Far less people than the many in the world are able to emanate light. Those who can sometimes do not. They have their reasons and any one is good enough. It takes an abundance of energy to give light. Intellect is a requisite, so is knowledge, wisdom and character but none of them is the equivalent of light, but light is all of that and more. They lie beyond the imagination, including the source, and are beyond description. Those who have light know it. It is uncertain if one acquires light or is blessed with it. Even those with it have their challenges.
Not all light is the same but all is desirable. It is doubtful that any single human has all the light. For this reason, givers of light are also takers. Light givers benefit one another when they take from each other. By doing so they become brighter together. Therefore, not all light takers are evil.
Undoubtedly some are. Like a black hole in the universe, these evil ones are insatiable vortices that capture light and extinguish it. Light givers know immediately when the energy that produces light is being sucked out by the evil one, or one of its immediate surrogates, leaving them totally drained if they are lucky enough to get out alive. Then there are those who are just plain vanilla suckers of light, they are the amateurs, who may even be seductive, and light givers who become suckered in would eventually come to a rather painful and perhaps even bitter realization after much tolerance and much time has passed.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Monday, August 29, 2011
Politician Defending Obama
A democratic politician questioned by Megyn Kelly on Fox News regarding Obama's lousy performance and low ratings quipped: Katrina, Irene and George Bush are natural disasters that take time to clean up.
Saturday, August 27, 2011
The Timelessness of Time
I first heard of Einstein's Theory of Relativity in high school but understood none of it. In time, I believed it to be true, that the clock slows for the one who is traveling at the speed of light relative to another who is stationary on earth, and corollaries that point to concurrent planes of existence at every moment in the past and in the future. Now I realize all that is fiction and a waste of genius and that time simply exists as a whole without relative parts or planes, in neutrality without a beginning or an end and as a constant without change. And it certainly exists without being clocked. This realization has led to my conclusion that time is timeless.
Time has a past, a present and a future but exists only in the present moment. The past and future is each a view from the present. A moment in the present is the state of being, or time's present, and the instant and simultaneous aggregation of all that is past and all that is to come, for something that is now must necessarily be a distillation of everything that had been and everything that is expected combined with the current state of being. In other words, any present moment is the sum of time's past, present and future. Since time exists only in the present moment and is also an uninterrupted sequence of consecutive present moments formed by the past, present and future into an inseparable whole, time is therefore timeless.
Time, being a constant, is the same for an adult as it is for a newborn. A newborn exits the womb and exists in the present moment and therefore it has the current state of being. It also has the requisite past and future to form an aggregate that is its present. For the newborn, its past is only its DNA. Its future, limited by the lack of established thoughts and expectations, is its instinct to breathe the next breath and the drive to be fed and held, to observe and absorb. So the infant's state of being, a biological entity with all its permutations and limitations that is its present, together with its short past and future are the infant's present moment. For the adult, its developed character, its thoughts and expectations, both rational and irrational form the past and future, combined with its state of being, similarly defined as that of an infant, form the present, although its present moment is unenviably more complex than the infant's.
Recap: Regardless of the theory that uses time as a reference point, what is made to measure time, how humans spend, monetize or think of time and how things rely on or react to time, time is constantly there. It simply exists and it exists in the present moment, a present moment being defined as an integrated whole of what is past, present and future. When the past, present and future are one and the same in the present moment, time becomes and is timeless.
Time has a past, a present and a future but exists only in the present moment. The past and future is each a view from the present. A moment in the present is the state of being, or time's present, and the instant and simultaneous aggregation of all that is past and all that is to come, for something that is now must necessarily be a distillation of everything that had been and everything that is expected combined with the current state of being. In other words, any present moment is the sum of time's past, present and future. Since time exists only in the present moment and is also an uninterrupted sequence of consecutive present moments formed by the past, present and future into an inseparable whole, time is therefore timeless.
Time, being a constant, is the same for an adult as it is for a newborn. A newborn exits the womb and exists in the present moment and therefore it has the current state of being. It also has the requisite past and future to form an aggregate that is its present. For the newborn, its past is only its DNA. Its future, limited by the lack of established thoughts and expectations, is its instinct to breathe the next breath and the drive to be fed and held, to observe and absorb. So the infant's state of being, a biological entity with all its permutations and limitations that is its present, together with its short past and future are the infant's present moment. For the adult, its developed character, its thoughts and expectations, both rational and irrational form the past and future, combined with its state of being, similarly defined as that of an infant, form the present, although its present moment is unenviably more complex than the infant's.
Recap: Regardless of the theory that uses time as a reference point, what is made to measure time, how humans spend, monetize or think of time and how things rely on or react to time, time is constantly there. It simply exists and it exists in the present moment, a present moment being defined as an integrated whole of what is past, present and future. When the past, present and future are one and the same in the present moment, time becomes and is timeless.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Out-of-stock
Nobody seemed to want a 16GB HP TouchPad for $399 but when HP decided to discontinue the product this past weekend after about 50 days on the market and marked it down $300, they were sold out around the world "within minutes" in the stores and online. How many minutes? No one is exactly sure.
Some people who were fast enough to grab one on sale but did not like the Palm OS that HP paid $1.2 billion for in April 2010 had replaced it with Google's Android. Now the world has TouchDroid but nowhere is a $99 HP TouchPad to be found. I could almost hear voices in HP's Palo Alto boardroom wondering what to do next.
Presumably, HP still has quite a few in inventory but is not releasing them. "Out of stock" is being indicated on the HP website for its Touchpads. I suppose nobody is truly prepared to write an official obituary on them just yet and believe that a phoenix is in the making. Will it fly off the shelf? At $99, I think so.
Some people who were fast enough to grab one on sale but did not like the Palm OS that HP paid $1.2 billion for in April 2010 had replaced it with Google's Android. Now the world has TouchDroid but nowhere is a $99 HP TouchPad to be found. I could almost hear voices in HP's Palo Alto boardroom wondering what to do next.
Presumably, HP still has quite a few in inventory but is not releasing them. "Out of stock" is being indicated on the HP website for its Touchpads. I suppose nobody is truly prepared to write an official obituary on them just yet and believe that a phoenix is in the making. Will it fly off the shelf? At $99, I think so.
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Life’s Puzzling Questions
During a moment of quiet my mind returned to matters more intangible and elusive from those more grounded in business and politics. It is in this metaphysical realm that a degree of equilibrium between consternation and clarity exists.
The basic question is not as dramatic as Shakespeare's “to be or not to be,” or to live or die. It is to be or to do.
The answer can either be (a) or (b) but does one necessarily have to precede the other? No, in the case of a trust fund baby who is able to grow up and live a pampered life without having to be productive. So the question is a real choice for the “spoon-fed” adult in the “Garden of Eden” in his prime having health, wealth and youth simultaneously. With these concurrent gifts, should he simply be or should he do something? Is it (a) or is it (b)?
Or, is it (c), neither, for this is not a dilemma for his free will, his parents or the wise but for time, fate or chance to mold its outcome? Can an answer be gleaned from the life of a saint and contrasting it with that of a sinner?
In the case of Francis of Assisi, son of a wealthy merchant, he simply lived, and lived simply. God spoke to him. He remained a humble and holy servant till death.
