Thursday, April 27, 2006
Elder Workers
Traveling is an eye opening when contrasts are obvious. I think I travel enough to see at least four times a year different regions, and contrast with changes are normal, but this past year one constant contrast is too darn obvious, and is the amount of elder people doing menial jobs, and with the many that I ask why they are doing the job, the majority say they need the money. That cannot be good for any one.
The largest segment of the population entering the labor force is the segment of 65-75 year olds. It is also the largest growing segment of the population in developed countries. Yes, we are growing older and beautiful and for most poor in assets or enough income to eat or have decent living standards, not everything is capital a large amount is due to the lack of soul. We have become extreme on religion and soulless in caring.
Proportionally, the elder are also the largest segment with lowest standard of living and most are at peril of pauper living. With children, elders are the largest age group in poverty.
What is wrong with a community or country which loses respect of its elders and young and allows them to be paupers?
It might seem acceptable for ideological reasons but is unacceptable as evolutionary purpose.
Where you can see this elder growth is in the areas where service industry thrives.
Geographically, states like Florida and Georgia where wealthy retirees are finding a pleasant retirement other retirees are finding jobs to supplement their pauper income.
The reason is the fact that most of these pauper retirees thought they were “middle class” at some point of their lives.
The fact of the matter is that to be in the middle of the pack that is in a society that has at least seven clear social classes: Super Rich more than $100 million in assets, The Bourgoises more than 25 Million in assets, the Millionaires from 2 million, the Middle Class more than 400K in assets, the educated worker class more than 150K in assets, the poor up to 50K in assets, the pauper no assets or negative assets.
In my recent post “Do You Know Your CPI” had the purpose of stating the fact that most people do not realize that if they do not know their assets they are setting themselves to be part of this large and growing working class group of pauper elders.
There is a new ingredient to the equation of jobs for the elder that is illegal workers and illegal employers. If there is a serious effort to apply the law, those new jobs that will be emptied by enforcing the laws on legal residency and employees might find a replacement pool of workers from a segment that was left unattended, and a segment that is marginalize in jails. Here is an opportunity to continue poverty!
I am encountering more and more elders working and I regret the experience and the situation should be rectified with decent pensions.
The largest segment of the population entering the labor force is the segment of 65-75 year olds. It is also the largest growing segment of the population in developed countries. Yes, we are growing older and beautiful and for most poor in assets or enough income to eat or have decent living standards, not everything is capital a large amount is due to the lack of soul. We have become extreme on religion and soulless in caring.
Proportionally, the elder are also the largest segment with lowest standard of living and most are at peril of pauper living. With children, elders are the largest age group in poverty.
What is wrong with a community or country which loses respect of its elders and young and allows them to be paupers?
It might seem acceptable for ideological reasons but is unacceptable as evolutionary purpose.
Where you can see this elder growth is in the areas where service industry thrives.
Geographically, states like Florida and Georgia where wealthy retirees are finding a pleasant retirement other retirees are finding jobs to supplement their pauper income.
The reason is the fact that most of these pauper retirees thought they were “middle class” at some point of their lives.
The fact of the matter is that to be in the middle of the pack that is in a society that has at least seven clear social classes: Super Rich more than $100 million in assets, The Bourgoises more than 25 Million in assets, the Millionaires from 2 million, the Middle Class more than 400K in assets, the educated worker class more than 150K in assets, the poor up to 50K in assets, the pauper no assets or negative assets.
In my recent post “Do You Know Your CPI” had the purpose of stating the fact that most people do not realize that if they do not know their assets they are setting themselves to be part of this large and growing working class group of pauper elders.
There is a new ingredient to the equation of jobs for the elder that is illegal workers and illegal employers. If there is a serious effort to apply the law, those new jobs that will be emptied by enforcing the laws on legal residency and employees might find a replacement pool of workers from a segment that was left unattended, and a segment that is marginalize in jails. Here is an opportunity to continue poverty!
I am encountering more and more elders working and I regret the experience and the situation should be rectified with decent pensions.
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Pawn Shops Gasoline Bonanza
(CBS 11 News) DALLAS High gasoline prices are causing some people to take desperate measures.Pawn shops say their business is increasing, with some customers saying they're selling things to buy gas.Gas prices are climbing again, with most stations prices hovering at, or just below $3.00 a gallon. For some people the high fuel prices are overwhelming."We just have customers come in and have to tell us that they need money ‘till the end of the week, for gas to get back and forth to work," said pawn shop owner, Gerald Costner.Everything from high end jewelry, to name brand purses, and televisions… pawn shop owners say they are seeing it all come in. They say customers are frustrated and have no place to go to get extra cash for gas."Some of the construction people tell us they are having to pawn their tools to buy gas, but when they pawn their tools they can't go out and work in the construction business ‘cause their tools are in pawn. So it kind of a catch-22,” Costner said.Mary Rodriguez has worked at the Casa View Pawn Shop for five years. She says she's seen people of all ages coming in looking for help. “We've always had a clientele of the young kids, or middle age kids, and now we’re getting an older generation. Which, it just seems wrong that they have to pawn things just to get gas, or ya know, to make ends meet on things like that."As prices continue to rise at the pumps, many motorists say they don't see things getting better anytime soon, for the consumer. “It is frustrating, but the thing is they know they can get away with it, because people need gas,” Rodriguez said.At Casa View Pawn, the owner says they've seen the increase in numbers over the past couple months.
