This Is Herman Cain 8

I finished This Is Herman Cain.  On page 216, Cain expresses fear that China could surpass America economically and militarily.  Maybe that's something to watch.  Perhaps that's even a reason for military preparedness on the part of the United States.  At the same time, I doubt that China would want to hurt us, since we are its customer.

Overall, I enjoyed this book, especially as Cain talked about his family and his business experiences, and how he overcame obstacles.  I could have done without the bravado in the book, however.

This Is Herman Cain 7: Health Care

For my write-up today on This Is Herman Cain, my focus will be on health care.  In my latest reading, Herman Cain made some of the same points that he made earlier in the book about this topic.  I'd like to quote a passage from earlier in the book because I think that it's clearer, plus it raises points that I'd like to address.

On page 179, Cain says the following:

"Looser pay laws would be a great start!  And loosening the restrictions on health care savings accounts would help to empower Americans to save and invest their own money to expand their options for care.  I believe that we need to level the playing field by allowing the deductibility of health insurance premiums, regardless of whether they are purchased by the employer or the employee.  This would shift ownership of one's health care back to where it belongs, with the individual."

I'll also quote what Herman Cain says on page 209: "Right now the employer gets a deduction but the employee doesn't get a deduction----and if you level the playing field such that it doesn't matter who pays for it, you get a tax deduction for your health insurance."

On this blog, I've questioned whether health savings accounts are an adequate solution to health care problems, for there are people whose accounts have been wiped out due to the high cost of health care.  At the same time, I do believe that, if there are things that the federal government (or state governments) is doing that hinder health savings accounts or discourage the individual purchase of health insurance, then the government should stop doing those things.  (But I am open to correction on this, for I do not know what the rationale for those laws is at the outset.)  But that should be part of a broader package of comprehensive health care reform.

Overall, I'm open to ideas that conservatives (including Cain) have proposed for health care reform: tort reform, allowing competition across state lines, health savings accounts, encouraging the individual purchase of health insurance, etc.  I think that they can make things better and somewhat cheaper, but I'm not sure that they would fully tackle the problem of high health care costs.

This Is Herman Cain 6

I have four items for my write-up today on This Is Herman Cain.

1.  On pages 152-153, Herman Cain says that the 39 percent of Americans who approve of Barack Obama's job as President are not informed voters.  I really did not care for this statement.  For one, a person can be informed about current events and have political positions contrary to those of Herman Cain.  Second, there are similarly people on the Left who say that people on the Right are uninformed, and, in my opinion, such an attitude (on both sides) is arrogant and condescending, and it does not advance political discourse.  And third (to somewhat contradict my second point), Herman Cain should be able to articulate a coherent understanding of Libya before he accuses anyone of being uninformed (although Cain probably knows much more than I do about a variety of issues).

2.  I enjoyed what Herman Cain said about the Ron Paulites who disrupt his appearances.  On page 154, he says: "I get the same stupid question [about auditing the Federal Reserve from Ron Paulites] at almost every one of these events.  How can a person randomly show up at a hundred events and ask the same stupid question to try to nail me on the Federal Reserve?  It's really becoming annoying more than anything else."  Lol!

3.  Chapter 12 is entitled "The Cain Administration: The First Ninety Days".  Cain says that he won't have too many A-list celebrities at "state dinners and other important occasions" but rather will eat with average Americans.  Populist, Andrew Jackson style.  I like that!

4.  On page 172, Cain proposes eliminating the capital gains tax:

"To provide increased access to capital and incentivize companies to invest in worker training programs, new equipment, and emerging technologies, we must eliminate taxes on capital gains and their dividends.  The capital gains tax represents a wall between people with money and people with ideas.  And people with ideas are the catalyst for new businesses and new job growth.  This is particularly true in the very important technology sector, where experience shows that new technology investments are the largest beneficiaries of reductions in capital gains taxes."

