The Fight Against Gerrymandering

Gerrymandering is the technique of manipulating the boundaries of a voting district in order to achieve a pre-ordained elections outcome.  Those in political power use this technique to maintain their power while still giving the illusion that those governed are choosing them in fair elections. 

Opponents of gerrymandering are fighting it on several fronts.

Maryland--  U.S. House District 6 was found to be gerrymandered in U.S. District Court.  Maryland has been ordered to re-draw its districts in a more appropriate manner.

Colorado--  Voters passed Measure Y.  It creates a commission which must contain representatives of the Democratic, Republican parties, plus must include members who are not affiliated with either party.  The commission will be responsible for drawing voting districts.

Michigan--  Voters passed Measure 18-2, which is similar to the Colorado measure.

Missouri-- Voters passed Amendment One.  It proposes that a demographer make boundaries that are fair to both major parties.

Utah--  It appears that Utah narrowly passed Proposition 4.  It appears that Proposition 4 will create an independent redistricting commission to make recommendations for fair districts.  However, the districts will still be created by the state legislature and governor.

It is amazing that in this area of modern technology measures this complicated must be designed to prevent gerrymandering.  A simple computer program could be written to make all districts of equal population without regards to ethnicity or party affiliation.  I guess that would mean certain groups could not game the system to gain power.  That is why there is resistance to such a movement.   

New York Fed President Williams Worries That Interest Rates and Inflation Are Too Low

John Williams, President of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, stated that he believes that both interest rates and inflation are too low.  It appears that the problem is that if interest rates and inflation are low, the Fed cannot use it's usual trick of lowering interest rates if the economy goes into a downturn.

I don't believe that either are too low.  The Fed target of 2% for inflation is designed to help banks and other corporations with large amounts of capital.  In an inflationary environment, those who receive money first benefit.  In a world with 2% inflation, a person who puts away $10,000 in their 20s has the buying power of less than 1/2 that when they reach retirement.  In as deflationary environment, those who receive money last, like consumers and workers, benefit.  At 2% deflation, a person who puts away $10,000 in their 20s has more than $20,000 of buying power when they retire.  In a perfect world, there would be no inflation.  Deflation is actually normal in a world of industrial or technological innovation.  As less time and resources are needed to create useful items, the price of those items should drop.  Power, not a perfect world is the goal of the Federal Reserve.

It is difficult to tell whether interest rates are too low or too high.  There is no market mechanism to determine interest rates.  They are for the most part artificially determine by the Fed. Williams are worried that they are too low because they do not give him and his colleagues enough room to tinker with the economy.

In the words of Thomas Jefferson--

If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency,first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks... will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered... The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs."

It appears that Jefferson foresaw the homeless problem 200 years ago.  The US government created the Federal Reserve anyway and it has been asserting power over our lives ever since.