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A Few Thoughts

One advantage of getting older is that, whether it is desired or not, wisdom is acquired.  Right now, I see a world where many people are pursuing goals that probably won’t make them happy and through means that are guaranteed to backfire.   This deeply saddens me, so I thought that I would share some insights.

1. To find love is why humans exist.

2. If you can buy it, it is not love.

3. Rule number 2 means: “if your relationship is conditioned on money being present, it is not love.” That type of relationship is commerce.

4. Love means that this other person accepts you exactly as you are.  Better still, they inspire you to be the best person that you can  be simply by caring about you.

5. All the money in the world will not make you feel as wonderful as a single person who believes you to be a marvel.

6. Everybody has someone who will believe them to be brilliant, amazing, capable beyond their own imaginations, inspiring and funny. Someone who will cause them to laugh in the middle of being angry and forget why the fight started. That is love. 

7. Sex is not love.  It is important component of bonding, but it is not love.

I know.  How boring.  How pedantic, yet how true.  I consider myself fortunate to have grown up in a time when we were forced by social convention to go on dates, talk to each other and learn how to find that perfect someone. All of the things that people are using like dating apps, Tinder, Match.com facilitate “encounters,” but I am not sure about the rest of it.  With one marriage in two ending in divorce, the methods are not working.  

My thoughts for the day.  Thanks for indulging me.

Polly

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Bush, Sr. Set the Country on a Disastrous Path Injurious to Everybody But his Buddies

Executive Order 12803 of April 30, 1992

INFRASTRUCTURE PRIVATIZATION 

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and in order to ensure that the United States achieves the most beneficial economic use of its resources, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1.⁠ Definitions.

For purposes of this order:(a) "Privatization" means the disposition or transfer of an infrastructure asset, such as by sale or by long-term lease, from a State or local government to a private party.

(b) "Infrastructure asset" means any asset financed in whole or in part by the Federal Government and needed for the functioning of the economy. Examples of such assets include, but are not limited to: roads, tunnels, bridges, electricity supply facilities, mass transit, rail transportation, airports, ports, waterways, water supply facilities, recycling and wastewater treatment facilities, solid waste disposal facilities, housing, SCHOOLS, PRISONS, and hospitals.

(c) "Originally authorized purposes" means the general objectives of the original grant program; however, the term is not intended to include every condition required for a grantee to have obtained the original grant.

(d) "Transfer price" means:

(i) the amount paid or to be paid by a private party for an infrastructure asset, if the asset is transferred as a result of competitive bidding; or

(ii) the appraised value of an infrastructure asset, as determined by the head of the executive department or agency and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, if the asset is not transferred as a result of competitive bidding.

(e) "State and local governments" means the government of any State of the United States, the District of Columbia, any commonwealth, territory, or possession of the United States, and any county, municipality, city, town, township, local public authority, school district, special district, intrastate district, regional or interstate governmental entity, council of governments, and any agency or instrumentality of a local government, and any federally recognized Indian Tribe.

Sec. 2.⁠ Fundamental Principles.

Executive departments and agencies shall be guided by the following objectives and principles:(a) Adequate and well maintained infrastructure is critical to economic growth. Consistent with the principles of federalism enumerated in

Executive Order No. 12612

, and in order to allow the private sector to provide for infrastructure modernization and expansion, State and local governments should have greater freedom to privatize infrastructure assets.

note from Polly--I have NOT been able to determine EXACTLY how much was paid for these various assets despite letters to the GSA and other government agencies.  

(b) Private enterprise and competitively driven improvements are the foundation of our Nation's economy and economic growth. Federal financing of infrastructure assets should not act as a barrier to the achievement of economic efficiencies through additional private market financing or competitive practices, or both.

(c) State and local governments are in the best position to assess and respond to local needs. State and local governments should, subject to assuring continued compliance with Federal requirements that public use be on reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms, have maximum possible freedom to make decisions concerning the maintenance and disposition of their federally financed infrastructure assets.

(d) User fees are generally more efficient than general taxes as a means to support infrastructure assets. Privatization transactions should be structured so as not to result in unreasonable increases in charges to users.

Sec. 3.⁠ Privatization Initiative.