After I watched the report on this subject on CNN one of the individuals interviewed came out of the pawn shop with two hundred dollars to fill his Jaguar. Well, well, this individual beloved Jaguar could not wait for April 30’s check.
This is another note in the journal of poor understanding of self’s live.
My contention is that more people will go to the pawn shop because if they do not have currency they will not able to get to work, at the same time this individuals should seat down and figure out if they have better alternatives. The law of efficiency and leas effort demands sometimes a little effort to obtain excelling results.
After I watched the report on this subject on CNN one of the individuals interviewed came out of the pawn shop with two hundred dollars to fill his Jaguar. Well, well, this individual beloved Jaguar could not wait for April 30’s check.
This is another note in the journal of poor understanding of self’s live.
My contention is that more people will go to the pawn shop because if they do not have currency they will not able to get to work, at the same time this individuals should seat down and figure out if they have better alternatives. The law of efficiency and leas effort demands sometimes a little effort to obtain excelling results.
Monday, April 24, 2006
James Petras Giving a Controversial Shot at Some Facts
James Petras article is controverisial, no question, I think it should be read by as many folks as possible.
The facts cannot be denied -and they are in teh right context- nor "demagogued around" as some might try.
One can agree or disagree with his exposure of events, but there is one constant, it is the truth all around his esay.
His comments are based in the present events.
His exposure is candid and his comand of a good penmanship demostrates us how little we do to assert reality. We have become sheeps at large, his challenge is to stop radicalism and start looking at a better view of humanity and its interactions and accept the facts, it is time for a reinassance of questioning power.
Enjony it !!!!
The Ascendancy of Finance Capital: Record Profits and Rising Authoritarianism
By James Petras
Mar 30, 2006, 08:19
Email this article Printer friendly page
No sector of the US economy, in recent years, can match the rate and size of profit which have accrued to the biggest financial institutions. For the first quarter of February 2006, Goldman Sachs (GS) broke Wall Street records by reporting new profits of $2.48 billion dollars (annualized at over $10 billion dollars). Earnings were up 64% over the same period last year (which was also a very lucrative year). Return on equity rose to 38.8%, topping the record for a top investment house. Total revenues rose $10.3 billion dollars. GS has had record earnings in five of the past nine quarters (Financial Times (FT) 3/15/2006, p 1). Morgan Stanley reported a 17% increase in net income to $1.64 billion dollars for its first quarter in February 2006. Revenues rose by 24% compared to 19.7% last year. Lehman Brothers reported a 24% increase in profits in the first quarter to Feb. 2006 to a record $1.1 billion dollars. Revenues increased 17% to $4.5 billion dollars. Bear Stearns (BS) joined the dance of the billions of Wall Street, reporting first quarter profits of $514 million dollars; earnings were up 34% from the year earlier. BS new revenues grew 19% to $2.3 billion, while return on stockholders equity rose 20.1% in the first quarter of 2006. The combined profits of these 4 banks total $5.73 billion dollars for the quarter November 2005 - February 2006, or $22.9 billion annually - and that does not include the profits for three of the top 5 banks (Citigroup, JP Morgan and Merrill Lynch) whose quarter runs January to March 2006, which are expected to have equally high returns, doubling the new profits to over $12 billion dollars for the first quarter and increasing profits to nearly $50 billion for 2006.
No other sector of the economy can boast such high rates of return, nor can any top seven enterprises even approach the record profits. The banks draw their biggest profits in facilitating the concentration and centralization of capital (dubbed "mergers and acquisitions"), charging lucrative fees for "advising" and underwriting bonds to fund the mergers and acquisitions. The second source of profits is speculating, including debt trading, betting on global equity markets - especially in energy where Goldman and Morgan "have been making a fortune in recent quarters".
While US consumers, demagogic politicians and anti-war activists have blamed the oil producing countries, they have entirely overlooked the big speculative banks in pushing up the price of oil.
The key political point is that the driving force of the most important economic sector - services - in the US is the financial sector, the one least engaged in productive activity, meaning production of goods and services for the population. Moreover its high profits, the astronomical bonuses and income of its leading elites, and its role in promoting the concentration of capital play a major role in increasing income inequalities. The costs they impose on enterprises for their "services" contribute to indebtedness which in turn leads to massive layoffs, reduction in health and pension benefits, as part of the "advisory" messages of the implicated banks.
