We can't have diplomatic relations with Iran because
they support terrorists (Hamas and Hizbollah)! Guess
who supported Hamas before Iran? Can you say "Israel?"
Yep. If you'll Google "Israeli support for Hamas," you'll
learn how they did it financially, and by police protection
and intelligence help. Why? Because they wanted to di-
vide the Palestinians, using anti-Arafat factions attracted
to Islamism. Arafat was a secularist, opposed to religious
rule. He had Christians in his government, and was sup-
ported by them. Once Hamas got rolling, with substantial
Israeli help, Arafat's corruption turned people against him,
and toward Hamas which is very religious and, for the
most part, honest.
Truth be known, Israel has always fostered and used
terrorism quite openly, and on a massive scale. If you'll
Google "Israeli terrorism," you'll learn about Irgun, and
the Stern Gang, who blew up the King David Hotel when
the Brits were still in charge. They killed civilians in that
deal, and continuously thereafter. We have always suppor-
ted them of course, in pretty much everything they have
done. We have given them well over $50 billion in the
past 60 years of our taxpayers' dollars with which to
commit war crimes. But we won't speak to Iran because
they help Hamas! The Muslim world just shrugs and
laughs in bitter derision at our duplicity and delusion.
We, by the way, are ourselves actively sponsoring terror-
ism against Iran. I'll go into that more in the next blog.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
STOP DIGGING! START CLIMBING
I love this country. I want it to prosper. It isn't,
right now. To fix it, we must understand what has
gone right, and what has gone wrong. When you're
in a hole you need to do two things: stop digging, and
start climbing.
My last blog gave a grim picture of our economic situ-
ation. Perhaps unduly grim. There are always new
technological breakthroughs, like the inter-net, that
can radically alter the situation for the better. We
need to proceed however, on the basis of where we are,
and what we know now.
What we know for sure is that we are losing, for the most
part, our manufacturing base. Some of the people losing
jobs there are being retrained and get into jobs in health
services, computers, and education. But most find only
lower paying jobs in food service, retail clerking, cleaning
and other domestic chores. Increasing numbers of such jobs
are temporary or part-time, without benefits. People can't
support a family on these incomes, and are falling out of the
middle class into the underclass. That bodes ill for our
democracy. Our strength in the past has been a large,
prosperous middle class. But that was based on industrial
expansion and manufacturing. The countries that are now
in rapid industrial growth are China, India, and Brazil. (And,
in a lesser degree, the southeast Asia "tigers."
If we want to become competitive with the fastest growing
world economies, we need to re-industrialize. And we need
to do that while ending our addiction to foreign oil and other
fossil fuels. Otherwise global warming will increase at a
frightful pace! The reason I'm so pessimistic is because our
Congress is dysfunctional. As I said in the last blog, it's a
house of ill repute. Its favors go to the highest bidder. Many
congress-people deny global warming is a problem. Instead
of weaning us from dependence on oil, they want to just do
more drilling!
So we need a new industrial revolution based on developing
"green" energy resources. There is technology available to
make the switch. What isn't available is vision and imagina-
tion, along with investment capital. Wall Street won't in-
vest in environmentally friendly projects unless and until
they can see the same kinds of return on investment that
they get in China or other hot markets. Our old people that
own the pension funds are the only available source of capi-
tal for the green revolution (other than the government).
It's up to us, the oldsters to save our dying economy by
using our money and our votes intelligently (and patriotic-
ally) to reindustrialize the country.
jgoodwin004@centurytel.net
right now. To fix it, we must understand what has
gone right, and what has gone wrong. When you're
in a hole you need to do two things: stop digging, and
start climbing.
My last blog gave a grim picture of our economic situ-
ation. Perhaps unduly grim. There are always new
technological breakthroughs, like the inter-net, that
can radically alter the situation for the better. We
need to proceed however, on the basis of where we are,
and what we know now.
