the age of accountability

What Matters Most

2010-06-10T22:20:00.002-04:00

I have not posted an entry on my blog for more than six months now and I have no excuse. There are so many topics to write about and I regret not being more diligent. Today’s report in the New York Times, however, about the British resentment of US attacks on BP is enough to bring me out of my self imposed hiatus.
The idea that the British are upset about the economic effect that the decline in BP’s stock price is having on British markets and British investors is the height of selfish callousness. BP displayed an incredible lack of concern for the safety of its workers and the environment in which it operates, and it is now paying the price for that egregious omission. The worst part of the whole crisis is that BP clearly had no plan for dealing with the environmental calamity it has caused. The economic effects on the residents of the Gulf Coast, coupled with the environmental effects on the wildlife that inhabit the region far outweigh any negative economic effect on British markets and investors.
If I were the president, I would have already called for a permanent boycott on all BP gas stations, so that they cannot profit another penny from the US citizenry for whom they showed so little concern.
What has not even yet been discussed is what penalties will be imposed upon BP for their environmental and civil crimes in this matter. I did a quick check and found that Exxon was originally fined $5 billion for causing the oil spill in Alaska in 1989. It was recently ruled that the $507 million that Exxon has paid out so far to the victims of the oil spill and their families will be considered their total liability. Figures released today show that the amount of oil that has leaked into the Gulf of Mexico exceeds that which was released during the Valdez disaster by a factor of five, and the number is of course still rising. The economic effects on the residents of the Gulf Coast remain incalculable at this time because BP has not been able to establish any time frame for the containment of the spill and it is already clear that it will take years to mitigate its effects. Attempt after attempt has failed miserably, while Tony Hayward complains of the inconvenience it is causing him personally.
What matters most are the lives of the people who are most directly affected by this disaster. Just as we all felt anguish for the residents of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, we now have to feel it for the residents of the Gulf Coast who face a multi-year recovery in economically depressed times.
I feel nothing of the kind for the British investors who are upset about US criticism of BP’s conduct in this crisis.
The other major casualty that arouses my anguish is the effect on the wildlife of the region, which could cause the extinction of certain species or at least a major reduction in their numbers. Those species count on us, unknowingly, as the most evolved, to be the stewards of their environment. It is shameful for every human being on Earth to consider how we have let them down.
I would like to pose a question to our British allies across the pond. Would you be so forgiving of an American company that caused an oil spill which resulted in tar balls washing up on the shores of London? I think we all know the answer to that.

The Good The Bad and The Ugly

2009-12-14T21:53:00.003-05:00

When I first heard on Friday about the spending bill being put before the Senate, I felt a sense of disgust. Once again our elected officials are blatantly ignoring the needs of their constituencies for the sake of pork barrel spending. The current bill includes more than 5,000 pet projects, the most ridiculous of which have already been exposed by the major news organizations.

As I read more about the bill however, I realized that it has its good side. The main purpose of the measure, known as an omnibus bill, is to pay for vital programs in areas such as veterans, health and education. That’s the stuff we need. As much as I hate to admit it, a flawed government is still better than no government.

However, the ugly part of the situation is the most outrageous. This is the mindset of the Congress, which views profligate spending as a virtue to be praised. Senator Richard Durbin of Illinois reminded all of us that the individual spending bills were given bipartisan support by the Senate Appropriations Committee. Isn’t that wonderful?
Both parties agree that irresponsibly raising the national debt to reward campaign contributors is an admirable end.

As the New York Times reported yesterday, there is more of this behavior yet to come. The next major bill to come before Congress is a $600 billion measure that will pay for the operations of the Pentagon for the next year. Since no one in Congress would vote against keeping the Pentagon in business, there are plans being made to attach other wasteful spending projects to this measure.

Included in those measures is one provision to raise the federal debt limit by $1.8 trillion. What sense does it make to have a debt limit if Congress is just going to raise it every year to cover their own irresponsibility? Think about what would happen if the average homeowner was allowed to do that on an annual basis. In some sense, that’s exactly what did happen, and look where we are now.

I have to wonder if Congress is aware or at the very least cares about the ugly image it displays to the general voting public. Their approval numbers don't seem to mean much to them. They are mortgaging our future for the sake of the few and flipping the rest of us the bird at the same time. They only reasons they do it are because no one holds them accountable and because they are so insulated from the plight of the average citizen that they listen only to those who throw the most money at them.

Let’s hope that changes before the well runs dry, before the credibility of the United States turns into a impudent joke at a Russian vodka party.

*Source information for this article is from The New York Times December 13th edition

President Obama, Are You Listening?

2009-12-09T23:02:00.002-05:00

In an announcement I loved reading this morning out of Great Britain, Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling proclaimed a 50% tax on all bank bonuses over 25,000 pounds, translating into $40,800. That low limit effectively captures the vast majority of bonuses that will be paid.

I found it very curious that within a half hour of that announcement, a member of the board of Goldman Sachs, William George, was quoted as saying that his firm is taking a “very hard look” at whether to pay people less because of public outrage over bonuses. My educated guess says they will do one of two things: One, they will impose a temporary restraint until the outrage dies down; Two, they will decide that their pay policy can’t be changed because it will result in a “talent exodus,” a matter which I have addressed before.

Indeed, the reaction of the US financial community supported the latter conclusion. “We don’t think it is at all likely that Treasury-IRS would impose a 50 percent tax on banker bonuses,” said David Schmidt, a senior consultant for New York-based compensation firm James F. Reda & Associates. “This pay cut would likely cause an exodus of talent.” I have stated repeatedly in the previous columns that while it may be true that there would be a temporary exodus of talent, the attitude that that talent cannot be replaced is utterly ridiculous.

The only voice quoted that agreed with the idea of a US bonus tax is the one I respect the most. Clyde Prestowitz, whose book, Three Billion New Capitalists, was a warning shot across the economic bow of the country when we still believed that what has happened could not happen, called the bonus tax “a great idea that is justified by the taxpayer supported bailouts.” He added, “There’s a lot of pain and agony out there because of their malfeasance.”

His statements are confirmed by a Bloomberg National Poll released today that almost two thirds of Americans rate bankers lower than Congressmen, lawyers and insurance companies. With polls released in the past few months showing favorable ratings of Congress hovering in the teens, I suspect that the true number of people who give bankers that low a rating is closer to 80%. Bloomberg’s study only polled 1000 adults, hardly enough to produce a completely accurate reading.

Is President Obama listening? Is Tim Geithner? Mr. Geithner recently paid lip service to the “irresponsibly high bonuses” being paid on Wall St. this year, but no further action is currently being contemplated, and it’s obvious that the people paid to watch the banking system also expect nothing to be done.

I suggest that Mr. Prestowitz is correct. It is time to follow the lead of the British and impose a bonus tax of at least 50%. This would accomplish two important objectives: First, it would show that those elected to govern are listening to the will of the people who elected them. Second, it would send a clear signal to Wall St. that their actions are wrong and completely out of touch with economic reality. This is something the majority of Americans already seem to know.

Finally, it is worth remembering that last year, in the immediate wake of the banking crisis that started this economic turmoil, British bankers apologized for their irresponsibility. American bankers had the nerve to blame “excessive regulation” for the crisis. It’s time to remind them that the fallout from their willful transgressions is far from forgiven.

**The source of all quotes in this article is Bloomberg.com

A Thanksgiving Thank You

2009-11-26T12:29:00.002-05:00

The holiday season is upon us and being the manic depressive that I am, I find myself with typically conflicting thoughts. It seems to me that the whole country is sort of manic depressive in a way. The extremes are getting more extreme. I’m sure that right now there are people drinking toasts to their decadent excesses, feeling no guilt, while other people are feeling as if they are in a hole miles deep because they know their standard of living has dropped and shows no sign of a quick rebound.

It has always been this way in America and maybe it always will be. But if my less than glamorous existence is emblematic of America, then the way I am dealing with it is no less indicative of the resilience of the American spirit. I push on every day. I face personal crises on a daily basis and my soul bleeds likes a festering wound but I remain optimistic. What else can any of us do?

It is sad that the socially maladjusted minority regularly grabs the spotlight of the mainstream media. It is equally sad that many other people find these fringe dwellers with a perverse need for attention so fascinating. The ones who are ignored in all of this are the citizens who plod along on a daily basis and raise their children uneventfully, instilling them with a sense of values and dignity. This doesn’t make the newsreel highlights, and there is always talk of changing values and the erosion of the family, but certain things remain constant, and that still is and always will be the backbone of this manic depressive nation.

So this editorial is a shout to you, the ignored, the decent, the stressed and the children who are struggling to understand their existence while the world shifts beneath their feet. As John Lennon sang forty years ago, love is the answer. I know that to include such a cliché in an editorial is a literary sin but the truth of that statement will resonate through every generation. No matter what your situation, if there is love, there is hope. And I think the people of this country whose lifestyle has been so cruelly and abruptly disrupted realize that. They are the collective force for good that hold this country together against an ugly tide of corruption and greed. If we are to restore our simple sense of morality, untainted by manic depressive extremism, then those people will be our ultimate salvation and I want to thank them for it in advance, and let them know that their efforts do not go unrecognized, no matter whether the mainstream media pays any attention to them. I see examples of it every day, in the way a mother and child look at each other as they hold hands on the street. In the way a gentleman with twenty items in his shopping cart lets me go ahead of him because I only have three items. In the way that someone I don’t know compliments my singing in the church choir on Sunday. These simple gestures say so much about who we are as a society. I pray that we never reach the point where that kind of civility goes out of style. Thank you, and I hope everyone enjoys their turkey and football with a sense of moderation and civility.

The Range of Human Behavior

2009-11-06T21:30:00.001-05:00

There have been two incidents in the past two days that showed the extremes people are capable of in stressful situations.

The first, more prominent incident occurred at Fort Hood, Texas. An army major, trained in psychiatry, and scheduled to be deployed to a war zone, snapped and tried to murder as many people as he could before he was taken down by this incident’s hero, Kimberly Munley.

Sgt. Munley is a trained firearms expert and has also served in the military. She committed a selfless act of bravery by confronting a man who had already committed multiple murders and suffered serious wounds while disabling him. She responded immediately and without hesitation and placed herself in mortal danger to save the lives of others. She is the mother of two young children, but upon recovering consciousness at the hospital, her first question was about the lives she had saved. This woman deserves the utmost respect and the highest honor this country can hand out.

The perpetrator of this incident, Major Nidal Malik Hasan is an army psychiatrist who spent most of his time counseling and comforting soldiers who suffered from post traumatic stress syndrome as a result of exposure to combat situations. It is unclear whether he planned to kill himself after he satisfied his lust for slaughter, but he had apparently authored several recent posts on the Internet about suicide bombers and had been giving his belongings away. The prospect of his upcoming deployment pushed him past his breaking point. The magnitude of his violence speaks volumes about the darkest capabilities of the human condition.

The second incident occurred at a Florida prison. Deputy Ken Moon was on duty and alone on a unit when he was assaulted by an inmate. The inmate had Deputy Moon in a choke hold which may have resulted in the deputy’s death if not for the quick action of four inmates who came to deputy’s rescue.

