Longest week shortest weekend at the Federal Reserve and Treasury
Monday, February 23, 2009
The Donation List
It has come to light that “sir” Allen Stanford’s donation list includes the president of the United States. Here is the break down of who’s who when it came time to giving to Madoff’s “brother” in Ponzi schemes “sir” Stanford. President Obama is 3rd having received $31,750 during the presidential campaign, John McCain $28,000 Tom Delay former house speaker received $20,100 and the grand sum went to Bill Nelson, the Florida senator who was vice-chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in 2002 when congress was considering tougher anti-fraud legislation, he received $45,900. John Cornyn of Texas received $19,700 and made a four-day “fact-finding trip” to Antigua with his wife in 2004, and you may have guessed by now who footed the $7,411 bill… yep you guessed it, Stanford, according to congressional disclosure.
Now if this is not illegal I don’t know what is. Think about it, let’s assume that one always passes speeding, on the way to work, a firehouse, EMT and a Police station, and he/she were to make a donation to whomever he wanted. Since he is usually speeding (breaking the law) he will naturally donate more money to the Cops since it will be assume that they will go easy on him when he gets stopped. Why would he donate to the firehouse or EMT? Screw them chances of coming into contact with them are low and he would be on this death bed. They can’t affect his insurance premiums but the Cops can. This is what happens with big co-operations they donate to the cops of their industry and we the citizens are left paying for it in the long run. E.g. Madoff, Stanford, Lehman Brothers, Citi, AIG, Bank of America, GM, and the like. Stay tuned on how I propose to fix this problem.
It has come to light that “sir” Allen Stanford’s donation list includes the president of the United States. Here is the break down of who’s who when it came time to giving to Madoff’s “brother” in Ponzi schemes “sir” Stanford. President Obama is 3rd having received $31,750 during the presidential campaign, John McCain $28,000 Tom Delay former house speaker received $20,100 and the grand sum went to Bill Nelson, the Florida senator who was vice-chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in 2002 when congress was considering tougher anti-fraud legislation, he received $45,900. John Cornyn of Texas received $19,700 and made a four-day “fact-finding trip” to Antigua with his wife in 2004, and you may have guessed by now who footed the $7,411 bill… yep you guessed it, Stanford, according to congressional disclosure.
Now if this is not illegal I don’t know what is. Think about it, let’s assume that one always passes speeding, on the way to work, a firehouse, EMT and a Police station, and he/she were to make a donation to whomever he wanted. Since he is usually speeding (breaking the law) he will naturally donate more money to the Cops since it will be assume that they will go easy on him when he gets stopped. Why would he donate to the firehouse or EMT? Screw them chances of coming into contact with them are low and he would be on this death bed. They can’t affect his insurance premiums but the Cops can. This is what happens with big co-operations they donate to the cops of their industry and we the citizens are left paying for it in the long run. E.g. Madoff, Stanford, Lehman Brothers, Citi, AIG, Bank of America, GM, and the like. Stay tuned on how I propose to fix this problem.
Monday, February 16, 2009
No Year of Jubilee to Student Loans
Student Loan is the next bubble that will soon follow. This is a no brainer. Let’s take a critical look at the similarities between student loans and house mortgages. There are on the rise at a time when the hottest ticket (thing for that matter) was a house, the American dream is on the decline. Now that that is not the hottest ticket anymore and people are losing their shirts left, right and center jobs are disappearing and people are heading back to college to improve their skills. But here is the crux of the matter, when Higher Education Act Reauthorization (HR 4137) was passed a very little know part that had been sponsored by Rep. Davis (D -Illinois) which would have extended some bankruptcy protection to students holding private student loans was removed from the Bill. As you might have guessed this was lobbied by…you guess it!!! the same people who brought you NINJA loans the financial institutions. They argued as before that “…that bankruptcy protection would ultimately make private student loans more expensive because lenders would have to increase interest rates and fees to cover loans that were in default and discharged in bankruptcy”
In other words if one has a student loan they would NEVER be able to discharge it in a bankruptcy court come hell or high water. It will follow you to the grave and before that to your social security payments; they now have the power to garnish your income.
Okay that is not so bad since one can get a student loan from the government one would argue. But the problem is that the government doesn’t have that much money to lend out so most of the lending go to …surprise surprise the finance institutions who by the way don’t have good favorable interests …does anyone remember something called adjustable interest rate? Well guess what? They haven’t gone away but change their address (so to speak) from housing mortgages to student loans. Here is an example of what is happening Private Student Loans Vs Federal Student Loans.
Private Student Loans
• Variable interest rates
Interest Rates
A percentage (rate) of the original amount of a loan, including any accumulated interest, charged to the borrower for the use of borrowed money. Interest charged on a loan varies from loan to loan and lender by lender. The interest rate is usually computed on a monthly basis, and may compound over time (that is, the interest charged during month one will itself have interest charged on it during month two, and so on
• Higher borrowing limits
• Requires a credit check to apply
• Usually requires a co-signer
Federal Student Loans
• Fixed interest rates (set by the government)
• Lower borrowing limits determined by class year and student status
• No credit check required to apply
• No co-signer required
• Requires the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) for eligibility
• Some are subsidized based on need (the government pays interest while the student is in school)
What is going to happen is that since private student loan programs will become ubiquitous, everyone out of a job will get them and then when the economy recovers they will not be able to repay since the amount will be so high they will have to mortgage their house to pay off the student lone. As I have mentioned the government doesn’t have a lot of money to lend thus private firm will step-in with their exorbitant interest rate. Here is an example I ran trying to borrow $21,000. As you can see I only get $5,500 from the Fed and the remaining $15,500 from some private institution.
Loan Amount Distribution
Stafford loans have borrowing limits based on your year in school and status. Your total loan amount is split between Stafford and Private loans based on these limits. Tell me more.
Federal Stafford $5,500+ Private $15,500= Total Loan Amount $21,000
Some in the government have tried to raise the issue to no avail. From Market Watch (Last update: 12:47 p.m. EDT June 6, 2007)
“New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo urged lawmakers on Wednesday to reform the $85 billion student-loan industry before another group of high school students heads to college in the fall, but an executive at lender Sallie Mae said the private-loan market is already operating under numerous rules… But Barry Goulding, senior vice president of SLM Corp.commonly known as Sallie Mae, said the market for private education loans is already "heavily regulated."
