Howard's Political Commentary

This is a response to this opinion piece in the Jewish News of Greater Phoenix. In his opinion piece, “Taxes Far More Than Necessary Evil,” Rabbi Strauss demonstrates why he should stick to his “day job” as a synagogue spiritual leader. His writing on both Halacha and tax issues is filled with misinformation and erroneous reasoning. Rabbi Strauss cites the tax to support the Mishkan as proof that taxes have been a legitimate part of Jewish life since we left Egypt. Of course, that was a poll tax that was imposed on every adult male regardless of income or wealth. He goes on to immediately say that Jewish sources tell us that there is an obligation to provide universal education and health care for the poor – using taxes to finance it. His Jewish sources must be liberal Jewish editorial writers since the Torah requires only supporting Torah education rather than general education – and only in cases where the family is unable to afford it. According to our tradition, parents have ...

The conflict in the Gaza Strip between Hamas and Israel is being covered as if Israel is callously killing civilians while Hamas is just trying to protect its population against ruthless Israeli invaders. This is a horrible distortion of the truth and is just the opposite of what is really going on. For months, Israelis have been subject to Hamas artillery attacks that have threatened the southern third of Israel. Hamas has been trying to kill civilians - it deliberately targets them. In contrast, Israel has targeted Hamas leaders and soldiers to protect itself from attack. Civilians have been killed as a consequence of these counter-attacks, but that is largely because Hamas conducts its "military" operations from civilian areas in order to use civilians as human shields. Hamas is dedicated to the destruction of Israel. Even after Israel conceded territory to the Palestinians and gave Gaza autonomy, they used this opportunity to increase attacks on Israel instead of build th...

The government bailouts of various companies is pushing us toward socialism. The federal government has purchased equity stakes in many financial companies and is "investing" in GM and Chrysler as well. Given the notable financial successes of the federal government such as Social Security, Medicare, and the Federal Budget, I think that Congress and the President are the least well suited institutions to decide how to invest capital even if we accept that it is a proper function of government. There is only one government institution well suited to and experienced with handling financially distressed companies and individuals: Bankruptcy Court. Through bankruptcy, the financially failing companies and individuals can either restructure their debt or liquidate assets and discharge debt in order to get a fresh start. This would allow assets to be properly valued quickly and would allow the economy to improve again based on realistic valuations of assets. The bailouts simply pos...

Education Priorities: Can Legislators Decide Better than Parents? This article from the East Valley Tribune, http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/89390 , headlined Bills aim to cut tech school aid published in the May 10, 2007 issue of the paper perfectly illustrates why Arizona needs school vouchers. The issue is education funding for vocational education in certain high schools. Some state legislators are looking to cut some vocational education funding in order to achieve budget objectives. The legislators are doing this as they prioritize various education and other spending proposals. I have no objection to legislators cutting government spending, but this seems more a matter of deciding which programs to spend on rather than reducing overall spending. I have no particular knowledge of the value provided by the vocational education programs compared to other government education spending. However, I would suggest that this is the case with most legislators and for many taxpayers...

CPS Reform Proposal Purpose: Improvement in accountability and cost effectiveness of CPS for the benefit of the public is the primary goal of this proposal. It seeks to allow this by privatizing the management of the CPS functions and allowing direct voter input for selecting the amount of services that will be provided by each contracting organization. By requiring voters to vote for percentages of business to go to each contractor, better contractor performance will result in more state business going to the superior contractors. By requiring each voter to vote for at least two contractors, we still ensure that other contractors will be in place to provide cost and quality competition. Time Frames: CPS will contract all routine case management work to 3-5 qualified independent organizations on a bi-annual basis corresponding to the election cycle for state legislators. Investigation work will also be contracted out to 3-5 qualified independent organizations on a bi-annual basis. ...

Responsible Voter Experiments by Howard Levine May 15, 2003 One factor more than any that encourages irresponsible government is letting people vote without having to do anything to prove that they are responsible citizens who have a stake in the future of the community. The only significant requirement for a citizen to vote is being at least 18 years old. People who have not demonstrated any sense of responsibility in their lives are not likely to make the best civic minded voters with a long-term view. There are some constitutional issues regarding restricting voting rights. States cannot restrict voting based on age (if 18 or older), race, sex, or payment of taxes. The only restrictions that are constitutionally legitimate without any affect on a state's seats in the House of Representatives is preventing felons from voting. Any other restrictions may be constitutional, but would result in the state having its population reduced by the number of voters who were made ineligible t...

Unemployment Self-Insurance By Howard Levine January 9, 2003 President Bush has made an interesting proposal for unemployment insurance funds that would give unemployed workers $3000 to spend for expenses related to finding a new job. In order to encourage a faster, more economical job search, any funds remaining would be available to the unemployed person in cash after he found a job and held it for a minimum period. I think the objective of giving people incentives to find a job and get off unemployment benefits is good, but I think this could be accomplished more efficiently with less tax money while still helping people handle economy related job transitions (AKA layoffs). The current unemployment insurance (UI) program is employer based rather than employee based. Experience rating with unemployment insurance claims is used to determine UI tax rates for employers based on the company claims rate. Ultimately, however, the worker, by choice of jobs, work habits, training, and ab...

What to do with North Korea By Howard Levine January 1, 2003 The decision by the North Korean government, the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK) to dispense with UN inspections of its nuclear facilities and apparently attempt to acquire more material for nuclear weapons is a direct affront to the world community and a genuine risk to the safety of pro-Western nations. First, the DPRK violated an agreement with the United States (US) in which the DPRK was to stop its nuclear weapons program in exchange for substantial amount of fuel oil and food from the US. The DPRK ignored its obligations and accepted the aid from the US. This, of course, is a good reason not to make further agreements with the DPRK as a way of preventing them from having nuclear weapons. The DPRK does not honor its agreements unless they are enforced by the armed forces of its enemies. Any negotiations not based on actual use of force will not be effective. Second, with its recent missile tests, the DPRK...

Draft Bad – Military Service Good By Howard Levine December 28,2002 Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) called for a universal draft as a way of making sure that people from all socio-economic backgrounds serve the country equally. He feels that this would make Americans less hawkish because the children of the rich and powerful - not just the poor - would be at risk in a war. This is a typical Democratic diversion tactic! He is trying to oppose war on Iraq based on the composition of our armed forces rather than on the fundamental issues of the situation. His draft proposal, though not relevant concerning war against Iraq, does bring up some interesting issues. It is telling that a Democrat would be in favor of universal conscription rather than a voluntary solution based on civic rewards for service rather than criminalization of people who do not wish to serve in the military or other parts of the government that would use conscripts. Conscription is the ultimate form of taxation; Democ...