These men had nothing to gain by helping the deputy. When asked why they helped him, they responded by saying they liked him, nothing more, nothing less. It was a simple act of kindness in a place where that is usually in short supply. It was unclear why Deputy Moon was attacked, but when a man is in a murderous rage, clear thought is non-existent. The extent of his violence differs from Major Hasan’s only by degree.

I am not in any way trying to equate the heroism of Sgt. Munley with that of the inmates. However, just as the violence is different only in degree, so is the heroism. It shows the range of reaction that is possible when people are exposed to stressful situations. Violence and heroism have been constants throughout history. Until we can learn to live with each other peacefully, we must pray that the heroism of brave individuals will never succumb to the violence of the disturbed.

What Happened in Richmond, CA: Anomaly or Symptom?

2009-11-03T19:43:00.002-05:00

The recent gang rape of a 15 year old girl outside a school dance in Richmond, CA would be an ugly incident all by itself. What makes it even uglier, however, is the fact that a crowd of teenagers stood around watching, cheering and taking pictures during the time this poor girl was being brutalized.

A spokesman for the school in question has disclaimed responsibility by saying it is not our job “to take these students home.” They immediately retreated to the “cover thy ass” position most likely to deflect the massive lawsuits that will be coming their way once this whole ugly incident is sorted out. I can’t blame them for doing that, and while it is very easy to place the blame squarely on the school for not having proper security, I think the blame lies elsewhere.

This is certainly the most heinous case of criminal apathy that I have come across. There have been other incidents where young people overdose at parties and the other kids just leave them there, not caring whether they live or die, but this case reaches a new low. That is something our society seems to be getting better and better at.

I still remember being a teenager, centuries ago, and I remember getting mighty drunk a few times, but I can’t remember ever getting the urge to gather a group of friends together and finding a girl to gang rape. I wonder, how does this mindset occur? Where does the notion come from that this kind of act is acceptable? Can you classify anyone who does think this is acceptable behavior as human?

That last question applies to those who watched as well as those who participated. Who has failed to demonstrate a proper set of values to these children? I think the better question is, where does the blame end? We are all in some way responsible. We allow for the set of circumstances where children can become so desensitized to the suffering of others that this type of behavior becomes possible.

So, is this incident an anomaly, not likely to be repeated, or is this a symptom of the mindset that prevails in today’s young people, where the dehumanization of an innocent young girl is shrugged off and considered unsurprising? The shock factor will remain acute for some time to come, but once that wears off, what are we left with? It could be interpreted as a generation of children without a functional moral compass.

Since Americans find it so necessary to blame someone for incidents like these, I have a suggestion for you. Go look in the mirror, wipe the sleep from your eyes, and do something to counter the endless tide of violent images that are sweeping our children into an immoral cesspool.

I Hope Everyone Reads This

2009-09-10T22:53:00.003-04:00

This will be a short entry. This one doesn't need to be long.

The text of President Obama's speech can be found through this link:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gDqQJuGAC0Xb5hUlwfuOZ-0hr5_gD9AJ0AK80

This speech was so awesome and both simple and significant at the same time. Anyone who was opposed to the President's speech should wear a bright white T-shirt with bold black lettering that says "I am an idiot." All the crap that was being spread around about the President trying to indoctrinate students into some political agenda was just that, crap.

There wasn't a single political element to the President's speech. It was a much needed and overdue call from the rightful leader of this country to the young people who represent the future to focus on themselves for the good of the country. It's too bad the parents of this country don't provide the same kind of leadership to their children.

I applaud the President for making this speech. It may not be recorded as a significant event in the history books of the future, but it still sent a much needed message to the young people who are constantly bombarded with negativity and escapism by a sensationally addicted media. President Obama should make a speech like this every month of the school year until each student is convinced that he or she is important to the future of this once great country and that each of them can make a positive contribution toward reversing the decline that my failing generation is passing on to them. They must take responsibility for themselves and my generation must take responsibility for failing the those who will come after us with our complacency, laziness and collective willingness to embrace ignorance.

A Bad Decision

2009-09-03T19:43:00.003-04:00

I have been away from this blog for too long. I have been posting poetry on my other blog. Call it my summer vacation. If Congress can do it, I can too.
Today, the decision was handed down by the California parole board denying Susan Atkins compassionate release. I advocated for her release in one of my last blog entries. I stand by that position.
When I saw the headline on the NY Times blog I was curious to see the comments that would be posted. I was not surprised by the attitude of vengeance and outright bloodthirstiness that was displayed. The question that keeps coming to my mind is, do these people, who aren't afraid to say that Susan Atkins should die in prison, call themselves Christians? They certainly are not thinking in a way that Jesus Christ would find acceptable.
Granted, there were some compassionate and enlightened people posting more thoughtful entries and I applaud them for the depth of their thinking. What is a shameful reflection on our society is that these comments were a small minority of the total.
This is the entry that I posted to the blog this afternoon:

"Shame on all of you people. Maybe you all should try spending an extended time in prison and see if you like it. Susan Atkins is no threat to anyone and her life was taken from her by a long prison sentence. She did commit a terrible crime and she showed no mercy. All of this is true. But are you people not capable of showing mercy yourselves? Do you think that Susan Atkins still has no regrets over what she did? For you to simply brush her off and say that she should die in prison shows the same lack of compassion she displayed to her victims, albeit to a lesser degree. Society needs to move away from this vengeful attitude. With maturity is supposed to come wisdom.The release of the Lockerbie bomber and his subsequent hero’s welcome home should not color the opinion of anyone who looks at this case. It is completely separate and must be examined in a moral vacuum. What lesson do you wish to teach your children, an eye for an eye, or something more noble? I wish all of you haters luck and pray that you never have to face the loss of freedom ms atkins has had to suffer."

My post was directly responded to by a woman named Pam. This was her entry:

"Gee Don, I am pretty sure that all of us “haters” will not face the “loss of freedom ms atkins has had to suffer” given that we are not likely to take part in butchering innocent people who were simply sitting in their own homes.
What lesson are you teaching your children –that no matter what you do, eventually you get out of jail? How much time do you think Susan Atkins should have served, or is it simply the fact that she has cancer that you think justifies her release? Have you ever lost anyone to violent crime?
I didn’t think so."

The first thing that should jump out at you is the condescending tone of her response. She is sarcastically dismissing what I said without taking any of what I wrote seriously. This is a typical anti-intellectual response. It also reflects a lack of understanding of the fact that given the right, or wrong circumstances, depending on how you see it, anyone can end up in prison. People are not just put in prison for murder. This is the point I was addressing when I said that I pray that the haters never have to face the loss of freedom Ms. Atkins has.
Second, she lectures me about loss without knowing anything about me. I called the purveyors of vitriol haters based on their comments. Pam attempts to make a value judgment on my life without knowing what I have gone through and the losses I have suffered. This is, of course, an attempt to deflect my argument away from its essential point, that the matter needs to be examined in a moral vacuum, without emotional aspects injected. This is the only way to discuss a philosophical argument, which is exactly what this discussion should be, not an opportunity for bloodletting.
Third, she asks me what lesson I am teaching my children. The answer to that is simple. If I had the opportunity to teach my children, I would teach them to value self respect and love for others above all else. That IS what Jesus Christ intended for us. If you can adopt an attitude of vengeance and sleep well at night, then you lack a basic ingredient of wisdom and you need to think hard and long about what you are teaching your children.
Finally, to address the question Pam raises about someone who has lost a loved one to violent crime. Has she not heard of the many examples of survivors who have visited those who killed their loved ones in prison and come to forgive them for their crimes? This is the road I would pursue for the sake of intellectualism and personal growth. I would find this alternative far more preferable than living my life while hatred for a single individual ate away at my soul. That is the antithesis of love and life and the road to personal hell, something which I have already extricated myself from.

As Dumb As Us?

2009-08-08T22:19:00.002-04:00

I was talking with a few people recently about a subject that has shaped how I view the world. The greatest book I have ever read is still The Will to Power by Friedrich Nietzsche. It explains the framework by which the world operates. To put it succinctly, people don’t really care about each other. We prey on each other, we cheat each other, we have no consideration for each other. It’s sad, but it’s true.

Nietzsche called Christianity a blight on mankind. He proclaimed in definitive fashion that people were not bound by any sense of morality which society imposed upon them. When I was 22 and read this, I was astounded to realize that people could think this way. What a liberating idea. I adopted that philosophy wholeheartedly and slowly got further and further away from the framework under which I was raised. Of course, I fooled myself into thinking that I was still adhering to a Christian set of values. But in reality I made a few token gestures of humanity but despised most people. Back then anger was my main motivation. I was angry at myself, angry at my Dad and angry at the world. It cost me dearly.

I had to hit bottom with a thud to realize that abandoning values granted me freedom but left me in a great abyss. As I slowly reconstructed myself, I discovered that the values I had scoffed at as a young man were the only way to live. To be morally grounded, to see the world as a place that needs to be improved and saved, was the only path to love, and as John Lennon stated, love is the answer.

To apply that sentiment to the practical world is to encounter confounding frustration. The world does operate in an amoral fashion, just as Nietzsche described. Adherents to one religion or another make up the majority of the human population, but people still really don’t care about each other.

The evidence is everywhere. In one of my favorite movies, Billy Jack, the title character says, near the end, I am paraphrasing, you show me one place on earth where people really care about each other and I’ll never do another violent thing. That film was made in 1971. The statement is still just as valid. There are pockets of humanity, there are people who labor for the common good, but they are far outnumbered by those who serve only their self interest to the detriment of others. In many cases, they realize what they are doing and they take no steps to correct themselves.

This brings me to the book I am reading, Hot Flat and Crowded, by Thomas Friedman. I’m only 65 pages in, but so far I have a major point of disagreement with Friedman’s premise. He says in a number of places that the developing economies of the world have every right to enjoy the same type of lifestyle that we have in America. The statement is a celebration of the accomplishments of capitalism, which has clearly been shown to be a faulty system. But do these people have the right to develop their economies in the same foolish, haphazard manner that we did?

The answer to that is no. While we may not have evolved much in the past century, we have learned some painful lessons. The US is mainly responsible for the impending environmental disaster. As Mr. Friedman correctly points out later in the book, the only way for the US to regain its position of economic pre-eminence is to reclaim its moral authority and lead a green revolution to stem or at least mitigate the environmental effects which have been set in motion. I have heard Mr. Friedman’s viewpoint repeated ad nauseum by foreigners who feel entitled to their piece of the expanding economic pie. But in light of what we have learned, do they have the right to be as dumb as we were? Again, the answer is no. In the rush to spread the benefits of wealth among their citizens, foreign leaders are adopting the same polluting technologies which caused the problems we are now facing.

In the US, the enormous costs of leading a green revolution are seen as prohibitive in the current economic situation. If we were to publicly state that our handling of the environment has been disgraceful and that we are urging other countries not to follow our path and adopt more environmentally sound economic growth programs, would it make any difference? The question may be completely moot, because the odds of the US making such a statement can only be stated in astronomical terms.

