How did we get here
So how do six million Jews get killed and no one notices until after the fact? How is it that people have so much hatred to crush two planes into buildings and one in a farmland? It doesn’t just start overnight it is a progression of events which are dismissed as just a few bad apples. Let’s start with the six million Jews that were killed during WWII, it all start with Hitler blaming them for the economic situation of Germany at the time, one has to remember that Germany had lost WWI and they were paying reparations for the war which would be equivalent to higher taxes. Hitler comes to power and blames the Jews for the down fall of the country and its then current state. There are three people that are key to this plot Heinrich Himmler, Josef Goebbels and Herman Goring. These are the people who are in-charge of the propaganda messages that the Jews are to blame. It all starts slowly and been “innocent” and by the time it’s all over six million Jews are dead and even the people who lived right next to the concentration camps had no idea what was going on in them. Some were fight for ideology that they didn’t understand or care to.
Fast forward 50yrs later and one has almost the same thing. When al-Qaeda preaches hatred towards the West most Muslims don’t speak out arguing “am not like that, those are just a few bad apples”. And again the message(of hatred) is passed on by three people Osama bin Laden, Atiyah Abd al-Rahman and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Finally on September 11 the results are deadly, over four thousand people die and the world changes as we knew it. Those events are followed by Madrid then London and all the while Muslims don’t condemn the action openly but covertly “those are not my views, they are the view of a small minority, now we know what the views of a small minority can do if not arrest early on, we the general public will suffer. Now we can’t even get on a plane with a coke or coffee and what we are given on that plane is rationed as if we are living in a planned economy or it was medicine. Just a quick question to the Muslims; why is it that when there is a terror plot or suspicion of one there is always a Muslim associated with it?
Fast forward 58yrs later and we have the same pattern developing, only that this time it’s in America and the rightwing part of the Republican party are flaming the flames of hatred. And once again we have three characters at the center of it, namely Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and what’s his name?....Oh yeah the Sean. Everything that is wrong with the government is been turned to racism and the moderate part of the Republican party is not condemning the views just like the Muslims who were saying “am not like that, those are just a few bad apples” or just like the Germans who were not happy with the Jews, they are becoming a silent minority majority in the Republican party. How long can this going on? I have no answer to that but based on history if we have another shock in the markets or someone gets fired from his job and decides to avoid the legal system to air out his view this country will descend down a spiral that I would even want to contemplate.
Remember WWI was started with the death of one public figure which in turn lead to WWII.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Friday, September 18, 2009
Public Option
The reason why the Obama administration will have the public option in the final Health Bill is very simple, they have played there cards very well and it is ingenious. Max Baucus came out with a bill that had so much of what the Republicans wanted and none, even the 3 Republicans in the gang of 6 supported it. What this means to the Obama administration, the Democrats and country at large is that no matter what they (the administration) do on the health bill(or any other matter) the Republicans will in the end say no, in other words there are not negotiating in good faith (assuming they have faith). The only way for the Obama administration is to force feed the bill and have it voted and once it is in place and people start using the insurance and they get hooked on it it will be hard if not impossible to kill it.
So here is the low down there will be a health bill and it will have a PUBLIC OPTION and it will cost over $900 billion….as to say screw you Republicans we are outta here.
The reason why the Obama administration will have the public option in the final Health Bill is very simple, they have played there cards very well and it is ingenious. Max Baucus came out with a bill that had so much of what the Republicans wanted and none, even the 3 Republicans in the gang of 6 supported it. What this means to the Obama administration, the Democrats and country at large is that no matter what they (the administration) do on the health bill(or any other matter) the Republicans will in the end say no, in other words there are not negotiating in good faith (assuming they have faith). The only way for the Obama administration is to force feed the bill and have it voted and once it is in place and people start using the insurance and they get hooked on it it will be hard if not impossible to kill it.
So here is the low down there will be a health bill and it will have a PUBLIC OPTION and it will cost over $900 billion….as to say screw you Republicans we are outta here.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
America the land of monopolies.
There are so many monopolies but they are camouflaged very well that to the naked eye one can’t see them. Take for example the phone industry why is that one hates ATT but can only get an iphone from them? On the other hand why is it that one hates sprite but can only get Pre from them? This is monopoly which now the regulators are pretending to be looking into, where were they when the deals were made?...in the pockets of the companies. For the average American iphone and Pre (palm) are the best thing since sliced bread, but go to Japan where there is competition….American would be surprised to hear no one wants to buy iphone because the phone there are much much better than America’s best they can buy stuff and pay for train rides.
