Update from the Heartland
No.377
2.3.09 – 8.3.09
Blog version: http://heartlandupdate.blogspot.com/
No.377
2.3.09 – 8.3.09
Blog version: http://heartlandupdate.blogspot.com/
To all,
The follow-up news items:
-- The Founder and CEO of Xe (pronounced ‘z,’ formerly Blackwater [305, et al]), Erik D. Prince, announced his decision to relinquish his role as the company’s chief executive in his effort to move away from the company’s tarnished image and reputation.
-- In a historic move, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for a sitting chief of state, Sudanese President Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir – a victory for Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo of Argentina. In retaliation, the Sudanese government expelled at least ten foreign aid groups, trying to provide sustenance for a million displaced people in the troubled Dafur region.
-- The California Supreme Court heard arguments this week on a handful of cases challenging Prop H8 [345] – the voter-approved, constitutional amendment – “California Marriage Protection Act” – the response of the state residents to the California Supreme Court’s In re Marriage Cases [CA SC S147999] decision [336]. This will be a historic decision no matter the outcome, and I suspect the ruling is destined for the U.S. Supreme Court.
-- Rumor has it that President Obama will sign soon an Executive Order removing the band on Federal support for (participation in) embryonic stem cell research [146, et al]. It’s about time! I look forward to reading the directive.
Every once in a while the stars align. Wednesday’s New York Times yielded a series of catalytic editorial opinions.
“The Tortured Memos”
Editorial
New York Times
Published: March 3, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/04/opinion/04wed1.html?th&emc=th
-- While I am intrigued and curious about the Bush administration’s terrorism memoranda declassified and released by the Obama administration, I have serious doubts the release of these memoranda are a contribution to winning the War on Islamic Fascism. I look forward to reading the memoranda soon. Yet, at this point, I believe the Times is wrong, just as they were in 1971 during an earlier war. Transparency in matters of waging war successfully is NOT a good thing.
“Who’s Running Immigration?”
Editorial
New York Times
Published: March 3, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/04/opinion/04wed2.html?th&emc=th
-- The New York Times editorial staff was not impressed by the Bush administration’s enforcement of immigration law and border security. Apparently, they believe the Obama administration is going to do a better job. Yet, busting down on Arizona’s Maricopa County Sheriff Joseph M. ‘Joe’ Arpaio hardly seems like a wise choice. Once again, I think the Times has missed the big picture. The Federal government had done a poor job enforcing immigration law. States, counties and municipalities have had no choice but to take up the slack.
“Stage of Fools”
by Maureen Dowd
Op-Ed Columnist
New York Times
Published: March 3, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/04/opinion/04dowd.html?th&emc=th
-- Rarely do I find myself in agreement with Maureen Dowd, yet here is such an example. The Obama administration is trying to convince us the omnibus spending bill before is a holdover from the Bush administration, therefore all the porky earmarks are just a holdover as well. If it was not so revolting, listening to congressmen attempt to justify and rationalize their “little, tiny, porky amendments” would be quite entertaining. What’s worse, there are Republicans and Democrats standing before the microphone, and only Senator John McCain seems willing to stand up to illuminate and condemn earmarks for what they are – corruption at the expense of the People’s Treasury. In his weekly address, President Obama said, “The system we have now might work for the powerful and well-connected interests that have run Washington for far too long. But I don't. I work for the American people.” The President has already failed his 1st big test [374], I join Senator McCain to encourage the President to veto the omnibus appropriations bill [HR 1105] and to demand removal of all earmarks. Now is the time to draw the line he promised and not hide behind some lame excuse that the bill is a holdover from the last administration and Congress (a Democratic-dominated version, I might add).