What does this say about all of us and our world? What are foreigners saying when they follow the US lead in economic growth? Screw the environment; screw the losers who still live on less than $2 a day! We want our pie and we want it now! This is selfishness, this is hypocrisy, this is willful ignorance. It is darkness. It is not a compliment to the human condition. It proves Nietzsche correct, no matter how strenuously anyone may disagree with him.

Where does the future lie? It lies in science fiction. It lies in the kind of utopian vision that has been laughed off for a hundred years. It lies in love. The economic costs are secondary, and pale in comparison to the costs of inaction.

When will people wake up and realize this? I see no evidence of any enlightenment. The forces of darkness and stasis are strong, and they are experts at deflecting blame. I wish everyone luck on their journey and if you have young children, prepare them early to be activists, to respect others and to value love over money. The future of the world lies in the overthrow of the Nietzschean ideal.

Free Susan Atkins

2009-08-08T22:15:00.001-04:00

Susan Atkins was part of one of the most shocking crimes of the 20th century. She was originally sentenced to death, later commuted to a life sentence and a life is what she has served. Now she is near death, a mere shell of the woman she used to be and I believe it is time to grant this woman some penance and allow her to return home to die in peace.

Society is very quick to punish. We hand out life sentences and pat ourselves on the back for our evolved system of justice and our humanity. Yet there is something very paradoxical about the nature of this punishment. We kick up dust and have endless arguments about taking a life for a life, but the fact remains that a life sentence amounts to the same thing, just a slower and more painful process.

Anyone who disagrees with me should try being put in prison on an open ended basis with no idea when they will be released. I’m sure their opinion of the necessity of harsh sentences would be changed. At least when I did my time, I always had a release date in the back of my mind. It still didn’t make it any easier.

Economic points are being raised, but if this issued is going to be examined in a vacuum, on a philosophical basis, then economics is irrelevant. The question is about the dignity of life and the compassion we have as a society.

It’s true that Susan Atkins said she had no mercy for her victims. She was young. She came from an abusive situation, and became immersed in a dysfunctional situation. Are we so comfortable and smug that we can allow ourselves to show no mercy towards her after she has served forty years in prison and not feel a single pang of guilt? I have to seriously question the psyche and motivation of someone who feels that way. I read over the first eight years of Susan’s record of her prison behavior and after her initial adjustment period, she was consistently seen as a model prisoner, often being complimented for the calming and positive effect she had on other inmates. Even the families of her victims have acknowledged her good works and the clear change in her personality. Can’t we, as a supposedly impartial society, do the same thing?

If we allow Susan Atkins to return home to die, do we diminish ourselves in any way? I think it has the opposite effect. I think it shows growth. Let us allow ourselves the chance to grow instead of remaining in lock step with the path of least resistance. Susan did not allow her victims to choose the manner of their deaths. Do we need to adopt that same misguided attitude in order to feel safe? Let us more evolved people choose the noble path and allow her to die at home in peace.

WHY THIS COUNTRY IS DOOMED-The Macro and the Micro

2009-07-02T13:09:00.000-04:00

I hope I am being facetious here but I am really worried about the future of this country and it’s not necessarily for the reasons that most people are worried. First let’s look at the macro picture.

Paul Krugman, another NYT writer that I respect immensely, recently had a column talking about the vote on the recently passed Waxman-Markey climate change bill. The bill passed the House by a narrow margin. The reason, as Mr. Krugman points out, is that there are a large number of elected representatives who actually reject the notion that something must be done to reverse the buildup of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere, in other words, the whole notion of global warming. I was flabbergasted as I read this. At this point in time, 2009, when the evidence of global warming is so evident, being reported everywhere, here are men and women who purport to call themselves intelligent telling us they don’t believe in the concept of global warming. How did these people get elected to any position of responsibility? How can you take a single word that comes out of their mouths seriously?

As Mr. Krugman points out, these people aren’t just disputing one argument with another, they are wholly rejecting the idea that a crisis even exists. It’s absolutely unbelievable that stupidity of that magnitude is tolerated in the halls of Congress or anywhere else. If we as a nation are willing to put up with that kind of stupidity, we are doomed. The triumph of fundamentalism is anti-intellectualism. Someone is so afraid to admit they are wrong that they willfully choose ignorance and denial. That, to me, constitutes mental illness, and it is apparently rampant among our elected representatives.

Now, the micro picture. As I have said before I have a very unglamorous job as an inside consultant for an energy company. In plain and simple terms I am a telemarketer. Fine, hate me if you will. But I am not selling newspapers or magazines, I am selling energy efficiency. In effect, I am giving away money. For nothing, I will have someone come to your business and let you know if we can help you reduce your energy bills. But it is a very hard job, and it’s made harder by the fact that people consider it perfectly acceptable to be rude, and I mean terribly rude. They have a good time being rude.

If they would take 30 seconds and listen, my company could help them insure the viability of their business going forward. But just like the elected representatives they would much rather remain rude and ignorant. Asking them to think is just too much of a burden for them to bear. I don’t when the country took this turn or who raised the people I call, but this is not the way I was raised. My dad, God rest his soul, would have had no problem admonishing me in public if I displayed rudeness to anyone. As an adult, I learned that courtesy and respect are hallmarks of self respect. You cannot expect anyone to show you respect if you so clearly demonstrate that you don’t respect yourself or others. And yet, this is how the people I call conduct themselves. It’s a miracle they make dollar one. And don’t try to tell me that indications of this kind of rudeness aren’t reflected in other aspects of their lives. It has to come to the surface in other unsociable ways.

Now, I know that these people are pounded by cold callers all day and the market we are working in is the busiest in the world. But that is not an acceptable excuse. How do you expect society to function if people can’t at least be courteous to one another? The spirit of civility that used to be the norm in this country has evaporated. Will it ever come back, I don’t know. Maybe the country needs to go through another depression to discover its civil soul. Maybe when everybody is in the same boat and we realize that we all need each other to make this country function again, we’ll remember that civility matters.

I hope it doesn’t come to that. But at this point in time, I don’t hold out much hope for the immediate future because people prefer to be ignorant. That is actually the most distressing fact. There was a time in the world when you had no choice but to be ignorant. Knowledge was scarce. But this is 2009. The entire world’s knowledge is right at your fingertips. All you have to do is type and click. But people don’t want to do it. Their personal growth is limited by their lack of perception. Their world revolves only around their immediate needs, and change, the only constant in life, is something to be feared and disputed. God help us all.

The End of the First Debacle or the Beginning of the Second

2009-06-23T21:39:00.002-04:00

We have just barely begun to turn the corner in the worst financial crisis in 60 years and the big banks are determined to plant the seeds of the next one. They haven’t learned a thing, except that the big brother government they all love to rail against will bail them out of any crisis they create. So the cycle begins anew. The banks are raising salaries again. This may seem like nothing at first glance. The banks have been through a harrowing experience, they have been humbled and they need to bounce back. It’s a truly capitalist phenomenon. It’s also very sad to see.

Anyone who thinks that the big banks recklessness will stop at raising salaries back to pre-crisis level is obscenely naïve. The culture of greed is still thriving. As we begin to put some distance between ourselves and the bottom of this crisis, the old risk taking behaviors will resurface. The so-called geniuses who designed the financial derivatives that brought us to the brink of disaster want another shot at it. This time, they will think they can correct their mistakes and we won’t end up back in the same situation. Their financial models will help them hide the truth that once the dice start tumbling in the wrong direction, they lose control. It doesn’t really matter to them, they feel no responsibility. They’ve never apologized for creating the crisis in which we are now mired. Remember the executives from AIG who blamed the regulations for their failure.

President Obama cannot ignore the implications of this return to normalcy. His biggest responsibility to the American people is to make sure that no later generation of Americans has to go through what we are going through now. The big banks don’t care about us. They are a bureaucracy like any other and the only purpose they serve is to perpetuate themselves. Unless President Obama issues a clear signal the excesses in risk that brought us here need to be eliminated from the system, it is inevitable that we will have to suffer through a crisis like this again at some point. The question will then be, will the United States have the financial ability and the world support we need to pull us through again? When we arrive at that moment in the future, President Obama’s legacy will then be blackened (no pun intended) for all time, in the same way that Alan Greenspan’s has been. That is not the way a man of vision like President Obama should be remembered.

Only in Texas

2009-06-10T23:14:00.001-04:00

A policeman in Texas gave a wonderful demonstration today of the lack of self respect that pervades the American psyche. At what should have been a routine traffic stop, an officer felt he needed to subdue a 72 year old great grandmother with a taser gun. The absurdity of the situation was caught by the officer’s dashboard camera. Because the woman was less than fully cooperative, the officer began barking commands at her like a Nazi drill instructor. When the woman had the nerve to stand up to the verbal abuse of an officer who has sworn to serve the public good, she was subdued by the use of a device which disrupts the heart beat of the victim, rendering them temporarily helpless.
The officer’s supervisor was interviewed and stated flatly the officer in question acted properly and that he would have done the same thing. He stated emphatically that you don’t talk back to the police, and that the officer was acting to make sure that the woman didn’t wander into traffic and get herself killed.
There are a couple of things wrong with that statement. First, if a policeman feels he has the authority to treat an elderly woman in such careless fashion, with no consideration for her possible health condition, then that officer needs a little sensitivity training. Second, unless the woman demonstrated signs of dementia, I would assume that there is a very low probability of her willingly wandering into traffic. That renders the supposed reason for tasering the woman utterly invalid.
Granted, the woman in question did not behave like a recent charm school graduate. But that still does not give that officer the right to use such overwhelming force when he is not threatened in any way.
Let me point out something that should be obvious. Lack of self respect cannot be hidden beneath an overinflated ego. If that man was forced to switch places with the woman he so carelessly tasered, he might begin to appreciate the senselessness of his action. I say might, because a man so drunk with power would probably have a hard time assimilating new behaviors.
Just another reason why I never want to go to Texas.

Obama's Missed Opportunity

2009-06-10T22:22:00.001-04:00

President Obama is truly missing an opportunity to do some long term good. Today he appointed Kenneth Feinberg as a “compensation czar” at the Treasury department to oversee the pay of top executive at companies that have received federal bailout money. He should have gone much further. The compensation of upper management at all corporations needs to be regulated. The coupling between compensation and reason has been severed. There is no moral or economic justification for anyone who manages others to be paid hundreds of times more than the people he or she manages. All the talk thrown around in conservative circles about the need to design exorbitant pay packages to retain top people is absolute garbage. It completely reinforces the social inequity that has become ingrained in the consciousness of corporate America. As I pointed out in my previous post, the concept of shared sacrifice has disappeared from the vast majority of American minds.
Only when the culture of greed is purged and the dollar becomes an instrument for social improvement instead of an end in itself will we start on the long road toward recovering our self respect and repairing our wounded economy.

