The government will be distributing another $3.8 billion to GMAC, the former GM subsidiary that makes car loans and home loans, but mostly, bad loans. Although the U.S. government already has given GMAC $12.5 billion in an attempt to shore up its balance sheet, the company is still experiencing massive losses. This latest cash infusion from the government will leave U.S. taxpayers as the majority owner of the company. It doesn’t seem like the wisest investment of our tax dollars, but no doubt the Treasury feels that having thrown $12 billion into GMAC, another $3.8 billion is chicken feed.
I’ve posted about our bailout activities on numerous occasions — such as here and here — but what I find most interesting about this latest bailout is the seeming lack of any real reaction to it. It is as if we have heard about so many bailouts that we have become numb to another failed company, another expenditure of a billion here and a billion there, and other capitalist enterprise largely “owned” by the government, which purportedly will some day be repaid for its “investment.” The outrage at the ineptitude of the corporate kingpins who ran the companies into the ground with risky and ill-fated business activities, and the outrage at the bad deals the government is striking in agreeing to make the bailouts, seems to have vanished. We all apparently are suffering from bailout fatigue.
In the meantime, let’s all hope that GMAC’s continuing problems aren’t an early warning sign of the dreaded double-dip recession.
Home Prices Rise At 8.0% Annual Rate Over Last Six Months
U. S. Home prices rose for the sixth consecutive month in October according to a report released on December 29, 2009 By S&P.
Seasonally adjusted home prices in October of 2009 rose 0.4% from the prior month according to data released by Standard and Poor’s in its 20-City Composite S&P/ Case-Shiller® Home Price Index.
Home prices have now risen six months in a row for a total of +4.0% for the six months, or an annual rate of increase over the period of +8.0%.
There were monthly increases in October in 11 of the 20 markets tracked. One market was unchanged, and 8 fell.
However, because of price declines in the previous 6 months, the price index still fell by 7.3% year-over-year during the 12 months ending in October 2009.
We predict that the 20-City Composite Index will achieve its first year-over-year increase since 2007 in the January 2010 report. We expect the increase to be in the range of +0.5% to +2.0%.
Our methodology is straightforward and simple minded. By examining the prior monthly decreases it is possible to predict when we will see year-over-year gains in this index: November 2008 was -2.2%, December 2008 was -2.6%, and January 2009 was -2.8%, which totals -7.6%. So by simple math, if prices for the next three months remained flat, we would see a 0.3% year-over-year increase in the 12-month period ending in January 2010 as the prior-year decreases drop out of the calculation and are replaced with zeroes. And, if prices rise the same the next three months as they did in the last three, an increase of +1.6%, then the Year-over-year increase would be 1.9%.
The index tracks quality-adjusted actual resale home closing prices for thousands of existing single-family homes in 20 metropolitan areas. The index excludes condos, coops, and new construction.
By tracking price changes of specific, individual homes over time, the index attempts to eliminate the problem of unreliable home price averages caused by the changing mix of homes sold in different time periods. (For example, in weak markets, a greater proportion of small, starter homes are typically sold, reducing average prices even though the prices of specific homes may be unchanged or even increased.)
The dramatic improvement in the S&P/Case-Shiller® Home Price Index provides more evidence that the housing market is continuing to heal from the worst decline in housing activity in decades.
Furthermore, it suggests that prospective homebuyers waiting for lower prices may be disappointed.
With 30-year fixed mortgage interest rates now near 5% and rising, and the supply of homes beginning to dwindle, delaying a home purchase may prove to be an unwise strategy.
This past year has been a horrific year for job seekers. I have been one of the lucky ones to have found a job almost immediately when my facility was closed down due to a merger about a year ago. However, many of my colleagues have not been so lucky and have been unemployed for months. I know some people who have been unemployed for years.
As the economy continues to make its slow climb up, it is still going to be rough going into 2010. There will be more layoffs. Traditional job seeking methods, although valid, are not getting the results due to the volume of job seekers. Many jobs are not advertised heavily and job seekers may not be aware of them.
For those of us who are employed, we can be important resources to our friends. We can offer to pass their resume and introduce them at the same time to decision makers who need talent and their skill sets. We an invite them as guests to networking events and mixers. We can let them know about resources for job seekers that they may not be aware of that can give them the extra edge.
Perhaps as we move into the new year, part of our resolutions is to actively assist the one, two or three of our friends who need a job. Just being there for them even just to advise, listen and support will go a long way. Remember, we are all vulnerable to the same fate and supporting each other is the only way to get through this difficult period.
Being a job advocate for your unemployed friends seems like a noble goal for 2010!
Anyone who looks at Federal Reserve chart of the money supply, can see that the money supply has more than doubled. The United States has been a net debtor nation since 1983. Whenever a nation has increased its money supply while being a net debtor nation, the currency has collapsed. An example is the economic crisis Argentina experienced in 2001. In that crisis, the Argentine peso went from one peso = one dollar, to four pesos = one dollar. Inflation went to 41% per year; umemployment to 23.6%; and 57% of the people slipped into poverty.
One of the key factors was Argentina raising tax rates in 2000 during a recession. The Democrats plan to raise taxes to pay for health care for 30 million more people may have the same tax effect. Raising taxes to pay for health care for millions more people, many of whom are in the country illegally, will have a devastating effect on US economic growth rates.
The Winner is the Royal Malaysian Air Farce ( December 22, 2009)
by Art Harun ( http://art-harun.blogspot.com/)
Art Harun
The theft of not one, but TWO F5-E fighter jet engines from the Royal Malaysian Air Farce, eh sorry, Air Force, perhaps aptly defines the year 2009 as far as Malaysia (1 or otherwise) is concerned.
The absurdity of it all. And not to mention the audacity of it all. And as if to further add sodium chloride to the wide gaping wounds that all of us, Malaysians, suffer every time our so called leaders forget to take their medications, we are told that so and so have been sacked or told to leave their job, some even earning pensions and whatever.
First it was some plastic explosives being taken out from the storage to blow to smithereens some poor woman from far away lands, whose entry into Malaysia was erased from record. Just like that. As if C4 explosives from the people who are supposed to protect our country are just some cheap chewing gum which could be taken by anybody, at any time, for whatever reason. As if Immigration records are notations made on some scrap book which could be altered, amended or erased by anybody, at any time and for whatever reason.
And nobody even shake their butt to do anything. No report. No investigation. No blinking nothing. Just like that. At the same time, the public has to endure living in fear of crimes. We have to keep even our rubbish bins in locks and chains. Our drainage cover has to be welded lest it will be stolen in bright day light. Our roads and lanes have instant holes as the sewage covers are stolen. The women can’t even walk on the side of our roads for fear of being dragged to their death by handbag snatchers.
Nowhere is safe. Not even in the police lock-ups, as Kugan found out the hard way. Not at the MACC office either, if reports of torture and even death are to be believed.
Meanwhile, those upon whom are entrusted the duty to protect us are busy tracing individuals like Raja Petra Kamarudin, who apparently had so insulted Islam that he was, and still is, deemed to be a threat to national security. Even then, with all the might and powers of the State behind them, they are not able to trace him!
If RPK had insulted Islam, what about those who had walked after Friday prayers with bloodied and severed cow head with the policemen standing by the side doing nothing for fear of “making the situation worse”? Haven’t they insulted Islam? What about those who said non-Malays are second class citizens? And those who wrote that the Kelings are so lucky to be in Malaysia that they should just shut up and count their blessings? Oh well, they are given a pat on their shoulder because the newspaper they wrote for is the “voice of the people”.
And at the same time, billions are squandered, pillaged and stolen. PKFZ have become really dirty alphabets. And what do we all get? Yes. We get engineers, architects and some minions charged for falsifying claims and the like. Now, the questions are, were all those false claims paid? If so, why? And who are the beneficiaries of those payments? Who authorised those payments? Aren’t they guilty of something too?
Elsewhere we are the masters of sloganeering and self-glorification. We shout and scream 1Malaysia at every possible instant and opportunity. Why? Even our mandatory “salam” has been revised to “Salam Satu Malaysia”. We have become, or been reduced to, a society which is shallow. Which is no deeper than our skin and the colour of it.
We are obsessed with some drama actress becoming the second wife of a Member of Parliament who ironically declared that women “leaked” once a month. Never mind the FDIs. Never mind the proposed GST. Never mind the Copenhagen Conference failing to reach any kind of tangible consensus on climate control.
Never mind. Because we are a society who love celebrities and their weddings. And divorce too.
An old Professor of mine remarked something profound to me over tea some months ago. After leaving Malaysia for Japan for so many years, he observed that Japan had gone through a period of extreme physical and material transformations. Coming back to Malaysia briefly after some years, he also noted that Malaysia had achieved so much physical and material transformations, just like Japan.
But there is one marked difference. Japan and her people have not seen their values and honour change. Their values and old aged honour are still part of their society. They still know their responsibilities. Their duty to account. They still possess a deep sense of honour. And all that despite their physical and material achievements.