Rush Hudson Limbaugh III pressed his “I want Obama to fail” mantra [371] at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Sunday, 1.March.2009. The performance was a particularly breathy rendition. Toward the end of his soliloquy, King Rush said, “They called General Petraeus a liar before he even testified. Mrs. Clinton said she had to willingly suspend disbelief in order to listen to Petraeus. We’re in the process of winning the war. The last thing they wanted was to win. They hoped George Bush failed. So what is so strange about being honest to say that I want Barack Obama to fail if his mission is to restructure and reform this country so that capitalism and individual liberty are not its foundation? Why would I want that to succeed?” My initial reaction was . . . damn, why does this blowhard not see the light? I have never been particularly impressed by or aligned with individuals of any ilk who are so ego-centric to place themselves above others. Yet, as is common to most political rhetoric, threads of truth bind the words into a common message. Rush is correct. The Democrats and uber-Left chanted incessantly and almost mindlessly against George W. Bush and against the War on Islamic Fascism. In that sense, Rush’s message was accurate . . . the last thing the Left wanted was to win the war. Hell, most refused to even admit that we are in a war. Nonetheless, I cannot accept and I condemn Limbaugh’s “Obama to fail” message. Two wrongs do not make a right. Limbaugh’s base assumption that Obama seeks to dismantle capitalism and individual liberty is fatally flawed, just as the uber-Left’s denial of war is wrong. I do not appreciate the Left-shift of the current administration, just as I did not like the Right-shift of the “W” regime. Rather than attacking, as has become the political performance standard since the days of Joe McCarthy, constructive contribution would be vastly more valuable in this time of war and economic distress. Then, to make matters worse, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Stephen Steele tried to dampen the consequences of Limbaugh’s harsh rhetoric, only to be slapped down by the Republican leadership, and he was apparently forced to publicly apologize to Limbaugh. Rush may be content feeding red meat to the uber-Right, but he is doing very little to help this Grand Republic. The best I can say of this kerfuffle, iacta alea est – the die is cast. I will be happy to see my generation pass from the political arena; we have proven incapable of overcoming the politics of personal destruction and ideological rigidity. I hope and pray our children’s generation can find a wiser, more constructive path.
I sense a need to clarify my opinions. In the main, I see myself as a fiscal conservative; I want government out of our lives to the greatest extent possible; I believe in a free market economy. Yet, as I have written before, I also see a laissez-faire approach to a true free market in anarchistic terms, not unlike the lawlessness of the Wild, Wild West – survival of the fittest, anything goes. So, when the self-anointed, mouth-piece of the uber-Right ballyhoos the free market, I cringe. There is no question in my little pea-brain that the market place will eventually sort things out, even in the wake of destruction by criminals like Bernie Madoff and Bob Stanford. My primary, if not sole, worry with a true, free market remains collateral damage. We now have 12+ million productive citizens out of work – some in natural course, many as indirect consequence of unchecked greed. We had clues . . . irrational exuberance; now, we must suffer irrational pessimism. I have absolutely no objection to any citizen gambling with their money, but I do not want them gambling with my money. Nonetheless, we have a long way to go before this one is done.
News from the economic front:
-- A very interesting snapshot depiction of U.S. unemployment by county as of December 2008:
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/03/03/us/20090303_LEONHARDT.html?ex=1251176400&en=830f5dac50da04db&ei=5087&WT.mc_id=NYT-E-I-NYT-E-AT-0304-L6
-- American International Group (AIG) posted a US$62B net loss for the 4th Quarter alone. The Federal government announced its intention to pump another US$30B into the insurance company, now totaling more than US$150B, and the company must still “face significant challenges.” It would be easy to vilify companies like AIG. They got caught up in the same “irrational exuberance” that sucked in so many. Yet, the bottom line is, any company that is too big to fail is simply too big! But, now is not the time to stand on such righteousness.
-- Fed Chairman Bernanke told the Senate Budget Committee, “By supporting public and private spending, the fiscal package should provide a boost to demand and production over the next two years as well as mitigate the overall loss of employment and income that would otherwise occur," which appears to support the White House’s efforts to stimulate the economy, taking aggressive action to avoid an economic calamity.
