We know that all good things have to come to an end.   In Louisiana, we have tried the statehood thing for 205 years, but “maybe it’s just not working out.”  Hey, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has flirted with the same idea up in Alaska.  The federal government continues to shortchange Louisiana on virtually every federal program, from hurricane recovery funds to a fair shake on offshore oil royalties.  So since Sarah Palin has raised the issue, maybe we in Louisiana should start considering the option of seceding from the Union and becoming our own nation.

You have got to hand it to those folks in Alaska.  They have done a pretty shrewd job of figuring out how to lead the nation in raising taxes per capita, yet making the rest of the country pay for it.  Alaska is number one in spending for residents, and its tax burden is 2 1/2 times the national average per capita.  Its spending is twice the national average per capita.  Their trick up north is that Alaska’s government spends enormous sums on its own citizens, and taxes the rest of us to pay for it.

For all practical purposes, Alaska is an adjunct member of OPEC.  More than 89% of the state’s income is produced through four different taxes on oil and gas.  And consider this.  The state government takes three quarters of the value of a barrel of oil before the oil is permitted to leave the state.  Alaskans pay no income tax, no statewide sales tax, and no property tax.  And every a resident gets a yearly check for about $2000 from oil revenues, plus an additional $1200 confected by Sarah Palin last year to take advantage of rising oil prices.

The disparities of the two states, one north and one south, are dramatic when it comes to receiving federal funds from Washington.  A typical example is the comparison of federal reimbursement to nursing homes that take care of the poor under the Medicaid program.  The same patient that only receives $79 a day in Louisiana receives $317 per day in Alaska.   When it comes to federal highway funds, Alaska receives $1.30 for every dollar it sends to Washington as do other states like California and New York.  What’s Louisiana’s take?  A little over $.90 back for each dollar sent to the National Highway Fund.
 
They play hardball in Alaska, while in Louisiana, the state’s leadership for years has often been pictured sticking out their hat and almost begging for a handout. As Governor, Palin has carried on a flirtation with the Alaska Independence Party (AKIP), and her husband was a card carrying member for a number of years.   In an address to the party convention this past spring, Palin told the secessionists: “Keep up the good work.”

Palin has received her share of criticism for her secessionist sympathies.  The Washington Monthly recently said that the idea of succession is “un – American.” 
Oh come on now.  Maybe those in the press that are taking pot shots at the Alaska Governor for considering secession need to brush up on their American history.  A good starting point might be the Declaration of Independence that clearly states:
“That these United colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states…… and that, as free and Independent states, they have the full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and do all of the things which Independent states may of right do.”

And what better source than Thomas Jefferson in his first inaugural address who declared, “if there be among us who would wish to dissolve this Union or to change its republican form, let them stand undisturbed as monuments of the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it.”

It’s not just a phenomenon stirred up by the residents of the last frontier where there is a movement to break away from the Union.  This past July, according to a Zogby poll, more than 20% of US adults—one in five, about the same number of American colonists who supported revolt against England in 1775—agreed that “any state or region has the right to peaceably secede from the United States and become an independent republic.”  A number of polls in recent years have indicated that almost half of Louisiana citizens agree that “the United States system is broken and cannot be fixed by traditional two– party politics and elections.”

The bottom line is that Alaska shares the same abundance of natural resources as those found in Louisiana.  In fact, when you consider seafood, sulfur, agriculture and the largest port in America, the Bayou State has a lot more wealth beneath the ground, on the ground, and along its waterways than our compatriots up in the Yukon.  Alaska has rattled its sabers, stood up to big oil in behalf of its citizens, and demanded more than its fair share of the pie from the federal government.
 
In comparison, Louisiana has been groveling for years to get a bigger slice of the offshore oil payouts.  Louisiana officials declared a big victory last year when the feds agreed to give a pittance of $20 million a year for the next 10 years.  Alaska would have considered such a settlement chump change, and would probably have started a secession movement along with a wall around its borders.

Seceding from the Union and becoming its own nation might prove to be an attractive option for Louisiana.  If Mississippi wants to join us, we might even agree to create “a coastal nation of Louisissippi.”   The French would be appalled, but who cares.

As for leadership?  I would probably stick with Bobby Jindal as president.  But if LSU coach Les Miles pulls off another national championship, he would certainly be a contender.  If Lindy Boggs were a bit younger, she would be my first choice as Ambassador to the United States.  Harry Connick Jr. would fill the bill nicely. We would definitely need to bring back General Russel Honore’, who told me how much he loves Louisiana, as our Secretary of Defense.  A piece of cake here, since the US would be our protector, just like it is for Mexico and Canada.  And for free. Our national flag would be a combination of black and gold and purple and gold, and we would certainly want Randy Newman to write our national anthem.