I'll probably demonstrate that (on some level) I am the sort of uninformed voter whom Herman Cain criticizes (see Item 1), but I do not entirely understand what Cain is saying about capital gains.  This article says that the capital gains tax is on "any money we make from the sale of stocks, real estate and other capital assets."  This wikipedia article says capital is what is used to produce goods and services.  Is Cain's idea that a person will be more encouraged to sell stocks, real estate, and capital if he did not have to pay the capital gains tax on the money he makes from selling them?  Then, the buyers create jobs as they use the capital they have bought? Are "the people with money" the buyers of the capital, whereas "the people with ideas" are the ones developing and selling the capital----which means that eliminating the capital gains tax will encourage them to develop the capital because they'd make a larger profit off of selling it?

This Is Herman Cain 5

In my latest reading of This Is Herman Cain, Herman Cain presents his perspectives on a variety of issues.  Cain criticized President Barack Obama's call for Israel to return to her pre-1967 borders, which (I think) was Israel's borders before she got the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.  From this article, I gather that President Obama's idea is that the West Bank would be used for a Palestinian state, although Obama also believes that Jewish settlement in the West Bank should be taken into account when determining where the borders should be.

Cain's argument is that Obama's idea would imperil Israel and "enable Israel's enemies to lob weapons at them, as they did from Lebanon several years ago" (page 132).  Cain also contends that it would embolden Israel's enemies and "destabilize the whole region" (page 131).  Moreover, according to Cain, we cannot afford to allow our relationship with Israel to erode by alienating her, for we may need Israel if we were to be involved in a Middle Eastern conflict (since "we would need its assistance militarily, in terms of being a conduit for supplies, fuel, and other combat-related resources"), plus we'd be sending a message that we don't support our friends.

But doesn't supporting Israel at the expense of the Palestinians alienate Arab countries that provide us with oil?  Well, Herman Cain says that we should be energy-independent, so that takes care of that.  Still, don't we need Arab support for some of our Middle Eastern conflicts?  In Operation Desert Storm, we had some Arab countries on our side.

I'm not taking a firm stand on Middle Eastern policy, for I'm sure that I have much to learn about the situation.  I will say, though, that evangelical Zionism tends to upset me, for it presumes that God takes sides in this whole conflict.  Herman Cain does not go that route, however, for he presents secular arguments for supporting Israel.

This Is Herman Cain 4

In my latest reading of This Is Herman Cain, Herman Cain talks about his experience with cancer and the birth of his granddaughter (who, Cain joked, was waiting for him to arrive at the hospital before she was born).

Regarding his experience with cancer, it's interesting how Cain looked for divine signs that God was with him and that everything would be okay.  For example, when a worker at a health center told Herman and his wife Gloria that her name was Grace, Herman and Gloria saw that as a sign.  When a surgeon told Herman that he'd make an incision that looked like a "J", Cain thought about "J" being for "Jesus".  Herman says that "when you are in the 'Word,' you can listen and hear when God is speaking to you" (page 96).  When Herman mentions on page 96 that he became cancer-free, he asks, "Did it have something to do with the Lord wanting me to survive so that I might help set this great nation of ours on its own path of recovery?"

But Herman also had human help.  He could be admitted to a cancer center, for example, because he was friends with T. Boone Pickens.  (Now that's a name I forgot.  Remember the oilman who was promoting alternative energy on TV commercials?)  Cain also had the support of his wife.  When Cain said that his faith was being tested, his wife corrected him by saying that her faith was being tested, too.  And nature helped out.  For example, part of Cain's liver was removed due to cancer, but Cain was pleased (and surprised) to learn that "the liver regenerates itself in about three months to 80 percent of original size" (page 99).

It's interesting that a sophisticated, savvy businessman like Herman Cain could have a faith in God that trusts in everything to turn out all right, especially since there are plenty of people in the world who say that such faith is a sign of naievity and immaturity, and that faith is not applicable to the harsh realities of the real world.  While Herman trusts in God, however, he also evaluates situations and takes action, and so he apparently does not deem faith to be an excuse to sit back and do nothing.  At the same time, due to his connections and his wealth, there were options that were available to him that probably are not available to some who struggle with cancer, and I find that to be problematic.  I think that God supports a just society that benefits and respects the life of all people, not just those with money and connections.

