Posted by julian on Feb 25, 2010 in
Economy Sometimes I think the world is a crazy place. The Mayor of Las Vegas, Oscar Goodman (who over decades made his fortune representing organized crime that controlled the gambling on the strip) has publicly announced he will refuse to meet President Obama when he visits Vegas this week. Last year President Obama told Americans not to blow their savings on a weekend in Vegas if those people were saving for their children’s college education. In my opinion, for what it was worth, President Obama’s message seemed an appropriate statement for a President to make. But no, the loons from the right led by the Tea Party have had a field day ever since telling the President to pull his head in. And Goodman, a wolf in sheep’s clothing who spent a lifetime protecting lowlifes, has gained further national notoriety by being nothing but an obtuse and rude prick.
Vegas is built upon sand, both literally and metaphorically. It stands to reason that in tough times, the economy of the city will quickly slide into oblivion. We had the gamblers on Wall Street destroy the lives of tens of millions. Quite frankly I have little sympathy for the idiots who run to Vegas to seek their fortune from the roulette wheel using their kid’s college money only to blow it all. I am happy to see the casino operators and the city currently on the bones of their bums. I couldn’t care less. The American economy must be rebuilt on making things and needs to take a leaf out of Germany’s book on how to do it. For me gambling, apart from the fun of outlaying a few bucks that one can afford to lose, is a scourge upon society. In these times President Obama’s comments for me were right on the money.
Oscar Goodman is presently serving his third and final term as Mayor. It shows how sick Las Vegas truly is when their number one citizen acted as the mouthpiece for the “mob” until they were run out of town. Five years ago a class of fourth graders asked him what if he could only take two things with him were he to be marooned on a deserted island, what would they be? His reply was “A showgirl and a bottle of Blue Sapphire gin!” This response clearly demonstrates where this man comes from. However, the red neck idiotic element, which now dominates the Republican Party, hails him as a hero for “standing up to Obama” when Goodman is being nothing but an ignorant slob. It is sad state of affairs when Americans can be so disrespectful to the office of the President. After serving his last term, I hope Vegas runs Goodman out of town. He has done them a great disservice for the eleven years he has been in office as mayor, especially over this last incident.
Tags: Las Vegas, Obama
Posted by julian on Feb 24, 2010 in
Airlines Many shippers and forwarders are still in large numbers sitting on their hands believing TSA will be hard pressed to keep top their deadline of August 1st, of all airfreight having to be screened. They feel because they have the security of numbers, the Department of Home Security will have to back off and postpone the date. That belief could not be further from reality. If it were to happen (and it won’t) companies like CII will be very angry indeed. For three years we have dedicated three senior staff to security and have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in training and procuring equipment.
CII’s original motivation was at first it could become a great source of income because it would be a perfect fit for our wholesale forwarding operations. Unfortunately after a couple of experiments earlier this year taking on outside forwarder customers’ screening we have realized it is a hugely expensive and time consuming exercise. The result is instead of being a pathfinder, we are going to sit back and see what happens come August 1st. The airlines were the idiots that have set the initial standards and should their rates become the norm when 100% screening becomes the law, then we are out of the business of being a neutral screening facility.
In order to survive, over the years we have had to adapt to market conditions. We make no secret of the fact our entertainment division is growing in leaps and bounds, and Corrigan’s Express, our niche forwarding operation, has enjoyed exponential growth since 2002. Our wholesale operation has matured and even there we see a greater future acting on behalf of overseas forwarders than we do with the local community. The problem is the Chinese attitude of expecting their service providers to do everything for nothing has hit the American forwarding industry. The result is our business model has had to be modified accordingly to adjust to these new market conditions.
Our philosophy on our screening capabilities plain and simple is we are going to sell our services to the forwarding community at a commercially viable rate. If we can’t, then we will find customers who are willing to pay. So six months before “D-Day, I am letting everyone know, don’t think we are going to become a sucker like the airlines have been. If you wish to take advantage of our services, you will be quoted and charged a rate that provides us with a reasonable profit over our costs. Your alternative is to invest what we have to be completely independent or hope for some fool who will allow himself to be screwed. We will not be such a mug.
Tags: screening, TSA; DHS
Posted by julian on Feb 23, 2010 in
Economy 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.
Tags: China, Federal Reserve, Iran, Japan, North Korea, Zimbabwe
Posted by julian on Feb 22, 2010 in
Politics More music to my ears; founder of Gome Electronics, Huang Guangyu languishes in jail somewhere in China awaiting trial for bribery, corruption and share manipulation. From humble beginnings he built Gome into the largest retail electronics chain in China. In 2006, he was forced to sell off 25% of his holdings in the Hong Kong publicly listed company. That divestment doubled his net worth to US$2.5 billion. In 2007 he rose to become China’s richest man as per the respected Hurun Institute, having amassed an estimated US$6.3 billion fortune.
Ever since then, it has been a downward spiral for him. The silly bugger should have cut and run when he pocketed the money from the initial sale of his stock. For the last three years the government has been gunning after him. There is no doubt, that to build such an empire in China in such a short space of time, it wasn’t about being at the right place at the right time with the right product, it was about his ability to satisfy bureaucracy ahead of his competition. He must have been as smooth talking as “Kenny Boy” Lay of Enron was with Capital Hill for all those years as he grew his tiny natural gas company into an industrial behemoth
Apparently of late he was paying off the “wrong people” or not paying enough to the “right” people with the result that he and his wife came under the watchful eye of senior Communist Party officials. Firstly fifteen months ago the Hong Kong Stock Exchange halted trading Gome shares because of a claim of stock price manipulation. Three months ago, Guangyu failed to turn up for work and hasn’t been seen since. Just last week it was announced he and his wife were being held in a jail “somewhere in China” awaiting prosecution!
The one thing that even makes me happier; apparently the greedy bastards on Wall Street have always had a love affair for their billionaire mates in China and invest heavily in their high profile public companies. From Morgan Stanley down many companies and individuals are stuck with Gome stock that is now sale proof. Of course they were buying Gome up large to on-sell it to unsuspecting fools such as me, because they know Chinese companies are part of the Chinese bubble that will burst sooner or later.
Tags: China, Gome Electronics, Hong Kong
