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JAPAN NOW HOLDS MORE U.S. DEBT THAN CHINA

julian — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 17:04:41 +0000

The Chinese are selling their holdings and last week Japan took over first place with $767.8 billion of Treasury bonds supplanting China’s holdings of $755.4. Having only attained a high school diploma, I have huge difficulty how all this debt nonsense works. Over the past year the Federal Reserve has been buying Treasury bonds, so being the case America now owes money to itself as opposed a foreign country. That makes more sense to me. I want to puke every time I hear some guru on TV tell me, “If it weren’t for Chinese benevolence, America would be broke.”

As I have so often stated, given a choice I wouldn’t buy a $0.50 Chinese-made pair of sox, so when I am forced to buy Chinese it truly sticks in my craw. Everything about China is the antipathy of America. Firstly it is communist and we have fought wars against those evil bastard regimes on every continent since WW 2. Secondly, human rights are non-existent and China ranks a close second to Mugabe’s Zimbabwe. Thirdly, it is the most corrupt trading nation on earth. Fourthly, there has never been a manufacturing nation on this earth since the Industrial Revolution that has such a consistent and appalling reputation for poor quality. Lastly, the truth is they are a sworn enemy of America. Not that I care, but they oppose ever motion put by America at the United Nations and they are the supporters of every evil regime in the world, starting with Iran and North Korea.

If the Fed can buy our debt, why didn’t we think of that before? I like the idea of keeping everything staying in America. I still reckon China is on the precipice of a mountain about to fall off, even worse than Japan did in 1991. I just hope and prey we don’t come to their rescue. I don’t go for this nonsense that China has been propping up America; Walmart maybe, but not America. Like many Americans when China’s economy collapses, if it means thousands of Walmart stores closing down, as small business is the pulse of America, small business might just pick up where they left off. Only wishful thinking! The sooner we get China out of our hair, the better.

WHEN WILL LARGE CORPORATIONS RETURN TO A BASIC PHILOSOPHY THAT WORKS FOR ALL?

julian — Thu, 28 May 2009 21:29:47 +0000

Amongst all the business news of doom and gloom this week, the headline stealer was the speculation of the fate of once America’s greatest company, General Motors. With the help of President Obama, it appears G.M. will be bullied into bankruptcy. What is happening to this country, when the media and other self professed experts are so happy to tell us this is going to be a good deal for America? Over 250,000 more jobs directly and indirectly will be lost when G.M. emerges from bankruptcy. Add to that hundreds of thousands of existing retirees (forced and voluntary), current employees and suppliers’ employees who will find their living standards reduced to a subsistence level not much better than a turn of the twentieth century Chinese coolie. In the meantime Bank of America and J.P. Morgan Chase want to repay their TARP funds so they can go ahead and return to the days of paying out $billions in bonuses to the very scum bags who brought about the demise of the American worker.

For me, the solution is simple if America wants to return to greatness. It is not about appointing a Supreme Court Judge who was born and raised in the projects of the Bronx and telling Americans, “See you could have succeeded too if you had big dreams!”, It is not about exporting jobs to third world ghettos, it is not about telling the average American the American multi-nationals can only afford to pay peanuts if they are to compete in the global marketplace; it is about what the true values of a Judeo-Christian society should be all about and stand for. In the corporate world of America, corporate governance should have their priorities in this order:

1) Employees come first.
2) Customers come second
3) Profits third
4) Growth fourth
5) And the bottom of the rung shareholders (the gamblers) last

For the past twenty-five years it has been the other way around. Led firstly by corporate raiders like Carl Icahn, Frank Lorenzo (the guy who destroyed Continental and Eastern Airlines) Ivan Boesky, Henry Kravis, Michael Milken et all in the eighties, then followed by those low-life bottom fish dweller Hedge Fund managers such as Lloyd Blankfein (Goldman Sachs), George Soros, T Boone Pickens and numerous other filthy manipulators who prefer to work anonymously in their bunkers under the radar screen. And of course not forgetting all those investment banks which actually funded it all (including sub-prime mortgages) most of which have now disappeared or gone broke.

These gamblers and their Wall Street buddies originally started as green mailers (a predator who buys stock in companies, stirs the pot and makes threats to the existing directors in the hope the company finds a friendly investor to take the raider out at a premium price), then outright buyers (mainly through 100% debt financing) taking companies private, stripping them of all assets and then refloating them. And lastly over the past ten years shorting (selling stock they don’t own but “borrow”) thereby driving the price down and buying back those shares profiting by the depressed prices created. What good have these people done but to destroy good companies that gainfully employed good Americans? I don’t want to hear about the stockholder of a public corporation as the raison d’etre. A buyer of stock is no different from a gambler who takes his fortune to Vegas to play cards.

