Archive for December, 2009
How to Apologize: Jimmy Carter’s Bad Example
The end of the year is upon us. As we look back, we’ve all sadly engaged in actions or words which have been hurtful to others. I wanted to write about the art of apologizing.
Jimmy Carter, former President of the United States, recently issued an attempt at an apology over the holiday season. Mr. Carter, who over the years has made numerous comments that many interpret as anti-Israel/anti-Jewish, may have been responding to criticism of his 2007 book Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid.
The Sickening Cost of Healthcare Bribes
Playwright George Bernard Shaw
A joke often attributed to George Bernard Shaw has a wealthy older man at a fancy English dinner party. The man asks an attractive woman if she would sleep with him for a million pounds. The lady responds “My goodness, well, I’d certainly think about it”. The man then asks if she’d sleep with him for one pound. The woman indignantly replies “Certainly not! What kind of woman do you think I am?” The man replies “We’ve already established what you are. Now we are simply haggling about price.”
As the United States Senate moved towards the party line 60-39 vote on Healthcare Legislation, the deals that were done…..the costly deals that Democratic leaders paid in order to obtain the needed sixty Senate votes…grew increasingly outrageous. Read the rest of this entry »
The Gift of Life, Being an Organ Donor
I set up a living trust not too long ago. Frankly, it should have been created many years prior. Well you know the old saying, better late than never. One of the issues that needed a decision concerned various medical questions, including whether or not to be an organ donor. I choose to be one.
Recently my family has been renting an insane number of DVD episodes of the TV show Gray’s Anatomy. There were a few episodes that dealt with organ donations. Not surprisingly, organ donors and their families were portrayed heroically.
I’m not good with blood and gore. I don’t watch slasher movies and I squirm and turn my head during some of the operating scenes in Gray’s Anatomy. For me, the thought of having my organs removed is kind of gross. Nevertheless, being able to give someone, a complete stranger, the gift of life is a mitzvah worth the discomfort.
The Federal Government is on a Pay and Hiring Binge
The Great Laurel and Hardy
Some estimates put the number of unemployed Americans at over 15 million. However there is one sector of the economy where jobs and pay are booming. You guessed it. The federal government has been very busy adding more (union) workers. While the private sector is getting skinnier, the federal government is getting fatter. That is no joke.
While businesses throughout the country have been laying off workers in droves during 2009, the federal government added 13,000 employees. Hmm, we’re borrowing zillions of dollars in America and some of that money is used by government to grow itself during this time of deep recession. No wonder the poll ratings for the party of bigger government are dropping like a rock.
Yet there is insult that needs to be added to this injury. The pay of federal employees is skyrocketing.
Banks are Killing the American Economy
Paul Volcker and the President
I have a friend who has done extremely well for himself by borrowing money prudently for projects and then paying back the loans. He’s done dozens of deals, and has a great FICO score. When I see him, almost inevitably he’ll utter to me “banks are bunk. Those aholes got all that money from the government and now they won’t lend it out.”
I’ve met with a large number of small business owners over the past year. They all have two laments. Sales and customers are harder to come by, and the banks won’t lend them any money.
Cheers to the Muslim Parents who Saved their Kids from being Terrorists
Religion has animated human society from before man emerged from the caves. Say the words “Crusade”, or “Mecca” and images immediately come to mind. Religion is the source of much that is good in society. The fount of the American experiment, with its natural rights and currency which reads In God We Trust, springs from the old testament. Frankly, I wonder if human civilization itself would have been possible without gods or an almighty for people to coalesce around and receive absolute truths such as those declared by the ten commandments.
That said, the history of religion is replete with examples of terrible deeds done in the name of god. One needs only look to the teachings of Al Qaeda and the terrorism it promotes to see the most current permutation of this perversion.
Obama on Afghanistan: Trying to have his Cake and Eat it too
One of the legends told of King Solomon regards his decision concerning two mothers who both claimed a newborn baby was theirs. (A newly born baby had died the previous night and both mothers claimed the surviving baby was theirs) The King decided that since he couldn’t tell who was the actual mother, that the baby should be cut in two with each mother receiving half. The real mother couldn’t bear to see her child killed and cried and cried. She ultimately offered to allow the lying mother to have the baby so that her child could live. Solomon, now knowing who the real mother was, awarded the baby to its rightful family.
When President Obama finally announced his policy on Afghanistan, he seemed to want to achieve contradictory goals simultaneously. He told us that that Afghanistan was a vital national interest of the United States. An interest so important, that tens of thousands of additional American soldiers needed to be quickly sent into battle. Yet in the next breath, we were informed that they’d begin coming home in less than 18 months.
Climategate: The Essence of Science Itself is at Stake
The Hockey Stick Graph
Al Gore just announced he has canceled his $1,200 per person speaking engagement at the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference this week. His press secretary said he had “unforeseen schedule changes”. Perhaps Mr. Gore’s decision not to go to Copenhagen is coincidental. However, it may be due to the cloud that has been cast by the recent “Climategate” release of emails and documents by internet hackers who accessed the world’s leading climate research center.
In case you haven’t heard of this important but little reported story, Phil Jones, the prominent head of the University of East Anglia’s research department, has stepped aside as Director because the situation is under investigation. Mr. Jones was a key player in building the United Nation’s argument that humans are behind global warming.
Remembering Friends Lost to AIDS
AIDS Ribbon
I briefly worked for two brokerage companies prior to joining Smith Barney in 1985. The first company I worked for was what we used to call a “bucket shop”. I was there for six months and resigned 90 days before the firm went out of business. I had accidentally cold called the CEO of a regional brokerage house. He liked my pitch and offered me a job.
The regional company was a great place to work. However, when the company reformed its generous compensation package, the talent left. Frankly, while I was doing pretty well, I didn’t really consider myself a member of the “talent” because, at that time I produced very modest numbers. However, the trader at the regional company told the head trader at Smith Barney that I was an up and comer…and that he should hire me.
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