In addition to their speculative activity, the banks have become significant equity holders in non-banking sectors. They play a major role in cutting labor costs as a route for maximizing short-term profits as the expense of long-term investments in research and technology. Finally the most lucrative and dynamic source of speculative profits is in overseas expansion, particularly in Europe and especially in Asia. For example, Lehman Brothers announced in mid-March 2006 an "aggressive expansion in Asia. While overall revenues were up 17%, overseas revenues rose 30%, while Asian revenues rose by 67%. David Goldfarb, Chief Administrative Officer stated that Asian expansion was Lehman's "number one priority". All the major banks have or are in the process of securing beachheads in the banking sectors of China and India Financial imperialism is becoming a major vehicle for market-driven empire building in the 21st Century.
Finance Capital: Political Power and Economic Policy
Financial capital wields enormous power over government economic policy through its direct representation in the controlling body of US monetary policy via the President and Executive Board of the Federal Reserve. The key explicit criteria for the appointment of the President of the Federal Reserve is the "confidence", close ties and solid relations which the candidate has with Wall Street. The same criteria are applied to all the key economic appointees, including Treasury, Commerce, World Bank and International Monetary Fund. Long time Federal Reserve President Greenspan was highly respected and lauded not for his abysmal economic performance but for his favorable policies to Wall Street Bankers. Under Greenspan's Presidency, the US economy de-industrialized, accumulated huge trade and budget deficits and went through two speculative bubbles (information technology and savings and loans). He presided over an economy which reached unprecedented levels of public debt - doubling in five years. Greenspan's backing of Bush's tax cuts for the rich (income, capital gains etc) contributed to the huge budget deficit and widening inequalities. His policy of low interest rates fueled the speculative bubbles at the expense of productive investments. His backing for unregulated capital (dubbed "globalization") led to the re-location of US multi-nationals abroad (many of whom export to the US and led to huge trade and balance of payment deficits. Yet all these policies which led to the disastrous state of the national economy, created extraordinarily favorable conditions for the domestic and international expansion of finance capital, as well as the concentration and centralization of banks into ten controlling units.
Wall Street's impact on the economy and social structure can be best illustrated by examining New York City - its center of operation. The distribution of assets in New York City is among the most unequal in the world. Slightly over 1% of the population control over 80% of the assets - comparable to land inequalities in Guatemala and Brazil . Secondly, Wall Street is closely tied to real estate capital in New York , and both were instrumental in raising property values and rents, leading to the destruction of over 500,000 manufacturing jobs over the past three decades. Most of the former industrial properties were "redeveloped" to provide office space for finance related activities and high end housing for wealthy financiers. New York Senator Schumer, a notorious backer of Wall Street, leads the US in scapegoating China for the loss of manufacturing jobs, ignoring the essential role of finance - real estate in deliberately destroying the manufacturing sector in New York City . Of course, the demise of manufacturers in New York city was not only due to finance capital; the local garment capitalists and the trade unions were also partly responsible. The former relied on low-wage labor to compete - a losing proposition against China - instead of upgrading its technology, computerizing design and production and specializing in high-end products. The trade unions (International Ladies Garment Workers Union - ILGWU, later re-named UNITE) reinforced the failed cheap labor strategy of garment bosses, by discretely allowing de facto wages to fall below the minimum wage and what was stipulated in collective bargaining contracts. No doubt the ethnic-class differences between the six-figure salaried Jewish labor bosses and the low-paid Asian and Latino workers and the common class-ethnic positions of the labor bosses and the manufacturers facilitated these failed policies: loss of manufacturing competitiveness and loss of jobs for workers.
Finance Capital and the War in the Middle East
Finance capital was until recently predominantly made up of white Protestants and Jews. In the most recent period, Wall Street's ethnic and religious base has broadened as corporate capital has taken over from family-owned banks. Nevertheless among the new generation of upwardly mobile speculators, there is a pronounced disproportion of individuals of Jewish origin, who are not necessarily religious or involved in Jewish or Israeli communal activities, fund raising or politics. Nevertheless a significant affluent minority of prominent Jewish banking and real estate millionaires are active in financing and promoting Israeli policy either directly or through the key pro-Israel lobbies like AIPAC and the President of the Major Jewish Organizations. These lobbies have been in the forefront of promoting the Iraq War, a boycott or military attack on Iran and the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. The political muscle of this minority of Israel-First wealthy Jewish financiers is not countered by any countervailing organization by other Jewish financial bankers or for that matter by Gentile, Muslim or Hindu financial tycoons. Through the political use of their wealth, strategic location and high status, this minority of politically active financiers is in a position to establish the parameters and policies of Middle East policies vie their dominant role in funding political parties (especially the Democratic Party), candidates and congressional representative.
The Jewish and Gentile critics of the war deliberately exclude the role of the minority of wealthy Jews and their political lobbies in shaping US policy in the Middle East by focusing on the US and overseas oil companies ("No blood for oil!"). There is an abundance of evidence for the past 15 years that:
1.2.3.4. A thorough search through the publications and lobbying activities of the oil industry and the pro-Israel lobbies over the past decade reveals an overwhelming amount of documentation demonstrating that the Jewish lobbies were far more pro-war than the oil industry. Moreover the public records of the oil industry demonstrate a high level of economic co-operation with all the Arab states and increasing market integration. In contrast the public pronouncements, publications and activities of the most economically powerful and influential pro-Israel Jewish lobbies were directed toward increasing US government hostility to the Arab countries, including maximum pressure in favor of the war in Iraq, a boycott or military attack on Iran and US backing for Israeli assassination and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.