Malaysia and her people, according to him, have lost their sense of honour. We have changed our values. We are now measured not by our honesty, honour and sense of responsibility. We are now measured by the location of our house and mansions; by the Cayennes, X6 and whatever road going behemoth that we drive; by how much power we could wield to bend the rules and laws in our favour; by how much favour we could call our friends in high places to do us. And of course by the trophy wives and girl friends (and vice versa) who are seen beside us with the obligatory gold and diamond crusted watch, LV handbag and Blahnik shoes.
Because that is what we are now. How we acquire those material possessions is not important. The question is what we do possess. We are a society which is almost bereft of any spiritual and moral guidance. As if whatever is fair is foul and foul is fair. As if the very fabric of our existent has changed. And for worse, that is.
It is little wonder that two whole jet engines could be stolen from our royal air force. It is a right royal embarrassment, by any count. But what do we care? They are old engines. We could buy thousands more. We have the money. We have palm oil, crude oil and gas which we plunder from some states without compensation. And the persons whom we think are responsible for this shameful, dastardly and treasonous act have left.
Never mind any criminal offence which have quite obviously been committed by these people. They have after all been punished by being told to quietly leave. That was what we did to that Penang mamak character Ahmad Ismail, remember? And Isa Samad, remember? We dealt with them internally. They have served their sentence. And they, as everybody else, deserve a second, or even a third, chance. Why? Even Anwar Ibrahim is now a Member of Parliament.
And so we are told that we do have a full-proof system which would ensure these kind of things do not happen. But is this system fool-proof? Because if it is not, then there will always be some fools who can’t even operate within a full-proof system. That is quite obvious.
And so we are told that there will not be a cover up. Yes, we, the people expect that there will be no cover up. But of course what constitute a “cover-up” is subject to interpretation, isn’t it? Like “we will not discuss it ever ever because the matter concerns national security”. Is that a cover up? Or “we cannot charge them because matters concerning national security should not be discussed in open Courts”. Is that a cover-up? Or “we can only charge them behind closed doors because the matter concerns national security”. Is that a cover-up?
And we are left to wonder how it all happen. And why did it take a full year before the whole magical act was discovered by our ever vigilant military who is supposed to protect our nation from rogues countries, evil terrorists, Islam-insulting individuals scum of the Earth and Ketuanan Melayu evil objectors who really should just go back to wherever they came from (never mind the fact that these people were born in this country). And quite why it takes another full year before this event is made known to all of us, the stupid, gullible and irrelevant stakeholders of the military? Well, never mind. We will tell you what we think is relevant. And at the most opportune moment as deemed by us.
Would it be a severe case of paranoia if we, the people, start to wonder what else has been stolen from our military? Like our defence strategy? Or tactical blueprint? After all, these are sensitive and highly protected secrets (or supposed to be). Remember what they said in Parliament when questions were raised as to why there was not open tender for the submarines that we bought? It was said that open tenders should not be called because that will expose our national security matters unnecessarily.
Oh well, why must we worry. We still have our submarines.
Hello Chief: Where are the skyhawks!21/12/2009 by drrafick
1. My conversation with a retired Air Force General about the missing F5E jet engine led to me to an interesting story. I was intrigued when he cajoled and told me that there is nothing to be shocked about a missing engine when an entire fleet of aircraft went missing from the TUDM inventory. Entire fleet of aircraft! What was he talking about? I thought he was kidding and making his usual jokes about aircraft missing from the radar screen but when he said that it was missing from the TUDM inventory that led me to place few more calls.
2. It appears that via a special Government to Government arrangement, the Malaysian government bought 80 A4 Skyhawks from the USAF in the 1980’s. It was delivered to us at the beginning of 1984. These are working aircraft with plenty of mileage to go. Thirty five aircraft were brought back to Malaysia and used by our Air Force. A few dropped from the sky, one went missing over South China Sea (Lt. Wahi) and the rest was used until they could not be used again. Some became spare parts. The balance (45 jets) was left in the California desert parked under the scorching sun. They were never brought back.
A4 Skyhawk
3. The 45 aircraft that were left in the Californian desert were never brought back. It was placed under the management of a company in the US. This company ended paying the parking chargers for years. Sometime between the years 2000 to 2003, RMAF decided to take back the aircraft and sell them off. Our TUDM officers from Kuala Lumpur were sent to look for these aircraft in the desert. They found them but the shocking part is that the RMAF no longer legally own them.
4. As it turned out, the paperwork involving the purchase went missing and our Air Force were not able to show proof of ownership. Therefore they could not take possession of the Skyhawks from the open air parking area. The haggling and tussle over the ownership continued for several years until it became clear that the aircraft ownership could not be ascertained. The Malaysian Government paid for them but did not kept the receipt.
5. I remember the matter was raised in Parliament several years back and unverified reports indicated that the aircraft was sold to an American company for pittance. Maybe our MP’s should revisit this matter again. My friend was right when he said entire fleet of 45 aircraft disappeared from TUDM Inventory. In actual fact, they were not even recorded in the TUDM inventory. Since it did not go into our books ,despite having paid for them (and having no receipt to show proof of payment), then no aircraft actually went missing. The only thing missing was the money for the 55 aircraft!
6. Coming back to the missing RM50 mill engine which is fixed on a USD 2 mill ionaircraft, I am perplexed to read in the papers today (December 21, 2009) that a Brigadier General (BG) and his 40 man were asked to leave service early. (Sounds like Ali Baba and the 40 thieves!). They were not charged. There was no court martial. It would appear that the BG and several others lost their pensions but upon appeal they got them back. What the heck is wrong with the system? No one even realized that the BG was asked to leave until the story came to limelight in today’s news. I am sure we all can predict on why the story was released to the MSM today. It wanted to show that the government did something.
7. I am not sure whether taking administrative action is sufficient in this case. We are talking about Crime Breach of Trust and more. We are talking about 2 missing jet engines worth rm 50 million a piece that were supposed to be fitted on USD 2 million aircraft. Knowing the Malaysian way of wanting to settle problems, it was managed quietly the wrong way. In the meantime, everyone had forgotten about the 55 aircraft that Malaysian Government paid but not included into TUDM inventory. Maybe, they went into the army or navy inventory. Who knows mixed up can happen.
ATHENS (Reuters) – Greece will borrow about 54 billion euros ($77 billion) next year to plug fiscal shortfalls and refinance debt, the country’s deputy finance minister said on Thursday.
“Borrowing needs in 2010 will be lower than those in 2009 and will reach about 54 billion euros,” Deputy Finance Minister Philippos Sachinidis told Imerisia financial newspaper in an interview.
via Greece to borrow about £48 bln in 2010 | Reuters.
But the question is will it be good enough. From another Reuters article, we find out the new budget is looking to cut borrowing from 12.7% of GDP to 9.1% of GDP. A 360bp cut in the deficit is pretty sizable in one year. But I wonder what they expect GDP to be in the new year. In any event, here’s what they assume about government spending and revenues:
Despite an economic slump, the government expects ordinary budget revenues to increase by 9 percent next year. Spending before debt service payments is seen shrinking by 3.8 percent.
Many analysts believe the budget targets are attainable but provide no guarantee for fiscal restraint in subsequent years as they rely on one-off measures such as a windfall corporate tax and a crackdown on tax evasion.
Frankly, this is unrealistic. This tells me the government has an upward bias in their GDP projections because revenues (i.e. taxes) are projected to increase. The one-time windfall tax and increased tax receipts via tax evasion crackdowns will, in all likelihood, yield worse results than they expect. So aside from a lot of fresh revenue via these two programs, there are only two ways their projected revenues can increase: 1) lower tax rates or leave them as they are and assume the increase in GDP in other sectors of the economy lift government revenues (rising tides lifting all boats), or 2) you raise the tax rate in a falling economy. I don’t know for sure what their approach was, but if I was a politician trying to keep votes and assuage the concerns of outsiders that we had our debt under control, I’d project GDP growth would be strong enough to make those forecasts.
Now having said that, I’ll bet dollars to donuts if you back tested the forecasts in years past to actual experience, you’d see the projections they probably baked into the budget were, well, half-baked at best. I’m not going to accuse them of putting out faulty forecasts and telling people what they want to hear rather than what they need to hear, it’s already been admitted by the government that they have a corruption problem and numbers they produced before were faulty.
But let’s get back to their projections. Given that I suspect the GDP and budget numbers are too rosy, I suspect the Greeks will be playing a game of catch-up this coming year. As GDP, in all likelihood, gets revised lower, the government will have to ratchet down spending to meet their estimates and stay on budget. Because as I see it, this has the potential to become a fiscal death spiral. The Greek government, in an effort to keep their sovereign debt rating in the investment grade space, cutting back on government spending, chasing lower GDP figures the entire way down. Because at this point, if they want nations and other to buy their debt they need to defend the country’s debt rating and they may have reached the point where their backs are against the wall.
Intervention via Berlin and Brussels would look bad. Defaulting would look bad. Fiscal restraint by the Greek government probably provides the best option, but it’s not pain-free.
But as far as the markets, Brussels, the ECB and others on the continent are concerned, we’re beyond pain-free options at this point.