Another point: Now that Cain is out of the Presidential race, I wonder if he looks back at his experience with cancer differently?  Does he still believe that God preserved his life so that he could set America straight?  And does he believe that God was present with him even when women were making accusations against him during his race for President----that even that was part of God's plan?

This Is Herman Cain 3

In my latest reading of This Is Herman Cain, Herman Cain talked about how he saved Godfather's Pizza from bankruptcy as President of Godfather's (essentially, he highlighted to the public what Godfather's was known for----it's quality----rather than trying to be like Domino's, which was known more for its delivery), how he and a friend bought Godfather's from Pillsbury (with the help of loans), and how Herman Cain challenged President Bill Clinton in a forum about Clinton's health care plan and the cost that Cain felt it would impose on restaurant owners.

What I want to highlight in this post, though, is Cain's discussion of the Federal Reserve.  Cain is unapologetic about the fact that he worked for the Federal Reserve, and he does not agree with the Republican Presidential candidates who want to abolish it (though he says that he does not care if it's audited).  Cain supports the Federal Reserve because he believes that it regulates the money supply, and he does not think that the money supply in the U.S. and the world would self-regulate without the Federal Reserve.  At the same time, Cain believes that the Federal Reserve should be reformed because it over-extends itself----as (for example) it seeks to manage unemployment.  Cain states on page 84 that "you cannot manage unemployment, price stability, and our currency with one arrow, and they had multiple targets but only one arrow."

I can't say that I entirely understand Cain's argument, but he does appear to challenge an idea that is promulgated by such figures as Ron Paul: that the Federal Reserve causes inflation by printing a lot of money, and that the money supply will be restricted (and thus inflation will be low) without the Federal Reserve (or so I understand Paul's position).  Cain's point seems to be that the Federal Reserve controls the money supply, and that all bets are off were it not to exist.  Ron Paul probably believes that other things are necessary to control inflation besides the Federal Reserve, such as the gold standard.  I'll be reading his book, End the Fed, sometime in the future, so that will provide me with more of an opportunity to learn about his perspective.

This Is Herman Cain 2

In my latest reading of This Is Herman Cain, Herman Cain talks about meeting the woman who would become his wife (he says that she didn't think he was all that cool at first), his education, and his various jobs.

I was interested in Herman Cain's perspective on such issues as racism, civil rights, and discrimination.  Cain acknowledges that he was the beneficiary of the civil rights movement, for it made more employment opportunities available to him.  He also talks about discrimination that he faced on one occasion in the workplace, as others were being promoted whereas he was not.  But he says that he overcame that discrimination when he talked to his boss, learned that he needed to get a master's degree, and went for it even though his boss didn't think he'd be successful.  I'm not sure if that technically counts as "discrimination", however, since the boss's problem did not (at least on the surface) appear to be Herman Cain's race, but rather his need for further qualifications.  But Herman refers to it as an example of how he overcame a barrier.  On the issue of being denied opportunities, I liked what Herman Cain said on page 35 about how he was denied admission to the University of Georgia because it "chose to keep enrollment of black students to a minimum", and yet Herman's daughter Melanie years later attended and graduated from the University of Georgia.  Herman says, "I suspect her decision [to attend the University of Georgia] had something to do with an option I had not enjoyed."

I enjoyed Herman Cain's stories about working at Burger King.  Herman went to Burger King's after being a vice-president at Pillsbury's because he wanted a challenge.  And, as a Burger King boss, he had to deal with challenges.  First, on one occasion, when a Burger King worker accidentally disrupted a piece of the equipment during a busy lunch hour, and hamburger patties were coming out undercooked or not cooked at all, Herman Cain had to think fast, especially with the long lines.  Herman had the workers fix a bunch of chicken and fish sandwiches, and he told people lining up for the drive-through about the problem.  Herman narrates on page 55 that "By the time the broiler was up and running, we had sold out of the chicken and fish sandwiches."