What we know for sure is that we are losing, for the most
part, our manufacturing base. Some of the people losing
jobs there are being retrained and get into jobs in health
services, computers, and education. But most find only
lower paying jobs in food service, retail clerking, cleaning
and other domestic chores. Increasing numbers of such jobs
are temporary or part-time, without benefits. People can't
support a family on these incomes, and are falling out of the
middle class into the underclass. That bodes ill for our
democracy. Our strength in the past has been a large,
prosperous middle class. But that was based on industrial
expansion and manufacturing. The countries that are now
in rapid industrial growth are China, India, and Brazil. (And,
in a lesser degree, the southeast Asia "tigers."
If we want to become competitive with the fastest growing
world economies, we need to re-industrialize. And we need
to do that while ending our addiction to foreign oil and other
fossil fuels. Otherwise global warming will increase at a
frightful pace! The reason I'm so pessimistic is because our
Congress is dysfunctional. As I said in the last blog, it's a
house of ill repute. Its favors go to the highest bidder. Many
congress-people deny global warming is a problem. Instead
of weaning us from dependence on oil, they want to just do
more drilling!
So we need a new industrial revolution based on developing
"green" energy resources. There is technology available to
make the switch. What isn't available is vision and imagina-
tion, along with investment capital. Wall Street won't in-
vest in environmentally friendly projects unless and until
they can see the same kinds of return on investment that
they get in China or other hot markets. Our old people that
own the pension funds are the only available source of capi-
tal for the green revolution (other than the government).
It's up to us, the oldsters to save our dying economy by
using our money and our votes intelligently (and patriotic-
ally) to reindustrialize the country.
jgoodwin004@centurytel.net
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
THE DANGEROUS "D"S
Deregulation and the deindustrialization that
accompanied it really got rolling with Reagan in the
'80s, with the worship of the "free" market, the
attacks on unions, and the movement toward glo-
balization as well. Most Americans don't under-
stand the extent that deindustrialization has hap-
pened here, or the social consequences of the disap-
perance of the lower middle class resulting therefrom.
This leaves us with really only two classes: the haves
(a shrinking minority), and the have-nots, a rapidly
growing and embittered majority which does under-
stand that it is basically powerless and manipulated.
These have-nots are largely distracted by God, guns,
gays, gambling, sports and other entertainment. Re-
member when Obama caught hell in his campaign for
accurately pointing to these distractions? Denial is the
other dangerous "D" that completes this package.
As manufacturing (for the most part) moved overseas
(or next door) what took its place was "financial services."
That's banking, insurance of many kinds, investing and
related activities that now make up our leading industries
(in dollar volume). Unlike manufacturing, that used to
"make things" and provide jobs doing that, financial ser-
vices don't make anything but money. They do it by
gambling with other people's savings, especially pension
funds (p. f.s) These p. f.s own most of the corporate
stocks being traded, and have lost a $trillion or so in the
past year or two in the big casino. Even though they own
most of the stock (along now with tax payers in many
cases), they have no effective voice in the running of these
companies. So hired managers rule their fiefdoms with
absolute power and appoint cronies to their boards who
reward them with outlandish salaries, perks, stock options,
bonuses and golden parachutes. All this while, too often
the hapless companies are being run into the ground by
the petty tyrants! You really can't blame the coyotes for
stealing chickens. If you put them in charge of the hen-
house, that's what coyotes do!
Peter Drucker, the management guru who helped the
Japanese re-industrialize after WW II, wrote a prescient
book in 1993 entitled Post-Capitalist Society. Speaking
of the divorce between ownership (by P. F.s) and manage-
ment in our big corporations, he wrote: "We have no social,
political, or economic theory that fits what has already
become a reality." Noam Chomsky has also written often
about the totalitarian structure of our corporations, and
the damage this causes.
Drucker observed (in the same book): "It was the failure
of the production of capital more than anything else, that
brought about the collapse of the Soviet economy in the
end." Isn't that where we are today? Our capital no longer
produces goods like it once did. What we are mostly pro-
ducing now is debt. The rest of the world is noting this, and
is alarmed. What this mountain of debt will probably produce,
and it's already beginning, is the fourth "D," de-dollarization.