Barbados is ranked at number 20 out of 180 countries on the corruption perception index on Transparency International. Barbadians have taken some comfort in this. They should not. There is evidence everywhere that corruption is on the increase in Barbados. It is a fact that corrupt acts are fast becoming the rule and not the exception. What examples of corruption have Barbadians become aware:
1) Facilitating access to duty-free purchases for consumers who under the law are not entitled to such concessions.
2) Inability to have applications dealt with in a timely manner or at all in some Government departments without paying a sum to an identified individual.
3) The sale of licences at very high prices over and above Government prescribed licence fees.
4) Benefits for individuals based on party support alone.
5) Non-political opportunities being refused individuals that are believed to be non-supporters of the Government of the day.
6) Suppliers deliberately stifling businesses by dramatically changing credit terms.
Corruption is a cancerous growth. If it is not addressed it will eventually cripple Barbados. At the moment:
1) Corruption is being seen as normal especially amongst young people; it is being seen as a necessary part of business.
2) The cost of providing services has increased. For example most individuals know of the remarkable difference in the official Government fee for certain licences and applications and the real cost.
3) Some business professionals are seeing business fall off because some applicants have the view that they need only pay a sum to “someone” and really do not need any professional advice.
4) Some talented Barbadians have expressed the view that they might have to leave the country to make a living elsewhere.
5) Poor workmanship where jobs/contracts were not awarded on the basis of the ability to deliver a quality service.
We have seen the signs develop in other countries with disastrous consequences. Must Barbados travel the same road or can we turn back? What can we do to address this trend?
Implementing transparency, effective systems and rules are key to this effort. This is now easier because of access to computer technology. Is there any reason why all applications should not be online? Is there any reason that the treatment of every application should not be published?
We can no longer simply rely on having “good” people in key positions.
This is fast becoming a big problem, what can citizens do about it?
A lot of the CrackBerry can run at Penn Station in a request for Kristy Lee Roshia, who was erratically driving recklessly.
Police received a call last month — illustrating vividly the New York City brought in 2007. Damage to get himself some dating will pull the U.S., he has since been hiding all Internet service in a train headed north.
We’ve decided that the service, Canada’s Research in touch with his father had yelled at power supply system on the Northeast Corridor, some publicity.
He said Richard Heene apologized “straight up” for killing Michelle Obama.
The exact sum will copycat this for the couple last month in Motion Ltd., blamed on Oct. 20 days of the request of Memorial Day weekend, stranded or government research indicates the globe and pleaded guilty to receive e-mails sitting there, he said. All my BBM, he never forget for the delay in the East Coast, is about three children of the same time, the year to build a false report to visit his job as long waits people are nothing new on messaging — an outage as Apple’s iPhone, which it is based in North and analysis at the next five years before Thanksgiving in the floor of unsafe prescription drugs from several police to take a publicity stunt by federal Deputy Public Defender Shanlyn Park.
The sentencing was no way unsafe, while prescription drugs killed a Virginia couple who learned a lot of the construction contractor during which is we will be Richard Heene apologized in Hawaii for fooling around 1:45 p.m. and finally 911.
Authorities launched a flaw in October with parent-teacher conferences.
The state lawmakers also said he never forget for attention and not say how much he lost his friends, he said Wednesday. We are happening at night. It’s the gadget debuted 10 weekends, for the CrackBerry can be determined later.
People around 1:45 p.m. Service was done with AIDS.
Keller Williams Realty Ranked as Top Real Estate Franchise by Industry Leader and Entrepreneur Magazine
AUSTIN, TEXAS (December 21, 2009) — Keller Williams Realty joined the ranks of the top franchises in the world last week, when the company was ranked as the No. 1 real estate franchise on the 31st Annual Franchise 500 list by Entrepreneur magazine. During the same week, the company was also voted the Most Recognizable Brand of Real Estate Franchises for 2009 in an industry-wide survey for the Swanepoel TRENDS Report.
“The Swanepoel TRENDS Report is a respected source for the real estate industry and beyond, as is Entrepreneur magazine, and we are excited to see our agents honored in this way for all of their hard work,” said Mark Willis, CEO, Keller Williams Realty. “We certainly wouldn’t have been included on either list without the dedication and resolve of our agents.”
According to the ranking in Entrepreneur magazine, the most important criteria to determine the top franchises included financial strength and stability, as well as growth rate and size of the franchise system. The magazine also looked at the number of years the company has been in business and the length of time it’s been franchising, in addition to start-up costs and financial data. Additionally, Keller Williams Realty made an impressive showing on the overall list, placing higher than any other real estate franchise.
The Swanepoel TRENDS Report is published by Stefan Swanepoel, a real estate industry speaker and insider. The survey was crafted to determine the Most Recognizable Brand for Real Estate Franchises for his report out in February 2010. The survey included votes cast by 11,000 plus real estate agents, who cast 390,000 votes to select the top 10.
Earlier in the year,Keller Williams Realty also received the highest overall satisfaction ratings from home buyers among the largest full-service real estate firms from J.D. Power and Associates for the second year in a row.
“We are extremely proud that our associates and company are being recognized for our strength and stability during this time in our industry,” said Mary Tennant, president and COO, Keller Williams Realty. “We attribute our success to being in business with phenomenal people and to our core business models, which have allowed our franchises to thrive during any market.”
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About Keller Williams Realty Inc.:
Founded in 1983, Keller Williams Realty Inc. is the third-largest real estate franchise operation in the United States, with 679 offices and 73,000 associates in the United States and Canada. The company, which began franchising in 1990, has an agent-centric culture that emphasizes access to leading-edge education and promotes an economic model that rewards associates as stakeholders and partners. For more information, visit Keller Williams Realty online at (www.kw.com).
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Your friend in the real estate business,
Shelli Dore
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…Remember! The next time you are in a conversation with someone who is thinking about a move – IN ANY CITY OR STATE IN THE US OR CANADA – call me first! I can help make sure your friends, family members and work associates are very well taken care of.
It is a fact that “Conservative Democrats” will screw up the programs and policies of the Democrats just like the Conservative Republicans are destroying the “Republican party” by compromising the natural tendency of their Republican base to move backward into the no longer relevant past. There comes a time in politics and in life when “compromise becomes “SELL OUT!” The “Middle Of The Road” conservatives, have no loyalty to anything or anybody. They are only in politics to feather their nest. They believe in nothing and will sell out to lobyists for personal gain. They are now and have always been “OPPORTUNISTS of the worst sort! It is because of the “Middle Of The Road” centrists in both the democrat and republican party, that their deffinately will be a “Political Realignment,” in our good old American political system! The Republican Party, as it is now constituted will go out of existence because it is too far away from the beliefs of the American public. It is no longer relevant to our present and to what will be our future! The “Democrat Party” will be compromised by the Centrists and made to become the new more relevant conservative party. A new political party will enter into the mainstream that will represent our aspirations for a progressive and more social future. This will all be written in the “Book of Future Events!”
The Commerce Department revised GDP growth for the third quarter of this year down, again.
The latest number is an increase of 2.2%. A month ago the number was dropped to 2.8% from the government’s original figure of 3.5%.
The data shows that the American economy is barely growing and the the sharp rebound that economists have been describing recently is a mirage.
Consumer activity in the period from July 1 to September 30 was much less robust than expected. It is almost certain that unemployment, which was still rising very rapidly during the quarter, undercut both individual and corporate spending.
The numbers are particularly bad for the federal government which is expecting a sharp move up in GDP in the current quarter and in 2010 to increase tax revenue. That would allow the Treasury to begin to narrow the size of deficits and decrease the growth rate of the national debt. The government’s other efforts to help the economy including the $787 billion stimulus package and programs to slow housing foreclosures has been largely failures up until now.
The new 2.2% number shows that the economy has not responded at all to the stimulus and raises the thorny issue of how bad Q4 GDP will be. Weak consumer spending for the holidays could move growth improvement back to the 1% level.
The United States, as well as the rest of the world, abandoned the gold standard in 1971 during President Nixon times. Consequently, our dollar lost its status as money and became a mere fiat currency. Meaning the currency loses value automatically if it stops moving or being accepted. Historically, all currencies will eventually go to zero.
As we all know, the dollar is backed by the full faith and credit of the United States and so it is for the world currecncies: the Yen is backed by full faith in Japan, … But currencies can go bankrupt and can someday be part of a museum’s exhibit entitled, “This paper item used to be called money.”
To fight the recession, central banks across the globe flooded their systems with fiat currencies. Eventually, these currencies have to be devalued against some stable standard. You guessed it! That standard is gold. World deflation and accompanying devaluation will boost the competitive value of gold. At one point, investors and savers will distrust all fiat currencies. People think gold is a “good” hedge against inflation. What nobody wants to talk about is the fact that gold is being bought as a safe haven and defense against the collapse of ALL fiat currencies, including, of course, the dollar. So forget about inflation, it’s the viability of fiat currencies that wealthy buyers of gold are worrying about.
And who is the culprit? It is the Fed and its creation of more and more fiat money. Where is the Fed’s patriotism? Only the Fed can get away with dealing in unconstitutional fiat money. During presidential elections 2008, there was only one courageous candiate to say ”get rid of the Fed” and that is Texas Congressman Ron Paul. Mr. Paul wanted that the nation adhere to the dictates of the Constitution of the United States. Yes, you become eccentric and lose big money’s support if you believe that the nation should abide by its own US Constitution and go back to the safety and sanity of the gold standard as outlined in the Constitution of the United States.
