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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: tejek who wrote (123111)	8/28/2000 5:40:52 AM
From: Amy J	Respond to of 1570590

RE: "Its funny; the intent of my post was not to fault the Republicans....but to point out that inappropriate thinking on the part of so-called normal people has led to some unpleasant consequences twenty years hence. Unfortunately the responses to my post were mostly political, the real problem all but ignored." ------ Hi Tejek, I am an equal opportunity fault finder - i.e. if either Party goofs, then I'll call them on it, regardless of the Party. However, I think you may have been trying to say: someone in the organization goofed due to inappropriate thinking. However, it actually goes beyond inappropriate thinking. The issue isn't about inappropriate decision due to either incomplete data or inappropriate thinking. They had the economic data and the people involved were intelligent enough to think appropriately. So what went wrong? The underlying issue was politics. The decision was politically based (this was obvious since the economics of the decision didn't make enough sense). Please let me give you some idea as to how the seeds of economic decisions are made: Basically, when a new Administration (i.e. Pres & VP) gets voted into Office, the upper-level or high-profile Economists tend to be replaced to exactly match the Party that is in office. This is done, so that the executives are essentially marching in the same direction. This is one of the reasons why the US can efficiently and effectively initiate things and quickly move them through without too much discord, unlike some other governments that are caught in gridlock due to conflicting Party lines within the organization. [ This is one reason why some argue that it is useful to have the power alternate between the Parties, in order to create a balancing affect to ensure both Party line issues are eventually examined by Economists over several Presidential terms. ] However, this efficiency that is created by consistency within the organization, does have its downside: a problem is created when an economic report shows that an action isn't necessarily needed, yet not taking this particular action would be inconsistent with the Party's line. So, I would have to conclude that some (not all) decisions and actions are politically motivated. Grey areas tend to be initiated according to the Party line, even if the Economic reports (which are the seeds for action or no action) show that the gains are marginal. RE: " They never are and unfortunately there is always someone who pays for this stupid thinking. In the end we will have saved nothing." I agree, and this (long-term foolish thinking) also happens since limited terms tend to create a short-term performance metric. Or, the short-term situation may be so dire, that the long-term has to be sacrificed. RE: "In a weird way this episode reminds me of what happened with the Russian sub." Not weird at all. I was thinking exactly the same thing. Why dilly dally? Either decide to do it, and do it in a major way; or don't do it at all. The middle doesn't make sense. Decisiveness is generally more impactful. I find it ironic that the economic costs of entering on day one vs. day five, are probably similar. However, I haven't followed the news on this, and I had heard there were logistics (a storm) preventing them from entering immediately. (Even so, why was the query for assistance delayed?) RE: "I suspect the legislators who voted to cutback on the funding for the disabled and mentally retarded did not realize what the impact would be on our cities" I would tend to believe the Economic reports project the total picture, including future impact on cities. However, I would tend to think certain assumptions could be Party line specific. For example, if the government decided to do a report on the relationship between day care services and employment while Sr. Bush was in Office, possibly one of the Party line assumptions may have been (quoting Sr. Bush) "women should be at home." Of course, this assumption could drastically change the output of a report. Another way to say this is, if garbage goes in, then garbage comes out, regardless of the accuracy and sophistication of the tools and economic modeling used. RE: "I am curious...did you see that film?" I didn't and I tend to avoid these types of movies (unless they are realistic depictions) because it can be painful to see Hollywood misrepresent or minimize the mentally retarded, especially when they tend to ignore the challenges the mentally retarded have to go through every day, as if it were easy. Maybe this movie isn't like that though. If it's not, then I'd give it a try. RE: "In the meatime he is a valuable, functioning member of the community.....and he is the one of the most helpful of the baggers" I hear you. I bet he's very nice. RE: "However she is lucky to have a family and siblings that do not try to run from her, or try to hide her away....very fortunate indeed." She called me exactly 25 times this weekend, so it would be hard to run away from her : ) On a serious note, I can't imagine folks who abandon their loved ones. I am of the impression that the previous generation of Kennedy's did this with their Aunt who was mentally retarded (but maybe I don't have the full story). My sister went to the same school that she was at, at the same time. I was stunned/shocked they put their Aunt in a school that was so far away from home, so I asked my sister if the Kennedy's ever visited their Aunt and she said they don't seem to. I couldn't imagine my sister not being a part of our life. She's a very warm person and she always has time to talk with you. Thanks for your post, Amy J