Where Michael Corleone’s pistol was hidden.
Ok, America, are you
flushing too many times? Your president seems to think you are and that
has provoked him to propose deregulation of toilets.
There is some logic. New
toilets must provide for low-water eco-flushes. So, goes the thought,
you’ll have to flush more, thus using one of those old fashioned jobs that can
suck the air out of the bathroom and use mega-gallons of water in the process.
Is big water toilet-ness
an issue? Maybe in parts of the south, desert and mountain west. (It’s a
dry heat) or in places like North Jersey and Michigan (that water can be used
to kill household pests and damage the brains of young children.)
But for much of the
country, water is not a big deal -- not nearly as big as in places like
sub-Saharan Africa.
The key idea here has
nothing to do with water. It has to do with regulation. Let us point out
what a mess deregulation has made of air travel, broadcasting, home mortgages,
banking and telecommunications.
Deregulation destroys in
the name of creating competition. It endangers public safety and
wellbeing. It puts your life in the
hands of corporate giants and petty locals who don’t care about current
generations, let alone that of the future -- if there is one.
Deregulation clouds the
air, poisons the water (no matter how often you flush or don’t.) It puts
workers in danger. It provokes greed. It makes education falter and puts
students into a lifetime of debt.
Why, you may ask, are
politicians so eager these days to deregulate everything except abortion, birth
control and international travel, among other bodily functions? Well,
some of it’s the money, the catnip of politicians good and bad. And power, the crack cocaine.
And there’s a page of
the flower power era that answers that: deregulation is Power to the People,
with some unnecessary middlemen along the way.
The 1960s liberals
eventually brought sanity to abortion and birth control laws, and to the
freewheeling capital pirates and hatemongers. But the slogan is more
powerful than what it represents. Power
to the people. The people spoke in the 60s. They are speaking now.
It’s not the same people
and the same ideas. But it’s still power to the people.
In the 1960s, the
“establishment” thought “we” were wrong. They’ve come around. And now,
they’re the outliers. Again.
M&A Watch:
--The hillbilly bank of
BB&T and the other hillbilly bank, Suntrust, have completed their so-called
merger of equals. This space has predicted failure since the deal was
announced. Now, as further evidence
comes the combined bank’s new name, “Truist,” completely moronic despite its
near-gargantuan size but judging by the completely moronic name, a failure
waiting to happen.
--Let’s look at some
other “mergers of equals.” Best example: Daimler Chrysler which ended in
disaster for both companies. Then there’s Chemical-Chase. The smaller
partner, Chase, won that one because it had a better known name but survives
because the seriously overpaid CEO Jaimie Dimon is a genius with an edge and no
one remembers Chemical which actually was a good and temperate junior
partner had the assets to make it work.
I’m Wes Richards. My
opinions are my own but you’re welcome to them. ®
Comments? Here’s where
to send them: wesrichards@gmail.com
© WJR 2019
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