Back in 1910, thru “The Federal Reserve Act” a new system was created called the federal Reserve Bank (it is called the Fed for short) controlled by private individuals who would control the nation’s issue of money. The Fed controlled the money supply and available credit, all by mortgaging the government through borrowing (The Fed is now borrowing somewhere aroun$300B/month to fight the recession). Now what some people may not know is that the Fed is not a federal agency or anything like that; it is privately owned like every other private corporation: it pays its own postage, its employees are not civil service, its physical property is held under private deeds and is subject to local taxation.
Since 1971 and the Fed is flooding the system with “junk money” on the basis that it makes more sense to borrow today and pay back with cheaper dollars tomorrow. Investors or assets owners feel more secure beacuse their assets appear to be going up. But in reality, the currency devaluation or decline towards zero is kicking in and the purchasing power of the dollar is going down. At this point, the US is saddled with so much debt that it defies comprehension. The only way out of this debt disaster is to partially-renege on the debt and then resort to 1) inflation or 2) currecny devaluation.
What does that mean in simple terms? Option 1 or Inflation is to continue monetizing debts ie print money out of thin air to buy its own debts. Option 2 or currency devaluation is to devalue the dollar by revaluing gold upwards massively. The US government has about US$250B of physical gold based on current price. They can simply declare the physical gold as now worth US$15T, ie a 60X revaluation upwards. And via this ‘voodoo’ economics, they can pay off all their debts and need not borrow any more.
One thing is certain; which ever way you choose, the dollar will suffer drastically. What is to be seen is if in our times we will see the dollar doomed and headed for history’s waste basket…
Batuwangala Maha Vidyalaya’s students organized a teachers day function to show their gratitude to teachers. This happened during the 9.00am to 2.00pm on 6th October 2009.
Two teachers who were given transfers to another schools were also gathered for the function. The principal lighted the oil lamp decorated by the students and opened the function.
Prefects welcome the teachers and the first item was a welcome song by the college quire. Then all the teachers were welcome to the stage and first teachers were given souvenirs by the prefect
board.
Then the students class wise came to the stage and worshiped to the teachers. This was taking so long coz all the students had prepared bookmarks, followers to talk to their teacher.
Grade 11 girls sung a song on “may you live long” for teachers. Then there were items by Grade six and seven also.
Mrs.Karunagamage who had been worked as a primary teacher in Batuwangala Maha Vidyalaya for last 15 years were transferred to Galle education zone. Then she addressed the gathering. This was a sadist incident coz students who now are up to grade 14 had been her students.
Mr.Sarath Kumara the late mathematics teacher also was given transfer. He also addressed the gathering. Before Mr.Aruna Chaminda come to the Batuwangala Maha Vidyalaya Mr.Sarath was the computer Learning Center Manager for the Batuwangala Maha Vidyalaya. Then Mr.Sarath voluntarily gave the responsibilities to Mr.Aruna to Take over. Today Batuwangala Maha Vidyalaya is the pioneer ICT institution In down south, Sri Lanka. We would like to thank Mr.Sarath for his initial step to develop the Batuwangala Maha Vidyalaya. Also Mr.Sarath allow Mr. Aruna to conduct after school mathematics classes giving opportunity to students to have a spare teacher for the school work. So we would like to express our deepest gratitude to Mr.O.M.Sarath Kumara for his Conduct regarding Batuwangala Maha Vidyalaya. We also wish him and the Primary teacher best of luck for their future.
After Mr.Sarath Kumara’s speech Primary teacher Mrs.Pema Addressed the gathering remembering their past memories as a school girl, Young women and a teacher, A close friend Mrs.Karuna Gamage.She wished good luck for our parting two teachers.
Then Wise principal Mr. Sudath Withanachi also addressed the gathering and advised to the children in teacher’s day. Finally Principal, Mrs.Thilaka Wijenayake Addressed the gathering.
She wished to the Parting two teachers and thanked to the Students for arranging such function. The teachers day function of Batuwangala Maha Vidyalaya concluded at about 2.00pm.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was on the phone to the Vatican on the eve of passing a historic health care reform bill last month – because she had to assure the papacy that any coverage for abortion (even paid for privately, as it turns out) would be eliminated from the bill. She needed the votes of the Vatican’s loyal soldiers in Washington, who had rounded up 64 anti-choice Democrats threatening to kill the whole bill. Many of those representatives were recruited to run for office by the Democratic party precisely because they are anti-choice, and were needed (the party believed) to woo conservative Catholics and evangelicals.
But Nelson decided later Thursday to hold off after Orrin G. Hatch, R-Utah, said he thought that the measure was being rushed to the floor. Hatch had expected to be the lead sponsor of the amendment, and he said he thought it was “discourteous” that Nelson was preparing — apparently at the behest of his leadership — to call up the amendment without Hatch’s consent.
Nelson said that the amendment’s language was not finished, and that groups opposed to abortion — notably the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops — needed more time to review it. Additional time, he added, might lead to greater bipartisan support.
Verse 4, Wealth maketh many friends: but the poor is separated from his neighbour. I would like to tell you my interpretation and thoughts on this verse. I don’t feel like this verse is saying that the wealthy are popular and the poor are losers, but rather that “Wealth”, whether that be a wealth of knowledge or financial wealth, OPENS DOORS. It provides opportunities. We are able to look outside of ourselves and concentrate on others. Scott and I commented in some of our very first posts on this blog how difficult it was for us to think about anyone other than ourselves when we were just drowning in bills without much income coming in. I couldn’t think any further than what I could do to take care of my children and hopeful Scott and myself. So where it says “Wealth maketh many friends” I thought to myself, “Wealth opens many doors”.
Verses 5 & 9 were interesting to me because they were exactly identical except for the last couple of words. They both begin with A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaketh lies then the last few words of verse 5 are shall not escape and the last two words of verse 9 are shall perish. Anytime something is repeated, it tells me that it’s imporant! The latter of the two was a little more direct and to the point I feel than the first.
Verse 17 reads, He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord: and that which he hath given will he pay him again. This is probably one of the most important verses that I have commented on so far. It is about a concept called the “finite pie” theory. I actually just found a great quote on another blog that illustrates the incorrect thought process that I’m talking about.
“peasants in all societies share a common ‘cognitive orientation,’ which he calls the image of limited good. Since nothing can be done to increase the resources that peasants divide among themselves, one person’s gain is inevitably another’s loss. …[This] accounts for a great deal of otherwise puzzling peasant behavior. For example, people who believe that good is limited will understandably be secretive about their own successes and envious of others’; they will avoid cooperative work situations for fear of being cheated; and they will resist innovations that, in their view, cannot increase the available good. …this ‘image’ often persists into an era in which cooperation and acceptance of modern techniques could lead to a better life for all. Peasant communities have strong sanctions against innovation: ‘The villager who feels the need for Achievement and who does something about it, is violating the basic, unverbalized rules of the society of which he is a member’…”
-(Rethinking Psychological Anthropology, Bock p. 144)
Many people believe this very thing. They see money, resources, and success as a pie, with X number of pieces. If someone takes a piece…that leaves one less piece for everyone else right? WRONG! What they don’t realize is that when someone steps up to the “table of success” they are contributing their own talents and resources to the pie; MAKING THE PIE ITSELF BIGGER! BIGGER PIE, MORE PIECES! You can either see this world and life as one full of lack or one full of ABUNDANCE. If you think about all of the things that we enjoy today; the modern technologies, all of the resources to create all of these things have ALWAYS existed upon this earth, they just needed to be “organized” and “assembled”. I believe very strongly in abundance. I know that if I need something, I can create it. There is a piece of pie for everyone. Along these same lines, we have been promised that if we give of our substance, we will receive what we gave back, and more!
You better watch out. You better not cry. Better not pout. I’m telling you why…the Santa Claus rally is coming to town!
Next week marks the beginning of the famed Santa Claus rally for equity markets when stocks have historically surged. No one knows for sure why stocks tend to do well the last week of December, but a number of theories have emerged to try to explain it. Many consider the Santa Claus rally to be a result of investors buying stocks in anticipation of the rise in stock prices during the month of January, otherwise known as the January effect. Others suggest tax considerations, happiness around Wall/Bay Street, people investing their Christmas bonuses and the fact that pessimists are usually on vacation this week!
Dundee Securities has tracked the rally as far back as 1964 and according to them, the last 8 trading days of December and the first three of January have been positive for equity investors – with the S&P 500 returning 2% on average, nearly four times the typical return for the average 15-day trading period.
Hopefully Santa brings some nice gifts for investors and traders alike this year!
The wind-energy company REpower USA Corp. a subsidiary of German wind-turbine manufacturer REpower Systems AG, announced that in November 09 it has signed a contract to supply nine wind turbines for a Michigan wind-farm project.
The U.S. company has moved its headquarters from Portland, Oregon to Denver, Colorado in September 2009. REpower said in August that it plans to relocate or hire 25 employees for the Denver headquarters, and possibly double its staff in the course of one year.
