NPR did a survey asking what people would like to see in the constitution. I think quite a few of them are bad ideas, but there are some good ones.
Here's my own answer to such a survey:
No one party may hold more than 25% of the seats in any elected body. Nearly all the founders were terrified of political parties--they'd seen the damage they caused in England. Unfortunately the best of intentions didn't last long. They weren't able to figure out a way to define what a party is sufficiently to create an effective ban. My thinking is that any specific political leadership must not be allowed to lead more than a tiny number of votes over some fairly short period. Coalitions must be highly topical.
All elected offices must include "None of the Above". Nobody scoring lower than NotA may run for that office for at least one term following. This will encourage third and alternate parties and eliminate bad politicians with no opposition. It doesn't permanently disqualify anybody for office but it opens up the runoff.
All votes include instant runoff. Several venues have tried this and it works very well. You get several choices on your ballot. All the first place votes are tallied and if nobody gets a clear majority (I think 51% at least, maybe more), the bottom candidate is eliminated and ballots listing that candidate as #1 get their second place vote tallied. Repeat until you have a winner. This will encourage "protest" votes and third party candidates.
Organized bodies such as corporations, unions, PACs, 527s, political parties and so forth, may not directly advertise for or against any candidate or ballot measure. Before Citizens United, something like this was the law and the extreme judicial activists decided to change it.
No individual or organized body may spend more on lobbying than 10 median incomes. Right now that's about $500K. "Free" lobbying and under the table payments must be counted.
No one entity may gross more than 1/2% of US GDP. any income exceeding this would be taxed at >100%, to force such companies to break themselves up. Right now this threshold is about $75B, and there are 97 such companies, about half which do a majority of their business in the US. One major complication of this is that companies subect to this limit would be at a disadvantage against competitors who do not do business in the US. Passing a law which has the same threshold in the EU is about a 90% solution, although China and Japan are a factor too.
Lying in political advertising is a felony offense. (today, lying in any political speech is protected free speech) (lying is saying something you know is false. ignorance is a defense, but it only works once).
20 December 2011
07 December 2011
Things for the 99%
Here's a list of things the 99%/Occupy movement should be advocating. A little of this is based on FDR's "second bill of rights":
Everybody deserves to have a decent living from 40 hours work per family. If you want to work more that's ok, but it should not be necessary to work multiple jobs or have multiple family members working full time to earn a decent living.
A decent living means safe, comfortable housing, clothing, food, education, health insurance, retirement, transportation, not just to and from work, but for recreation and vacation.
"Everybody" is probably impossible--it was found, for example, that while unemployment could be driven under 5%, it came at substantial cost in inflation. But we should come as close as we can.
The people who broke the economy, for example by creating derivatives with ridiculous levels of leverage, and the fraudsters who enabled them, need to go to prison and serve real time. The victims need whatever support we can give them. In particular we need some sort of moratorium on foreclosures and put more pressure on banks to renegotiate. Anybody who received a bailout has an obligation to spend at least that much doing this.
We need a LOT more financial regulation. In particular, perverse incentives such as bonuses for short term profits with no corresponding punishments for long term losses can't be allowed. There are a lot of things in the financial market that serve no public purpose other than to make money for a few people. If they're harmful, they should be banned. Extremely high speed trading is an example. The purpose of the financial markets is to promote businesses which actually do produce something useful. Finance is a service industry. It is of no intrinsic value--only the companies that are financed have value.
I think we need to create an economy where no entity controls more than about 1/2% of US GDP or 1/10% of worldwide GDP (around $65B in 2011). Given nationalized economies like China and Saudi oil I recognize that there are complications to this. I think it's also appropriate that no entity control more than 5 or 10% of any given market without being subject to the sort of regulations imposed on AT&T between 1918 and 1983.
None of this is in any way socialist or communist. It may be redistributionist, but that's not the same thing at all. The ideal way to implement redistribution is to provide services for everybody. If everybody has access to the same health care, education, pension system, transportation, etc., then nobody's being treated unfairly. It may be that the rich pay a little more than the poor, but they're benefiting more than the poor too. (A number of politicians in countries with single payer health care systems have been asked whether they'd consider going back to a more capitalist system. None would. The people love single payer everywhere it's been tried.)
Everybody deserves to have a decent living from 40 hours work per family. If you want to work more that's ok, but it should not be necessary to work multiple jobs or have multiple family members working full time to earn a decent living.