Second, Herman was told that he had to increase sales and profits, yet he had no control over prices or items on the menu.  So how would he increase sales and profits?  Herman did so by having the workers at the counter look each customer in the eye and smile.  Herman also says on page 58: "The reason I did so well in running Burger King's Philadelphia region is that I treated people like people and the culture at Burger King was intimidation, fear, and screaming, tactics to which I do not subscribe.  I believe in telling people when they're doing something right."

Third, Herman had to deal with resentment from those who feared he would deprive a Burger King veteran of a regional manager position.  Herman was tested and he passed the test, and he became friends with the person testing him.  The reason that this stood out to me was that I thought about how hard it must be to work in an environment where people are trying to undermine you.  Herman's faith in God and his steadfast work ethic got him through, though!

This Is Herman Cain 1

I started Herman Cain's This Is Herman Cain: My Journey to the White House.

I didn't care much for the introduction because it came across to me as pompous chest-thumping on the part of Herman Cain, as Cain portrays his performance in a debate as a dramatic redefinition of campaign history and dogmatically foretells that he will take the oath of office as President in January 2013.  I had to laugh when he said on page 5 that people told him that they were impressed that he didn't pretend to "have all the information----that [he] didn't pretend [to] have a plan for Afghanistan."  Yeah, but it would be nice if a candidate for President at least knew something about Libya or the Right to Return, and did not regurgitate the banal line of "I'll surround myself with the right people and make a decision." 

I loved the first chapter, though, when Herman Cain talked about his family, particularly his father.  His father comes across as a likable, intelligent, hard-working guy.  I particularly liked the story about how Herman's father challenged his sons to a race.  Herman says that he doesn't remember who won, but that "It was just so much fun----my brother and I running as fast as we could and my dad just chugging up the street" (page 19).

I'd like to make a comment on Herman's story and how it relates to his political philosophy.  On page 18, Herman Cain says: "And both of our parents taught us not to think that the government owed us something.  They didn't teach us to be mad at this country.  They would always say to us: 'If you want something, just work hard enough, focus on it, and guess what?  You make it happen!"  That appears to be Herman Cain's philosophy: self-reliance and personal responsibility.  And his advice on looking forward rather than backward, being a CEO of Self, and working to come up with a plan to make your dreams a reality is probably sound.

But, from Herman's story, I read that his father Luther got help from others.  The Cains lived in "the Projects" before they moved into a house.  Luther Cain's boss, R.W. Woodruff of Coca-Cola, generously gave Luther some Coca-Cola stock.  And Woodruff helped other people, as when in 1961 he told the University of Gerogia to admit two African-American students, and he had the clout to do so because "Coca-Cola was probably the largest corporation in Atlanta at that time" (page 16).

This is not to suggest that Luther did not advance through hard work, for, as Herman says on page 15, "Dad worked all three jobs until he could make it off two jobs; then he worked those two jobs until he could make it off of that one job."  But, in my opinion, it should not be considered shameful to receive help from others, including the government.

In my latest reading, on page 25, Cain talks about the Civil Rights movement.  He says that he was too young to be involved in the Freedom Rides and sit-ins, and that he focused on going to school and staying out of trouble, rather than going downtown and engaging in the sit-ins.  Cain says, "Dad always said, 'Stay out of trouble,' and we did."

Lawrence O'Donnell grills Herman Cain about this in his interview here.  Herman says there that he probably would have participated in the sit-ins had he been a college student, but he was a high-school student at the time and his dad didn't want him to be arrested.  O'Donnell then says that Cain was a college student during the Civil Rights movement and sat on the sidelines.

I can't judge Herman Cain over this (as if it's even my place to do so).  Granted, I admire those who put their lives and careers on the line in their fight for equality, but I can understand why there were African-Americans who chose not to do so and focused on going about their everyday business to support themselves and their families.