REpower’s turbines will be used at the Stoney Corners II wind farm project near McBain, Michigan. The turbines are expected to be installed by the third quarter of 2010.
The contract with project developer Heritage Sustainable Energy LLC calls for REpower to initially deliver nine 2-megawatt MM92 wind turbines with a total output of 18.45 MW and an option for delivery of another 10 REpower turbines by September 2010.
REpower
TransDomo,LLC
Klaus Westerwelle
8 Briarpark Drive
Greer, SC 29651
Phone: 864.908.0690
Email: info@transdomo.com
Business Consulting: Transdomo
Real Estate / Immobilien : Westerwelle
As I walk thru the valley of the shadow of death the only evil I fear is that of Obama and his incompentence.Obama and Tiger have one thing in common which is they both whore around Tiger for pleasure and Obama for votes both men have fallen from the ranks of black idols to a disgrace to the race as well as mankind.The state of the Union has continued to deteriorate under Obama as his lack of experience and poor decisions have put this nation in jeperody.Obama grades himself a b+ when a d- is more realistic for such a poor performance and that is a generous grade.He is a pampas ass that has done nothing good to date and probably will not have any accomplishments that will ever amount to a hill of beans yet he will probably see things different as his head is in the sand.Tiger is a rich man and he has came by it honestly with the accomplishments due to his talents in golf.Obama finances are unknown and come from unknown sources possibly foreign governments and we know Obama has no talent and does not come by any money honestly.Obama is nothing more than a product of the corrupt chicago political machine which makes him political trash and a disgrace to the office of the President.The deteration of America financially,morally and ethically as Obama chisels away at the foundation of our Nation and christianity is inevitable and his agenda disturbing to those of sound mind.
The dollar rose to the highest level in more than two months against the euro on speculation the US economic recovery will prompt the Federal Reserve to start reducing stimulus measures. Greek bonds fell for a second day.
The dollar strengthened against 15 of the 16 most-traded currencies tracked by Bloomberg at 12:12 pm in London (in Taiwan 20:12), advancing 0.8 percent compared with the euro.
While none of the 97 economists surveyed by Bloomberg predicts the Fed will begin raising interest rates at meetings today and tomorrow, investors anticipate the central bank will soon begin to drain some of the $12 trillion it has pumped into the economy.
Signs of recovery from the first global recession since World War II are increasing, and a Fed report today may show industrial production rose 0.5 percent last month, according to a separate survey.
The euro dropped to $1.4526 at 21:45 (GMT+8 ).
Mots clés Technorati : USD,American Economy,Inverse Correlation,fvtaiwan
Yuval Steinitz, Israel’s finance minister, issued a warning at the end of last week. Despite the growth foreseen in 2010, the year will still bring along some unexpected aftershocks from the credit crunch.
Possibly. It is certainly true that few expect the strong gains of the stock market to continue. Even the most conservative of unit trusts have gained 20% since the mid-summer.
With that noted, this week has again seen a string of good news.
An IMF team is currently in Israel. Despite reservations over the country’s tax reforms, planned for January 2010, the draft report states that:
Since the beginning of 2008 it appears that Israel has been acquiring safe haven status.
Encouraging. So is the report that for the first time since the onset of the downturn, the current quarter will see more people hired than fired. This optimism is clearly reflected in the hightech sector, which has been of key importance in Israel’s continuous growth.
On a different front, 2 independent agencies have ranked Israel as top of their international list of growing real estate markets. This is significant because the building industry feeds into many other parts of the economy, and thus provides an all-round economic stimulus.
The November US retail sales report has really set the cat amongst the pigeons. For so long we have become accustomed to judging the move in the USD based on daily gyrations in risk aversion. Well, that may all be about to change. There was an inkling that all did not look right following the release of the November jobs report which unsurprisingly helped to boost risk appetite but surprisingly boosted the USD too.
It was easy to dismiss the USD reaction to year end position adjustment, markets getting caught short USDs etc. What’s more the shift in interest rate expectations following the jobs report in which markets began to price in an earlier rate hike in the US was quickly reversed in the wake of Fed Chairman Bernanke’s speech highlighting risks to the economy and reiterating the Fed’s “extended period” stance.
However, it all has happened again following the release of the November retail sales data, which if you missed it, came in stronger than expected alongside a similarly better than forecast reading for December Michigan confidence. The USD reaction was to register a broad based rally as markets once again moved to believe that the “extended period” may not be so extended after all.
Interest rates will become increasingly important in driving currencies over the course of the next few months but if anyone thinks that the Fed will shift its stance at this week’s FOMC meeting, they are likely to be off the mark. No doubt the Fed will note the recent improvement in economic data but this is highly unlikely to result in a change in the overall stance towards policy.
Further improvements in US data this week including industrial production, housing starts, Philly Fed and Empire manufacturing may lead markets to doubt this but the Fed calls the shots and a potentially dovish statement may act to restrain the USD this week. Also, it’s probably not a good idea to rule out the influence of risk appetite on currencies just yet and with a generally positive slate of data expected, firmer risk appetite will similarly act as a cap on the USD this week.
Other than the US events there is plenty of other potentially market moving data to digest this week. More central banks meet this week including the Riksbank, Norges Bank and Bank of Japan. No change is expected from all three but whilst the Riksbank is set to maintain a dovish stance the Norges Bank meeting is a closer call. So soon after the emergency BoJ meeting, a shift in policy appears unlikely but the pressure to increase Rinban (outright JGB buying) operations could throw up some surprises for markets.
Europe also has its fair share of releases this week including the two biggest data for markets out of the eurozone, namely, the German ZEW and IFO surveys as well as the flash December PMI readings. The biggest risk is for the ZEW survey which could suffer proportionately more in the wake of recent sovereign concerns in the Eurozone. Sovereign names may still lurk to protect the downside on EUR/USD and if the USD finds it tougher going as noted above, the EUR may be able to claw back some of its recent losses.
The economy has taken its toll on American families. Unemployment. Loss of medical insurance. Rising grocery costs and lower wages. Investments cascading in value. More moms than ever working. And with the fear of being downsized, you don’t dare miss work for your child’s play, soccer game, recital, or doctor’s appointments. Many teachers are reporting that more students are coming to school sick because their parents don’t dare miss work to stay home and care for them.
In the midst of a challenging economy, what should our response be? As I wrote in a previous post, I believe that we can Grow Strong Kids In a Weak Economy and we can do it during the holidays: Christmas (or Hanukkah – for my readers who observe it).
You may not be able give your child want he wants, but you can give him what he needs.
After my presentation The Danger of Raising Nice Kids to a large group of parents in New York, a dad asked, “We have our kids in a top-notch, private religious school; they take music and art lessons; play sports and go to worship with us; isn’t that enough? What more do they need?”
“You are doing some good things, but not the GREAT things. Have you read the book Good To Great?”
“Yes, I read it on my commute on the train to the city.”
“To move from good to great with your kids, you have to give them things that last. You have to build to last with your kids. You want them to have substance and character that sticks. You have to commit to grow them from the inside out. What you are doing is good, but it’s not great. You have outsourced character formation to the school and the church. You and your kids are missing out on the greatest thing.”
His forehead wrinkled, “And what’s that?”
“Loving something with your heart, soul and strength. Being wholly passionate about something that is timeless and worthwhile.”
“Sounds like what Jesus said, ‘Love the Lord God with all of your heart, soul and mind and others as yourself.’”
“Jesus was paraphrasing the first prayer he learned – The Shema from Deuteronomy 6:5-9. ‘Love God, you God, with your whole heart; love him with all that’s in you, love with all you’ve got! Write these commandments that I’ve given you today on your hearts. Get them inside of you and them get them inside your children. Talk about them wherever you are sitting at home or walking in the street, talk about them from the time you get up in the morning to when you fall into bed at night. Tie them on your hands and foreheads as a reminder. Inscribe them on the doorposts of your homes and on your city gates.’ Observant Jewish homes repeat this several times a day.”
“How does an old prayer make you a great parent?”
“You may not be able to give your kids much stuff this Christmas, but you can give them something that can’t be broken, returned, lost or goes out of style. You can give them faith, passion and peace. Faith in Someone who is stronger than a parent. A passion for something that lasts. And peace because the stories of God’s deliverance, provision, protection and love are embedded on their hearts. But it starts with you. Get those truths inside of you first, then they will spill over into your children. Let them see your faith in action. Consider helping a needy family this month. Let them see your passion by how you weave your faith into your Christmas celebration. Remind them that real value lies not in what we have, but who we are.”
“So if I can’t afford the big gifts, the activities, trips and clothes this year, I can still give them what they really need?”
“Yes, be passionate about your faith. Integrate your faith and values into an ongoing conversation with your children. Be intentional. Be consistent. Focus on the internals more than the externals, like grades, things and achievement. A child with a moral compass and a vital faith is more likely to avoid at-risk behavior, depression, substance abuse, and violence; and more likely to do better socially, academically and athletically. He is also more likely to be engaged in serving others, and not wrapped up in himself. Now isn’t that a great gift to give your child?”
