Trumpty Dumbty Built a New Wall

 

Trumpty Dumbty built a new wall,

Trumpty thought he had done it all

Despite his malarkey, a few brave men

Made Trumpty look dumbty all over again.

Viral video shows border wall being scaled at Mexicali. Border Patrol says system 'worked exactly as designed'

A Future For the Trump International Hotel

News services report that the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. is up for sale.  Given this property's notoriety, as the venue for alleged Constitutionally-violative emoluments paid to President Trump, its future as a hotel could be in doubt.  Who would pay full market price for a hotel with a clouded reputation?  Anyone who did might come under investigation for giving President Trump an alleged Constitutionally violate emolument--or worse.  The penalties for bribery of a federal official are stiff.  So the Trump International isn't likely to command a high price.

But not all is lost.  Many commercial buildings are being converted to multiple use.  What once were malls, office buildings and other single use buildings find new lives as real estate jacks-of-all-trades.  Multiple use doesn't solve the emoluments/bribery problem--there could still be issues if the buyer really meant to buy political capital and not just a building.  But the identity of the buyer might resolve these concerns.  Consider the following.

Organize a crowd funded investment trust, with members of the progressive movement as trustees, that would be funded by rage donations. The trust would buy the hotel and convert it to multiple use.  The building could have a fitness studio--called Colin K's--where members would practice kneeling to the national anthem.  It could have a restaurant that served steak with anything except ketchup.  It could have a film studio, where actors appearing to be coarse, lecherous older men with orange hair would be filmed in videos with much younger women called "Naked and Afraid in the Business World."  It could have an immigrant orientation center, where classes in English as a second language would be offered, a family re-unification center called Encontremos Los Desapareciditos ("Find the Disappeared Little Ones") would operate, and immigrants would be given clear, clean spring water to drink.  It could have a travel agency that would arrange travel to Cuba and to countries that President Trump had in mind when he referred to "shithole countries."  It could have a Kurdish Liaison Office (the functional equivalent of an informal Kurdish embassy).  And last, but certainly not least, it could have an Amazon physical store, which would be a success because it would no doubt be a Trump-free zone.

A Brief History of Asylum in America

In 1620, a small group of religious refugees from England, called Pilgrims, landed on Cape Cod in Massachusetts.  Facing persecution, imprisonment, fines and even execution in their native land, they had fled to the New World to find a better life.  Their early years were hard, but they persisted and eventually prospered.

The Pilgrims were soon joined by other refugees from England--the Puritans--who had also fled persecution in order to improve their lives.  The Puritans established the Massachusetts Bay Colony, a beacon of liberty from whence the American Revolution sprang.  Many of the colonial men who assembled in the early hours of April 19, 1775 at Lexington and Concord to await the British Redcoats descended from the Pilgrims and Puritans.  The refusal of these offspring of 17th Century refugees to submit to tyranny remains the foundation of American liberty today.

Other religious refugees from England and elsewhere in Europe found asylum in America.  Rhode Island, Pennsylvania and Maryland all provided asylum to the persecuted and endangered.  They, too, prospered.

In the 1840's and 1850's, a flood of refugees from Germany and other parts of Europe arrived in America, fleeing the Revolutions of 1848, a largely failed group of democratic uprisings. These refugees found in America the freedom that they had been denied in Europe.  Many of the German refugees were instrumental in establishing heavy industry in America, particularly a robust machine tool industry that powered America's victory in World War II.   During the war, America produced some 295,000 aircraft, 88,000 tanks and other armored vehicles, and some 6,000 ships.  Refugees helped to make America the Arsenal of Democracy.  Even to this day, America has substantial manufacturing prowess, employing over 12 million people and producing over $2 trillion worth of goods.

During the first half of the 1860's, a large number of refugees of African descent fled bondage in the Confederate States of America and found asylum from the blue-coated Union Army.  Some 200,000  African-Americans enlisted in the Union Army and bolstered the ranks of the Army of the Potomac that Ulysses S. Grant led to victory over Robert E. Lee.  These refugees, too, fought and sometimes died for the liberty we now enjoy.

In the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, many Jewish inhabitants of Eastern Europe and the Russian Empire fled pogroms--persecutions that featured mass murders, pillaging and destruction of property.  Many and perhaps most were penniless and not well educated when they arrived.   But they and their offspring prospered in the warmth of American freedom and can now be counted among the most successful of Americans.

