Turn on the TV or go to the cinema and there's bound to be a comedian plying her craft. Break open a pack of cards, and out falls the fool, the joker, the jester.
Nearly every society since prehistoric times seems to have employed jesters. They entertain, but more importantly, they criticize. They criticize their society, the rulers and, yes - the King himself.
Wise kings and rulers throughout history have prized the biting humor because it was a much-needed counterweight to the fawning, sycophantic Yes-men that surrounded them.
The jester's criticism allowed them to see things they might otherwise miss. To consider other ways of looking at things that could make them stronger. Ultimately, it helped them rule better and longer.
Fast forward to today.
Wise leaders allow -- and even encourage -- the blogger, the journalist and myriad other critics to hold a light to their folly.
There's an old saying about those who know they don't know and those who don't know that they don't know. And of course, there's no hope for those who don't even realize they are ignorant.
Such is the case with the so called "leaders" of Indonesia.
Why?
Well, today I ran into a roadblock while trying to work. A roadblock erected by said "leaders" that shows crystal-clear why Indonesia is no democracy.
What happened?
So, today I'm looking at a number of different service options I need for my work.
One of them has a demo video I want to look at.
It's blocked!
Even with a proxy, I access it.
Now, for those who don't live on this set of islands, a while back a certain minister of the government got angry at videos people had put up on Vimeo, so he had the censors block all access to Vimeo. Now nobody here can access Vimeo!
These videos showed the party this minister belongs to on the campaign trail.
So where's the problem - right?
Well, it just so happens Indonesia is a place where religious campaigning goes over well. And this party is a very pharisaical about "morality". They constantly harp about what people should and shouldn't do, Soooo, when they were caught out on the campaign trail doing some, well...let's just call it, not so white, not so moral acts, people rightfully took videos and posted them.
This is what's supposed to happen in a democracy. There are watchdogs to scrutinize the government. After all, governments for the most part are incapable of policing themselves.
What does all this have to do with me and today?
Well, see, said unnamed government minister (oh, it's not hard to figure out who I'm referring to. He's also the one that said in answer to a question about increasing the speed of the internet in Indonesia in essence: 'What do you need fast internet for'? Yep. That's the same person.
I bet if we probed further, he'd ask why we even need internet to begin with..?? And this is the guy Indonesians allow to be their minister of technology. Haaa!)
This is the individual who shut down Vimeo.
Seriously.
Does he really think he can control the internet and thereby do whatever the hell he wants?
Does he really think he can use such tactics to silence his critics?
Yep! And he can. Because the people of Indonesia don't have the balls to throw the bum out; don't have the cajones to take to the streets or do anything more than make lame jokes.
To put it another way, the fact that he ever reached that office in the first place, and worse yet, that he's still in power is proof positive this country is no democracy.
If this were real a democracy, the bum would be on the street looking for another job and productive people could get on with their work.
And it is because of this institutional backwardness at the highest levels that Indonesia will continue to function primarily as a source of raw materials (that intelligent foreigners then process and sell to the world), maids and factory workers.
An embarrassing Example? Even though Indonesia exports some really great coffees, the only place in Indonesia I can find really good coffee (beans) - is Starbucks. And one of Starbucks' more popular blends - is Sumatra (from Indonesia).
Sidebar.............
Unfortunately, most coffee sold in Indonesia is either three-in-one instant or full of fillers such as corn. To put this into perspective, imagine that Starbucks were the only place in Bogota, Columbia where you could get a decent cup of java. Heck, even our slang for coffee - java - comes from Indonesia. It's the name of the main island. But I digress...
Sidebar..............
When Indonesia finally wakes up to these facts and demands better, their potential will be.... well ... the sky will be the limit. Until then, they will continue to live and work well below their potential... continue to be hobbled because of their tolerance of fools like this!
Epilogue: 24 hours has passed since writing and posting this. I just ran into another blocked site. This time a foreign business site. At least I was able to get around it with a proxy this time. Nevertheless, it might be time to invest in a more robust solution.
04 June 2014
24 March 2014
Wine for the soul and because it tastes good!
Some friends have been asking for my recipe for the recent photo my wife posted of my apple wine...which is delightful.
Frankly, I was a bit hesitant to write it all down. Not for all the reasons you might suspect, but because this batch was experimental.
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
The back story: Why am I experimenting if I already know how to do this?
Well, that takes us back to my time in the Sandbox, what the expats called Saudi Arabia. A lot of people complained, but really I liked it.
Anyway, since they don't allow alcohol in any form to be bought or sold...well... what shall I say. People take matters into their own hands. Creativity being the mother of invention and all.
Long story short, learning how to make your own home brew is almost a rite of passage or a necessary survival skill. Now - mind you, while many make their own moonshine, just like back in the days of prohibition, most is decidedly NOT good. Some will even make you sick.
I learned from a fellow who had perfected his recipe and made a bottle that was as good as many of the wines I've tasted in France.
Now, the reason I'm experimenting is because -- when I first got back here from the sandbox, I just fired up a batch without considering how the different conditions would affect the outcome... and BOY did they.
It's a bit embarrassing to say, but that first batch was a total bust. While it was delicious at first, it went off very quickly and I was stuck with more than a case of bad wine that had to be thrown out.
Why?
That's the reason for the experiment this time.
Anybody who's ever cooked knows that the conditions like altitude can drastically alter cooking time etc...
And my suspicion is that humidity is at least one of the factors.
So, I've made an ultra small batch.
Is it good?
Of course. It was delightful right after harvest. Now - I'm waiting to see how it holds up. Because wine should get better with time - not worse.
Here's the recipe.
You'll need:
Ingredients:
You'll also need a standard household pot or saucepan, cup and spoon.
That's it.
BUT, the devil is in the details.
First unless you want to stomp grapes (or apples or whatever), you need absolutely pure juice. And unfortunately, that has been hard to find outside Saudi.
There, strangely enough, they wouldn't sell alcohol, but they'd sure sell you everything you needed to make it yourself!
You need juice with no, sugar, no additives, chemicals, preservatives etc... etc... (That's because you only want one organism growing in your wine. And that's yeast. Any thing else will ruin your finest efforts.)
I've tried several. The only one I've found so far that works is a brand called RAUCH.
Here's what it looked like in Saudi,
and here's what it looks like here:
If someone else finds another brand that works, please let me know.
Next:
Sterilization:
You need to clean, scrub and get everything spotlessly spic and span. That includes your barrel or pitcher, bottles and every utensil, pot and pan you'll use.
Exception. IF you are able to find the juice in the resealable bottles, no washing or sterilization is necessary. Just rinse in hot water and store upside down on a clean cloth to absorb all the water in a clean, dry place.
But if you buy your resealable bottle from someplace like Ace Hardware (where I got mine recently), you definitely must wash and sterilize.
Barrel: Wash and sterilize every inch.
Ditto for your pot, cup and spoon.
Everything hospital clean?
Put your barrel elevated off the floor if possible, then pour all but one cup of juice into your barrel or pitcher. (You'll need it for your starter.)
Leave open to breathe.
Prepare your sugar solution:
I use 1 cup of sugar for every 12 liters of juice.
For one cup of sugar, you'll need a couple liters of water.
Boil water and add the sugar while stirring so it dissolves.
Prepare you starter:
Take one cup of juice. Add 1 tablespoon of sugar.
Heat mixture in microwave until it's hot to the touch. If it's too hot to touch - it's too hot. Let it cool down a little.
Add an 1/4 of a teaspoon of sugar for every 12 liters of juice.
It should start to react. Ideally you want to see it get very active. At least you should see
the yeast begin to move about.
Leave your starter...
Ready, Set....?
Pour your sugar solution into the barrel.
Do NOT stir.
After your starter solution has reacted and hopefully formed a foamy, frothy top, pour into the barrel.
Put the lid, loosely on. You want it to be on enough to keep any bugs or dust out, but allow enough room for air to pass in and out.
Leave for 6 weeks in a clean, dark, ventilated room.
Do NOT move.
After 6 weeks, remove lid and check. It should not smell of yeast. And the foam should all be gone.
If it still smells of yeast, leave it for another 3-4 days and check again.
Ready for harvest - the bottling?
When it smells and looks right, clean and sterilize that plastic tube - inside and out.
Get out your bottles.
Remove the lid of the barrel.
You'll want to do the bottling where you don't mind spilling a little wine.
A spare bathroom with a floor drain is ideal.
Make sure the barrel is higher than the bottles. (Gravity to make the wine flow...)
Insert the tube a few inches down into the barrel.
Do NOT push it all the way to the bottom or you'll get all the dregs. Yuk!
You'll need to suck on the other end of the tube to start the flow.
Fill each bottle while watching the clarity of your wine.
STOP as soon as the color becomes the least bit cloudy. You're done.
That last bottle will be your table wine, not your best stuff.
What's left in the barrel should be a few inches of dregs. Toss it and savor your
first wine.
Back to the experiment:
So, I am trying to figure out what will work now that I'm somewhere very different than the Sandbox. There it was dry and hot. Here it is humid and hot.
There I was able to have constant temperature, excellent ventilation and total darkness through out the gestation period.
Here the conditions are not quite as ideal. So, I want to find out
1. Does the humidity constitute a degrading factor I can't do anything about? or
2. Can I make adjustments in the gestation period that will produce a great wine.
It's already been a couple weeks since the I bottled my ultra small batch. (1.5 liters yield).
I will update this later with the results when it's been a month.
Thanks for reading.
Enjoy.
THE PROMISED UPDATE:
OK. It's been a little over a month. 33 days I think.
I am happy to report, the Apple Wine is holding up beautifully!
It has mellowed and become very smooth. It even has a hint of sweetness.
I'm very satisfied.
Now, here are a few details I left out above.
Details:
In Saudi, the wine spent 6 weeks in a room with a constant ambient temperature of about 24C. Here, during the 6 weeks of gestation it was in a room that is air-conditioned about 21 hours a day. So - you can imagine the fluctuation. Not ideal.
And...
I found that once I had bottled it, it still needed more time before drinking. Anyway, I don't remember how, but I ended up putting that bottle in the kitchen -- which is not air conditioned and probably about 30C most of the time. But day-by-day and week by week it has improved.
My Conclusion?
The humidity slows down the gestation process while the heat speeds it up.
So, next batch, I will let the wine gestate in a non air-conditioned room. Then I will begin checking on it after about 3-4 weeks and bottle it when it smells and looks right.
If for some reason that doesn't work, I'll try go back to the air conditioned room on the next round and let it gestate 7 or 8 weeks before bottling.
And if that doesn't work -- I can always just go back to what worked this time -- essentially a
2 Step process of 6 weeks with AC and 1 month in the kitchen after bottling.
One last thing...
Tips:
Yield: Whatever amount of grape juice you start with, the amount of wine you end up with will usually be about 80%.
So, if you start with 12 liters, don't expect more than 9 or 10 (1 liter) bottles of wine.
Red, White and Rose: This time I made apple wine because the shops simply haven't been stocking the grape juice lately.
But if you prefer red wine, just use the red grape juice. For white wine the white grape juice. And if you like rose - mix half and half.
That will be one of my next projects. The rose is actually one of my favorites.
Other than grape or apple? You might be wondering if any other juices will work. The answer is I think so...
You see, in theory, any fruit juice which has its own natural sugars should work, but once in Saudi I tried orange juice: A total disaster!
So, it MIGHT work. But my guess is, any kind of citrus will NOT work. There's simply too much acid.
On the other hand, I think almost any berry or pome (apples, pears) or drupe (peaches, plum, coconut) should produce a very satisfying wine.
I think I'll try making one of these...
How bout you?
You can send questions or comments to:sukkiri2000-wine@yahoo.com
Cheers,
Tj
Frankly, I was a bit hesitant to write it all down. Not for all the reasons you might suspect, but because this batch was experimental.
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
The back story: Why am I experimenting if I already know how to do this?
Well, that takes us back to my time in the Sandbox, what the expats called Saudi Arabia. A lot of people complained, but really I liked it.
Anyway, since they don't allow alcohol in any form to be bought or sold...well... what shall I say. People take matters into their own hands. Creativity being the mother of invention and all.
Long story short, learning how to make your own home brew is almost a rite of passage or a necessary survival skill. Now - mind you, while many make their own moonshine, just like back in the days of prohibition, most is decidedly NOT good. Some will even make you sick.
I learned from a fellow who had perfected his recipe and made a bottle that was as good as many of the wines I've tasted in France.
Now, the reason I'm experimenting is because -- when I first got back here from the sandbox, I just fired up a batch without considering how the different conditions would affect the outcome... and BOY did they.
It's a bit embarrassing to say, but that first batch was a total bust. While it was delicious at first, it went off very quickly and I was stuck with more than a case of bad wine that had to be thrown out.
Why?
That's the reason for the experiment this time.
Anybody who's ever cooked knows that the conditions like altitude can drastically alter cooking time etc...
And my suspicion is that humidity is at least one of the factors.
So, I've made an ultra small batch.
Is it good?
Of course. It was delightful right after harvest. Now - I'm waiting to see how it holds up. Because wine should get better with time - not worse.
Here's the recipe.
You'll need:
Ingredients:
- PURE, 100% juice without any additives or preservatives.
- Bakers yeast.
- Household sugar. (Nothing special, just the normal white stuff.)
- 2-3 meters of small plastic hose with diameter small enough to fit into the neck of a wine bottle.
- A plastic barrel or other pitcher-like container (depending on the size of batch you're making.)
- Resealable wine bottles. They look like this.
You'll also need a standard household pot or saucepan, cup and spoon.
That's it.
BUT, the devil is in the details.
First unless you want to stomp grapes (or apples or whatever), you need absolutely pure juice. And unfortunately, that has been hard to find outside Saudi.
There, strangely enough, they wouldn't sell alcohol, but they'd sure sell you everything you needed to make it yourself!
You need juice with no, sugar, no additives, chemicals, preservatives etc... etc... (That's because you only want one organism growing in your wine. And that's yeast. Any thing else will ruin your finest efforts.)
I've tried several. The only one I've found so far that works is a brand called RAUCH.
Here's what it looked like in Saudi,
and here's what it looks like here:
If someone else finds another brand that works, please let me know.
Next:
Sterilization:
You need to clean, scrub and get everything spotlessly spic and span. That includes your barrel or pitcher, bottles and every utensil, pot and pan you'll use.
Exception. IF you are able to find the juice in the resealable bottles, no washing or sterilization is necessary. Just rinse in hot water and store upside down on a clean cloth to absorb all the water in a clean, dry place.
But if you buy your resealable bottle from someplace like Ace Hardware (where I got mine recently), you definitely must wash and sterilize.
Barrel: Wash and sterilize every inch.
Ditto for your pot, cup and spoon.