Where have I heard that before? Our industry is heavily regulated? And is Sallie Mae although a total independent from the government similar to Freddie Mac and Fannie May? Too big to fail?. Here is another quote from Market Watch “Richard Shelby of Alabama, the panel's top Republican, said lawmakers should also protect private loans.
"Because the cost of higher education will continue to climb, we should also make sure that we encourage the growth of private lending and the myriad of choices they offer those seeking advanced education," he said in an opening statement.
Student Loan is the next bubble that will soon follow. This is a no brainer. Let’s take a critical look at the similarities between student loans and house mortgages. There are on the rise at a time when the hottest ticket (thing for that matter) was a house, the American dream is on the decline. Now that that is not the hottest ticket anymore and people are losing their shirts left, right and center jobs are disappearing and people are heading back to college to improve their skills. But here is the crux of the matter, when Higher Education Act Reauthorization (HR 4137) was passed a very little know part that had been sponsored by Rep. Davis (D -Illinois) which would have extended some bankruptcy protection to students holding private student loans was removed from the Bill. As you might have guessed this was lobbied by…you guess it!!! the same people who brought you NINJA loans the financial institutions. They argued as before that “…that bankruptcy protection would ultimately make private student loans more expensive because lenders would have to increase interest rates and fees to cover loans that were in default and discharged in bankruptcy”
In other words if one has a student loan they would NEVER be able to discharge it in a bankruptcy court come hell or high water. It will follow you to the grave and before that to your social security payments; they now have the power to garnish your income.
Okay that is not so bad since one can get a student loan from the government one would argue. But the problem is that the government doesn’t have that much money to lend out so most of the lending go to …surprise surprise the finance institutions who by the way don’t have good favorable interests …does anyone remember something called adjustable interest rate? Well guess what? They haven’t gone away but change their address (so to speak) from housing mortgages to student loans. Here is an example of what is happening Private Student Loans Vs Federal Student Loans.
Private Student Loans
• Variable interest rates
Interest Rates
A percentage (rate) of the original amount of a loan, including any accumulated interest, charged to the borrower for the use of borrowed money. Interest charged on a loan varies from loan to loan and lender by lender. The interest rate is usually computed on a monthly basis, and may compound over time (that is, the interest charged during month one will itself have interest charged on it during month two, and so on
• Higher borrowing limits
• Requires a credit check to apply
• Usually requires a co-signer
Federal Student Loans
• Fixed interest rates (set by the government)
• Lower borrowing limits determined by class year and student status
• No credit check required to apply
• No co-signer required
• Requires the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) for eligibility
• Some are subsidized based on need (the government pays interest while the student is in school)
What is going to happen is that since private student loan programs will become ubiquitous, everyone out of a job will get them and then when the economy recovers they will not be able to repay since the amount will be so high they will have to mortgage their house to pay off the student lone. As I have mentioned the government doesn’t have a lot of money to lend thus private firm will step-in with their exorbitant interest rate. Here is an example I ran trying to borrow $21,000. As you can see I only get $5,500 from the Fed and the remaining $15,500 from some private institution.
Loan Amount Distribution
Stafford loans have borrowing limits based on your year in school and status. Your total loan amount is split between Stafford and Private loans based on these limits. Tell me more.
Federal Stafford $5,500+ Private $15,500= Total Loan Amount $21,000
Some in the government have tried to raise the issue to no avail. From Market Watch (Last update: 12:47 p.m. EDT June 6, 2007)
“New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo urged lawmakers on Wednesday to reform the $85 billion student-loan industry before another group of high school students heads to college in the fall, but an executive at lender Sallie Mae said the private-loan market is already operating under numerous rules… But Barry Goulding, senior vice president of SLM Corp.commonly known as Sallie Mae, said the market for private education loans is already "heavily regulated."
Where have I heard that before? Our industry is heavily regulated? And is Sallie Mae although a total independent from the government similar to Freddie Mac and Fannie May? Too big to fail?. Here is another quote from Market Watch “Richard Shelby of Alabama, the panel's top Republican, said lawmakers should also protect private loans.
"Because the cost of higher education will continue to climb, we should also make sure that we encourage the growth of private lending and the myriad of choices they offer those seeking advanced education," he said in an opening statement.
Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC)
This is the problem with Washington, always trying to cover the misdeeds of their friends in a nice a sugar coated manner. When the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman proposes a Truth and Reconciliation Commission similar to the now famous of them all, South African, although there have been other in Chile and Rwanda just to mention but two. It seems that Sen. Leahy must have been smoking something. Here is what he proposes
WASHINGTON (AP) - The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee is proposing a "truth commission" to investigate abuses of detainees, politically inspired moves at the Justice Department, and whole range of decisions made during the Bush administration.
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said the primary goal of the commission would be to learn the truth rather than prosecute former officials, but said the inquiry should reach far beyond misdeeds at the Justice Department under Bush to include matters of Iraq prewar intelligence and the Defense Department.
Leahy outlined his suggestion for a "truth and reconciliation" commission during a speech at Georgetown University Monday.
"I'm doing this not to humiliate people or punish people but to get the truth out," he said.
The problem is that Sen. Leahy either seems to have forgotten the real roll of a TRC or just doesn’t seem to know what its purpose is/was. If he were keen enough to read and understand the underlying reason for there creation he would automatically understand why they wouldn’t be entertained in the US and should be feeling ashamed for even contemplating the thought. Be as it may, I will take a minute or two to enlighten him and others what a TRC is and why it wouldn’t be entertained here in the US. Let’s take a walk in the memory lane.
South Africa (EP) - apartheid means “separateness” and in 1948 it was officially written into the statue book which was enforced by South Africa’s minority white rulers. They were less than five million controlling a total population of 36 million whites, Africans, coloreds, Indians and others. The white 13 percent of the population owned 87 percent of the land. They had restricted where the black majority could live (think of it akin to Europeans coming to America and putting the Indians in reservations…and later allowing them to own casinos to make up for what was done to them). After such a long time of government misdeeds, people dying, going to jail for opposing the government, police brutality and the like,it was necessary to move forward but at the same time preserve history as much as could be collected. The only way to do that without wasting time and money (which they didn’t have either of since people were dying of old age just to mention one cause) was…you guessed it! Form a TRC.