Republican Party Suicide and the Concept of Shared Sacrifice

2009-06-10T22:17:00.002-04:00

The Republican Party continues to slit its own throat by planting the psychological seeds for the failure of President Obama’s economic recovery program. No one can tell whether or not the plan will produce the desired results or lead us to a lower standard of living that will last for generations. But it should at least be given a chance and there have been some positive signs lately of the beginnings of a recovery.
There are three things I do know for sure. First, if Obama was taking a laissez faire approach and allowing the economy to stand or fail on its own, Republicans would be screaming that he is a “do nothing President.”
Second, I haven’t seen one credible alternative plan presented by the President’s opponents. All Republicans can do is talk about stimulating spending and investment by cutting taxes, the same plan that did nothing to prevent the current crisis from happening. It’s a failed philosophy but it plays well among those who would benefit most from further tax cuts.
Third, there is no way we are going to get out of this current crisis and sustain anything near the standard of living we have become used to without raising taxes. Yesterday, I watched an appearance on Good Morning America by Peter Peterson, a billionaire, who pointed out that the unfunded, “off balance sheet” liabilities of the US government total 56 trillion dollars. Yes that’s trillion folks and it’s five times the amount of the known, more publicized national debt. This is the shameful legacy of apathy and complacency that we have left to our children and grandchildren.
Mr. Peterson made a comment that I have written about many times before. He talked about the concept of shared sacrifice and the fact that it has become career suicide for any politician to suggest that we all have to join together as a national community and accept the fact that the economic landscape has been permanently, negatively altered. Of course, in order to make this point to the American people, both political parties would have to admit to their failure of leadership and we all know that is not too likely. The Republicans embody this reality by pandering to their ever shrinking base through proposals that will increase the economic inequality that is at the root of our current problems.
The most amusing part of the story was that the Republicans were happy to have an actor speaking at their function and agreeing with them, as if having one representative of moral bankruptcy on their side validates their judgment of the President’s performance to date.
It would be so nice if they came up with something original instead of pointing fingers and calling names like testosterone filled teenagers in a locker room. But I am not holding my breath.

Wasteful and Disgusting

2009-04-23T21:29:00.002-04:00

We have seen example after example of greed in corporate America, even as the standard of living in the country is going down for at least the next decade. Of course, there have always been greedy, egotistical politicians, but lately corporate pigs have been an easier target. Today, we got a reminder that lack of moral leadership is alive and well in Washington, providing the perfect example for corporate pigs to follow.
Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania apparently feels that it is his duty to take taxpayer funds and waste them on an airport named after him in his Congressional district. His defense of this monumental waste is that the aiport is a lure for companies to relocate there, thus increasing economic activity in his district. Never mind the fact that the airport is hundreds of miles from any major business center and handles an average of twenty people on any given day. The airport has three daily flights, all of which go to Washington, DC. I guess this is in case Rep. Murtha ever wants to make three round trips to DC and back in one day.
It's no wonder that Americans' faith in government continues to evaporate. I would love to ask Rep. Murtha, how much federal funding have you secured to improve the schools in your district? Do you feel that diverting taxpayer money to your namesake airport is more important than making sure that every person in your district has a decent shot at living the now nearly bankrupt American dream? If you made the average salary of the residents in your district, would you be upset at the amount of money being spent with no positive economic impact whatsoever?
Even when the arrogance of this man is exposed he displays no remorse. There is no better indicator of lack of character. And this man has served 19 terms in Congress. The people of his district are just as much to blame for the existence of this economic black hole. This is the main reason that wasteful bureaucracy has allowed to proliferate to such a degree. Shame on every one of us.

More Evidence of Nothing Changed

2009-04-13T21:14:00.003-04:00

There were two very telling columns in yesterday's New York Times. Frank Rich, whom I have come to admire greatly since he stopped writing about trivial subjects like style, wrote a column about how he hoped the culture of greed would change now that we seem to coming out the other end of the worst economic crisis in 75 years. In the other column, Graham Bowley and Louise Story wrote about the exodus of so-called "top talent" from Wall St. firms that have received government funds and are now subject to compensation restrictions to new upstart firms and foreign instititions who are hoping to continue the culture of greed and reap extraordinary, unnecessary profits from the kind of market activity that precipitated the crisis in the first place.
I read the Bowley and Story column first because Mr. Rich's column is sometimes hard to find in the online version. I was thoroughly disgusted to see that the lessons Mr. Rich hopes have been
learned are being discarded for the continuation of the status quo.
One insinuation in the Bowley and Story column was that the "top talent" is irreplaceable and represents a very small percentage of the people who work in the financial industry today. This is completely ridiculous. Every day many smart people go to work in America in positions that require them to be extremely talented and saavy. To imply that there are very few people alive who can replicate or repair the incredible crisis created by these elite minds and continue to manufacture the unrealistic returns that contributed to the bubble that burst is absurd. An Ivy League education does not automatically anoint you as a Master of the Universe. We do not need these people to perpetuate the financial system.
What we do need is a discussion about the subjects that both Mr. Rich and I have raised before.
The culture of greed must be purged. Allowing people to make a billion dollars in one year leads to excess and not just excess income. It also leads to the type of mentality Mr. Rich talked about where the dollar becomes an end in itself. This is a relatively new phenomenon in America. We used to be a cohesive society with shared values. Now the unfettered capitalism brought about by thirty years of deregulation has brought us to ruin and the so-called "top minds" don't want to change a thing. I don't call that intelligence or innovation, I call that greed and blindness. They are playing the government for saps.
It is clear that to demonstrate the visionary leadership necessary to rid us of the culture of greed a socialistic approach needs to be adapted. There should be compensation limits imposed on every business operating in the country. Any pay in excess of a certain amount should be collected and placed in a fund to improve the infrastructure and school systems. That would also include the cost of a higher education. To place the advantages of a higher education out of the reach of those who make less income is social injustice in its highest form and does nothing to solve the world's problems. No wonder so many young people grow up feeling that they are powerless and their lives mean nothing. What's amazing to me is that the so-called "top minds" have so little understanding or concern for the long term implications of their insatiable greed.
Of course, these so called "top minds" would also be the ones leading the fight against the kind of societal change which is clearly needed in the aftermath of our current crisis. I fear that even President Obama does not have the courage to do what is necessary to combat this ingrained greed for fear it will be politically suicidal. But doing so would instantly rank him near the President he has already been compared to: Abraham Lincoln. Let's hope our new President can demonstrate the kind of leadership necessary to show those who are wrongly called "top minds" what vision really means.

A Chance for Real Leadership

2009-03-15T09:52:00.001-04:00

The culture of Wall Street will never learn. The New York Times reported today that AIG executives are to be paid bonuses totaling $165 million dollars after receiving $170 billion dollars in bailout money from the government. This is another clear example of the divergence between morality and law.

The arguments being made in favor of the payments are ludicrous. The lawyers for the firm said the firm had no choice but to make the payments. The government owns 80% of the firm. They should simply say no bonuses and the people they were promised to have no right to sue for them. End of story.

The second argument is an old one and a discredited one. The firm said that the bonuses have to be paid in order to retain the most skilled executives. The lion’s share of the bonuses is being paid out to the people in the financial products division, the same division that brought the firm and thousands of people to their knees. Where is the skill in that? How can they even call these people skilled? Is there no performance measurement parameter tied to these bonuses? Some of these people, and not just AIG executives, should be in jail instead of worrying whether their bonuses are going to be paid. They created financial products without properly calculating the risks and then the executives of the firm blamed the regulatory structure for the disaster they created. The article states that the financial products division is being wound down. A firm doesn’t do that unless they know there’s no hope. So the executives are being paid bonuses to preside over a financial funeral.

What is missing and unexamined in the midst of this ridiculous dust storm is the issue of patriotism, of national unity. This is a crisis situation. President Obama’s inaugural address called for a new sense of shared purpose, a new era of personal responsibility. There was the example of the banker in Florida who paid bonuses to employees who didn’t even work for him after he sold the firm and reaped a huge profit. That man should be Time Magazine’s man of the year, even though the title has been rendered meaningless. Where is the sense of personal responsibility in these AIG workers? How they can accept this money with a clear conscience? I know I couldn’t. These people, if they had any character, would issue a joint statement saying that we acknowledge our mistake, that we know we created a financial debacle and we will accept no bonus compensation until the firm is back on firm financial footing and it is certain that no further government bailout money is needed. That would instantly win them the respect of the American people and send a clear signal that Wall St. is serious about changing its culture. It would also show a much needed willingness to work in the national interest, instead of their own obviously misguided self interest.

This is the kind of spirit we need in this country today. Day after day we hear stories of despair, incompetence and unbridled greed. This country used to have the ability to pull together. It doesn’t seem to be there anymore. We have lost faith in our government and each other. As I have said before, it’s a sign of lack of self respect.

If President Obama were to act with a firm hand and forbid the payment of any bonuses to employees of firms who have received government bailout money, his popularity would soar and people would see that it is possible for justice to be done. That’s the kind of leadership I expect from a man who has been proclaimed a visionary.

Another Moral Failure

2009-01-10T09:05:00.002-05:00

An article in the New York Times from Wednesday was another sad reminder of where the culture of de-regulation has brought us. The article says the EPA has been studying whether to regulate coal ash for 28 years. It goes on to say they don't have a schedule for implementing regulation at this time. Of course, there's also the obligatory statement from a coal industry spokesman saying that the industry needs no further regulation.
You can't make this stuff up. If you were to examine the issue in a vacuum, the question would be, is it permissible to allow toxic substances to be dumped into the ground without any regulation? Only coal industry spokesmen would say yes. Everyone else would laugh at the fact that the question even needs to be asked.
The lack of regulation in the financial industry has brought us to the edge of ruin. Will it really take a major environmental disaster for us to act on this issue? We had to have Exxon Valdez and Three Mile Island before those industries were properly supervised. What has to happen before the coal industry wakes up to its environmental responsibilities?
Just as with every other failure of moral courage in this country, there is no one person responsible. We are all responsible. Complacency has bred a spirit of buck passing that allows each person to shed their responsibility in favor of the assumption that someone is watching the store. Well, it has become clear that no one is watching the store. Concern is apparently not enough to create action.
Taking a proactive attitude toward this and other environmental issue would demonstrate to our citizens and to the world that we are serious about protecting the environment for our ourselves and our posterity. Having to tell our grandchildren that we could have done something but instead we chose to study the problem for more than three decades is a fate no one should have to face.
President Obama was elected to rekindle the hope and spirit of Americans after nearly thirty years of permissiveness and stupidity. I pray to my God that he is able to shoulder the enormous burdens he has been entrusted with. Only through a show of unfailing support and rare unity will he know that he can move forward in bold fashion to make the kind of changes that this country needs to reconcile itself to its own deficiencies. It is a sad fact that so many people feel that they should not be told how to live, but then demonstrate that they have no idea what conducting themselves in moral, responsible fashion is all about. Emotional development and real action are passed over in favor of boosting the ratings of American Idol so a false feeling of unity can be created. We can do so much better. We owe it to ourselves and future generations to start immediately.

