The Future Explained in Data for My 10 Year Old Daughter

My daughter asked me the following question today: (while I was mulling over the current taxes, muttering about responsible spending): "why do we pay taxes? And “why do they always want to raise them”?

I have a very strict policy with myself (never say I don't know and walk away) If I don't know, I admit it immediately and the research ensues TOGETHER so we BOTH learn something new.... Let the dialogue begin and research light up the atmosphere! "Ah another puzzle to solve" says my daughter. I wink and say, “Are you ready Detective Daughter"? Her reply "Let it ROCK"!

After both of us scouring the Internet and Wikipedia: I mulled over the data in my mind.... I told her, “I need a little quiet time to try to digest my pencil scribbles on my scratch piece of paper”...She said, "Mommy take a deep breath you are getting those lines between your eyebrows...relax".

An analogy of a Praying Mantis from PIMCO's William H. Gross really hit a disturbing cord in my being:

We are all, more than likely, doomed to be mantis-like – some of us eating, some of us being eaten, but none quite aware as to why we are at the dinner table in the first place.

Americans, unlike their developed world counterparts, have been eating their fill lately, and supping at a dinner table laden with pork and tax breaks for all. Unequivocally, we have been playing the part of the female mantis, munching on the theoretical heads of future generations, while paying no mind to the wretches that will eventually be called upon to pay the bills.

~William H. Gross

Little did I know how much our "puzzle solving expedition would upset me"....

I tried to hide my extreme displeasure at the "Reality" of her future (and mine for that matter) I wanted her to draw her own conclusion from the data. So I began by explaining to her, “there are "good taxes" and "bad taxes".... “Good taxes are Police, Education, Hospitals, Veterans Benefits and things that provide for the future that make us grow”.

Then she asked how much we spend on "good taxes" vs. "bad taxes"?

I said, “The United States Government spends in her name (yes hers!) (And also per capita, all those other nameless taxpayers):

You Pay: $3,000.00 per person per year on the Defense Budget

In comparison to the:

Paying $450.00 for her teachers and education. (What is wrong with this picture Jeeze a WHOPPING $450 per person to educate people? Argh, I didn’t say it but I wanted too)

That got me a serious look, the serious look of a 10 year old girl... a crinkle of the left eye and a tilt of the head....

“So I pay $3,000 a year to kill people?”

And $450.00 to educate me?"

I couldn't contain my complete disdain at this point any longer...but I maintained my calm non-inflected voice and said:

"Oh it gets much better Sweetie"....

The United States Government has taken out an "invisible credit card" in your name and decided that they would charge $48,000.00 to that "invisible credit card". So not only do you have to pay off the $48,000.00 BUT in addition to the principal you have to pay another $800.00 in interest on a yearly basis and it's going up as we speak.

You also pay $2,500.00 per year to pay for the retirement pension for those people in the government who got you that "invisible credit card"...

I tried to turn the discussion around to the positive side (but as one of my friends says: "you can put lipstick on a pig...but it's still a pig)...(Thanks SK)


"So Sweetie: lets focus on the good taxes"...

You pay: $2,800 so that your grandma and mother can get cheap health care. Although cheap doesn’t necessarily mean good.


You pay: $330.00 for transportation and roads.

You pay: $183.00 for courts.

(This one killed me!!!! Of which I will go into a full-blown rant next post!!! Remind me)

You pay: $50.00 for Basic research...(Will someone please define what "basic research" is exactly?)

She will also pay about $60.00 on something called "farm income stabilization"...."But Mom what's that"? She says. I state: (we will have to do some more detective work but I think) "that's when they pay "Federal Crop Insurance" and into something called the "Credit Commodity Fund".

I try to reassure her with: "Honey, Don't worry about the small things". (Although they do all add up)...."It's kind of like your brother pick pocketing you versus him taking your debit card and stealing all your allowance and savings".... Focus on the BIG things. Remember what I always quote.... she says, "Yes, I know.... Mom...Sun Tzu: Choose your wars wisely".

Back to the "good things" taxes go toward: You pay: $1,500.00 for welfare on your behalf...

You pay: $611.00 for something called "social exclusions". "What's the heck is that Mom?"

(My head is going to explode.....)

"Eeeeeekkk! I don't know...we will have to research that"...


She states the obvious: "So we spend $611.00 for something we don't even know what it is? And $450.00 for education and $50.00 for BASIC RESEARCH?!!!"


“So by the time you start working you will be paying 2,500 in interest per year and who knows what your entitlements will be?”...

“What the HECK!”!!!!!


She pauses then says, “So let me get this straight: If I asked congress how to spend my allowance and savings : they would say from your allowance: We will give a 1/3 to your brother to buy air soft guns to shoot people, give us another 1/3 to pay for “their” retirement and another 1/3 for health care “? I say, “Yes, but don’t forget to add an extra 1/3 for paying interest to whichever country we owe the interest and debt”? “Mommy that’s 4/3'rds”... “Yes, I know dear...They expect you to borrow an extra 1/3... Congressmen like to spend 4/3. You just borrow it.”...

WAKE UP AMERICA! Stop being the “Headless Praying Mantis”

For our children’s sake!

Pretty Little Boxes: Why Open Source Labs @ OSU Will Not ONLY Succeed But Thrive In Portland, OR

The winning inspiration from my 9yr old.