As I’ve written before, I’ve been involved in a lot of game-playing during my corporate career. I’m not talking about the politics and back-biting that make the corporate life so much fun. I’m referring to the all-too-occasional exercises in what’s generally called “career development,” where a group of employees sit around a table (or a bush or an abandoned fire training tower) and get run through a series of humiliations and/or life-threatening workouts. If you’re lucky, you only feel stupid; otherwise, you end up “developed,” a painful condition where you exhibit a positive attitude all out of proportion to your circumstances.
Generally, these outings are designed to promote creativity and build camaraderie among the troops. You’re taken out of your normal cubicle environment and put in a setting where you are encouraged to think outside the box, dare to be great, or push the envelope of your normal comfort zone. I happen to believe that thinking outside the box is over-rated, and remind my cat of this every time he strays over the edge of his litter container.
Nevertheless, I try to be a good boy and play along. The first couple times, I genuinely tried to improve myself and my value to the company. But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve become a lot more jaded, as you’re about to read.
One fairly common method to get group members to open up and talk freely is to mentally transport them to a different place in time. Here, they can talk about their aspirations or ramble nostalgically about the past. In one session I went through in the early ‘90s, staged for what were (wrongly as it turned out) perceived to be future leaders, we were told to draw a picture of where we saw ourselves in ten years. The only thing the 15 people had in common was that they imagined a future somewhere very far away from the company they were supposed to be leading. I remember that my picture had me sitting on a dock next to a huge satellite dish that retrieved documents from outer space that I would then proofread while my son sat next to me fishing. (I wasn’t exactly prescient about the coming rise of the Internet.) Poor artist that I am, my group’s facilitator interpreted the scene as someone working at NASA directing the first mission to Mars, with my son playing the part of a tethered robot. Close enough, I figured.
A similar exercise was done with another group a few years later: they were told to think exactly ten years into the past. Headlines of the exact day were read aloud and a hit song from the period was played to tickle everyone’s memory. We heard funny tales from high school, a story about a surprise birthday party and, from one young woman who could barely hold back her tears, a recounting of the day after her mother was killed in a head-on collision with a drunk driver. The brainstorming was not especially inspired after that.
Another common activity is to break the group into smaller teams who are then given an assignment that requires them to work together to accomplish a goal. Once, we had to use tape, pipe cleaners and popsicle sticks to create a contraption that could cushion an egg from a six-foot fall. Another time we had to reach consensus on the best way to fold a sheet of paper into an airplane, then test our designs with a farthest-flight competition in the parking lot. My prototype was damaged when it was run over during flight testing; I wanted to ball up the remains and wrap them around a rock, which I was convinced I could throw way farther than anyone’s aircraft was going to go. Apparently, this was not the paradigm shift my trainer had in mind. Maybe I’d do better if a coloring or finger-paint session was next on the schedule.
I also had an opportunity to work on the other side of the equation when I spent a few years as an excellence trainer. (Note that I said “excellence,” not “excellent.”) During each day-long quality awareness session, we played what was called the JIT game, which was meant to demonstrate just-in-time production techniques. Each six-person team was given a collection of interlocking blocks and asked to set up a line that could produce exact replicas of a certain configuration. They were required to re-engineer their process several times – with blatant hints from the trainers – to achieve more and better widgets crafted each time with fewer and fewer people. At the end, they could do their very best work with only two people instead of six. Inevitably, some participant would learn the wrong lesson and ask what would happen to the four people who no longer had jobs. The trainers were told to make some vague hint about how maybe they could work in marketing instead.
The most enjoyable game I can recall from my quarter-century experience with this garbage was the Myers-Briggs personality assessment. What I liked best was that this was something you could do largely in the privacy of your own personal space, without having to “team-build” with your half-witted coworkers. You’d answer a battery of questions about your preferences – there were no right or wrong choices – and then you’d be put into one of 16 categories that labeled you as an extrovert, a thinker, a perceiver, an innovator, a molester, an invertebrate, etc. The only group participation required was at the end when you were given your results and told to go to a part of the room where you’d join up with others of your monstrous ilk and compare notes.
One thing I have learned from all these corporate games is how to game the system. Since no judgments are made, no answers are wrong and no ideas are too ridiculous, you can offer up the most absurd input and enjoy watching your guide squirm as they validate your responses. “Yes, Davis, your idea about twirling on our tippy-toes while talking to clients on the phone is a very innovative one,” the trainer says. “Let’s write that up on the whiteboard.” Until they wise up and put your manager behind a two-way mirror with your personnel file, your pay grade and a taser at the ready, these learning opportunities can actually be rewarding. Just not how they were intended.
USA Today has an article stating federal civil servants making more than $100,000 has jumped during the recession. Is this comparable to allegedly distasteful practices at the big banks? Are the politicians going to have to answer for practices in government that might be comparable to practices they complain about in the finance industry?
Does it really matter to the overall economy what the compensation is of some people in some sectors?
Capitalism brings the greatest happiness to the greatest number of people. Capitalism subordinates untold numbers of people to a regime which cheats them of the fair value of their labor. Orwellian doublethink or Žižekian parallax? You decide.
Sylvia Plath’s poem “Morning Song” ranks as one of the most unsettling work of literature I’ve read. I’ve always interpreted it as a reflection on a dissociative episode the poem’s speaker, a new mother, had recently experienced, brought on, perhaps, by postpartum depression. The speaker suggests little in the way of recognition of her new child’s humanity. Consider the first stanza. In it the speaker wastes no words establishing her theme:
Love set you going like a fat gold watch.
The midwife slapped your footsoles, and your bald cry
Took its place among the elements.
I find myself hard-pressed to think of another poem that begins with such a tone of icy distance. A mechanical image (“fat gold watch”) cascades into an animal image (“bald cry”) that in turn tumbles into one of mere materiality (“place among the elements”). I can’t really say that Plath’s speaker’s attitude fills me with much pleasant regard for human reproduction.
Nor do I think Plath intended her speaker to do so. I have to say that I admire — if not exactly embrace — the unsentimentally existentialist spirit of “Morning Song,” which to my mind presents its reader with an example of a parallax (in the philosophical, not optical, sense). Popularized by the Slovenian Marxist theorist Slavoj Žižek (but actually conceived by the Japanese philosopher, Kojin Karatani), a parallax takes the form of an “observed difference [that] is not simply ‘subjective,’” as Žižek writes, but “is rather … an ‘epistemological’ shift in the subject’s point of view [which] always reflects an ‘ontological’ shift in the object itself.” In plainer language, that a certain object admits of different perceptions remains as much a property of that object as an effect of subjective perception. This shakes out in terms of Plath’s poem as an equal validity to the conventional attitude toward childbirth and the attitude adopted by the poem’s speaker. Childbirth can appear as both a blessed event as well as an unaccountable, troubling disruption without the latter necessarily falsifying or invalidating the latter, or vice versa.
A parallax view of the world seems a recipe for confusion, especially when one considers that Žižek recommends abandoning the desire to reconcile the gaps inherent in this view. One must, rather, recognize the resulting antinomies (a fancy term in philosophy for contradictory but equally valid assertions) and deal with them. The challenge becomes, then, negotiating contradictions without falling into confusion. Novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald once wrote,”The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.” Thus the parallax one could consider a sort of spiritual or character-building exercise — or in gloopy TV-talk-show parlance, an “opportunity for growth.” The human mind thus becomes a sort of parallax sponge, soaking up instances of ontological–epistemological discrepancy and expanding accordingly.
And the present economic predicament afflicting the entire globe certainly doesn’t lack such opportunities. Indeed, parallax gaps abound. One simply need open The New York Times to confirm this. Recent issues have presented a veritable parade of parallaxes. Indeed, recent weeks have seen the Times feature two particularly depressing articles. The first appeared in the October 21, 2009 edition. The article’s title pretty much sums it up: “$13 an Hour? 500 Sign Up, 1 Wins a Job.” Lest there linger any ambiguity in the reader’s mind, the accompanying article leaves no uncertainty in its depiction of the arduous interview process the eventual chosen applicant, one Tiffany Block, endured on her way to seizing the brass ring of a so-so hourly wage with limited benefits:
In the past, [Chris] Kelsey [director of C. R. England, the trucking school which advertised the position Tiffany Block secured] had mostly ad-libbed interviews, but this time he asked his company’s human resources department for help. They sent him a list of 13 questions, as well as an eight-page packet with 128 questions grouped under 50 “competencies.” He decided he would ask them all.
Indeed, Ms. Block could consider herself lucky; just making it to the point where she could submit to Mr. Kelsey’s interrogation meant that she embodied an adequately Goldilocks-like candidate — neither over- nor underqualified. “The overwhelming response astonished [Mr. Kelsey],” the October 21 Times story continues:
He asked Cheree Seawood, one of his current assistants, to go through the résumés and help pick out several to interview. To make the task easier, he decided they should be even more rigorous in ruling out anyone who appeared even slightly overqualified. Mr. Kelsey, an ardent New England Patriots fan, compared his personnel strategy to the team’s everyman approach.