Once upon a time life assurance companies handled retirement plans and with that income they were builders/developers of large commercial and industrial properties and it was the rental income plus capital appreciation which provided the cash flow to pay out the pensioners. Then they faced competition and today the biggest gamblers and stockholders of the lot are the various pension funds aided and abetted by Wall Street. Isn’t a shame that things didn’t stay as they were? Most of us with 401K plans have been wiped out by the stock market crash! For me, if President Obama doesn’t stop sucking up to the very bastards that have destroyed our nation and starts rebuilding America with the core values which affords all Americans the lifestyle they used to enjoy, then history will show he was no better than George Dubbya, the worst President in modern history and the man who single handedly allowed for and created the environment for America’s demise as the nation the world envied and looked up to.

Call me a Marxist/Socialist deadbeat if you like, but right now I am having the last laugh. Capitalism has collapsed and Bernanke can print as many dollar bills as he likes and it will only lead to inflation only experienced by banana republics such as Zimbabwe. What is needed is the system turned upside down where people come first and not these narcissistic, selfish thugs continuing on their raping and pillaging rampage hell bent only on destroying our once great nation.

WHY IS INTEGRITY NOW SUCH A RARE “COMMODITY”?

julian — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 19:22:57 +0000

One of the sad facts of life since greed and avarice has become the measuring rod for success, is integrity now plays a very minor role in human behavior. It doesn’t matter whether we are talking about poverty stricken countries such as Zimbabwe, emerging economic powers like Russia, China and India or the power houses such as the United States, integrity and simply doing the right thing is no longer part of every day living. How sad it is that so many Army officers handed the job of looking after the “reconstruction” of Iraq and paying contractors are now facing prosecution over thieving our tax dollars. What in the hell has happened for this to take place? Once upon a time from the ranks to the leaders of the military we could rely upon them, no matter what party was in power, to serve our country with integrity, dignity and above all, honor. Maybe it has something to do with how “government” has been portrayed since the Reagan days, by those libertarian Republicans, led by fools such as Gingrich. For the past twenty-five years we have been brainwashed into believing that less government is better, we pay too much tax and deregulation will allow competition to find the right levels in our society. Government has simply become fair game for those with the opportunity to steal from it with absolute impunity. In fact starting with the “pork barreling” inside congress, bad behavior, corruption and dishonesty has actually been rewarded.

I will never forget a “Sixty Minutes” program several years ago on tertiary education. One of the most startling statistics was that 70% of the students surveyed admitted to rampant cheating. One Stanford student justified it by stating, “I need to obtain “A’s” through to graduation to make sure I can embark upon a career as a successful investment banker. In that job, I will be involved in lying and cheating, so what’s the big deal? I am just getting some job training while on campus!” It is common knowledge that universities turn a blind eye to plagiarism and outright cheating because like the students, themselves, their academic ranking is almost as important to them as an “A” pass is to a student. We have lost the value system built up over centuries from our Judeo-Christian principles.

So here we are now in the middle of the worst recession since the great Depression and the government is printing currency in the $trillions in order to kick start the economy for the benefit of a nation dominated by cheaters and liars. Talk is strong on the impending bankruptcy of General Motors, which will directly affect millions of workers. Part of me can’t help but think of that famous Wall Street statement of decades ago, “What is good for General Motors is good for America.” If G.M. is allowed to fail because of a few $billion, then what in the hell are we doing propping up the banks? Sure G.M. may have under-estimated the effects of how their foreign rivals to gain market share were able to dump cheap cars into American market and how slow they were to react, but the last thing (unlike the banks) that could be said of G.M. is that they fleeced America for personal financial gain. Sorry President Obama, I am most unhappy how so quickly you followed up on George Dubya, to protect the cheaters, liars and stealers at the expense of what is left of Middle America. Your stimulus programs will only become a reservoir for the assholes of America (the financial institutions) to capitalize on in order for the Forbes rich list of this country to become larger and the middle class even smaller and definitely poorer. If G.M. goes broke, then do the right thing, nationalize the banking system, including Goldman Sachs and immediately prosecute and take away the ill gotten gains from the cheats and liars. Bernie Madoff is the tip of the iceberg. We were supposedly able to rid America of the Mafia, why not do the same with the dirt bags on Wall Street.

Once we have cleaned out the scourge which has enveloped American society, we could find that goodness, decency and above all integrity may start to be rewarded and that good government is duly recognized and appreciated by all citizens. That is my dream, but right now I am just a wishful thinker.