Monday, August 23, 2021

THE TIPPING POINT By Malcolm Gladwell (2000)




Adventure of Discovery of the Minds of Others.  Reading Malcolm Gladwell is to be in the presence of a great mind, a great heart, and a great spirit.  He goes beyond the intellectual stimulation for which he is so rightly famous, and shows real sensitivity to the human condition.  I feel that Malcolm Gladwell cares about what I do with the insights he has given me.  The insights themselves are a treat.  The caring on top of that is surprising and delightful.

I would feel presumptuous in the extreme to write a book review of any of  Malcom Gladwell's works.  I would feel wholly inadequate to do a book report on any of his works.  Instead, my attempt is to make notes on my experience of the adventure of discovery of the minds of others.  In so doing, it is my hope to honor Mr. Gladwell by showing just how much his work made me think, feel, and get more in touch with my humanity.

Mr. Gladwell wanted to be a lawyer.  He would have been an excellent lawyer (but it would have been a waste in the same way Eddie Redmayne becoming a lawyer would have been a waste).  Understanding the view from the other side of the table is vital to lawyering.  Getting into the mind of the opposing party, and opposing counsel, and understanding how they think and perceive the situation is an invaluable skill.  Mr. Gladwell celebrates that skill.  He is a master at play with that skill.  It is beautiful to watch.

                                                                                                                                                                       

Finality.  When is there no turning back?  In sports there are referees and reviews and acceptance even if disagreement about the call remains.  Acceptance of incarceration of innocent people should never be accepted.  What is the tipping point for the finality of criminal judgments?  If preserving the systems means innocent people spend decades in prison or are executed, then that is not a system worth preserving.

Connectors. The Law of the Few.  The idea is that people who have a lot of acquaintances matter to to society.  That is why so many companies attempt to capitalize on "influencers."  My wife is an Elite Yelper.  I am her plus one at gatherings in which business attempt to make a favorable impression on people who are known for writing insightful Yelp reviews that people read and respond to.  

It is not a secret that most jobs are obtained via word of mouth.  What is interesting is the high percentage of job connections that come from acquaintances rather than even casual friends.

At North Central High School in Spokane, Washington a classmate I barely knew told me that he was moving on from his part-time job at The Outdoor Press (A fishing and hunting publication) and that I should apply.  I was the Editor of the school newspaper (because a friend was on the staff and he said he wanted me to join).  When I did the "interview" I learned that the Publisher was on the North Central News staff when he was in high school, had read what I had written and already decided to hire me.  I worked there for 4-1/2 years, all through college.

Also in high school, someone told me that she was auditioning for a play after school and that I should too.  I ended up getting the part and being in two more plays at Civic Theater after graduation.

At Gonzaga Law School, a third year student I did not know told me that he was ending a internship that was a great experience and that I should apply.  I did and it ended up being one of the richest most transformative experiences of Law School.

Someone told me that one of the best ways not to feel down was to volunteer.  I volunteered at Consumer Credit Counseling Center for 3 years and ended up working there before Law School.

I also volunteered for Americorps*VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) in a Welfare to Work program during the Clinton Administration.  Americorps had an education award at the end that I used to get a Masters Degree in Organizational Leadership at Gonzaga.  As electives, I got to take UCC9 and Bankruptcy in the law school even though they were 2nd year law school courses.  The professor told me that grading was by number, so he wouldn't know who I was, and I could fail.  I studied really hard and got a B minus.  This was more meaningful to me than any A I ever received.

Mavens.  These are people who just have to share their knowledge.  Sharing is it's own reward.  I helped a couple of people file bankruptcies before law school.  I helped people with debt and taxes and getting a GED.  I would help people navigate their way through the legal and financial system for free if I could.  I could relate to Ashton Kutcher when he said that he makes the movies for free, what they are paying him for is promotion of the movies.

Sales Persons.  I am a terrible sales person.  When I travel around the Country I see an Edward Jones in every small town.  I can't help but think that if you made a graph of returns of the very low load S&P500 Index Fund and the proprietary Edward Jones Funds with their higher load included, you would likely see that most of the funds are not beating the S&P500 Index Fund by more than the additional load.  Yet, they are everywhere because of sales people.

Studies have shown that black males in particular are quoted higher prices than white males.  A successful sales person in Chicago is aware of this and deliberately quotes everyone the same starting price for a particular vehicle, and assumes that everyone has an equal chance of buying a vehicle.  The result is that about a third of sales come from referrals.  Unconscious bias is still there, but disciplined practices minimize interference.

As a lawyer, I struggle with what to charge (that is one reason why I like legal insurance so much).  I don't understand why some lawyers are so arrogant.  A lot of what lawyers do isn't worth very much.  Some of the most lucrative activities of lawyers (such as Personal Injury) are in areas in which other countries like Sweden that do not have a PI industry at all have just as safe a society as ours at a tiny fraction of the cost.

Context.  In the 1980's I saw a shopkeeper picking up crack vials with a snow shovel in Hell's Kitchen.  Human behavior can be dramatically impacted by environmental factors such as graffiti, panhandling, and subway fare jumping.  That is what New York City discovered before Rudy Giuliani slid into cartoonishness.

The Fundamental Attribution Error (FAE) is the mistake of thinking that character is unified and all encompassing rather than understanding that character is situation dependent to large degree.  Physical space and how it is organized matters.

Stickiness.  This refers to the lasting quality of messages.  Tone and resonance are elusive.  How do we make the meaning of what we say memorable?

Groups 150 seems to be the number of working relationships that above which quality of connection deteriorates.  Successful companies have divided themselves up into such groups with Connectors between the groups such that some people are members of two groups.  Mental space and how it is organized matters.  It may even be the case that the human brain developed the way it did in response to the value of cooperation and living in relationship with others.

Almost Getting Mugged on the Subway.  Years ago in Manhattan a man threatened to rob me on the subway.  I was so scared that I didn't know what to do, so I pulled the red cord that was hanging above me.  It turns out that this was the brake and that someone has to come back to the car in order to release it so the train can move again.  I did not know that, but it turns out that was the express way of getting to the tipping point of preventing the robbery.  Most tipping points are much slower (like climate change for example).  If we understand concepts like the idea that after about $75,000 per year, the law of diminishing returns sets in with more income and eventually more income becomes negative for quality of life.  Why do we keep going with more of the same when the results are so much different between $55,000 and $75,000 and $75,000 and $95,000 for example?

ConclusionChange, like cruelty, often happens suddenly and all at once, but has a long buildup prior to happening.  Understanding the buildups better can make disappointing surprises less frequent.  We can also attempt to create the breaking points for change that are convenient and beneficial for society.  This seems especially important when allocating taxpayer funds.  There is a funding allocation under which the desired results will not occur, a point where they will, and a point after the tip when additional spending makes little difference.  Billions could be saved and society much improved by continually refining our understanding of the concept of the tipping points for various desired changes in society.

Wednesday, August 18, 2021

WHAT THE DOG SAW By Malcolm Gladwell (2009)

WHAT THE DOG SAW By Malcolm Gladwell (2009)


Adventure of Discovery of the Minds of Others.  Reading Malcolm Gladwell is to be in the presence of a great mind, a great heart, and a great spirit.  He goes beyond the intellectual stimulation for which he is so rightly famous, and shows real sensitivity to the human condition.  I feel that Malcolm Gladwell cares about what I do with the insights he has given me.  The insights themselves are a treat.  The caring on top of that is surprising and delightful.