-- As Merrill Lynch dashed head-long toward the abyss last year, 11 top executives were paid more than US$10M each in cash and stock, and 149 more received US$3M or more. From the Wall Street Journal: the top 10, highest-paid, Merrill executives received a total of US$209M in cash and stock in 2008, up slightly from US$201M a year earlier. In 2007, 28 Merrill employees were paid more than US$10M each.
[NOTE: I am staunch advocate for performance-based compensation, but only if it works on the downside as well as the upside. In 2008, Merrill executives should have been paying the company – receiving nothing.]
-- In the Federal Reserve's latest assessment of economic conditions, the contraction in U.S. economic output deepened in the first two months of the year with no turnaround expected anytime soon. Reports from the Fed’s beige book and its 12 regional banks “suggest that national economic conditions deteriorated further” in January through late February. The Fed also reported that the effects of the downturn appear to have spread beyond manufacturing and financial services.
-- The Bank of England (BoE) became the first European central bank to implement a quantitative easing policy, as it cut its key interest rate half a point to 0.5%, and said it would buy up to £75B (US$105B) mostly in medium and long-term gilts (bonds) over the next three months. The European Central Bank also cut its benchmark rate by 0.5% to 1.5%. After the BoE's moves, the pound slipped to US$1.4070, while the euro was trading around US$1.25.
-- The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the national unemployment rate surged last month to 8.1%, its highest level since 1983. U.S. non-farm payrolls dropped 651,000 in February – 12.5 million citizens unemployed. The economy has now shed 4.4 million jobs since the recession began in December 2007, with almost half of those losses occurring in the last three months alone.
L’Affaire Madoff [365]:
-- Ruth Madoff, wife of Bernie, wants to retain US$62M in assets and two homes, which she claims are hers separately from her indicted husband. Not only do I hope the USG show no mercy to Ruthie, I strongly suspect she shares culpability or at least duplicity in the massive swindle. I hope they prosecute her and throw her butt in prison along with her husband. And, if not prosecuted, she can find a simple studio apartment in Harlem to live out her days. Those assets belong to the people Bernie swindled.
-- At the end of the week, we hear that Bernie has a court date next Thursday, where he is expected to plead guilty to fraud charges as part of a plea deal. So far, I can only imagine what that plea deal entails, but I suspect it will involve some protection from prosecution for his wife and perhaps other family members, and maybe even protection of some assets. I want the USG to go after every last dime Ruth & Bernie Madoff stole from trusting people. Governments and banks will divvy up what is left, so I doubt individuals or groups will yield anything from this fiasco.
Comments and contributions from Update no.376:
“Morning Cap, can’t vouch for the authenticity of this but can easily be checked. Interesting though.”
The attached quote:
“Owners of capital will stimulate the working class to buy more and more of expensive goods, houses and mechanical products, pushing them to take more and more expensive credits, until their debt becomes unbearable. The unpaid debt will lead to bankruptcy of banks, which will have to be nationalized, and the State will have to take the road which will eventually lead to communism.”
-- Karl Marx, Das Kapital, 1867
My reply:
I have tried a variety of search routines on the text of Das Kapital. I cannot find the quotation in the text of Marx’s seminal work. I can see a plethora of cyber-space reproductions and transmittals, but I cannot find it in Marx’s words.
The attribution would be profoundly prophetic, if real, and it certainly has a ring of reality in the notion. Alas, I believe the quotation is a contemporary creation, not a product of Karl Marx.
I can make no claim to being an expert on Marxism, Communism, or even mid-19th Century life. However, the construct of credit usage by the working class does not strike me as factual for that time frame. Nonetheless, the ‘quotation’ does reflect today’s unfortunate economic crisis, and we have those with massive wealth trying to convince the rest of us that truly free, unfettered markets are the answer to our dreams.
. . . a follow-up comment:
“Yes I concur, the reference to credit on those times did concern me, but it was worth sending to you for your comments.”