A decent living means safe, comfortable housing, clothing, food, education, health insurance, retirement, transportation, not just to and from work, but for recreation and vacation.
"Everybody" is probably impossible--it was found, for example, that while unemployment could be driven under 5%, it came at substantial cost in inflation. But we should come as close as we can.
The people who broke the economy, for example by creating derivatives with ridiculous levels of leverage, and the fraudsters who enabled them, need to go to prison and serve real time. The victims need whatever support we can give them. In particular we need some sort of moratorium on foreclosures and put more pressure on banks to renegotiate. Anybody who received a bailout has an obligation to spend at least that much doing this.
We need a LOT more financial regulation. In particular, perverse incentives such as bonuses for short term profits with no corresponding punishments for long term losses can't be allowed. There are a lot of things in the financial market that serve no public purpose other than to make money for a few people. If they're harmful, they should be banned. Extremely high speed trading is an example. The purpose of the financial markets is to promote businesses which actually do produce something useful. Finance is a service industry. It is of no intrinsic value--only the companies that are financed have value.
I think we need to create an economy where no entity controls more than about 1/2% of US GDP or 1/10% of worldwide GDP (around $65B in 2011). Given nationalized economies like China and Saudi oil I recognize that there are complications to this. I think it's also appropriate that no entity control more than 5 or 10% of any given market without being subject to the sort of regulations imposed on AT&T between 1918 and 1983.
None of this is in any way socialist or communist. It may be redistributionist, but that's not the same thing at all. The ideal way to implement redistribution is to provide services for everybody. If everybody has access to the same health care, education, pension system, transportation, etc., then nobody's being treated unfairly. It may be that the rich pay a little more than the poor, but they're benefiting more than the poor too. (A number of politicians in countries with single payer health care systems have been asked whether they'd consider going back to a more capitalist system. None would. The people love single payer everywhere it's been tried.)
02 December 2011
Nicky Hopkins
My favorite Rock and Roll Pianist is Nicky Hopkins, aka "Edward". He played with nearly every important group involved in the English Blue Eyed Blues movement, the related British Invasion, San Francisco Music and more. He had health issues that made it difficult for him to tour, so rather than play in a single band, he mostly worked in recording studios. He was classically trained and rarely practiced, although he played so constantly that practice probably wouldn't help him, and he often found that his best take of any given song was his first. (He did join bands for a tour or two--Cyril Davies, Jeff Beck, Quicksilver, as well as shorter tours with the Airplane, Jerry Garcia, Steve Miller, and others when he was living in California). Practically everybody he played with was influenced by him and quite a few preserved a some of his style after he'd moved on. Here's a short sampler of his contributions. A full list would be thousands of songs and a hundred or more groups.
She's Like a Rainbow - The Rolling Stones. The opening piano...
Sympathy for the Devil - The Rolling Stones. Jean-Luc Goddard made a film that details how this song came to be arranged as it was, intercut with some other strange scenes that has nothing to do with it. Ignoring the strange scenes, it's interesting, and Nicky Hopkins figures prominently.
Time Waits for No One - The Rolling Stones
Nicky worked with the Stones on almost every studio album they did. The Stones had amazingly many wonderful pianists working with them--starting with the great Ian Stewart, who was their "Road Manager" despite having founded the band.
C C Rider - Cyril Davies and His R & B All Stars
Cyril Davies & His R & B All Stars
Jeff Beck, Mick Jagger and many others who would later become famous played with Cyril Davies at one time or another, who unfortunately died shortly after these recordings.
Got to be Free - The Kinks
Revolution - The Beatles
Nicky worked with the Beatles a lot, but most of his work lost to George Martin's sparer versions in the final mix.
The Song is Over - The Who
Nicky worked on a lot of albums with the Who.
Blues De Luxe - Jeff Beck Group with Rod Stewart vocals, Ron Wood bass, Mickey Waller drums.
My personal favorite. Everything Rod Stewart did after his tour with Beck was anticlimax.
Barabajagal - Donovan, with Jeff Beck.
Nicky played with Donovan several times. A semi-relevant story: On his previous album, Donovan's backing band had been Beck's friend Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, and John Bonham, on the verge of forming a new group. They asked Nicky to join them but he was exhausted from touring with Beck and turned them down for health reasons. They also considered Donovan, but they decided he had too much history, so instead they went with Bonham's friend Robert Plant.