I would feel presumptuous in the extreme to write a book review of any of  Malcom Gladwell's works.  I would feel wholly inadequate to do a book report on any of his works.  Instead, my attempt is to make notes on my experience of the adventure of discovery of the minds of others.  In so doing, it is my hope to honor Mr. Gladwell by showing just how much his work made me think, feel, and get more in touch with my humanity.

Mr. Gladwell wanted to be a lawyer.  He would have been an excellent lawyer (but it would have been a waste in the same way Eddie Redmayne becoming a lawyer would have been a waste).  Understanding the view from the other side of the table is vital to lawyering.  Getting into the mind of the opposing party, and opposing counsel, and understanding how they think and perceive the situation is an invaluable skill.  Mr. Gladwell celebrates that skill.  He is a master at play with that skill.  It is beautiful to watch.

                                                                                                                                                                       

Unforeseeable Events.  Unforeseeable events are unforeseeable in all of their particulars, but they can be counted on to occur and can form the basis of a successful investment strategy which pays off when others are suffering financially.  Risk can be well managed; risk can be successfully hedged.

My law practice is focused on death and debt.  Estate planning and administration is reliable (nothing is certain, but death and taxes).  Debt is cyclical and tends to be positively correlated with unemployment, divorce, and medical bills - in short, misery.  My revenue goes up when misery increases.  I have a natural tendency toward depression and anxiety which makes me inclined to bet that bad things will happen.  I don't know precisely when, but when they do (being Irish) my response will be that it could have been worse.

Try and think about what a dog sees in human behavior.  A friendly quick approach with eye contact with arms ready to hug tend to be comforting to people because it implies excitement to see a person you like or love.  A dog may see threat and aggression instead.  When someone rushes to help with voice raised, a dog could see more aggression.  The Dog Whisperer (Cesar Millan) has difficulty relating to people, which perhaps is part of why he relates so well to dogs.  The feelings of being isolated, alone, ignored, and misunderstood as an illegal immigrant.  That may have played some role in his sensitivity to dogs who, from their owners point of view, are misbehaving.  What Cesar sees is reaction to the humans in the dogs environment.  It is not the dog that is the issue.  It is the environment the dog is in and the way the dog is being treated that is the issue.  Cesar appears to intuitively understand that the issue is not him, it is the environment and the way he is being treated.  Dogs save Cesar, and Cesar saves dogs.

Image & Substance.  When I think of this issue, I think of Billy Crystal on SNL as Fernando:  It is better to look good than to feel good, and you look marvelous.  Reading Mr. Gladwell's exploration of hair coloring was interesting to me because I started going bald at 25 and have a gray speckled beard.  For me, shaving my head and face is what makes me look much younger and more vibrant, and alters my interactions with the world.  

For women, changing hair color to blond may have a similar effect.  The idea that feelings can start within and be reflected in appearance, but a change in appearance can also affect feelings is profound.  Humans are much more sensitive to our environments than we realize.  Studies of the effects of facial expressions on mood and the subconscious effects of priming show that our behavior can in fact be deeply and immediately affected by environment whether we are conscious of it or not.

Puzzle v. Mystery.  Puzzles require more information to solve; Mysteries require less information more carefully analyzed.  Knowing the difference matters.  In the modern world, we are drowning in information searching for the rare floating bit of thoughtful analysis to save us.  

The demise ENRON was brought about by the analysis of publicly available information filed with the SEC by the company itself.  ENRON used things called Mark to Market (MTM) accounting and Special Purpose Entities or Vehicles (SPE or SPV).  The IRS does not allow MTM which is booking revenue when a contract is signed even though the revenue may not appear for another decade.  ENRON's tax return was based on actual earnings, which were anemic.  Tax returns should be included with financial statements for investors to compare the two.  The incentives between financial statements and tax returns are different.  Once incentivizes high earnings, the other low earnings.

In Personal Injury Practice (PI), a common deposition tactic is to get the Plaintiff to talk at length regarding lost earnings from an injury and then follow up with a lengthy discussion of tax returns.  It puts the Plaintiff in a bind because they can't have high earnings for one purpose and low earnings for another. 

That is why loans should be based on tax returns.  President Trump routinely exaggerated values for loans, and low balled values for the IRS.  Different values for different purposes should not be allowed.

SPE's can be highly complex webs of interlocking companies created for the purpose of obtaining loans not reported as debt by the parent company (Off Book).  Assets are transferred to these companies and the value of the asset may be dramatically overstated allowing a much larger loan than should be warranted.

Currently, the parent company is not required to disclose these relationships that are clearly of a great deal of interest to the investing public (just ask the employees of ENRON who invested in their 401(k)'s with ENRON stock).  If the relationships had to be disclosed and their consequences explained, they would be more transparent, less complex, and easier to understand.

Currently, companies like Apple, Microsoft, Google & Facebook can use low corporate tax jurisdictions (like Ireland I am ashamed to say) to save tens of millions in taxes.  We have a WTO (World Trade Organization) for tariffs and trade.  We need a WTO (World Tax Organization) for corporate taxes.  Gross revenue should be taxed in the County where it is earned.  My law practice pays a 1.5% Business and Occupation (B&O) Tax on gross receipts quarterly regardless of profit. If Multinationals were paying half the rate they are paying now in Ireland to the United States Treasury we would all be better off (Ireland unfortunately would be slightly worse off; Sorry about that).

Power Law Distribution v. Bell Curve Distribution.  Knowing the difference between the two has major public policy implications.  For example, focusing resources on the 10% of people who are chronically homeless, chronic criminals, chronically arrested for DUI, or chronically truant is much cheaper and more effective than our current systems.  Giving chronically homeless people apartments, for example, is a tough sell politically because it appears to reward negative behavior, to encourage State dependence, and to encourage addiction, untreated mental illness, and malingering.   A single parent working two jobs is not likely to take kindly to paying for a chronically homeless person to get a free apartment (which may be nicer than they one in which the single parent lives).  When we do the psychological calculation of what seems right to us as human beings the result is the maintenance of homeless system we currently have.  However, if we do the math on the emergency room visits of the chronically homeless it tends to show that taxpayers are already paying much more than the cost of the apartment in medical bills.  

If we stop to think about homeless persons point of view, they have no choice but to go to the emergency room.  There are no alternatives and no disincentives, so they will just keep doing it.

Mammograms.  They save lives.  That is all I knew.  I didn't understand how they actually work. X-Rays are absorbed by fat and appear darker.  So, calcium deposits from slow growing cancer tumors are in high contrast and are easily spotted.  Dense non-fatty breast tissue appears lighter so that a tumor 3 times as large can be very difficult to see.  Even if seen, variations in shape, color, consistency and many other factors can make determining the life threatening from the benign very difficult. 

We have a family friend who is a Radiologist specializing in reading mammograms.  I have seen the chart filling her wall with the myriad shapes, dimensions, and measurements of various tumors with specifics about what to look for.

Understanding that regular fingertip examination is key (especially between the ages of 50 and 69) is vitally important to catching fast growing "interval tumors" which can develop in between annual mammograms.  I did not know that.  Knowing a little bit about what the mammogram can see and not see and what Radiologists can interpret accurately and consistently is important to manage expectations (and reduce malpractice litigation). 

As a lawyer in the most litigious society in the history of the world it may sound strange for me to say we need to decrease litigation, but we clearly and urgently need to do so for our financial and mental health as a society.

Plagiarism & Attribution.  Software can do this automatically now with links that can all be put online, so theoretically it should be less of an issue, but it's not.  Balancing public interest with private interest is what copyrights are supposed to do.  Like so much of law, the balance changes over time to reflect the relative values of society.  Currently, private profit dominates the public interest.  This is the same philosophy in which the shift of cleanup costs onto the taxpayers fuels private profit.  