The most striking illustration of Jewish power in shaping US policy in the Middle East against the interest of Big Oil is demonstrated in US-Iran policy. As the Financial Times notes: "International oil companies are putting multi-billion dollar projects in Iran on hold, concerned about the diplomatic standoff (sic - US economic-military threats) over the country's nuclear program" (FT March 18/19, 2006 p.1). Despite the fact that billions of dollars in oil, gas and petrochemical contracts are in play, the pro-Israel lobby has influenced Congress to bar all major US oil companies from investing in Iran . Through its all out campaign in the US Congress and Administration, the US-Jewish-Israeli lobby has created a war-like climate which now goes counter to the interests of all the world's major oil companies including BP, the UK-based gas company, SASOL (South Africa, Royal Dutch Shell, Total of France and others.
The myth of "war for oil" is circulated by almost all the major progressive Jewish intellectuals and parroted by their Gentile followers, who are in word and deed prohibited from mentioning the AIPAC word in any public meetings or manifestos. The power of the minority of politically active Jewish financiers in the pro-Israel lobby is spreading far beyond the area of US foreign policy into the cultural, academic and economic life of the US. Three major events immediately come to mind.
In New York City, a major theater production of the life of Rachael Corrie, an American humanitarian volunteer murdered in the Occupied Territories by an Israeli Defense Force soldier driving a bulldozer, was cancelled because of Jewish pressure and financial threats. The theater admitted that the cancellation had to do with the "sensitivities" (and pocket book) of the issue to Israel-Firsters. The pro-Israel lobby's defense and support of a minority opinion in favor of Middle East aggression is now extending its authoritarian reach into undermining the basic freedoms of American to free and open expression.
The second example of the growing tyranny of the pro-Israel minority over our civil liberties is the virulent campaign waged by all the major Jewish publications and pro-Israel organizations against a well-documented essay written by Professor Walt of Harvard and Professor Mearsheimer of University of Chicago critical of the lobby's influence on US Middle East policy. From the ultra-rightwing Orthodox Jewish Press (which claims to be the largest "independent" Jewish newspaper in the US), to the formerly Social Democratic Forward, to the Jewish Weekly , all have launched together with all the major Jewish organizations, a propaganda campaign of defamation ("the new Protocols of Zion", "anti-Semitic", "sources from Neo-Nazi websites.") and pressure for their purge from academia. The Jewish authoritarians have already partially succeeded. Their press releases have been published by the mass media without allowing for rebuttal by the academics under attack. Harvard University has demanded the identification of the Harvard Kennedy School be removed from the paper. The financier of the professorial chair (in his name) which Professor Walt, as academic dean, occupies at the Harvard Kennedy School, is no longer mentioned it in his publication. Ultra-Zionist Professor Dershowitz and his fellow Harvard zealots call into question their moral and academic qualification to teach. Both in the United States and France , legislation is being prepared to equate anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism and to criminalize as a 'hate crime' the free expression of outrage over Israeli atrocities and any criticism of the Lobby's control of US Middle East policy. In the US , the proposed legislation would take the form of withdrawing federal funding from any academic institution where the policies of Israel are criticized. As yet there is no organized opposition in the US by Jewish or Gentile academics or journalists to this erosion of free expression or a defense of the integrity of the two critics of the Lobby. There is no group of Jewish investors or financiers willing to fund a civil rights campaign in defense of free speech, academic and artistic freedom, to counter the minority Zionist financial elite. It is business as usual.
Some Myths and a Few Insights: Capitalism and War
In addition to the myth of the "war for oil" there are several facile misconceptions:
Myth 1) - the dominance of financial capital leads to war: There is no evidence that financial capital performs better under war time conditions than in peace. In fact recent history demonstrates that 'crisis' provokes market volatility and sudden disruption which prejudices important financial 'bets' even as other benefits. Most of financial profits accrue from mergers and acquisitions with tend to increase due to competitive market conditions - not wars. The financiers who support war do so for their own personal-ideological reasons, ethnic identification and usually do so via ethnic-affiliated organizations not through financial associations. Thus the big contributions by a minority of Jewish financiers to the pro-war Zionist lobbies have less to do with their class affiliation and more to do with their identification with Israel First organizations.
Myth 2) - While financiers are a major funding source for the bellicose pro-Israel lobbies and their congressional spokespeople, they are a minority among Jewish investment bankers, whose prime concern is maximizing the earnings of their banks and hence their incomes, and engaging in many non-Jewish social cultural and professional activities. Over half do not even marry within the Jewish community.
Myth 3) - Many writers cite polls which suggest that most Jews, like other Americans now oppose the Iraq war. The fact remains however that they are not willing to criticize the pro-war Jewish lobby or to mention Israel 's involvement in precipitating the war through its occupation of Palestine .