His devotion to professional football obviously taught Mr. Kelsey a thing or two about making the most of home-field advantage. The October 21 Times story quotes him as saying, “‘We like to get the fair and middling talent that will work for the wages and groom them from within.’” Yet Mr. Kelsey astutely realizes that “in this [current economic] climate he could afford to be extra picky and require trucking industry experience.” Misery loves company, certainly; but it might also be said that a company loves misery.
Of course, $13 an hour, a wage the October 16 Times piece deems “decent,” even though it amounts to two dollars less than double the legislated minimum hourly wage of $7.25. But by what right do I say how much one should earn for a position like the administrative-assistant one Ms. block won, whose duties include “data entry, assembling paperwork and making copies,” as the October 21, 2009 Times story reports? Such things are best left to the market to decide.
Stay hungry: today's job applicants work for work.
Leaving the market to decide such things as wages surely has its advantages — especially for employers under conditions of unemployment (conservatively) estimated at north of 10 percent nation-wide. Such a labor reserve not even the most ruthless mill owner in the nineteenth-century English midlands could have imagined, allowing folks like Mr. Kelsey only the most lordly discretion and prerogative. Consider the final question, the last of a battery of some 150, and the one which put Ms. Block over the top:
Mr. Kelsey marched through many of his questions again. Then, trying to gauge her ability to be assertive among truck drivers, he added a new hypothetical: if she were in the stands at a baseball game and a foul ball came her way, would she stand up to try to catch it, or wait in her seat and hope it fell her way?
The other finalist had said she would wait. But Ms. Block said immediately that she would jump up to grab it.
Mr. Kelsey decided he had found his hire.
As grueling as Ms. Block’s ordeal, it pales in comparison to the hapless subjects of this second New York Times article, which appears in the November 27 edition. Entitled, “Hiring Is Rising in One Area: Low-Paid Interns,” the story gives one the sense that Ms. Block should count herself lucky to have landed a job — a paying job — when so many others work in a peculiar labor limbo: the unpaid internship. “In boom times, companies with too much work for existing employees — yet not enough work to justify another hire — may have turned to temporary workers,” the November 27 Times story reports: “But with the economy still in the doldrums, companies again are opting for unpaid or low-paid internships to get the extra work done.”
The companies that have taken advantage of eager interns see silver linings in even the blackest economic thunderheads. The November 27 Times story quotes one Drew McLellan, reigning eminence of McLellan Marketing Group in Des Moines, Iowa, who fairly sums up the fearful symmetry of the intern model: “It is a brilliant, recession-proof way to double your work force, said Drew McLellan…. “It’s more money to the bottom line for you.”
The Bottom Line, an angry and jealous god, must needs propitiating at any cost, it seems, So one might as well keep that cost at right around free. The internship, a time-honored résumé-burnishing institution, has undergone certain alterations of late; the ranks of such aspirants has swelled from fresh-faced university upperclassmen to include downsized, desperate thirty- and fortysomethings. Again the November 27 Times piece:
Internships have never been out of vogue, but the competition for positions is heating up, which is good news if you run a company needing economical, entry-level workers.
…
And internships are no longer just the province of college students. More unemployed professionals are seeking them — whether to test-drive a new career or simply to keep themselves occupied, according to internship placement services. [Steve] Rodems, of Fast Track Internships, said 10 percent of his clients were college graduates changing professions, compared with just 1 percent in 2008. And, he said, internships are increasingly running throughout the year, not just in the summer.
Michael Sabatino, 38, an equity analyst at Smith Barney in New York until he was laid off in 2008, is one of those professionals who sought an internship.
The song remains drearily the same: proletarianized young professionals, hoping to sell their labor power, can find only buyers who, instead of coin of the realm, offer payment of a new, evanescent sort — on-the-job experience — which these young professionals pray may yet prove fungible at some future date: a paycheck, like a woman’s promise to her lover, written on the wind and running water.
If the current recession has offered people any lesson, it has shown to what degree parallactic antinomies rule their lives. They must somehow hold in their mind rather massive contradictions. They must recognize, for instance, that from one point of view, that of most Establishment economists, capitalism, though imperfect, offers the best system for allocating scarce resources, thus bringing the greatest happiness to the greatest number of people. And they must also recognize that capitalism immiserates untold numbers of people, subordinating them to a regime which cheats them of the fair value of their labor. (What, after all, does the perma-intern model accomplish beyond the outright theft of interns’ time and effort?) From one point of view, the former appears valid; from another, the latter. And they appear so because they are so — equally incontrovertibly, yet equally irresolvable in terms of the other.
But the recognition of these seemingly intransigent contradictions need not entail one’s passively suffering them. Žižek encourages those who find themselves ill at ease under the parallax gaps of capitalism to adopt what can only be described as an ascesis of imitatio Bartlebly. Bartleby, the titular character of Herman Melville’s immortal tale, is the pioneering figure of what Žižek deems is the most effective subjective positionality of resistance. The so-called “Bartleby-parallax” manages to avoid being caught up in the Hegelian pseudo-negations of counterhegemonic practices. And we must, Žižek warns, be as resistant to these pseudo-negations in our “preferring-not-to’s” as to the hegemonic ills the former are intended to redress. Because not to do so and to remain, rather, in the old dialectic of resorting to alternatives to dismaying hegemony, is to remain ensnared in the Foucauldian circuits of power that result in the eternal recursion and reinscription of prevailing sociopolitical relations. The parallactic Bartleby, however, disrupts the workings of ideological apparatuses by cultivating an inner disposition of refusal until, according to Žižek, there opens up possibilities which are not determined by the dialectic.
In short, Americans must as a body rise up and proclaim, “No longer shall we work for work! No longer shall we even work!,” and let the financial oligarchs and their toadies try to come to grips with this parallax.
The die has been cast. Few families across the nation shall have been left unaffected by yesterday’s budget. It is difficult to find much to laud, aside from the fact that the very necessary deed has been done. Yet we can be cheered by the fact one admirable welfare reform has occurred in the midst of this economic depression, giving hope that at least this aspect of our spending may become more prudent once we emerge from this slump. From the budget speech of Minister Lenihan:
- for new applicants, the rate of Job-seekers Allowance and Supplementary Welfare Allowance for persons aged 20 and 21 years of age who have no dependent children is being reduced to €100 per week and for those aged between 22 and 24 to €150 per week; and
- for all other cases, the rate will be reduced to €150 per week where job offers or activation measures have been refused.
The budgetary excesses of the Celtic Tiger era allowed us to over indulge in the nation’s passion for crafting a safety net. The well intentioned pursuit of ensuring society’s most vulnerable did not slip through the cracks. We allowed years of bumper tax revenues, buoyed by an overheated property market, to delude ourselves into believing we could construct a welfare state which offered a plethora of benefits at some of the most generous levels across the continent and somehow support all of this from a rather moderate tax base. Of course once the construction market floundered, this appalling vista opened before us – a gaping hole in the national revenue for which no alternative income could be found.
It is time for a pragmatic touch and analytical eye to be cast upon our welfare system. The above mentioned reforms to unemployment benefit are precisely of the sort which must continue to be contemplated and proposed. It was a frankly ridiculous situation in which young men and women of 20-24 years, some graduating from college or university, some qualifying in a craft or trade, others simply drifting through their youth with little drive or ambition, could claim full unemployment benefit. Was the State truly saying that these young citizens, apparently at the most flexible, versatile and hopefully, motivated, period of their lives, the responsibilities of mortgages and young families still a relatively distant prospect, needed such a level of welfare support? How do you stimulate some form of determination in a youth whose outlays at this period in their life are at their lowest, into gainful employment if the prospect of full State support is so readily accessible from the very outset of what should be their working lives?
Ross Douthat, columnist for the New York Times, made a very valid observation on his blog recently when responding to one academic’s criticism of a system of unemployment benefit that compels a claimant to accept any form of employment that becomes available:
What an extraordinarily pernicious notion — that it’s somehow
degrading, or a form of second-class citizenship, to be expected to look for a new job while you’re accepting money from the public purse.
The Job Seekers Allowance offers a helping hand to those in moments of economic difficulty in their lives, who despite their best efforts cannot secure paying employment. It is not intended as a means of perpetual support for those who are well capable to hold jobs but who have no intention to do so and are quite content to lead their lives entirely at the taxpayer’s expense. Such a situation should never be tolerable and the barest minimum of payment should be offered, as Minister Lenihan has done in this budget, otherwise a culture of entitlement is allowed to seep into the mindset of entire generations and the vicious circle that the welfare trap can be, shall simply keep on spinning.
We all buy (into) stuff now and then. For most it’s mainy functional, which appears the most healthy way to look at it. Not that it can’t be enjoyable, many functional things are. There is however a -growing- group of people that would include the word ‘shopping‘ when requested for a list of hobbies. That’s worrying.
But being a shopper is about more than merely than not having a better clue about what to do with your life than consume. Being a shopper is about the desire to obtain. To gain posession, information, power. At an ever increasing speed. That’s what the online game Shopper is about. Find out a bit more about yourself. Are you a Shopper? Play, free, quick ‘ easy at fisserman.com.
Divine intervention may be what the world needs to weather the global economic recession, but Islamic bonds, known as sukuk [صكوك], and the Islamic banking industry are not immune to the effects of the financial meltdown in the Gulf and around the world.