Choke v. Panic.  Choking is thinking too much; Panic is thinking too little.  JFK, Jr. died in a plane crash because he felt level even when banking for the same reason that your drink doesn't spill when a commercial airliner banks.  He couldn't see lights on land, and he couldn't trust the way his body felt, he was limited to instrument flying which requires experience he did not have.  

FBI Profiling, Astrology, Psychics, Tarot, Palmistry, Futurism, Prophets, Market Forecasting & Predictions About the Future Generally.  Cold reading is a skill that has rules and techniques: Rainbow Ruse, Jacques Statements, Barnum Statement, Fuzzy Fat, Greener Cases, Diverted Question, Russian Doll, Sugar Lumps & Good Chance Guesses to name a few.

Complex Systems.  That complex systems will always have failures which can be minimized, but not eliminated such that someone or someones are not always to blame seems intuitive.

Early v. Late Bloomers It seems intuitive that early bloomers like Picasso are harder to understand and to relate to than producing beautiful works after decades of effort like Cezanne.

Structured Questioning is an Effective Job Interview Technique in a Field of Ineffective Techniques.

I have a B.A, M.A., & J.D. and spent years in school.  School is a largely solitary pursuit with feedback in the form of grades.  Work tends to be more collaborative with much less feedback about what is good performance and what is not.

In fact, in cases like ENRON, which fall into the Talent Fallacy, positive feedback flows from increasing levels of incompetence and criminality.  In well run organizations, the System is the star.  The System creates the environment which fosters the development of those who work within it.  ENRON hired MBA's from top schools, let them do whatever they wanted, and kept telling them how smart they were (See The Smartest Guys In The Room).  Studies show that treating intelligence as an immutable rather than malleable trait and praising intelligence itself rather than the work ethic of constantly changing mental skills based on learning from books and experience, deeper relationships, and a sharpening and refining of worldview and place in it tends to make people more likely to lie and to cheat.  That is exactly what happened at ENRON.  They forgot the simple, obvious, and basic truth that creating and cultivating value is what matters.  ENRON was the triumph of image over substance.

Overly Simplistic Pit Bull Ban.  Political reality is that laws need to have some intuitive popularity regardless of whether they are actually effective or not.  Actual dog bites involve dogs bred for violence, trained to be violent, or when violence is reinforced by the dog's owner.  25% are directly related to illegal dog fighting.  Often dogs have bitten someone prior, but there was no effort to neuter, muzzle, or use an invisible fence after the first bite.  It is not the breed (Pit Bulls can be gentle and make good therapy dogs); it's the owners.

Conclusion.  Everything looks different when perspective changes.  Being able to integrate and go back and forth among multiple points of view to create an overall impression that is greater than the sum of the perspectives is a particular gift of Mr. Gladwell.  To be able to spin ideas 360 degrees, to zoom in and out, slowing down and speeding up time, in a curated way that is meaningful, useful, and beautiful is a joy to witness.  Ideas don't have limited raw materials the way skyscrapers and cities do.  The raw materials of an idea are invented and infinite - as are the ideas themselves.  Mr. Gladwell fishes in the vastness of all that is, has been, and all that could be everywhere and reels in one beautiful gleaming catch after another.



DAVID & GOLIATH By Malcolm Gladwell (2013)

DAVID & GOLIATH By Malcolm Gladwell (2013)



Adventure of Discovery of the Minds of Others.  Reading Malcolm Gladwell is to be in the presence of a great mind, a great heart, and a great spirit.  He goes beyond the intellectual stimulation for which he is so rightly famous, and shows real sensitivity to the human condition.  I feel that Malcolm Gladwell cares about what I do with the insights he has given me.  The insights themselves are a treat.  The caring on top of that is surprising and delightful.

I would feel presumptuous in the extreme to write a book review of any of  Malcom Gladwell's works.  I would feel wholly inadequate to do a book report on any of his works.  Instead, my attempt is to make notes on my experience of the adventure of discovery of the minds of others.  In so doing, it is my hope to honor Mr. Gladwell by showing just how much his work made me think, feel, and get more in touch with my humanity.

Mr. Gladwell wanted to be a lawyer.  He would have been an excellent lawyer (but it would have been a waste in the same way Eddie Redmayne becoming a lawyer would have been a waste).  Understanding the view from the other side of the table is vital to lawyering.  Getting into the mind of the opposing party, and opposing counsel, and understanding how they think and perceive the situation is an invaluable skill.  Mr. Gladwell celebrates that skill.  He is a master at play with that skill.  It is beautiful to watch.

                                                                                                                                                                       

The Forum is the Fight.  Mr. Gladwell's retelling of the story of  the Biblical story David & Goliath is masterful.  I am 6'5" and wear glasses, so I could relate to the concept that being big and slow and not seeing well can be a disadvantage.  As a lawyer representing Debtor's in bankruptcy, I see that Creditors always want to talk on the phone.  If I never talk on the phone, but put everything in writing, then I win because that is where I have significant advantage.  David's sling was a deadly (and rightly feared) weapon.  By not meeting Goliath hand to hand with a sword he had the advantage.  The fight was over before it even started.

I kept thinking of a line from the song Me & Bobby Magee: "Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose."  Hardship, disadvantage, and minority status creates an urgent need for (and continual practice of) certain survival skills not needed by the majority in relative ease.  I loved the Uncle Remus stories of Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox, and Brer Bear as a kid.  I found them speaking to me.  On my face you cannot see my African American and Native American ancestors, but they are with me always - deep and buried.  Mr. Gladwell's mother is Jamaican, so the display of his heritage of color is on the surface.  Mine is stealthy.  A story of cleverness used to overcome superior strength is deeply appealing.  I also grew up with the Tortoise and the Hare and slow and steady wins the race.  I had never heard the story of the Terrapin and the Deer in which the Terrapin's family place themselves along the race route with the Terrapin close to the finish line crossing before the Deer.  After all, the Terrapin says we all look the same to the Deer.  The Deer doesn't have to pay attention to what Terrapin look like and that is a weakness and disadvantage.

The Inverted U Curve.  Better understanding this concept as a society could have tremendous impacts.  I remember in school, some students would complain that we were never going to use what we were learning.  Instinctively I knew from a young age that we don't get to keep all of the knowledge we gain (we forget), and we don't know how and when the process of learning will be of use in the future (the world can be dangerous).  That sounds like the thinking of an underdog.  I never thought of it as a strength.  It may have been related to my parents getting a divorce when I was 6 years old (in 1974).  My father is an M.D.  My peers had financial security and social status that I did not have in a single parent household as a "latchkey kid."  I remember asking one of my classmates how he got into the house if he didn't have a key.  He said his mom was always there.  I said: "Don't you hate that?"  My mom was working 2 jobs as a nurse.  She told me she couldn't be there to watch me all the time.  She asked me to help keep what remained of our family together (my sister, aunt, and grandparents).  I did my best.  When I counsel debtors in bankruptcy sometimes they ask about hiding assets.  I hear my mother when I encourage them to think about the kind of society in which they want to live rather than thinking about whether and how much they can get away with.  Gandhi said: "Be the Change you want to see in the World."  There is a vast difference between living with meaning and purpose according to your values and breaking the law simply because you ascertain that you will probably get away with it.