In 1949, a small group of Chinese college and graduate students studying at American universities, around 3,000, were stranded by the Communist victory in China.  These students were largely from well-educated and well-to-do backgrounds, which made them enemies of the people from the Communist perspective.  Many of their family members remaining in China were treated harshly by the Communists, up to the point of execution in some cases, and suffered the loss of their jobs and property.  These students faced the same if they returned to China.  But they were given asylum in America.  Many found jobs in the high tech industries, and played important roles in developing modern electronics, including the integrated circuits that are at the heart of modern computers. 

When we look at photographs of those seeking asylum today, we should see not just what they are at the moment, but the potential they offer.  Refugees have powerful reasons to work and succeed, more so than those who ensconced in comfortable suburbs or upscale urban neighborhoods.  Providing asylum is an act of compassion and mercy (witness the sanctuary offered by Christian churches since ancient times).  It also brings social and economic benefits that have powered America to its status as the world's sole superpower.  The energy and motivation of asylum seekers and other immigrants can bolster America's safety nets--Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid--with the employment taxes they will pay at a time when native-born Americans have falling birth rates, lower employment force participation, and aging demographics.  Countries in Europe and Asia face the same and more severe demographic problems. But their tightfisted attitudes toward immigration and asylum will force them gradually to cut back on social safety nets, which will likely lead to ugly political maelstroms. America is vibrant and flexible enough to avoid that outcome. 

So, when you hear the cry of an asylum seeking child, think about what asylum has done for America.  Those who know history may sometimes want to repeat it.

President Trump Proving Too Much

Yesterday, President issued an executive order directing that refugees and other people from seven mostly Muslim countries be prevented from entering the United States.  Since then, the President's order has been brought before at least four federal judges, who have constrained its implementation in one way or another.  Within a day, the President is 0-4 in the federal courts.

The issuance of this order proves too much.  President Trump apparently intended to demonstrate to his supporters that he would fulfill a campaign promise to prevent the entry of terrorists into the country.  Perhaps they feel that he has been true to his word.  But his detractors believe that prejudice and bigotry underlie his actions and that the order may not be lawful.  The fact that at least four federal judges have seen fit to act heightens doubts about the President's order.

It also appears from news reports that the President may not have consulted all the knowledgeable departments and offices about this order before issuing it.  Had he done so, he might have learned more about what could lawfully be done and how it could be lawfully accomplished.

In other words, the President has managed to prove that he's what people thought he was, whatever that was.  This doesn't help.  We just had a very divisive election.  Continuing the contentiousness will only exacerbate the nation's problems.  There is a great deal of concern among Trump's detractors that he will be a lawless President, hellbent on imposing nativistic and bigoted policies in a despotic way.  He just managed to confirm those fears.  There's little evidence that this order will improve national security.  But by sowing chaos and instigating opposition and litigation, the President has managed to hinder his own ability to function.  Certainly, his opponents will be pleased that he unwittingly aimed at his foot and pulled the trigger.  But there have been innocent victims and collateral damage.  The President has to do better.

Politics Keep the Economic Crises Going

We are vividly reminded today that the economic crises bedeviling the world are political in nature.  The election deadlock in Italy, with leftists likely to control one house of the Italian Parliament, and rightists and leftists apparently in  a draw in the other house, is a vote against austerity and centralization of the EU's governance. Although the political nuances differ from Greece's initial anti-austerity vote last year, the Italian election, like Greece's, signals that numerous voters have yet to learn the words of the pan-European version Kumbaya.  Another election in Italy may well be needed, or the country will be unable to stay on track to meet the EU's expectations.

In America, sequestration now seems almost a certainty.  The arbitrary cuts imposed by sequestration were supposed to be unpalatable to either party, and would therefore incentivize both parties to cut a real deal.  Fat chance of that in these days of political dysfunction.  Truth is there won't be a real deal.  That's why the Dems and Republicans kicked the can down the road when the fiscal cliff loomed and the debt ceiling threatened to descend like the Sword of Damocles.  The government right now can do little more than bring its foot back for another kick.  The one silver lining in the clouds is that the economy seems to be recovering to some degree.  The better the economy does, the lower the deficit will be.  We should hope and work for economic growth, because that is the only politically feasible solution to the budget deficit.  The federal government needs to repair and upgrade infrastructure, adopt a pro-growth immigration policy, work hard to cut the growth of health care costs (perhaps the biggest expense in future federal budgets), and work toward supporting and expanding educational opportunities while reducing the cost of education.  (Internet-based instruction may be a great way to educate at much lower expense, and should be encouraged and supported.)  The current squabbling in Washington over budget cuts and tax increases is a game of musical chairs that no one can win.  We have to take a different approach.