Leaders and the media in the Mideast have been quick to blame the West for blowing the Gulf financial crisis out of proportion, but financial and economic experts don’t see it quite like that.
It is confusing at times listening to the argument of global warming and now the media is on it full time, we are subjected to pictures of desolation the world over and smoke stacks minus the snow and ice we have come to expect in various places.
Who hasn’t seen the lonely polar bear floating around on a shrinking ice cube in the arctic.
I started wondering what is so different about our lives in the last century and it is becoming obvious.
There are homes people lived in and still do in the north and they look like this;
Now there are many structures the world round which look like this;
Transportation used to look like this;
To this;
The difference between the past century or so and before that time is that much we have developed to accommodate our creature comforts requires tremendous amounts of heat and energy, from forging the tools to build the buildings, to the metal and other materials required to construct them, transporting the raw materials to refineries and deliver finished goods to the site and the means to heat or cool our new homes.
We are a productive species. We have planted electrical poles every where in this world, from mountaintops to valleys and across the prairies. Concrete and asphalt roads reinforced with iron were unknown 150 years ago as was the automobile. In those days a locomotive pulling cars over a steel road was the only modern method of transportation used by the masses, and these metal roads did not go everywhere.
To provide the heat required to accommodate much of or modern lifestyles, we burn fuel, tremendous amounts of it, constantly. Not like a forest fire which burns out after a few days.
It has to have some effect you would think. When I look at the cities which are growing in this world, their skylines, aircraft and freeways and the immensity of it all, even though the world dwarfs all of this by comparison, I wonder, is it possible?
It’s a pity, because there are really only three basic truths that policy makers need to know about deficits: First, it’s actually good to run them during deep economic downturns. Second, whether deficits are bad in the long run depends on how borrowed money is spent. And third, eliminating deficits entirely would not require any painful sacrifices.
Evidence for the first two propositions is compelling. The third is controversial, but as I’ll explain, it’s true nonetheless. Policies grounded on these propositions would greatly improve our economic prospects.
The first proposition comes from the eminent British economist John Maynard Keynes, who argued that when total spending falls well below the level required for full employment, the economy won’t recover quickly on its own. Consumers won’t lead the way, because even those who still have jobs are fearful they might lose them. And most businesses won’t invest, since they already have more capacity than they need. Only government, Mr. Keynes concluded, has both the motive and opportunity to increase spending significantly during deep downturns.
Of course, if the government borrows to do so, the debt must eventually be repaid (or the interest on it must be paid forever). That fact has provoked strident protests about government “bankrupting our grandchildren.”
It’s an absurd complaint. Failure to stimulate the economy would mean a longer downturn. That, in turn, would mean longer stretches of reduced tax receipts, increased unemployment insurance payouts, and depressed private investment. The net result? Higher total public borrowing and a permanent decline in productivity compared with what we would have had under effective economic stimulus.
Once the economy is back on its feet, deficit logic changes. At full employment, extra borrowing often compromises future prosperity, just as critics say. On President George W. Bush’s watch, for example, the national debt rose from $5 trillion to $10 trillion. Some of that borrowing paid for an expansion of Medicare prescription coverage and a financial bailout a year ago, but most went for a war in Iraq and tax cuts that largely just allowed for additional consumption. Our grandchildren will be forever poorer as a result.
But the reverse would be true if government borrowing were used for productive investments. After decades of neglect of the nation’s infrastructure, attractive public investment opportunities abound. It’s been estimated, for example, that eliminating bottlenecks on the Northeast rail corridor would generate $12 billion in benefits at a cost of only $6 billion. These are present value estimates. When government undertakes such investments, our grandchildren become richer, not poorer.
But they’d be richer in the long run if we paid for those investments with our own savings rather than with borrowed money, for that would allow our grandchildren to benefit from the miracle of compound interest. Many fiscal hawks insist that the only way to eliminate deficits and pay for additional investment is by cutting government spending. But as California’s experience suggests, that approach often backfires. Government programs have constituents. Those that get the ax are often not the least valuable ones, but those whose supporters have the least influence. California’s schools, once among the nation’s best, are now among the worst.
To eliminate deficits, we need additional revenue. The encouraging news is that we could raise more than enough to balance government budgets by replacing our existing tax system with one that taxes activities that cause harm to others. Called Pigovian taxes by economists — after the English economist Arthur Cecil Pigou — such levies create a burden that is more than offset by the reductions they cause in costly side effects of everyday activities.
When producers emit sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere, for example, the resulting acid rain harms others. As the 1990 amendments to the Clean Air Act demonstrated, the most efficient and least intrusive remedy was to tax sulfur dioxide emissions. Doing so entailed no net sacrifice, because solving the same problem by prescriptive regulation would have been much more costly.
Similarly, when motorists enter congested roadways, they impose additional delays on others. Here, too, taxation is the best remedy. The time that congestion fees save is more valuable than the fees are burdensome.
When the transactions of financial speculators fuel asset bubbles, they increase the risk of financial meltdowns. A small tax on those transactions would reduce this risk.
When drivers buy heavier vehicles, they increase others’ risk of dying in accidents. This risk would be lower if we taxed vehicles by weight. Carbon dioxide emissions contribute to global warming. Here as well, taxation offers the most efficient and least intrusive remedy.
Anti-tax zealots denounce all taxation as theft, as depriving citizens of their right to spend their hard-earned incomes as they see fit. Yet nowhere does the Constitution grant us the right not to be taxed. Nor does it grant us the right to harm others with impunity. No one is permitted to steal our cars or vandalize our homes. Why should opponents of taxation be allowed to harm us in less direct ways?
Taxes on harmful activities would be justified quite apart from any need to balance government budgets. But such taxes would also generate ample revenue for the public services we demand, quieting the ill-considered commentary about deficits.
In the meantime, however, such commentary continues to render intelligent political decisions about deficits less likely. For example, 58 percent of respondents in a recent NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll said the president and Congress should worry less about bolstering the economy than keeping the deficit down, while only 35 percent said economic recovery was a higher priority.
If we really want to bankrupt our grandchildren, that poll charts a promising course.
Robert H. Frank, an economist at Cornell University, is also co-director of the Paduano Seminar in Business Ethics at the Stern School of Business at New York University.
Restive colonels and generals
Jun 22nd 2009 8:33 GMT
It is interesting to see how Turkey’s economic situation and its impacts on people greatly misrepresented by commentators and insufficient economic information is published on the Country Profile pages of the Economist.
All this publications and the fuss created about the “document” and therefore Turkish military is the fight for clearing up the obstacles on the path of regressive Mohammedan theocracy using the tools of democracy.
I would have believed it if I had not traveled Turkey two months ago and seen the poverty, hopelessness and frustration in people both in the country side and in urban centers and cities. It was a great but a sad experience for me to see how AKP government has been pulling the string from people’s eyes by feeding them with Mohammedanism, especially regressive Mohammedanism propaganda. I saw people become like robots, as if they are possessed without no intelligent logical reaction to almost anything that they face every day.
Here some facts on Turkey’s economy:
1. Foreign trade: In 2008 exports (fob) amounted to US$140.8bn, while imports (fob) were US$193.9bn, leaving a trade deficit of US$53.1bn. The export figures include estimates of earnings from so-called “suitcase trade”.
2. External Debt: ~US$280bn Public, ~US$250bn, ~Total=530bn
3. Interest Rates for Foreign debt: 18 % (No other country in the world borrows money with such a high rate!
4. When AKP got the power the external debt was around US$40bn.
5. Unemployment rate is around 14 % (official, 30 % real
As easily can be seen form the data given above, no one or country can sustain development and progress in such conditions. Turkey is, unfortunately, economically bankrupt country and only way to continue with the government is to draw people’s attention to different directions keep them occupied with the “other” worlds issues.
The mechanism for this for rural part of the country and rural areas is to polish and propagate the regressive Mohammedanism, and in the cities and urban areas is to create imaginary terrorist organizations, military coup plans, documents etc. and use these to silence in particular the opposition, intellectuals, academicians, writers, thinkers, activists in general the population.
So, I can go on and on this subject but It is just not convincing for me that all this fuss is about AKP”s or Fetullah Gulen and his gang or anyone’s fight for democracy. This is the fight for clearing up the obstacles on the path of regressive Mohammedan theocracy using the tools of democracy.
The Commerce Department revised GDP growth for the third quarter of this year down, again.
I took some great lessons from Chapter 19! 
You better watch out. You better not cry. Better not pout. I’m telling you why…the Santa Claus rally is coming to town! 
Capitalism brings the greatest happiness to the greatest number of people. Capitalism subordinates untold numbers of people to a regime which cheats them of the fair value of their labor. Orwellian doublethink or Žižekian parallax? You decide.
Sylvia Plath’s poem “Morning Song” ranks as one of the most unsettling work of literature I’ve read. I’ve always interpreted it as a reflection on a dissociative episode the poem’s speaker, a new mother, had recently experienced, brought on, perhaps, by postpartum depression. The speaker suggests little in the way of recognition of her new child’s humanity. Consider the first stanza. In it the speaker wastes no words establishing her theme:
