PRESIDENTIAL MANAGERIAL STYLES

It is pretty clear that politicians don't like Obama's managerial style.  I'm amazed they don't seem to know what it is.  His management style is what I imagine that of Warren Buffet's is.  Buffet buys good companies and keeps the management in place and let's them continue to run their companies.  So if Obama is the CEO of a conglomerate (sounds reasonable), he lets his CEOs run the ball.  In this case it is Senator Harry Reid, leader of the Senate, and Representative Nancy Pelosi, now minority leader of the House.  He let them run the ball on what is called Obamacare (actually the PPACA), it was the same with Dodd-Frank, and also with the recent government shutdown and near disaster of the debt limit.  I haven't followed other victories as closely so I don't know how much they were involved in getting of other successes such as of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

Though the PPACA is much more conservative than I like, it is a beginning

The problem with this managerial style with politicians is that they all have egos that won't quit.  They all think they are God's gift to humanity.  They all want to talk to the Big Boss and are frustrated when they have to settle for talking to their CEOs.  This is true of Democrats of the President's party as well as the opposition Republicans.  And it is also true of the media.  Somehow the media can't get enough access though it seems to me they have a lot.  At least after the fact, they like the former President  Bill Clinton style better (My memory is that when he was president, the Republicans did everything in their power to screw him.).  The glad handing, good ol' boy, type of politician. The thoughtful, introspective type of politician is not as much fun.

The Republicans rolled him so often because he is by nature a compromiser, but finally he caught on and said, "No more!"  He didn't realize for a long time that the current crew that controls the House, in particular, views compromise as a sign of weakness.

CONSTRUCTIVE PROPOSALS IN THE PPACA HEALTH LAW

Here we are in another manufactured crisis.  Unfortunately, it has developed into a situation where neither side can budge, it appears.  The Republicans could have done some good if instead of trying to destroy Obamacare (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act or PPACA or just ACA), they tired to fix parts of it.

I would have suggested they propose elimination of the Employer Mandate that liberal economists like Paul Krugman thinks shouldn't have been in the bill in the first place.  Among other things, it only applies to companies with more than 50 full-time employees and even then only those that work more than 30 hrs a week.  Most restaurants need a lot of employees during rush hours, say two hours at lunch and two hours at supper which is 28 hrs a week.  I suspect the Republicans could have gotten this elimination.  A lot of companies will provide health care even if the Employer Mandate is repealed because it is in their interests to do so.  It provides for a more stable workforce, and they can eliminate the expenses by laying off employees.  Also they will probably have to pay employees more if they discontinue health coverage as there is less reason to stay in a low paying job.

I think Republicans could have gotten elimination of the Employer Mandate because Obama has already pushed implementation off for a year (http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/09/05/white-house-releases-proposed-new-rules-for-obamacare-employer-mandate-after/).  this delay is estimated to cost the government $12 billion (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324809004578638282900414410.html).  The administration wants to ease the reporting requirements and the IRS has recently released reporting rules (http://thehill.com/blogs/regwatch/healthcare/320565-irs-issues-reporting-regs-for-obamacares-employer-mandate). Something employers are not taking into account will be that the employer mandate will be a level playing field which is something companies have always said they want.  If one chain will have to raise prices, other chains will have to also.  Only mom and pop places will not have to pay it.  There are big restaurant chains that provide health plans now, Cracker Barrel is one (and they also provide for paid vacations).  I believe Olive Garden doesn't and they have trouble filling positions that leave a whole dining room vacant while maybe 30 customers wait to be seated.  I, for one, will not go there because of this though I like their menu.

They feel more concerned about the Medical Device Tax (2.3% on hip replacement pieces, heart stents, etc., but not eyeglasses or hearing aids).  the Congressional Budget Office estimates that this tax will raise only $29 billion over a decade (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/09/28/how-obamacares-medical-device-tax-became-a-top-repeal-target/).  The tax will apply to medical device imports but not exports which should discourage some importation of devices but encourage exports.  Some 260 co-sponsors in congress have signed on to a bill eliminating the tax, and the industry has spent $150 million lobbying against the tax.  But with all the screwing around, Harry Reid now has said that eliminating the tax will not be considered in the Senate.

So I think the Republicans have missed doing some good on the PPACA, but , who knows, maybe in the end one or both of these proposals might be implemented.

THE SAD STORY OF HIGH LEVEL RAD WASTE STORAGE

The following is modified from a post on Motley Fool, Investment and Analysis Clubs/Macro Economic Trends and Risks (March 29. 2012):

The sad story about the Nevada Test Site - Yucca Mtn.* and high level waste disposal is as follows: To get Nevada to allow the Federal government the right to put high level nuclear waste at the Nevada Test Site which is after all, Federal lands, the Federal government was going to give Nevada $125 million (a sum I thought was chicken feed) and Nevada, which had not officially complained about the nuclear device test (i.e. bombs) was all for it. Then some bean counter said that $125 million was too much and it should only be $25 million. At this point, Nevada called "Foul" and turned against it. I believe that the sum was eventually even lowered to zero.

The state of Nevada hired some real smart scientists to find things wrong with the Yucca Mtn. I know because one of my class mates hired was one of the smartest it not the smartest. He was a real talent. The Federal Government then rolled out some real smart scientists who were put on the job of showing that Yucca Mtn. was all right. I know because I was the boss of some of them for awhile. And then the war started.

So there were arguments that a volcano coming up right in the heart of Yucca Mtn. was a possibility. No, all the volcanism in that area ceased long, long ago. A glacial age was quite likely in 10,000 yrs,* and the water table would rise to cover the nuclear waste and destroy the containers. No, it is unlikely a glacial age could start that fast, and beside, the badies in the waste would be nearly all gone. What if we had a retrograde society where everyone had forgotten what radioactivity was and they dug this stuff out by mistake? Just how many people understand radioactivity today so you wouldn't have to lose a lot of talent to be retrograde. And on, and on, and on. So the smart guys in the Federal government tried to counteract the smart guys from Nevada and this went on for years.

Then just when the Federal government was going to ask to submit Yucca Mtn. to be licensed, the senior senator from Nevada and leader of the Senate, Harry Reid, asked the president for a favor to refuse the request. Plop.

I can't describe the disappointment. Scientists had spent their whole careers on this. It was like the Bridge of the River Kwai** all over only the construction plans and data gathering went on for decades not weeks or months. Even I felt it, and I got out in the late 1970s because I thought I saw where things were going. For the record, I was a proponent of granite for a storage media, but Eastern congressmen killed that because there is a lot of granite is in the East, and they don't want the repository there. We actually got a contract from the Canadians who were less squeamish (but who also abandoned granite) to work on granite which I did for awhile.

Be that as it may, I came to believe that Yucca Mtn. was a good experiment for high-level rad waste storage. And it was storage as the plans were that it could be recovered if necessary, though with difficulty. I think we might be able to forecast climate for a thousand years, but beyond that who knows? To guarantee it for a million years is silly.

So we are left with high level radioactive waste spread all over the country. Maybe that is not so bad as a successful terrorist attack would only have a limited effect. But it certainly is not ideal.

It is a terrible, terrible story and environmentalists had little to do with it, even if they didn't like it.

*http://www.yuccamountainexpose.com/Y47.htm; http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2011/06/dig_deeper_into_yucca.html

**http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bridge_on_the_River_Kwai