My very best wishes to all. Take care of yourselves and each other.
Cheers,
Cap :-)
The follow-up news items:
-- The Founder and CEO of Xe (pronounced ‘z,’ formerly Blackwater [305, et al]), Erik D. Prince, announced his decision to relinquish his role as the company’s chief executive in his effort to move away from the company’s tarnished image and reputation.
-- In a historic move, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for a sitting chief of state, Sudanese President Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir – a victory for Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo of Argentina. In retaliation, the Sudanese government expelled at least ten foreign aid groups, trying to provide sustenance for a million displaced people in the troubled Dafur region.
-- The California Supreme Court heard arguments this week on a handful of cases challenging Prop H8 [345] – the voter-approved, constitutional amendment – “California Marriage Protection Act” – the response of the state residents to the California Supreme Court’s In re Marriage Cases [CA SC S147999] decision [336]. This will be a historic decision no matter the outcome, and I suspect the ruling is destined for the U.S. Supreme Court.
-- Rumor has it that President Obama will sign soon an Executive Order removing the band on Federal support for (participation in) embryonic stem cell research [146, et al]. It’s about time! I look forward to reading the directive.
Every once in a while the stars align. Wednesday’s New York Times yielded a series of catalytic editorial opinions.
“The Tortured Memos”
Editorial
New York Times
Published: March 3, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/04/opinion/04wed1.html?th&emc=th
-- While I am intrigued and curious about the Bush administration’s terrorism memoranda declassified and released by the Obama administration, I have serious doubts the release of these memoranda are a contribution to winning the War on Islamic Fascism. I look forward to reading the memoranda soon. Yet, at this point, I believe the Times is wrong, just as they were in 1971 during an earlier war. Transparency in matters of waging war successfully is NOT a good thing.
“Who’s Running Immigration?”
Editorial
New York Times
Published: March 3, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/04/opinion/04wed2.html?th&emc=th
-- The New York Times editorial staff was not impressed by the Bush administration’s enforcement of immigration law and border security. Apparently, they believe the Obama administration is going to do a better job. Yet, busting down on Arizona’s Maricopa County Sheriff Joseph M. ‘Joe’ Arpaio hardly seems like a wise choice. Once again, I think the Times has missed the big picture. The Federal government had done a poor job enforcing immigration law. States, counties and municipalities have had no choice but to take up the slack.
“Stage of Fools”
by Maureen Dowd
Op-Ed Columnist
New York Times
Published: March 3, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/04/opinion/04dowd.html?th&emc=th
-- Rarely do I find myself in agreement with Maureen Dowd, yet here is such an example. The Obama administration is trying to convince us the omnibus spending bill before is a holdover from the Bush administration, therefore all the porky earmarks are just a holdover as well. If it was not so revolting, listening to congressmen attempt to justify and rationalize their “little, tiny, porky amendments” would be quite entertaining. What’s worse, there are Republicans and Democrats standing before the microphone, and only Senator John McCain seems willing to stand up to illuminate and condemn earmarks for what they are – corruption at the expense of the People’s Treasury. In his weekly address, President Obama said, “The system we have now might work for the powerful and well-connected interests that have run Washington for far too long. But I don't. I work for the American people.” The President has already failed his 1st big test [374], I join Senator McCain to encourage the President to veto the omnibus appropriations bill [HR 1105] and to demand removal of all earmarks. Now is the time to draw the line he promised and not hide behind some lame excuse that the bill is a holdover from the last administration and Congress (a Democratic-dominated version, I might add).