Underdogs.  Underdogs instinctively get the concept of limits.  Underdogs know that the infinite growth model in economics is impossible to sustain.  If something cannot go on forever, it will stop.  We need more underdogs in Congress who understand that tax breaks work at first, then become neutral, and then become harmful.  Longer prison sentences work at first, then become neutral, and then become harmful. Smaller class sizes work at first, then become neutral, and then become harmful.  When millions of taxpayer dollars are being spent (and wasted and worse), understanding where the points of neutrality and harm are can not only save millions of dollars, but also alleviate suffering.

Part of my heritage is Northern Ireland Catholic, which is to say a religious minority in a part of Ireland that is part of the United Kingdom.  When I was growing up, kids would tell Polack jokes.  Later I heard the same jokes with Irish substituted for Polish.  I learned that Freud said the Irish were impervious to Psychoanalysis.  Being an underdog means that I will never be part of the Protestant Club, so I don't even have to try to belong.  I do not remember being taught that Rich, White, Male, Protestants have been in control since before the founding of America.  I just knew it; and I knew that I wasn't one of them.  I did not think of that as a strength until a few years ago when there was talk of a Muslim Registry.  My first thought was to put me on it.  I thought of Eugene V. Debbs and his powerful identification with underdogs.  In my mind, I will never be anything else.  It doesn't matter how much money I earn, or how much property I have - I am a permanent underdog.

Perhaps because I did not have a father, brothers, uncles, or male cousins, I did not grow up watching sports and learning the things men are supposed to do.  I grew up in a Matriarchy, in which my mother was the Head of Household and her Mother was the Head of Household.  Some of my classmates in high school thought I was gay.  My best friend from high school is gay.  He told me that I meet every gay stereotype including liking show tunes.  He said he hated show tunes.   I identified with people who are gay because I was treated like I was gay even though I am not.

Forgiveness is Strength.  I graduated from a Jesuit Law School where I read the Supreme Court Cases in which the Ku Klux Klan attempted to eradicate Catholic Education from America.  There was religious hate in America too, not just in Northern Ireland.  Hate is not a strength; Hate is a weakness.  

Conclusion.  Thank you to Mr. Gladwell for showing me that some of the most painful episodes of my life (and the suffering of my ancestors) can be sources of strength and advantage.  Thank you for showing me that the story of David & Goliath is a story of someone with a .45 going up against someone with a knife - no contest.  What we think of as weakness is strength; and what we think of as strength is weakness.


Wednesday, August 11, 2021

TALKING TO STRANGERS By Malcolm Gladwell (2019)

TALKING TO STRANGERS By Malcolm Gladwell (2019)



Adventure of Discovery of the Minds of Others.  Reading Malcolm Gladwell is to be in the presence of a great mind, a great heart, and a great spirit.  He goes beyond the intellectual stimulation for which he is so rightly famous, and shows real sensitivity to the human condition.  I feel that Malcolm Gladwell cares about what I do with the insights he has given me.  The insights themselves are a treat.  The caring on top of that is surprising and delightful.

I would feel presumptuous in the extreme to write a book review of any of  Malcom Gladwell's works.  I would feel wholly inadequate to do a book report on any of his works.  Instead, my attempt is to make notes on my experience of the adventure of discovery of the minds of others.  In so doing, it is my hope to honor Mr. Gladwell by showing just how much his work made me think, feel, and get more in touch with my humanity.

Mr. Gladwell wanted to be a lawyer.  He would have been an excellent lawyer (but it would have been a waste in the same way Eddie Redmayne becoming a lawyer would have been a waste).  Understanding the view from the other side of the table is vital to lawyering.  Getting into the mind of the opposing party, and opposing counsel, and understanding how they think and perceive the situation is an invaluable skill.  Mr. Gladwell celebrates that skill.  He is a master at play with that skill.  It is beautiful to watch.

                                                                                                                                                                       

In my law practice, MULVANEY LAW OFFICES, PLLC, I talk to strangers every day.  This book contained an abundance of things I need to know and to use better.  There is a reason they call it a "practice."  I constantly make changes to get closer to best practices in all situations at all times.  This is a tall order - for which I need all the help I can get.  Thank you for giving me a boost with this book.

     This work examines several different, but related, aspects of communication including:

  1. Default to Truth
  2. Transparency & Mismatch
  3. Coupling
  4. Getting People to Talk, and
  5. Police Interactions.
Default to Truth.  Human beings generally trust each other, and assume that others are being honest unless and until a Tipping Point is reached.  Quite a lot of indicators can stack on each other until this point is reached.  This feature of human psychology and interactions is exploited by a minority of people such as Bernie Madoff.  Some people are the price we pay for having the Default to Truth lubricant for social interactions.  If everyone was suspicious and skeptical all the time, society could not function.  Everything would take many times the amount of time to complete.

For me, the striking thing about the analysis was the realization that the most skeptical people have trouble bonding with others and being believed.  If the Default to Truth could be turned on and off, then then the person who was temporarily skeptical could be their own messenger, but that is not usually what happens.  An overly suspicious and skeptical person needs to convince an influencer with the Default to Truth in abundance in order to get the message heard.  Apparently that is what happened with the whistleblower who kept sounding the alarm for 10 years before Bernie Madoff was arrested,

I thought of the mindset of the soldier and how important it is to be able to turn it on and off.  Soldiering requires considerable indoctrination.  Most people have difficulty following orders to kill strangers.  Soldiers who are not able to shut off their mindset can have difficulty decades later as civilian.  For example, my mother is a retired nurse from the VA Medical Center in Spokane.  Some WWII veterans refused to have Japanese nurses in their rooms.  They still harbored hate.  It did not serve their mental or physical health well as civilians and is no longer necessary, but they could not shut it off.

Knowing the proper and improper times to do and say things, and being able to change with those times is the key.  If you don't have the key yourself, and you know it, perhaps cultivating alliances with people whose mindset, words, and deeds change seemingly effortlessly as situations change would be of benefit.  If you remain fixed in a pit of your beliefs (especially those that are a default to skepticism, mistrust, and sometimes paranoia) being around people who are not so fixed can help show the way out of the pit.

Transparency & MismatchI live in Bellevue, a suburb of Seattle, so the discussion of Amanda Knox who is from Seattle was close to home.  Innocent; she served years in an Italian prison with no physical evidence largely because her reactions did not match what was expected.  Actors, criminals, terrorists,  pedophiles, and grifters all need to be highly attuned to expected reactions and match them as precisely as possible in order to accomplish their goals.  Many people may not even be aware of the extent their reactions don't match expectations.

In law school, I did an internship in criminal defense.  Criminal defendants are usually acutely aware of Judges and Juries expectations regarding display of signs of contrition because if they are not, they tend to receive longer sentences. Most people are not so harshly punished for mismatch and are therefore less aware.

Knowing that certain people need to know how to deceive should presumably build faster to the Tipping Point, but it does not appear so.  Knowing that the accuracy of lie detection is generally low, even among professional investigators of crimes, should presumably reduce the speed to the Tipping Point,  but it does not appear so.  

Human beings are more than rational.  Reason is only part of us.  Another part is a Judge wanting to see a Defendant's face, eyes, and demeanor even though computer software can make about 25% better bail decisions than Judges - with less information.  The power of charm and the cult of personality appear to be effective because of human needs.  On some level we don't want justice so much as a feeling that we are rewarding the beautiful and the charming and punishing the ugly and the mismatched.

Knowing this hopefully produces some humility and less self-righteousness.

Coupling. Research shows the human behavior is influenced by environmental factors much more than is commonly though.  I proposed to my wife with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background.  More than 1,500 people have jumped from that bridge.  Nets were installed 80 years after construction of the bridge (even though nets erected during construction and then removed saved 19 lives).  Suicide and the Golden Gate Bridge are coupled.