Two Children, Two Directions

2008-12-25T09:59:00.003-05:00

I witnessed two events in recent days involving children. One profoundly uplifting, one profoundly disturbing.
I was walking from my home to the diner when I saw a little girl, maybe four or five years old, open the door and throw a plastic juice container out her front door onto the sidewalk, then slam the door. I made eye contact with her for a split second and I was amazed. There was no hint of regret for what she was doing in her eyes. She looked at me and proceeded to litter the sidewalk right in front of her home as if it was a perfectly normal occurrence.
This past Sunday I was privilged to witness the performance of a play called The Christmas Menorahs. I saw it at a temple in Montclair, NJ. It was a moving, hopeful, true story of a series of events that happened in Montana in 1993. A community came together to defeat the forces of hatred. It's as simple as that. The main players were children; educated, aware children who represent the best of what society has to offer. I watched in awe and prayed that my own children are growing up with this same kind of awareness. The play's humorous side focused on the differences between Jews and Christians and produced several full throated laughs. It was beautiful to watch the children execute their lines flawlessly and understand what they were demonstrating to the audience. The universal truths of love and knowledge can overcome any enemy, no matter how formidable. You only need to have the courage to display them for all to see and then it cannot be defeated. I wish every person elected to a position of responsibility could see this play. There would be less sadness in the world, less death, less hatred. What better Christmas present to give to the world than increased hope, especially in times like we face now.
I would like to think that the children in the play are more representative of the young generation than the child who is already jaded enough to throw trash out her front door. I hope the majority of parents are raising children to espouse the morals demonstrated in the play, rather than the callousness of that young litterer. Anytime I can see a display of the kind of awareness and maturity that a play like that brings out in children, I can look to the future with hope and believe that we will emerge from our present troubles a stronger, more moral nation. Therein lies our salvation. That is my Christmas wish for the world.

Maybe The Market Has Hit Bottom.......

2008-12-01T20:59:00.002-05:00

....but we certainly haven't. We hit a new low on Friday. An innocent man, trying to earn some extra money for the holidays, was trampled by a frenzied crowd rushing to take advantage of early morning sales. The police are saying that suspects will be hard to identify. Anyone who was there should come forward to tell police what they saw. That is their obligation as citizens.
But the fact that a mob mentality could possess a crowd in such a fashion and cause a man's death because they have to have the lastest thing or a cheap piece of electronics is utterly absurd. It hearkens back to what happened at a Who concert in Cincinnati in the early 80's. Those were a bunch of drunken kids. I don't know the composition of the crowd at Wal-Mart but I imagine the average of the shoppers was higher than those people who attended the Who concert.
The main point, of course, is simple and is something I have been talking about since I started this blog. This country lacks self respect. If you cannot act in civilized fashion in a situation which is non-life threatening, you have no respect for yourself nor your fellow citizens. A society that emphasized a sense of decency instead of prioritizing retail sales would foster a mindset where a tragedy like this would not occur. And in the event that it did occur, you would have responsible citizens coming forward to identify those who would go so far as to trample someone to death in an effort to obtain the latest hot item.
President-elect Obama should take note of this incident and make a return to a spirit of civility a cornerstone of his social agenda. If people do not learn basic values as children, then they should be taught when they are adults. Every person who can be identified on that video, whether they are directly involved in this incident or not, should be required to attend a class on civility, and then should be required to provide eyewitnesses to show they are practicing what they have been taught. It is easy to say that that is wacky, but an incident like this demands drastic action.
How many fingers will the citizens of the world point at us to say that we are nothing but hypocrites when we try to impose American values upon the world, yet we allow someone to die at the hands of an ambivalent mob. Unless we return to a spirit of civility and self respect, we will have no way of proving them wrong.

Not Everything Has Changed

2008-11-14T19:47:00.002-05:00

As a rule, I normally keep my literary life separate from my professional life, but, in this case, the irony of what happened to me on Wednesday makes it worth mentioning. I spend my days on the telephone trying to save companies money on their energy bills. It's a hard job because people are stuck in their ways and the idea of change frightens them. There are other reasons as well, but they are not germaine to the context of this entry.
A few weeks ago, I hit upon the idea of calling non-profit organizations. I figured that they would be one of the first rungs on the economic ladder to be squeezed as a result of current economic conditions, making them more willing to listen to cost cutting options. It's been true in a few cases. I've been able to arrange several meetings and a few of those meetings have resulted in sales. It makes economic sense to have a better handle on what your electricity costs will be when you're organizational viability is in question. Certainly, that is the case for many businesses across the economic spectrum at this time.
My normal approach is to view the organization's website and get an idea of what they do. Then I look for a staff listing hoping to find the right person to speak to. When I came across the site for the Center for Community Change, I was initially impressed. The home page has a picture of Barack Obama facing a crowd and the caption reads "The Meaning of This Moment." I looked at the staff directory and found the name of the Accounting Manager. I figured, what better organization to call than the Center for Community Change. Surely, they will listen to a concept to save money.
Wow, was I wrong. The woman who answered the phone in the New York office was named Margie. When I asked for the Accounting Manager, she asked who I was, and when I told her, her response was, "What makes you think he'd be in this office?" I responded by saying that I saw him listed as the Accounting Manager and I wanted to speak to him regarding cost cutting options. Her response was, "Well, I don't know you and I don't know your organization so I don't want to speak to you." Boom. Down goes the phone.
Since this happens to me a hundred times a day, I wasn't angry or depressed, but I was struck by the irony of the encounter. On the mission page of the website, under a section entitled "What We Believe" reads the following passage: We believe that only together – by sharing our hopes, connecting with each other, and taking action together – can we change our communities and nation for the better.
I had to laugh. I'm not expecting this woman to fawn over me and spend money in ten minutes on what I am selling, but the abruptness of a woman who works for an organization trying to affect social change by bringing people together struck me as completely inappropriate.
It perfectly illustrated what really does have to change in this country. We desperately need to return to a spirit of civility if we are ever going to realize the dream that the Center for Community Change is fighting for. Otherwise, their dream will remain a pipe dream, no matter how many organizational objectives they achieve. This lesson should be impressed upon Margie and everyone else in this country who feels they have the right to be rude to people just because they annoy them or they have the ability to maintain their anonymity. Everyone is a person deserving of respect. Only when that is accepted as Gospel truth will the real spirit of community that this organization seeks become even remotely possible.

Let's Take A Deep Breath

2008-11-07T19:49:00.002-05:00

Okay. Barack has done it. Things will change. But let's not try to rush it. Some people are already acting as if they expect immediate results. Mr. Obama already has to temper expectations. I am happy, but I am also patient. I have to be. Spend four years in jail and you learn patience.
Unfortunately, not all of the results of this election were so laudatory. Three additonal states passed bans on gay marriage, including California, which I never thought would happen. I am not planning to marry anyone of my sex, but I fully support anyone who wants to and I think their union should have all the rights that marriage between a man and a woman has. My reasoning is this: The reason that I see that the religious right wants to ban gay marriage is so that they can say that they are winning the moral crusade. Well, the fact of the matter is that the moral crusade is being lost every day. Lying is so pervasive and does much more damage to society than the union of two people of the same sex. If this was a truly moral nation we would not be in the economic mess that we find ourselves in today. The people who invented the derivatives that have brought down long standing institutions created the instruments to line their pockets with money, not to protect anyone. We trusted them to be able handle the risks and they failed miserably. Then they don't even have the moral courage to admit their mistakes. They hide behind excuses and point fingers in circular fashion until no one knows who is responsible. This is the moral crisis we face every day, not the destruction of the institution of marriage.
The institution has self destructed on its own. The religious right recognizes this, so in order to soothe their egos they put a band aid on the problem by attacking a peripheral issue. The passage of a ban on gay marriage will in no way address the decay of heterosexual marriage that has been going on for decades.
Mr. Obama has much that he can do, and I expect great things of him. But if we are to truly restore our inner greatness, then we must recognize and confront the real issues that are tearing us apart, that led us to financial reckoning and that promise to render us an impotent power on the world stage in the years to come. Mr. Obama can not do that alone. That must come from all of us.
Final note: When I looked at the map of the election results it confirmed for me why I will never move out of the Northeast. And its not just because I love the change of seasons. The coasts voted for Mr. Obama and the heartland went for Mr. McCain. That is a bit of a generalization but it does contain a nugget of truth.

A New Reason for Hope

2008-11-02T09:24:00.002-05:00

At the request of a reader, (yes, I actually have a few readers) I am enlarging the font in this blog.
Sometimes, it's great to be right. I said in September that Sarah Palin would be a liability to John McCain. Where would the race be today if he had picked Joe Lieberman, who would have allowed him to reach across the aisle to Independents and more conservative Democrats? We can only speculate.
Strolling past a TV on Friday night, I heard a commentator say this is arguably the most important election in 150 years. Not being a scholar in the area of presidential politics, I cannot agree or disagree with any legitimate authority. But it is clear that Mr. Obama's election signals the beginning of a new era of hope for the American people.
Given the economic possibilities, hope may be the most precious, intangible commodity around soon. I pray that we do not experience a lost decade similar to what Japan went through when their bubble burst. But if we do experience an extended period of contraction and retrenchment, our sense of national unity and pride will be severely tested. Then we will see if we degenerate into partisan squabbling and turf wars or pull together for the common good.
Another prayer that needs to be said is that no sick person assassinates Mr. Obama for the sake of his twisted agenda. I'm sure it's a subject already being discussed in some of the darker corners of our society. 9/11 is a national wound that has still not healed. Mr. Obama's untimely death would take even longer to recover from.
I was only two and a half when JFK was killed, but I remember my mother and many other people talking about where they were when they heard the news, like the moment was frozen in time. I want to remember where I am when Mr. Obama hands the reins of goverment over to a worthy successor, whether that person is a Republican or a Democrat. It may seem a little premature to look so far forward, but if a dire economic situation unfolds, the long term view may be the only ray of hope we have. That in itself would be a sea change in the American psyche, and would probably serve us well. It's too bad a crisis has to unfold before we can experience some positive evolution, but Mr. Obama is a worthy first step. On this day, I am behind him 100%.

Outrage Pays Off

2008-10-26T09:08:00.002-04:00

Someone in government finally came to their senses. The executives of AIG are being asked to return millions in compensation. The money should be taken and given to the communities in which AIG operated. That would leave a lasting legacy that might help to overturn the perception of greed that has been burned into people's consciousness. Of course, the government will probably return the money to the pool being dug for the bailout of financial institutions. Which means that its possible positive effect will be negated. I understand why that statement might be questioned, but the government is allocating $700 billion for the bailout, so a few million dollars will not make a major difference to the bailout effort. The construction of a new park or a new wing on a school would probably help a lot more. The government seems to be very resistant to these kind of ideas. It represents the idea of socialism that they seem to be afraid of and that I think we need a lot more of. It would restore faith in government as a caring institution instead of this cold, faceless behemoth that is unresponsive to society's needs. The government seems to have no problem handing out tax breaks for business which they then abuse. I think its time to funnel money directly into people's hands. I don't advocate giving money away with no obligation. I think there should be some sort of education requirement to qualify for government subsidy. I don't want to use the word handout but that is exactly what it would be. The time has come for Americans to admit that everyone deserves an equal shot at a comfortable life, not having to live from paycheck to paycheck. Spreading money out this way would strengthen and widen the middle class, which has always been the backbone of American society. In previous generations, although they may not have been the intellectual leaders of the country, they were the moral leaders, providing stability order and a sense of community security. We need to return to these ideas if America is going to resume its position as a moral arbiter. The world is waiting for our example.