Chile had the same concept only difference was that the crimes involved rape, kidnapping in the middle of the night by government forces, murder and what have you. And in Rwanda there was the genocide that horrified the world.
By now Sen. Leahy you might have noticed that all these cases are in the third world countries where record keeping is not at par with the rest of the world and the judicial system is but a joke as compared to the US. But now I do hope that I have changed you silly idea of TRC. We have good recording keeping a few Americans have been snatched from somewhere other than their houses in the middle of the night, and the rapes that occur even within the military bases are prosecuted by the law. One issue I may have forgotten, the US government has time and money to prosecute anyone from the previous administration for misdeed. It has only been eight year of Bush administration as opposed to 42 years in the case of South Africa.
Since we live in a capitalist country trust someone to write a book of the misdeeds and let’s now let the whistle blowers to tell all. If you really want a TRC I suggest you get one for the KKK and as for the bush administration you may wonna try something like the Nuremberg trails, why didn’t we ask for a TRC then?
All those who broke the law in our name let us hear your side of the story in court. Nice try Sen. Leahy. And am tired of Washington ruling based on poll number FYI if Moses ruled by poll number the children of God would not have left Egypt.
This is the problem with Washington, always trying to cover the misdeeds of their friends in a nice a sugar coated manner. When the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman proposes a Truth and Reconciliation Commission similar to the now famous of them all, South African, although there have been other in Chile and Rwanda just to mention but two. It seems that Sen. Leahy must have been smoking something. Here is what he proposes
WASHINGTON (AP) - The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee is proposing a "truth commission" to investigate abuses of detainees, politically inspired moves at the Justice Department, and whole range of decisions made during the Bush administration.
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said the primary goal of the commission would be to learn the truth rather than prosecute former officials, but said the inquiry should reach far beyond misdeeds at the Justice Department under Bush to include matters of Iraq prewar intelligence and the Defense Department.
Leahy outlined his suggestion for a "truth and reconciliation" commission during a speech at Georgetown University Monday.
"I'm doing this not to humiliate people or punish people but to get the truth out," he said.
The problem is that Sen. Leahy either seems to have forgotten the real roll of a TRC or just doesn’t seem to know what its purpose is/was. If he were keen enough to read and understand the underlying reason for there creation he would automatically understand why they wouldn’t be entertained in the US and should be feeling ashamed for even contemplating the thought. Be as it may, I will take a minute or two to enlighten him and others what a TRC is and why it wouldn’t be entertained here in the US. Let’s take a walk in the memory lane.
South Africa (EP) - apartheid means “separateness” and in 1948 it was officially written into the statue book which was enforced by South Africa’s minority white rulers. They were less than five million controlling a total population of 36 million whites, Africans, coloreds, Indians and others. The white 13 percent of the population owned 87 percent of the land. They had restricted where the black majority could live (think of it akin to Europeans coming to America and putting the Indians in reservations…and later allowing them to own casinos to make up for what was done to them). After such a long time of government misdeeds, people dying, going to jail for opposing the government, police brutality and the like,it was necessary to move forward but at the same time preserve history as much as could be collected. The only way to do that without wasting time and money (which they didn’t have either of since people were dying of old age just to mention one cause) was…you guessed it! Form a TRC.
Chile had the same concept only difference was that the crimes involved rape, kidnapping in the middle of the night by government forces, murder and what have you. And in Rwanda there was the genocide that horrified the world.
By now Sen. Leahy you might have noticed that all these cases are in the third world countries where record keeping is not at par with the rest of the world and the judicial system is but a joke as compared to the US. But now I do hope that I have changed you silly idea of TRC. We have good recording keeping a few Americans have been snatched from somewhere other than their houses in the middle of the night, and the rapes that occur even within the military bases are prosecuted by the law. One issue I may have forgotten, the US government has time and money to prosecute anyone from the previous administration for misdeed. It has only been eight year of Bush administration as opposed to 42 years in the case of South Africa.
Since we live in a capitalist country trust someone to write a book of the misdeeds and let’s now let the whistle blowers to tell all. If you really want a TRC I suggest you get one for the KKK and as for the bush administration you may wonna try something like the Nuremberg trails, why didn’t we ask for a TRC then?
All those who broke the law in our name let us hear your side of the story in court. Nice try Sen. Leahy. And am tired of Washington ruling based on poll number FYI if Moses ruled by poll number the children of God would not have left Egypt.
Nadya Suleman Octuplets mother
The large question is not what to do with Nadya Suleman, the Octuplets’ mother, but what to do with the babies and kids. There are several avenues that we can take and the least would be to harm the children who had no part in the decision making part here.
We can have the doctor responsible for implanting all those “babies” be held to account in terms of paying for the cost of rising them. Some would argue that that is cruel and unusual punishment to the doctor; well he should know how cruel and unusual it would be for them (kids) since the mother didn’t have a job. He should also have known how to count and that the mother to be was a single mother of six. Now, assuming the doctor was thinking, why would he implant eight “babies” in a mother of six? Was it part of an experiment? Was it for his glory or Fame? Either one doesn’t sit well in the medical field.
The children should be given up for adoption, no ifs, buts or ands period. By having this many number of kids simply by the mere fact that she was the only child and wanted a big family is no excuse to harm other human beings (the kids for one and taxes payers). Well growing up we didn’t have enough milk in the house, to drink a glass of milk was a sin since that glass would have been diluted with water to make tea for everyone, but now I drink milk like crazy I always have two gallons in the house at all times…Nadya I understand your feeling now, if you don’t mind can you please donate so I can go get a gallon of milk?...I take Master card, Visa, American and Discover. She has shown without any shadow of a doubt that she is not capable of making rational decisions, simply because one can kill doesn’t give them the right to kill and by the same token, simply because one can give birth doesn’t give them the right to be a baby factory simply because it has been a long time dream, heck!! if that is the case, its has been a long time dream of mine to poop out of the window of a moving bus…stay tuned.
The other alternative (but this would harm the babies) is to let her work her ass off and feed the babies. Since in one interview she said that she worked (when she use to) hard and nothing would get in her way…well babie get to work and stop begging for money on the internet. This is how screwed up her thinking is. Get the babies first then beg for money. If I were her publicist I would have advised her to first beg for the money then and only then ask the crazy doctor to implant the eight “babies”. If it is that easy am going to set up a website now for my future babies.
She underwent in vitro fertilization treatments because her fallopian tubes are "plugged up." There were frozen embryos left over after her previous pregnancies… can someone please tell me how much it costs for the treatment and for freezing the embryos? After a quick Google search I came up with the follow
In vitro fertilization cost per single cycle (without ICSI) with all monitoring included
Medications not included
Cost of IVF $9,500
In vitro fertilization with ICSI cost per single cycle with all monitoring included ($1200 for ICSI)
Medications not included
Cost of IVF with ICSI $10,700
Costs for additional procedures:
Blastocyst culture and transfer (day 5 transfer) - no additional cost
Sperm freezing - $100
Embryo freezing - $700 (includes 1 year of storage)
Embryo storage - $600/year
The question we have to ask is where does she get the money to do this and still feed her other six kids? Well if the grandma and grandpa (sorry to both of yeah) were helping her when she was “running around” with the doctor then they should take responsibility and pay for the kids up keep. We should bring back the Spanish inquisition.
The large question is not what to do with Nadya Suleman, the Octuplets’ mother, but what to do with the babies and kids. There are several avenues that we can take and the least would be to harm the children who had no part in the decision making part here.
We can have the doctor responsible for implanting all those “babies” be held to account in terms of paying for the cost of rising them. Some would argue that that is cruel and unusual punishment to the doctor; well he should know how cruel and unusual it would be for them (kids) since the mother didn’t have a job. He should also have known how to count and that the mother to be was a single mother of six. Now, assuming the doctor was thinking, why would he implant eight “babies” in a mother of six? Was it part of an experiment? Was it for his glory or Fame? Either one doesn’t sit well in the medical field.
The children should be given up for adoption, no ifs, buts or ands period. By having this many number of kids simply by the mere fact that she was the only child and wanted a big family is no excuse to harm other human beings (the kids for one and taxes payers). Well growing up we didn’t have enough milk in the house, to drink a glass of milk was a sin since that glass would have been diluted with water to make tea for everyone, but now I drink milk like crazy I always have two gallons in the house at all times…Nadya I understand your feeling now, if you don’t mind can you please donate so I can go get a gallon of milk?...I take Master card, Visa, American and Discover. She has shown without any shadow of a doubt that she is not capable of making rational decisions, simply because one can kill doesn’t give them the right to kill and by the same token, simply because one can give birth doesn’t give them the right to be a baby factory simply because it has been a long time dream, heck!! if that is the case, its has been a long time dream of mine to poop out of the window of a moving bus…stay tuned.
The other alternative (but this would harm the babies) is to let her work her ass off and feed the babies. Since in one interview she said that she worked (when she use to) hard and nothing would get in her way…well babie get to work and stop begging for money on the internet. This is how screwed up her thinking is. Get the babies first then beg for money. If I were her publicist I would have advised her to first beg for the money then and only then ask the crazy doctor to implant the eight “babies”. If it is that easy am going to set up a website now for my future babies.
She underwent in vitro fertilization treatments because her fallopian tubes are "plugged up." There were frozen embryos left over after her previous pregnancies… can someone please tell me how much it costs for the treatment and for freezing the embryos? After a quick Google search I came up with the follow
In vitro fertilization cost per single cycle (without ICSI) with all monitoring included
Medications not included
Cost of IVF $9,500
In vitro fertilization with ICSI cost per single cycle with all monitoring included ($1200 for ICSI)
Medications not included
Cost of IVF with ICSI $10,700
Costs for additional procedures:
Blastocyst culture and transfer (day 5 transfer) - no additional cost
Sperm freezing - $100
Embryo freezing - $700 (includes 1 year of storage)
Embryo storage - $600/year
The question we have to ask is where does she get the money to do this and still feed her other six kids? Well if the grandma and grandpa (sorry to both of yeah) were helping her when she was “running around” with the doctor then they should take responsibility and pay for the kids up keep. We should bring back the Spanish inquisition.
Monday, February 09, 2009
Friday, February 06, 2009
World Economy deciphered by Epiphany
Toyota has just lost $4 Billion!!!! A loss for a Japanese car company!!! The most lean company that you can think of. What does that mean? It means that the whole world Economy is predicated on Americans consuming their way in to debt and that is what makes the world go round. Since American have stopped going into debt, although not voluntary, all the big and best companies are finally seeing losses and some are going out of business. UK tried sinking into debt like the US and that didn’t go well, they are upside down sinking in debt. The banks are in debt to a tune of ….get this… 4 times the GPD!!! So there you have it!!! THE WHOLE WORLD ECONOMY IS PREDICATED ON AMERICANS GOING INTO DEBT. What the auditor doesn’t find the recession does.
Toyota has just lost $4 Billion!!!! A loss for a Japanese car company!!! The most lean company that you can think of. What does that mean? It means that the whole world Economy is predicated on Americans consuming their way in to debt and that is what makes the world go round. Since American have stopped going into debt, although not voluntary, all the big and best companies are finally seeing losses and some are going out of business. UK tried sinking into debt like the US and that didn’t go well, they are upside down sinking in debt. The banks are in debt to a tune of ….get this… 4 times the GPD!!! So there you have it!!! THE WHOLE WORLD ECONOMY IS PREDICATED ON AMERICANS GOING INTO DEBT. What the auditor doesn’t find the recession does.
Thursday, February 05, 2009
CEO Salary Caps (CSC)
The CSC is way over due, what is the point of a reward if one gets it either way, good or bad performance? This is like finance aid in college, if one was going to school with his own money then he(or she) would only have to maintain the minimums of the college just to stay in say D or really really work hard since his(her) parent’s money is on the line and they get to account to them when they get to go home to do laundry. However, if one was on finance aid they would have to maintain an average of B to maintain the finance aid thus working hard to keep it. This is the same thing that we (the people) are telling the banking industry. CEOs can not and should not be allowed to make those obscene incomes while their work is not at par. Some have started crying that the CEO will leave, and go where? UK? FYI, UK’s CEOs don’t get paid that much, Germany? They can’t speak German and even if they did Germans don’t like the big pays either. Ahh…France? As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted by France, they are at the end of the line in terms of a country that will accept them. So to those who argue that they should be paid to stay, I ask them what happens if they don’t get the pay. Leave? Yeah let them leave maybe we will have young blood who can really work rather than go golfing when the ship is sinking.
