Danielle Levy

Why shouldn’t Ann Romney own horses, ride them and enjoy them. Like people of her economic status she can afford them and has the right to choose how to spend her money. For that matter why can’t presidential candidates have money. John Kerry, John McCain, George Bush all had access to wealth. Those are not the issues in my view. What makes me think twice about the Romney wealth is attitude. If they acknowledged the privileges their wealth gives them all the while remembering those who don’t, or can’t, have them, I, along with many, would feel differently. If Ann Romney were to say, I was lucky to be able to have horses to help me deal with my MS, and I wish more MS sufferers could have such access, we would understand. If she acknowledged that there are other ways for MS sufferers to engage in strengthening their muscles, hiking for example, and that she was fortunate to find a sport like dressage that she enjoys so much, we would think, oh this lady has an understanding mind. Instead she says things like she did recently reminding the person who was interviewing her that she and her family have the right to live their lives. We are then left wondering in what other ways she would have a me versus them attitude.

The threats to our cybersecutity are real, nuclear power plants, water systems, communication grids could all be under attack with widespread consequences. Yet a cybersecurity bill died in the senate. The NYT headlines said it was due to the weight of partisan bickering, but the body of the article also pointed to other problems. The bill was rewritten to reflect the concerns of opposition from industry groups and their political allies mainly in relation to the issues of balancing civil liberties and national security. It was originally intended to allow the government to enforce minimum standards for the computer systems which are behind critical infrastructure grids. Industry opposition, however, forced the backers of the bill to make it voluntary. The result was a measure that only allowed private companies and government agencies to share information about cybersecurity threats. In response to fears from civil libertarians, the administration had made sure to let the Department of Homeland Security be the agency in charge rather than the National Security Agency. In addition the administration expanded much political energy trying to get the bill through the senate, and dozens of amendments were attached. Still it failed to get the necessary votes. One wonders whether after being watered down and having so many amendments, the bill’s failure may not be warranted. Nevertheless, the whole thing depicts a government that is sufficiently dysfunctional, it is unable to ensure the welfare of its citizens when it should.

Call me naïve, call me ignorant, but here is what I think of Facebook’s economic woes. You may or may not know that investors are edgy or dissatisfied or disappointed or fearful that the company has either lost them money or not made them what they were looking for. When Facebook went public recently at a phenomenal opening price it was based on the fact that given its popularity and the number of people who use it, the users were in some way an untapped source of revenue. Facebook executives still believe that, one said this week the underlying issue is due to the fact they have to work further on their monetization. A columnist wrote of their problems, that they are having an identity crisis thinking they can offer a free service, when in fact they can’t. I’d rather think that the identity crisis stems from trying to turn an orange into an apple. Facebook’s success rose from its being a social media and it does look that if that erodes so does its success. They can have ads, and yet past a certain point people will more than likely be turned off if there are too many and not use Facebook, which apparently in some cases is already happening with the very mobile apps the executives are betting on. No matter how I think of Facebook and its sagging financial fortune, it seems to me that here is a case where a lot of grown ups can still participate in mass illusion and that greed can trump common sense, knowledge and experience.