Recycle until it hurts

First let me make it clear I occasionally, as opposed to religiously, recycle and think its a good idea in many situations (e.g. recycling old cars and turning them into shopping carts). But the situations in which I favor recycling fall mainly in the area of those making good economic as well as political or self esteem sense. Recycling cars saves energy and materials costs and thus needs no nanny state intimidation to be adopted and effective. However California, as it does in almost every governmental sphere imaginable, one ups this economic justification for recycling by mandating, through the use of fines and fees, the recycling of most everything to the nth degree. The smiley faced fascism that has become the new state seal of California applies most religiously to recycling and is proving to be effective as large numbers of carbon emitting life forms are leaving the state to find a better environment.

Just as California raises the ante for entitlement programs by surpassing the national average for unemployment and disability insurance, Medicare/Medicaid, and outright grants-in-aid to non residents of the United States let alone California it has raised the bar for recycling not just natural resources but politicians as well. As if two terms with Governor Moonbeam (aka Jerry Brown) were not enough, the voters of the Golden State decided to further tarnish their national image by recycling him for another term. Brown, the epicenter of tree huggers, alleged eco friendly but economically disastrous policy, and the fountainhead of pension deficits and massive state debt due to the egregious sell-out through the approval into law of collective bargaining to public employee unions has come back by popular demand.

California residents are charged a fee (the CRV) for, as an example, bottles and cans of beer and soda. This fee is rebated to them should they or independent recyclers (aka dumpster diving homeless people) choose to turn their bottles and cans into their local materials recovery facility (aka dump). California residents have also been charged for recycling their governor. One of these charges is cost of the recent deal the Governor struck with the California prison guard union. As if one of the sweetest deals in the country was not good enough, they were able to "extract" through painful and transparent negotiation (not so much) the ability to accumulate unlimited hours of unused vacation leave to apply towards an early retirement.

The California prison guard union paid their CRV in the form of a big contribution to Brown's election costs. They have received much more than their rebate. The rest of California is left holding the bag. And the bag, even a Brown paper tiger bag cannot be redeemed as no materials recovery facility or independent recycler is in the market for second hand moonbeams.

The Cost of Inexperience

President Obama and his coterie of academics and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke remind me of the Johnson Administration. LBJ turned over the implementation of his benighted concept of exercising military power as a means of achieving domestic economic growth to Robert McNamara and his Whiz Kids. As a result thousands of American soldiers were wounded or killed in southeast Asia.

In turn the current administration has, in furtherance of benighted economic philosophy implemented by those with no practical experience, wounded or killed the dreams of a better life for thousands of American citizens. A lifetime based on books is no substitute for even a small amount of actual experience in the trenches whether those trenches be located on the battlefield or in the marketplace.