Banking industry
Another monopoly, wal-mart wants to open a banking arm to its chain of stores but even it has hit a brick wall with the lobbing group of banking industry here in American. If I were to put my money somewhere I would rather put it with Bank of Wal-mart since, if the bank were to go under at least they would pay me with the things I need from the store, groceries as unemployment. FDIC would have less to worry about since they could sell a few wal-marts and get their consumers’ money back. In other countries e.g. Mexico Wal-mart has banking services which is competing with Elekta a Mexican retailer of everything from computers to cars and everything in between. Tesco the UK grocery store is floating around with the idea, Migros, a grocery store, has had a banking arm in Switzerland since 1958. Wow!!! What a monopoly we have here in America, no wonder the banks charge whatever interest they want on credit cards.
Don’t late me get started with the car industry…monopolies don’t last for ever GM anyone?
There are so many monopolies but they are camouflaged very well that to the naked eye one can’t see them. Take for example the phone industry why is that one hates ATT but can only get an iphone from them? On the other hand why is it that one hates sprite but can only get Pre from them? This is monopoly which now the regulators are pretending to be looking into, where were they when the deals were made?...in the pockets of the companies. For the average American iphone and Pre (palm) are the best thing since sliced bread, but go to Japan where there is competition….American would be surprised to hear no one wants to buy iphone because the phone there are much much better than America’s best they can buy stuff and pay for train rides.
Banking industry
Another monopoly, wal-mart wants to open a banking arm to its chain of stores but even it has hit a brick wall with the lobbing group of banking industry here in American. If I were to put my money somewhere I would rather put it with Bank of Wal-mart since, if the bank were to go under at least they would pay me with the things I need from the store, groceries as unemployment. FDIC would have less to worry about since they could sell a few wal-marts and get their consumers’ money back. In other countries e.g. Mexico Wal-mart has banking services which is competing with Elekta a Mexican retailer of everything from computers to cars and everything in between. Tesco the UK grocery store is floating around with the idea, Migros, a grocery store, has had a banking arm in Switzerland since 1958. Wow!!! What a monopoly we have here in America, no wonder the banks charge whatever interest they want on credit cards.
Don’t late me get started with the car industry…monopolies don’t last for ever GM anyone?
Saturday, April 18, 2009
The New World of GM
GM should not be afraid of Bankruptcy as a matter of fact they should embrace it since it would cut them so much slack. They should start thinking of making the new electric cars namely high speed rail cars they should start competing with France, Germany and Japans high speed rail car builders rather than stick to a failed model and protecting suppliers. American Car Makers, lets just face it, the Japanese have kicked our asses in making cars that the masses like, love and are efficient on gas. GM would hire more people and get more money from the stimulus money. GM!!! wake up smell the coffee and look at the new economy which is reducing the dependency on oil by embracing high speed rail.
GM should not be afraid of Bankruptcy as a matter of fact they should embrace it since it would cut them so much slack. They should start thinking of making the new electric cars namely high speed rail cars they should start competing with France, Germany and Japans high speed rail car builders rather than stick to a failed model and protecting suppliers. American Car Makers, lets just face it, the Japanese have kicked our asses in making cars that the masses like, love and are efficient on gas. GM would hire more people and get more money from the stimulus money. GM!!! wake up smell the coffee and look at the new economy which is reducing the dependency on oil by embracing high speed rail.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Thursday, March 26, 2009
The executive pay at AIG, Merrill Lynch and other companies around the world in places such as TeliaSonera in Sweden and Valeo in France makes no sense at all. Executive have got paid well even as the companies they ran were running to the tax payers for help have got me wondering. In the hay days we didn’t mind that much of these payments to executives since we assumed they were been paid for the “good” job they did (so we thought) making profits for the companies. No public outrage was shown and if it was, it was kept at a minimum. Now the problem comes when they are losing money, I don’t buy even at a discount any of that contracts BS. How can a contract be written to the effect that there is no downside to whatever one does? If the is the case everyone should get a college degree with his/her acceptance letter in the mail and after four year a frame and a minor degree in another major. Once in college they should attend the classes they want, drink as much as they want, forget the repercussion, the “contract” degree is at home and you are waiting for the frame and the minor degree after four years. Oh yeah if you drink too much and you get caught by the campus police and they threaten to lock you up just request an early delivery of you frame and you can leave and head to another college. The only other person that gets paid even if he/she is wrong is the weatherman who by the way said that today was going to be sunny, but it is raining like hell. And I love it when they say “we have a 20% chance of rain or 75% or even 60%” but when they say “we have a 50% chance of rain” I have no idea what the means…it might rain or it might not rain? you pick.
When these companies made money they got rewarded but when they fail to make money they should be punished. Please don’t give me that rubbish that they need bonuses to perform, if that were the case then these are not the right people to do that kind of work. People should work because they love what they do and the bonuses should be extra icing on the cake. Take pilots for example, they do it because they love it and they do due diligence with a check list to make sure all they systems are working right.