Over the past 200 years, Louisiana has been in a marriage of convenience.  In 1913, the state entered this marriage with the rest of the US, and got a lot out of it.  They received access to the American markets, and the flow of goods through New Orleans.  It was a two way street and benefits flowed both ways.  But by the middle of the 20th century, the bargain disappeared.  Both the oil and the royalties flowed out of Louisiana with little to show in return. 
 
So don’t knock Sarah Palin when she flirts with secession.  Alaska has cut a good deal for itself. Maybe Louisiana should rise up and do the same

*******

“We used to root for the Indians against the cavalry, because we didn't think it was fair in the history books that when the cavalry won it was a great victory, and when the Indians won it was a massacre.”  ~Dick Gregory

Peace and Justice.

The national financial crisis finds Wall Street and financial regulators scurrying for cover, and trying to find a quick fix to financial problems that have festered for years. It’s puzzling that there is been nary a peep out of Louisiana officials, particularly in light of the fact that lack of regulation of the very financial institutions creating this meltdown has been part of the culture of Louisiana regulators for years. Where is the outrage by Louisiana members of Congress? And why have Louisiana legislators failed to address a number of serious financial problems right here at home?

Oh you will hear that this is a federal problem, and there is not much which Louisiana officials can do about the financial meltdown. But even though there is plenty of blame to go around, at least in other states, there is a scurrying of effort to tighten the regulatory system that in recent years has acquired a laissez-faire mindset.

So can we get a simple explanation as to exactly what happened? Here’s a quick summary. In the old days (pre-1990s), if you wanted to buy a new home, you went down to your banker or savings and loan to submit a financial plan. A solid down payment was required, generally 20%, that you might have obtained by saving a little each month over a number of years. You had to show the bank or savings and loan that you had decent credit, and that you had a job. You had to have some income coming in. The financial institution would check out your credit, and if you qualified, then, and only then, did you become a homeowner. Your loan was approved.

That all changed in recent years, driven by Wall Street greed that required more churning of large blocks of money to create more fees to line their pockets. Your bank or savings and loan no longer required a down payment. And the money was cheap, often financed by state government. Banks were encouraged to loan to almost anyone, and if the loan defaulted, there always seemed to be some state or federal program to pay it off.

While the financial markets were churning and loaning all this money, they were supposed to hold something back in reserve. Loans fail. You have to have a safety net. And here’ is where state and federal regulators really dropped the ball. For every $30 loaned out, there was often as little is only one dollar held back. That just was not enough. Not enough in reserve. So the economy began to slow down, a number of people lost their jobs, they could not pay their home loans, and defaults begin to take place in pretty sizable numbers. When major Wall Street firms like AIG, which has a major presence in Louisiana, began getting cash calls, they had to put up big bucks. And they just didn’t have the money to put up.

Here is how companies like AIG got into trouble. They began insuring something called credit default swaps, which any way you slice it is an insurance policy. AIG was insuring against the possibility that a bank or other lender would not be able to pay on its obligations. Now I know all this sounds complicated. Simply put, AIG was selling insurance to be sure that banks or other lenders would continue financing new homeowners.

Now all these “credit default swaps” have been packaged in something called derivatives. These derivatives were bought by banks all over the world. And you know what? They were not regulated. Insurance regulators, including those in Louisiana, turned their heads, and let these insurance products be bundled and sold with no oversight.

Banks and insurance companies are supposed to have certain regulatory capital requirements. They have to have so much money on hand. They have to have funds available when it’s time to pay claims. Surprisingly, these unregulated derivatives were able to be counted towards those requirements of having money available. Simply put, the derivatives were allowed by financial regulators to be bought by banks to get around their regulatory capital requirements. It was a sham. Because you just don’t know what the derivatives are worth. A bank or insurance company may say the derivatives are worth $1 million, when in actuality, they end up selling for only $100,000. It’s often very hard to tell just what they’re worth. And that’s why it’s imperative the derivatives be regulated. But they, unfortunately, are not.

The New York insurance department has jumped into this financial mess big time, obviously trying to cover their you know what. They will immediately begin regulating the use of credit default swaps since they now admit that such products are insurance that should have been regulated all along. At least they have the courage to face up in New York about their failure to give proper oversight. Here is what the New York insurance commissioner said this week: “It’s about the government choosing not to regulate, standing by and doing nothing. That is what is shaking up the world today.”

Warren Buffett, who has always been considered one of the shrewdest financial investors and wealthiest men in America, recently called these insurance products, these credit default swaps, “financial weapons of mass destruction.” Former President Bill Clinton was on the David Letterman show this week, and also laid blame at the feet of regulators, saying: “There were not enough financial reserves required, and there surely was not enough regulation.”

AIG and other financial institutions have a significant presence in Louisiana. Many Louisiana homeowners are insured by AIG and its subsidiaries. A number Louisiana banks are directly tied to the bundling of these credit default swaps. If the Governor and other state officials continue to express concerns about Louisiana’s image, they may want to focus in on the lack of financial regulation. It’s not just a national problem. It festers right here in our own backyard

*******

“The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right, greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind.”