Socialism Is Not A Dirty Word

2008-10-25T12:22:00.004-04:00

Nicholas Kristof's column the other day recounted a conversation he had with a woman in Beijing regarding the election of Barack Obama. It summarized the perception that many people abroad have of the United States and the state of our race relations. The point made was that the election of Barack Obama will send a sorely needed signal to many corners of the world that the United States is capable of electing someone besides a white man to its highest office. I am also hoping that it will signal a new era of change in the United States.
The word that has been tossed around on the campaign trail in the last week is Socialism. John McCain has done his desperate best to paint this as a dirty word that Americans should avoid at all costs. Barack Obama has not made such a strong statement, but it is clear that he does not want the word associated with his economic plans. I disagree. Maybe it is wrong of Mr. Obama to use the word Socialism because of the connotations that it stirs in the American mind, but Socialism is something this country needs, and now more than ever. With the gap between rich and poor growing ever wider and the apparent abandonment of moral principles that Wall Street has demonstrated in the pursuit of ever higher bonuses, the trickle down theory of ecnomic redistribution has shown itself to be a flawed idea.
The idea is simple but its effects would be profound. The redistribution of wealth would give the poorest among us added security. It would allow them to secure a better future for their children. Even if money is not given directly to people, it should be allocated to towns and cities on the low end of the economic scale for civic improvements, resulting in better schools and community facilities. There is no reason why millions of people should have to live a tenuous existence while others are paid ridiculous amounts and contribute nothing to the overall welfare of society. It's time for America to fulfill its promise to all its people and show the world that we have the compassion and the courage it takes to shine as an example of equality. I just hope that Mr. Obama can demonstrate the kind of vision it will take to return America to the position of moral leadership that it so easily abandoned in the past 30 years.

Fall of the Maestro

2008-10-24T18:48:00.002-04:00

I can't blame Alan Greenspan for doing what he did. He made the assumption, like I did, that the people who invented these unregulated derivatives knew what they were doing and could control the markets they created. Unfortunately, we were both wrong. The people who invented these derivatives and the people who traded in them without fully understanding them had no moral compass and no concern for anything except the generation of a stream of income. This is a perfect example of lack of self respect. If you can act so selfishly and have no concern for the consequences, you have no respect for yourself. Of course, these titans of finance don't care whether they respect themselves. They use can use their millions of dollars as a salve to soothe their hardened consciences. Just look at how the executives of AIG were able to absolve themselves so easily, blaming the regulations for their problems. Their lack of introspective ability is shameful.
That is why I give kudos to Alan Greenspan for being able to publicly admit that his perception regarding the state of derivative markets was incorrect. The man was raised in a different America, when your word was your honor, before we became the largest debtor nation in the world and sold our integrity to the highest bidder. The situation we find ourselves in now is a result of our tendency to give people the benefit of the doubt, to believe that people are basically good inside, when we have really lost our soul. It's no wonder the world has lost its respect for us.

The Disciples of Nihilism

2008-10-12T09:24:00.002-04:00

What a week for accountability. AIG needs more money, but their executives are so out of control, they hold a getaway for themselves and spend half a million dollars. And what happens to them? Nothing. There are no sanctions announced. No public condemnation reaches the ear of the average listener. And why? First, because Congress doesn't have the backbone to take a firm stand, and second, our elected representatives, who are supposed to be representing us, are probably jealous as hell that they can't do the same thing.
The President, the most incompetent man on earth, tells us that everything will be fine, but does he really know? We now have whole countries hitting the skids and Iceland doesn't even come to us to help them out. What does that say about our reputation abroad?
Maureen Dowd talked about the similarities to Rome in her column today, including a section in incomprehensible Latin. (Note: I took Latin for two and a half years in high school, but I hardly remember a word.) I've had the same thought for years. Admittedly, I was in love with the idea of derivatives when I worked for a Wall Street firm, but mostly because I thought there was at least someone with their hand on the controls. I believed in the system.
Okay, while you're laughing, I will say this. I was wrong. The system was inspired and run by Gordon Gekko types with no concerns except for the size of their wallets. In the spirit of un-accountability, they were happy to pass off the responsibility to someone else, comforting themselves with the fact that they could easily find someone else to blame if things went wrong.
This brings us back to AIG. In Congressional testimony this week, the executives of AIG flatly denied responsibility for the failure of their company. They actually had the nerve to blame the framework of regulations that they worked so hard to circumvent. One columnist I read put it so well; he said that's like blaming the fever on the thermometer. Even Maurice Greenberg, who spent years building AIG into a global presence and was at the helm when these derivatives became popular, sent a letter to Congress saying it was his successors' fault, which, as I said, they denied.
I think it's easy to see my point. Someone is responsible, and it's not the shareholders who got wiped out.
Here's what should be done: First, the executives who went away for the retreat and completely ignored their moral responsibility should be billed by the government, and the bill should be payable immediately, in cash.
Second, the executives who authorized the retreat should have to work without compensation for five years to help clean up the mess they made. Third, they should also have to stand on a stage in front of a national, primetime TV audience and apologize to their shareholders and the American people.
I know what you're thinking; don't hold your breath. But recommending this kind of public sanction by a member of Congress would show some real leadership and would lift their public ratings out of the high teens where they now reside. And we all know why they won't do it; because all they care about is getting re-elected and corporations and lobbyists pump much more money into Congressional coffers than Joe or Jane sixpack.
So what we have are elected puppets, whose noses are drawn to the dank smell of fresh money, whose eyesight is clouded by the comfortable blanket of indifferent, "objective" media, and whose ears are deaf to the cries of the people they are supposed to represent. The epitome of impotence. And yet they carry themselves with egotistical swagger based on a dying reputation for relevance.
Let's see how many incumbents get re-elected next month. Then we will see if the American people have the courage to hold their elected representatives accountable. It's got to start somewhere.

That Giant Sucking Sound

2008-10-04T09:26:00.002-04:00

To say this has been a tumultuous week would be an understatement. First, we start with a loss of $1.3 trillion in value in the stock market, more than the value of the much discussed bailout package. I shudder when I think about it: In one day we lost more than the value of the bailout package that is supposed to save the financial system of this country, and the entire world for that matter. It puts a couple of things into perspective. Number one, if the financial system ever passes the point of no return there is no way to stop it. We cannot just keep pouring piles of money in sums that no one can actually envision into a poorly regulated system forever. Someday, the well will run dry. Second, all the assurances and the advertising of the financial sector meant absolutely nothing. When it came right down to it, the court jesters were at the wheel of the sinking ship, milking the investing and hard working public for every dollar they could while they paid themselves obscene bonuses for poorly executed diligence. The sucking sound in this case was the noise of wealth disappearing into thin air.
Second, we have the total absence of leadership in Congress. Our elected representatives could hardly have shown their lack of character more than by the partisan wrangling that took place while the bailout package was being debated. What was crystal clear was that they were in uncharted territory. Most of them had no idea what they were talking about. I don't necessarily blame them for this. Only the people who invented the derivative products that brought us to this point understand them. These derivatives were invented to circumvent regualtion in the first place.
What was also clear and tragically laughable were the reports of constituents who were calling to protest the fact that the bailout package rescued the very people who put us in this predicament without providing direct relief for the people most affected by it. They undoubtedly have a point. However, the vast majority of the people calling in have no idea what they are protesting and the people they elected to represent them have no idea of the scope of what they were contemplating. The whole thing is downright Shakespearian. The sucking sound this time was the notion of credible government evaporating.
The next perfect example of tragic theater was the vice presidential debate. Sarah Palin and Joe Biden stood on a stage and made a wonderful show of their egos, but they didn't discuss the solution to a single substantial problem facing this country. No wonder you couldn't find any objective analysis of the debate in the papers. The liberal papers said Biden won. The conservative papers said Palin won. The big loser was you and me.
The sucking sound this time was the sacrifice of meaningful discussion for the sake of empty entertainment.
Yesterday, there was a small piece of good news. As I read in the New York Times yesterday, a joint venture between PSE&G and a company called Deepwater Wind was approved to build a wind farm off the coast of New Jersey. The turbines will be placed 16 to 20 miles offshore, avoiding the complaints of idiots who say the sight of turbines damages their precious ocean view. I will state this emphatically. I love the ocean. I would never want to live anywhere that prevents me from getting to the ocean in a few hours. Sitting next to the ocean is an inspiring reminder of the power of God and Mother Nature and it should remain that way forever. But to complain that the view is spoiled because forward thinking people take advantage of an infinite resource to solve a pressing social problem is well beyond stupidity. I would love to sit in the sand and see turbines constantly whirring. It would be a reassuring sign that we have discarded our complacency and selfishness for the good of others and future generations. The sucking sound this time is wind being used to power homes, a sound I want to hear for the rest of my life.
So where do we find ourselves at the end of the week? In a position that remains just as insecure as it was at the beginning. Without leadership, without the courage to stand up and say that things are going to be changed in a meaningful way, we are nowhere. The financial industry, unless it is brought to heel, will find a way around any regulation and attempt to place us once again in a position of impending crisis. Unless the American people can shed their shortsighted approach and get that message to Congress, our problems will keep us in crisis or near crisis mode for generations to come. The sucking sound this time is the hope of future generations being blown into space.

Lost Youth

2008-09-22T21:27:00.003-04:00

I usually don't read the local papers, but yesterday while enjoying breakfast at a local diner, a headline grabbed my attention. The article talked about a wave of crime to hit Jefferson Township this past summer and how three local teens were arrested. The author correctly pointed out that what gets lost in a situation like that is the sense of security that is supposed to present in a rural, pastoral town. The young criminals obviously have no respect for themselves or anyone else. Somewhere along the way, they decided that engaging in antisocial behavior is an appropriate form of expression for their rage.
Having been a guest of the NJDOC, I have two suggestions to make. First of all, no matter how much prison time they receive, there will be no progress toward rehabilitation without some sort of incentive. Young people, no matter how much they may deny it, need structure. If given the opportunity to languish during their prison time, that's exactly what they will do. This is the major flaw of the State prison system. Inmates need incentive to improve themselves. Upgrades in status should come when certain educational goals are achieved. Even if the inmate has only a fifth grade education, then that's where the process should begin. Morality and self respect are great motivators. If a person can be made to feel like they have some self worth, then rehabilitation is possible.
Second, when they are released, these young people should be ordered to perform extensive community service, specifically for the people whose lives and homes they damaged. This would need to be done under close police supervision, but could prove an invaluable service to both victim and perpetrator. If these young people can be made to understand what they have taken, they may be more reluctant to re-engage in their violent, antisocial behavior. It could provide an opportunity for them to gain some compassion and maturity. It's certainly not guaranteed, but it's better than throwing them back into the community and letting the level of resentment and suspicion fester for years to come.