When these companies made money they got rewarded but when they fail to make money they should be punished. Please don’t give me that rubbish that they need bonuses to perform, if that were the case then these are not the right people to do that kind of work. People should work because they love what they do and the bonuses should be extra icing on the cake. Take pilots for example, they do it because they love it and they do due diligence with a check list to make sure all they systems are working right.
Monday, March 09, 2009
Moral Hazard caused Global Imbalance thus leading to current Financial Crisis.
It is said that science is cumulative while business is cyclic. In other words the current financial crisis will happen again if capitalism doesn’t reinvent itself. The level of inequality in the current system is outrageous and the reason people haven’t noticed is because they are too busy working trying to pay for this inequality.
Take the case of “sir” Allen Stanford’s web of company that was doing billions of dollars of business, the bank’s assets had burgeoned from $1bn in 2000 to more than $8bn at the end of 2008. “sir” Allen had faced regulatory scrutiny before it all came falling. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (Finra) had fined the Stanford Group a total of $70,000 in April 2007 for failing to adequately state the risks involved in the CD investments and to disclose that an affiliation between the broker-dealer and the bank could pose a conflict of interest. Stanford consented to the sanctions without admitting or denying wrongdoing (whatever that means), according to a file on Finra website. Assuming that in 2007 Stanford Group made $7bn and was fined just $70,000, that’s not even the cost of doing business. This form of punishment doesn’t deter a repeat of the same. Assuming someone is making $50,000 per year and has a speeding ticket he or she would have to pay 0.70 cent at this rate. That would not be a sufficient reason to deter the driver from speeding again. This is not akin to moral hazard but moral hazard in blight yellow colors. The only part that has tried to address moral hazard a bit is the tax code which is calculated in terms of a percentage. But the rich (e.g. Tim Geithner’s more than $34,000 tax bill, forget Tom Daschle) are able to circumvent this process with the help of offshore banking and tax attorneys there by leaving the poor citizens who can’t play this game since the taxes are withheld by the government. In order to address this moral hazard all fines should be paid as a percentage of one’s income.
If a company (or a person) is to be fined for any violation they should be fined as a percentage of their income. Thus a speeding ticket shouldn’t be a flat $100(an example) for a person making a quarter of a million dollars or one making $50,000 or minimum wage.
This global rate of high inequality and tax evasion has left the government with little income to depend on. The rich are getting richer (I have nothing against that) but they are evading tax thereby leaving the baggage to the poor who are getting poorer thus falling income hence falling taxes, but they are enjoying the protection if the government as citizens.
It is said that science is cumulative while business is cyclic. In other words the current financial crisis will happen again if capitalism doesn’t reinvent itself. The level of inequality in the current system is outrageous and the reason people haven’t noticed is because they are too busy working trying to pay for this inequality.
Take the case of “sir” Allen Stanford’s web of company that was doing billions of dollars of business, the bank’s assets had burgeoned from $1bn in 2000 to more than $8bn at the end of 2008. “sir” Allen had faced regulatory scrutiny before it all came falling. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (Finra) had fined the Stanford Group a total of $70,000 in April 2007 for failing to adequately state the risks involved in the CD investments and to disclose that an affiliation between the broker-dealer and the bank could pose a conflict of interest. Stanford consented to the sanctions without admitting or denying wrongdoing (whatever that means), according to a file on Finra website. Assuming that in 2007 Stanford Group made $7bn and was fined just $70,000, that’s not even the cost of doing business. This form of punishment doesn’t deter a repeat of the same. Assuming someone is making $50,000 per year and has a speeding ticket he or she would have to pay 0.70 cent at this rate. That would not be a sufficient reason to deter the driver from speeding again. This is not akin to moral hazard but moral hazard in blight yellow colors. The only part that has tried to address moral hazard a bit is the tax code which is calculated in terms of a percentage. But the rich (e.g. Tim Geithner’s more than $34,000 tax bill, forget Tom Daschle) are able to circumvent this process with the help of offshore banking and tax attorneys there by leaving the poor citizens who can’t play this game since the taxes are withheld by the government. In order to address this moral hazard all fines should be paid as a percentage of one’s income.
If a company (or a person) is to be fined for any violation they should be fined as a percentage of their income. Thus a speeding ticket shouldn’t be a flat $100(an example) for a person making a quarter of a million dollars or one making $50,000 or minimum wage.
This global rate of high inequality and tax evasion has left the government with little income to depend on. The rich are getting richer (I have nothing against that) but they are evading tax thereby leaving the baggage to the poor who are getting poorer thus falling income hence falling taxes, but they are enjoying the protection if the government as citizens.
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
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