Frank W. Hardy's Blog
Posted by Frank W. Hardy
My first passenger and paternal grandmother, whose body gave out 4 years ago at the age of 104, often told me about the way things were. A time when families desired nothing more than a swift horse and a sturdy buggy and a wire next to a railroad track was considered “instant” communication.
We talked for hours about the past and what she saw come to fruition in her life (including her grandson becoming one of those magnificent men in a flying machine.) But her gaze never focused on that past! She explained, as only she could in all her beauty, the paradigms of the future and the fear it brings.
Halley’s Comet and the Telescope
Nana, as five generations of grandchildren called her, explained to me the universal awe of the future. Seeing Halley’s Comet in 1910 at the inspiring age of 5, she proclaimed, “People were scared. None of us knew about Einstein and only preachers and your Great-Uncle Grant understood the heavens.”
My Uncle Grant (43 years Nana’s senior and a self educated former slave) was the Hardy family’s Einstein at the turn of the century. In 1986 Nana called and reminded me of her future predictions – my very small Meade telescope proved her correct.
The Fear of Change
Nana used the old Negro phrased, usurped in the movie Guess Whose Coming to Dinner, “Franklin when we started seeing those Tin Lizzies rolling the streets of Conshohocken, all hell done broke loose with those blacksmiths for no dag-burn reason.”
Nana knew that future jobs would be plentiful; however, the paradigm would only benefit those who understood the future. She saw those blacksmiths become auto mechanics. Train conductors become air traffic controllers. Buggy salesmen became car salesmen and those bicycle guys (Orville and Wilbur) became pilots.
She had no idea what the future jobs would be, but she knew they would benefit those fastidious enough to grab them.
Posted by Frank W. Hardy
We think nothing of the fact that fire, police, air traffic control and military services are a right of existence in American society. No one expects fee for service when calling the firemen to a burning building. And while we pay in the form of taxes, we never expect to be mailed a bill from LAX’s Tower for landing at grandma’s during Christmas. Why then do we accept healthcare fees for grandma’s hospital stay after a heart attack?
The words of the United States’ Declaration of Independence, Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness state we shouldn't. Jefferson takes these words directly from John Locke’s Second Treatise of Civil Government, “…no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty or possessions….” Locke defines life and health in the statements, “But though this be a state of liberty…yet he has not liberty to destroy himself….” He continues, “…there cannot be supposed any such subordination among us, that may authorize us to destroy one another…or impair the life, or what tends to the preservation of the life, the health…of another.
In this statement, John Locke, and by inference Thomas Jefferson and the Founding Fathers, clearly state that health too is a natural right directed by a higher power. Life and health are fundamental inalienable rights granted by God and enforced by men. “And that all men may be restrained from invading others rights, and from doing hurt to one another…the execution of the law of nature is…put into every man's hands….”
The for-profit American healthcare system is known for its inequality. Rising costs leave millions uninsured and millions more underinsured as businesses flounder in uncompetitive environments due to rising health costs. With their words the Founding Fathers explain that America’s system is not only broken but also unjust, immoral and unconstitutional.
Posted by Frank W. Hardy
The package is not protectionist by design. It has one stated purpose – to stimulate the American Economy by, as stated by President Obama:
- Increasing domestic job growth &
- Free domestic consumer capital
Free markets allow market consumers to choose, for whatever reasons, between manufacturers. This stimulus package isn’t artificially limiting consumers’ choices by protecting US companies at foreigners’ expense. It has nothing to do with market consumers and their choice but makes the American tax-payer the consumer without choice.
The primary argument against Buy America is the package will be financed with debt purchased by other nations. The dispute makes an erroneous assumption that other nations won’t buy that debt.
- Only 38% of
- The
- The Euro and Rubble are at all time lows
The USA GDP is $14.3 trillion. She has a total $3.09 trillion in outstanding debt, with a current trade deficit of $790 billion. Her total indebtedness is 27% of her annual GDP – the best on the planet. If nations don’t buy the world’s largest consumers’ debt they won’t develop their economies.
References:
http://www.ustreas.gov/tic/mfh.txt
http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/statistics/highlights/toppartners.html
Posted by Frank W. Hardy
I look back to a time when things seemed so different. I was finishing school and in a few years found myself in the USAF as Tet raged throughout a mysterious, far off land called Vietnam! My world consisted of post WW2 and the birth of the suburbs. The bedroom communities - the Levittowns of America!
A strong economy saw millions of Americans move into the middle class. Apollo 8 had the first humans see the far side of the moon and an unpopular President was leaving office.
Somehow history remembers the summer of 1968 negatively! Was the reason, the USA was involved in an unpopular war or maybe the riots from New York to Los Angeles were the causes? Was it the King and Robert Kennedy assassinations? Something was amiss; the nation was divided.
Joe McCarthy was denounced; however, his "Red Menace" legacy lived on. Communists were doing their "Domino Theory" part with the capture of the USS Pueblo by North Korea, the mysterious sinking of the submarine Scorpion and the Soviet's invasion of Czechoslovakia.
Anxiety flourished! Although 180 nations signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, the French tested their first thermonuclear bomb. Civil rights protests in Northern Ireland set the stage for 26 years of Civil War and German riots created boarder angst between Soviet and American forces.
What was it?. Astronaut Jim Lovell said while orbiting the moon, "When you see the earth from the moon, you realize how fragile it is....We're all astronauts on this spaceship Earth...and we have to work and live together,"
How profound those words are today with another unpopular President, war, secrecy, changing economy, Al Qaeda bogeymen, nuclear threats, economic paradigms and global warming.
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it," George Santayana.
Posted by Frank W. Hardy
Andorra la Vella, Barcelona, Pamporovo, Paris, Toulouse and Vienna in 1.5 months.
Barcelona, Spain: was my first stop. The capital of Catalonia and Spain’s second largest city, is160km south of the Pyrenees Mountains on the Mediterranean Sea. Several acts of violence occurred in neighboring Basque but 5 days at the Tryp hotel were enjoyable.
Andorra and the Pyrenees: The 16th smallest country is nestled in the Pyrenees between France and Spain. Co-governed by France's President and Spain's Bishop of Urgel I spent two days spring skiing.
Toulouse, France: Seven days in Toulouse turned into two weeks when a racially motivated neo-Nazi attack knocked me silly (I was mistaken for an African Immigrant.) My stay in the four star Crown Plaza, located in the heart of the Ville Rose, was still exceptional.
Paris, France: Having made numerous trips to Paris my feelings changed little: Paris is best left to Parisians. The four star Sheraton Airport Hotel was my domicile; however, I was still recovering from my Toulouse escapade and my impressions were jaded
Vienna, Austria: was inspired for historical reasons and I found it one of the more enjoyable places on this trip. Rapidly becoming a wind energy leader in Europe, Wien’s surrounding area is amazing. The four star Hotel Stefanie, located in the heart of the city, had me as a guest for 7 short days.
Pamporovo, Bulgaria: The further east I went the cheaper the prices: one day in Paris was worth nearly one week in Bulgaria. The five star Grand Monastery, was my lodging for 10 days. Located in the Rhodopes Mountains and 30 km from the Greek boarder, I had some of the best spring skiing in years. Side trips to Smolyan presented the classic European atmosphere one expects and a 1.5 hour drive landed me on Greece’s Aegean Sea.