In the case of GW Bush, born to a wealthy and politically powerful family, he took life by its horns, and rode it as if it were a bucking rodeo bull. Allegedly God spoke to him. He is the current titleholder of Worst U.S. president, an unenviable recognition given to him by 60% of historians in 2009. See http://hnn.us/articles/48916.html
An answer may not be as obvious as one would like and may come as late as the moment of death, and maybe different for different people so that either (a), (b) or (c) could be correct as well as wrong. It would be correct if joy or peace arrives with impending death but wrong if fear or emptiness looms at death's imminence.
The basic question is not as dramatic as Shakespeare's “to be or not to be,” or to live or die. It is to be or to do.
The answer can either be (a) or (b) but does one necessarily have to precede the other? No, in the case of a trust fund baby who is able to grow up and live a pampered life without having to be productive. So the question is a real choice for the “spoon-fed” adult in the “Garden of Eden” in his prime having health, wealth and youth simultaneously. With these concurrent gifts, should he simply be or should he do something? Is it (a) or is it (b)?
Or, is it (c), neither, for this is not a dilemma for his free will, his parents or the wise but for time, fate or chance to mold its outcome? Can an answer be gleaned from the life of a saint and contrasting it with that of a sinner?
In the case of Francis of Assisi, son of a wealthy merchant, he simply lived, and lived simply. God spoke to him. He remained a humble and holy servant till death.
In the case of GW Bush, born to a wealthy and politically powerful family, he took life by its horns, and rode it as if it were a bucking rodeo bull. Allegedly God spoke to him. He is the current titleholder of Worst U.S. president, an unenviable recognition given to him by 60% of historians in 2009. See http://hnn.us/articles/48916.html
An answer may not be as obvious as one would like and may come as late as the moment of death, and maybe different for different people so that either (a), (b) or (c) could be correct as well as wrong. It would be correct if joy or peace arrives with impending death but wrong if fear or emptiness looms at death's imminence.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Seriously, Syria?
I believe the United States should get out of the business of being the police force of the world and asking for regime changes. Short of that, there should be a law requiring commentators and politicians, including presidents, their advisers and cabinet members, members of Congress and talking heads on television who advocate regime changes in other countries to give up their citizenship and move there to govern. That way, they put their money where their mouths are, and I wish them every success.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Polls, Press & Politics
The Presidential campaign season has officially begun in the midst of a national debt crisis, an unemployment crisis and a European economic crisis. One would assume that the President, the members of Congress, the candidates, the press and the pollsters would focus on the problems at hand and ways to solve them.
Instead, the pollsters are interested in a straw poll on the presidential candidates, the press in the characters that play them and the politicians in their vacations and their own campaigns. That brings to mind Nero who fiddled while Rome burned.
I must take life too seriously. I ought to simply skip the headlines and the news channels and ignore drama after drama that is being played out by those financially well-heeled and politically powerful at the expense of those that are poor since they are the ones who will ultimately bear the heaviest of burdens, not me.
My doomsday scenario is not pretty. Even though the rich and the powerful will lose a significant portion of their wealth, they nonetheless will still have their organic feed (no typo here), their healthcare, their expensive toys and their vacations.
Not the poor. They will work harder and have less, and when they become sick, even with Obamacare, assuming it overcomes all constitutional challenges, I imagine that they will not have quick access to good health care. Whatever care they will get will only be gotten after long waiting periods and excessive red tape that will cost society more in lawsuits than Obama ever imagined, even though Obama had argued that it will save money in the long run. As the saying goes, in the long run, we will all be dead.
Meanwhile, should we not attempt to minimize the damage that I believe will come?
If so, why then does the media not turn its collective lens back on the issues and ways to solve them instead of chasing after the latest political gaffe, sensationalizing it and ending up with nothing productive or worse, another GW Bush and more wars? In that case, Obamacare would be cheap by comparison in terms of dollars and lives spent.
I am so disillusioned.
Instead, the pollsters are interested in a straw poll on the presidential candidates, the press in the characters that play them and the politicians in their vacations and their own campaigns. That brings to mind Nero who fiddled while Rome burned.
I must take life too seriously. I ought to simply skip the headlines and the news channels and ignore drama after drama that is being played out by those financially well-heeled and politically powerful at the expense of those that are poor since they are the ones who will ultimately bear the heaviest of burdens, not me.
My doomsday scenario is not pretty. Even though the rich and the powerful will lose a significant portion of their wealth, they nonetheless will still have their organic feed (no typo here), their healthcare, their expensive toys and their vacations.
Not the poor. They will work harder and have less, and when they become sick, even with Obamacare, assuming it overcomes all constitutional challenges, I imagine that they will not have quick access to good health care. Whatever care they will get will only be gotten after long waiting periods and excessive red tape that will cost society more in lawsuits than Obama ever imagined, even though Obama had argued that it will save money in the long run. As the saying goes, in the long run, we will all be dead.
Meanwhile, should we not attempt to minimize the damage that I believe will come?
If so, why then does the media not turn its collective lens back on the issues and ways to solve them instead of chasing after the latest political gaffe, sensationalizing it and ending up with nothing productive or worse, another GW Bush and more wars? In that case, Obamacare would be cheap by comparison in terms of dollars and lives spent.
I am so disillusioned.
Sunday, August 14, 2011
The Three Faces of Hope
Hope is an illusion of perfection and a desire for perfection, not Perfection itself. In this paragraph, Perfection is all that is good even though evil can also achieve perfection and when it does, it can be manifested in Greed, Hope's identical twin.
Hope must not be confused with Faith. Hope lives in the realm of uncertainty whereas Faith is unwavering. Hope induces stress; Faith eliminates it. Hope is the mirror image of Faith. They are as difficult to tell apart as they are different, like cubic zirconia and diamonds. The seller of Hope would like you to think that you are buying Faith.
Hope resides in the imagination. It is neutral, it is dreamy, has multiple layers, is priceless and when monetized, and way overpriced at every level. Hope is manipulative and can induce delusions of Perfection in good or in evil. Its identical twin, Greed, resides in the intellect. In the intellect, Greed is methodical, calculating and ruthless. It uses the intellect to destroy all that stands in its path. Faith, the most abstract face of Hope and the most elusive, resides in the heart and cannot be bought. At any point in time, Faith is either present or absent; there is no in between. When it is present, it is powerful. Its energy is constant; it creates and sustains inner peace. It is perfection in fulfillment.
The person, or an inner voice, that makes you think of Hope targets your imagination but what he or it really wants is your heart.
If Hope wins, then the heart is left with the image of Faith and all it can deliver with Hope in residence are insatiable desires and turmoil, but that is not the worst. The worst is when the evil twin of Hope emerges, and it will emerge in those who are without sufficient intestinal fortitude to contain Hope's burning desires. With Greed already residing in the intellect and now finding a second home in the Heart, you have become an official agent of Satan.
Life presents us with all three faces of Hope. In those epic battles between good and evil we see all three. The face of victory can be anyone of them and it is determined by will, Free Will.
Hope must not be confused with Faith. Hope lives in the realm of uncertainty whereas Faith is unwavering. Hope induces stress; Faith eliminates it. Hope is the mirror image of Faith. They are as difficult to tell apart as they are different, like cubic zirconia and diamonds. The seller of Hope would like you to think that you are buying Faith.