As we speak (6/15-16/09) the top officials of the six Asian
nation Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) are meeting
in Yekaterinburg, Russia to discuss their economic vulnera-
bility resulting from using the inflated U. S. dollar as the
world's reserve currency. They are not happy about that,
and working with other rapidly industrializing countries
like India and Brazil, they are seeking alternatives to the
U. S. dollar as a medium of exchange. They have noted that
we are running a $2 trillion deficit this year, and will keep
printing money to finance it, along with our hugely expen-
sive military activities around the world (750 bases).
If the nations now seeking to do so can successfully re-
place the dollar in their economic futures, the dumping of
the dollar will have cataclysmic effects on our own economy
and on those of may others. Chris Hedges (Truthdig 6/14/
09) writes of this possibility: "The dollar will dramatically
plummet in value. The cost of imports, including oil will sky-
rocket, interest rates will climb and jobs will hemorrhage at
a rate that will make the last few months look like a boom."
Chris' article in Truthdig, incidentally is titled: "The
American Empire is Bankrupt." And of course it will be if
the dollar is replaced as it should be. It turns out that
Washington (surprise!) is a whore house. Everything of
lasting value is for sale. Come to think of it, the "profit is
everything" mentality is whore house thinking too.
About the concept of "profit," Peter Drucker wrote this:
"There is no such thing as 'profit.' There are only costs:
costs of the past (which the accountant records) and costs
of an uncertain future. And the minimum financial return
from the operations of the past that is adequate to the
costs of the future is the cost of capital."
Yes, the costs of our future include the costs of a wasted
environment, a wasted infrastructure, the mounting costs
of wars still on-going, the clean-up of toxic wastes and
mining refuse, and on and on: all left for the taxpayers to
cover from their diminishing returns after the owning
class have taken their precious "profits," and run.
Jgoodwin004@centurytel.net
accompanied it really got rolling with Reagan in the
'80s, with the worship of the "free" market, the
attacks on unions, and the movement toward glo-
balization as well. Most Americans don't under-
stand the extent that deindustrialization has hap-
pened here, or the social consequences of the disap-
perance of the lower middle class resulting therefrom.
This leaves us with really only two classes: the haves
(a shrinking minority), and the have-nots, a rapidly
growing and embittered majority which does under-
stand that it is basically powerless and manipulated.
These have-nots are largely distracted by God, guns,
gays, gambling, sports and other entertainment. Re-
member when Obama caught hell in his campaign for
accurately pointing to these distractions? Denial is the
other dangerous "D" that completes this package.
As manufacturing (for the most part) moved overseas
(or next door) what took its place was "financial services."
That's banking, insurance of many kinds, investing and
related activities that now make up our leading industries
(in dollar volume). Unlike manufacturing, that used to
"make things" and provide jobs doing that, financial ser-
vices don't make anything but money. They do it by
gambling with other people's savings, especially pension
funds (p. f.s) These p. f.s own most of the corporate
stocks being traded, and have lost a $trillion or so in the
past year or two in the big casino. Even though they own
most of the stock (along now with tax payers in many
cases), they have no effective voice in the running of these
companies. So hired managers rule their fiefdoms with
absolute power and appoint cronies to their boards who
reward them with outlandish salaries, perks, stock options,
bonuses and golden parachutes. All this while, too often
the hapless companies are being run into the ground by
the petty tyrants! You really can't blame the coyotes for
stealing chickens. If you put them in charge of the hen-
house, that's what coyotes do!
Peter Drucker, the management guru who helped the
Japanese re-industrialize after WW II, wrote a prescient
book in 1993 entitled Post-Capitalist Society. Speaking
of the divorce between ownership (by P. F.s) and manage-
ment in our big corporations, he wrote: "We have no social,
political, or economic theory that fits what has already
become a reality." Noam Chomsky has also written often
about the totalitarian structure of our corporations, and
the damage this causes.
