The problem with the financial services industry

The big issue I'm having right now with our economic system is that we've tied up too much money, and given too much reward to a sector that really doesn't produce much.

Financial services are critically important, but their purposes to to direct captial to projects that will invest it. i.e. Direct money to help fund a startup business so they can produce or sell somethings.

It seems in the last few years, espically with the deregulation of the late 90s and early 2000s, they lost sight of that goal. The financial services industry became about who can game the system best to show that money was being made. And the employees of the industry were paid disproportionate to their economic worth.

Now, thanks to those skewed priorities, good sectors of the economy that need capital can't get it.

I'm hoping that one lesson of this economic crisis is that just because a area is very economically profitable, it does not make it worthwhile or right. America worships too much at the altar of capitalism for capitalism's sake, without realizing an economic system is only as worthwhile as the way it benefits society as a whole.

I think capitalism is the best system for that, but we need to approach it with a more social viewpoint.

Vermont State Senate to Pass Gay Marriage legalization

Vermont, the first state to have civil unions for same sex couples, is looking to pass a gay marriage bill.

The state Senate judiciary committee passed the bill onto the full Senate, which meets today to vote. With strong liberal majorities in the legislature, it's pretty sure to end up on the Republican Gov. Jim Douglas's desk.

Whether he's willing to take the political risk of vetoing it in a state, where aiding the religious right doesn't get you too far, is an open question. I think a lot of it will depend on if he ever wants to replace Sen. Leahy or Sanders in the Senate. If he does, I think he'll sign it.

We'll see. I hope he does the right thing, and make Vermont the first state to make same-sex marriage legal through the law-making process rather than through the courts. It'll be good to show that not all Americans have to be forced to recognize the rights of others.

Isreal's situation is a good argument against PR

I'll probably write up a longer post when I get motivated to do so.

Proportional Representation, where a party earns seats in the legislature in relation to their proportion of the votes, is a pretty common system in parliamentary Democracies that aren't former British Colonies.

Real Basic Example: There is a 10 seat legislature, and the voters vote 40% Democrat 30% Republican, 20% Green and 10% Libertarian. The breakdown of seats would be 4 Democrats, 3 Republicans, 2 Greens and 1 Libertarian.

It has the advantage of ensuring that people don't "waste" their vote by voting for a compromise candidate, and that a wider variety of voices are heard in government. There are a number of different systems that change the specifics, but that's the basic rundown.

I'm a big believer in it, as opposed to our winner-take-all, single member districts. In the above example, the Democrat would win and have the only voice. I think that it's undemocratic and unfair.

However, the recent elections in Israel show the danger in that system. While the inconclusive election results did democratically reflect the growing political disenchantment with politics in Israel, it's created a lot of uncertainty in a county that has a lot of problems facing it.

I think there is a solution, but I'll talk more about that later.

Seriously, cable news is the worst

If you enjoy the creepiness of Bill O'Rielly's stalking of people who criticize him, then you'll love this blog post.

Short version: Writer criticizes the choice of O'Rielly as a speaker for a rape survivor support group, considering he has had non-nice things to say about them in the past.

Now Moore, Jennifer Moore, 18, on her way to college. She was 5-foot-2, 105 pounds, wearing a miniskirt and a halter top with a bare midriff. Now, again, there you go. So every predator in the world is gonna pick that up at two in the morning. She’s walking by herself on the West Side Highway, and she gets picked up by a thug. All right. Now she’s out of her mind, drunk.

So O'Rielly sends his producer out to harass this 20-something blogger in her home town.

Between this stuff and the Limbaugh apologies, I'm starting to wonder when being a pundit ends and being a Lyndon LaRouche-like political cult leader begins.

South Carolina is just America's villian

Gov. Mark Sanford is trying real hard to ensure that South Carolina continues to elect the most reprehensible politicians that America has.

Go Galt already

Seriously, if some worthless sack of crap thinks that raising his marginal tax rate on income of $250,000 or more by about 4% is an unfathomable assault on his liberty, we'd probably all be better off if he left.

The Free Market will find someone less bitchy to replace you.