Everything hospital clean?
Put your barrel elevated off the floor if possible, then pour all but one cup of juice into your barrel or pitcher. (You'll need it for your starter.)
Leave open to breathe.
Prepare your sugar solution:
I use 1 cup of sugar for every 12 liters of juice.
For one cup of sugar, you'll need a couple liters of water.
Boil water and add the sugar while stirring so it dissolves.
Prepare you starter:
Take one cup of juice. Add 1 tablespoon of sugar.
Heat mixture in microwave until it's hot to the touch. If it's too hot to touch - it's too hot. Let it cool down a little.
Add an 1/4 of a teaspoon of sugar for every 12 liters of juice.
It should start to react. Ideally you want to see it get very active. At least you should see
the yeast begin to move about.
Leave your starter...
Ready, Set....?
Pour your sugar solution into the barrel.
Do NOT stir.
After your starter solution has reacted and hopefully formed a foamy, frothy top, pour into the barrel.
Put the lid, loosely on. You want it to be on enough to keep any bugs or dust out, but allow enough room for air to pass in and out.
Leave for 6 weeks in a clean, dark, ventilated room.
Do NOT move.
After 6 weeks, remove lid and check. It should not smell of yeast. And the foam should all be gone.
If it still smells of yeast, leave it for another 3-4 days and check again.
Ready for harvest - the bottling?
When it smells and looks right, clean and sterilize that plastic tube - inside and out.
Get out your bottles.
Remove the lid of the barrel.
You'll want to do the bottling where you don't mind spilling a little wine.
A spare bathroom with a floor drain is ideal.
Make sure the barrel is higher than the bottles. (Gravity to make the wine flow...)
Insert the tube a few inches down into the barrel.
Do NOT push it all the way to the bottom or you'll get all the dregs. Yuk!
You'll need to suck on the other end of the tube to start the flow.
Fill each bottle while watching the clarity of your wine.
STOP as soon as the color becomes the least bit cloudy. You're done.
That last bottle will be your table wine, not your best stuff.
What's left in the barrel should be a few inches of dregs. Toss it and savor your
first wine.
Back to the experiment:
So, I am trying to figure out what will work now that I'm somewhere very different than the Sandbox. There it was dry and hot. Here it is humid and hot.
There I was able to have constant temperature, excellent ventilation and total darkness through out the gestation period.
Here the conditions are not quite as ideal. So, I want to find out
1. Does the humidity constitute a degrading factor I can't do anything about? or
2. Can I make adjustments in the gestation period that will produce a great wine.
It's already been a couple weeks since the I bottled my ultra small batch. (1.5 liters yield).
I will update this later with the results when it's been a month.
Thanks for reading.
Enjoy.
THE PROMISED UPDATE:
OK. It's been a little over a month. 33 days I think.
I am happy to report, the Apple Wine is holding up beautifully!
It has mellowed and become very smooth. It even has a hint of sweetness.
I'm very satisfied.
Now, here are a few details I left out above.
Details:
In Saudi, the wine spent 6 weeks in a room with a constant ambient temperature of about 24C. Here, during the 6 weeks of gestation it was in a room that is air-conditioned about 21 hours a day. So - you can imagine the fluctuation. Not ideal.
And...
I found that once I had bottled it, it still needed more time before drinking. Anyway, I don't remember how, but I ended up putting that bottle in the kitchen -- which is not air conditioned and probably about 30C most of the time. But day-by-day and week by week it has improved.
My Conclusion?
The humidity slows down the gestation process while the heat speeds it up.
So, next batch, I will let the wine gestate in a non air-conditioned room. Then I will begin checking on it after about 3-4 weeks and bottle it when it smells and looks right.
If for some reason that doesn't work, I'll try go back to the air conditioned room on the next round and let it gestate 7 or 8 weeks before bottling.
And if that doesn't work -- I can always just go back to what worked this time -- essentially a
2 Step process of 6 weeks with AC and 1 month in the kitchen after bottling.
One last thing...
Tips:
Yield: Whatever amount of grape juice you start with, the amount of wine you end up with will usually be about 80%.
So, if you start with 12 liters, don't expect more than 9 or 10 (1 liter) bottles of wine.
Red, White and Rose: This time I made apple wine because the shops simply haven't been stocking the grape juice lately.
But if you prefer red wine, just use the red grape juice. For white wine the white grape juice. And if you like rose - mix half and half.
That will be one of my next projects. The rose is actually one of my favorites.
Other than grape or apple? You might be wondering if any other juices will work. The answer is I think so...
You see, in theory, any fruit juice which has its own natural sugars should work, but once in Saudi I tried orange juice: A total disaster!
So, it MIGHT work. But my guess is, any kind of citrus will NOT work. There's simply too much acid.
On the other hand, I think almost any berry or pome (apples, pears) or drupe (peaches, plum, coconut) should produce a very satisfying wine.
I think I'll try making one of these...
How bout you?
You can send questions or comments to:sukkiri2000-wine@yahoo.com
Cheers,
Tj
25 February 2014
Why Indonesia Is A Poor Rich Country
I'm going to go a bit off topic today. (Actually I haven't published in a while because it got to be so much trouble doing all the editing and making things nice n pretty.) You see - there's the idea. Then there's actually getting it down on paper (screen) in a way that makes sense.
Well, from here on out --for a while at least-- I'm conducting and experiment. No massive editing. Just get the thoughts and ideas out there. Add to them later in another blog. Out with the perfectionism. In with the productivity and sharing what's on my mind (so my partner doesn't have to always listen to me repeat them...).
Today's subject is Indonesia.
Unless you live in Southeast Asia, most people don't know much about it. And for good reason. It's not militarily or economically very important on the world stage. You don't exactly have world class universities, tech cities or other great innovations.
And that's what pisses me off. (More on that in a minute.)
Indonesia has almost every resource imaginable. Everything. Minerals, timber, rich fertile land, ocean waters teaming with fish... And that's just the beginning.
In those ocean waters, you'll find some of the most pristine, breathtaking coral on the planet. As well as a diversity of sea life that is almost unparalleled. Think eco-tourism....
Then there is the fertile soil. You can grow almost anything here. And you often have year-round growing. In other words, you can often harvest a crop several times a year.
Oh, and before I forget, the population is 250 million. That's almost as many as the U.S. with 300 million.
So, I ask (rhetorically) with all that vast wealth, why isn't Indonesia a world power or at the very least an economic powerhouse?
To ask in another way: Why is Indonesia so poor and backward?
My opinion?
Because here religion, superstition and the mindless adherence to tradition are all powerful. Most people here simply do not ever reference science, logic or reason when making decisions.
Every major life decision of the vast majority of the population is dictated by the trifecta of religion, superstition and tradition.
Let me give you an example.
Superstition: Here, the belief in black magic is widespread. There was even a law passed recently which makes it possible to imprison someone who is suspected of putting curse on someone else.
Religion: Well, it goes without saying, religion holds an enormous sway over the population. Even those who consider themselves middle or upper class and educated. And everybody kowtows to the caprice and prejudice of the majority because there is no protection under the law.
There are groups which regularly attack and intimidate anyone who attempts to express ideas they are opposed to. And doesn't just mean showing up and protesting peacefully with placards and bullhorns. No. This involves active threats --which are carried out if their demands are not met.
It's a bit like the unions of 100 years ago in the west that would threaten and then destroy property in order to get higher wages. And remember - Not Crossing The Picket Line?
Anyone who dared to go to work during a strike was assaulted and and sometimes killed. Well - it's still like that in Indonesia if you dare to express opinions that these fanatical groups don't approve of. They show up, like those strikers of old and demand that you "cease and distist or else.
Then there is the mindless tradition. Especially prevalent among the ethnic Chinese community. It often seems that no matter how much post-secondary training they receive, they return home to live like their father's father's father's ..... father ad infinity.
There you have it. I see SO much potential in Indonesia which is constantly and continually pissed away by their stubborn refusal to start thinking.
Well, from here on out --for a while at least-- I'm conducting and experiment. No massive editing. Just get the thoughts and ideas out there. Add to them later in another blog. Out with the perfectionism. In with the productivity and sharing what's on my mind (so my partner doesn't have to always listen to me repeat them...).
Today's subject is Indonesia.
Unless you live in Southeast Asia, most people don't know much about it. And for good reason. It's not militarily or economically very important on the world stage. You don't exactly have world class universities, tech cities or other great innovations.
And that's what pisses me off. (More on that in a minute.)
Indonesia has almost every resource imaginable. Everything. Minerals, timber, rich fertile land, ocean waters teaming with fish... And that's just the beginning.
In those ocean waters, you'll find some of the most pristine, breathtaking coral on the planet. As well as a diversity of sea life that is almost unparalleled. Think eco-tourism....
Then there is the fertile soil. You can grow almost anything here. And you often have year-round growing. In other words, you can often harvest a crop several times a year.
Oh, and before I forget, the population is 250 million. That's almost as many as the U.S. with 300 million.
So, I ask (rhetorically) with all that vast wealth, why isn't Indonesia a world power or at the very least an economic powerhouse?
To ask in another way: Why is Indonesia so poor and backward?
My opinion?
Because here religion, superstition and the mindless adherence to tradition are all powerful. Most people here simply do not ever reference science, logic or reason when making decisions.
Every major life decision of the vast majority of the population is dictated by the trifecta of religion, superstition and tradition.
Let me give you an example.
Superstition: Here, the belief in black magic is widespread. There was even a law passed recently which makes it possible to imprison someone who is suspected of putting curse on someone else.
Religion: Well, it goes without saying, religion holds an enormous sway over the population. Even those who consider themselves middle or upper class and educated. And everybody kowtows to the caprice and prejudice of the majority because there is no protection under the law.
There are groups which regularly attack and intimidate anyone who attempts to express ideas they are opposed to. And doesn't just mean showing up and protesting peacefully with placards and bullhorns. No. This involves active threats --which are carried out if their demands are not met.
It's a bit like the unions of 100 years ago in the west that would threaten and then destroy property in order to get higher wages. And remember - Not Crossing The Picket Line?
Anyone who dared to go to work during a strike was assaulted and and sometimes killed. Well - it's still like that in Indonesia if you dare to express opinions that these fanatical groups don't approve of. They show up, like those strikers of old and demand that you "cease and distist or else.
Then there is the mindless tradition. Especially prevalent among the ethnic Chinese community. It often seems that no matter how much post-secondary training they receive, they return home to live like their father's father's father's ..... father ad infinity.
There you have it. I see SO much potential in Indonesia which is constantly and continually pissed away by their stubborn refusal to start thinking.
27 July 2012
Pirate Banks? Or Pirate governments?
It's an interesting question.
And one that answers itself --depending on where you stand.
Oh -- before I get too far -- this is in reference to an article recently published by CNBC.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/wealthy-stash-21-trillion-pirate-160830668.html
As I was saying...
The thrust of the article is to report some "research" by a left leaning think tank in the US (the so called "Tax Justice Network USA"), accusing many private banks around the world of colluding with the rich to hide their wealth from the US government.
The article calls the banks helping these people - PIRATES.
Which is VERY interesting.
Yes. You could just dismiss this as cheap name calling, (which it is).
Or you might assume the author thought 'pirate' sounded similar to 'private' and it was a nice pun. Again, a pretty cheap one. One that doesn't show much intellectual horsepower.
But when you really think about it...
If you analyze what he's really saying it's nothing short of shocking...and stupid.
But I'm also curious: Does this writer even realise what he's said?
But don't just take it from me. You decide....
Here's what I mean:
A pirate is basically a mugger on the seas. Someone who comes up to your boat or ship. He puts a gun to your head and says give me the valuable goods on this ship -- OR ELSE.
--Right?
He didn't work for the goods. He didn't take the risks involved in producing, selling, transporting or delivering the goods. But he wants them just the same. To spend on booze, whores and fine living.
What about Taxes?
Even the most left leaning person will admit:
If you don't satisfy the tax collecting authority in your country --- if you don't pay the amounts THEY determine you should...
People carrying guns WILL come to your home or business.
Governments collect taxes at the end of a barrel of a gun.
Back to the rich and their money.
It's happening around the world. Tax rates are rising -- especially for the rich. They make great political scapegoats.
But answer this. If your government suddenly decided that you should give them 75% of your wealth ---as they recently have in France --- would you just stand by?
Or would you be looking for ways to keep that money?
Money you worked hard for. For years. Risking everything. Working nights, weekends and holidays.
When the people collecting welfare were enjoying their free time and government benefits, you had your nose to the grindstone.
And if you could find a way to hide the money -- to keep what you had so rightfully earned with your blood, sweat, tears and premature gray hairs? Would you?
Now imagine you got help from a bank in PROTECTING your wealth. Help keeping your money out of the grasping, rapacious hands of wasteful government....
************************
SIDEBAR:
Government: A black hole.
Even if government COULD get their hands on all that wealth. Do we image for one moment that would solve the problem? How long would it be before government would be back AGAIN looking for even more money.
An intelligent investor knows how to make money grow. How to multiply money.
Government is expert at the opposite. Making money diminish. Turning dollar into pennies.
Making policies that make doing business harder, costlier and riskier. Enforcement of laws (which costs money) that actually make businesses less efficient. Less profitable. Able to pay less tax!
END of SIDEBAR
***************************
Would you consider yourself or the bank helping you A PIRATE?
See how dishonest this is? How twisted? How unbelievably stupid?
To put this into perspective, this is like a mugger running a protection racket coming to your business or home. He demands the majority of all your money.
But he soon realises you don't have ANY cash on hand. Nothing.
Not only that, you've just moved out. So you have nothing he can take or destroy.
Your business or home is empty except for a simple wooden stool you sit on.
Would you give him your new address?
The mugger then goes outside and starts screaming that YOU ROBBED HIM of the money he deserved.
That YOU ARE A PIRATE!
That's rich.
So rich, I doubt the person who wrote that gave it a second thought because he isn't showing any more intelligence or honesty than most governments.
Piracy and Taxes
Isn't government the one that puts a gun to your head and demands a certain percentage of your wealth in order to keep your life and freedom?
And governments believe they have a RIGHT to as much of your wealth as they arbitrarily decide.
Of course, governments can believe anything they want. And they DO make the rules. They can say: "Because you live and work inside the borders of the land I control, I'm going to take 75% of your money for myself."
Sure. They can do whatever they want. They have the guns.
But
Seriously. Let's at least be honest
Who is the PIRATE?
Who is raping and pillaging at will?
Who takes what they want because they have a bigger gun?
Not because they earned it. Not because they worked for it. But because they say it is theirs. And because they have the guns to force you and me into submission.
You see -- the whole argument this guy is putting forth rests on the idea that YOUR money is not your own. That --- if the government so decides --- they can take everything you have. And if you use the laws they wrote to try to protect yourself, if you dare to outsmart them (as these rich people apparently have...