A discussion of "Town Gas" (Coal Gas) in England is especially poignant.  Data shows that when natural gas replaced the high carbon monoxide town gas, suicides by other methods did not increase - even after head in the oven suicides dropped to zero.  Convenient means costs lives.  Suicide and Town Gas were coupled.

Understanding that criminal behavior can be coupled with subway graffiti was a major breakthrough for New York City.  Crime was in fact reduced by cleaning up the subway cars.  Crime was reduced by prosecuting subway fare beaters and panhandlers.  It is indeed the little things that matter, and the little interactions between people.  Clean, well lit, green spaces without graffiti, broken, windows, or litter reduces crime.  Manners and rituals of treating each other with respect (especially family) builds culture and resilience.  If we start with that strong foundation we can build on it.  If the foundation is cracked and weak, marked by crime and disrespect, what is built leans and topples.  By seeing connectedness (coupling) where it was previously invisible, and therefore not understood, we can do things like precipitously drop crime and suicide.

Getting People to TalkI am from Spokane, the place where the architects of the torture (Enhanced Interrogation Techniques) program following 911 were from.  I read some of the heavily redacted "Torture Memos" written by the Attorney General's Office.  I felt sick.  Nothing I was asked to to as an Associate Attorney remotely approached the horror of having to legally justify torture.

Studies show that the extreme stress of torture reduces the ability to recall information, and can distort that information sometimes by creating false memories.  Some torture victims simply confess to everything they can think of to build up their legacy and make the pain stop.  Family members and associates of those tortured tend to become violent enemies of the United States - making us less safe. See Black Sites.  So, torture doesn't work and the blowback from it harms us.  Why do we do it?

I couldn't help thinking that there must be better ways to get information from people.  Prescription drugs, alcohol, sex, brain scans showing recognition of images, reviewing video for millisecond unconscious facial expressions (thin-slicing), and psychological appeals related to family, friends, associates, religion, group membership or hometown challenging beliefs about what is being accomplished by terrorist acts before trying things like sleep, food, and water deprivation and isolation coupled with good cop/bad cop seem to be better options than "waterboarding" and "walling."

I had a nagging sensation that effectiveness really wasn't the point.  The point was power and humiliation.  Human beings with an urgent need for information aimed at saving lives from terrorist attack need to feel powerful because they feel out of control.  We need to humiliate the cause of that lack of control.  I may be naive, but perhaps knowing that can be the basis for a conversation about the situation that produces better results.  For example, poison gas was used on the Kurds in Iraq.  By showing video of those dead bodies in the hometown of a potential informant, the potential may tip into actual informing even if there was a previously close relationship that would have to be betrayed.

Police Interactions.  If ever there was a rich, timely, and historically deep subject to explore about America.  This is it.  I used to be in Toastmasters to improve public speaking.  One of my fellow Toastmasters was a black man who was a 20 year veteran of the Air Force (Fairchild Air Force Base is the largest employer in Spokane).  He told me that he would not drive in North Idaho at night.  This was during the time before Morris Dees sued the Aryan Nations of Hayden Lake, Idaho and bankrupted them.  What was sad and striking to me was that it wasn't just the Aryan Nations that was of concern to this man - he was also afraid of being pulled over by the police.  Here is a man who served his country honorably for decades who is concerned not just with racists, but with the police as well (who may or may not be racists, but are cause for concern nonetheless).

My own interactions with the police have been blessedly few.  One night in my office with windows looking out to the trees, mountains, and sky, I saw flashing police lights in the parking lot followed by the sounds of siren bursts, shouting, and throwing of things at my window.  I was perplexed and annoyed because I was trying to concentrate on work.  I ended up closing my blinds and turning out my lights and continuing to work.  I found out later that the police received a report of an armed intruder in my building, but they couldn't come up the elevator without a code and the couldn't open the doors from the stairwell without a key.  If I would have walked out to let them in across the path of an armed intruder I would have been in danger.  No armed intruder would remain with all that police racket going on so there was no chance of apprehending anyone.  Yet they persisted, and persisted.

What I realized is that I was harboring resentment for the traffic cameras that I believe are unconstitutional.  The State Legislature had to enact a Statute creating a presumption that the owner of the car is the driver in order to get around the unconstitutionality of an officer not seeing the infraction and writing an affidavit.  Instead, they have video and a presumption created to cure a constitutional defect.  My mother and I each received a ticket from one of these cameras.

My wife received a ticked for 5 mph over the speed limit going down a hill to the freeway onramp in downtown Bellevue.  Insurance premiums did not change for the camera tickets, but they did increase by $25 for the officer given speeding ticket and never went down.  That is $300 a year, every year, for decades.  I believed I was justified in not responding to the ridiculous and dangerous ignorant rudeness of the police.  I am a white man who is 6'5" tall and weighs over 300 pounds.  Not everyone has that luxury.

The power to tax is the power to destroyTraffic tickets are a tax and should be treated as such subject to all constitutional constraints of equal protection and due process.

Conclusion.  Awareness of these 5 concepts, defaulting to truth, mismatch of behavior and expectations, coupling, getting the truth, and the dynamics of power differential interactions can lead to not just more effective communication, but to improvements in the justice of outcomes.  By improving the fairness of our interactions we can increase peace and harmony.  If some of the fear and misunderstanding we bring into our contacts with others can be replaced by some understanding and compassion, the world becomes just a little bit better - one stranger at a time.


Wednesday, August 4, 2021

WHAT I WAS NOT TAUGHT IN LAW SCHOOL

WHAT I WAS NOT TAUGHT IN LAW SCHOOL





I have an Economics Degree and a Law Degree.

Ever since George Floyd, I have learned more about what it means to be an American than I did getting those two Degrees.

The founding of the United States of America in 1776 coincided with the publication of Adam Smith's - An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.  The work is a refutation of Mercantilism, which is essentially the imperialist/colonialist accumulation of gold and silver through maximizing exports and minimizing imports through tariffs.

The Wealth of Nations is famous for the Invisible Hand of the Marketplace producing public good through the pursuit of private interest.  What was radical was this concept of the public good being the Wealth of a Nation.  The standard of living of the largest number of people and their capacity to sustain and recreate that standard was Wealth - not gold and silver.

The United States was White Supremacist at its founding and remains so.  

White Supremacy found it's most brutal expression:

(1)  in the "Manifest Destinylargest genocide in the history of the world, which was the killing of millions of the Native Peoples of the Americas; and 

(2) in over three (3) centuries of enslavement of the Peoples of Africa.

America is not a Nation of Immigrants.  America is a Nation of the Descendants of Immigrants who took by lethal force the land of Native Americans and the Labor of African Americans for over 300 hundred years.

White Supremacy is fundamentally opposed to the Wealth Adam Smith described.  White Supremacy seeks to continue the imperialist/colonialist way of life that existed for centuries before Adam Smith wrote about another way to think of Wealth.  Colonialism didn't die after Adam Smith; it just changed form.  Neocolonialism involves shifting the costs of private profit profit onto the Public, whether that public is at home or abroad.

Adam Smith's Wealth is the kind the Amish have in which if a barn burns down, the community builds another barn.  Respect for the the Earth, and all life, sustains standards of living which provide food, work, education, healthcare, housing, transportation, recreation & leisure, and close families and communities that look out for each other.