The CSC is way over due, what is the point of a reward if one gets it either way, good or bad performance? This is like finance aid in college, if one was going to school with his own money then he(or she) would only have to maintain the minimums of the college just to stay in say D or really really work hard since his(her) parent’s money is on the line and they get to account to them when they get to go home to do laundry. However, if one was on finance aid they would have to maintain an average of B to maintain the finance aid thus working hard to keep it. This is the same thing that we (the people) are telling the banking industry. CEOs can not and should not be allowed to make those obscene incomes while their work is not at par. Some have started crying that the CEO will leave, and go where? UK? FYI, UK’s CEOs don’t get paid that much, Germany? They can’t speak German and even if they did Germans don’t like the big pays either. Ahh…France? As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted by France, they are at the end of the line in terms of a country that will accept them. So to those who argue that they should be paid to stay, I ask them what happens if they don’t get the pay. Leave? Yeah let them leave maybe we will have young blood who can really work rather than go golfing when the ship is sinking.
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
This is what I have come to discover lately; if you want to be rice in America start your own business consulting (which is another way of saying coning). You can never and will never get rice while you work for someone else no matter how many hours you put in. And the reason why is, your paycheck will always be seen by the government and they will always tax you. However if you are CONsulting in the likes of Tom Daschle (Obama's would have been Health Secretary),Tim Geithner (Obama's Treasury Secretary) and Nancy Killefer (Obama's would have been get this, chief performance officer) then you would have forgotten to just pay your taxes until you are appointed by the president. But since you are not likely to be appointed by the president; then no vetting would be need and you wouldn't have to pay back (or any for that matter) taxes.
Let's not crucify the three, I had another Epiphany, why was Tim Geithner confirmed?....yeah yeah he is a bright guy...who pays taxes only after been caught red-handed when applying for a “job”. The reason he was confirmed was because the whole of congress is club...just like your local pool, flying, golf, firehouse, RC planes,RC cars club. They are all in the same game. It’s only that we haven't discovered thus the vote to confirm Mr.Geithner. Anyone remember ...what's his name?...the guy from Alaska...no not Palin yeah Ted Stevens. what happened to him? that is another blog story.
This is how congress works, doesn't matter which party one is from as long as they are in club. The unwritten rule is, you do whatever you wonna do, don't pay taxes, take money for the lobbies, but make sure we don't know what you are doing. if we do here is the scale, if there is a public out cry I will support a bit, Tim Geithner, but if the public is screaming bloody murder then you are on your own...Ted Stevens, Tom Daschle.
So my fellow Americans wonna be rich? go start a business.
Let's not crucify the three, I had another Epiphany, why was Tim Geithner confirmed?....yeah yeah he is a bright guy...who pays taxes only after been caught red-handed when applying for a “job”. The reason he was confirmed was because the whole of congress is club...just like your local pool, flying, golf, firehouse, RC planes,RC cars club. They are all in the same game. It’s only that we haven't discovered thus the vote to confirm Mr.Geithner. Anyone remember ...what's his name?...the guy from Alaska...no not Palin yeah Ted Stevens. what happened to him? that is another blog story.
This is how congress works, doesn't matter which party one is from as long as they are in club. The unwritten rule is, you do whatever you wonna do, don't pay taxes, take money for the lobbies, but make sure we don't know what you are doing. if we do here is the scale, if there is a public out cry I will support a bit, Tim Geithner, but if the public is screaming bloody murder then you are on your own...Ted Stevens, Tom Daschle.
So my fellow Americans wonna be rich? go start a business.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Now here is a word that I hate when used by the media, ALLEGED. In some cases I would see why it is used, for example, if one is not sure to a certain degree. But when someone says something to the contrary, then his/her words should supersede other people’s words and the word be dropped. If I say “I Epiphany wrote this blog” then no one should say “it is alleged that Epiphany wrote the blog”. And why am I screaming bloody murder here? Here’s why “Bernard Madoff is alleged to have lost $50 billion…” alleged? Excuse me!!!! Alleged? It should be something to the effect of “Bernard Madoff lost at least $40 billion…” since for one, he himself said so, and two we can see the ripple effect. For example, “Access International Advisors' attorney saying the firm lost $1.5 billion by investing with Madoff, 70, a former Nasdaq chairman who is accused of operating a $50 billion Ponzi scheme.” Why not alleged lost $1.5 billion? Or that the “Thierry de la Villehuchet, a hedge fund adviser and investor whose firm said he lost $1.5 billion investing with Wall Street adviser Bernard Madoff, was found dead in his office in an apparent suicide Tuesday, police said.” Should it be “he was alleged found dead; therefore he might be alive since he should allegedly to have committed suicide. How about the people who are wiped out? Are they allegedly wiped out? The problem is the media with little luck of command of the English language and pinch of legal rubbish jargon. Allegedly there are poor poor more old ladies in Florida
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Open letter to the President Elect Part II
The inside of the cars should exceed the comfort of airline and bused, since the airline have been taking space away from the passage the train should start giving that space back. The inside should look, if not better than the following
Currently it takes anyway between 25 to 30 hours to travel from NJ to FL by train, as everyone knows we are a country on the move and in such a hurry, and we have a week of vacation for those of use who afforded it. But we are not willing to spend two days of travel just to go to FL. If we were to cut that travel time to 4 hours at a reasonable price then we would have more travel and competition between rail and air and we would see the airfares coming down, capital market would start rolling again unhealthy companies would not depend on the government for bail outs. In my travel I have met people who are afraid of planes, and they would rather take the buses which are even worse than train in terms of time travel from point A to B. These people hardly visit relatives or students who are out of state in college. Students traveling back and forth to school could enjoy the comfort of turbulence free ride to school even when the weather of no conducive for flying. We would be about to clear congestion in the airport in event of bad weather passage would be booked on trains to destinations if they miss their last flights due to weather or mechanical problems.
