Reflections for the New Year

January 1, 2014

Allen Katzoff Miscellaneous, US Politics 1 Comment

During the past few months I read several articles that made me sit up and take notice. I want to share these for reflection as the new year dawns.

1 – A very short column with just a few insightful paragraphs to mull over about the impact of technology on our lives.

The Cost of Technology

2 – For those concerned about the herbicides and pesticides in our food, here is a solution that would make our food healthier, improve our environment, and reduce global warming – yet it receives only a fraction of the necessary research funding required to make it a reality.

Now This is Natural Food

3 – And finally, here is a column from last October that draws parallels with today’s attacks on Obamacare to the 1950’s when some government leaders chose to inflame popular opinion and took actions for political gain rather than governing for the  common good. It is a lesson for our time.

A Better Way to Tackle Health law

Best wishes for a good new year.

Two Interesting Perspectives

October 3, 2013

Allen Katzoff US Politics , , 1 Comment

Since the US government’s partial shut down is on everyone’s mind, I thought I would post two interesting perspectives on why Speaker of the House John Boehner has allowed a small minority in his caucus to set an agenda which poses serious risks for the Republican Party. Below are two columns which outline compelling motives why Boehner has chosen this avoidable pain.

The first column in the New Republic theorizes that Boehner has chosen the lessor of evils by allowing a government shutdown. The article ends by stating “Boehner would once again prove he’s far savvier than almost anyone in Washington gives him credit for.” See http://www.newrepublic.com/article/114857/john-boehner-needs-government-shutdown-avoid-debt-default

The second column, from The New York Times, presents an interesting theory that the Republican Party is actually threatened by the Affordable Care Act because its main constituency, the white middle class, stands to benefit greatly once they realize the benefits of Obamacare and that this could undermine their allegiance to the GOP. Thus this is a crucial fight for the base of the Republican Party and the short-term pain of a government shutdown is a small price to pay for that. See http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/02/business/economy/why-the-health-care-law-scares-the-gop.html?hp