The Late Gerald Ford's Home: Golf Course Central

Reading that Ford was actually quite a talented athlete (he could probably wrestle Don Rumsfeld to the ground) and not the stumbler Chevy Chase physically manifested as metaphor for the "accidental President" (and, for a few well-broadcast trips and stumbles), I became curious about his golfing habit. I looked up where he lived: Rancho Mirage, CA . It seems there are some golf clubs there. Isolated as it is, in the desert, I tried to make a list of all the golf clubs/country clubs which appear within about 15 miles:

1. Escena Golf Club
   
2. Desert Princess Country Club
   
3. Cimarron Golf Reseort
   
4. Mesquite golf and country Club
   
5. Canyon Country Club
   
6. Indian Canyons Golf Resort
   
7. Tahquitz Creek Golf Resort
   
8. Mission Hills-Gary Player Course
   
9. Mission Hills Country Club
   
10. Mission Hills-Pete Dye Golf Course
    
11. Cathedral Canyon Golf and Tennis Club
    
12. Tamarisk Country Club
    
13. Morningside Country Club
    
14. Springs Country Club
    
15. Thunderbird Country Club
    
16. Tri-Palm Estates Country Club
    
17. Ivey Ranch Country Club
    
18. Classic Club
    
19. Marriott Shadow Ride Resort
    
20. Rancho Mirage Country Club
    
21. Sunrise Country Club
    
22. Rancho Las Palmas Country Club
    
23. Palm Dessert Greens Country Club
    
24. Desert Willow Golf Resort
    
25. Emerald Desert Golf and RV Resort
    
26. Monterey country Club
    
27. Portola Country Club
    
28. Lakes Country Club
    
29. Oasis Country Club
    
30. Palm Desert Resort Country Club
    
31. Mountain Vista Golf club
    
32. Shadow Mountain Golf Club
    
33. Marrakesh Country Club
    
34. Desert Horizons Country Club
    
35. Vintage Club
    
36. Eldorado Country Club
    
37. Golf Resort at Indian Wells
    
38. Indian Wells Country Club
    
39. Bermuda Dunes Country Club
    
40. Heritage Palms Golf Club
    
41. Indian Springs Golf and Country Club
    
42. Bighorn Golf Club
    
43. Ironwood Country Club
    
44. Reserve Golf Club
    
45. La Quinta Country Club
    
46. Rancho La Quinta Country Club
    
47. La Quinta Resort and Club
    
48. Tradition Golf Club
    
49. Hideaway Golf Club
    
50. Indio Municipal Golf Course
    
51. Golf Club at Terra Lago
    
52. Palms Golf Club
    
53. Trilogy Golf Club at La Quinta
    

That seems to be it. Now, just so's you know I'm not some barefoot yokel, I'm aware that "country club" doesn't necessarily imply a separate golf course. Even so, there's a bazillion golf courses there! Okay, sure, we probably shouldn't count the Ivey Ranch Country Club and the Classic Club, since those are east of I10, and god knows what kind of people are playing golf out there. I don't even want to know who came up with the brilliant "Plantation Club" -- I mean, why not go the whole nine yards and call it "Third Reich's Plantation Club", just to put everyone on notice?

Even so, takes your breath away.

Oh, it's in the middle of a desert. Did I mention that?

Who gives a flying fig about the middle class?

You may recall back when I blogged about "The Winner Take All Society", reviewed in the NYTimes "Class Matters" series in 2005, I pointed out that history seems to be telling us it is time to be rich, and not middle class. My reason: the cold war is over, so, thanks workers for all your hard work in defeating socialism, and now the very wealthy can go back to accumulating wealth, at your expense.

Well, it comes up again in the NYTimes
year in ideas as The New Inequality. It seems that even the average college graduate (Bachelor's degree) are barely seeing their earnings increase against inflation. So, college-boy? You've got a 50/50 chance of being on the losing economic divide. And, this year, two economists showed that the very 0.1 percent increased their pre-tax income to 6.8% of the total income, up from 4.7 percent 10 years ago, and from 2 percent in the 60s and 70s.

The reason, I repeat, is that there is no longer any idealogical constraint against becoming an old-fashioned robber-baron. Between 1920 and 1990, the Soviets would have scored political points with those governments we competed for, if our very wealthy were as wealthy as they are now. And, the average Bachelor's degree holder (average!) would have looked at the very wealthy, and said -- why am I working my ass off so that this joker can have a 9th zero after his income? And that joker can now think to himself, as he demands that 10th zero from the board that will give it to him, "if the workers don't like it, they can go to Cuba!"

This will not change until people look at their losing wages, and realize that they have no recourse but to band together -- either politically or socially -- to shame or produce enough fear in those who vote themselves the 10th zero, that they decide it's time for that increase in salary.

Really, what else changes the distribution in wealth?

Oh, no, I don't believe that a person can do $100,000,000,000 worth of work in a lifetime. I do believe they are benefiting from our legal structure, infrastructure, government, and workforce. Time to reprogressivize the income tax; and keep that inheritance tax in place.

Why George Bush Will Leave the Presidency

Here's the fundamental conflict:

1. The Iraq Study Group report makes clear that the Republican Establishment (personified as James Baker) will not permit George Bush to keep the Iraq war going through the 2008 elections. Either Iraq must be irrelevant by then, or someone who will make Iraq irrelevant by then must come forward to do it for George.
   
2. George Bush will not permit himself to become a President who lost a war. However, that is exactly what he must do, and before November 2007, if he is to make Iraq irrelevant by November 2008.
   

There you have it. The GOPer's solution? Bush leaves, and Cheney -- in "Nixon/China" redux, takes the office with the specific purpose of pulling out. Timeline? To effect a pull-out by end of 2007, Bush must telegraph his intentions to do so by April-May 2007. If he does not do so, look for the new "oversight" of Congress to take a strong bi-partisan tone. The Democrats will not mount impeachment alone -- they do not want the blame for an American government in disarray, after only just gaining back the Congress. So, the GOP will have to take a strong leadership role. Complicating this is the Presidential aspirations of congressional leaders: you can't impeach a president, and then run for President. So, the leaders (McCain, Clinton, et al) cannot take a public role.