5 Thoughts for January 18, 2016

1. Seattle Seahawks: It is eerie how similar this game was to Oregon-TCU, except of course, Seattle fell short. Oregon was up 31-0 at the half, and so was Carolina. TCU shut out Oregon in the second half, and so did Seattle. The glaring difference is, TCU scored 31 in the second half while Seattle scored just 24. Losing is part of the game, but this one felt like it was avoidable if the team had adjusted sooner than later, or simply avoided self-inflicted wounds.
2. Democratic Debate: I had it on (streaming from Youtube) and I watched the first 30 minutes of it; after that, I mostly just listened in the background as I became engulfed in an online debate about Bernie's single-payer system. The debate on healthcare represents the ideological difference in the Democratic Party: Pragmatism or Dogma. What people refer to as "integrity", is the same complaint that triggered the Tea Party's growth on the far-right, that we're now seeing on the far-left. Most Democrats share the beliefs of Bernie Sanders, but those who back Hillary are more pragmatic about what can be done and how to accomplish them, while Bernie's backers are concerned with fidelity to dogma.
3. Bernie Sander's Single Payer Plan: Sanders just released his current plan for single-payer. He plans to raise FICA tax by 8.4 percentage points, in total (it's not exactly clear if he's using 100% FICA, but the descriptions make it seem so, by delineating employer-side and household side). Now, self-employed pay a self-employment tax which is basically FICA, but you're paying both your share and that which normally would be paid by your employer. An employer's paycheck shows a deduction for 6.2% FICA; the payroll tax adds another 6.2% for FICA and 1.45% for Medicare; a self-employed person pays 13.3%. Adding the 8.4%, this means self-employed will be paying 21.7% SE Tax, on top of their federal income tax. Assuming US median income, your effective tax rate may be close to 35%. Ouch.
4. Indifference in Michigan?: It's difficult to believe Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, when he says that he acted as soon as he could, to deal with what can only be called, Leadgate. In response to being asked why it took months to declare an emergency, he said, "There was some time period where we were offering filters, we were working hard to get water. All these kind of things. But not enough of it was being accepted." That makes no sense. If his three children had elevated levels of lead in their blood, I guarantee that he would have reacted immediately and decisively. Instead, we have a governor who waited half a year to declare an emergency, then started pointing fingers at others. Asked when he knew about elevated lead, he obfuscated. Why? Because he probably got caught lying, earlier. The effects on lead poisoning is life-long, for children; that he reacted slowly to a situation that will prove to be life-altering, is going to be very costly to the state of Michigan.
5. When Your Icons Die: Glenn Frey passed away, yesterday. Last week it was David Bowie. When you start seeing all of your icons die, it's a sign that you're getting older. Your mortality is staring at you, in the mirror, n'est pas? We are fleeting memories of distant past, dust and dirt of the Earth. Billions of people -- mere grains of sand on the beach of humankind.