Myth 4)- The pro-Israel lobby is just like many other lobbies. The Jewish pro-Israel lobby is uniquely powerful because it commands a vast network of grass roots organizations,150 full-time functionaries in Washington operating under discipline and commitment to a foreign power, Israel . Moreover the lobby is financed by wealthy individuals in highly lucrative growth sectors (such as in the banking sector). Thirdly its long established reputation of threats and rewards to recalcitrant and to loyal Congress people, executives and opinion makers makes it an extraordinary and dangerous lobby.
Conclusion
The ascendancy of finance capital and its influence over US economic policy has had major, largely negative, consequences for the US economy, especially our living standards, external accounts and budget. The deregulated financial markets have led to record profits for Wall Street but it has also led to a series of speculative bubbles, which have bankrupted millions of retail investors.
The loss of US industrial competitiveness is largely the result of the transfer of capital from productive innovations which increase competitiveness to speculative activity several times removed from the actual production of goods and services. "Derivative" and "Hedge funds" now equal the size of the US economy at $12 trillion dollars a financial collapse waiting to happen. Financial capital in its most advanced stage of derivatives is based on bets on bets on bets which have vastly increased the likelihood of economic collapse even as it widens the chasm between bankers and wage earners.
The political power of finance capital has been exercised in the realm of economic policy and executive appointments; it has not been directly involved in formulating or benefiting from the war policies. However it has been compatible, supportive and benefited from its close ties and relations with the militarist policy elite in Congress and the Executive. The relation is mutually supportive. The Executive deregulates financial markets, lowers taxes, cuts social spending, appoints Wall Street friendly Federal Reserve Presidents, and in exchange Wall Street supports the imperial war ministers in the Cabinet and in Congress.
Investment banks have been deeply involved in recycling Arab petroleum funds and engaging in large-scale mergers and acquisitions in the Middle East, while a minority but deeply engaged Jewish financiers have funded the pro-Israel lobbies pushing for a more bellicose US policy toward the Arab and Islamic world.
Wall Street's position on the erosion of democratic freedoms has ranged from ambiguous to authoritarian. While backing the Administration's Patriot Act, they opposed the blocking of Dubai 's purchase of US port terminal management. While an active minority backed the banning of the Rachael Corrie theater production and funds pro-Israel organizations attempting to purge academics critical of Israel , the majority look on with indifference.
Rising authoritarianism and lucrative financial profiteering are compatible with the ascendancy of finance capital.
The facts cannot be denied -and they are in teh right context- nor "demagogued around" as some might try.
One can agree or disagree with his exposure of events, but there is one constant, it is the truth all around his esay.
His comments are based in the present events.
His exposure is candid and his comand of a good penmanship demostrates us how little we do to assert reality. We have become sheeps at large, his challenge is to stop radicalism and start looking at a better view of humanity and its interactions and accept the facts, it is time for a reinassance of questioning power.
Enjony it !!!!
The Ascendancy of Finance Capital: Record Profits and Rising Authoritarianism
By James Petras
Mar 30, 2006, 08:19
Email this article Printer friendly page
No sector of the US economy, in recent years, can match the rate and size of profit which have accrued to the biggest financial institutions. For the first quarter of February 2006, Goldman Sachs (GS) broke Wall Street records by reporting new profits of $2.48 billion dollars (annualized at over $10 billion dollars). Earnings were up 64% over the same period last year (which was also a very lucrative year). Return on equity rose to 38.8%, topping the record for a top investment house. Total revenues rose $10.3 billion dollars. GS has had record earnings in five of the past nine quarters (Financial Times (FT) 3/15/2006, p 1). Morgan Stanley reported a 17% increase in net income to $1.64 billion dollars for its first quarter in February 2006. Revenues rose by 24% compared to 19.7% last year. Lehman Brothers reported a 24% increase in profits in the first quarter to Feb. 2006 to a record $1.1 billion dollars. Revenues increased 17% to $4.5 billion dollars. Bear Stearns (BS) joined the dance of the billions of Wall Street, reporting first quarter profits of $514 million dollars; earnings were up 34% from the year earlier. BS new revenues grew 19% to $2.3 billion, while return on stockholders equity rose 20.1% in the first quarter of 2006. The combined profits of these 4 banks total $5.73 billion dollars for the quarter November 2005 - February 2006, or $22.9 billion annually - and that does not include the profits for three of the top 5 banks (Citigroup, JP Morgan and Merrill Lynch) whose quarter runs January to March 2006, which are expected to have equally high returns, doubling the new profits to over $12 billion dollars for the first quarter and increasing profits to nearly $50 billion for 2006.
No other sector of the economy can boast such high rates of return, nor can any top seven enterprises even approach the record profits. The banks draw their biggest profits in facilitating the concentration and centralization of capital (dubbed "mergers and acquisitions"), charging lucrative fees for "advising" and underwriting bonds to fund the mergers and acquisitions. The second source of profits is speculating, including debt trading, betting on global equity markets - especially in energy where Goldman and Morgan "have been making a fortune in recent quarters".
