience and history repeats itself."
Gene,
I pretty much agree with your assessments. Your contentions explain to a great extent how we got to our present situation in the first place, an ignorant public led by the nose by corporatist Democrats and Republicans. That big money, “the billionaires”, is behind most of this should be no secret but it seems to be a surprise when it is brought up. Now, I don’t blame the public given the state of the nooze outlets and the demands of daily lives with work and family. Who has time to stay informed? The politicos count on this lack of knowledge.
We are essentially leaderless at the moment. Our former presidents, the neo-liberals who are largely silent, should hang their heads in shame for sitting on their asses. The current Democratic (risibly called) “leadership”, with few exceptions, doesn't know whether to shit or go blind but for reasons having to do with their own job security and not for the health and welfare of their constituents.
I have been truly afraid on three occasions in my life. First the times I jumped out of an airplane for the Army but I had confidence in my training and equipment. Second, every moment of every day while I was in Vietnam but I had a date on which I would leave the war zone. Third, every day since the last election. And now I stare into the abyss.
So, Gene, the question remains… what the fuck are we going to do while the monied interests and the corporate media are at the fore? I am told that everyone should pick one issue or one cause to work on. I have been doing that for the last 20 years, participating, writing, speaking, showing up. Gene, you have done the same. Now what? What do we tell our neighbors, our families, our friends?
The Richard Vebrees of 1929 were singing the same song until the "great awakening" of October that year when the excesses and the laissez-faire financial practices flung people into poverty for over a decade. Yes, Richard, the country and the stock market recovered with the Reconstruction Finance Corporation and WWII. If you took the time to read the links I imbedded in my article, Richard, you would have your answers about the present situation. D. Crook's assessment of Sen. Hasagawa's statement is on the money (so to speak). The stock market is a giant casino wherein corporations buy back their own stock to enhance their value, insider trading abounds and leashes on excessive and illegal behaviors become longer and longer. "Past performance is not an indicator of future results." is a statement required by the SEC in the pitching of investment vehicles. Now just why is that?
Lisa,
Thanks for articulating all this as I agree with most of what you say. In the 23 years that I have lived in Bellingham, I worked on getting legislation passed on various issues such as rental inspections, composition of the so-called Planning Commission, permitting, rezoning, neighborhoods, etc. Getting anything done locally was like pulling teeth while some things we got passed locally were eventually thwarted by state level legislation that negated any progressive achievements. The $$$ won out.
Now, decades after I arrived here, I see some of the results. Rental inspections passed here but were all but negated by legislation in Olympia to allow private inspections, most of which were worthless. Permitting times were reduced, giving less or no time for residents to react to new construction. More decisions on permitting were given to the Planning Director and more approvals were virtually automatic as a result of legislation by the council. The Planning Commission seems to have devovled to members who are more sympathetic to developers than to the residents of our neighborhoods. Neighborhoods have all been forgotten, no longer having say in much at all, let alone planning.
And don't get me started on the waterfront development. I spent hours and hours and hours over several years at meetings about port development, pasting Post-Its to the wall with ideas to create a pleasant and beautiful area. What have we now but a gravel and dust bowl with a stunning (?) "pump-track" for bicycles and a bunch of ugly containers pretending to be an entertainment area. Oh, and there is the monumentally overpriced condo complex that still sits unfinished. The whole area is as about inviting as a New Jersey port facility at midnight in a day in February.
Sheesh!
Tom,
Thanks for your post on a topic that I have been worried about for years. We have dodged a bullet for the time being but given the substantial activity on the trails on Samish Ridge, our luck may soon run out.
I note in particular a place adjacent to one of the trails leading from the intersection of Byron and 47th St., that is the cul-de-sac at the southern end of the 600 block of Racine St. Which is covered in dry grass and has several medium to large tree stumps and tree branches. One of the large stumps has been heavily burned over time indicating that a dangerous fire has been lit several times within several yards of the wooded area to the south and west of the parcel. My call a year or so ago to the FD was not greeted as though this were something that they needed to check out. The message, if there was one, was "if there is a fire, call us back."
I live within about 500 ft of this area and cannot deny that this keeps me up at night from time to time.
A related piece from the Guardian today.
Self-termination is most likely’: the history and future of societal collapse
Excerpt: "We can’t put a date on Doomsday, but by looking at the 5,000 years of [civilisation], we can understand the trajectories we face today – and self-termination is most likely,” says Dr Luke Kemp at the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk at the University of Cambridge.
“I’m pessimistic about the future,” he says. “But I’m optimistic about people.” Kemp’s new book covers the rise and collapse of more than 400 societies over 5,000 years and took seven years to write. The lessons he has drawn are often striking: people are fundamentally egalitarian but are led to collapses by enriched, status-obsessed elites, while past collapses often improved the lives of ordinary citizens.
Today’s global civilisation, however, is deeply interconnected and unequal and could lead to the worst societal collapse yet, he says. The threat is from leaders who are “walking versions of the dark triad” – narcissism, psychopathy and Machiavellianism – in a world menaced by the climate crisis, nuclear weapons, artificial intelligence and killer robots."
David,
When I was born during WWII, the world population was 2.5 billion, give or take a few hundred million uncounted stragglers hither, thither and yon. Now we are, I am told (does anyone really know?), about 8.5 billion souls. I have read here and there that 11 billion is a top sustainable number while others say the figure is a few billion depending on ________(insert your constraint) here). The list of permutations, combinations and probablilities is infinite.
This Wikipedia article will make your teeth itch. Nobody really knows, do they?
My take is that the currrent population is not sustainable in the long run and any increases or even the status quo will push us inexorably into worldwide disaster. People in the future will refer to us in Ozymandian terms.