YOU ARE A PIRATE.
In short this author --- and many people out there --- believe that what is yours REALLY BELONGS TO THE GOVERNMENT.
That you are a stupid, senseless cow to be milked and slaughtered at will. An asset of the state. A serf.
That your sole purpose in existing is to produce EVER MORE taxes for a government.... so it can continue to make laws that give it ever more power over every aspect of your life, impede commerce and eventually make everyone poor.
Do you believe that?
And one that answers itself --depending on where you stand.
Oh -- before I get too far -- this is in reference to an article recently published by CNBC.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/wealthy-stash-21-trillion-pirate-160830668.html
As I was saying...
The thrust of the article is to report some "research" by a left leaning think tank in the US (the so called "Tax Justice Network USA"), accusing many private banks around the world of colluding with the rich to hide their wealth from the US government.
The article calls the banks helping these people - PIRATES.
Which is VERY interesting.
Yes. You could just dismiss this as cheap name calling, (which it is).
Or you might assume the author thought 'pirate' sounded similar to 'private' and it was a nice pun. Again, a pretty cheap one. One that doesn't show much intellectual horsepower.
But when you really think about it...
If you analyze what he's really saying it's nothing short of shocking...and stupid.
But I'm also curious: Does this writer even realise what he's said?
But don't just take it from me. You decide....
Here's what I mean:
A pirate is basically a mugger on the seas. Someone who comes up to your boat or ship. He puts a gun to your head and says give me the valuable goods on this ship -- OR ELSE.
--Right?
He didn't work for the goods. He didn't take the risks involved in producing, selling, transporting or delivering the goods. But he wants them just the same. To spend on booze, whores and fine living.
What about Taxes?
Even the most left leaning person will admit:
If you don't satisfy the tax collecting authority in your country --- if you don't pay the amounts THEY determine you should...
People carrying guns WILL come to your home or business.
Governments collect taxes at the end of a barrel of a gun.
Back to the rich and their money.
It's happening around the world. Tax rates are rising -- especially for the rich. They make great political scapegoats.
But answer this. If your government suddenly decided that you should give them 75% of your wealth ---as they recently have in France --- would you just stand by?
Or would you be looking for ways to keep that money?
Money you worked hard for. For years. Risking everything. Working nights, weekends and holidays.
When the people collecting welfare were enjoying their free time and government benefits, you had your nose to the grindstone.
And if you could find a way to hide the money -- to keep what you had so rightfully earned with your blood, sweat, tears and premature gray hairs? Would you?
Now imagine you got help from a bank in PROTECTING your wealth. Help keeping your money out of the grasping, rapacious hands of wasteful government....
************************
SIDEBAR:
Government: A black hole.
Even if government COULD get their hands on all that wealth. Do we image for one moment that would solve the problem? How long would it be before government would be back AGAIN looking for even more money.
An intelligent investor knows how to make money grow. How to multiply money.
Government is expert at the opposite. Making money diminish. Turning dollar into pennies.
Making policies that make doing business harder, costlier and riskier. Enforcement of laws (which costs money) that actually make businesses less efficient. Less profitable. Able to pay less tax!
END of SIDEBAR
***************************
Would you consider yourself or the bank helping you A PIRATE?
See how dishonest this is? How twisted? How unbelievably stupid?
To put this into perspective, this is like a mugger running a protection racket coming to your business or home. He demands the majority of all your money.
But he soon realises you don't have ANY cash on hand. Nothing.
Not only that, you've just moved out. So you have nothing he can take or destroy.
Your business or home is empty except for a simple wooden stool you sit on.
Would you give him your new address?
The mugger then goes outside and starts screaming that YOU ROBBED HIM of the money he deserved.
That YOU ARE A PIRATE!
That's rich.
So rich, I doubt the person who wrote that gave it a second thought because he isn't showing any more intelligence or honesty than most governments.
Piracy and Taxes
Isn't government the one that puts a gun to your head and demands a certain percentage of your wealth in order to keep your life and freedom?
And governments believe they have a RIGHT to as much of your wealth as they arbitrarily decide.
Of course, governments can believe anything they want. And they DO make the rules. They can say: "Because you live and work inside the borders of the land I control, I'm going to take 75% of your money for myself."
Sure. They can do whatever they want. They have the guns.
But
Seriously. Let's at least be honest
Who is the PIRATE?
Who is raping and pillaging at will?
Who takes what they want because they have a bigger gun?
Not because they earned it. Not because they worked for it. But because they say it is theirs. And because they have the guns to force you and me into submission.
You see -- the whole argument this guy is putting forth rests on the idea that YOUR money is not your own. That --- if the government so decides --- they can take everything you have. And if you use the laws they wrote to try to protect yourself, if you dare to outsmart them (as these rich people apparently have...
YOU ARE A PIRATE.
In short this author --- and many people out there --- believe that what is yours REALLY BELONGS TO THE GOVERNMENT.
That you are a stupid, senseless cow to be milked and slaughtered at will. An asset of the state. A serf.
That your sole purpose in existing is to produce EVER MORE taxes for a government.... so it can continue to make laws that give it ever more power over every aspect of your life, impede commerce and eventually make everyone poor.
Do you believe that?
08 May 2012
A Tragically Foolish Old Woman
There was a little girl who had few friends as a child and even fewer as she grew up.
She didn't know why.
All the children avoided her.
But every child knew exactly why they avoided her.
She didn't share her toys. And she hit the other children.
But there was more.
She would bring big brother with her when she went to the other kids house. He would hide then come in when the other kid wasn't looking.
He would hit and kick the child while she would stand and watch.
It didn't matter how they screamed or cried. She just watched. Sometimes she even left and went home while her brother continued kicking and punching.
Now she was grown.
She still went to their house. She still wanted to play the childish games of youth.
And she still brought her brother with her.
Most - realising this - continued to avoid her.
But she was so persistant.
Day in and out.
Beating at the gate. Sometimes climbing the fence.
Or just peering through.
Sometimes they let her in because she looked so sad and pittiful. Other times because they hoped she'd changed.
But they soon found out. Her brother still hid then came in later. She still hit and kicked. And then her brother would start.
As a result, most still avoided her. But some now began to fight back. To call her the bully and cruel beastly coward she was.
To tell her that no friend treated their friends that way.
They told her, they'd grown up. And that if she ever wanted to come over again she had to CHANGE.
That's when she screamed that they had to forgive her.
And their eyes went white when she said that she'd already forgiven them.
She said they couldn't hold her brother responsible. He had problems. They needed to understand. And forgive.
Most refused and turned cold.
Her circle of friends continued to dwindle.
Yet she continued to come back. Beating at the gate. Loudly.
Sometimes she pretended nothing had ever happened. Another day, she tried pity, guilt, tears.
And as before. When they wouldn't let her in, she occasionally jumped the fence and had to be thrown out.
That's when she made a scene. Calling the others cruel. Sometimes her brother was there as well to hurl insults and accusations.
In the end - she only had two friends left. One no longer human. Clearly a broken horse that no longer resisted the abuse and beatings. He stood lifeless and senseless.
Then there was her brother.
Oh. Yes. You probably guessed. He WAS mentally sick. And Yes. He also beat her.
And that is how this old woman died. Alone with no friends. Even her family had long since tired of her abuse.
She had no one except for the man who beat her and the broken one she beat.
And with her dying breath she bleated: But, they have to forgive me. She repeated this again and again.
As if the repetition would make it come true. But what she never in her life faced was that forgiveness is not just a one way street.
To be truly be forgiven --in heaven and on earth-- as they teach in the 12 step programs, one must admit errors, stop doing that which is wrong and make amends where possible.
But the true and sad tragedy is that this foolish old woman dies never taking responsibility, never doing what is right, never facing the truth of life and most of all - never living.
As she breathes her last, her dying thoughts torment her with guilt and self-pity.
She didn't know why.
All the children avoided her.
But every child knew exactly why they avoided her.
She didn't share her toys. And she hit the other children.
But there was more.
She would bring big brother with her when she went to the other kids house. He would hide then come in when the other kid wasn't looking.
He would hit and kick the child while she would stand and watch.
It didn't matter how they screamed or cried. She just watched. Sometimes she even left and went home while her brother continued kicking and punching.
Now she was grown.
She still went to their house. She still wanted to play the childish games of youth.
And she still brought her brother with her.
Most - realising this - continued to avoid her.
But she was so persistant.
Day in and out.
Beating at the gate. Sometimes climbing the fence.
Or just peering through.
Sometimes they let her in because she looked so sad and pittiful. Other times because they hoped she'd changed.
But they soon found out. Her brother still hid then came in later. She still hit and kicked. And then her brother would start.
As a result, most still avoided her. But some now began to fight back. To call her the bully and cruel beastly coward she was.
To tell her that no friend treated their friends that way.
They told her, they'd grown up. And that if she ever wanted to come over again she had to CHANGE.
That's when she screamed that they had to forgive her.
And their eyes went white when she said that she'd already forgiven them.
She said they couldn't hold her brother responsible. He had problems. They needed to understand. And forgive.
Most refused and turned cold.
Her circle of friends continued to dwindle.
Yet she continued to come back. Beating at the gate. Loudly.
Sometimes she pretended nothing had ever happened. Another day, she tried pity, guilt, tears.
And as before. When they wouldn't let her in, she occasionally jumped the fence and had to be thrown out.
That's when she made a scene. Calling the others cruel. Sometimes her brother was there as well to hurl insults and accusations.
In the end - she only had two friends left. One no longer human. Clearly a broken horse that no longer resisted the abuse and beatings. He stood lifeless and senseless.
Then there was her brother.
Oh. Yes. You probably guessed. He WAS mentally sick. And Yes. He also beat her.
And that is how this old woman died. Alone with no friends. Even her family had long since tired of her abuse.
She had no one except for the man who beat her and the broken one she beat.
And with her dying breath she bleated: But, they have to forgive me. She repeated this again and again.
As if the repetition would make it come true. But what she never in her life faced was that forgiveness is not just a one way street.
To be truly be forgiven --in heaven and on earth-- as they teach in the 12 step programs, one must admit errors, stop doing that which is wrong and make amends where possible.
But the true and sad tragedy is that this foolish old woman dies never taking responsibility, never doing what is right, never facing the truth of life and most of all - never living.
As she breathes her last, her dying thoughts torment her with guilt and self-pity.
03 May 2012
Is Tax One Of Your Sacred Cows?
Tax is a bit of a sacred cow in most countries today. Not sure?
That's OK.
Here. Let me show you. I'm going to propose something that will probably shock you. It may even anger you. In fact -- you may want to start calling me names or worse once you read it.
If you have even a hint of such a reaction - then this IS a sacred cow for you.
Ready?
We should drop the current so-called "progressive" system of taxation in favor of a "regressive". Actually those names are as inaccurate as when they first started calling that beautiful oasis in the North Atlantic, Iceland to ward off other hungry explorers, greedy for conquest and gain. Then they called that nearly useless block of ice, Greenland.
See?
Same deal with "progressive" and "regressive".
The former sounds so, well, progressive. Modern and enlightened. And that is how it is passed off. Of course it refers to a system that progressively INcreases the tax rate or percentage the MORE one earns.
Punishing productivity.
Then we have regressive. Which - again - sounds backward, medieval & dark. In such a system, one's tax rate DEcreases the more she earns.
Ahhh.... And therein lies the rub.
The current system of so-called progressive taxation --- as we all know --- is designed to PUNISH those with higher and higher earnings.
At the risk of sounding patronizing, let me repeat for clarity. That means one is REWARDED for earning LESS. Rewarded for being LESS productive. And PUNISHED for producing more. For being more economically competent and diligent.
Hmmmm....
See the problem here?
Consider that in any system -- you get more of the behavior you reward.
In the home, schools, businesses, hospitals, government offices, prisons.... any place people gather and work together.
If you reward the behavior you DON'T want, you will get more of it.
Conversely, it is common knowledge that when the desired behaviors are acknowledged and rewarded institutions get what they want.
To illustrate this, let's as what would happen if we used the same logic for the law.
Generally speaking an offender will receive a LONGER sentence for Murder 1, than for Murder 2. And likewise, Murder 2 is more harshly treated than Murder 3.
Just a little refresher.
Murder One is planned and premeditated. Murder in cold blood so to speak. Murder Two could more accurately be called a crime of passion. And of course, Murder Three is basically killing by negligence.
What would our system of law and justice look like IF --- as with "progressive" taxes --- the law deal lightly with the most heinous behavior and harshly with trivial offenses?
To illustrate my point, indulge me.
What if we had a system that meted out the harshest punishment for Murder 3 and the lightest for Murder 1?
Insane - Right?
Unbelievable. Twisted.
Back to our question of taxation.
How is Punishing people for earning MORE money any different?
Are you angry yet?
Are you defending the current system?
Why?
Because you've never known anything else? Or because it really is the best?
All right. Let's just say for a moment it IS somehow the "right" thing to do.
That somehow punishing the most productive members of society is good.
But --- even if that be so --- by the simple law of human nature and psychology
won't we tend to get more of what we reward?
Won't the countries with the most "progressive" systems tend to get poorer and poorer?
And those jurisdictions with less "progressive" tax policies richer and richer?
If you're like me, you see that -- even though it might still feel a bit strange because
of the propaganda we've been force-fed our whole life -- a REGRESSIVE
tax makes a lot of sense.
Let's go one step further and imagine a regressive system for a moment:
In a regressive system of taxation, the bottom earners would pay the highest rate.
Let's say we split the population into 4 tiers.
The bottom 20 percentile
The middle 20 - 80 percentile and
The top, from 80 - 99
And then the top 1 percent.
Let's say the people earning the least pay 25% tax.
The middle pay 15%
Those from 80-99 percentile 5%.
And the top 1% pay NO tax at all.
Would YOU be motivated to earn more money?
So --- How did you do? Is Tax a Sacred Cow for YOU?
If you did, it's OK.
The important thing is to begin thinking...and questioning.
Being willing to examine things we've taken for granted up till now.
To slay sacred cows where ever we find
them.
Because we ALL have them. It's just human nature. We all have blind spots.
The mark of humanity, though, is to have fewer and fewer as one grows in years
and hopefully wisdom.
But just be forewarned. when you begin slaying your sacred cows,
I hope you'll be careful who you share your views with.
Because there are vast numbers of people ready to kill for their beliefs.
Beliefs which most have never examined or questioned.
We see many of those people on the TV and in the newspapers shouting that they are
part of the 99% and proud of it.
Well --- this may be the subject for another post, but I wouldn't never proudly
shout that I was part of the 99%.
I have too much respect for and understanding of the contribution the top 1% make to bad
mouth them.
