We will ask for recounts until we like the result...

Stefan Sharkansky is a member of a group blog called Sound Politics. That blog is describing a problem that has come up in the n'th recount for the election for Governor of Washington state.

It seems that after counting a significant number of ballots that were "discovered" after the election, the Democrat candidate Christine Gregoire now has a lead over the Republican, Dino Rossi. Now the Democrats are satisfied and asking for this "voter ordeal" to end.

The problem Sharkansky writes about? Seems there are now more ballots than voting voters in certain precincts. It seemed vaguely fishy to me when they kept "finding" new, uncounted ballots in the heavily Democrat King county, around the city of Seattle. I sure hope it is harder to "find" hidden paper records of voter participation.

The elections in this country are a mess and need to be cleaned up. If it takes making it way harder to cast absentee ballots, I would not mind.

What do they mean by "Social Security taxes may have to be raised...?"

I am not sure what exactly the pundits and politicians mean when they say that Social Security taxes **MAY** have to be raised in the future to pay for benefits promised to retirees drawing benefits at that time.

I thought taxes were already raised. See this table and explanation at
Answer 481: What is the maximum amount of taxable earnings for each year? from the Social Security website.

For the sake of simplicity and my blood pressure, let us just assume the tax rate was constant. But that tax rate was applied to the following wage levels at some sample years:

Year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Top Social Security Wages

1980 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$25,900
1985 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$39,600
1990 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$51,300
1995 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$61,200
2000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $76,200
2005 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $90,000


To my tired eyeballs, that looks like the Social Security tax paid by a single individual changed by, again, approximately :

- UP 20% in just 5 years between 2000 and 2005!
- UP 50% in just 10 years between 1995 and 2005
- UP 80% between 1990 and 2005
- UP 300% between 1980 and 2005
etc.

Those are already whopping tax increases. Do we hear about these increases when this topic is treated to the "both sides debate" format on TV? Does anyone mention this?

Why not?!

So, I ask, what exactly do the politicians mean when they say "Taxes may have to be raised in the future..." ?

(Shudder!)

John Kerry and Moral Values

I have not written about the election at all. But I did read a lot of opinions about the poll where a large percentage of voters said that "moral values" were the most important influence on their vote. I interpret that answer this way.

Senator Kerry spent 4 months in Vietnam. During that time, he was wounded thrice. Two of those three wounds were more like accident wounds than combat wounds. By all accounts, he fought hard to get those "upgraded" to qualify him for the Purple Heart status. Soldiers with 3 Purple Heart medals were eligible to ask to return home BEFORE their tour of duty (one year) ended. As soon as he was eligible, Sen. Kerry signed up to come home.

There is more than a whiff of cynicism and selfishness in Sen. Kerry's behavior in that story. Not quite the material that heroes are made of.

The USA has fielded a large military for a long time, and been involved all over the world for decades in "hot wars". There must be millions of voters that were servicemen or their immediate family circle--a son, a daughter, a cousin, a niece. Throw in some more millions who know a neighbor who served, or a close office colleague, and that is a huge chunk of the electorate!

I have no close relatives or friends who served in the military. Still, I thought his actions were dishonorable, even if understandable, for a young man. Could it not be that some of those connected to veterans felt that shiver of revulsion at the cynicism and opportunism, and decided to vote against Sen. Kerry?

If pressed to come up with a short "buzz-phrase" to describe what was uppermost on their mind as they voted, they rattled off a convenient phrase: moral values