Germany has a culture of admitting and never forgetting their past. Germany is committed that nothing like the Holocaust ever happen again.  What Germany has done as a Nation over generations is much bigger than feeling guilty - it is about facing the capacity in all of us to do evil under certain circumstance and to work to prevent those circumstances from coming into existence.   America needs to admit and never forget our past regarding Native American and African American people and commit that the circumstances that led to these atrocities stemming from the original sin of White Supremacy do not continue to exist.  Such circumstances clearly still do exist in America.  Those circumstances include Indian Reservations and Black Ghettos.

Descendants of victims can never be made whole.  To think so would be as insulting as giving money to an innocent man who spent twenty years in prison as if any amount of money could compensate for two decades of a person's life.  What is not insulting (in my view) is to do what we can in terms of returning art stolen by the Nazi's and returning property stolen by terrorizing black people that is proven to be stolen.  The theft of an entire continent and over three centuries of labor is so vast as to make compensation impossible.  It is like Hitler's "Big Lie;"  if the "BIG STEAL" is big enough you will "get away with it."  But, at what cost? Hitler was a big fan of America.  That should give us pause as to who we are.  Hitler took eugenics from us.  Hitler took the concept of the "Master Race" from the White Supremacy developed over centuries in the American South.  Hitler took one of chemicals used in the gas chambers from the American Southern Border where it was used on Mexicans in lower doses than Hitler used to kill.  Hitler took American ideas and increased the dosage to produce Nazi Germany.

What we owe to Native American people and African American people, who are now our fellow citizens (America has no classes of citizenship), is acknowledgement of the truth of their unimaginable pain.

What we owe to Native American people and African American people is equality of opportunity. 

We owe it to Native American people and African American people and we owe it to all American citizens to stop discriminating on the basis of brown or black skin.

If we do not pay what we owe, we will continue to reap the bitter harvest of strange fruit.

America is a Republic, if we can keep it.  At the founding there was one multinational corporation, the East India Company.  Thomas Jefferson in particular was very concerned about monopoly power and wanted protections against it in the Constitution.  He was, unfortunately for us, outvoted. The conglomeration of multinationals today and their associated Monopoly Power (Microsoft) and Oligopoly Power (90% of American Media controlled by 6 companies) threatens us all daily.  These immortal legal "Persons" who can plead guilty to felonies in the stead of the Officers of the Company pleading guilty (Perdue Pharma) have used the 14th Amendment Equal Protection Clause much more than the African Americans it was enacted to protect.

People and the Earth itself must be put ahead of Profit.  If Multinationals are People with unlimited money influencing our elected representatives (Citizens United) then we have created a system dedicated to our own destruction.  Is the Humanity itself suicidal?  Looking at Human History and the number of things we have done and continue to do that undermine our survival interest, it is hard to escape that possibility.

A good example of a (suicidal?) failure to understand economics and the role of the law in protecting the Earth and it's people is the Berkeley Pit in Butte, Montana.  It is a Superfund Site in which many billions have been (and continue to be) spent cleaning up the mess created by Copper Mining.  The cleanup costs have already exceeded the value of all of the Copper extracted plus all of the payroll of the miners who extracted it.  In other words, the way mining occurred was a net loss to society.  Profit was privatized; the costs were shifted onto the public.  That is the well known business model that Government must counter.  If it doesn't, then the Earth and Taxpayers will continue to suffer.  Butte was known at one time as the "Richest Hill in the World."  We need to rethink what rich means because currently it means private profit at public expense, which is an insidious form of poverty in the guise of riches.

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Bhutan measures "Gross National Happiness."  America should as well.

Happiness cannot be measured directly, so proxies for Happiness are measured.

Those proxies must include the necessary conditions to sustain life on Earth, and to sustain healthy communities, and to sustain healthy relationships among communities. 

How can anyone be happy knowing they are slowly killing themselves?

Before describing what can be measured and why, I think it is important to understand the sinking feeling that many law students have (myself included) when they realize that the U.S. Constitution is all about negative rights limiting Government.  It was written by rich, white, Protestant men for themselves at the expense of African Americans, Native Americans, Women, Immigrants, the Poor, the Disabled, the Disadvantaged, and the Earth itself.  The U.S. Constitution is a great document nonetheless.  Being with America's greatness and America's grave failings at the same time is key to understanding America.  America is not one or the other.  America is both, and then some.

It is the Amendments to the Constitution, the Bill or Rights, Freeing Slaves, Giving African Americans and Native Americans Citizenship and the right to Vote, & Giving Women the right to Vote that begin to broaden America to include more of its people.  We can be proud of these Amendments, but they don't go far enough in guaranteeing positive rights.  For example, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Bush v. Gore that American Citizens do not have the legal right to vote for President of the United States.  This is a tragedy that needs to be corrected.  Voting should be an affirmative right of all citizens in a robust democracy.  America is a struggling democracy for obvious reasons, but we don't need to be.

Below is list of some of the things that could be measured.  The overarching idea is that Government should be constantly looking at what the Invisible Hand of the Marketplace is doing - and not doing.  A continuous cost/benefit/risk analysis regarding Government intervention with the philosophy of "First, Do No Harm" is needed.  Government should not being doing things the market does better and more efficiently, but should be doing things where the Market harms the Public such as Private Prisons involving lobbying for longer sentences in the Country with the largest number of incarcerated people in the World.

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(1) Clean Unpolluted Air, Water, Soil, & Space such that life is sustainable and climate is not changed unfavorably to life on Earth.  Remediation of harm done such as planting trees and returning parts of the Earth to their natural state without human presence. Countries working together to mitigate the tragedy of the commons of near earth orbit space debris.  There is not a National recognition and honoring of the fact that America stole 98% of the land of Native Americans and left them with 2% of largely unfavorable land.  To honor this would be to focus on the creation of opportunities for Native Americans.

Preservation of the necessary conditions for life is not a right of Americans (or anyone for that matter).  It should be a Universal Human Right.  If maintaining the climate to support human life was a Right then Americans could expect Government policies to balance that Right with Profit.  Why would any Rational Human Being create an institution that does not even have the basic duty to protect the survival interest of the Human Being?

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(2) Not Overfishing; Not Over Harvesting Trees; Not Over Extracting Oil, Gas, Coal, Minerals, Metals, and all that is Precious within the Earth such that renewable resources remain renewable and planning is done for increasing scarcity of non-renewable extraction.  It is not enough to simply reduce the rate of harm, we must actively work to remediate past harm.

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(3) Food.  Is the supply of Food sustainable and equitably distributed?  How much Food is wasted?  Is the Market harming the Public Health?  If so, what interventions are appropriate and which descend into the "Nanny State."

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(4) Employment & Leisure.  There is not a National recognition and honoring of the fact that America was built on the stolen labor of slaves and the exploited labor of immigrants.  To honor this would be to focus on the creation of opportunities for African Americans and immigrants.  

There is no right to work for the ready, willing, and able.  The U.S. does not give a tax break for hiring employees, we simply give a tax break and hope it "trickles down."  This is especially important because of the low tax rates of corporations themselves and the amount of tax burden shifted to employees.  America does not have National Standards for unemployment insurance tax rates.  Instead, States compete to attract business by lowering tax rates and underfunding their systems requiring Federal assistance.  A job is a job is a job.  Jobs making weapons are counted the same as any other job. Jobs overfishing or overharvesting trees or over extracting fossil fuels are counted the same as any other.


The 13th Amendment excepts from involuntary servitude those convicted of crimes.  This must be changed.  This racist exception is what allows the prison labor industry to exist. This, coupled with disenfranchisement for felony convictions, is the second barrel of the White shotgun that has been blasting away at Black People for generations and must stop.