Hope resides in the imagination. It is neutral, it is dreamy, has multiple layers, is priceless and when monetized, and way overpriced at every level. Hope is manipulative and can induce delusions of Perfection in good or in evil. Its identical twin, Greed, resides in the intellect. In the intellect, Greed is methodical, calculating and ruthless. It uses the intellect to destroy all that stands in its path. Faith, the most abstract face of Hope and the most elusive, resides in the heart and cannot be bought. At any point in time, Faith is either present or absent; there is no in between. When it is present, it is powerful. Its energy is constant; it creates and sustains inner peace. It is perfection in fulfillment.
The person, or an inner voice, that makes you think of Hope targets your imagination but what he or it really wants is your heart.
If Hope wins, then the heart is left with the image of Faith and all it can deliver with Hope in residence are insatiable desires and turmoil, but that is not the worst. The worst is when the evil twin of Hope emerges, and it will emerge in those who are without sufficient intestinal fortitude to contain Hope's burning desires. With Greed already residing in the intellect and now finding a second home in the Heart, you have become an official agent of Satan.
Life presents us with all three faces of Hope. In those epic battles between good and evil we see all three. The face of victory can be anyone of them and it is determined by will, Free Will.
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Stop Whining Mr. President
I used to think it was grossly unfair for the right-wing republicans to blame President Obama for the debt crisis and all the ills in the economy, and when he defended himself by reminding his critics that he had inherited the entire economic disaster from GW Bush, I would agree completely.
Not anymore.
With all due respect, Mr. President, you knew in 2007 that GW Bush's economic bomb had exploded yet you continued to run for the presidency, confident that you can bring change to Washington and hope to a world ruined by GW Bush. On the day you were sworn in, you inherited all of GW Bush's ruins that became a growing cancer that you had to excise. Instead of cleaning up GW Bush's failures, you together with your democratic Congress added to them by listening to the same voices that spoke to GW Bush and spending money that the United States did not have. Today, you own all of his failures and those of yours. Therefore, please show your courage and as a leader accept the responsibilities that you ran to undertake and admit your failures.
Your only defense is time, that it takes time for the economy to recover, except that time is not on your side. The next election is about 15 months away. I have been harsh in my criticism, but I have been also been fair. Perhaps history will be kinder and I believe it will.
If there is any hope left for a second term, and if my vote for you can still have meaning for me, then you have to take that bold gamble as commander-in-chief and disengage from involvement in Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan, not years from now but now, and don't even think of meddling in Syria or the Mid-east. If worse come to worst, drop a tiny nuclear bomb. It's fast, it's easy and it's a game changer. Of course, people will be upset but people are upset now, so what difference does it make?
Not anymore.
With all due respect, Mr. President, you knew in 2007 that GW Bush's economic bomb had exploded yet you continued to run for the presidency, confident that you can bring change to Washington and hope to a world ruined by GW Bush. On the day you were sworn in, you inherited all of GW Bush's ruins that became a growing cancer that you had to excise. Instead of cleaning up GW Bush's failures, you together with your democratic Congress added to them by listening to the same voices that spoke to GW Bush and spending money that the United States did not have. Today, you own all of his failures and those of yours. Therefore, please show your courage and as a leader accept the responsibilities that you ran to undertake and admit your failures.
Your only defense is time, that it takes time for the economy to recover, except that time is not on your side. The next election is about 15 months away. I have been harsh in my criticism, but I have been also been fair. Perhaps history will be kinder and I believe it will.
If there is any hope left for a second term, and if my vote for you can still have meaning for me, then you have to take that bold gamble as commander-in-chief and disengage from involvement in Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan, not years from now but now, and don't even think of meddling in Syria or the Mid-east. If worse come to worst, drop a tiny nuclear bomb. It's fast, it's easy and it's a game changer. Of course, people will be upset but people are upset now, so what difference does it make?
Two Simple Fiscal Policies To Match Bernanke's New Monetary Policy
On Wednesday, August 10, Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke took a decidedly anti-Greenspan approach and disclosed to the world that he would hold interest rates low until mid-2013 to stem the hemorrhage on Wall Street. I believe it worked.
On the fiscal side, the President and Congress have done nothing so I have decided to think for them. To match the "full-disclosure" monetary policy, I propose two new fiscal policies to be implemented at the same time:
1. JOB CREATION BASED ON A TAX CREDIT - A dollar for dollar tax credit for any person or business that hires a new worker, part-time or full-time, up to a maximum of $100,000 per year per worker and,
2. PRIVATE SECTOR SPENDING BASED ON A TAX THREAT - Simplify the definition of the Accumulated Earnings Tax "AET" (i.e. close all loopholes), raise the AET rate to 75%, and enforce it, so that companies sitting on a mountain of cash would be encouraged to either pay it out in dividends, spend the money on new hires or otherwise use the money productively and grow their businesses.
More draconian actions: Federal Maximum Wage Law, reducing unemployment benefits by 50 percent together with a dollar for dollar tax credit for charitable contributions to benefit the jobless and the homeless, cut the number of legislators by 25 percent and reduce legislation by 25 percent, mandate no-fault insurance and eliminate tort and business fraud claims, postpone the effective date of Obamacare until the unemployment figure drops to 4%, etc.
On the fiscal side, the President and Congress have done nothing so I have decided to think for them. To match the "full-disclosure" monetary policy, I propose two new fiscal policies to be implemented at the same time:
1. JOB CREATION BASED ON A TAX CREDIT - A dollar for dollar tax credit for any person or business that hires a new worker, part-time or full-time, up to a maximum of $100,000 per year per worker and,
2. PRIVATE SECTOR SPENDING BASED ON A TAX THREAT - Simplify the definition of the Accumulated Earnings Tax "AET" (i.e. close all loopholes), raise the AET rate to 75%, and enforce it, so that companies sitting on a mountain of cash would be encouraged to either pay it out in dividends, spend the money on new hires or otherwise use the money productively and grow their businesses.
More draconian actions: Federal Maximum Wage Law, reducing unemployment benefits by 50 percent together with a dollar for dollar tax credit for charitable contributions to benefit the jobless and the homeless, cut the number of legislators by 25 percent and reduce legislation by 25 percent, mandate no-fault insurance and eliminate tort and business fraud claims, postpone the effective date of Obamacare until the unemployment figure drops to 4%, etc.
Friday, August 12, 2011
Republican Primary Debate in Iowa
Many of the candidates were strangers to me. From the bits and pieces I had heard in a rebroadcast, Rep. Ron Paul made the most sense. I have always liked him except for the fact that he is from Texas. There are some things I do not like about Texas. It is the state in which President Kennedy was shot and the state that produced GW Bush.
I also liked what former Speaker Newt Gingrich said, which is surprising because he was someone I disliked greatly in the past.
One candidate I would like to know more about is Jon Huntsman. He was a former governor of Utah and the recently resigned (April 2011) ambassador to China under Obama and son of Jon Huntsman Sr. who founded Huntsman Corporation, a global conglomerate traded on the NYSE. He struck me initially as a smooth-talking politician who would offend nobody.
After reading up on him a bit more, I think he could very well be the next President of the United States. Honestly, right now, I would vote for him to be the next President.
The rest of the group I do not care for and have no comment.
I also liked what former Speaker Newt Gingrich said, which is surprising because he was someone I disliked greatly in the past.
One candidate I would like to know more about is Jon Huntsman. He was a former governor of Utah and the recently resigned (April 2011) ambassador to China under Obama and son of Jon Huntsman Sr. who founded Huntsman Corporation, a global conglomerate traded on the NYSE. He struck me initially as a smooth-talking politician who would offend nobody.