Anyway - I vote for a regressive tax system that rewards the most productive, intelligent
diligent humans. Not one that progressively kills the golden goose...
How About You?
That's OK.
Here. Let me show you. I'm going to propose something that will probably shock you. It may even anger you. In fact -- you may want to start calling me names or worse once you read it.
If you have even a hint of such a reaction - then this IS a sacred cow for you.
Ready?
We should drop the current so-called "progressive" system of taxation in favor of a "regressive". Actually those names are as inaccurate as when they first started calling that beautiful oasis in the North Atlantic, Iceland to ward off other hungry explorers, greedy for conquest and gain. Then they called that nearly useless block of ice, Greenland.
See?
Same deal with "progressive" and "regressive".
The former sounds so, well, progressive. Modern and enlightened. And that is how it is passed off. Of course it refers to a system that progressively INcreases the tax rate or percentage the MORE one earns.
Punishing productivity.
Then we have regressive. Which - again - sounds backward, medieval & dark. In such a system, one's tax rate DEcreases the more she earns.
Ahhh.... And therein lies the rub.
The current system of so-called progressive taxation --- as we all know --- is designed to PUNISH those with higher and higher earnings.
At the risk of sounding patronizing, let me repeat for clarity. That means one is REWARDED for earning LESS. Rewarded for being LESS productive. And PUNISHED for producing more. For being more economically competent and diligent.
Hmmmm....
See the problem here?
Consider that in any system -- you get more of the behavior you reward.
In the home, schools, businesses, hospitals, government offices, prisons.... any place people gather and work together.
If you reward the behavior you DON'T want, you will get more of it.
Conversely, it is common knowledge that when the desired behaviors are acknowledged and rewarded institutions get what they want.
To illustrate this, let's as what would happen if we used the same logic for the law.
Generally speaking an offender will receive a LONGER sentence for Murder 1, than for Murder 2. And likewise, Murder 2 is more harshly treated than Murder 3.
Just a little refresher.
Murder One is planned and premeditated. Murder in cold blood so to speak. Murder Two could more accurately be called a crime of passion. And of course, Murder Three is basically killing by negligence.
What would our system of law and justice look like IF --- as with "progressive" taxes --- the law deal lightly with the most heinous behavior and harshly with trivial offenses?
To illustrate my point, indulge me.
What if we had a system that meted out the harshest punishment for Murder 3 and the lightest for Murder 1?
Insane - Right?
Unbelievable. Twisted.
Back to our question of taxation.
How is Punishing people for earning MORE money any different?
Are you angry yet?
Are you defending the current system?
Why?
Because you've never known anything else? Or because it really is the best?
All right. Let's just say for a moment it IS somehow the "right" thing to do.
That somehow punishing the most productive members of society is good.
But --- even if that be so --- by the simple law of human nature and psychology
won't we tend to get more of what we reward?
Won't the countries with the most "progressive" systems tend to get poorer and poorer?
And those jurisdictions with less "progressive" tax policies richer and richer?
If you're like me, you see that -- even though it might still feel a bit strange because
of the propaganda we've been force-fed our whole life -- a REGRESSIVE
tax makes a lot of sense.
Let's go one step further and imagine a regressive system for a moment:
In a regressive system of taxation, the bottom earners would pay the highest rate.
Let's say we split the population into 4 tiers.
The bottom 20 percentile
The middle 20 - 80 percentile and
The top, from 80 - 99
And then the top 1 percent.
Let's say the people earning the least pay 25% tax.
The middle pay 15%
Those from 80-99 percentile 5%.
And the top 1% pay NO tax at all.
Would YOU be motivated to earn more money?
So --- How did you do? Is Tax a Sacred Cow for YOU?
If you did, it's OK.
The important thing is to begin thinking...and questioning.
Being willing to examine things we've taken for granted up till now.
To slay sacred cows where ever we find
them.
Because we ALL have them. It's just human nature. We all have blind spots.
The mark of humanity, though, is to have fewer and fewer as one grows in years
and hopefully wisdom.
But just be forewarned. when you begin slaying your sacred cows,
I hope you'll be careful who you share your views with.
Because there are vast numbers of people ready to kill for their beliefs.
Beliefs which most have never examined or questioned.
We see many of those people on the TV and in the newspapers shouting that they are
part of the 99% and proud of it.
Well --- this may be the subject for another post, but I wouldn't never proudly
shout that I was part of the 99%.
I have too much respect for and understanding of the contribution the top 1% make to bad
mouth them.
Anyway - I vote for a regressive tax system that rewards the most productive, intelligent
diligent humans. Not one that progressively kills the golden goose...
How About You?
23 April 2012
Creative Writing Major Unemployable? Surprised? REALLY?
Can you believe it? In this day and age?
OK - I'm getting ahead of myself.
I read an article today about poor, poor graduates -- over 50% apparently-- who can't find jobs.
Here's the link:
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-2-graduates-jobless-underemployed-140300522.html
At first brush, it sounds horrible. Tsk, tsk...
Until...
You read far enough to lose all empathy with them. In fact - I can only call them suckers. Dupes. Marks who's been scammed by the so-called education system, their own ignorance, greed and stupidity.
Harsh?
Because, the people who are working "below" their education, the so called 'under-employed' or those who end up working in a totally different field than their major, the so-called 'mal-employed' have chosen majors for which there is no economic use.
Can you believe? --- drum roll please --- they chose such majors as Creative Writing!
I'm baffled. WHY would anyone do that I ask myself.
OK. Fine. Whatever. It's his or her life. To each her own.
Choosing a major is not easy.
I've seen the extremes while at university:
On the one side, I knew a girl in university who was an English major. When I asked her what she planned to do with that degree, she answered:
"I don't care if I have to wait tables later. I am going to study what I'm interested in now."
I don't agree with her, but I at least respect her. She knew what she wanted and was willing to pay the price.
Then on the other side were people --many-- getting into the Business or Engineering schools ONLY because that's where the bucks and prestige were.
OK. Fair enough. Each knew what they were biting off and were fully prepared for the consequences.
What I find nauseating are those who --like squealing pigs-- are either willfully stupid, stubborn, obtuse and just plain block-headed....
OR...
who truly are IDIOTS who are not educated, cannot think and have learned nothing and then
CRY FOUL!
Oh....poor poor me.... (sniff, sniff).
Come on. Society has been convulsing with tectonic changes for the last 25 years.
Seriously.
How could anyone today even THINK you could find a job paying a living wage with a Creative Writing degree?
If I am an entrepreneur running a small company -- and most new businesses are small. In fact, the most vibrant part of the economy, the backbone, the ones that do most of the hiring are Small businesses.
Let's do a little though exercise:
As a small business owner - would YOU have any use for a Creative Writing graduate?
Let's see:
Can he or she...
Sell?
Write marketing materials?
Keep my books?
Program or network my computers?
Manage my client database?
Run my office?
...........
Hmmm..... No on all counts?
Get the picture?
Multiply that several million times.
Sounds ridiculous that someone would choose such a useless major - doesn't it?...
Only to be bitterly surprised AFTER graduation?
Could it be --- (gasp!) that in 4 or 5 years our lauded graduate never once engaged in the preceeding thought excercise?
Either because he or she was TOO OBTUSE or TOO DENSE...
In the end, it sounds to me like these people are, if anything, OVER employed --- earning as much if not MORE than they are truly worth.
OK - I'm getting ahead of myself.
I read an article today about poor, poor graduates -- over 50% apparently-- who can't find jobs.
Here's the link:
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-2-graduates-jobless-underemployed-140300522.html
At first brush, it sounds horrible. Tsk, tsk...
Until...
You read far enough to lose all empathy with them. In fact - I can only call them suckers. Dupes. Marks who's been scammed by the so-called education system, their own ignorance, greed and stupidity.
Harsh?
Because, the people who are working "below" their education, the so called 'under-employed' or those who end up working in a totally different field than their major, the so-called 'mal-employed' have chosen majors for which there is no economic use.
Can you believe? --- drum roll please --- they chose such majors as Creative Writing!
I'm baffled. WHY would anyone do that I ask myself.
OK. Fine. Whatever. It's his or her life. To each her own.
Choosing a major is not easy.
I've seen the extremes while at university:
On the one side, I knew a girl in university who was an English major. When I asked her what she planned to do with that degree, she answered:
"I don't care if I have to wait tables later. I am going to study what I'm interested in now."
I don't agree with her, but I at least respect her. She knew what she wanted and was willing to pay the price.
Then on the other side were people --many-- getting into the Business or Engineering schools ONLY because that's where the bucks and prestige were.
OK. Fair enough. Each knew what they were biting off and were fully prepared for the consequences.
What I find nauseating are those who --like squealing pigs-- are either willfully stupid, stubborn, obtuse and just plain block-headed....
OR...
who truly are IDIOTS who are not educated, cannot think and have learned nothing and then
CRY FOUL!
Oh....poor poor me.... (sniff, sniff).
Come on. Society has been convulsing with tectonic changes for the last 25 years.
Seriously.
How could anyone today even THINK you could find a job paying a living wage with a Creative Writing degree?
If I am an entrepreneur running a small company -- and most new businesses are small. In fact, the most vibrant part of the economy, the backbone, the ones that do most of the hiring are Small businesses.
Let's do a little though exercise:
As a small business owner - would YOU have any use for a Creative Writing graduate?
Let's see:
Can he or she...
Sell?
Write marketing materials?
Keep my books?
Program or network my computers?
Manage my client database?
Run my office?
...........
Hmmm..... No on all counts?
Get the picture?
Multiply that several million times.
Sounds ridiculous that someone would choose such a useless major - doesn't it?...
Only to be bitterly surprised AFTER graduation?
Could it be --- (gasp!) that in 4 or 5 years our lauded graduate never once engaged in the preceeding thought excercise?
Either because he or she was TOO OBTUSE or TOO DENSE...
In the end, it sounds to me like these people are, if anything, OVER employed --- earning as much if not MORE than they are truly worth.
20 March 2012
WSJ Does It Again
Why am I attacking the WSJ?
Simple.
I'm disappointed. But on a deeper level - I'm bothered by their very UNbusiness-like assumptions.
Recently - I've noticed that more and more articles have a socialist bent. The headlines, sub heads and story content are often written in such a way as to ASSUME (and we all remember the old line about assuming - right? You know: When you assume, you make and Ass out of U and Me.) that
a. Government is inherently good, even sacred.
b. Business is evil
c. People and governments DESERVE to share in the profits of business...
Let's take the first and show a very recent and disturbing example. Then let me offer the WSJ a rewrite. (This is what I'd write if I were the dude writing this article.)
Here goes: The headline from a recent story:
Tax Revolt in a Boom Town
Some Refineries Challenge Property Valuations, Threatening Municipal Revenue
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303717304577280050073230784.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Booo Hoooo. If someone protests and challenges tax laws and rates, that will likely take money away from government. In this case that is city government.
GOOOD!
But notice the assumption of the headline that government being deprived of money is something to be avoided. Almost as if government and its well being has become sacred.
Something TOO many of us have begun taking unquestioningly. And protect -faithfully- with our very lives if necessary?
Hmmmm. Because the way I see it...
The less money government has, the less it can waste. The less it can use that money to build apparatuses that intrude on the lives of its citizens, forcing them to need apply for permission for the simplest action.
The less money overreaching government has, the fewer means it has to make everything a crime, then sell a pass for a price..
The less money it has, the less it can enrich itself at every turn while slowly enslaving its people....
Here's the way I would rewrite the headline:
Rewrite #1: Mild Rewrite
Tax Revolt in a Boom Town
Some Refineries Challenge Property Valuations, Forcing Municipality To Be Cut Waste
Or how about this version? It's a little more to the point...
Rewrite #2:
Companies Fight Back Against Grasping City Government
Move Forces Further Downsizing in Bloated, Intrusive Government Agencies Resulting In Improved Essential Services
It's always sad to see a great news outlet become the mouthpiece of a new socialist agenda which demonizes the very businesses which provide the fuel and brains which drive prosperity. But alas - the best we can do is recognise what's happening and at least read with a critical eye.
Just because the WSJ has lost its ability to think doesn't me we need to...
Simple.
I'm disappointed. But on a deeper level - I'm bothered by their very UNbusiness-like assumptions.
Recently - I've noticed that more and more articles have a socialist bent. The headlines, sub heads and story content are often written in such a way as to ASSUME (and we all remember the old line about assuming - right? You know: When you assume, you make and Ass out of U and Me.) that
a. Government is inherently good, even sacred.
b. Business is evil
c. People and governments DESERVE to share in the profits of business...
Let's take the first and show a very recent and disturbing example. Then let me offer the WSJ a rewrite. (This is what I'd write if I were the dude writing this article.)
Here goes: The headline from a recent story:
Tax Revolt in a Boom Town
Some Refineries Challenge Property Valuations, Threatening Municipal Revenue
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303717304577280050073230784.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Booo Hoooo. If someone protests and challenges tax laws and rates, that will likely take money away from government. In this case that is city government.
GOOOD!
But notice the assumption of the headline that government being deprived of money is something to be avoided. Almost as if government and its well being has become sacred.
Something TOO many of us have begun taking unquestioningly. And protect -faithfully- with our very lives if necessary?
Hmmmm. Because the way I see it...
The less money government has, the less it can waste. The less it can use that money to build apparatuses that intrude on the lives of its citizens, forcing them to need apply for permission for the simplest action.
The less money overreaching government has, the fewer means it has to make everything a crime, then sell a pass for a price..
The less money it has, the less it can enrich itself at every turn while slowly enslaving its people....
Here's the way I would rewrite the headline:
Rewrite #1: Mild Rewrite
Tax Revolt in a Boom Town
Some Refineries Challenge Property Valuations, Forcing Municipality To Be Cut Waste
Or how about this version? It's a little more to the point...
Rewrite #2:
Companies Fight Back Against Grasping City Government
Move Forces Further Downsizing in Bloated, Intrusive Government Agencies Resulting In Improved Essential Services
It's always sad to see a great news outlet become the mouthpiece of a new socialist agenda which demonizes the very businesses which provide the fuel and brains which drive prosperity. But alas - the best we can do is recognise what's happening and at least read with a critical eye.
Just because the WSJ has lost its ability to think doesn't me we need to...
05 October 2011
Opinions are like Assholes
One of the opinion articles in the WSJ today perfectly illustrates why the ruling class of so-called experts is despised by the masses.
Aid North Korea's Victims
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204612504576610551421032670.html?mod=WSJAsia_hpp_MIDDLE_Video_Third
The article advocates the US set up a refugee program in Beijing to help escaping North Koreans reach freedom and thereby hasten the collapse of the Hermit Kingdom.
I agree. NGOs should help escaping North Koreans as they pass through China. And yes - if vast numbers were to begin escaping - it would weaken the regime.