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(5) Housing.  There is no right to decent housing in America.  If you are an addict or mentally ill you may be living outside in America.  Ronald Reagan said doing so was a choice, but did not examine the capacity of the decision maker who makes such a choice.

The majority of mortgages in America are guaranteed by the Federal Government in programs that until 1965 excluded people of color by law, and continue to exclude them in fact today.  We owe it to our brother and sister citizens of color to provide fair housing opportunities.  The White Supremacist allotment of housing cannot be undone, but we should not pretend that some reparations for this egregious harm that created the White Suburbs all across America (where I have lived my entire 53 years of life) is not owed.

Government regulation must play in role in stabilizing housing in America so that the mortgage backed securities derivative fueled global destruction of trillions in value in 2008 does not recur.

In America, taxpayers who itemize can claim the mortgage interest deduction up to $1 million.  So, taxpayers subsidize housing for citizens who pay $1 million in mortgage interest while some Americans sleep in tents.  I claim the deduction every year, even though I am deeply philosophically opposed to the existence of the deduction.  The deduction should be eliminated and revenue devoted to decent affordable housing for all Americans.  Why should taxpayers subsidize a lawyer, me, to live in a $1.6 million dollar house?

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(6) Education & Training.  There is no right to quality education or job training in America.  Higher education costs have outstripped inflation for decades leaving behind more low income talented and deserving students every year.  If America was a meritocracy like Julliard or sports, then we would be scouring everywhere for promising young doctors, engineers, scientists, mathematicians, and computer scientists and not just looking for talented musicians, actors, dancers, and athletes.  We should be looking for all talent of every kind and nurturing it without regard to race, ethnicity, religion, disability, sex, income, wealth, or any other factor unrelated to what a person can contribute with whatever reasonable accommodations are necessary to allow the growth of talent and ability.

India has a very successful decades long program for getting people out of poverty by promoting STEM education.  Why doesn't America have something similar?  By putting STEM schools in low income black and brown neighborhoods like East Harlem or on Indian Reservations, we would all be better off.  If a low income white student went to such a school, then the education would be much deeper than science and math and would include a broader social awareness.  Perhaps some solidarity regarding improving one's chances in life might transcend race.

When I was in law school in Spokane, there was a need blind racial diversity scholarship.  There was a black man who drove a BMW 750, who was much richer, smarter, and more capable than I am.  He was not disadvantaged.  I talked to him about this issue and he said he thought the scholarship should be need based, but if they were stupid enough to give it to him he would take it.  He was just like me taking the mortgage interest deduction even though I think it is bad public policy.

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(7) Healthcare, Childcare, & Elder Care.  There is no right to Healthcare in America. There is no National Health Service.  Medicare is age restricted.  We need a continuous cost/benefit/risk analysis to know why costs are so high and outcomes are not as good as other countries.  America is a big country.  Why can't we have the private system we have plus a National Health Service plus expanded Medicare?

The Government's role should be to notice needs not met by free market capitalism, and to meet those needs.  At a minimum, Government needs to address the fact that medical debt is the leading cause of bankruptcy in the U.S. (I practice bankruptcy law) and medial bills are slowly bankrupting America itself.

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(8) Health of Media. Freedom of the Press.  The Watchdog Role of the Press.  The Fourth Estate (the other three being Executive, Legislative, & Judicial).  Media Matters.  The People must know what their Elected Representatives are doing on their behalf, and how they are doing it.  The People must know of breaches of the Public Trust whether they be trust in Government or Trust in companies and private institutions to treat them fairly.  Before 1996, many television stations, radio stations, & newspapers were locally owned by families.  Today, virtually none are.  The Billionaire Class Rules American Media.  Multinationals and the Billionaire Class have so much money to spend litigating, and the Federal Government has so much Classified information and prosecutes for its release, that fear of reprisal for whistleblowing on injustice is very real. 

I watch John Oliver's program on HBO.  HBO lawyers review the content of the program for risks before airing.  John Oliver was still sued frivolously by the owner of a mining company. The suit was dismissed, but much money and time was spent, the aggrieved party was not made whole, and the message was received.  Rich people can abuse the legal system, and get away with it.  Speaking of rich people abusing the legal system, why is it legal to use Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDA) to cover up felonious sexual assault as Donald Trump did (and apparently still does) repeatedly?  If I went into Court and tried to enforce an NDA regarding the sale of heroin laced with Fentanyl, that suit would be (and should be) dismissed at the least.  However, if a serial rapist tries to enforce an NDA that may be allowed.  Why?  Shining a light on the dark mold of injustice and disinfecting it is what a healthy media does.  Without the Media, the mold will spread and spread until finally we will be like the fish who asks "What's water?".  We will ask "What's mold?" because it is everywhere.

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(9) Health of Government. Measuring the effects of the highest marginal tax rate of society clearly shows that it's lowering dramatically increases wealth and income inequality.  Tax breaks follow an inverted U curve such that they can stimulate growth at first, then become neutral, and then bend down to increase inequality.

Continuous and vigorous protection of voting rights is essential for the functioning of a democracy.  Free and fair elections are the bedrock of authority of our representative Government.  The Electoral College must be eliminated, D.C. must be given statehood, and all elections should be held by mail with postage and costs paid by the Federal Government to even out access to the polls.  The USPS is required to serve every address in the United States regardless of cost.  We should use the USPS to transport all ballots, which would add the Federal crime of tampering with the mail to any other Federal crime associated with ballots.  Only the Federal Government can prevent States from disenfranchising their own citizens through polling restrictions.  America has a long history of racist voter suppression.  Enough is enough.

America is the largest multicultural multiethnic democracy in the World.  America is an experiment.  No other country in the history of the World has done what America is attempting to do.  Our experiment is under threat from within and without.  Fascism is the seizure of the State apparatus for private wealth and power gathering at public expense.  That is exactly what was happening when Donald Trump became President.  The Postmaster General reduced the ability to handle ballots.  The EPA Director stopped enforcing environmental laws.  The Attorney General stopped enforcing white collar crime laws and consent decrees with Police Departments regarding civil rights violations (I believe this helped foster the culture that lead to the death of George Floyd).

China actively rejects the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which is part of the proud legacy of Eleanor Roosevelt.  China has the largest electronic surveillance state in the world and exports its expertise to increase its wealth, power, and influence.  Because of the WTO rules secretly enforced in Geneva, the United States cannot refuse to import clothing made by the slave labor of in concentration camps.

America needs to wake up to the fact that it is not just foreign terrorism caused in large part by our military and economic hegemony that threatens us.  We have much more dangerous domestic terrorists and enemies of democracy and much more dangerous foreign under miners of freedom and democracy.

America can be, and should truly be, that "shining city on a hill" that Ronald Reagan described.  Only Justice will get us there.  Social Justice (an end to White Supremacy and a celebration of the fact that America is the most diverse Nation in the history of the world);  Economic Justice (more wealth & income equality); Political Justice (voting rights); Justice for All Life and the Conditions Necessary to Support Life (stewardship of the Earth and all of the plants, animals, fish, and creatures great and small).