After reading up on him a bit more, I think he could very well be the next President of the United States. Honestly, right now, I would vote for him to be the next President.
The rest of the group I do not care for and have no comment.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Europe's Telltale Acronyms
First came the PIGS - Portugal, Ireland, Greece & Spain.
Then the piggI - Italy.
Next is France - F.
To be followed by my predictions: United Kingdom - U.K.
And Deutschland - D.
In short, it's F.U.K.D.!
Then the piggI - Italy.
Next is France - F.
To be followed by my predictions: United Kingdom - U.K.
And Deutschland - D.
In short, it's F.U.K.D.!
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
A Sigh of Relief & A Brief Recap
Things got pretty tense the last week of July with the possibility of US defaulting on its debt were Washington not been able to reach a compromise in raising the debt ceiling. The day before default was scheduled to kick in, the President signed a compromise bill.
With the US debt default now old news and the debt issue still at the forefront of people's minds, the focus returned to Italy. It became clearer than ever that the world was no longer pregnant with a piggy but had given birth to a real big piggI to add to the family of PIGS countries. Not to be outdone, the US reclaimed its notoriety with S&P's downgrade of the US debt last Friday, followed by more downgrades yesterday of the Federal Home Loan Banks, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
The Dow summarized the events well: from Monday, July 25 to Monday, August 8, the Dow's close went down from 12,593 to 10,810, a 1,783 point or 14% drop.
Today, Tuesday, the markets are recovering somewhat. It is a welcomed relief. I wish the upward trend would continue although volatility will likely be the norm.
Until I see a cure, I am going to adhere to my doom and gloom prediction based on my analysis. For some time, the world will still ride the tide of happy thoughts based on false hopes, petty greed and flat denials. One day, and that day will be here sooner than most would expect, the US dollar will show its real worth and that day will not be pretty.
On the US dollar bill are printed these very words: Federal Reserve Note. Between the last two words, it is more appropriate now than ever to insert "Promissory" for the Federal Reserve Note is truly a debt. The only question left is what percentage is debt and what percentage is worth.
With the US debt default now old news and the debt issue still at the forefront of people's minds, the focus returned to Italy. It became clearer than ever that the world was no longer pregnant with a piggy but had given birth to a real big piggI to add to the family of PIGS countries. Not to be outdone, the US reclaimed its notoriety with S&P's downgrade of the US debt last Friday, followed by more downgrades yesterday of the Federal Home Loan Banks, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
The Dow summarized the events well: from Monday, July 25 to Monday, August 8, the Dow's close went down from 12,593 to 10,810, a 1,783 point or 14% drop.
Today, Tuesday, the markets are recovering somewhat. It is a welcomed relief. I wish the upward trend would continue although volatility will likely be the norm.
Until I see a cure, I am going to adhere to my doom and gloom prediction based on my analysis. For some time, the world will still ride the tide of happy thoughts based on false hopes, petty greed and flat denials. One day, and that day will be here sooner than most would expect, the US dollar will show its real worth and that day will not be pretty.
On the US dollar bill are printed these very words: Federal Reserve Note. Between the last two words, it is more appropriate now than ever to insert "Promissory" for the Federal Reserve Note is truly a debt. The only question left is what percentage is debt and what percentage is worth.
Monday, August 8, 2011
The S&P Downgrades of FHLBs, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac
I already commented on the ceremonial nature of the S&P downgrade of United States debt and believed that the debt downgrade would not have any serious impact on the markets. Well, I was part wrong and part right.
I was part wrong because the Asian markets reacted negatively, not knowing anything about the United States' Full Faith & Credit Clause. This first downgrade ever caused the panic sell off on Monday in Asia. Then the US stock opened with stocks edging slightly lower, from yesterday's close of 11,444.61 to open at 11,425.61.
However, I was part right because the bond market rallied with higher prices and lower yields: "Yields on the benchmark 10-year notes ... dropped 20 basis points to 2.37%, after initially rising to around 2.59% in Asian trading hours. Yields and prices move in opposite directions and a basis point is 1/100th of a percentage point. The decline is the swiftest one-day move since May 2009[.]" See http://www.marketwatch.com/story/treasury-yields-inch-up-after-sp-move-2011-08-07
As the stocks moved gradually lower after the open, down about 200 points, S&P dropped two more bombshells around 10 a.m.:
"NEW YORK (Standard & Poor's) Aug. 8, 2011--Standard & Poor's Ratings Services
said today that it lowered its issuer credit ratings and related issue ratings
on 10 of 12 Federal Home Loan Banks (FHLBs) and the senior debt issued by the
FHLB System to 'AA+' from 'AAA'. We have also lowered the ratings on the
senior debt issued by the Federal Farm Credit Banks to 'AA+' from 'AAA'....
In addition, we have lowered the senior issue ratings on Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac to 'AA+' from 'AAA'...." See http://www.businessinsider.com/sp-downgrades-fannie-and-freddie-as-stocks-tumble-to-their-lows-of-the-day-2011-8
Since the announcement, the market went down another 400 points approximately. The total point drop for the day was 634.76.
I was part wrong because the Asian markets reacted negatively, not knowing anything about the United States' Full Faith & Credit Clause. This first downgrade ever caused the panic sell off on Monday in Asia. Then the US stock opened with stocks edging slightly lower, from yesterday's close of 11,444.61 to open at 11,425.61.
However, I was part right because the bond market rallied with higher prices and lower yields: "Yields on the benchmark 10-year notes ... dropped 20 basis points to 2.37%, after initially rising to around 2.59% in Asian trading hours. Yields and prices move in opposite directions and a basis point is 1/100th of a percentage point. The decline is the swiftest one-day move since May 2009[.]" See http://www.marketwatch.com/story/treasury-yields-inch-up-after-sp-move-2011-08-07
As the stocks moved gradually lower after the open, down about 200 points, S&P dropped two more bombshells around 10 a.m.:
"NEW YORK (Standard & Poor's) Aug. 8, 2011--Standard & Poor's Ratings Services
said today that it lowered its issuer credit ratings and related issue ratings
on 10 of 12 Federal Home Loan Banks (FHLBs) and the senior debt issued by the
FHLB System to 'AA+' from 'AAA'. We have also lowered the ratings on the
senior debt issued by the Federal Farm Credit Banks to 'AA+' from 'AAA'....
In addition, we have lowered the senior issue ratings on Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac to 'AA+' from 'AAA'...." See http://www.businessinsider.com/sp-downgrades-fannie-and-freddie-as-stocks-tumble-to-their-lows-of-the-day-2011-8
Since the announcement, the market went down another 400 points approximately. The total point drop for the day was 634.76.
Finger-pointing Out of Control in Washington
I turned on the TV and almost everyone in Washington is pointing a finger at someone else as a result of the DOW dropping 634.67 points or 5.55 percent. No one has stood up to accept any blame even when the very people in charge, including the last administration and its Congress, have been part of the problem. Worse yet, no one has come up with a solution. More disgusting are the comments by those presidential candidates who have nothing to say but state the obvious. They have politicized a disaster rather than uniting behind it, trying to get the country and the world out of this economic mess.
I do not find any candidate running for president having the requisite knowledge or intellect to deal with the economic realities, nor do I find President Obama having any idea in solving the problem other than politicizing it like the others. At a time when the President has to show knowledge, intellect and leadership, President Obama has disappointed.