While US consumers, demagogic politicians and anti-war activists have blamed the oil producing countries, they have entirely overlooked the big speculative banks in pushing up the price of oil.
The key political point is that the driving force of the most important economic sector - services - in the US is the financial sector, the one least engaged in productive activity, meaning production of goods and services for the population. Moreover its high profits, the astronomical bonuses and income of its leading elites, and its role in promoting the concentration of capital play a major role in increasing income inequalities. The costs they impose on enterprises for their "services" contribute to indebtedness which in turn leads to massive layoffs, reduction in health and pension benefits, as part of the "advisory" messages of the implicated banks.
In addition to their speculative activity, the banks have become significant equity holders in non-banking sectors. They play a major role in cutting labor costs as a route for maximizing short-term profits as the expense of long-term investments in research and technology. Finally the most lucrative and dynamic source of speculative profits is in overseas expansion, particularly in Europe and especially in Asia. For example, Lehman Brothers announced in mid-March 2006 an "aggressive expansion in Asia. While overall revenues were up 17%, overseas revenues rose 30%, while Asian revenues rose by 67%. David Goldfarb, Chief Administrative Officer stated that Asian expansion was Lehman's "number one priority". All the major banks have or are in the process of securing beachheads in the banking sectors of China and India Financial imperialism is becoming a major vehicle for market-driven empire building in the 21st Century.
Finance Capital: Political Power and Economic Policy
Financial capital wields enormous power over government economic policy through its direct representation in the controlling body of US monetary policy via the President and Executive Board of the Federal Reserve. The key explicit criteria for the appointment of the President of the Federal Reserve is the "confidence", close ties and solid relations which the candidate has with Wall Street. The same criteria are applied to all the key economic appointees, including Treasury, Commerce, World Bank and International Monetary Fund. Long time Federal Reserve President Greenspan was highly respected and lauded not for his abysmal economic performance but for his favorable policies to Wall Street Bankers. Under Greenspan's Presidency, the US economy de-industrialized, accumulated huge trade and budget deficits and went through two speculative bubbles (information technology and savings and loans). He presided over an economy which reached unprecedented levels of public debt - doubling in five years. Greenspan's backing of Bush's tax cuts for the rich (income, capital gains etc) contributed to the huge budget deficit and widening inequalities. His policy of low interest rates fueled the speculative bubbles at the expense of productive investments. His backing for unregulated capital (dubbed "globalization") led to the re-location of US multi-nationals abroad (many of whom export to the US and led to huge trade and balance of payment deficits. Yet all these policies which led to the disastrous state of the national economy, created extraordinarily favorable conditions for the domestic and international expansion of finance capital, as well as the concentration and centralization of banks into ten controlling units.
Wall Street's impact on the economy and social structure can be best illustrated by examining New York City - its center of operation. The distribution of assets in New York City is among the most unequal in the world. Slightly over 1% of the population control over 80% of the assets - comparable to land inequalities in Guatemala and Brazil . Secondly, Wall Street is closely tied to real estate capital in New York , and both were instrumental in raising property values and rents, leading to the destruction of over 500,000 manufacturing jobs over the past three decades. Most of the former industrial properties were "redeveloped" to provide office space for finance related activities and high end housing for wealthy financiers. New York Senator Schumer, a notorious backer of Wall Street, leads the US in scapegoating China for the loss of manufacturing jobs, ignoring the essential role of finance - real estate in deliberately destroying the manufacturing sector in New York City . Of course, the demise of manufacturers in New York city was not only due to finance capital; the local garment capitalists and the trade unions were also partly responsible. The former relied on low-wage labor to compete - a losing proposition against China - instead of upgrading its technology, computerizing design and production and specializing in high-end products. The trade unions (International Ladies Garment Workers Union - ILGWU, later re-named UNITE) reinforced the failed cheap labor strategy of garment bosses, by discretely allowing de facto wages to fall below the minimum wage and what was stipulated in collective bargaining contracts. No doubt the ethnic-class differences between the six-figure salaried Jewish labor bosses and the low-paid Asian and Latino workers and the common class-ethnic positions of the labor bosses and the manufacturers facilitated these failed policies: loss of manufacturing competitiveness and loss of jobs for workers.
Finance Capital and the War in the Middle East
Finance capital was until recently predominantly made up of white Protestants and Jews. In the most recent period, Wall Street's ethnic and religious base has broadened as corporate capital has taken over from family-owned banks. Nevertheless among the new generation of upwardly mobile speculators, there is a pronounced disproportion of individuals of Jewish origin, who are not necessarily religious or involved in Jewish or Israeli communal activities, fund raising or politics. Nevertheless a significant affluent minority of prominent Jewish banking and real estate millionaires are active in financing and promoting Israeli policy either directly or through the key pro-Israel lobbies like AIPAC and the President of the Major Jewish Organizations. These lobbies have been in the forefront of promoting the Iraq War, a boycott or military attack on Iran and the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. The political muscle of this minority of Israel-First wealthy Jewish financiers is not countered by any countervailing organization by other Jewish financial bankers or for that matter by Gentile, Muslim or Hindu financial tycoons. Through the political use of their wealth, strategic location and high status, this minority of politically active financiers is in a position to establish the parameters and policies of Middle East policies vie their dominant role in funding political parties (especially the Democratic Party), candidates and congressional representative.