To the extent permitted by law, the head of each executive department and agency shall undertake the following actions:(a) Review those procedures affecting the management and disposition of federally financed infrastructure assets owned by State and local governments and modify those procedures to encourage appropriate privatization of such assets consistent with this order;

(b) Assist State and local governments in their efforts to advance the objectives of this order; and

(c) Approve State and local governments' requests to privatize infrastructure assets, consistent with the criteria in section 4 of this order and, where necessary, grant exceptions to the disposition requirements of the "Uniform Administrative Requirements for Grants and Cooperative Agreements to State and Local Governments" common rule, or other relevant rules or regulations, for infrastructure assets; provided that the transfer price shall be distributed, as paid, in the following manner:

(i) State and local governments shall first recoup in full the unadjusted dollar amount of their portion of total project costs (including any transaction and fix-up costs they incur) associated with the infrastructure asset involved;

(ii) if proceeds remain, then the Federal Government shall recoup in full the amount of Federal grant awards associated with the infrastructure asset, less the applicable share of accumulated depreciation on such asset (calculated using the Internal Revenue Service accelerated depreciation schedule for the categories of assets in question); and

(iii) finally, the State and local governments shall keep any remaining proceeds.

Sec. 4.⁠ Criteria.

To the extent permitted by law, the head of an executive department or agency shall approve a request in accordance with section 3(c) of this order only if the grantee:(a) Agrees to use the proceeds described in section 3(c)(iii) of this order only for investment in additional infrastructure assets (after public notice of the proposed investment), or for debt or tax reduction; and

(b) Demonstrates that a market mechanism, legally enforceable agreement, or regulatory mechanism will ensure that:

(i) the infrastructure asset or assets will continue to be used for their originally authorized purposes, as long as needed for those purposes, even if the purchaser becomes insolvent or is otherwise hindered from fulfilling the originally authorized purposes; and

(ii) user charges will be consistent with any current Federal conditions that protect users and the public by limiting the charges.

Sec. 5.⁠ Government-wide, Coordination and Review.

In implementing Executive Order Nos.

12291

and

12498

and OMB Circular No. A-19, the Office of Management and Budget, to the extent permitted by law and consistent with the provisions of those authorities, shall take action to ensure that the policies of the executive departments and agencies are consistent with the principles, criteria, and requirements of this order. The Office of Management and Budget shall review the results of implementing this order and report thereon to the President 1 year after the date of this order.

Sec. 6.⁠ Preservation of Existing Authority.

Nothing in this order is in any way intended to limit any existing authority of the heads of executive departments and agencies to approve privatization proposals that are otherwise consistent with law.

Sec. 7.⁠ Judicial Review.

This order is intended only to improve the internal management of the executive-branch, and is not intended to create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable by a party against the United States, its agencies or instrumentalities, its officers or employees, or any other persons.

George Bush

⁠The White House,

April 30, 1992

.

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LOWEST COMMON ODOMETER by Polly Digger

The title came from a hearing on NPR about 10 years ago.  A US Congressman, a Republican naturally, said, “The reason that our kids is not doing well in these school competitions is ‘cause our teachers are teaching to the lowest common odometer.”  To hear an actual Congressman try to explain the problems with the schools in the USA in a way that was articulate, innumerate and embodied the very problem that he pretended the ability to solve--well, it captured what has happened to this country on the GOP’s watch.

This blog is going to cover a variety of topics, but mostly what is lacking in our country today.  I am in my sixties and just finished another certification class. I fear for my son and the young people that I see around me.  I am active, alert and I remember what it was like under the policies that Bernie Sanders espouses and FDR, Eisenhower, Kennedy and ever Nixon embraced (for the most part).  I want to explain to everybody what the GOP backed by the Kochs and other oligarchs have done. 

I want a good future for our youth and young adults.  Not a life redolent of the table scraps left by greed.  I want to explain why FDR did what he did, why free markets are a fiction and why unfettered capitalism is unsustainable. I am old, but with age comes wisdom.  By the way, do not think that we oldsters did not try the things that you try, cannot adapt to technology and are oblivious to the world.

NOTE: Yes, you will need a thesaurus to read my blog.  Try the visual thesaurus and think of a large vocabulary as a palette for portraying thoughts and emotions in the way that we once did in this country.