Rush Hudson Limbaugh III pressed his “I want Obama to fail” mantra [371] at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Sunday, 1.March.2009. The performance was a particularly breathy rendition. Toward the end of his soliloquy, King Rush said, “They called General Petraeus a liar before he even testified. Mrs. Clinton said she had to willingly suspend disbelief in order to listen to Petraeus. We’re in the process of winning the war. The last thing they wanted was to win. They hoped George Bush failed. So what is so strange about being honest to say that I want Barack Obama to fail if his mission is to restructure and reform this country so that capitalism and individual liberty are not its foundation? Why would I want that to succeed?” My initial reaction was . . . damn, why does this blowhard not see the light? I have never been particularly impressed by or aligned with individuals of any ilk who are so ego-centric to place themselves above others. Yet, as is common to most political rhetoric, threads of truth bind the words into a common message. Rush is correct. The Democrats and uber-Left chanted incessantly and almost mindlessly against George W. Bush and against the War on Islamic Fascism. In that sense, Rush’s message was accurate . . . the last thing the Left wanted was to win the war. Hell, most refused to even admit that we are in a war. Nonetheless, I cannot accept and I condemn Limbaugh’s “Obama to fail” message. Two wrongs do not make a right. Limbaugh’s base assumption that Obama seeks to dismantle capitalism and individual liberty is fatally flawed, just as the uber-Left’s denial of war is wrong. I do not appreciate the Left-shift of the current administration, just as I did not like the Right-shift of the “W” regime. Rather than attacking, as has become the political performance standard since the days of Joe McCarthy, constructive contribution would be vastly more valuable in this time of war and economic distress. Then, to make matters worse, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Stephen Steele tried to dampen the consequences of Limbaugh’s harsh rhetoric, only to be slapped down by the Republican leadership, and he was apparently forced to publicly apologize to Limbaugh. Rush may be content feeding red meat to the uber-Right, but he is doing very little to help this Grand Republic. The best I can say of this kerfuffle, iacta alea est – the die is cast. I will be happy to see my generation pass from the political arena; we have proven incapable of overcoming the politics of personal destruction and ideological rigidity. I hope and pray our children’s generation can find a wiser, more constructive path.
I sense a need to clarify my opinions. In the main, I see myself as a fiscal conservative; I want government out of our lives to the greatest extent possible; I believe in a free market economy. Yet, as I have written before, I also see a laissez-faire approach to a true free market in anarchistic terms, not unlike the lawlessness of the Wild, Wild West – survival of the fittest, anything goes. So, when the self-anointed, mouth-piece of the uber-Right ballyhoos the free market, I cringe. There is no question in my little pea-brain that the market place will eventually sort things out, even in the wake of destruction by criminals like Bernie Madoff and Bob Stanford. My primary, if not sole, worry with a true, free market remains collateral damage. We now have 12+ million productive citizens out of work – some in natural course, many as indirect consequence of unchecked greed. We had clues . . . irrational exuberance; now, we must suffer irrational pessimism. I have absolutely no objection to any citizen gambling with their money, but I do not want them gambling with my money. Nonetheless, we have a long way to go before this one is done.
News from the economic front:
-- A very interesting snapshot depiction of U.S. unemployment by county as of December 2008:
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/03/03/us/20090303_LEONHARDT.html?ex=1251176400&en=830f5dac50da04db&ei=5087&WT.mc_id=NYT-E-I-NYT-E-AT-0304-L6
-- American International Group (AIG) posted a US$62B net loss for the 4th Quarter alone. The Federal government announced its intention to pump another US$30B into the insurance company, now totaling more than US$150B, and the company must still “face significant challenges.” It would be easy to vilify companies like AIG. They got caught up in the same “irrational exuberance” that sucked in so many. Yet, the bottom line is, any company that is too big to fail is simply too big! But, now is not the time to stand on such righteousness.
-- Fed Chairman Bernanke told the Senate Budget Committee, “By supporting public and private spending, the fiscal package should provide a boost to demand and production over the next two years as well as mitigate the overall loss of employment and income that would otherwise occur," which appears to support the White House’s efforts to stimulate the economy, taking aggressive action to avoid an economic calamity.
