Update from the Heartland
No.543
7.5.12 – 13.5.12
Blog version: http://heartlandupdate.blogspot.com/
To all,
I had my six-month check-up with
my surgeon – continued good news.
My six-month, post-op, PSA was recorded as < 0.1. My hydraulic issue reported earlier has
largely been resolved. Recovery
continues. I was also informed
about a Sloan-Kettering survival calculator – URL: http://nomograms.mskcc.org/Prostate/PostRadicalProstatectomy.aspx. According to my input details, my
10-year survival probability is 91% -- pretty good, I would say. Next follow-up = six months, my one
year mark. My urological surgeon
said, “We consider you cured.” It
was an encouraging statement, but contrary to my understanding of cancer
treatment, which tells me such statements are usually not made until attaining
the asymptomatic, five-year mark.
Nonetheless, the test results are a good sign.
News from the employment situation
is hard to interpret as we have only that information the powers that be choose
to share. Rumors run
rampant! Fact, fiction and
posturing are not so easy to sort out this early in the process. We are being tasked with all sorts of
what-if generation to assist the decision-making process. I will share information, as I am
able. So far, the only additional
lay-offs or furloughs have been Operations, assembly-line personnel.
“Wichitan gave eye-opening speech”
by Leonard Pitts (Miami Herald)
Wichita Eagle
Published: Monday, May 7, 2012, at 12 a.m.
His opinion speaks for itself. I have nothing to add.
We can all learn from his wisdom.
Primary election news this week seemed to be rather
disturbing. Six-term, Republican Senator Richard Green Lugar of Indiana was
defeated by state treasurer Richard E. Mourdock. In a televised interviewed the following day, Mourdock said,
“I don't think there's going to be a lot of successful compromise. I hope to build a conservative majority
in the U.S. Senate so bipartisanship becomes Democrats joining Republicans to
roll back the size of government.”
Mourdock is not alone in his idealistic intransigence. We can only hope he is defeated in the
fall election. In addition, North
Carolina voters passed Amendment 1 to the state’s constitution, very narrowly
defining the only state recognized marital relationship as a state sanctioned
marriage between one man and one woman.
This process never ceases to amaze me and disappoint me that so many
Americans feel compelled to pass laws to impose their beliefs on all other
citizens. I imagine not one of
those North Carolinians who vote for the constitutional amendment how they
would feel when a different majority imposes their beliefs on them. On the same day, President Obama took
the bold step of publicly stating his support for equal civil rights for all
citizens, while we have others claiming the marriage question is not a civil
rights issue. I would like to
understand why laws imposing upon private conduct are not a civil rights
concern? This is going to be a crazy
silly season.
Yet, despite the primary election news, the media seemed to
be dominated by the 21.May.2012, TIME magazine cover. I believe everyone knows the image, so I do not need to
insert it here. The controversial
image comes on the tail of the video released by Actress Alicia Silverstone of
her premasticating food and feeding her son. A wide variety of talking-heads, commentators, experts and
other opinionators use words like disgusting, weird, strange, immoral, upsetting,
and despicable for both images simply because they do not conform to the
boundaries of The Box – the definition of acceptable conduct in American society. I offer no judgment. I only ask one question: where is the
injury or harm that justifies legal action or even public condemnation?
News from
the economic front:
-- Germany, Finland and others euro-zone countries doubt the
commitment of Greece to meet the bailout conditions after the public statements
by Greek politicians as a consequence of last Sunday's elections calling for
the bailout to be renegotiated.
The International Monetary Fund and euro-zone lender nations are
considering delaying the next payment of €5.2B of €130B in bailout aid to the beleaguered
country due to concerns over political turmoil following last weekend’s
elections. Greece needs the money
mainly to repay €3.3B in bonds maturing 18.May that are held by the European
Central Bank and national euro-zone central banks.
-- J.P. Morgan Chase Chief Executive Officer James S. “Jamie”
Dimon announced US$2B in trading losses in the past six weeks and the potential
to another US$1B or more in 2Q2012 losses. Apparently, the bank’s derivative traders were told several
months ago to make “bets” aimed at shielding the bank from the market fallout
of Europe's deepening debt crisis. Their complicated gambling backfired into losses of as much
as US$200M a day in late April and early May. U.S. and U.K. regulators opened investigations into the
bank’s actions, what went wrong, who is responsible and whether crimes have
been committed. As we begin to absorb
what happened, we learn the bank lobbyists successfully watered down the Volcker
Rule to place some constraints on derivative trading in the Dodd-Frank Wall
Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act [PL 111-203; 124 Stat. 1376; 21.July.2010] – supposedly the
necessary banking reform as we struggle with recovery from the Great
Recession. The thought that comes
to mind . . . “It’s like déjà vu, all
over again.” Here we are four
years after the collapse of the big banks and we face more of the same ol’
crap! How much more proof do we
need before we recognize that bankers are flawed men like all the rest of us
and cannot be trusted.
Comments and contributions from Update no.542:
“Good luck with BH. Hopefully they can continue as a
strong company with great products and a long famous history.
“Excellent discussion on USMC women edict and also with the
Kansas alcohol issue. Hell, you'll end up a Libertarian at some time
after all.”
My reply:
These last 4 years have been the worst I’ve seen in the
industry. From everything I’ve
seen and that I am aware of, this move should substantially strengthen HBC’s
competitive position. The fact
that the lenders supported Chap.11 rather than forcing us into Chap.7, speaks
volumes, it seems to me.