Gordon Gekko- “Wall Street”

Peace and Justice.

For most of us living along the Gulf Coast, national politics has not been of major concern in the past week.  Our focus has been post-Gustav and pre- Ike.  Many homes did not have electricity in the waning days after Gestalt’s demise, so few were able to spend any time watching the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis.  Sarah who?

 About the best I was able to do was to take an occasional look from my Clear Channel radio studio to catch a glimpse of my oldest kid on CNN, just to be sure she looked healthy.  So last Sunday morning, with a generator riving up my small portable television set with rabbit ears, I sat back with the morning papers and listened to the Sunday morning talk shows. 

Barrack Obama started off on ABC’s "This Week" with George Stephanopoulos.  Talk about Mr. excitement.  He rambled, hesitated, and could not been more diffident and blaze.  When it came to the puzzling McCain pick of Governor Sarah Palin for Vice President, Obama was asked whether she met the minimum test of being "capable of being president?"  You would have thought he would have jumped on that one.  His answer?  "Well, you know, I'll let you ask John McCain when he's on ABC.”   Some knock out punch.

Stephanopoulos went on to ask Obama's reaction to an attack on him by former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani at the Republican convention.  "He immersed himself in Chicago machine politics,” said the former New York Mayor. Well, didn’t McCain jump full force into Arizona politics when he "chose" this state to go and run for office?  All the candidates were involved in party machine politics.  So how did Obama come back full force with an aggressive in-your-face answer?  "It's a real puzzling thing." he said in a laid-back fashion.  Some tough response.

Then it was time to look for Sarah.  I had seen a lot of her on the Internet.  Well, at least airbrushed photographs that had been e-mailed to me from friends across the country.  I did listen to her well rehearsed acceptance speech in Minneapolis, obviously written by the McCain campaign.  But I wanted to hear from the lady herself.  The successes she'd had as the Alaska Governor.  What she knows about foreign-policy.  Is she qualified to step in as president if necessary to succeed her 72-year-old standard-bearer?

Now the other three national candidates (McCain, Obama, and Biden) all showed up for tough questioning on various Sunday news shows.  But Palin was nowhere to be found.  When McCain's campaign manager was asked on Fox news why she was a no-show, he made no bones about the fact that the Republican vice presidential nominee would not be available to the press "until they showed a willingness to treat her with some level of respect and deference."  Respect?  Deference?   I can just hear Governor Bobby Jindal saying he will not be available to answer any questions until he has been given "deference" by the press.

All in all, it was a pretty bland Sunday for both political parties. The general public is just starting to get interested in the "sizing up process" of these candidates. Seems like it should be time for some straight talk, and certainly making the candidates available for questions. Hurricane coverage proved to be a lot more interesting.

Speaking of Bobby Jindal, his political star continues to rise without even attending the Republican national convention.  There is almost universal agreement throughout the state that Jindal did a yeoman’s job in micromanaging both the pre storm preparation, and the post storm recovery of Gustav. And his efforts are being acknowledged across the nation.

A Sunday column in the Minneapolis Star Tribune speculated on who Republican political insiders might possibly nominate in 2012 if McCain loses this time.  We're talking about President now.  The two names at the top of the list?  Mitt Romney and Bobby Jindal.  According to the column, "Hurricane Gustav, a storm and seemed almost as kind Republicans in 2008 as Katrina was nasty and 2005, may have said another GOP governor's career are rising trajectory.  Watch out for Louisiana's Bobby Jindal."

A California political consultant, John Pitney, was quoted in papers throughout the country in saying that Gustav enhanced Jindal’s chances of being the Republican presidential candidate in 2016 -- or even 2012 if McCain is not elected.  "In either scenario," Pitney said, “Jindal will almost automatically be the front runner."

And conservative magazine “Politics and Critical Thinking” is already ballyhooing a Palin-Jindal ticket if McCain is elected and decides not to run for a second term.  A quote from the publication stated: "If McCain does not run in 2012, where does that leave Sarah Palin?  Obviously running for the Perez, but who would she run with?  More than likely Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana."

But what if the McCain/Palin ticket looses?  Would Bobby Jindal in the coming months dare venture out of Louisiana and consider building bridges for a national run in the future?  For President of the United States? 

Well here’s a hint.  The Republican candidate for governor in the state of Washington is Dino Rossi.  If you are unsure of your geography, Washington is up in the far northwest, halfway across the country.  Rossi has his major fund raiser at the Bellevue Hilton Hotel in downtown Seattle next weekend.  And guess who the principal speaker will be?  Bobby Jindal.  Hummmm.
                                                                   ********
"It's probably not a good idea to be chewing on a toothpick if you're talking to the president, because what if he tells a funny joke and you laugh so hard you spit the toothpick out and it hits him in the face or something." Jack Hand

Peace and Justice.