While the big three are bidding and building these electric cars states should start laying tracks. We should have a greater network than Europe and Japan combined. As the following figures shows Europe’s capital are all almost connected by high speed trains, we should be able to connect all the state capital with high speed as well.
This map shows high speed trains only, the red lines are trains that travel above 155 mph while the blue lines show speed of between 111-155 mph. just fyi European and Asian trains are twice as fast as American.
Here are some of the sights we should be able to see once the ORIS is complete.
Train by the farm somewhere in the Midwest?
Train by the river somewhere in the west Seattle maybe?
Train in the South, maybe peanut fields of Georgia?
Could this be the rolling hills of Kansas?
Could this be downtown DC or any major city for that matter?
Where could this be?...once ORIS is complete?
happening in Japan
Mr. President Elect of all the industrialized countries the
The inside of the cars should exceed the comfort of airline and bused, since the airline have been taking space away from the passage the train should start giving that space back. The inside should look, if not better than the following
Currently it takes anyway between 25 to 30 hours to travel from NJ to FL by train, as everyone knows we are a country on the move and in such a hurry, and we have a week of vacation for those of use who afforded it. But we are not willing to spend two days of travel just to go to FL. If we were to cut that travel time to 4 hours at a reasonable price then we would have more travel and competition between rail and air and we would see the airfares coming down, capital market would start rolling again unhealthy companies would not depend on the government for bail outs. In my travel I have met people who are afraid of planes, and they would rather take the buses which are even worse than train in terms of time travel from point A to B. These people hardly visit relatives or students who are out of state in college. Students traveling back and forth to school could enjoy the comfort of turbulence free ride to school even when the weather of no conducive for flying. We would be about to clear congestion in the airport in event of bad weather passage would be booked on trains to destinations if they miss their last flights due to weather or mechanical problems.
While the big three are bidding and building these electric cars states should start laying tracks. We should have a greater network than Europe and Japan combined. As the following figures shows Europe’s capital are all almost connected by high speed trains, we should be able to connect all the state capital with high speed as well.
This map shows high speed trains only, the red lines are trains that travel above 155 mph while the blue lines show speed of between 111-155 mph. just fyi European and Asian trains are twice as fast as American.
Here are some of the sights we should be able to see once the ORIS is complete.
Train by the farm somewhere in the Midwest?
Train by the river somewhere in the west Seattle maybe?
Train in the South, maybe peanut fields of Georgia?
Could this be the rolling hills of Kansas?
Could this be downtown DC or any major city for that matter?
Where could this be?...once ORIS is complete?
happening in Japan
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
There was Sharpeville, Bloody Sunday, The night of Tlateloko, and then Rwanda. Those were locations that made and shaped the world and moved people when they finally saw what had happened. Today we have Zimbabwe, Bob Marley sang about it with the following lyrics with the country’s title.
Every man gotta right to decide his own density,
And in this judgment there is no partiality,
So arm in arms, with arms, we’ll fight this little struggle,
‘cause that’s the only way we can overcome our little trouble.
That was then and Bob was a supporter of Zimbabwe. But what happened? The African community and more so South Africa, the South African countries and the world community at large have let the ordinary Zimbabwean down to the point that their lives are worthless. We have seen the suffering that is coming out of Zimbabwe through photos and news, e.g. of hyperinflation how they are knocking down zeros from their currency notes just to try and control inflation …sorry make that hyperinflation. We have seen the empty supermarkets and have heard about the news coming from families abroad who are having a hard time sending money back home to BBC reporter who have sneaked. Let make a simple comparison, when the Iceland was going through bankruptcy, Europeans and the IMF were working hard to bail the country out, while faced with the same problem (currency devaluation) Zimbabwe was receiving guns from China with the help of South Africa. If the transport workers union hadn’t prevented the ship from docking and unload those guns, they would have ended in Zimbabwe. The South African government couldn’t say no to the transit of guns until the unions said so. If the mercenary soldiers who were heading to Equatorial Guinea with the intention of deposing a corrupt president, had a final destination of Zimbabwe then it might be that they would not have been arrested since they would have been as their final destination. At what point is assassination okay when one person is assassinating via torture a whole generation? While people are dying in Zimbabwe UN leaders are condemning Robert Mugabi for withholding power and refusing power sharing government. President Carter and the UN delegation are “stranded” in South Africa since they can’t get into Zimbabwe. What did we say about Rwanda? Never again, let hope we didn’t take that lightly to mean never again in Rwanda but everywhere.
Every man gotta right to decide his own density,
And in this judgment there is no partiality,
So arm in arms, with arms, we’ll fight this little struggle,
‘cause that’s the only way we can overcome our little trouble.
That was then and Bob was a supporter of Zimbabwe. But what happened? The African community and more so South Africa, the South African countries and the world community at large have let the ordinary Zimbabwean down to the point that their lives are worthless. We have seen the suffering that is coming out of Zimbabwe through photos and news, e.g. of hyperinflation how they are knocking down zeros from their currency notes just to try and control inflation …sorry make that hyperinflation. We have seen the empty supermarkets and have heard about the news coming from families abroad who are having a hard time sending money back home to BBC reporter who have sneaked. Let make a simple comparison, when the Iceland was going through bankruptcy, Europeans and the IMF were working hard to bail the country out, while faced with the same problem (currency devaluation) Zimbabwe was receiving guns from China with the help of South Africa. If the transport workers union hadn’t prevented the ship from docking and unload those guns, they would have ended in Zimbabwe. The South African government couldn’t say no to the transit of guns until the unions said so. If the mercenary soldiers who were heading to Equatorial Guinea with the intention of deposing a corrupt president, had a final destination of Zimbabwe then it might be that they would not have been arrested since they would have been as their final destination. At what point is assassination okay when one person is assassinating via torture a whole generation? While people are dying in Zimbabwe UN leaders are condemning Robert Mugabi for withholding power and refusing power sharing government. President Carter and the UN delegation are “stranded” in South Africa since they can’t get into Zimbabwe. What did we say about Rwanda? Never again, let hope we didn’t take that lightly to mean never again in Rwanda but everywhere.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Open letter to President elect
Obama Rail Interstate System (ORIS)
Dear Mr. President-Elect,
I know you have ideas of your own, but may I entice you with my idea which if implemented would be a stroke of genius on your part. The question is not whether America needs a make over but how. I propose you invest massively in rail infrastructure and here is why and how to do it. First the why, you will have accomplished three of your major campaign promises; jobs, energy independence and going green, all in the same sentence.