As I was sitting mulling over all of the potential titles for this blog, as so many "labels" come to mind:

Here are a few of the non winning titles:

1. Cultural Disconnect: Government in Action (reminded me too much of what Habermas would have written about in the "public sphere" way too mind numbing)
2. Trained to Fail
3. Why Wilbur & Orville Wright were able to succeed where others failed.
4. And my personal favorite:  Tales from the Island of Misfit Toys : AKA: Portland

I'm going to stop procrastinating now and get on with it.  I have had so many thoughts about what I was exposed to it has overwhelmed my synapses and made the squirrels in my head wind the yarn into a big fat ball of permutations and combinations.  I hope at least they are using a nice soft angora multicolored yarn with hues of periwinkle, blues, yellows and deep lavender :D

Enter the thought of all of the check boxes you need to be able to check to be accepted in the real world.  Whether that be for school (yes, Billy was able to identify the shape as a hexagon....CHECK..Does Susie have the ability to color with the "appropriate colors" when given the picture of the elephant.  NO!  She colored the elephant with purple and pink dots with blue tusks ....and OH SO UN CHECK!), for a job, (to even have your resume put into consideration with the 5 billion others applying for a job), e-harmony for a potential mate, or when voting someone into office....CHECK the appropriate Box.

 So here we all are Generation X, Y, Z etc.  realizing the jobs of yesteryear IE the ones where you worked for 25 years and were delighted to be a well paid factory worker at Singer Sewing Machine Co. or some other large factory with your pension about to be paid. You are ready to get the RV started up for you and your high school sweetheart so you can finally start living the good life and throw care to the wind....and then ooops!  Singer goes bankrupt, your pension disappears and your American Dream becomes Foreclosed.  You now have a Government Pension Guarantee taking it's place and your upper limit wasn't exactly(far from it in some cases) the amount you had paid into the pension and expected for "the golden years" when living begins .....

Reality strikes!  The benefit of the Generation "whichever letter you wish to identify yourself with, insert here X" is that the majority of us know that we are not guaranteed ANYTHING in job security, social security, any kind of "urity".  It is now the norm no matter what industry you are in to switch jobs every 18 months or so...

UNLESS!!!! Eureka!!!

You do what your (depression era) parent's tell you to do:  Find a nice safe job, one with benefits, a pension etc..

Enter the LAST BASTION of job security.... A job with the Government. (I am not meaning to generalize here as I know a ton of really cool forward thinking people who are public servants)

However, when sitting in Portland with the "Open Government Standards" group the NUMBER ONE hurdle to adoption was without a shadow of a doubt:  Cultural Change.  I don't get it!  How could you NOT want to change something SO BROKEN!  It is absolutely obvious that I have no qualms about challenging the public norm by any means.  As I always say, I am data driven.  So my squirrels start spinning...trying to put the puzzle pieces into place, where is the logic in this mess?  It does not compute <<<Said like a machine>>> .

Then the patterns began to emerge.  What do we know data wise about the demographics?

• You have a majority of public servants who are close or at retirement age.
• They are the majority of upper and middle management.
• They have lived by the codes, regulations that have been an institution for their entire gov lives.
• Their world has not had to change much in their tenure.  
• They have learned to use PC's but don't really see them as tools because they still have to fill things out in triplicate.  
• We have another "new greater, faster, prettier" application that someone has developed....But they forgot to do a business case and actually talk to the Users About What they ACTUALLY NEED! (That will be another blog in entirety) So it sucks and is much easier just to fill in the paperwork, get it signed up the routing list, fax it, scan it, put it in some file share where it will get lost with 50 other versions of the same variation of document...then file the paper copies in a big white binder and stash it in one of the gazillion filing cabinets where it will proceed to sit for time and all eternity.  But it's certainly much more simple than using this POORLY designed software....Now which one of the 50 gov websites do I need to go to in order to get training for hours on end on this software that really sucks.  How do I get my day job done when I am constantly having to certify, do paper work...MAN all I want to do is...RETIRE!
• The supervisor above them does NOT want to change either.  Embracing difference is not our way!  We need to make sure you dot your i's and CHECK THE PRETTY LITTLE BOXES!!!!!!!!

ENTER HOPE!  I went to Open Standards West with absolutely NO expectations.  I entered the Government Open Source Conference with the same....No expectations.  I really didn't want to listen to a bunch of people pontificating anymore about how they plan on changing government....I want ACTION!  Well hell, I've been looking for it for a long darn time now and I got smacked upside the head with people ACTUALLY DOING something...Not just talking about it!  Wow! Deep breath.

I also have to admit, I had no idea who any of the other presenters, speakers etc.  were.  I wanted to enter into it with a completely blank slate.  Well I did....and what I found was an amazing cross section of individuals who may or may NOT fit and check into Pretty Little Boxes.  But they all want to do something to help our cities, states and governments locally and around the world embrace something that is a strategic game changing adaptation to reduce costs, spillages, over budget, over time....Transparency, Teamwork, Empower the people to Participate!

Why was Portland absolutely perfect for this event?  People in Portland are well....different.  It is not only ok to be different but it is embraced whole heartedly.  As I always tell anyone that works for/with me:  I don't care if you are a one eyed, purple tattooed, alien from mars that works the best between the hours of 0130am and 0700am.  Ok so you may or may NOT have had the option of going to college but given that kids now days have grow up with a computer.....If you want to wear clothing that would be preferable since we do have to meet health codes....If you want to bring your dog fido or your iguana max to work as long as they play well with others and you do too I don't mind at all if it makes you happy to be at work or doing work.  My main concern is:

"WHAT CAN YOU PRODUCE"?  Show me what you can do and I will plow the road for you and your iguana.....and maybe give you a ride to your tattoo parlor on the back of my bike.




I'm exhausted now and have a conference call at 0815 tomorrow.  Have to polish up 3 presentations....

But I wanted to thank all of the amazing people who I met in Portland.  You gave me HOPE!