BUT and here's the point this idiot has not considered: If such a policy were openly publicised, and it DID have the intended effect...
It could very well lead to a full-scale invasion by the North. An invasion that could likely set off a regional war involving the Six Parties (US. China, Russia, Japan, North & South Korea) at the very least.
I think anybody proposing a strategy that would threaten the North Korean dictator better sit silently and patiently consider the kind of maniac they're dealing with and prepare for the consequences.
There are only a few ways to bring him down -- and none of them is very palatable. From most aggressive to least:
1. An all out invasion by the US, Korea and Japan.
2. A CIA-coup like the one in Tehran in 1953. Or
3. ---and this seems to be the path North Korea's neighbors have chosen--- let conditions get so bad inside North Korea that A. the the people finally rise up and overthrow their dictator or B. the system finally collapses under its own weight when it can no longer even feed the army.
Is such a strategy a terrible thing to do? Yes. Absolutely, but the consequences of being more aggressive might mean a war that could consume Asia, set it back a generation and end life for 100,000,000 people or more!
So much for the opinions of so-called "experts"....
Aid North Korea's Victims
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204612504576610551421032670.html?mod=WSJAsia_hpp_MIDDLE_Video_Third
The article advocates the US set up a refugee program in Beijing to help escaping North Koreans reach freedom and thereby hasten the collapse of the Hermit Kingdom.
I agree. NGOs should help escaping North Koreans as they pass through China. And yes - if vast numbers were to begin escaping - it would weaken the regime.
BUT and here's the point this idiot has not considered: If such a policy were openly publicised, and it DID have the intended effect...
What would such a madman do if he felt his grip on power slipping away? (Not to mention relations with China - if the US embassy in Beijing were a known asylum and transit point for North Koreans to the US)
It could very well lead to a full-scale invasion by the North. An invasion that could likely set off a regional war involving the Six Parties (US. China, Russia, Japan, North & South Korea) at the very least.
I think anybody proposing a strategy that would threaten the North Korean dictator better sit silently and patiently consider the kind of maniac they're dealing with and prepare for the consequences.
There are only a few ways to bring him down -- and none of them is very palatable. From most aggressive to least:
1. An all out invasion by the US, Korea and Japan.
2. A CIA-coup like the one in Tehran in 1953. Or
3. ---and this seems to be the path North Korea's neighbors have chosen--- let conditions get so bad inside North Korea that A. the the people finally rise up and overthrow their dictator or B. the system finally collapses under its own weight when it can no longer even feed the army.
Is such a strategy a terrible thing to do? Yes. Absolutely, but the consequences of being more aggressive might mean a war that could consume Asia, set it back a generation and end life for 100,000,000 people or more!
So much for the opinions of so-called "experts"....
30 September 2011
The Euro On One Leg And Losing Its Balance
Germans Reconsider Ties to Europe
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204138204576598643746175236.html?mod=WSJ_hp_us_mostpop_read
The article has chilling implications.
How long till the return of the Mark, the Franc, Lira, Peso, Guilder (Netherlands), Markka (Finland), Krone (Denmark), Drachma etc...?And just how will the exit take place?
Because the writing is definitely on the proverbial wall: The Germans -- the bulwarks and principal backers (read financiers) of the Euro -- are wavering in their resolve.
Sentiment, or the mood of the markets, is something wise investors watch. Now - it may be time to watch the mood of Germany toward the Euro because when pessimism about the Euro becomes widespread - the end of the Euro is insight.
And when the leaders of Europe begin vehemently denying a return to national currencies - it is imminent. DUCK. Run for cover. Cut any exposure to Europe and prepare for the real Financial Tsunami to hit.
26 September 2011
EUROPE --- Repeating History: More World Wars?
Criticism of America is popular, ubiquitous and most-often well-deserved. And because it is the central actor on the world stage, it is also the easiest target.
But what of Europe? Remember - those people who consider themselves the paragons of a higher humanity, greater sense of justice and who seem to make the world's luxury goods eat equally well....
Are also the Idiots who've plunged the world into - not one - but TWO world wars. And as the threat of a disorderly breakup of the Euro (which is a question of When - not If) grows greater by the day ---- it may well be Full-Of-Itself Europe that AGAIN plunges the world into chaos.
Below is a quote from an article in the WSJ that accurately illustrates the risks to Europe --- A sort of Damned if it does and damned if it doesn't scenario in regard to Greece's bankruptcy:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204422404576593122004251398.html
"The cost to Greece of exiting the euro could be up to 20% of GDP, according to Credit Suisse estimates. But once the taboo of euro exit is broken, other fiscally troubled countries will be at risk of similarly catastrophic bank runs, raising the specter of a disorderly euro break-up. That could trigger losses of up to €300 billion in core euro-zone banks and €630 billion among peripheral countries' banks, Credit Suisse estimates."
And if that happens, the vaunted Europe will likely sink back into a second Dark Age. At least in such a state of barbarity, they are less likely to be a menace to the world again anytime soon.
But what of Europe? Remember - those people who consider themselves the paragons of a higher humanity, greater sense of justice and who seem to make the world's luxury goods eat equally well....
Are also the Idiots who've plunged the world into - not one - but TWO world wars. And as the threat of a disorderly breakup of the Euro (which is a question of When - not If) grows greater by the day ---- it may well be Full-Of-Itself Europe that AGAIN plunges the world into chaos.
Below is a quote from an article in the WSJ that accurately illustrates the risks to Europe --- A sort of Damned if it does and damned if it doesn't scenario in regard to Greece's bankruptcy:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204422404576593122004251398.html
"The cost to Greece of exiting the euro could be up to 20% of GDP, according to Credit Suisse estimates. But once the taboo of euro exit is broken, other fiscally troubled countries will be at risk of similarly catastrophic bank runs, raising the specter of a disorderly euro break-up. That could trigger losses of up to €300 billion in core euro-zone banks and €630 billion among peripheral countries' banks, Credit Suisse estimates."
And if that happens, the vaunted Europe will likely sink back into a second Dark Age. At least in such a state of barbarity, they are less likely to be a menace to the world again anytime soon.
19 September 2011
Twilight of America: Waiting in a vacuum...
Most people would consider this fantasy, but America is already no longer the great superpower. The signs are everywhere. Daily. Problem is, because most people cannot conceive of such a world, it is not even within the realm of possibility in most minds.
Like an "OFF LIMITS" sign hangs inside the brain.
But, push the sign aside, embrace the possibility and the signs are EVERYwhere.
Just today, there are two articles in WSJ. Most people probably read and pass on thinking "Oh, that was interesting/sad/great...." Whatever the individual sentiment. But failing to see the connection.
Hong Kong is planning for the DEpegging of its dollar to the US.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904060604576574640464933236.html?mod=WSJAsia_hpp_LEFTTopStories
Then there is an article about America's aging military hardware.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904103404576561053811426640.html
Two paragraphs really tell the story in a nutshell:
"The Aegis guided-missile cruiser, a warship designed to counter the threat of Soviet warplanes armed with antiship missiles, entered service in 1983. Today, the bridges of older Aegis ships are reminiscent of the video arcades of the 1980s: monochromatic consoles with push-button controls. "The systems that we are replacing are Commodore 64 technology," says Navy Capt. Brian Eckerle, invoking the primitive home computer to describe ongoing efforts to modernize Cold War-era ships.
One Air Force pilot describes the navigation systems in his unit's C-130 cargo planes, which entered service nearly three decades ago, as "antiquated." A navigator in his unit, he says, bought an off-the-shelf Global Positioning System device that can better provide weather information and the latest civil aviation notices, and even check the accuracy of the government-issued navigation system."
When commercicaly available technology is superior to the elite military goods - you know the powers that be are asleep. The important takeaway is to note the inflection point has probably already passed. America is probably already no longer in control of the seas in Asia.
And...
The US dollar is already no longer the world reserve currency. IN FACT. Yet, the world continues in its fantasy that it is. Why? - because most of us have never known a world any different. We simply have trouble imagining it is even possible or fear what it might mean.
Even those who hate America - like an opposition party in parliament - are often at a loss when faced with the possibility of ruling.
So the world sits and waits for a new world leader or leaders, or whatever system will emerge. Meanwhile - it is just easier to pretend nothing has changed.
Like an "OFF LIMITS" sign hangs inside the brain.
But, push the sign aside, embrace the possibility and the signs are EVERYwhere.
Just today, there are two articles in WSJ. Most people probably read and pass on thinking "Oh, that was interesting/sad/great...." Whatever the individual sentiment. But failing to see the connection.
Hong Kong is planning for the DEpegging of its dollar to the US.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904060604576574640464933236.html?mod=WSJAsia_hpp_LEFTTopStories
Then there is an article about America's aging military hardware.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904103404576561053811426640.html
Two paragraphs really tell the story in a nutshell:
"The Aegis guided-missile cruiser, a warship designed to counter the threat of Soviet warplanes armed with antiship missiles, entered service in 1983. Today, the bridges of older Aegis ships are reminiscent of the video arcades of the 1980s: monochromatic consoles with push-button controls. "The systems that we are replacing are Commodore 64 technology," says Navy Capt. Brian Eckerle, invoking the primitive home computer to describe ongoing efforts to modernize Cold War-era ships.
One Air Force pilot describes the navigation systems in his unit's C-130 cargo planes, which entered service nearly three decades ago, as "antiquated." A navigator in his unit, he says, bought an off-the-shelf Global Positioning System device that can better provide weather information and the latest civil aviation notices, and even check the accuracy of the government-issued navigation system."
When commercicaly available technology is superior to the elite military goods - you know the powers that be are asleep. The important takeaway is to note the inflection point has probably already passed. America is probably already no longer in control of the seas in Asia.
And...
The US dollar is already no longer the world reserve currency. IN FACT. Yet, the world continues in its fantasy that it is. Why? - because most of us have never known a world any different. We simply have trouble imagining it is even possible or fear what it might mean.
Even those who hate America - like an opposition party in parliament - are often at a loss when faced with the possibility of ruling.
So the world sits and waits for a new world leader or leaders, or whatever system will emerge. Meanwhile - it is just easier to pretend nothing has changed.
13 September 2011
Business-Enviro Trend To Watch
The Wall Street Journal has what seems to be just another article about Foreign Direct Investment by an internet company - Google. But it is much more profound than that. Welcome to the Enviro-Business Model.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904836104576560551005570810.html
Companies all over the world have been shaving and sawing off costs everywhere they can for a long time.
Old News. People call these frictions. Or basically anything that inhibits or slows down, any barrier to business.
Whether that means more time, more money, more materials, more info processing, higher labor costs, operational costs.... Everything is on the chopping block.
And this article points to the next trend: Enviro-Restructuring. That is, businesses looking for ways to make their business more harmonious with nature so as to save money with the ultimate aim of becoming more competitive.
In Google's case, they've come to the not-hard-to-understand conclusion that their data centers eat up an enormous amounts of energy. Energy that impacts their expenses and competitive position vis-a-vis rivals.
Solution? Locate the data centers somewhere cold. Where the ambient temperature helps cool the servers.
When you think about it, it's so perfectly logical one almost wonders why it hasn't been done already. Why? Because in the West, since the Industrial Revolution and the advent of Germ Theory and vaccines, we have tended to ignore nature.
There has been a lot of arrogance. A real attempt to defy and live beyond the laws of nature. What has followed in its path is a destruction and degradation of the planet. And of course, the reaction to that - Environmental Extremism.
But I see a reversal. A tacit, quiet admission. Tentative. But unmistakable. Business is realising that while it has never been cost effective - now the competitive pressures are laying bare costs that were formerly hidden or ignored.
Internet companies are truly on the leading edge of so MANY trends that are reshaping our world, but look to see more and more companies around the world following Google's lead.
First it will be internet and other technology companies. But within a year or two it should start to broaden to other industries.
Here's the takeaway: Is your company ready when this wave hits? Or will you be left behind?
Watch the wave...
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904836104576560551005570810.html
Companies all over the world have been shaving and sawing off costs everywhere they can for a long time.
Old News. People call these frictions. Or basically anything that inhibits or slows down, any barrier to business.
Whether that means more time, more money, more materials, more info processing, higher labor costs, operational costs.... Everything is on the chopping block.
And this article points to the next trend: Enviro-Restructuring. That is, businesses looking for ways to make their business more harmonious with nature so as to save money with the ultimate aim of becoming more competitive.
In Google's case, they've come to the not-hard-to-understand conclusion that their data centers eat up an enormous amounts of energy. Energy that impacts their expenses and competitive position vis-a-vis rivals.
Solution? Locate the data centers somewhere cold. Where the ambient temperature helps cool the servers.
When you think about it, it's so perfectly logical one almost wonders why it hasn't been done already. Why? Because in the West, since the Industrial Revolution and the advent of Germ Theory and vaccines, we have tended to ignore nature.
There has been a lot of arrogance. A real attempt to defy and live beyond the laws of nature. What has followed in its path is a destruction and degradation of the planet. And of course, the reaction to that - Environmental Extremism.
But I see a reversal. A tacit, quiet admission. Tentative. But unmistakable. Business is realising that while it has never been cost effective - now the competitive pressures are laying bare costs that were formerly hidden or ignored.
Internet companies are truly on the leading edge of so MANY trends that are reshaping our world, but look to see more and more companies around the world following Google's lead.
First it will be internet and other technology companies. But within a year or two it should start to broaden to other industries.
Here's the takeaway: Is your company ready when this wave hits? Or will you be left behind?
Watch the wave...
21 August 2011
Conventional Thinkers ALWAYS Get It Wrong In Times Of Change
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/08/2011816104945411574.html
Nouriel Roubini is Chairman of Roubini Global Economics, Professor of Economics at the Stern School of Business, New York University, and co-author of the book Crisis Economics.
WOW!
You'd think a big wig like that should know something. But don't be fooled. He doesn't know what he's talking about because...
He is a conventional thinker in times of extraordinarily breathtaking change. Not a recipe for accurate, actionable thinking.
He is feeding us prescriptions from the past. Like a Hollywood writer who's long since run out of material, he just keeps writing the same story with changed names.
He misdiagnosis the problem as Capitalism. No. Capitalism is fine. Alive and well. It is Government which can no longer meet the needs of a changing world. A world that is becoming one big market. It is government that is standing in the way of progress on nearly every front.
It is government which steals vast amounts of our money at gun-point and then squanders it on the most unbelievably inane and ghastly projects. It is government which has bankrupted itself with greed and the most grotesque mismanagement of resources possible.
So gross in fact, many times the return on capital by government is not even 1 - 1, but negative.
And we will not have a 1930's style depression. No. This will be a long soft, recession, more reminiscent of the 1970s. The West or center of the empire is now beginning its own lost decade like Japan. Only without the benefit of huge piles of savings.