The Jewish and Gentile critics of the war deliberately exclude the role of the minority of wealthy Jews and their political lobbies in shaping US policy in the Middle East by focusing on the US and overseas oil companies ("No blood for oil!"). There is an abundance of evidence for the past 15 years that:
1.2.3.4. A thorough search through the publications and lobbying activities of the oil industry and the pro-Israel lobbies over the past decade reveals an overwhelming amount of documentation demonstrating that the Jewish lobbies were far more pro-war than the oil industry. Moreover the public records of the oil industry demonstrate a high level of economic co-operation with all the Arab states and increasing market integration. In contrast the public pronouncements, publications and activities of the most economically powerful and influential pro-Israel Jewish lobbies were directed toward increasing US government hostility to the Arab countries, including maximum pressure in favor of the war in Iraq, a boycott or military attack on Iran and US backing for Israeli assassination and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.
The most striking illustration of Jewish power in shaping US policy in the Middle East against the interest of Big Oil is demonstrated in US-Iran policy. As the Financial Times notes: "International oil companies are putting multi-billion dollar projects in Iran on hold, concerned about the diplomatic standoff (sic - US economic-military threats) over the country's nuclear program" (FT March 18/19, 2006 p.1). Despite the fact that billions of dollars in oil, gas and petrochemical contracts are in play, the pro-Israel lobby has influenced Congress to bar all major US oil companies from investing in Iran . Through its all out campaign in the US Congress and Administration, the US-Jewish-Israeli lobby has created a war-like climate which now goes counter to the interests of all the world's major oil companies including BP, the UK-based gas company, SASOL (South Africa, Royal Dutch Shell, Total of France and others.
The myth of "war for oil" is circulated by almost all the major progressive Jewish intellectuals and parroted by their Gentile followers, who are in word and deed prohibited from mentioning the AIPAC word in any public meetings or manifestos. The power of the minority of politically active Jewish financiers in the pro-Israel lobby is spreading far beyond the area of US foreign policy into the cultural, academic and economic life of the US. Three major events immediately come to mind.
In New York City, a major theater production of the life of Rachael Corrie, an American humanitarian volunteer murdered in the Occupied Territories by an Israeli Defense Force soldier driving a bulldozer, was cancelled because of Jewish pressure and financial threats. The theater admitted that the cancellation had to do with the "sensitivities" (and pocket book) of the issue to Israel-Firsters. The pro-Israel lobby's defense and support of a minority opinion in favor of Middle East aggression is now extending its authoritarian reach into undermining the basic freedoms of American to free and open expression.
The second example of the growing tyranny of the pro-Israel minority over our civil liberties is the virulent campaign waged by all the major Jewish publications and pro-Israel organizations against a well-documented essay written by Professor Walt of Harvard and Professor Mearsheimer of University of Chicago critical of the lobby's influence on US Middle East policy. From the ultra-rightwing Orthodox Jewish Press (which claims to be the largest "independent" Jewish newspaper in the US), to the formerly Social Democratic Forward, to the Jewish Weekly , all have launched together with all the major Jewish organizations, a propaganda campaign of defamation ("the new Protocols of Zion", "anti-Semitic", "sources from Neo-Nazi websites.") and pressure for their purge from academia. The Jewish authoritarians have already partially succeeded. Their press releases have been published by the mass media without allowing for rebuttal by the academics under attack. Harvard University has demanded the identification of the Harvard Kennedy School be removed from the paper. The financier of the professorial chair (in his name) which Professor Walt, as academic dean, occupies at the Harvard Kennedy School, is no longer mentioned it in his publication. Ultra-Zionist Professor Dershowitz and his fellow Harvard zealots call into question their moral and academic qualification to teach. Both in the United States and France , legislation is being prepared to equate anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism and to criminalize as a 'hate crime' the free expression of outrage over Israeli atrocities and any criticism of the Lobby's control of US Middle East policy. In the US , the proposed legislation would take the form of withdrawing federal funding from any academic institution where the policies of Israel are criticized. As yet there is no organized opposition in the US by Jewish or Gentile academics or journalists to this erosion of free expression or a defense of the integrity of the two critics of the Lobby. There is no group of Jewish investors or financiers willing to fund a civil rights campaign in defense of free speech, academic and artistic freedom, to counter the minority Zionist financial elite. It is business as usual.