The Point Missed in the Budget Debate

It's become all the rage in Washington to froth over the federal deficit and produce sound bite-driven proposals on how to reduce it. In the relentless quest for media coverage, everyone involved in the budget debate has something accusatory to say about someone else. As in sports, trash talking and cheap shots get more attention than real accomplishments.

The lack of attention to real accomplishments allows an important point about the budget deficit to go unnoticed. When we talk about splitting up a pie, the size of the pie is crucial. A large, fast growing pie is much easier to divide than a smaller, slowly growing pie. A stagnant or shrinking pie can be poisonous to the debate. Right now, we have a slowly growing pie that may go stagnant or shrink soon given the rising costs of energy and food. And the debate is indeed poisonous.

We need to focus more on expanding the pie, not in the Federal Reserve short term-next quarter, money printing, inflation-risky way, but for the long term. We also can't look to the federal government to solve all our problems. At the risk of asking Americans to behave like adults, it would be better if we looked for some non-federal ways to boost long term economic growth. There is a limit to the effectiveness of federal policies, which are mostly subsidies and handouts, and we pretty much surpassed that limit a while ago. What should be done?

Embrace Innovation. Innovation was the key to America's spectacular growth in the past two centuries. Railroads, the telegraph, the telephone, the airplane, automation of farming, new energy technologies, electronics and computers were essential factors in making America an economic powerhouse. We celebrate the concept of innovation today, but don't encourage it enough. Immigration rules for the highly educated should be relaxed--we'll never recapture manufacturing from Asia, but we can try to bring more of their brainpower to America. Many of Asia's smartest people want to live here, at least for a while and maybe for the rest of their lives. Brains produce innovation; tariffs don't. America's economic future will be in the production of high value added goods and services. (And not, contrary to what the Fed thinks, a revival of housing, which can't be revived by the government because it remains buried under a crushing load of bad debt, and only politically unacceptable levels of taxpayer subsidies will revive housing.) Innovation was the key to America's past prosperity and will be the key to its future.

Hug nerds. America's educational system is roundly criticized for failing to teach many students the basics. That's a valid point, but we're too focused on making America's schools training facilities for corporate employers. Schools should also be a place for exploration and creative thinking. They're not. Today's elite universities' admissions standards place enormous emphasis on being well-rounded, having not only fantastic grades, but athletic achievement, public service, experience in the arts, internships left and right, and international travel. The people admitted will make good corporate executives, management consultants, corporate lawyers, accountants, and doctors. Those with good math skills may become Wall Streeters. Most likely, none will create innovative technologies or establish major businesses. It's not an accident that Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Larry Ellison were all college dropouts. (So was Mark Zuckerberg, although it's not yet clear if Facebook is a transformational company or a fad-and-fade like Yahoo.) America's leading universities don't embrace original thinkers; they favor compliant kids who know how to manipulate and please their elders. Today's elite schools don't encourage or even tolerate the wacked out thinking that transformational economic change requires. Gates, Jobs and Ellison had to swim upstream to accomplish what they did. One can only wonder how many dozens, hundreds and maybe thousands of other free thinking, but slightly less determined kids have been discouraged from fostering innovative change. We need to think outside the box to make America grow again, and one way would be to encourage, and indeed embrace, kids who think outside the box.

Improve transportation and communications. America is a big country. Look on a globe, and you'll find very few other countries as large. We need really good transportation systems, because ultimately goods and many services need to be physically delivered. One can't live off Internet access alone. State and federal governments in the 19th Century did a much better job in this respect than their counterparts today. The Erie Canal was sponsored by New York state. The railroads were subsidized by the federal government. In the 20th Century, air transportation and the interstate highway system were creations of federal policy, and local governments took on much of the burden of building suburban infrastructure. America became wealthy from the massive markets permitted by these government supported transportation systems. Today, highways need to be maintained, bridges repaired, and subway systems renovated and expanded. Suburban roads need maintenance and improvement--remember that most economic growth is in suburban areas, in spite of renewal in a few urban areas. Roads and other transportation systems don't have powerful lobbyists, so they are easily ignored. That is a serious mistake.

Fostering high-speed Internet access for all should be a priority. This would include hard wired access and wireless access. The easier it is to communicate, the more innovation we'll have. And, let's face it, the more consumption we'll have since we're approaching the point where you can buy almost anything over the Internet. Way too many people share way too much about themselves in the Internet. But speed of communication speeds up economic activity. Even if some people are tacky and tasteless, others will increase their productivity--and, along with it, our prosperity.