WHY LAWS ARE MADE

Do you ever shudder at a law you consider bad and wonder how it came to be?  You’re not alone; this is one of mankind’s perennial questions.  There’s an answer: Laws are enacted to bestow benefits of one sort or another, and invariably the persons who reap the benefits are the ones who enact the laws.  Consider a pair of examples.

Several years ago California enacted Proposition 30, which increased state income tax rates on residents with annual incomes over $250,000.  Currently, a group advocating children’s health proposes the law be amended to impose higher rates for “super-earners” who make more than $2 million.  Although the proponents hope to have a hand in spending the money, it’s unlikely any of them are among the super-earners who’ll pay the tax.

Consider another law just enacted, Senate Bill 358, the “California Fair Pay Act,” which purports to ensure women receive pay comparable to men for doing the same work.  Note that the 1949 California Equal Pay Act, as well as the federal Equal Pay Act of 1963, provides the same guarantees.  Thanks to the effectiveness of current laws, few complaints are heard.  In recent years the California Labor Commissioner received only a handful of complaints: six in 2010, seven in 2011 and eight in 2012.

So why this new law?  It’s that another wrinkle is added to the Labor Code, wherein the employer must “affirmatively demonstrate” how any pay differential is based on work that is “substantially similar.”  These new provisions will make it far easier for claimants to extract favorable settlements from their employers.  And who benefits from this new law?  Consider one of its principal sponsors, Equal Rights Advocates, a San Francisco advocacy group, which derives income by representing women claiming to be underpaid by their employers.  As litigation had dried up, something had to be done to spur business; SB 358 fills the bill.

Criticism of the imperfect workings of the law is as old as civilization itself, with examples found both in Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Dickens’ Oliver Twist.  However, a most poignant observation on the subject may be attributed to German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, who said: “Laws are like sausages.  You should never see them made.”

 

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 In addition to this Straight Talk by Al Jacobs, I’m now generating a monthly Financial Newsletter.  It normally appears the first of each month and may be viewed on my website.  Click onto http://www.onthemoneytrail.net/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WELLNESS: THE FINANCIAL COMPONENT

It’s pretty well established that physical health and mental wellbeing are closely interwoven, with estimates that as many as half the ailments from which we suffer are psychosomatic.  What is less recognized is that a primary cause of mental anguish is financial.  Is it unreasonable to expect that bill collectors beating on the door cause migraine headaches . . . and God knows what else?

Just as physical and mental wellbeing do not come without active pursuit, neither does financial health.  The person, whose MasterCard borrowing consistently approaches the credit limit while incurring massive interest charges through minimum payments, is inviting a case of ulcers.  Similarly, a need to sport the latest model BMW on a budget that justifies nothing more expensive than a 2010 Toyota Corolla, will guarantee perpetual stress, with all the accompanying symptoms. 

With that said, keep your step brisk and your smile broad by adhering to the following rules:

●You purchase nothing by credit card that cannot be paid in full at month’s end, without interest payments.

●Your trusted financial advisor is the face that smiles back at you each morning from the looking glass.

●Your only automotive vehicles are owned outright, with no borrowing of any sort.

●You do not go into hock to finance the education of your offspring.

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 In addition to this Straight Talk by Al Jacobs, I’m now generating a monthly Financial Newsletter.  It normally appears the first of each month and may be viewed on my website.  Click onto http://www.onthemoneytrail.net/

OUTLAWING ADDICTION

The reformers are hard at work.  One of the measures just approved by the California State Senate will raise the age for buying tobacco products to 21.  There’s no denying that tobacco is a harmful substance, and it’s equally true that as persons age they’re less likely to begin the smoking habit.  If these were the only factors, the rule might make sense, but as with most well-meaning but overbearing edicts, human nature is ignored.

Why a sixteen-year-old smokes can mostly be explained in sociological terms.  As a two-pack-a-day teenage smoker, I still recall the need that my cigarette filled.  It provided me with the confidence, sophistication and maturity which I otherwise lacked.  It never concerned me that every package I purchased was in violation of some law.  Likewise, no amount of lecturing or horror stories would have caused me to swear off.  Only when my psyche no longer needed what my weed provided, would I end the habit.  Luckily, that time arrived.  With a bit of revelation I came to terms with reality shortly after turning nineteen.  I needed neither counseling nor a phasing out period.  I quit cold turkey.

When it comes to abiding by oppressive regulations, I doubt young people today are much different than we were.  Most certainly, increasing the age at which cigarettes may be purchased from 18 to 21 will not induce a twenty-year-old addict to stop smoking.  What it more likely will do is simply reinforce the anti-law-abiding attitude that more and more afflicts our society.  It has been said, and rightly so, that the enactment of unenforceable laws do little more than increase the number of lawbreakers. 

A final thought: I don’t fault our state legislators for enacting inane legislation.  In most cases they’re merely responding to the demands of an inane constituency.  This, of course, explains why the statute books are filled with the many senseless laws with which we’re plagued.

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 In addition to this Straight Talk by Al Jacobs, I’m now generating a monthly Financial Newsletter.  It normally appears the first of each month and may be viewed on my website.  Click onto http://www.onthemoneytrail.net/

ANOTHER VIEW OF ALZHEIMER'S

The latest research report from the National Institutes of Health reveals that being overweight or obese at age fifty increases the risk that a person may develop Alzheimer’s disease in later years.  They’ve concluded that more midlife pounds translate to an earlier onset of the disease.

You may be certain that the research which went into this finding did not come cheaply.  You may be equally certain that the follow-up studies, which will survey hundreds of thousands of participants over a period of decades, while scrutinizing every aspect of human existence, will eventually run into the billions of dollars.  Fortunately, donations from nonprofit foundations together with government grants will ensure this vital program is fully funded.  You should understand that had the study encompassed such parochial matters as dementia or senility, it would never have gotten off the ground.  However, the magic word Alzheimer’s guarantees an unlimited budget.

In an analysis I conducted several years ago, I suggested that one possible cause of dementia might result from long-term deprivation of oxygen to the brain.  If this is the case, then middle-age weight gain can well be a factor.  As the body adds fat, two things happen.  First, the individual slows down, so that the circulatory system pumps less oxygen-carrying blood to all parts of the body.  Secondly, the accumulating fat is not restricted to the body’s mid-section; it also lines the walls of the blood vessels, specifically the two carotid arteries which transmit blood to the brain.  The effect of both actions: a long-term reduction of oxygen to the brain, accompanied by increased symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease.

 

Is it possible the research studies to be undertaken might focus on the simple effect I’ve postulated?  Not a chance!  To conclude that so simple a factor as I’ve proposed could be accurate would destroy an entire research industry—and disrupt the cascade of dollars which then flow to the thousands of deserving beneficiaries.  No, the studies to be conducted will be as complex and imponderable as can be devised.  And the ultimate findings will merely raise further questions which can then be addressed only by further research . . . ad infinitum . . .ad infinitum.

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 In addition to this Straight Talk by Al Jacobs, I’m now generating a monthly Financial Newsletter.  It normally appears the first of each month and may be viewed on my website.  Click onto http://www.onthemoneytrail.net/