Legislative Sausage - Do you really want to know?

I don't know that the Buffalo News intended to do this, but they made an interesting choice of front page articles on Wednesday. (Yes, I know about all the other stuff that's been going on. This just struck me as being … something.)

Article #1: “Behind the scenes: How Albany really works.” An article on how NYS will have a new smoke detector law go into effect in January of 2017. All smoke alarms will have to have tamper proof batteries (basically, they can not be removed) that last for ten years. Sounds reasonable. After all, who remembers to change the batteries when they are supposed to and all those annoying “false” alarms – cigarettes, heat from cooking, steam, and other things that can trip the alarm. And then there are those annoying”chirps” that tell you that the battery is low. So what does any reasonable person do? Take out the battery and forget to replace it.

On the surface, a decent law, right? Not according to the battery manufacturers. (Duracell™, EverReady™, et al.) The battery technology isn't there yet and that would cut down on the profits from selling the batteries that nobody seems to remember to put in their smoke alarms.

And then there is NYC which already has a similar law on the books. What about them?

Remember that many new houses have the smoke detectors wired into the electrical system (driving up the electric bill), where the battery is a back up.

And then the cost of those things – along the lines of $25 each.

So deals were cut and the law has a full year to wait before going into effect. With special notes for certain circumstances.

Article #2: Or, was the Page Editor thinking when they put this here? Or were they tired and just wanted to go home or get on vacation.

“'Industry' helps rich avoid taxes.”

Yep. One article on how laws are made in Albany & the other on the same thing in Washington DC.

One deals with something that could make the country safer and the other is about how the rich are driving us into bankruptcy by writing the policies that enable them to avoid paying taxes. This goes for both supporters of the Republicans as well as the Democrats. (Any real socialist will tell you that they are two sides of the same coin.) Under President Bill Clinton the tax rate on the top earners was along the lines of 27%. Now it is down to 17%. And they want to drive it down lower.

The article makes a great point – The rich don't necessarily buy politicians. They buy policy. They give their money to people and organizations that work to write the policies that they want and then look to lobbyists to get that policy put into place.

The rich have come up with all sorts of ways to keep the wealth that the workers have made possible. Charitable trusts, off shore accounts, and a whole host of other tricks that they use to keep the tax man away from the money that they claim is theirs.

And what are they going to do when the people get sick of their tricks and put an end to it?

The day is coming. Like a spectre. Haunting.

Otherwise, it's like sausage. They really don't want you to know how it is made.

They just want you to eat it.

I'll pass.

And I'll welcome the spectre.