Truth be told, I am probably closer
to a Libertarian than I am a Republican or a Democrat; however, none of them
fit my politics, or rather I do not fit into the party positions for any of
them. I continue to claim I am a
non-partisan independent.
Another contribution:
“I came across some discouraging news this morning regarding
Hawker Beechcraft. What’s going on? Will you be safe?”
My response:
I
addressed the HBC situation briefly in the Update. HBC has had a rough four years. The market has been comatose much longer than anyone
expected or forecast, and it proved to be a bridge too far given our gargantuan
debt load. Chap.11 should
strengthen the company significantly.
One is never safe these days, but I think we have weathered the worst of
the storm; now, it is all about recovery.
I should be good until retirement in 2-6 years.
Comment to the Blog:
“I fail to see how illegal and/or violent behavior by male
students at the Naval Academy could be construed as a reason to exclude women
from the school. This is an appropriate matter for military or civilian law
enforcement, whichever applies to not-yet-commissioned future officers.
“Teenage use of alcohol and other drugs is indeed an
important subject, but public service announcements aimed at parents of teens
just demonstrate how little society knows about this disease. By the time
people reach their teens, their attitudes are formed and the parents have no
say in whether those attitudes (combined with genetics and other factors) will
result in drinking, using or going on to addiction. That’s another example of
throwing good tax dollars after bad. Certainly the fear-mongering makes that
worse because it keeps people from talking sanely to their children or parents
about the subject.
“The people in France and Greece most likely have seen fit
to spare ordinary people rather than bankers. The bankers will no doubt make
them pay, but perhaps not as much as the politicians they evicted would have
done.”
My response to the
Blog:
Re:
women in military. Herein lies a
good example of the consequence of using truncated reasoning for brevity. I agree, the alleged crimes at USNA
should be prosecuted; although I must add, I suspect there is much more to the
story than reported in the Press, as I surmise from my experience as a
university campus chancellor. The
point I was attempting to make was events like the USNA situation are often
utilized as justification by those who resist the integration of women,
non-heterosexuals, or anyone else not like them. The crime was not caused by integration or the presence of
women, but rather by the individual failings of flawed young men. Our societal focus should be on performance,
not on genitalia or sexual attraction.
Re:
teenage drinking. As I read your
words and perceived your meaning, I believe you are agreeing with my premise,
i.e., education is far better than the ignorance of abstinence. I will also freely admit that I am one
of those failed parents too afraid of the law to teach our children properly
about alcohol, drugs and such. We
were lucky; other families were not.
The carnage of ignorance is too great a societal price to tolerate the
myopia of the social conservative faction.
Re:
France & Greece. The bottom
line: there is no free lunch.
Sooner or later, the bill comes due. While the bankers carry some culpability, it is the
unrealistic expectations of the People that are the bona fide culprit. They were quite happy to accept and
demand the largesse of government in the good times, but cannot face the
consequences in the hard times.
That is a recipe for failure, anarchy and disintegration.
My very best wishes to all. Take care of yourselves and each other.
Cheers,
Cap :-)
2 comments:
Your health news sounds very good. I hope your employment situation clarifies just as well.
The only obvious mistake in the article you linked is where the writer says the speaker is “not a godless heathen.” That contains an oxymoron. The young speaker is indeed not a heathen, but heathens have plenty of gods, just not Christian ones. Beyond that, I would like to point out that Christianity (or any religion) is not a legitimate basis for public policy in the United States. In any case, per Wikipedia Christianity is in a long decline in the developed world. Christians’ attempts to cling to political influence just hasten that decline. The North Carolina results will change eventually, when North Carolina wants or is compelled to move into the current century
The tea baggers have won some of the Republican primaries, thus harming the Republican Party. We need to remember amidst all the hype, hoopla, and hogwash of the political season that most American voters have not lost their minds. Just because a candidate can attract 51% of Republican primary voters by using a lot of extreme rhetoric does not mean that a majority of voters will buy the same stuff. What I think will make this season more interesting is that both of the major-party candidates for President have issues with their own bases. Romney is a Mormon and has much too moderate a record for many Republicans. Obama’s claims of “war powers” sit very poorly with Democrats who also see him as giving way to Republican minorities on too many issues. This will be another election where people must hold their noses to vote.
The current JPMorgan fiasco gives still more support to our mutual position that “too big to fail” is simply too big.
Calvin,
Re: health. Yes indeed!
Re: employment. Jury is still out; the dust storm still blows. Time shall tell.
Re: religion in public policy. In the main, I would agree . . . thus, Jefferson’s admonition to keep church and State separate. History is replete with examples to validate Jefferson’s observation. On the contrary, religion has also tried to order society, to diminish bad traits or actions, and encourage respect for others. There is much good in religion in contrast to the often parochial interpretations by flawed men to incite the believers to violence in the name of God – in defiance of those teachings.
Re: voters. I sure hope you are correct. Extreme political rhetoric in any direction is not productive, helpful or consistent with the founding principles. Interesting observations regarding this silly season.
Re: “too big to fail.” Spot on! Yet, JP Morgan Chase is hardly close to failure or even jeopardy, just a little less profit and perhaps dividends for stockholders. The bank happens to have a shareholder’s meeting this week, which should be quite incendiary. To me, the far more injurious aspect of this event is seismic trauma to our fragile faith in our financial institutions and system. The market impact inflates the lack of confidence. Whatever responsible bankers there may be out there, they will soon suffer for Chase’s mistakes.
Cheers,
Cap
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