Drucker observed (in the same book): "It was the failure
of the production of capital more than anything else, that
brought about the collapse of the Soviet economy in the
end." Isn't that where we are today? Our capital no longer
produces goods like it once did. What we are mostly pro-
ducing now is debt. The rest of the world is noting this, and
is alarmed. What this mountain of debt will probably produce,
and it's already beginning, is the fourth "D," de-dollarization.
As we speak (6/15-16/09) the top officials of the six Asian
nation Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) are meeting
in Yekaterinburg, Russia to discuss their economic vulnera-
bility resulting from using the inflated U. S. dollar as the
world's reserve currency. They are not happy about that,
and working with other rapidly industrializing countries
like India and Brazil, they are seeking alternatives to the
U. S. dollar as a medium of exchange. They have noted that
we are running a $2 trillion deficit this year, and will keep
printing money to finance it, along with our hugely expen-
sive military activities around the world (750 bases).
If the nations now seeking to do so can successfully re-
place the dollar in their economic futures, the dumping of
the dollar will have cataclysmic effects on our own economy
and on those of may others. Chris Hedges (Truthdig 6/14/
09) writes of this possibility: "The dollar will dramatically
plummet in value. The cost of imports, including oil will sky-
rocket, interest rates will climb and jobs will hemorrhage at
a rate that will make the last few months look like a boom."
Chris' article in Truthdig, incidentally is titled: "The
American Empire is Bankrupt." And of course it will be if
the dollar is replaced as it should be. It turns out that
Washington (surprise!) is a whore house. Everything of
lasting value is for sale. Come to think of it, the "profit is
everything" mentality is whore house thinking too.
About the concept of "profit," Peter Drucker wrote this:
"There is no such thing as 'profit.' There are only costs:
costs of the past (which the accountant records) and costs
of an uncertain future. And the minimum financial return
from the operations of the past that is adequate to the
costs of the future is the cost of capital."
Yes, the costs of our future include the costs of a wasted
environment, a wasted infrastructure, the mounting costs
of wars still on-going, the clean-up of toxic wastes and
mining refuse, and on and on: all left for the taxpayers to
cover from their diminishing returns after the owning
class have taken their precious "profits," and run.
Jgoodwin004@centurytel.net
Saturday, June 13, 2009
MEDICINE FOR PROFIT ROBBERY:
YOUR MONEY OR YOUR LIFE
More than 18,000 Americans die every year from
preventable illnesses because they can't get to a doc-
tor when they should. This doesn't happen in
Canada! Or in France, Germany, or any other in-
dustrialized country. 67% in this country say they
can't get the tests or treatments they need. That
doesn't happen in Canada either. And half these
Americans are insured (or think they are.) But they
can't afford the co-pays, or they can't get permission
from their HMO for the test or treatment. So their
insurance is worthless for that particular need.
Yes, they sometimes wait in Canada for non-urgent
care or elective surgery. But isn't that better than not
getting it at all? Each Canadian pays $49 per month for
their coverage. An American family of four pays $1,000
per month and may not be fully covered! Canadians
choose their own doctors, contrary to the lies floating
around. 91% of Canadians approve of their system.
Americans in HMOs are assigned doctors, they seldom
get to choose them. The choice in our system is to pay
or do without insurance. 80% of our people want uni-
versal health care: that's their choice! They won't
get it because there's too much money at stake in the
for-profit system for HMOs, Big Pharma, and the pols
pigging out with them.
How much moola are we talking about? It's a $2 trillion
scam that enriches a few and robs the many. Two thirds
of home foreclosures are due to medical causes and their
attendant expenses. Here are some typical paychecks for
insurance company CEOs: (From The Huffington Post,
6/10/09)
Ron Williams - Aetna - Total Compensation: $24,300,112.
H. Edward Hanway -CIGNA- T. " $12,236,740.
Angela Braly - WellPoint - T. " $ 9,844,212.
Dale Wolf - Coventry Health Care - " $ 9,047,469.
Michael Neidorff -Centene - Total " $ 8,774,483.
James Carlson - AMERIGROUP - " $ 5,292,546.