If construction of the interstate rail lines were to begin immediately the short term gain would be visible. Everyone who wants a job would have one, that would drive unemployment to zero if not a deficit of worker and we would have to institute the guest worker program that has been talked about. With a worker deficit the government would not have to pay unemployment insurance thus saving money. With all the people at work tax revenues would ultimately rise since more people are working and paying taxes. This would in turn compel you Sir to honor your other campaign promise to cut taxes to us the 95% of the mid-class family which would expand the mid-class while lifting the lower-class.
That was in the short term, in the long run, since the trains would be using electric line to run, we would have to produce more electricity (nuclear power?) thus more construction. Once the web of rail lines across the whole country are up and running, truck would not need to drive the highways for long distance, they would be only local, thus saving the ware and tear of Eisenhower Interstate system. With a more reliable rail system less people would see the need to drive but within their locality, thereby reducing traffic jams and pollution all at one short. People would get home in time for dinner and just in time to send the kids to bed after helping with the home work.
Now comes the HOW
We have the expertise and know how, 1st don’t bail the big three car companies, let them fail ( this will not be popular but lets remember what my mother used to say growing up “medicine tastes like… well like medicine but it’s good for you.” This will be a bitter pill), they should have failed years ago. Look at the Asian car companies they make good cars and last long. For example, look at the resale valve of a 2001 Honda accord $6,600 vs. 2001 Ford Taurus $4,115. Why are people gravitating towards cars other than Detroit’s? That is the question we should answer by letting them fail. Oh by the way Asian car makers are not asking for handouts. For once, let’s call a spade a spade as opposed to a big spoon. For so long we have buried, Detroit too, our heads in the sand and hoped for the best. The way we have sold and bought cars (and other big ticket items) has to change for three main reasons; one, financial, if one can’t afford it, don’t sell it on credit with zero down, we were selling to individuals who couldn’t put anything down…now that is way smart, they can’t put anything down now and we have faith they will pay in full in the future. If someone doesn’t qualify for zero down then they shouldn’t get to drive off the lot or move into a house. Secondly, for environmental reason, less driving will pollute less thus a better and greener environment. And lastly health, people who drive less walk a lot and people who walk a lot tend to be healthy thereby reducing hospital visits even if they get to eat all the greasy food. Let us for a moment think how we get fat, it’s like a bank account if one was to put in money and doesn’t spend much he/she would end up with a fat bank account. On the other hand, were he to spend as much as he puts in then, there is no way in hell they would have a fat bank account. Our bodies are our food bank accounts and when we make deposits of soft drinks (okay I will include you too, Joe six pack) and greasy food (which if you ask me is not bad, I love it) and they refuse to spend it (exercise\walking) then we are bound to have a fat “back account”. Walking is a good exercise and no matter how much one eats or drinks they will never have a six pack tummy. Casing point, I have never seen (there may be some) a homeless person who for the most part of the day has a brown bag, having a six pack tummy. Why is that so? After great analysis I discovered that Joe is always walking begging for money for the next brown bag. Show me a homeless drunk who is fat and I will show you a homeless drunk who just lost his shirt in the stock market. And am not looking down on the homeless and drunk, am merely making an observation.
Back to the car companies, once the car companies have failed we will have a large work force of engineers and blue-collar works, the lawyers too. Mr. President elect your should institute your massive rail project at his time, hire the lawyers to buy all those lands by the interstates from the government or individuals at a fair market value (we are not in Russia) and then hire engineers to survey while others are planning and build rail cars (as opposed to cars) which will use electricity.
Groups that will benefit are so many, but to mention a few, electric companies since they will have to build power line along the interstates to supply the electric trains with power. This will create the green jobs that you campaigned on, since repairing and servicing the power line for rail car and the cars themselves can’t be out sourced, thus improving the environment. We will draw in high quality engineering from Asian (e.g. Japan) and Europe (e.g. France) to lend us the know how of high speed passenger trains.
These projects will be good for the steel works that they will have jobs once again (happy unions will always support you). Since the economy is in the toilet, less people are going for a cruise and less good are been shipped, shipping company are having hard times to the point they are forfeiting their deposits to acquire ships thereby using less steel, the rail project will provide somewhere for all that steel to go. We will have construction in every state in order to link up all the states with low and high speed rail lines; it will look something similar to the interstate. We will not have one company with no bid contract(s), all the states will have this “pork” that for once will really work and produce something for once. Every state will have the same slice of pork and it will be massive and public and open to public scrutiny. Government agencies will get back to work examining, inspecting and enforcing laws, e.g. EPA. We will become energy independence by making electric cars albeit on rails.
Health care, will improve dramatically (I know you don’t like drama but this is one drama you might like), when people are able to get to the ball park on rail (think of the subway series) or to the super bowl on rail then, you Sir, will have made your mark. Walking is good exercise.
Education
You have a very good example, your VP. A very well educated chap. When people start riding the rail to work as Joe (not six pack) has done for all those years while in the senate he can tell you that he has done a lot of reading in those trains than if he were to drive and listen to talk radio which is someone’s opinion (and for the most part toxic) but we tend to forget what our parents taught us “talk is cheap”. Thus a student who lives in Chicago and is attending a school in Atlanta would have more time on the electric car ride to Atlanta reading rather than taking off shoes at the airport and having a high carbon foot print. He/she would reduce his/her carbon foot so dramatically that you would have a dramatic administration. If we had high speed train at a reasonable price people would be willing to ride comfortably rather than fly uncomfortably with luggage and leg room restriction. More people will read “Audacity of Hope” on the train.
When all is said and done in as much as we, shall we say, are not fond of Europeans will say as a the Italians said doing WWII, “we don’t like Mussolini but at least he makes the trains ran on time.”