It is a national disgrace for the United States to fall from being the best to being no better than the rest. As the finger-pointing in Washington continues, the country's debt is continuing it upward climb.
I do not find any candidate running for president having the requisite knowledge or intellect to deal with the economic realities, nor do I find President Obama having any idea in solving the problem other than politicizing it like the others. At a time when the President has to show knowledge, intellect and leadership, President Obama has disappointed.
It is a national disgrace for the United States to fall from being the best to being no better than the rest. As the finger-pointing in Washington continues, the country's debt is continuing it upward climb.
Economics - A Course in Futility
Disclaimer: I am not an economist and know very little about economics but am prepared to trash it.
Personal Background. I was taking Econ 101 at UCLA. First thing on the board was a simple graph showing the correlation between price and supply. The higher the price, the more the supply. The next graph showed the relationship between price and demand. The higher the price, the less the demand. What followed was an X on the graph showing the equilibrium point. The concept of elasticity was introduced. All that went fairly well. Then trouble started. The graphs started to shift. And it dawned on me: "Oh my God! They are trying to graph unpredictable human behavior." That was the last economic class I ever took. The last one at UCLA anyway.
I transferred to UC Berkeley. I took another economics class. That one I enjoyed. It contrasted John Kenneth Galbraith planned economy with Milton Freedman capitalism. I got an A+ on my final and an A in the course. I argued in favor of Galbraith and the professor liked that. What did you expect? I was at UC Berkeley, not the University of Chicago. Oh, and I quoted the professor whenever I could on the final.
To be sure, I liked neither Galbraith's or Friedman's positions entirely even though both were at times perfectly convincing. Away from school and in the real world, my interest in economics began to decline and my opinion of economists is at a disdainful low.
Opinion. With volumes of published economic treatises that are available for these supposedly brilliant economists around the world today with Nobel prizes to study, one would assume that their collective knowledge and intelligence, theories and models run with super computers would have been capable of designing a workable economic plan that would not have brought the world economy to the brink of collapse, but that assumption is wrong.
The world economy with all its debt and mismatched spending and borrowing by countries, businesses large and small down to the individual is on its way to a complete meltdown. Weren't economists supposedly the very people whose task was to prevent such a disaster, one that I believe is too big and too late to contain? The United States economic nuclear explosion had occurred and the fallout that began last week was just the beginning.
The economists have failed. Economics has failed. Neither supply side nor demand side economics is better than letting the market take off freely, driven by profit, greed, betrayal, fraud and fear on the one hand and politics on the other.
From the list, I have deliberately omitted two other forces in the market, reason and conscience, for I believe that if present, their combined effect is negligible and if the market were truly rational, that is reasonable without being intellectually dishonest, and conscionable, it will not fail. Instead, it will prosper with true prosperity rather than prosperity as a result of a) debt and b) unreliable and falsely optimistic economic forecasts that rely on the very dollar that is unsupported by worth but by debt, c) an imaginary rational market and d)by implication an imaginary conscionable and honest populace.
Personal Background. I was taking Econ 101 at UCLA. First thing on the board was a simple graph showing the correlation between price and supply. The higher the price, the more the supply. The next graph showed the relationship between price and demand. The higher the price, the less the demand. What followed was an X on the graph showing the equilibrium point. The concept of elasticity was introduced. All that went fairly well. Then trouble started. The graphs started to shift. And it dawned on me: "Oh my God! They are trying to graph unpredictable human behavior." That was the last economic class I ever took. The last one at UCLA anyway.
I transferred to UC Berkeley. I took another economics class. That one I enjoyed. It contrasted John Kenneth Galbraith planned economy with Milton Freedman capitalism. I got an A+ on my final and an A in the course. I argued in favor of Galbraith and the professor liked that. What did you expect? I was at UC Berkeley, not the University of Chicago. Oh, and I quoted the professor whenever I could on the final.
To be sure, I liked neither Galbraith's or Friedman's positions entirely even though both were at times perfectly convincing. Away from school and in the real world, my interest in economics began to decline and my opinion of economists is at a disdainful low.
Opinion. With volumes of published economic treatises that are available for these supposedly brilliant economists around the world today with Nobel prizes to study, one would assume that their collective knowledge and intelligence, theories and models run with super computers would have been capable of designing a workable economic plan that would not have brought the world economy to the brink of collapse, but that assumption is wrong.
The world economy with all its debt and mismatched spending and borrowing by countries, businesses large and small down to the individual is on its way to a complete meltdown. Weren't economists supposedly the very people whose task was to prevent such a disaster, one that I believe is too big and too late to contain? The United States economic nuclear explosion had occurred and the fallout that began last week was just the beginning.
The economists have failed. Economics has failed. Neither supply side nor demand side economics is better than letting the market take off freely, driven by profit, greed, betrayal, fraud and fear on the one hand and politics on the other.
From the list, I have deliberately omitted two other forces in the market, reason and conscience, for I believe that if present, their combined effect is negligible and if the market were truly rational, that is reasonable without being intellectually dishonest, and conscionable, it will not fail. Instead, it will prosper with true prosperity rather than prosperity as a result of a) debt and b) unreliable and falsely optimistic economic forecasts that rely on the very dollar that is unsupported by worth but by debt, c) an imaginary rational market and d)by implication an imaginary conscionable and honest populace.
The Art of Finger-pointing - The Blood Bath Continues
Monday in Asia. 8-8-2011. "Stocks in the Asia-Pacific region plunged, wiping billions of dollars more off world share prices. Last week’s turbulence in financial markets chopped off an estimated $2.5 trillion from the value of global equities.
Among the major Asian markets, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng tumbled 3.8 percent, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average dropped 2.2 percent. South Korea’s Kospi was down 3.8 percent after briefly diving nearly 7 percent.
Elsewhere in the region, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index fell 2.9 percent, Singapore’s benchmark dived 4.7 percent, Taiwan’s market slid 3.8 percent and China’s Shanghai Composite shed 3.6 percent.
The main Philippine Stock Exchange index declined 2.4 percent." See http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/38527/global-markets-in-turmoil
Monday on Wall Street. 8-8-2011. 10-year and 30-year US Treasuries rallied (prices rose, interest rates dropped) despite S&P's downgrade of US debt.
The Dow closed down 634.76 points or 5.55 percent.
The are two ways to fix this:
1. US and Europe to incur more debt, China to buy more with the cash it supposedly has or
2. with option 1. not being likely, Obama ought to announce to the nation and delay the effective date of his health care plan to 2022, disengage from all foreign wars and conflicts immediately, lay-off 50% of federal government staff and allow their talents to serve the private sector and fire all the economists who have proven time and again that their theories and econometric models are diametrically opposed and worthless and the combination of them deadly.
In the next blog, I get to point my finger again, this time at the economists and their theories.
Among the major Asian markets, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng tumbled 3.8 percent, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average dropped 2.2 percent. South Korea’s Kospi was down 3.8 percent after briefly diving nearly 7 percent.
Elsewhere in the region, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index fell 2.9 percent, Singapore’s benchmark dived 4.7 percent, Taiwan’s market slid 3.8 percent and China’s Shanghai Composite shed 3.6 percent.
The main Philippine Stock Exchange index declined 2.4 percent." See http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/38527/global-markets-in-turmoil
Monday on Wall Street. 8-8-2011. 10-year and 30-year US Treasuries rallied (prices rose, interest rates dropped) despite S&P's downgrade of US debt.