He is right. Many people in the middle class ARE losing ground. But that is because they've been overpaid in protected markets. Markets which governments can no longer protect as they become deeper and more integrated. More integrated as they become ever more exposed to global competition. That is why the Middle class are losing ground.
And Roubini's MIS-diagnosis, and MAL-prescription that we return to policies and ways of thinking from the past are a good example of why the old adage "Ivory-tower idiot" is still so apt.
Nouriel Roubini is Chairman of Roubini Global Economics, Professor of Economics at the Stern School of Business, New York University, and co-author of the book Crisis Economics.
WOW!
You'd think a big wig like that should know something. But don't be fooled. He doesn't know what he's talking about because...
He is a conventional thinker in times of extraordinarily breathtaking change. Not a recipe for accurate, actionable thinking.
He is feeding us prescriptions from the past. Like a Hollywood writer who's long since run out of material, he just keeps writing the same story with changed names.
He misdiagnosis the problem as Capitalism. No. Capitalism is fine. Alive and well. It is Government which can no longer meet the needs of a changing world. A world that is becoming one big market. It is government that is standing in the way of progress on nearly every front.
It is government which steals vast amounts of our money at gun-point and then squanders it on the most unbelievably inane and ghastly projects. It is government which has bankrupted itself with greed and the most grotesque mismanagement of resources possible.
So gross in fact, many times the return on capital by government is not even 1 - 1, but negative.
And we will not have a 1930's style depression. No. This will be a long soft, recession, more reminiscent of the 1970s. The West or center of the empire is now beginning its own lost decade like Japan. Only without the benefit of huge piles of savings.
He is right. Many people in the middle class ARE losing ground. But that is because they've been overpaid in protected markets. Markets which governments can no longer protect as they become deeper and more integrated. More integrated as they become ever more exposed to global competition. That is why the Middle class are losing ground.
And Roubini's MIS-diagnosis, and MAL-prescription that we return to policies and ways of thinking from the past are a good example of why the old adage "Ivory-tower idiot" is still so apt.
12 August 2011
Riots and Protests Everywhere - WHY?
As the title suggests, there are demos and riots happening all over the globe. And most of them share a common theme. Or rather two...
See if you see the pattern in these various exhibits:
A. Recent demo in NY against Wall Street in particular and the rich in general. Message: The rich should pay more tax. Submessage: People protesting should be getting that money.
B. British riots. We hear there is some a whiff of race and a dollop of police brutality, but the real chicken in the pot seems to be about "class". 'About the exploitation of the working class by the owning class'.
Message: The owning class needs to 'give' to the "exploited".
C. 'Watts (L.A.) remembers 1965. As they reflect, many say the problems of poverty that fed those riots haven't been addressed or improved. There are fears of a repeat.
D. Riots in Israel continue... They are outraged that market forces have made it too expensive for many to live in the posh, cultured areas. Message: The government should take money from somebody and give it to them - subsidize their lifestyle.
E. And in Chile. (University) Students are demanding the government make their education free.
What these all have in common:
The President of Chile summed it well when he told the students: 'You ask for free education, but someone has to pay for that.' He went on to point out that if he gave them what they were asking for, the poor would also end up paying for the relatively well-to-do students.
And that is the crux of every demo in this first list : They want some other class of people to subsidize their living.
These are the GIMME DEMOS.
Then there is another set of demos with a separate theme:
In Japan people are demonstrating against their government's secrecy about the extent of the nuclear fall out. (Interesting this is happening right after the Hiroshima and Nagasaki anniversaries...)
Then, there is the ongoing story in the Middle East.
In this latter group, the common theme is DISTRUST. In Japan they want transparency and accountability. In the Middle East they are demanding Transparency, Accountability and Equality of opportunity.
The Difference?
The demos in first group LOOK TO GOVERNMENT FOR SOLUTIONS to problems of living they can't or don't want to deal with on their own.
The second group realises, GOVERNMENT IS THE PROBLEM. And they are demanding reform.
Yes. Riots and Demos are taking place across the globe, but not all demos are created equally.
See if you see the pattern in these various exhibits:
A. Recent demo in NY against Wall Street in particular and the rich in general. Message: The rich should pay more tax. Submessage: People protesting should be getting that money.
B. British riots. We hear there is some a whiff of race and a dollop of police brutality, but the real chicken in the pot seems to be about "class". 'About the exploitation of the working class by the owning class'.
Message: The owning class needs to 'give' to the "exploited".
C. 'Watts (L.A.) remembers 1965. As they reflect, many say the problems of poverty that fed those riots haven't been addressed or improved. There are fears of a repeat.
D. Riots in Israel continue... They are outraged that market forces have made it too expensive for many to live in the posh, cultured areas. Message: The government should take money from somebody and give it to them - subsidize their lifestyle.
E. And in Chile. (University) Students are demanding the government make their education free.
What these all have in common:
The President of Chile summed it well when he told the students: 'You ask for free education, but someone has to pay for that.' He went on to point out that if he gave them what they were asking for, the poor would also end up paying for the relatively well-to-do students.
And that is the crux of every demo in this first list : They want some other class of people to subsidize their living.
These are the GIMME DEMOS.
Then there is another set of demos with a separate theme:
In Japan people are demonstrating against their government's secrecy about the extent of the nuclear fall out. (Interesting this is happening right after the Hiroshima and Nagasaki anniversaries...)
Then, there is the ongoing story in the Middle East.
In this latter group, the common theme is DISTRUST. In Japan they want transparency and accountability. In the Middle East they are demanding Transparency, Accountability and Equality of opportunity.
The Difference?
The demos in first group LOOK TO GOVERNMENT FOR SOLUTIONS to problems of living they can't or don't want to deal with on their own.
The second group realises, GOVERNMENT IS THE PROBLEM. And they are demanding reform.
Yes. Riots and Demos are taking place across the globe, but not all demos are created equally.
31 July 2011
The Difference Between Israeli and Arab Protests
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/07/201173020161903849.html
Equality!
A much vaunted word. Bandied about on banners and bulletins. But take a closer look and people are often talking about VERY difference ideas.
In the various Arab countries, the fight, the laudable and noble protests almost all started over a minor grievance. Security forces reacted brutally using live ammunition on peaceful, unarmed civilians.
As a result - the protests widened their original intent to demanding the government be tossed out.
But behind, the initial and the latter, broader demands was one common element. People wanted an end to corruption and ---here it comes--- an equal opportunity under the law.
Because from one country to another people struggle with basic rights. Certain favored groups have the power and the others are left forever to live on the bottom rungs of the caste.
In Bahrain, for example, the ruling MINORITY bars the majority from many, many opportunities. And to insure loyalty, the monarchy imports security forces from Pakistan.
Yes - this is very broad brush, but essentially all these people are saying is: Give me a fair chance. I'll study. I'll do the work. Just give me the same shot this other group has: EQUALITY of OPPORTUNITY.
BUT....
In Israel, they are taking to the streets for very different reasons. Something called: "Social Justice".
One protester summed it up well when he said: "...We want affordable housing, health, education and welfare." Translation? We want that which we haven't earned. We demand others subsidize our lifestyle. We demand our entitlements. And here it comes: We demand EQUALITY of RESULT.
We want to share equally in what OTHERS have created!
And isn't that the whole thrust of socialist dogma? That no matter how hard or smart someone works, no matter how much value she creates - everyone should receive the same payment. The same reward. Whether she works hard or not at all.
And I might add, this is also the problem in America. Too many people have their hand out. Too many people are protesting, begging and throwing fireballs at the other team in order to get their sticky paws on loot and goods they didn't earn.
Today, like Israelis, when Americans talk of Equality, they most often have the second - the socialist, entitlement, welfare grasping - meaning in mind.
Equality!
A much vaunted word. Bandied about on banners and bulletins. But take a closer look and people are often talking about VERY difference ideas.
In the various Arab countries, the fight, the laudable and noble protests almost all started over a minor grievance. Security forces reacted brutally using live ammunition on peaceful, unarmed civilians.
As a result - the protests widened their original intent to demanding the government be tossed out.
But behind, the initial and the latter, broader demands was one common element. People wanted an end to corruption and ---here it comes--- an equal opportunity under the law.
Because from one country to another people struggle with basic rights. Certain favored groups have the power and the others are left forever to live on the bottom rungs of the caste.
In Bahrain, for example, the ruling MINORITY bars the majority from many, many opportunities. And to insure loyalty, the monarchy imports security forces from Pakistan.
Yes - this is very broad brush, but essentially all these people are saying is: Give me a fair chance. I'll study. I'll do the work. Just give me the same shot this other group has: EQUALITY of OPPORTUNITY.
BUT....
In Israel, they are taking to the streets for very different reasons. Something called: "Social Justice".
One protester summed it up well when he said: "...We want affordable housing, health, education and welfare." Translation? We want that which we haven't earned. We demand others subsidize our lifestyle. We demand our entitlements. And here it comes: We demand EQUALITY of RESULT.
We want to share equally in what OTHERS have created!
And isn't that the whole thrust of socialist dogma? That no matter how hard or smart someone works, no matter how much value she creates - everyone should receive the same payment. The same reward. Whether she works hard or not at all.
And I might add, this is also the problem in America. Too many people have their hand out. Too many people are protesting, begging and throwing fireballs at the other team in order to get their sticky paws on loot and goods they didn't earn.
Today, like Israelis, when Americans talk of Equality, they most often have the second - the socialist, entitlement, welfare grasping - meaning in mind.
27 July 2011
Jobless Recovery and the Slide to Socialism
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904772304576468820582615858.html?mod=WSJAsia_hpp_LEFTTopStories
The great media outlets are finally waking up to something that's been apparent to thinking people for years... Recoveries no longer presage JOBS.
The sad thing is, the WSJ is starting to sound like La Liberation, (The organ of the Socialist Party of France).
The article blames the jobless recovery on companies - painting a picture of them reaping mega profits while creating "disposable workers".
But there is another side to the story: A businessman who WANTS to hire but who's decided NOT to.
Why....?
A businessman and would-be employer explained the reasons why he would NOT be hiring. And it had NOTHING to do with the qualifications of applicants or the fact that his business DID in fact need workers.
So - why the hell was he refusing to hire? Isn't this akin to some sort of business suicide?
Nope!
To summarize his article:
As a businessman I MUST be able to control costs. This is fundamental. And because the government keeps increasing the entitlements, payments, taxes, obligations and various and sundry requirements for me to hire and keep an employee,
THE GOVERNMENT MANDATED EXPENSES HAVE BECOME A BLANK CHECK I CAN NO LONGER AFFORD TO SIGN.
That's it in a nutshell. Since he can't control the ever-increasing, ever more onerous government imposed costs and obligations, the only way to achieve some level of cost-control is to CEASE hiring.
Sad, but true.
And while his business suffers from lack of qualified people on staff, ie growth is stunted. He's chosen this as the lesser evil to the voracious dragon in his office suite that threatens to devour his whole business if he just goes about hiring people when he needs them.
He ends his essay with this: "From where I sit, the government's message is unmistakable: Creating a new job carries a punishing price."
Consider this situation multiplied millions upon millions of times and the jobless recovery suddenly makes perfect sense.
Fancy, intellectual sounding arguments are often very seductive and can easily mask the true, often simple causes of problems.
Could this man's explanation reveal the real underlying cause?
I believe so.
His original essay is included below:
By MICHAEL P. FLEISCHER
With unemployment just under 10% and companies sitting on their cash, you would think that sooner or later job growth would take off. I think it's going to be later—much later. Here's why.
Meet Sally (not her real name; details changed to preserve privacy). Sally is a terrific employee, and she happens to be the median person in terms of base pay among the 83 people at my little company in New Jersey, where we provide audio systems for use in educational, commercial and industrial settings. She's been with us for over 15 years. She's a high school graduate with some specialized training. She makes $59,000 a year—on paper. In reality, she makes only $44,000 a year because $15,000 is taken from her thanks to various deductions and taxes, all of which form the steep, sad slope between gross and net pay.
Daniel Henninger discusses how Robert Rubin and Alan Greenspan agree that Americans should send more of their paychecks to Washington. Also, Fannie and Freddie ask for more cash within weeks of an Obama pledge to end taxpayer rescues.
Before that money hits her bank, it is reduced by the $2,376 she pays as her share of the medical and dental insurance that my company provides. And then the government takes its due. She pays $126 for state unemployment insurance, $149 for disability insurance and $856 for Medicare. That's the small stuff. New Jersey takes $1,893 in income taxes. The federal government gets $3,661 for Social Security and another $6,250 for income tax withholding. The roughly $13,000 taken from her by various government entities means that some 22% of her gross pay goes to Washington or Trenton. She's lucky she doesn't live in New York City, where the toll would be even higher.
More
Employing Sally costs plenty too. My company has to write checks for $74,000 so Sally can receive her nominal $59,000 in base pay. Health insurance is a big, added cost: While Sally pays nearly $2,400 for coverage, my company pays the rest—$9,561 for employee/spouse medical and dental. We also provide company-paid life and other insurance premiums amounting to $153. Altogether, company-paid benefits add $9,714 to the cost of employing Sally.
Then the federal and state governments want a little something extra. They take $56 for federal unemployment coverage, $149 for disability insurance, $300 for workers' comp and $505 for state unemployment insurance. Finally, the feds make me pay $856 for Sally's Medicare and $3,661 for her Social Security.
When you add it all up, it costs $74,000 to put $44,000 in Sally's pocket and to give her $12,000 in benefits. Bottom line: Governments impose a 33% surtax on Sally's job each year.
Because my company has been conscripted by the government and forced to serve as a tax collector, we have lost control of a big chunk of our cost structure. Tax increases, whether cloaked as changes in unemployment or disability insurance, Medicare increases or in any other form can dramatically alter our financial situation. With government spending and deficits growing as fast as they have been, you know that more tax increases are coming—for my company, and even for Sally too.
Companies have also been pressed into serving as providers of health insurance. In a saner world, health insurance would be something that individuals buy for themselves and their families, just as they do with auto insurance. Now, adding to the insanity, there is ObamaCare.
Every year, we negotiate a renewal to our health coverage. This year, our provider demanded a 28% increase in premiums—for a lesser plan. This is in part a tax increase that the federal government has co-opted insurance providers to collect. We had never faced an increase anywhere near this large; in each of the last two years, the increase was under 10%.
To offset tax increases and steepening rises in health-insurance premiums, my company needs sustainably higher profits and sales—something unlikely in this "summer of recovery." We can't pass the additional costs onto our customers, because the market is too tight and we'd lose sales. Only governments can raise prices repeatedly and pretend there will be no consequences.