Dollars and Egos

2008-09-19T18:39:00.002-04:00

I have been busy all week so I haven't had the time to write entries. But it was actually a good time to take off because this week has seen unprecedented activity in the financial markets. I will give credit to my older brother for this one because he wrote me a letter months ago, while I was still in prison, saying that we were headed for a major crisis and his reasoning was sound as well: Americans have for too long lived well beyond their means and financed their lifestyle on the assumption that their house would be a perpetually appreciating asset. The mortgage companies played right into this assumption by designing mortgages with incredible risk, but risk that could be handled as long as the assumption held true.
Well, guess what. Markets correct and the housing market is no different. So now, we have a recessionary environment coupled with the highest inflation in more than a decade.
But the overheated dreams of Americans don't entirely explain the events of this week. Ego, throughout history, has been a very destructive force. Read Barbara Tuchman's The March of Folly. In our society, ego and greed have been elevated to admirable virtues. The selfish drive for more dollars has driven executive compensation to obscene levels. Americans have got to learn to say enough is enough. To justify these escalating salaries, profits became the main concentration of business, as they always have been, but normal risk parameters were blindly disregarded for the sake of bloated bonuses.
The living incarnation of this perverse principle is Franklin Raines, who fiddled his way to incredible compensation while cooking the books of what is supposed to be a highly regulated agency. It is not a good thing that he has been working as an advisor to the Obama campaign.
What can be done? The two sides of the argument revolve around the need for more stringent regulation, and I am definitely in favor of greater regulation of markets in order to prevent further convolution of prudent investment.
What is not being discussed is the central issue. Can we reform ourselves? Can we evolve into a society where the national welfare is the highest priority, instead of the source of the next dollar? Can we develop a true, honest sense of morality that is more than lip service? As Nicholas Kristof correctly pointed out in his columnn today, Richard Fuld, the outgoing chairman of Lehman Brothers, earned $17,000 an hour last year while he ran a 150-plus year old firm into the ground. How many different non-profit organizations can you think of in ten seconds flat that could have put that money to better use? Even one or two is enough.
You want to invest in the stock market, you want to earn a decent return on your money. You cannot be blamed for that. But you do share, a least a little bit, in the responsibility for the exorbitant pay packages that undeserving CEO's are awarded by boards who fail to exercise the proper oversight and diligence. The normal excuse given for these pay packages is that they are necessary to hire and retain the best talent for shareholders. On the surface, this is admirable. But the reality is that CEO's are earning three to five hundred times what their average line and staff worker earns and that is completely out of line with what percentage of the total profit they are responsible for.
Until Americans can have a real debate on the subject of morality in this country, there will always be more Franklin Raines. Jeffrey Skillings, and Bernie Ebbers. Even if we have the debate and establish a real sense of morality, those kind of people will still exist, but there would be more public condemnation and more severe penalties. No one, be it in the name of capitalism or pure greed, has the right to lead people into financial ruin. This is what these men have done. Jeff Skilling and Bernie Ebbers are in jail. Franklin Raines is an advisor to the Obama campaign. Something doesn't add up there.
Admitting that greed has always existed and always will exist is no excuse for not fighting it. We cannot make a legitimate claim to being an advanced society capable of moral leadership until we tackle the problem of greed and stop glorifying its excesses.
That is the challenge that should be undertaken in the wake of this weeks' financial turmoil.

GoLedy Blog Directory Link

2008-09-16T20:22:00.000-04:00

So, So Right

2008-09-15T20:03:00.002-04:00

I know what people are going to say. I'm a Thomas Friedman junkie. But the column he wrote on Saturday said things that really needed to be said. The most important issue of this election is being made into window dressing. How awesome would McCain have been if in response to the hubbub over Obama's lipstick on a pig remark, he had spoken boldly about the time Obama was wasting on trivialities and laid out the specifics of a plan to turn America into a green country that will lead the world into a cleaner, more sustainable era and return America to the position of moral leadership it has lost. Instead, he retreats into the culture war arena and endorses a plan which cannot possibly work and will cost America its economic and political leverage.
The title of the column was "Making America Stupid." In describing the McCain campaign Mr. Friedman wrote, "It's a campaign now built on turning everything into a cultural wedge issue- including even energy policy, no matter how stupid it makes the voters and no matter how much it might weaken America." Mr. Friedman does not take the next logical step by saying that John McCain is not making voters stupid, many of them have been stupid all along, and are contented to remain that way. You have no idea how much it pains me to say that, but it's true. The religious right, to which McCain has sold his once maverick soul, represent the worst of anti-intellectualism in this country. Anyone who endorses "creationism" as a "science" to be taught in school willfully chooses to ignore the very facts right in front of them, and nothing they say from that point on can be taken seriously.
Anyone who has read my blog, and so far there aren't many of you, knows that I have a very strong faith in God. I firmly believe in God as "first cause." For those of you unfamiliar with that term, it means, in a nutshell, that God caused the Big Bang to happen, and, as a result, we have evolved in the proper order along the timeline God prescribed. Even St. Thomas Aquinas, back in the late 13th century, when they knew very little about the origins of the universe, referred to God in this way. I do not think that a man with as great a mind as St. Thomas Aquinas had would continue to argue a contrary opinion in the face of overwhelming evidence, as today's Creationists do. They simply don't have any firm intellectual ground to stand on.
The few evangelicals who have come out in favor of a "green energy" policy, and been vilified for it, deserve special mention. As St. Paul said in many of his epistles, those who believe shall be persecuted. Incorporating new ideas into the mainstream subjects you, unfortunately, to that same kind of intellectual persecution.
The final point of Mr. Friedman's column was the most powerful. We cannot possible remain in any pre-eminent economic position by jumping on the "drill, drill, drill" bandwagon. Mr. McCain is pandering to the very elements of our society that would advocate wasting billions to save the dying American auto industry, which continues to give people what it thinks they want instead of educating about what they should be doing. Let's have GM and Ford declare that it will produce nothing but "green vehicles" by the year 2015 and see the turn its fortunes would take. I'm sure it would produce some short term pain, as Mr. Friedman has pointed out is necessary, but in the end both companies would regain market share they have long since conceded. Just as any President who speaks too boldly is destined for one term, any CEO of GM or Ford who made this declaration would be summarily shown the door, but he would be proven correct in years to come.
This country used to think that way, but complacency and apathy have eroded our innovative spirit. When we wake up one day and find our standard of living lost for future generations, then the finger pointing will start. But will any of us have the guts to look ourselves in the mirror and admit we are all to blame? That is a question that needs immediate consideration.

A Book I Will Be Reading

2008-09-13T09:14:00.002-04:00

The introduction of Thomas Friedman"s new book, "Hot, Flat and Crowded," immediately changes my reading priorities. Mr. Friedman's last book, "The World is Flat," was a thorough analysis of changing economic conditions, although possibly a bit too optimistic, as recent events have shown.
The new book changes direction slighthly and it is a timely change. Although the review by David Victor in the NYT points out the book's flaws, they seem to be far outweighed by its strengths. Mr. Friedman points out, as I did in a recent post, that Americans were once capable of pulling together as a nation to accomplish great things, but we have long ago lost that sense of cohesiveness. This opens the door for other, more committed, more collectivist, and less debt ridden countries to take the lead, when America should be stepping to the forefront. Mr. Victor frames the argument this way; "...buzz is not the same as revolution" How right he is.
Mr. Victor faults Mr. Friedman for his lack of specifics on improving leadership in America. I can't really say that I hold Mr. Friedman accountable for this deficiency. How else can we improve leadership in America unless we have politicians who aren't on a constant re-election campaign and who are constantly being bombarded by special interests with boatloads of cash who work against the country's long-term interests? I often hear it said that a politician who would propose the kind of solutions we need, which would have to hurt some people in the short term, would be committing political suicide. That causes me to ask, whose fault is that? If a politician was to propose a bold plan for moving forward that would cost billions and would disaffect some people, how should we react? Are we going to laugh, shake our heads and call him or her an idiot? Or are we going to finally realize that burying our heads in the sand and talking about tax cuts is a completely insufficient solution?
Mr. Victor also faults Mr. Friedman for not being thorough enough on the cost of our different energy options. That seems to me to be a Catch-22 situation. I don't think anyone can really offer an accurate estimate of these costs and anyone who does will be assailed with a thousand differing opinions. After all, it is not Mr. Friedman's responsibility to implement the changes we need, simply to make the public aware of them. Maybe if we had a truly visionary leader, he would appoint Mr. Friedman to head a newly formed commission with a blank check to lead an American green revolution. Then we might truly get some revolutionary results.
One thing is clear. The time to act is now. This world is desperate for some exemplary moral leadership. That used to be our natural realm. How quickly we re-assume that position, after years of neglect, will go far in determining the fate of our nation in the 21st century.

Seven Years After Disaster: What Have We Learned?

2008-09-10T21:21:00.001-04:00

The events of 9/11/01 are burned in my memory. For purposes of this entry, they are not important. Rather, the events of the ensuing seven years are. I remember in the first ten or so days after, there was talk of a return to civility. It was short-lived. The first time I saw that it had passed, some guy cut me off on Rt. 23 and gave me the finger when I beeped.
Why is civility so difficult? The question is not even considered anymore. The idea belongs to a bygone age when shows like Davey and Goliath, The Brady Bunch and Dennis the Menace were popular. The question, "why can't we all just get along?" has become a joke, along with the phrase "family values."
Let's consider the question first. We can't get along because we have completely lost any sense of collective consciousness. All that matters is what Ihave and the hell with everybody else. I don't advocate the stifling of individual freedoms like the Chinese system, but, although I hate to admit it, there are a few lessons we could learn from them about collective will. All this talk about diversity being strength may be true enough, but it ignores the fact that Americans need to pull together to meet the challenges of the 21st century, or risk losing our standard of living. Alas, it is readily apparent that this has already begun. It is a sad fact that Americans no longer act until they absolutely have to, and then they are ready to accept patchwork, interim solutions instead of paradigm change.
Family values is an easier matter to explain, but no less difficult a problem to solve. Family values are a joke, because the family is a joke. My own life is a perfect example. I haven't seen my children in four and a half years. Should that really have been allowed to happen? If we truly lived in a society that valued the family, then some sort of authority should be in place to tell my ex-wife that the children's relationship with me must be maintained. But, beyond my own example, the demands of 21st century life in America put a huge, unnecessary strain on the foundations of the family, to the point where there isn't enough time to discuss values. Add to that the explosion of drug use, delinquency, teen pregnancy and glorification of recklessness by the media and it's clear that the family falls low on the list of national priorities. This is not true in other countries, and I think one of the reasons why is pure, American ego. We are not mature enough as a nation to listen to criticism without getting indignant. A true sign of character is the ability to accept constructive criticism and integrate it into subsequent behavior. Has this happened in American society? I see no evidence of it whatsoever. Americans continue to behave in a selfish, arrogant way that benefits no one and damages our reputation on the world stage.
Again, I know I hammer on this theme, but this type of behavior is a legacy of the 60's, when questioning values was in vogue, but the question was never really answered. It's fine to ask why, but to complete the process, a fitting substitute set of values needs to be put in place, and they never were. Civility went out the window with the loss of faith in government.
So as we pause to reflect on this national day of mourning, which should be a national holiday by the way, let us not dwell on the past, but let us make the day an opportunity to look toward a brighter, more civil future. That would truly be a lesson learned well.

