Rotten Eggs do not a Good Omelette Make

The congressional hearings investigating the role of Goldman Sachs in the financial
meltdown beginning in 2007 has exposed a sewer inhabited by some of the most
sophisticated, ruthless thieves to inhabit any profession. The star performer in the firm was an egomaniac Fabrice Toure who designated himself "Fabulous Fab". His forte, of which he boasted openly and in written communications, was designing useless, worthless financial products which, in his own words, he sold to widows and orphans, pension fund managers, and the like. The products were designed to fail and he profited therefrom by selling them short at the same time he was selling them long to clients. While pillaging the "ordinary" people he made a huge amount of profit for the firm and fattened his obscene bonuses. It tells the entire sordid truth about the sleazy, thieving ways of Wall Street and the large banks that Fabulous Fab was idolized, held up as a model for other snake oil sales people who aided and abetted, such as the rating services, and professional hedge fund managers.

Congress, urged on by Obama, is considering legislation to reign in the most egregious risky and dishonest practices in the securities industry, including
provisions to protect consumers. That the Republican senators are in opposition is a violation of their oath of office and of their obligation to protect the public who elected them. If there are features in the proposed legislation which they honestly believed could be improved, let them propose, not simply oppose! The goal should be that never again should greed, arrogance, and deception be the modus operandi of our financial industry.

Birthday wishes

Observing the occasion of my 91st, as I blew out the candles on the cake my fellow
revelers told me to make a wish. It is customary to wish for things that involve
one's self and friends. But in the ambiance in which the nation is currently functioning, a wish of broader scope seemed appropriate. So adding a serious note,
I asked my friends to talk about what in our state of affairs concerned them, that
my wish could improve. My cocky nature doesn't allow me to consider that my wish
would be of no consequence.
After great argument about it and about, the consensus
was that governments at all levels had become non-functional in matters of
general public welfare, and that this was because political positions had morphed
into careers under our two party, bi-Cameral system. As with any career, increasing
one's material wealth and power is paramount. Catering to the wealthy and powerful,
especially those who control the media, is the recipe for political career advancement.
So my wish, agreed upon by all present, was that there would be a rebirth of Wisdom,
Honesty and Altruism among those who guide the fate of the nation. That would be
a birthday gift for all, and all time.

Make War, not Love

Of all the absurdities mankind is capable, War is the ultimate. It destroys and maims
lives, youth, hopes, families, homes, even civilizations. That wars are fought in furtherance of religious myths is the supreme obscenity. War solves nothing, and sets the stage for the next installment in destructive conflict.

War fought over territory defies the reasoning ability that supposedly distinguishes man from the beasts of the forest. No one is the owner of the land.
In the scale of eternity the land belongs to the cosmos. At best we can control
its use and disposition for but a moment. To destroy a generation of youth for such
a temporary advantage is idiocy.

The present political environment in our nation begins to resemble a rising tide toward warfare, between factions, not nations.
It has the potential to reach a shooting stage if demagogues continue to stoke the fire. With or without bullets, the damage
to our domestic tranquility could set this nation back for generations. When masses
cry out to "take this nation back", from whom are they repossessing it?
Rationality is color sensitive--when the economic ledger is red, it runs for the hills. People's minds close when under financial duress. It requires our politicians
to become statesmen and channel fear into more responsible channels. We are in real trouble when our politicos sell out to special interests, ignoring their responsibility for the needs of the public at large. We are at that point in our
national life. Our nation's health is precarious!
We need a Reform Bill for politics!

Supercharged

That is the word that describes the political attitudes poisoning our land today
A growing body of negatively charged particles is accumulating around one pole
of our landscape. At the opposite pole a critical mass of positively charged particles is building. At some point they will impact each other in a nuclear
reaction in which an enormous amount of destructive energy will be released. The
damage to our social contract will be significant, perhaps exceeding our capacity for
repair with our increasingly scarce resources.
The negative particles have turned from peaceful, somewhat reasoned oppposition
to a more violent form of anger. They are against any and all government imposed
discipline, whether established to promote the common wellbeing or to help citizens in need. It matters not that they are the beneficiaries of many such government
programs and would fight to the death to preserve them. The connection evades them.

The positive particles have concluded that Government exists to eliminate all
the travails that afflict us. They promote the public welfare by public funds, without regard to whether such funds exist. If they do not, they can be created
by the printing press, or borrowing from less profligate countries. In the process
we enter a slippery slope to third world status.

This dilemma could be resolved by joint discusssion, exploration and compromise.
But the particles are so highly charged that they cannot even approach one another without triggering an explosion. Can we find a neutralizing agent to dissipate the
charges and rejoin the particles into a benign molecule?