And even if the economic outlook were more encouraging, increasing revenues is always uncertain and expensive. As much as I might want to hire new salespeople, engineers and marketing staff in an effort to grow, I would be increasing my company's vulnerability to government decisions to raise taxes, to policies that make health insurance more expensive, and to the difficulties of this economic environment.
A life in business is filled with uncertainties, but I can be quite sure that every time I hire someone my obligations to the government go up. From where I sit, the government's message is unmistakable: Creating a new job carries a punishing price.
Mr. Fleischer is president of Bogen Communications Inc. in Ramsey, N.J.
The great media outlets are finally waking up to something that's been apparent to thinking people for years... Recoveries no longer presage JOBS.
The sad thing is, the WSJ is starting to sound like La Liberation, (The organ of the Socialist Party of France).
The article blames the jobless recovery on companies - painting a picture of them reaping mega profits while creating "disposable workers".
But there is another side to the story: A businessman who WANTS to hire but who's decided NOT to.
Why....?
A businessman and would-be employer explained the reasons why he would NOT be hiring. And it had NOTHING to do with the qualifications of applicants or the fact that his business DID in fact need workers.
So - why the hell was he refusing to hire? Isn't this akin to some sort of business suicide?
Nope!
To summarize his article:
As a businessman I MUST be able to control costs. This is fundamental. And because the government keeps increasing the entitlements, payments, taxes, obligations and various and sundry requirements for me to hire and keep an employee,
THE GOVERNMENT MANDATED EXPENSES HAVE BECOME A BLANK CHECK I CAN NO LONGER AFFORD TO SIGN.
That's it in a nutshell. Since he can't control the ever-increasing, ever more onerous government imposed costs and obligations, the only way to achieve some level of cost-control is to CEASE hiring.
Sad, but true.
And while his business suffers from lack of qualified people on staff, ie growth is stunted. He's chosen this as the lesser evil to the voracious dragon in his office suite that threatens to devour his whole business if he just goes about hiring people when he needs them.
He ends his essay with this: "From where I sit, the government's message is unmistakable: Creating a new job carries a punishing price."
Consider this situation multiplied millions upon millions of times and the jobless recovery suddenly makes perfect sense.
Fancy, intellectual sounding arguments are often very seductive and can easily mask the true, often simple causes of problems.
Could this man's explanation reveal the real underlying cause?
I believe so.
His original essay is included below:
By MICHAEL P. FLEISCHER
With unemployment just under 10% and companies sitting on their cash, you would think that sooner or later job growth would take off. I think it's going to be later—much later. Here's why.
Meet Sally (not her real name; details changed to preserve privacy). Sally is a terrific employee, and she happens to be the median person in terms of base pay among the 83 people at my little company in New Jersey, where we provide audio systems for use in educational, commercial and industrial settings. She's been with us for over 15 years. She's a high school graduate with some specialized training. She makes $59,000 a year—on paper. In reality, she makes only $44,000 a year because $15,000 is taken from her thanks to various deductions and taxes, all of which form the steep, sad slope between gross and net pay.
Daniel Henninger discusses how Robert Rubin and Alan Greenspan agree that Americans should send more of their paychecks to Washington. Also, Fannie and Freddie ask for more cash within weeks of an Obama pledge to end taxpayer rescues.
Before that money hits her bank, it is reduced by the $2,376 she pays as her share of the medical and dental insurance that my company provides. And then the government takes its due. She pays $126 for state unemployment insurance, $149 for disability insurance and $856 for Medicare. That's the small stuff. New Jersey takes $1,893 in income taxes. The federal government gets $3,661 for Social Security and another $6,250 for income tax withholding. The roughly $13,000 taken from her by various government entities means that some 22% of her gross pay goes to Washington or Trenton. She's lucky she doesn't live in New York City, where the toll would be even higher.
More
Employing Sally costs plenty too. My company has to write checks for $74,000 so Sally can receive her nominal $59,000 in base pay. Health insurance is a big, added cost: While Sally pays nearly $2,400 for coverage, my company pays the rest—$9,561 for employee/spouse medical and dental. We also provide company-paid life and other insurance premiums amounting to $153. Altogether, company-paid benefits add $9,714 to the cost of employing Sally.
Then the federal and state governments want a little something extra. They take $56 for federal unemployment coverage, $149 for disability insurance, $300 for workers' comp and $505 for state unemployment insurance. Finally, the feds make me pay $856 for Sally's Medicare and $3,661 for her Social Security.
When you add it all up, it costs $74,000 to put $44,000 in Sally's pocket and to give her $12,000 in benefits. Bottom line: Governments impose a 33% surtax on Sally's job each year.
Because my company has been conscripted by the government and forced to serve as a tax collector, we have lost control of a big chunk of our cost structure. Tax increases, whether cloaked as changes in unemployment or disability insurance, Medicare increases or in any other form can dramatically alter our financial situation. With government spending and deficits growing as fast as they have been, you know that more tax increases are coming—for my company, and even for Sally too.
Companies have also been pressed into serving as providers of health insurance. In a saner world, health insurance would be something that individuals buy for themselves and their families, just as they do with auto insurance. Now, adding to the insanity, there is ObamaCare.
Every year, we negotiate a renewal to our health coverage. This year, our provider demanded a 28% increase in premiums—for a lesser plan. This is in part a tax increase that the federal government has co-opted insurance providers to collect. We had never faced an increase anywhere near this large; in each of the last two years, the increase was under 10%.
To offset tax increases and steepening rises in health-insurance premiums, my company needs sustainably higher profits and sales—something unlikely in this "summer of recovery." We can't pass the additional costs onto our customers, because the market is too tight and we'd lose sales. Only governments can raise prices repeatedly and pretend there will be no consequences.
And even if the economic outlook were more encouraging, increasing revenues is always uncertain and expensive. As much as I might want to hire new salespeople, engineers and marketing staff in an effort to grow, I would be increasing my company's vulnerability to government decisions to raise taxes, to policies that make health insurance more expensive, and to the difficulties of this economic environment.
A life in business is filled with uncertainties, but I can be quite sure that every time I hire someone my obligations to the government go up. From where I sit, the government's message is unmistakable: Creating a new job carries a punishing price.
Mr. Fleischer is president of Bogen Communications Inc. in Ramsey, N.J.
13 April 2011
The Bali Series 5: Two-Tiered Pricing System
As I originally contemplated writing this article, I was aware I was pissed off by something and wanted to have my say, but as I typed and edited I began to see that it was something bigger. And that's why it so bothered me.
There was a famous commercial many years ago in my country that showed a first nations man in full head dress with a tear running down his cheek. The tag line was: A Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Waste.
To this day - I don't remember what the advert was for, but I think that sums up why this upsets me. And why I'm writing. We could say - Indonesia is a terrible country to waste. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
This is actually a continuation of my Thinking of Living in Bali? series, but the ideas apply to the whole of Indonesia.
So, IF you are considering living in Bali/Indonesia, there is a very annoying aspect of life here. Something that is one of the banes of this country and especially pronounced in Bali.
And just today it hit me why I detest it so much. It is the practice of charging one price to locals (a lower one) and a significantly higher price to foreigners.
And I'm going to be brutally honest. It is the foreigner visitors themselves who often instigate and encourage this practice. They look at someone working hard, charging a fair price -- by this country's standards -- for some service.
They hear the price and immediately decide THAT'S NOT ENOUGH.
So they offer more!
"Oh you poor thing. We won't let you work for that." is the well-intentioned but foolish beginning.
I've seen this too many times to recount.
Yes - by Western standards - people here work for pennies. But --- and this is the point of this pointed post --- there is a reason WHY this is so.
Have we forgotten how hard many of our grand fathers and mothers were working - for pennies - before our countries developed?
But for a moment, let's go back to the locals and their sordid practice of maintaining a two-tiered pricing structure. And keep in mind, this has nothing to do with foreigners picking up their fair share of taxes or any other such (possibly) legitimate explanation.
It is ENVY. Many locals see the relatively rich Westerns (or should i say people from more developed countries?) who are comparatively better off than them.
Fine. But it is what they then choose to do with that envy that is the problem.
IF they said to themselves: "Damn, look at that dude with his hot girl, cool car and great life. I wanna be like him. I'm gonna work my ass off and make a better life for myself and my family."
If they say that, I'm their biggest fan and supporter. But that is not what many say.
Instead too many say: "Look at that rich foreigner. How can I get some of her money so I can have better life?"
In this way, there is direct link between envy and greed. And NO, Gordon Gekko is WRONG. Greed is NOT good. The profit motive is good. That is what has built our world. But -
Greed is a perversion of that good and natural desire which kills the will and creativity to growth, production and development.
And ENVY and GREED are two diseases Indonesians have in cancerous proportions. Hence - a two price structure.
But, while this does temporary damage to visitors and is an constant source of irritation and injustice to foreigners who live here,
it cripples the Indonesians.
It retards them because as this attitude has metastasized into their whole culture and AND THE REASON THEY TOLERATE their unbelievably corrupt government.
Many, (i hope not most) no longer look for ways to better themselves by hard, clever, creative work that produces a better good or service.
Instead...
They have developed a mentality of looking for ways to extort money from people who have it. The parking mafia is another great example that I'll come to in a moment...
And I believe THIS is one of the main ubiquitous attitudes which keeps Indonesia in the Dark Ages.
Retards it, its development, its people and stunts its future.
And makes it one of the laughing stocks of Asia.
It is also why Japan has bullet trains and Indonesia still runs trains from the 1930s,
and still doesn't even have the equivalent of a national expressway system. It still piddles along with a dilapidated set of railways and local roads.
It is still the 1950s.
Unbelievable? Yes. True? Yes. In Indonesia there is still no express way between it's two largest cities, Jakarta and Surabaya. That's right.
You have only locals highways that are notoriously narrow, dangerous and eternally congested with bicycles, motorbikes, peddle-taxis, peddler-carts, cars, buses, lorries and construction vehicles.
Amid this cacophonous mess, you still need to stop for trafic lights in every town and berg along the way.
Nor does it have a modern rail system.
Consider this:
Nozomi class bullet trains cover the distance from Tokyo to Osaka (about 550 kilometers) in 2 1/2 hours. If Indonesia had bullet trains, one could travel from Jakarta to Surabaya (796 km) in 3 hours 40 minutes.... And from Jakarta to Denpasar (1206 km) in 5 1/2 hours.
BUT...
the reality today is that from Jakarta to Denpasar (Bali) would take at least a day -- [by car or train] and likely longer with chronically common delays.
But that's not all:
In Indonesia, there is a common site on the streets you won't see in most other countries - parking men. These are men who stand in front of some shop or restaurant and literally help squeeze you into a parking space.
Because many streets are narrow, and the parking areas narrow as well, these men often serve the valuable function of helping people into the narrowest of spaces, then directing traffic to help them safely re enter the flow when they leave.
They often even ask you to leave you car in neutral so they can push it forward or backward to make room for another car to pass into or out of the parking area. And for this, they collect a fee from each car.
Fair enough.
BUT, there are also many occasions --- and this is why i call them the Parking Mafia --- when they perform no work, no function. Keep in mind, these are places that would be FREE parking in developed countries.
They simply collect a fee from you for ENTERING THEIR ZONE. They merely sit like a security guard and collect your money. But they provide no security.
The money they collect doesn't go beautify the city, plant trees, build roads, rails, hospitals, schools or feed the poor.
It goes in these mens pockets. And many of these men make hundreds and even thousands of dollars per month in a country where most people still live on a few dollars a day.
The system is tolerated because when someone refuses to pay, the parking mafia are known to retaliate: Things like keying your car.... or worse.
This is EXTORTION.
So, when Indonesians, especially the Balinese give up this self-defeating bid to extort money from the productive in order to subsidize their laziness. ..
When they give up and this weak, pathetic behavior and decide to start building their country by providing better goods and services in their businesses, THEN AND ONLY THEN
will they have the balls to begin
DEMANDING better government from their third-world idiot stand-ins for leaders. And they will have turned a corner and pushed the button on the Indonesian Renaissance.
Because... they will never eliminate corruption in their government until they give it up amongst themselves and against foreigners.
When they do, they will have high speed rail, a modern expressway system and streets that don't flood up to your waist every time it rains. In short - a modern country with quality services and infrastructure.
And they will be richer. Maybe richer than the people now visiting Indonesia...
I wonder how much longer they will slovenly accept the status quo? How long they will persist in their greed?
How long until they give up their pathetic attempts to get something for nothing?
Because until they do - they don't deserve better. And until they do - they will remain poor and retarded.
Until they do...
They will continue to live narrow, short, darkened lives --- as they deserve.
I wonder: Is that Karma?
There was a famous commercial many years ago in my country that showed a first nations man in full head dress with a tear running down his cheek. The tag line was: A Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Waste.
To this day - I don't remember what the advert was for, but I think that sums up why this upsets me. And why I'm writing. We could say - Indonesia is a terrible country to waste. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
This is actually a continuation of my Thinking of Living in Bali? series, but the ideas apply to the whole of Indonesia.
So, IF you are considering living in Bali/Indonesia, there is a very annoying aspect of life here. Something that is one of the banes of this country and especially pronounced in Bali.
And just today it hit me why I detest it so much. It is the practice of charging one price to locals (a lower one) and a significantly higher price to foreigners.
And I'm going to be brutally honest. It is the foreigner visitors themselves who often instigate and encourage this practice. They look at someone working hard, charging a fair price -- by this country's standards -- for some service.
They hear the price and immediately decide THAT'S NOT ENOUGH.
So they offer more!
"Oh you poor thing. We won't let you work for that." is the well-intentioned but foolish beginning.
I've seen this too many times to recount.
Yes - by Western standards - people here work for pennies. But --- and this is the point of this pointed post --- there is a reason WHY this is so.
Have we forgotten how hard many of our grand fathers and mothers were working - for pennies - before our countries developed?
But for a moment, let's go back to the locals and their sordid practice of maintaining a two-tiered pricing structure. And keep in mind, this has nothing to do with foreigners picking up their fair share of taxes or any other such (possibly) legitimate explanation.
It is ENVY. Many locals see the relatively rich Westerns (or should i say people from more developed countries?) who are comparatively better off than them.
Fine. But it is what they then choose to do with that envy that is the problem.
IF they said to themselves: "Damn, look at that dude with his hot girl, cool car and great life. I wanna be like him. I'm gonna work my ass off and make a better life for myself and my family."
If they say that, I'm their biggest fan and supporter. But that is not what many say.
Instead too many say: "Look at that rich foreigner. How can I get some of her money so I can have better life?"
In this way, there is direct link between envy and greed. And NO, Gordon Gekko is WRONG. Greed is NOT good. The profit motive is good. That is what has built our world. But -
Greed is a perversion of that good and natural desire which kills the will and creativity to growth, production and development.