Thank you,Epiphany
http://pphilosophy.blogspot.com/
Obama Rail Interstate System (ORIS)
Dear Mr. President-Elect,
I know you have ideas of your own, but may I entice you with my idea which if implemented would be a stroke of genius on your part. The question is not whether America needs a make over but how. I propose you invest massively in rail infrastructure and here is why and how to do it. First the why, you will have accomplished three of your major campaign promises; jobs, energy independence and going green, all in the same sentence.
If construction of the interstate rail lines were to begin immediately the short term gain would be visible. Everyone who wants a job would have one, that would drive unemployment to zero if not a deficit of worker and we would have to institute the guest worker program that has been talked about. With a worker deficit the government would not have to pay unemployment insurance thus saving money. With all the people at work tax revenues would ultimately rise since more people are working and paying taxes. This would in turn compel you Sir to honor your other campaign promise to cut taxes to us the 95% of the mid-class family which would expand the mid-class while lifting the lower-class.
That was in the short term, in the long run, since the trains would be using electric line to run, we would have to produce more electricity (nuclear power?) thus more construction. Once the web of rail lines across the whole country are up and running, truck would not need to drive the highways for long distance, they would be only local, thus saving the ware and tear of Eisenhower Interstate system. With a more reliable rail system less people would see the need to drive but within their locality, thereby reducing traffic jams and pollution all at one short. People would get home in time for dinner and just in time to send the kids to bed after helping with the home work.
Now comes the HOW
We have the expertise and know how, 1st don’t bail the big three car companies, let them fail ( this will not be popular but lets remember what my mother used to say growing up “medicine tastes like… well like medicine but it’s good for you.” This will be a bitter pill), they should have failed years ago. Look at the Asian car companies they make good cars and last long. For example, look at the resale valve of a 2001 Honda accord $6,600 vs. 2001 Ford Taurus $4,115. Why are people gravitating towards cars other than Detroit’s? That is the question we should answer by letting them fail. Oh by the way Asian car makers are not asking for handouts. For once, let’s call a spade a spade as opposed to a big spoon. For so long we have buried, Detroit too, our heads in the sand and hoped for the best. The way we have sold and bought cars (and other big ticket items) has to change for three main reasons; one, financial, if one can’t afford it, don’t sell it on credit with zero down, we were selling to individuals who couldn’t put anything down…now that is way smart, they can’t put anything down now and we have faith they will pay in full in the future. If someone doesn’t qualify for zero down then they shouldn’t get to drive off the lot or move into a house. Secondly, for environmental reason, less driving will pollute less thus a better and greener environment. And lastly health, people who drive less walk a lot and people who walk a lot tend to be healthy thereby reducing hospital visits even if they get to eat all the greasy food. Let us for a moment think how we get fat, it’s like a bank account if one was to put in money and doesn’t spend much he/she would end up with a fat bank account. On the other hand, were he to spend as much as he puts in then, there is no way in hell they would have a fat bank account. Our bodies are our food bank accounts and when we make deposits of soft drinks (okay I will include you too, Joe six pack) and greasy food (which if you ask me is not bad, I love it) and they refuse to spend it (exercise\walking) then we are bound to have a fat “back account”. Walking is a good exercise and no matter how much one eats or drinks they will never have a six pack tummy. Casing point, I have never seen (there may be some) a homeless person who for the most part of the day has a brown bag, having a six pack tummy. Why is that so? After great analysis I discovered that Joe is always walking begging for money for the next brown bag. Show me a homeless drunk who is fat and I will show you a homeless drunk who just lost his shirt in the stock market. And am not looking down on the homeless and drunk, am merely making an observation.
Back to the car companies, once the car companies have failed we will have a large work force of engineers and blue-collar works, the lawyers too. Mr. President elect your should institute your massive rail project at his time, hire the lawyers to buy all those lands by the interstates from the government or individuals at a fair market value (we are not in Russia) and then hire engineers to survey while others are planning and build rail cars (as opposed to cars) which will use electricity.
Groups that will benefit are so many, but to mention a few, electric companies since they will have to build power line along the interstates to supply the electric trains with power. This will create the green jobs that you campaigned on, since repairing and servicing the power line for rail car and the cars themselves can’t be out sourced, thus improving the environment. We will draw in high quality engineering from Asian (e.g. Japan) and Europe (e.g. France) to lend us the know how of high speed passenger trains.
These projects will be good for the steel works that they will have jobs once again (happy unions will always support you). Since the economy is in the toilet, less people are going for a cruise and less good are been shipped, shipping company are having hard times to the point they are forfeiting their deposits to acquire ships thereby using less steel, the rail project will provide somewhere for all that steel to go. We will have construction in every state in order to link up all the states with low and high speed rail lines; it will look something similar to the interstate. We will not have one company with no bid contract(s), all the states will have this “pork” that for once will really work and produce something for once. Every state will have the same slice of pork and it will be massive and public and open to public scrutiny. Government agencies will get back to work examining, inspecting and enforcing laws, e.g. EPA. We will become energy independence by making electric cars albeit on rails.
Health care, will improve dramatically (I know you don’t like drama but this is one drama you might like), when people are able to get to the ball park on rail (think of the subway series) or to the super bowl on rail then, you Sir, will have made your mark. Walking is good exercise.
Education
You have a very good example, your VP. A very well educated chap. When people start riding the rail to work as Joe (not six pack) has done for all those years while in the senate he can tell you that he has done a lot of reading in those trains than if he were to drive and listen to talk radio which is someone’s opinion (and for the most part toxic) but we tend to forget what our parents taught us “talk is cheap”. Thus a student who lives in Chicago and is attending a school in Atlanta would have more time on the electric car ride to Atlanta reading rather than taking off shoes at the airport and having a high carbon foot print. He/she would reduce his/her carbon foot so dramatically that you would have a dramatic administration. If we had high speed train at a reasonable price people would be willing to ride comfortably rather than fly uncomfortably with luggage and leg room restriction. More people will read “Audacity of Hope” on the train.
When all is said and done in as much as we, shall we say, are not fond of Europeans will say as a the Italians said doing WWII, “we don’t like Mussolini but at least he makes the trains ran on time.”
Thank you,Epiphany
http://pphilosophy.blogspot.com/
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