That's What Love Will Make You Do - Jerry Garcia Band
I saw them perform this live about 2 months earlier at the Concord Pavilion. I think that's the only time I ever saw "Edward" in person. Another personal favorite.
Volunteers - Jefferson Airplane
Nicky only played with the Airplane for a little while--but that included Woodstock. He suffers in the mix here and the cameraman was more interested in how tired the band was after having waited all night to do their set. The version on the album of the same name is much better.
Baby's House - Steve Miller Band
Nicky played on several of Miller's early albums. This Hopkins showpiece is from their "Your Saving Grace" album. with Ben Sidran on organ. (Sidran also does the wonderful organ on the title track, which was plainly influenced by Hopkins)
Kow Kow (Calqulator) - Steve Miller Band
Edward, the Mad Shirt Grinder - Quicksilver Messenger Service
The source of Nicky's nickname. It's an impressive performance but I don't think it's great music. The longest he played with any one band was with Quicksilver.
Who Do You Love - Quicksilver Messenger Service
Fresh Air - Quicksilver Messenger Service
Nicky Hopkins died in 1994 at age 50. John Cippolina, Dino Valenti, Jerry Garcia, John Entwistle, Keith Moon, Cyril Davies, Brian Jones, Ian Stewart, John Lennon, George Harrison and quite a few others on this list have also passed on. What a band they could make!
She's Like a Rainbow - The Rolling Stones. The opening piano...
Sympathy for the Devil - The Rolling Stones. Jean-Luc Goddard made a film that details how this song came to be arranged as it was, intercut with some other strange scenes that has nothing to do with it. Ignoring the strange scenes, it's interesting, and Nicky Hopkins figures prominently.
Time Waits for No One - The Rolling Stones
Nicky worked with the Stones on almost every studio album they did. The Stones had amazingly many wonderful pianists working with them--starting with the great Ian Stewart, who was their "Road Manager" despite having founded the band.
C C Rider - Cyril Davies and His R & B All Stars
Cyril Davies & His R & B All Stars
Jeff Beck, Mick Jagger and many others who would later become famous played with Cyril Davies at one time or another, who unfortunately died shortly after these recordings.
Got to be Free - The Kinks
Revolution - The Beatles
Nicky worked with the Beatles a lot, but most of his work lost to George Martin's sparer versions in the final mix.
The Song is Over - The Who
Nicky worked on a lot of albums with the Who.
Blues De Luxe - Jeff Beck Group with Rod Stewart vocals, Ron Wood bass, Mickey Waller drums.
My personal favorite. Everything Rod Stewart did after his tour with Beck was anticlimax.
Barabajagal - Donovan, with Jeff Beck.
Nicky played with Donovan several times. A semi-relevant story: On his previous album, Donovan's backing band had been Beck's friend Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, and John Bonham, on the verge of forming a new group. They asked Nicky to join them but he was exhausted from touring with Beck and turned them down for health reasons. They also considered Donovan, but they decided he had too much history, so instead they went with Bonham's friend Robert Plant.
That's What Love Will Make You Do - Jerry Garcia Band
I saw them perform this live about 2 months earlier at the Concord Pavilion. I think that's the only time I ever saw "Edward" in person. Another personal favorite.
Volunteers - Jefferson Airplane
Nicky only played with the Airplane for a little while--but that included Woodstock. He suffers in the mix here and the cameraman was more interested in how tired the band was after having waited all night to do their set. The version on the album of the same name is much better.
Baby's House - Steve Miller Band
Nicky played on several of Miller's early albums. This Hopkins showpiece is from their "Your Saving Grace" album. with Ben Sidran on organ. (Sidran also does the wonderful organ on the title track, which was plainly influenced by Hopkins)
Kow Kow (Calqulator) - Steve Miller Band
Edward, the Mad Shirt Grinder - Quicksilver Messenger Service
The source of Nicky's nickname. It's an impressive performance but I don't think it's great music. The longest he played with any one band was with Quicksilver.
Who Do You Love - Quicksilver Messenger Service
Fresh Air - Quicksilver Messenger Service
Nicky Hopkins died in 1994 at age 50. John Cippolina, Dino Valenti, Jerry Garcia, John Entwistle, Keith Moon, Cyril Davies, Brian Jones, Ian Stewart, John Lennon, George Harrison and quite a few others on this list have also passed on. What a band they could make!
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