Why Everyone Should Get A Preup

Her First $100,000 has a recent article on why everyone needs a prenup.  Although "everyone" means everyone getting married. 

The main reasons are:

• You want to be in control of your own financial situation
• Prenups help you safeguard your assets—both current and future
• Prenups help you protect your income and define spousal support obligations
• Prenups can protect you from your partner’s debt
• Prenups can protect you from financial hardship in divorce

I couldn't agree more. A prenup would have literally saved me a couple million dollars. Take the advice. 

The U.S.'s “Pay-to-Win” Justice System

Stefanie Chen has an interesting opinion piece in The Spectator, a surprisingly impressive newspaper from Stuyvesant High School in New York City, about our pay-to-win legal system. 

Chen concludes:

Despite the presence of a clear “wrong,” in all of these cases, the U.S. capitalistic justice system has made it so that the rich can avoid admitting to their wrongdoings. While it’s hard to watch someone who had proof of guilt beyond reasonable doubt get away with a mere slap on the wrist, it is also difficult to completely overturn America’s unjust court system at once, considering that it’s been established since Nixon’s presidency. Still, steps such as offering more qualified lawyers to poorer defendants, or promoting law to all socioeconomic backgrounds can be taken to help equalize the playing field between the rich and the poor. It might not stop the wealthy from getting away with crimes, but revising the biased court system can help make it so that the poor’s and middle classes’ lives aren’t ruined by unjustified sentences at the hands of a biased court.

I do not completely agree with her solution as it includes hiring more lawyers because I think that would just make the matter worse. What we need is a system like most of Scandinavia where crimes are rigorously enforced for all people and the punishment is equitably applied no matter who you are.  Then we would not need so many lawyers finding loopholes and pedaling influence. 

One Of Many

Joshua Kindred, a Trump appointed Federal Judge in Alaska, has resigned after a report came out accusing him of grossly inappropriate behavior as well as knowingly lying to investigators. 

A federal judge in Alaska resigned this week after investigators concluded he created a hostile work environment by sending crude messages to employees, engaging in sexual contact with a former law clerk and lying to colleagues about that relationship.

He could be impeached although that rarely happens with federal judges, especially after they have resigned. 

He could also be debarred but, as this site demonstrates, violating the Lawyers Rules of Professional Conduct or even the law rarely results in disciplinary action let alone disbarment for a lawyer. 

Lawyers, especially judges, are for the most part above the law. And they know it. Kindred had to resign because he was so openly abusive and, as one report stated, he ran his chambers like it was the Playboy mansion. Despite his resignation, he will very likely be able to continue to practice law. 

Most lawyers will blame Kindred for getting caught not for what he did. Because he is just one of many. 

Sexism is often thought of as being exclusively or mostly a male characteristic. Not so. Women mansplain just as much as men. Women are also just as sexist as men. For sexists of genders, I give you  Sally Miller Gearhart, the patron saint of the sexist. 

She was so sexist she believed males needed to be reduced to 10% of the population. I kid you not. 

Her solution to the world's woes, outlined in, "The Future–-If There Is One–-is Female", was a three step process:

1. Every culture must begin to affirm a female future.
2. Species responsibility must be returned to women in every culture.
3. The proportion of men must be reduced to and maintained at approximately 10% of the human race.

Observation: The most sexist men would probably love Gearhart's solution, as long as they were in the 10% Think about, they would probably not have to work all and women would be all over them wanting sex. I bet Gearhart never thought of it that way. 

For those who agree that women should take over, it might be good to remember what men do. 

Science Vs. Morality

I consider myself a rational person. I am a huge believer in the scientific method because it is the only method we have to determine truth. Science, after all, is just a fancy Latin word for knowledge. 

Now the thing about science is it is separate from morality. Morality will give direction on right and wrong, science deals in factual evidence.  Science cannot tell you if it is right to kill someone or not. Morality, or religion which is mostly just a moral framework, deals with such matters.  

This way of thinking is why I detest when a science magazine turns away from science and deals with morality, especially when they go against science to make a point. 

This is what National Geographic did in an article on Indigenous peoples in their most recent issue. I have read every word in every issue of the magazine since about 1985 and I can see a definite trend away from science and toward moralizing. 

I'll also state I have a huge interest and a fairly strong  educational background in anthropology so it isn't as if the subject is uninteresting to me. 

So what was wrong with the article? Essentially it made the case that indigenous people are far better than us at managing the environment, have more moralistic societies, and are, well, simply superior to modern people in all ways. 

Somehow the authors missed that slavery was widespread among Native Americans. As was war and torture and human sacrifice. Native peoples also often caused large scale environmental catastrophes. 

Sure there were and are pockets of indigenous people who live in harmony with the environment and their fellow humans but that doesn't make them any different from anyone else. 

So why am I writing about it here? Mainly because one of the "characteristics' of native people the article said we needed to bring back was matriarchal society. Really? Indigenous people are no more or less matriarchal than other people. More to the point, why on earth would a society dominated by women be better than one dominated by men? Are we so narrow-minded we cannot aspire to equality rather than one gender dominating another?

Easy Money

In a T-Mobile class action lawsuit regarding a data breach, lawyers emerged $78 million richer while customers only got $25. In my experience this is the norm. 

This is exactly the kind of case that causes the public to scoff at class actions. My client gets 25 bucks and these attorneys are walking away with $7,000 to $10,000 per hour." - Attorney Robert Clore

The lawyers, of course, claim they they worked a massive number of hours on the case so their costs are justified. But anyone who has worked closely with lawyers knows just how often billable hours are padded, often egregiously so. The reality is that there is little incentive for lawyers not to pad their bills because there is almost no negative consequences in doing so. The risk for the lawyer is near zero while the reward is very high. 

In my case I tried to get details on what exactly my lawyers were billing me for because it didn't seem like they were doing much but they simple refused to provide anything but the most vague explanations. 

I have also worked with patent troll lawyers who didn't even attempt to justify the hours they billed. 

It is easy money if you are willing to commit the crime. And always keep in mind, it is a crime. 

The Value Of Prenups

Never sign a contract with someone who is rewarded for breaking it. That seems obvious but it happens all the time when people get married.  

I recognize the laws as written are mostly fair but the reality of how they are implemented is otherwise. Over 98% of alimony payers are men. Which is a heck of an incentive for a woman to divorce a man. Also a reason to commit fraud and perjury. Which is exactly what my ex-wife, and worse her lawyer, did in order to get vast amounts of money out of me. And note I paid 100% of the expenses for the kids who predominantly lived with me for the first few years after the marriage ended and then chose, on their own, to live 100% with me as soon as they could. 

Many believe people who get prenuptial agreements are somehow less committed to the relationship. The reality is a prenup removes one of the biggest incentives to end the marriage thus making divorce less likely.