January 10, 2014

On to 2014, the year has only just begun. Former president Bill Clinton administered the oath of office to Bill de Blassio, 109^th mayor of NYC. De Blassio reiterated his campaign promise to attack the NYC's immense income inequality, thus moving progressivism front and center in the coming debate election debates. In his first column of 2014, E.J. Dionne noted that the presence of both Bill and Hillary Clinton on the stage signaled a probable change in the coming debates, as well as potential problems for Ms. Clinton, should she decide to run. http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ej-dionne-the-resurgent-progressives/2014/01/01/3fc6c686-723c-11e3-9389-09ef9944065e_story.html?hpid=z2

A symptom: Governor Christie's problem. His woes in the category of the “best laid plans......” In today's electronic age – and with executive administrations (at all levels) being so multi-layered – it should not be too surprising that yet another chief executive has been tripped up by a staff engaged in, simply put, unforgivable, asinine antics, forgetting that it is not just the NSA that is listening!

A cautionary tale as you clean house. If one of your resolutions for 2014 was to file papers and generally “clean up,” take note of the following story. An intern at a NYC mansion opened a folder marked for destruction, flipped through it one more time, and saved a priceless bit of history. Subsequent investigation revealed that among the yellowed pages was a draft of the reconciliation plea from the Continental Congress addressed to the people of Great Britain, not to King George III. The draft had been written by Robert Livingston who was later asked, along with Thomas Jefferson, to draft a Declaration of Independence. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/02/nyregion/letter-tied-to-fight-for-independence-is-found-in-museums-attic.html?src=twrhp

Unemployment benefits, minimum wages, etc. Robert Reich's latest blog notes that the distinction between the working class and the poor is fast disappearing. When LBJ opened the “war on poverty,” Republicans tried the divide-and-conquer strategy, but, with shrinking wages for the working class, the distinction is fast fading. It is no longer “us and them,” more like “we are all in the same boat.” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-reich/republicans-class-warfare_b_4568828.html

I hope your year has begun well.  Thank you for reading.