The Dow closed down 634.76 points or 5.55 percent.
The are two ways to fix this:
1. US and Europe to incur more debt, China to buy more with the cash it supposedly has or
2. with option 1. not being likely, Obama ought to announce to the nation and delay the effective date of his health care plan to 2022, disengage from all foreign wars and conflicts immediately, lay-off 50% of federal government staff and allow their talents to serve the private sector and fire all the economists who have proven time and again that their theories and econometric models are diametrically opposed and worthless and the combination of them deadly.
In the next blog, I get to point my finger again, this time at the economists and their theories.
Sunday, August 7, 2011
A 6-14-11 tweet
It's difficult for me to tweet because I'm so verbose. I found my favorite one and want to post it here:
Al in SF
Wanting proof, a Bill Warren is diving for bin Laden's remains. The one dying to prove he's not dead is bin Laden himself, except he's dead.
14 Jun
Al in SF
Wanting proof, a Bill Warren is diving for bin Laden's remains. The one dying to prove he's not dead is bin Laden himself, except he's dead.
14 Jun
The Garden of Eden - The Outline
It is Sunday and I did not go to mass. I am not a regular mass-attending Catholic, but in the last couple of days, and on many other occasions, I have thought about the first temptation, the Apple, the Garden of Eden, God, Knowledge and the Original Sin.
It's a subject that is multifaceted and to me, endlessly fascinating.
I don't have much patience today to tell all my thoughts but have enough of an urge to jot something down.
One time the Apple popped into my mind was a few years ago when I was disenchanted with people disobeying certain laws. Another time was during a discussion with an acquaintance who was a Mormon. Recently, the world's debt crisis got me thinking about that Apple again. This is the outline.
It's a subject that is multifaceted and to me, endlessly fascinating.
I don't have much patience today to tell all my thoughts but have enough of an urge to jot something down.
One time the Apple popped into my mind was a few years ago when I was disenchanted with people disobeying certain laws. Another time was during a discussion with an acquaintance who was a Mormon. Recently, the world's debt crisis got me thinking about that Apple again. This is the outline.
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Un Moment de Paix - 6 août
Dear Lord,
In your infinite justice, please grant us your infinite mercy.
Amen.
In your infinite justice, please grant us your infinite mercy.
Amen.
Afghanistan War
I suppose there are always reasons to start a war. GW Bush started two. He said God told him to do so:
In Elusive Peace: Israel and the Arabs, a major three-part series on BBC TWO (at 9.00pm on Monday 10, Monday 17 and Monday 24 October), Abu Mazen, Palestinian Prime Minister, and Nabil Shaath, his Foreign Minister, describe their first meeting with President Bush in June 2003.
Nabil Shaath says: "President Bush said to all of us: 'I'm driven with a mission from God. God would tell me, "George, go and fight those terrorists in Afghanistan." And I did, and then God would tell me, "George, go and end the tyranny in Iraq ." And I did. ...'"
See http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2005/10_october/06/bush.shtml
I suppose there are reasons to stay on fighting a war, even though they are different from the reasons for having started it in the first place.
Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein are both dead. US soldiers are still being killed. Thirty-one special ops, mostly Navy SEALs died today. What does God say now, GW Bush? Why haven't you ended the war in Afghanistan already, President Obama?
In Elusive Peace: Israel and the Arabs, a major three-part series on BBC TWO (at 9.00pm on Monday 10, Monday 17 and Monday 24 October), Abu Mazen, Palestinian Prime Minister, and Nabil Shaath, his Foreign Minister, describe their first meeting with President Bush in June 2003.
Nabil Shaath says: "President Bush said to all of us: 'I'm driven with a mission from God. God would tell me, "George, go and fight those terrorists in Afghanistan." And I did, and then God would tell me, "George, go and end the tyranny in Iraq ." And I did. ...'"
See http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2005/10_october/06/bush.shtml
I suppose there are reasons to stay on fighting a war, even though they are different from the reasons for having started it in the first place.
Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein are both dead. US soldiers are still being killed. Thirty-one special ops, mostly Navy SEALs died today. What does God say now, GW Bush? Why haven't you ended the war in Afghanistan already, President Obama?
Afghanistan - A War to Lose
"KABUL, Afghanistan -- A military helicopter was shot down in eastern Afghanistan, killing 31 U.S. special operation troops, most of them from the elite Navy SEALs unit that killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, along with seven Afghan commandos. It was the deadliest single incident for American forces in the decade-long war.
...
"The death toll would surpass the worst single day loss of life for the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan since the war began in 2001 – the June 28, 2005 downing of a military helicopter in eastern Kunar province. In that incident, 16 Navy SEALs and Army special operations troops were killed when their craft was shot down while on a mission to rescue four SEALs under attack by the Taliban. Three of the SEALs being rescued were also killed and the fourth wounded. It was the highest one-day death toll for the Navy Special Warfare personnel since World War II."
See http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/06/31-american-troops-killed_n_920063.html?icid=maing-grid7|main5|dl1|sec1_lnk3|84238
Question:
"Has Anyone EVER Won a War in Afghanistan?
"Quick answer NO! The Brits got their arses kicked, the russians (at the height of their military power) got their arses kicked and if anyone thinks that the US isn’t going to get their arses kicked then they are not reading Mark Twain."
See http://www.rumproast.com/index.php/site/comments/has_anyone_ever_won_a_war_in_afghanistan/
...
"The death toll would surpass the worst single day loss of life for the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan since the war began in 2001 – the June 28, 2005 downing of a military helicopter in eastern Kunar province. In that incident, 16 Navy SEALs and Army special operations troops were killed when their craft was shot down while on a mission to rescue four SEALs under attack by the Taliban. Three of the SEALs being rescued were also killed and the fourth wounded. It was the highest one-day death toll for the Navy Special Warfare personnel since World War II."
See http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/06/31-american-troops-killed_n_920063.html?icid=maing-grid7|main5|dl1|sec1_lnk3|84238
Question:
"Has Anyone EVER Won a War in Afghanistan?
"Quick answer NO! The Brits got their arses kicked, the russians (at the height of their military power) got their arses kicked and if anyone thinks that the US isn’t going to get their arses kicked then they are not reading Mark Twain."
See http://www.rumproast.com/index.php/site/comments/has_anyone_ever_won_a_war_in_afghanistan/
Direction & Concentration
"For when a man lets his attention range
toward every wisp, he loses direction,
sapping his mind's force with continual change."
Alighieri, Dante. The Divine Comedy. The Purgatorio, Canto V, p.321. Trans. John Ciardi. New York: New American Library, 2003
Dante's placement of this canto, in The Purgatorio, where souls are being cleansed of their individual vice, simply dazzles. Clear out of Hell and advancing toward Paradise through Purgatory, Virgil admonishes Dante that this is not the time or the place to lose direction (going upward) or concentration (not going anywhere). The preceding canto underscores this point:
"Above the cliff's last rise we reached in time
an open slope. 'Do we go right or left?'
I asked my Master, 'or do we still climb?'
"And he: 'Take not one step to either side,
but follow yet, and make way up the mountain
till we meet someone who may serve as guide.'"
Alighieri, Dante. The Divine Comedy. The Purgatorio, Canto IV, p. 312-13. Trans. John Ciardi. New York: New American Library, 2003
toward every wisp, he loses direction,
sapping his mind's force with continual change."