And ENVY and GREED are two diseases Indonesians have in cancerous proportions. Hence - a two price structure.
But, while this does temporary damage to visitors and is an constant source of irritation and injustice to foreigners who live here,
it cripples the Indonesians.
It retards them because as this attitude has metastasized into their whole culture and AND THE REASON THEY TOLERATE their unbelievably corrupt government.
Many, (i hope not most) no longer look for ways to better themselves by hard, clever, creative work that produces a better good or service.
Instead...
They have developed a mentality of looking for ways to extort money from people who have it. The parking mafia is another great example that I'll come to in a moment...
And I believe THIS is one of the main ubiquitous attitudes which keeps Indonesia in the Dark Ages.
Retards it, its development, its people and stunts its future.
And makes it one of the laughing stocks of Asia.
It is also why Japan has bullet trains and Indonesia still runs trains from the 1930s,
and still doesn't even have the equivalent of a national expressway system. It still piddles along with a dilapidated set of railways and local roads.
It is still the 1950s.
Unbelievable? Yes. True? Yes. In Indonesia there is still no express way between it's two largest cities, Jakarta and Surabaya. That's right.
You have only locals highways that are notoriously narrow, dangerous and eternally congested with bicycles, motorbikes, peddle-taxis, peddler-carts, cars, buses, lorries and construction vehicles.
Amid this cacophonous mess, you still need to stop for trafic lights in every town and berg along the way.
Nor does it have a modern rail system.
Consider this:
Nozomi class bullet trains cover the distance from Tokyo to Osaka (about 550 kilometers) in 2 1/2 hours. If Indonesia had bullet trains, one could travel from Jakarta to Surabaya (796 km) in 3 hours 40 minutes.... And from Jakarta to Denpasar (1206 km) in 5 1/2 hours.
BUT...
the reality today is that from Jakarta to Denpasar (Bali) would take at least a day -- [by car or train] and likely longer with chronically common delays.
But that's not all:
In Indonesia, there is a common site on the streets you won't see in most other countries - parking men. These are men who stand in front of some shop or restaurant and literally help squeeze you into a parking space.
Because many streets are narrow, and the parking areas narrow as well, these men often serve the valuable function of helping people into the narrowest of spaces, then directing traffic to help them safely re enter the flow when they leave.
They often even ask you to leave you car in neutral so they can push it forward or backward to make room for another car to pass into or out of the parking area. And for this, they collect a fee from each car.
Fair enough.
BUT, there are also many occasions --- and this is why i call them the Parking Mafia --- when they perform no work, no function. Keep in mind, these are places that would be FREE parking in developed countries.
They simply collect a fee from you for ENTERING THEIR ZONE. They merely sit like a security guard and collect your money. But they provide no security.
The money they collect doesn't go beautify the city, plant trees, build roads, rails, hospitals, schools or feed the poor.
It goes in these mens pockets. And many of these men make hundreds and even thousands of dollars per month in a country where most people still live on a few dollars a day.
The system is tolerated because when someone refuses to pay, the parking mafia are known to retaliate: Things like keying your car.... or worse.
This is EXTORTION.
So, when Indonesians, especially the Balinese give up this self-defeating bid to extort money from the productive in order to subsidize their laziness. ..
When they give up and this weak, pathetic behavior and decide to start building their country by providing better goods and services in their businesses, THEN AND ONLY THEN
will they have the balls to begin
DEMANDING better government from their third-world idiot stand-ins for leaders. And they will have turned a corner and pushed the button on the Indonesian Renaissance.
Because... they will never eliminate corruption in their government until they give it up amongst themselves and against foreigners.
When they do, they will have high speed rail, a modern expressway system and streets that don't flood up to your waist every time it rains. In short - a modern country with quality services and infrastructure.
And they will be richer. Maybe richer than the people now visiting Indonesia...
I wonder how much longer they will slovenly accept the status quo? How long they will persist in their greed?
How long until they give up their pathetic attempts to get something for nothing?
Because until they do - they don't deserve better. And until they do - they will remain poor and retarded.
Until they do...
They will continue to live narrow, short, darkened lives --- as they deserve.
I wonder: Is that Karma?
07 April 2011
Indonesia Scraps Medieval Treatment of Women
They have talked about it forever. And finally written this into law - nearly 20 years after Singapore.
Of what do I speak?
The wretched law that says a foreign man married to an Indonesian woman must have a work visa in order to live and work in Indonesia!
A truly antiquated, backward, bigoted - and ultimately self-defeating law which inevitably results in many of the best and brightest women taking their brains, money and talents OUT of Indonesia.
That's about to change!
As soon as this becomes law, Indonesia will join the great majority of countries where marriage affords one the right to live and work freely and unhindered.
The key points of the New Law are as follows:
· If you marry an Indonesian citizen here, you will be entitled to Izin Tinggal Terbatas. After 2 years, you can convert it to Izin Tinggal Tetap (ITAP).
· If you have already been legally married for at least two years to an Indonesian citizen, you get an ITAP immediately. E.g. if you marry your Indonesian spouse in Australia and stay there for 2 years before coming to live in Indonesia, you are entitled to an ITAP immediately.
· If you have an ITAP because you are married to an Indonesian, you can work here without needing a work permit.
· If your children choose to keep their foreign nationality once they reach the age of 18, they are entitled to an ITAP and can work here.
· If your children were over 18 when the citizenship law was passed and never had Indonesian nationality, they are now entitled to an ITAP and can work.
· Foreigners who are legally married to Indonesians no longer need a `penjamin' (sponsor).
· The ITAP is valid for an unlimited period but needs to be renewed administratively every 5 years. There is no cost for this.
· If you already have an ITAP and your Indonesian spouse dies, you keep the ITAP.
· If you have an ITAP and you and your Indonesian spouse divorce before you have been married for 10 years, the ITAP is cancelled.
· If you have an ITAP and you and your Indonesian spouse divorce when you have been married for 10 years or more, you keep the ITAP.
Unfortunately we still have to have the re-entry permit. If you have an ITAP, you will be able to get, as now, a multiple re-entry permit that is valid for 2 years.
Now that the bill has been approved by the DPR it will go to SetNeg and then be signed by the President. However, it will take some time before the implementing regulations are drawn up and this law becomes effective.
Source : Milis APAB.
Of what do I speak?
The wretched law that says a foreign man married to an Indonesian woman must have a work visa in order to live and work in Indonesia!
A truly antiquated, backward, bigoted - and ultimately self-defeating law which inevitably results in many of the best and brightest women taking their brains, money and talents OUT of Indonesia.
That's about to change!
As soon as this becomes law, Indonesia will join the great majority of countries where marriage affords one the right to live and work freely and unhindered.
The key points of the New Law are as follows:
· If you marry an Indonesian citizen here, you will be entitled to Izin Tinggal Terbatas. After 2 years, you can convert it to Izin Tinggal Tetap (ITAP).
· If you have already been legally married for at least two years to an Indonesian citizen, you get an ITAP immediately. E.g. if you marry your Indonesian spouse in Australia and stay there for 2 years before coming to live in Indonesia, you are entitled to an ITAP immediately.
· If you have an ITAP because you are married to an Indonesian, you can work here without needing a work permit.
· If your children choose to keep their foreign nationality once they reach the age of 18, they are entitled to an ITAP and can work here.
· If your children were over 18 when the citizenship law was passed and never had Indonesian nationality, they are now entitled to an ITAP and can work.
· Foreigners who are legally married to Indonesians no longer need a `penjamin' (sponsor).
· The ITAP is valid for an unlimited period but needs to be renewed administratively every 5 years. There is no cost for this.
· If you already have an ITAP and your Indonesian spouse dies, you keep the ITAP.
· If you have an ITAP and you and your Indonesian spouse divorce before you have been married for 10 years, the ITAP is cancelled.
· If you have an ITAP and you and your Indonesian spouse divorce when you have been married for 10 years or more, you keep the ITAP.
Unfortunately we still have to have the re-entry permit. If you have an ITAP, you will be able to get, as now, a multiple re-entry permit that is valid for 2 years.
Now that the bill has been approved by the DPR it will go to SetNeg and then be signed by the President. However, it will take some time before the implementing regulations are drawn up and this law becomes effective.
Source : Milis APAB.
01 April 2011
Just Point To Make Real Things Tell You Their Story...
"The future is already here - it's just not very evenly distributed." --William Gibson
Science fiction has postulated and imagined what "augmented reality" would be like. Well - wonder no more: It's here...
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704739504576067780550250202.html?mod=WSJ_Tech_Below_Video
So what is it? And what does it mean to you and me?
Everything-
Let's jump straight to the end of the article and the most immediately profitable application. Because like any new technology, there is always the need to find a viable way to make money.
Otherwise - development just doesn't happen.
MEDICINE: Specifically remote monitoring.
Imagine you have a slightly sick relative who --in a perfect world-- would have around the clock home care or professional nursing staff at beck and call.
But due to strained budgets due to high labour costs, reality often dictates finding less costly solutions.
Until now - about the only option was to "leave em to their own devices" and hope for the best. Soon - you will be able to remotely monitor almost anything. Right on your mobile phone.
Whether they're upright? Heart rate? Asthma? etc... You name it - it can be monitored and you can be alerted if anything falls out of its normal range.
And that's not all. Even if you're healthy - apps could let you get a virtual check up with your mobile. Soon, we will enter the era of mobile/remote medicine. It won't totally eliminate the need to go to the hospital - just most of it.
Wouldn't you pay for that? I know i would.
But there are also sexier and juicier applications: Games are another avenue for development. And yet, it is other applications which promise to change our lives much more profoundly - and faster:
REAL ESTATE
Imagine being able to point your phone at a building and know who has property for rent or sale, for how much and who to contact? How about a virtual tour? A floor plan?
Have your own home and furniture's photos loaded? Hmmm... Wanna see how your stuff would look in that house or apartment?
I'd pay for that. How bout you?
SHOPPING
Or when you go shopping: There was recently a trial by Tissot Watches in London. Using Augmented Reality, customers were able to try on watches --virturally-- without entering the shop and enduring the high pressure sales...
Guess what - sales shot up 83%.
Oh, and sales probably shot up, because people could find the RIGHT watch so much faster and with less hassle...
EDUCATION
The possibilities are endless and mind boggling.
Welcome to the era of virtual teachers. One-on-One interaction. Customized education to fit your pace, learning style, dominant intelligence and idiosyncratic strengths and weaknesses.
If Einsteins brain was apparently noted for its rich connections, in future this will not be uncommon anymore.
Truly accelerated learning. That is fun and relevant.
The emphasis on memorization will fade into oblivion to be replaced by students producing results. Real world results.
And out of this, I see a revolutionary new model of education emerging which turns the current dead factory era method on its head. And oh - it can't come soon enough....
I see this technology as so fundamentally becoming a part of our lives that in 10 years we will wonder how we ever lived with out it. Kinda like the internet and mobile phones have become today.
Because as i read about this, I am simultaneously pulled in two directions at once: On the one hand, I can only begin to imagine the impact such technologies as this will have on our lives.
How it will change the way we do business, live and play...?
But I also wonder, with the rapidity and ubiquity of change technology is bringing in its tsunami - How will I explain to the younglings in 10 years how we used to live Pre-Mobile phone or Pre-Internet....??
It will seem to them as distant and faded as it is for me to watch jerky black and white film clips of the early 1900s: WWI, the fall of empires and the Roaring 20's....
A time when most people lived on farms, not cities, electricity and phones were still not common for most. Ditto running water and indoor toilets.
What a difference a hundred years makes!
Science fiction has postulated and imagined what "augmented reality" would be like. Well - wonder no more: It's here...
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704739504576067780550250202.html?mod=WSJ_Tech_Below_Video
So what is it? And what does it mean to you and me?
Everything-
Let's jump straight to the end of the article and the most immediately profitable application. Because like any new technology, there is always the need to find a viable way to make money.
Otherwise - development just doesn't happen.
MEDICINE: Specifically remote monitoring.
Imagine you have a slightly sick relative who --in a perfect world-- would have around the clock home care or professional nursing staff at beck and call.
But due to strained budgets due to high labour costs, reality often dictates finding less costly solutions.
Until now - about the only option was to "leave em to their own devices" and hope for the best. Soon - you will be able to remotely monitor almost anything. Right on your mobile phone.
Whether they're upright? Heart rate? Asthma? etc... You name it - it can be monitored and you can be alerted if anything falls out of its normal range.
And that's not all. Even if you're healthy - apps could let you get a virtual check up with your mobile. Soon, we will enter the era of mobile/remote medicine. It won't totally eliminate the need to go to the hospital - just most of it.
Wouldn't you pay for that? I know i would.
But there are also sexier and juicier applications: Games are another avenue for development. And yet, it is other applications which promise to change our lives much more profoundly - and faster:
REAL ESTATE
Imagine being able to point your phone at a building and know who has property for rent or sale, for how much and who to contact? How about a virtual tour? A floor plan?
Have your own home and furniture's photos loaded? Hmmm... Wanna see how your stuff would look in that house or apartment?
I'd pay for that. How bout you?
SHOPPING
Or when you go shopping: There was recently a trial by Tissot Watches in London. Using Augmented Reality, customers were able to try on watches --virturally-- without entering the shop and enduring the high pressure sales...
Guess what - sales shot up 83%.
Oh, and sales probably shot up, because people could find the RIGHT watch so much faster and with less hassle...
EDUCATION
The possibilities are endless and mind boggling.
Welcome to the era of virtual teachers. One-on-One interaction. Customized education to fit your pace, learning style, dominant intelligence and idiosyncratic strengths and weaknesses.
If Einsteins brain was apparently noted for its rich connections, in future this will not be uncommon anymore.
Truly accelerated learning. That is fun and relevant.
The emphasis on memorization will fade into oblivion to be replaced by students producing results. Real world results.
And out of this, I see a revolutionary new model of education emerging which turns the current dead factory era method on its head. And oh - it can't come soon enough....
I see this technology as so fundamentally becoming a part of our lives that in 10 years we will wonder how we ever lived with out it. Kinda like the internet and mobile phones have become today.
Because as i read about this, I am simultaneously pulled in two directions at once: On the one hand, I can only begin to imagine the impact such technologies as this will have on our lives.
How it will change the way we do business, live and play...?
But I also wonder, with the rapidity and ubiquity of change technology is bringing in its tsunami - How will I explain to the younglings in 10 years how we used to live Pre-Mobile phone or Pre-Internet....??
It will seem to them as distant and faded as it is for me to watch jerky black and white film clips of the early 1900s: WWI, the fall of empires and the Roaring 20's....
A time when most people lived on farms, not cities, electricity and phones were still not common for most. Ditto running water and indoor toilets.
What a difference a hundred years makes!
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