Michael McCallister - Humana - " $ 4,764,309
Jay Gellert - Health Net - Total " $ 4,425,355
Richard Barasch - Universal Amer. - " $3,503,702
Stephen Hemsley - United Health Gr. " $3,241,042
Grand Total $85,429,970
Where do these big bucks come from? From profits, of
course. Obscene profits, actually, because they come from
the sick, the crippled, the dying, as well as people with no
known illnesses. The only way insurance companies make
money: the premiums they charge (and overcharge) must
exceed the benefits they pay out. This is accomplished by
collecting excessive premiums way above and beyond
actual requirements to cover claims, and then withholding
benefits or services by simple denial. You had a pre-existing
condition, or that illness (or procedure) isn't covered in your
policy. Too bad! You lose your house, we keep your money.
You have been scammed (and probably ruined). Nation (as
Colbert would say), there is simply no moral justification for
this kind of profiteering off peoples' tragedies, pain, and trauma.
No other nation in the world allows this if they are able to
remedy it. We are morally disabled and in denial about it.
Correct me if I'm wrong.
jgoodwin004@centurytel.net
YOUR MONEY OR YOUR LIFE
More than 18,000 Americans die every year from
preventable illnesses because they can't get to a doc-
tor when they should. This doesn't happen in
Canada! Or in France, Germany, or any other in-
dustrialized country. 67% in this country say they
can't get the tests or treatments they need. That
doesn't happen in Canada either. And half these
Americans are insured (or think they are.) But they
can't afford the co-pays, or they can't get permission
from their HMO for the test or treatment. So their
insurance is worthless for that particular need.
Yes, they sometimes wait in Canada for non-urgent
care or elective surgery. But isn't that better than not
getting it at all? Each Canadian pays $49 per month for
their coverage. An American family of four pays $1,000
per month and may not be fully covered! Canadians
choose their own doctors, contrary to the lies floating
around. 91% of Canadians approve of their system.
Americans in HMOs are assigned doctors, they seldom
get to choose them. The choice in our system is to pay
or do without insurance. 80% of our people want uni-
versal health care: that's their choice! They won't
get it because there's too much money at stake in the
for-profit system for HMOs, Big Pharma, and the pols
pigging out with them.
How much moola are we talking about? It's a $2 trillion
scam that enriches a few and robs the many. Two thirds
of home foreclosures are due to medical causes and their
attendant expenses. Here are some typical paychecks for
insurance company CEOs: (From The Huffington Post,
6/10/09)
Ron Williams - Aetna - Total Compensation: $24,300,112.
H. Edward Hanway -CIGNA- T. " $12,236,740.
Angela Braly - WellPoint - T. " $ 9,844,212.
Dale Wolf - Coventry Health Care - " $ 9,047,469.
Michael Neidorff -Centene - Total " $ 8,774,483.
James Carlson - AMERIGROUP - " $ 5,292,546.
Michael McCallister - Humana - " $ 4,764,309
Jay Gellert - Health Net - Total " $ 4,425,355
Richard Barasch - Universal Amer. - " $3,503,702
Stephen Hemsley - United Health Gr. " $3,241,042
Grand Total $85,429,970
Where do these big bucks come from? From profits, of
course. Obscene profits, actually, because they come from
the sick, the crippled, the dying, as well as people with no
known illnesses. The only way insurance companies make
money: the premiums they charge (and overcharge) must
exceed the benefits they pay out. This is accomplished by
collecting excessive premiums way above and beyond
actual requirements to cover claims, and then withholding
benefits or services by simple denial. You had a pre-existing
condition, or that illness (or procedure) isn't covered in your
policy. Too bad! You lose your house, we keep your money.
You have been scammed (and probably ruined). Nation (as
Colbert would say), there is simply no moral justification for
this kind of profiteering off peoples' tragedies, pain, and trauma.
No other nation in the world allows this if they are able to
remedy it. We are morally disabled and in denial about it.
Correct me if I'm wrong.
jgoodwin004@centurytel.net
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