Alighieri, Dante. The Divine Comedy. The Purgatorio, Canto V, p.321. Trans. John Ciardi. New York: New American Library, 2003
Dante's placement of this canto, in The Purgatorio, where souls are being cleansed of their individual vice, simply dazzles. Clear out of Hell and advancing toward Paradise through Purgatory, Virgil admonishes Dante that this is not the time or the place to lose direction (going upward) or concentration (not going anywhere). The preceding canto underscores this point:
"Above the cliff's last rise we reached in time
an open slope. 'Do we go right or left?'
I asked my Master, 'or do we still climb?'
"And he: 'Take not one step to either side,
but follow yet, and make way up the mountain
till we meet someone who may serve as guide.'"
Alighieri, Dante. The Divine Comedy. The Purgatorio, Canto IV, p. 312-13. Trans. John Ciardi. New York: New American Library, 2003
Friday, August 5, 2011
United States Debt Downgraded by S&P Today
The ability of the United States to pay its debt is being questioned for the first time in 235 years by Standard & Poor's, a credit-rating agency that downgraded US debt from AAA to AA plus.
I believe that the rating and downgrade of US debt by S&P is largely ceremonial in nature since the United States is bound by the Full Faith & Credit Clause of the Constitution to honor its debt obligations without question. Whether publicly rating and downgrading the debt of a sovereign that can legally print legal tender to pay its debts is lawful in the United States remains to be seen. While opinions may differ on that issue, it is painfully apparent that such an act violates common sense since the sovereign can always print money to pay its bills, making its ability to honor its debt a moot point.
For this reason, I doubt that the downgrading of US debt by S&P will have much effect. Furthermore, what is the alternative when a business or another sovereign is looking for a currency that is has liquidity in the world markets and is issued by a country that is politically stable, a leader in business, higher education, medicine, defense and technology and has no history of default?
S&P ought to limit its credit ratings to the private sector and sovereigns that do not have the legal authority to print money.
I believe that the rating and downgrade of US debt by S&P is largely ceremonial in nature since the United States is bound by the Full Faith & Credit Clause of the Constitution to honor its debt obligations without question. Whether publicly rating and downgrading the debt of a sovereign that can legally print legal tender to pay its debts is lawful in the United States remains to be seen. While opinions may differ on that issue, it is painfully apparent that such an act violates common sense since the sovereign can always print money to pay its bills, making its ability to honor its debt a moot point.
For this reason, I doubt that the downgrading of US debt by S&P will have much effect. Furthermore, what is the alternative when a business or another sovereign is looking for a currency that is has liquidity in the world markets and is issued by a country that is politically stable, a leader in business, higher education, medicine, defense and technology and has no history of default?
S&P ought to limit its credit ratings to the private sector and sovereigns that do not have the legal authority to print money.
After Doomsday
I asked a buddy in an e-mail if this week's economic downturn could be the beginning of a bigger disaster than the banking meltdown three years ago, and whether a doomsday plan should kick in now.
He replied that the main issue was Europe and he was not sure how they would respond to this but passed on my second question. I replied saying that my theory was slightly different than his but regardless of what it was, I was curious if he had any contingency plan. I was fearing that a much bigger economic fallout was looming due to the lingering and expanding debt bubble on both sides of the Atlantic.
This time he answered the question, but with a question: whether I thought a doomsday scenario was unfolding.
I was hoping he would give me his insight but alas I had to wreck my brain and think of something. This was my reply: "possibly ... by raising current world unemployment to 50%, shutting down unessential businesses, downsizing essential ones, cutting world wealth by 75% and returning to localized economies with limited travel and international trade, resulting in a modern day agrarian economy (backyard farming & farmer's market) run by underemployed but far happier urban and suburban farmers with 3-D cell phones. Amish living will be IN, Wall Street Meth Life will be OUT and [Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints sect leader] Warren Jeff will be hailed as the Hero and Architect of the New Polygamic Society [which will also be IN]."
He replied that the main issue was Europe and he was not sure how they would respond to this but passed on my second question. I replied saying that my theory was slightly different than his but regardless of what it was, I was curious if he had any contingency plan. I was fearing that a much bigger economic fallout was looming due to the lingering and expanding debt bubble on both sides of the Atlantic.
This time he answered the question, but with a question: whether I thought a doomsday scenario was unfolding.
I was hoping he would give me his insight but alas I had to wreck my brain and think of something. This was my reply: "possibly ... by raising current world unemployment to 50%, shutting down unessential businesses, downsizing essential ones, cutting world wealth by 75% and returning to localized economies with limited travel and international trade, resulting in a modern day agrarian economy (backyard farming & farmer's market) run by underemployed but far happier urban and suburban farmers with 3-D cell phones. Amish living will be IN, Wall Street Meth Life will be OUT and [Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints sect leader] Warren Jeff will be hailed as the Hero and Architect of the New Polygamic Society [which will also be IN]."
The Art of Finger-pointing
It all began in Washington. The TEA party republicans pointed fingers at President Obama and the Democrats for overspending. President Obama and the Democrats pointed fingers at GW Bush for his mismanagement of Wall Street, wars and basically everything else, costing the US trillions of dollars that is now debt. The result was the hostage-taking of the US dollar by the politicians of both parties resulting in the cutting of spending with no new taxes and the purchase of a political gain by Obama to raise the debt ceiling beyond the 2012 presidential election. The bickering lasted months until it was down to the wire.
Sunday. The Senate passed a compromise bill.
Monday. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said the United States was living beyond its means as a parasite feeding on the global economy. The House passed the Senate bill.
Tuesday. Deadline for the United States to avoid a default on its debt. The President signed the compromise bill. The debt ceiling was raised and default by the United States was averted.
Wednesday. The Dow dropped over 200 points.
Thursday. The Dow dropped another 513 points, erasing all of 2011's gains. Barack Obama's 50th Birthday.
Friday. After Asian markets declined following the steep drop on the NYSE, the European markets plunged: London's FTSE 100 down 3.5%, Germany's DAX 3.8% and France's CAC-40 2.5 percent. The US market has yet to open. [August 5, 2011 - DOW closed up 61 points after being down almost 240 around noon EST.]
And so the finger-pointing continues. The Democrats blaming the TEA party, the Republicans blaming the President, Russia blaming the United States, the United States blaming the Eurozone (Portugal,Ireland, Greece, Spain and now Italy) and China, except no one is blaming themselves for their own selfish actions.
Since everyone gets to point a finger, let me point mine as well. First at GW Bush for he was the "decider" when Wall Street failed, when he spent trillions on two wars, one that was unnecessary (Iraq) and one he executed poorly and lost (Afghanistan), second at the majority on the US Supreme Court in 2000 who put GW Bush in office and finally at myself, for voting for him in 2004 because I thought that the Democratic challenger, Senator Kerry was far more arrogant than GW Bush. I should have abstained from voting, not that my vote would have made a difference.
Sunday. The Senate passed a compromise bill.
Monday. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said the United States was living beyond its means as a parasite feeding on the global economy. The House passed the Senate bill.
Tuesday. Deadline for the United States to avoid a default on its debt. The President signed the compromise bill. The debt ceiling was raised and default by the United States was averted.
Wednesday. The Dow dropped over 200 points.
Thursday. The Dow dropped another 513 points, erasing all of 2011's gains. Barack Obama's 50th Birthday.