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(10) Health of the Financial System.  States should have Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWF) and State Banks.  The SWF would be entirely funded with voluntary gifts - no tax dollars.  5% of the Fund would be sold every year and used for Education.   That way the tax burden could be alleviated and elected officials would have more money to direct money to the needs of their constituents as they were elected to do.  Many wealthy people would donate to such a protected Fund.  Citizens could create widespread Charitable Remainder Trusts for the benefit of their children and grandchildren.  For example, 5% of $1 million is $50,000.  So, for $1 million a parent or grandparent could give guaranteed minimum income for life with the remainder to go to the SWF upon death.  The recipient pays taxes on the $50,000 in income and can give some of that income to charities, churches or other non-profits.  That way there is an ever increasing cycle of private benefit and security as well as public benefit and security and not for profit benefit and security.  $10 million would give $500,000 a year for life guaranteed.  There is no limit.  $100 million would give $5 million a year guaranteed.  That would have been a much better use of the money that Fred Trump illegally transferred to his adult children in order to avoid estate tax.  A Charitable Remainder Trust avoids estate tax legally and benefits society instead of being a crime with private benefit and tax evasion.

The State Bank would conduct all government business and pay all State benefits to accounts at the bank.  Checking would be free for all; Direct Deposit would be free for all.  People receiving Social Security, retirement, or pensions would have Exempt Accounts such that no other funds could be deposited and no creditor could attach the funds.  All Marijuana business funds could be kept in the State Bank because it would not be FDIC insured, but self-insured.  The purpose of the State Bank is to meet the needs of low-income citizens and citizens not currently served by banks instead of paying for the use of private banks with public funds that could be better spent.

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(11) Transportation.  People operating in a free market produce a wide variety of gas and diesel vehicles.  There are some things that the market does not do well without some government intervention.  For example, the low cost of leaded gasoline drove the market for decades before scientists sounded the alarm that the health costs far outweighed any savings.  That is why all gas is unleaded today.  Without the connection between scientists and legislators with the support of a knowledgeable public (See Health of Media), we would still be poisoning ourselves. 

I grew up riding in a leaded gas V-8 when the National Speed Limit was 75 mph and there was no such thing as day running lights or air bags.  Why don't we speed govern all vehicles in America at 90 mph?  Doing so would save thousands of lives per year.  Why don't we have always on lights in every vehicle?  Doing so would save thousands of lives per year.  Why don't we have true autonomous breaking so that collision is impossible?  Doing so would save thousands of lives per year. The point is to have public discourse regarding the costs, benefits, and risks of Government Intervention.

Tesla is profitable because the company sells its emissions credits to other companies that manufacture large trucks and SUVs.  Big business and Big Government interact and need each other.  Tesla is an example of the public interest in zero emission electric vehicle proliferation being made possible by government emissions standards.

At one time there was a tax break only for the largest gas guzzling vehicles, which was the result of lobbying.  Media attention on this misuse of public funds ended the tax break.  That is an example of money corrupting temporarily and a healthy media shining a light on that corruption and putting a stop to it.  That is the way the system should work.  Lobbyists will continue to vigorously attempt to get every benefit possible for their clients.  If the media is healthy, the public will decide (and change through their representatives) what is too much of a public expense for too great a private benefit.  If you believe as Ronald Reagan did that Government is the problem and Media is the problem, then you are most likely wealthy and privileged because it is the Billionaire Class for whom Government and Media are the problem.  For the rest of us, Government and Media are our only hope for change.

There is no positive public right in America to transportation.  If there was, then there would be much more and better investment in cleaner buses, trains, and subways for the people who need public transportation the most.

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(12) Family, Community, & Meaning. Impossible to quantify.  However, if churches, charities, and non-profits are a source of meaning for many people and the Government exempts them from taxes, then the Public has an interest in the conduce subsidized by the Public.

The Catholic Church (I was raised Catholic and my Aunt was a Nun) pays no taxes but exerts considerable political influence including 6 of the 9 current Supreme Court Justices and the Al Smith Dinner.

Why does the U.S. have a system where "churches" like Scientology that were created for the purpose of avoiding taxes are allowed their taxpayer subsidized existence without providing discernable benefit to the taxpaying public?

Why does the U.S. give a tax break to Bill Gates for gifts overseas through his Foundation that amount to taxpayer subsidized private exercise of foreign policy?  I agree that the gifts are desperately needed and should be made. I loudly applaud Bill Gates for doing so.  I just do not think that unelected private citizen billionaires should be using tax breaks to do so.

All tax exemptions for churches, charities and non-profits should be eliminated - and tax paid.  The tax break would be for those who donate to the payment of the tax of such organizations.  The more tax breaks an organization (or Church such as the Catholic Church) gets the more Government Scrutiny it should receive to ensure that the public interest is in fact being served.  I believe that system would protect the public better, and provide more accountability and transparency.  Gifts would not be limited to the amount of tax, of course, but because tax is being paid from donations that allow non-profits to keep more of their revenue the public interest would be served by both the mission of the non-profit and its tax payments instead of being subverted.

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America gives tax breaks (and tax penalties) based on the number of children and marital status.  Government should get out of this business.  Rewarding overbreeding in an overpopulated world of over 7 billion people largely reliant on non-renewable extraction of fossil fuels is not something Government should be doing.  Penalizing people for getting married is not something Government should be doing.  All tax should be individual regardless of marital status.  Married people each report half of the joint income.  All retirement contributions of married people should be automatically divided in half so that each spouse always has the exact same contribution.  A ridiculous amount of time and money is spent in divorce dividing up retirement accounts, and it is often done incorrectly.  A simple automatic system would reduce anxiety.  The payroll deposits of married people should also automatically be divided in half.  If everyone in the State has a State Bank account, this is simple to do.  I have seen many cases in which the husband used money to control the wife and is abusive.  A simple automatic system could do a lot for women.

I am a big fan of Married Separate Property Trusts for married women (I also practice Estate Planning).  A woman who has a Married Separate Property Trust account can receive gifts throughout the marriage and can receive inheritance in a manner unaffected by the marital community.  Husbands have to be nicer to wives who have their own money.  Generations of women fought long and hard for the right to own property and to vote, instead of being  voiceless chattel property.  I encourage my female clients to embrace these rights, and to rejoice that no longer does a wife's inheritance belong to the husband.  No longer is that inheritance managed by a male relative if the husband dies.

Instead, America should have a much more robust negative income tax system.  One of the most important functions of Government is income redistribution.  An essential aspect of politics the challenge of making this redistribution palatable to those from whom the redistributed income comes.

Negative Income Tax is a variation of Universal Basic Income.  If the system was an electronic monthly payment and integrated with a State Bank that had an account for every low-income person in the State, then a regular flow of income would be directed at the poorest neighborhoods in America.







LAWYERS NEED A HIPPOCRATIC OATH

 LAWYERS NEED A HIPPOCRATIC OATH



What is the purpose of law if not to promote harmony among people?


Doctors swear to "First, Do No Harm."  Lawyers should so swear.

Harmony comes through Peace - Peace through Justice.


If a Lawyer does harm and follows the Law - 

the Law must be changed.


A recent ruling by the Missouri Supreme Court held that an innocent black man, Lamar

Johnsonwho had served 43 years in prison must remain in prison.  

The reasoning was that appeals were exhausted.

Factual innocence was irrelevant - such an unjust system must not stand.

There is no statute of limitations on murder.  

There should be no statute of limitations on factual innocence of murder.

When Finality of Wrong Decisions is more important than the fact that the Decisions are wrong,

 we have truly lost our way and must change course.

We do not serve the Law; the Law serves Us - the People.  

The People make the Law through their elected Representatives.

The People can change the Law.


The Long Hard Days of White Supremacy expressed in the Law of the United States must end.

It is shameful and Gravely Wrong.


Like Doctors, Lawyers must never forget that we are Human Beings First.  

We should Do No Harm to our Fellow Citizens.  

We should Do No Harm to the Harmony Among Us.