A Perfect Example of the Need for More Accountability

2008-09-08T20:46:00.002-04:00

The takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced this weekend will have wide reaching consequences, most of them good. The expectation is that some confidence will be restored to the mortgage markets and interests rates, which have risen lately, will fall back some. However, that in itself, will not stabilize falling home prices, which no one expected anyway.
But if you are a shareholder of either institution you should be extremely angry. Of course, it is partially your own fault if you hung on in hopes of a turnaround at this point when none was coming. The stock today dropped to under $1 a share, where it is sure to stay. (Caveat: I was a stockbroker for a major retail brokerage firm for seven years prior to my incarceration and recommended Fannie Mae at a price in the neighborhood of $60.) That does not excuse what happened though. The government immediately dismissed the chief executives of both firms, but their ridiculously unearned severance packages may still be awarded to them. Daniel Mudd, outgoing chief of Fannie Mae stands to pocket $9.3 in severance pay. Richard Syron, chief of Freddie Mac has an exit package worth $14.1 million. The artice in the NYT does quote an official of a large union, and probably a large investor, expressing his outrage over this possible outcome.
It should not be allowed to happen. Mr. Mudd has already taken home $12.4 million in compensation. He doesn't deserve most of that. Mr. Syron has already been compensated to the tune of $17.1 million. Same with him. The money set aside for their golden parachutes should be taken and divided up among the employees whose retirements are now ruined as a result of their respective CEO's mismanagement. That would still be paltry compensation compared to what their bosses have made, but at least it would contain a measure of morality and justice, something that has completely disappeared from daily American life.
Let's do a little math. I know it's a bit of stretch to assume that both men still have all the money they were paid, so let's take a figure somewhere in the middle. Let's say they both have $6 million in investable assets, and further assume that they can invest those assets to earn 7%, not an unrealistic assumption in today's interest rate environment. Very simply, $6 million dollars invested at 7% yields an annual return of $420,000. That works out to $35,000 a month. Let me ask you a question. Do you have $35,000 a month to live on? When you stop laughing think about the fact that the severance package would triple that annual income. Do you smell something rotten in that possibility?
Of course, who can forget the top rogue in this entire fiasco, Franklin Raines. This guy made more than $52 million in a 5 year period when he ran Fannie Mae. Of course, he did forfeit some stock options when they nailed him trying to inflate his own pay by cooking the books. That seems fair doesn't it? Okay, I didn't mean to make you laugh again. This is a serious issue.
But the whole mess perfectly points out the need for the American people to speak up and tell their elected officials that this crap can't go on. I'm sure we all know who is going to foot the bill for the takeover of these poorly run, implicitly trusted institutions. And why? Because we sit back and take it. I can't start a one man revolution and I don't advocate the overthrow of the government, but clearly the voices of the people need to heard more often, so I am doing what I can to impel protest. The following two links will bring you to a form where you can e-mail New Jersey's two senators and tell them that you are not happy about what happened and ask them why they weren't more diligent in their oversight:

http://lautenberg.senate.gov/contact/

http://menendez.senate.gov/contact/contact.cfm

There is another side to this whole affair, which as a former stockbroker, I have to mention. It was recently disclosed that a portfolio manager named Bill Miller, from the Legg Mason family of funds, a well respected family of funds, upped his stake in Freddie Mac recently when the stock was trading at $5. I can't imagine how that kind of decision fits into any acceptable risk parameters for fundholder money. The logic behind that transaction needs to be examined, and the examination should go beyond what was on Mr. Miller's mind.

**Information for this post was taken from today's NYT online version.

A Little Sunday Philosophy

2008-09-07T20:24:00.003-04:00

Sundays always make me philosophical. I know most of the words the priest says in the Mass by heart, so my mind sometimes tends to wander. It always wanders to the same place first. I think about the children and when I have the Eucharist in my mouth (which I never chew), the children's safety and happiness are always the first things I pray for. The second prayer is that my reunion with them will not be too much longer in coming. More on that as time goes on.
After I am done reflecting on my longing for them, indulging in my own sadness, I look around at the faces of the people in the Church. I very often detect sadness in their faces too. I want to walk over to some of them and ask what is wrong. What is the source of their sadness? Sometimes, when indulging my own selfish sadness, I allow myself to think that no one could possibly be as sad as I am. Then, when I see the sadness radiating off the faces around me, one the one hand, I feel worse because I can't help them. On the other hand, I feel a little better, because I get a clear reminder that I am not the only person with sadness in my life. Joy is wonderful, but joy is fleeting. Sadness has more stamina.
However, today it was the readings from Scripture that really set my philosophical muse in motion. I think it's wonderful that Catholics, wherever they gather, get to hear the same Scripture. It's a sort of "super-communal" shared experience. But it still allows for individual interpretation. Listen to these two passages that were read today. The first is from the prophet Ezekiel, Chapter 33, Verses 8&9.
"When I say unto the wicked, O wicked one, thou shalt surely die, if thou does not speak to warn the wicked from his way, the wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at thine hand. Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it, if he does not turn from his way he shall die in his iniquity, but thou hast delivered thy soul."
The second passage is from St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans, Chapter 13, Verses 8,9 & 10:
"Owe no man anything, but to love one another, for he that loveth one another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet, and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbor, therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
I'm sure the first passage could be cited by evangelicals as a raison d'etre. But combined with the other passage and the sadness I saw on faces today, I came away with a completely different feeling.
Here is God, granting us free will, but holding all of us accountable. As I have said before, I don't feel it is anyone's right to try to tell someone else how to live other than providing them with guidelines, which is accomplished nicely by the laws of God and man.
What is our responsibility is to try to bring as much joy into this world as possible. Sadness is an extremely powerful force and joy often wilts at the sight of it. If you work to bring joy into this world and it does not inspire others to do the same, than they are the wicked of whom Ezekiel speaks. And no, making a lot of money does not automatically mean that you bring a great amount of joy into the world. The joy that money produces is often fallacious.
If bringing joy into the world is your highest priority, then you are automatically in agreement with both of these passages. The only reason to work to bring joy into the world is love of others, because the sadness that is so evident is such a deteriorating force that must be fought. To create joy is to fight the wickedness that brings sadness. The fruits of your labor can then be held up as an example to the purveyors of evil and sadness, thus preserving the sanctity of those labors and your soul as well.
To interpret the first passage as an evangelical would is to assume a vindictive God; an all powerful force that is constantly on the watch for transgressions, a being that would rather condemn than forgive. I don't see it that way at all. As the priest who gave the sermon in my church today said, Jesus Christ never gives up on someone. Jesus welcomed tax collectors and Gentiles to his table, because instead of automatic condemnation, he gave them the chance for redemption. Jesus showed them what a little faith, honesty and altruism could do. So as long as we work to bring joy into the world, despite our past transgressions, we always have a shot at final redemption. This is my preferred perception of the Almighty, and I can rest well at night knowing that bringing joy into the world, through increased knowledge and open discussion, is my own raison d'etre. When I can bring that kind of joy to my children once again, I will know that God has seen fit to smile on my efforts.

Link to Previous Blog

2008-09-07T00:07:00.002-04:00

In response to a comment from Adonis, I am making this link available to the previous space where I had my blog. It was on Windows Live Spaces and I was getting no traffic there. In response to her specific request, there is a post there entitled THE NJDOC: WORTH THE MONEY? If she or anyone else wishes to read this previous post she can go to:

www.ageofaccountability.spaces.msn.com

In closing for the night, as an aside I would also like to say that Verizon Wireless Internet Access is a terrible service in the area in which I live. I get bunked off at the most inconvenient times and it's as slow as molasses going uphill in December. Thank you.

John McCain: Not Such A Maverick Anymore

2008-09-06T09:48:00.002-04:00

By declaring Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential candidate, John McCain has completely shed his maverick status. First, the selection of Sarah Palin shows that he is selling his soul to the Christian right in order to win. Second, I don't believe a single word of the rhetoric he has been putting out lately about dismantling the influence of special interests in Washington under his administration. Third, his plan to drill America out of dependence on foreign oil is hopelessly outdated, and his eight conspicuous absences for votes on extending the tax credits for solar and wind power show that he is not tuned in to the economic need of this country on either a micro or macro level. These are the industries of the future, the 21st century growth engines that the microprocessor and software were for the last generation. The standard of living is declining right before John McCain's eyes and he apparently thinks that cheap oil will preserve it. He fails to recognize the damage being done by continued use of fossil fuels and their inevitable exhaustibility. By the time the new drilling begins to have an impact on the average price of a gallon of gas, John McCain's presidency would be over. It's impossible to think of Mr. McCain running for a second term at the age of 76. I think we should send John McCain out of town on a rail and let him quietly fade into political oblivion. The baby boom generation has not shown itself to be great leaders, but I'm praying that we will not wait until a late stage crisis to take decisive action.

My Worst Suspicions Confirmed

2008-09-05T23:02:00.002-04:00

Sometimes it sucks to be right. When John McCain announced his VP choice last week, I did what everyone else with an active mind did and went to my favorite news sources looking for info on Sarah Palin. The first stories I read seemed positive. She cleaned house, she was a small town success story and a woman who gave birth to a child with a birth defect. That takes guts. But later in the day, the bad news started rolling in. My initial thought on why McCain chose her- to draw in disgruntled Hillary voters- was discredited. It became clear that McCain chose her to pander to the Christian right. This sickening feeling was confirmed when I read that head nutjob Ralph Reed was thrilled by McCain's choice. This is a group of nuts who do not represent the mainstream of American thought in any way whatsoever. These people feel they have a right to impose their will and their twisted views on all people. Thankfully, although Mr. McCain doesn't seem willing to recognize this yet, their influence in American politics is fading. Barack Obama's certain victory in November will be the final nail in the Christian right's coffin.

The reason the Christian right is so thrilled with the choice of Sarah Palin is that she is pro-life. It reinforces the idea that John McCain, if elected, would appoint Supreme Court Justices that would overturn Roe vs. Wade. Again, this is a position held by only one out of three Americans. The rest of us believe that a woman should be able to choose to end a pregnancy that is unwanted, that would cause the mother harm, that came about as the result of a rape, or that would send the mother and the rest of her family into economic distress. I also believe that it should be done in the first trimester, but I don't possess the medical knowledge to make a definitive recommendation on this point. There are enough unwanted children in the world already. Taking away a woman's right to choose is not only undemocratic, it is unchristian.

I am a Christian. I believe in God strongly. But I also believe that everyone has the right to choose what they will believe and how they will live their lives, as long as that choice does not interfere with the conduct of society's daily affairs. The purpose of life is to accumulate as much knowledge as possible and then pass it on to the next generation. Stifling scientific progress in the name of morality is not helping mankind's present condition. I don't want a whole bunch of clones running around, but to withhold goverment money for stem cell research that might help to alleviate painful and long running disease is crazy, and I don't believe a benevolent God would want us to do so anyway.

I wish John McCain had gone ahead and chosen Joe Lieberman for his VP. That would have made this a real race. I know things seem to be close now, but in the end Barack Obama and Joe Biden will triumph and a new era of national pride and vision for the future will begin.