-- As Merrill Lynch dashed head-long toward the abyss last year, 11 top executives were paid more than US$10M each in cash and stock, and 149 more received US$3M or more. From the Wall Street Journal: the top 10, highest-paid, Merrill executives received a total of US$209M in cash and stock in 2008, up slightly from US$201M a year earlier. In 2007, 28 Merrill employees were paid more than US$10M each.
[NOTE: I am staunch advocate for performance-based compensation, but only if it works on the downside as well as the upside. In 2008, Merrill executives should have been paying the company – receiving nothing.]
-- In the Federal Reserve's latest assessment of economic conditions, the contraction in U.S. economic output deepened in the first two months of the year with no turnaround expected anytime soon. Reports from the Fed’s beige book and its 12 regional banks “suggest that national economic conditions deteriorated further” in January through late February. The Fed also reported that the effects of the downturn appear to have spread beyond manufacturing and financial services.
-- The Bank of England (BoE) became the first European central bank to implement a quantitative easing policy, as it cut its key interest rate half a point to 0.5%, and said it would buy up to £75B (US$105B) mostly in medium and long-term gilts (bonds) over the next three months. The European Central Bank also cut its benchmark rate by 0.5% to 1.5%. After the BoE's moves, the pound slipped to US$1.4070, while the euro was trading around US$1.25.
-- The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the national unemployment rate surged last month to 8.1%, its highest level since 1983. U.S. non-farm payrolls dropped 651,000 in February – 12.5 million citizens unemployed. The economy has now shed 4.4 million jobs since the recession began in December 2007, with almost half of those losses occurring in the last three months alone.
L’Affaire Madoff [365]:
-- Ruth Madoff, wife of Bernie, wants to retain US$62M in assets and two homes, which she claims are hers separately from her indicted husband. Not only do I hope the USG show no mercy to Ruthie, I strongly suspect she shares culpability or at least duplicity in the massive swindle. I hope they prosecute her and throw her butt in prison along with her husband. And, if not prosecuted, she can find a simple studio apartment in Harlem to live out her days. Those assets belong to the people Bernie swindled.
-- At the end of the week, we hear that Bernie has a court date next Thursday, where he is expected to plead guilty to fraud charges as part of a plea deal. So far, I can only imagine what that plea deal entails, but I suspect it will involve some protection from prosecution for his wife and perhaps other family members, and maybe even protection of some assets. I want the USG to go after every last dime Ruth & Bernie Madoff stole from trusting people. Governments and banks will divvy up what is left, so I doubt individuals or groups will yield anything from this fiasco.
Comments and contributions from Update no.376:
“Morning Cap, can’t vouch for the authenticity of this but can easily be checked. Interesting though.”
The attached quote:
“Owners of capital will stimulate the working class to buy more and more of expensive goods, houses and mechanical products, pushing them to take more and more expensive credits, until their debt becomes unbearable. The unpaid debt will lead to bankruptcy of banks, which will have to be nationalized, and the State will have to take the road which will eventually lead to communism.”
-- Karl Marx, Das Kapital, 1867
My reply:
I have tried a variety of search routines on the text of Das Kapital. I cannot find the quotation in the text of Marx’s seminal work. I can see a plethora of cyber-space reproductions and transmittals, but I cannot find it in Marx’s words.
The attribution would be profoundly prophetic, if real, and it certainly has a ring of reality in the notion. Alas, I believe the quotation is a contemporary creation, not a product of Karl Marx.
I can make no claim to being an expert on Marxism, Communism, or even mid-19th Century life. However, the construct of credit usage by the working class does not strike me as factual for that time frame. Nonetheless, the ‘quotation’ does reflect today’s unfortunate economic crisis, and we have those with massive wealth trying to convince the rest of us that truly free, unfettered markets are the answer to our dreams.
. . . a follow-up comment:
“Yes I concur, the reference to credit on those times did concern me, but it was worth sending to you for your comments.”
My very best wishes to all. Take care of yourselves and each other.
Cheers,
Cap :-)
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