Friday. After Asian markets declined following the steep drop on the NYSE, the European markets plunged: London's FTSE 100 down 3.5%, Germany's DAX 3.8% and France's CAC-40 2.5 percent. The US market has yet to open. [August 5, 2011 - DOW closed up 61 points after being down almost 240 around noon EST.]
And so the finger-pointing continues. The Democrats blaming the TEA party, the Republicans blaming the President, Russia blaming the United States, the United States blaming the Eurozone (Portugal,Ireland, Greece, Spain and now Italy) and China, except no one is blaming themselves for their own selfish actions.
Since everyone gets to point a finger, let me point mine as well. First at GW Bush for he was the "decider" when Wall Street failed, when he spent trillions on two wars, one that was unnecessary (Iraq) and one he executed poorly and lost (Afghanistan), second at the majority on the US Supreme Court in 2000 who put GW Bush in office and finally at myself, for voting for him in 2004 because I thought that the Democratic challenger, Senator Kerry was far more arrogant than GW Bush. I should have abstained from voting, not that my vote would have made a difference.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Peace & Prosperity; Vengeance & Justice
Peace & Prosperity. These two words go well together like a marriage made in heaven. Nothing made in heaven is easily attainable but that does not mean we give up trying. Leaders who do not comprehend their significance or bother with them out of sheer arrogance, deceit and/or greed end up being Satan's agents.
Vengeance & Justice. Whoever these Satanists are (they know deep down who they are), they should have a place in Dante's Inferno. Someone should update Dante's Inferno - I would like to but do not know enough politics or political figures well enough to do so. There should also be some Wall Street mongols, war profiteers, lawyers, accountants, reporters and others in the mix.
Vengeance & Justice. Whoever these Satanists are (they know deep down who they are), they should have a place in Dante's Inferno. Someone should update Dante's Inferno - I would like to but do not know enough politics or political figures well enough to do so. There should also be some Wall Street mongols, war profiteers, lawyers, accountants, reporters and others in the mix.
Monday, August 1, 2011
Political Hostage Released
Earlier today the US House of Representatives passed a bill to raise the debt ceiling, ending down-to-the-wire threats to ruin the world economy by defaulting on the US debt obligations. This kind of political terrorism is not owned by just the TEA Party Republicans; it is equally owned by the Democrats and the President during the back and forth demands made by each. At the precipice of economic turmoil, everyone retrenched. The mutual terrorist threat that would have ignited a global economic meltdown was averted, at least for now. The saga has not ended. Today's vote is only the prologue. Time will undoubtedly cause it to be re-written, if not shredded entirely, when the next natural disaster hits or the next war begins.
Ultimately this is about credit financing. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin might have tactlessly said it right yesterday (Monday in Russia), "[The Americans] are living beyond their means and shifting a part of the weight of their problems to the world economy. They are living like parasites off the global economy and their monopoly of the dollar."
However it was Jesus Christ who had the last word on the currency we own and the life we were given, "Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God."
Ultimately this is about credit financing. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin might have tactlessly said it right yesterday (Monday in Russia), "[The Americans] are living beyond their means and shifting a part of the weight of their problems to the world economy. They are living like parasites off the global economy and their monopoly of the dollar."
However it was Jesus Christ who had the last word on the currency we own and the life we were given, "Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God."
Sunday, July 31, 2011 - Sermon at Mass
Disclaimer: I am not a biblical scholar nor am I a good Catholic, but neither of that is going to stop me from analyzing a sermon :)
I attended an evening mass Saturday and watched EWTN last night. Both masses talked about the beheading of St. John the Baptist that upset Jesus who went to a quiet place and the feeding of a hungry crowd that followed him. They wanted be with Jesus. It was probably a long day and Jesus knew that they were hungry. Without enough food to feed them, he performed a miracle. He blessed five loaves of bread and two fish then asked his disciples to feed that to a group of 5,000, not counting women and children. When all were fed and full, they had seven baskets of leftovers.
I've always wondered why Jesus could not have saved St. John who baptized him. One of my friends said there could not be two leaders and therefore John the Baptist had to die so that Jesus could take the lead. That kind of makes sense since St. John's job was to baptize people, getting them ready for Jesus. With Jesus around, there was no need for St. John and he was dispensable. The explanation was too logical, too calculating, too economically expedient and a bit cold, so I am going to sugarcoat it by saying that God's plan for John the Baptist was preordained, just as Jesus' death was also preordained. John the Baptist's death was quick in comparison to the suffering of Jesus before and during his crucifixion on the cross.
I always see Jesus as more human than part of the Trinity. I think he went to a quiet place after knowing John the Baptist was beheaded because he wanted to reflect on his own mortality, on God's plan for him which was coming and on his death which was not going to be easy like John's. There was nothing symbolic about him trying to get away from these sinners and ingrates whom he had come to save, who had no idea of the sacrifice he was having to make. Yet he took pity on them. Seeing that they were hungry for his teaching and hungry for food, he fed them.
The EWTN priest said this feeding was symbolic in that Jesus was the lamb and he fed them. I suppose by eating the food they would be full physically and fulfilled spiritually even though they ate fish and not lamb and there was no record of Jesus preaching to them afterward. I nonetheless like the symbolism, for a connection can be made between (a) what was occupying Jesus' troubled mind at the time, John the Baptist's death that started the clock ticking for Jesus' own holy death on a cross that triumphed over sin, symbolizing spiritual food, and (b) what was fed to the crowd, satisfying physical hunger.
I attended an evening mass Saturday and watched EWTN last night. Both masses talked about the beheading of St. John the Baptist that upset Jesus who went to a quiet place and the feeding of a hungry crowd that followed him. They wanted be with Jesus. It was probably a long day and Jesus knew that they were hungry. Without enough food to feed them, he performed a miracle. He blessed five loaves of bread and two fish then asked his disciples to feed that to a group of 5,000, not counting women and children. When all were fed and full, they had seven baskets of leftovers.
I've always wondered why Jesus could not have saved St. John who baptized him. One of my friends said there could not be two leaders and therefore John the Baptist had to die so that Jesus could take the lead. That kind of makes sense since St. John's job was to baptize people, getting them ready for Jesus. With Jesus around, there was no need for St. John and he was dispensable. The explanation was too logical, too calculating, too economically expedient and a bit cold, so I am going to sugarcoat it by saying that God's plan for John the Baptist was preordained, just as Jesus' death was also preordained. John the Baptist's death was quick in comparison to the suffering of Jesus before and during his crucifixion on the cross.
I always see Jesus as more human than part of the Trinity. I think he went to a quiet place after knowing John the Baptist was beheaded because he wanted to reflect on his own mortality, on God's plan for him which was coming and on his death which was not going to be easy like John's. There was nothing symbolic about him trying to get away from these sinners and ingrates whom he had come to save, who had no idea of the sacrifice he was having to make. Yet he took pity on them. Seeing that they were hungry for his teaching and hungry for food, he fed them.
The EWTN priest said this feeding was symbolic in that Jesus was the lamb and he fed them. I suppose by eating the food they would be full physically and fulfilled spiritually even though they ate fish and not lamb and there was no record of Jesus preaching to them afterward. I nonetheless like the symbolism, for a connection can be made between (a) what was occupying Jesus' troubled mind at the time, John the Baptist's death that started the clock ticking for Jesus' own holy death on a cross that triumphed over sin, symbolizing spiritual food, and (b) what was fed to the crowd, satisfying physical hunger.
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