Some Myths and a Few Insights: Capitalism and War
In addition to the myth of the "war for oil" there are several facile misconceptions:
Myth 1) - the dominance of financial capital leads to war: There is no evidence that financial capital performs better under war time conditions than in peace. In fact recent history demonstrates that 'crisis' provokes market volatility and sudden disruption which prejudices important financial 'bets' even as other benefits. Most of financial profits accrue from mergers and acquisitions with tend to increase due to competitive market conditions - not wars. The financiers who support war do so for their own personal-ideological reasons, ethnic identification and usually do so via ethnic-affiliated organizations not through financial associations. Thus the big contributions by a minority of Jewish financiers to the pro-war Zionist lobbies have less to do with their class affiliation and more to do with their identification with Israel First organizations.
Myth 2) - While financiers are a major funding source for the bellicose pro-Israel lobbies and their congressional spokespeople, they are a minority among Jewish investment bankers, whose prime concern is maximizing the earnings of their banks and hence their incomes, and engaging in many non-Jewish social cultural and professional activities. Over half do not even marry within the Jewish community.
Myth 3) - Many writers cite polls which suggest that most Jews, like other Americans now oppose the Iraq war. The fact remains however that they are not willing to criticize the pro-war Jewish lobby or to mention Israel 's involvement in precipitating the war through its occupation of Palestine .
Myth 4)- The pro-Israel lobby is just like many other lobbies. The Jewish pro-Israel lobby is uniquely powerful because it commands a vast network of grass roots organizations,150 full-time functionaries in Washington operating under discipline and commitment to a foreign power, Israel . Moreover the lobby is financed by wealthy individuals in highly lucrative growth sectors (such as in the banking sector). Thirdly its long established reputation of threats and rewards to recalcitrant and to loyal Congress people, executives and opinion makers makes it an extraordinary and dangerous lobby.
Conclusion
The ascendancy of finance capital and its influence over US economic policy has had major, largely negative, consequences for the US economy, especially our living standards, external accounts and budget. The deregulated financial markets have led to record profits for Wall Street but it has also led to a series of speculative bubbles, which have bankrupted millions of retail investors.
The loss of US industrial competitiveness is largely the result of the transfer of capital from productive innovations which increase competitiveness to speculative activity several times removed from the actual production of goods and services. "Derivative" and "Hedge funds" now equal the size of the US economy at $12 trillion dollars a financial collapse waiting to happen. Financial capital in its most advanced stage of derivatives is based on bets on bets on bets which have vastly increased the likelihood of economic collapse even as it widens the chasm between bankers and wage earners.
The political power of finance capital has been exercised in the realm of economic policy and executive appointments; it has not been directly involved in formulating or benefiting from the war policies. However it has been compatible, supportive and benefited from its close ties and relations with the militarist policy elite in Congress and the Executive. The relation is mutually supportive. The Executive deregulates financial markets, lowers taxes, cuts social spending, appoints Wall Street friendly Federal Reserve Presidents, and in exchange Wall Street supports the imperial war ministers in the Cabinet and in Congress.
Investment banks have been deeply involved in recycling Arab petroleum funds and engaging in large-scale mergers and acquisitions in the Middle East, while a minority but deeply engaged Jewish financiers have funded the pro-Israel lobbies pushing for a more bellicose US policy toward the Arab and Islamic world.
Wall Street's position on the erosion of democratic freedoms has ranged from ambiguous to authoritarian. While backing the Administration's Patriot Act, they opposed the blocking of Dubai 's purchase of US port terminal management. While an active minority backed the banning of the Rachael Corrie theater production and funds pro-Israel organizations attempting to purge academics critical of Israel , the majority look on with indifference.
Rising authoritarianism and lucrative financial profiteering are compatible with the ascendancy of finance capital.
Sunday, April 23, 2006
CEO Hiperpay Debate and Outrage
The big debate and outrage that is should not be. If laws are proper and decent.
CEO's pay and Board of Directors deaf ears from owners proposals, who are screaming for lower pay will be hear if fair laws are put in place, but politicos, specially those of the Great Oily Parties own their alligance to who they are on lease for the present time. The great corrupters group of industrialists. The Atlanta Journal Constitution has small caption on their editorial side with the title " The Robber Baron Of The Week." Something that it might help to chenge the tide of this pay abuse if more newspapers, TV, radio will start to follow suit of the AJC.
By now, most people are agreeing about CEO’s pay has taken a path of no return with an arrogant stance of super-individuals who happen to be salaried, but hey! that is not more or less than the rest of us believe how things should be. We are encourage to behave in a nationalistic environment in a Darwinian line of thought with the big eat small or else and greed is good, or once a week soul scrapping of six of sin, when it should be all the opposing sin one day and sanctified the other six.
Now, the solution to the absurdity of CEO’s pay is simple, tax all salaries equally and stop subsidizing with tax payers money the salaries of CEOs.
What I mean by that is simple. The CEO’s pay is tax deductible to the corporations and that includes the top three C’s of the company, so ultimately is a political problem, and is up to the legislators to act and the voters to demand change from their legislators.
The taxpayers actually are the ones subsidizing the salaries of the top dogs at corporations.
The solution is simple tell your elected officials to introduce legislation to eliminate this tax break and pilfering of people’s assets.
Not a complicated issue.
If options granting is the problem, make the options taxable at the present stock value to the corporation, and let the Board of Directors explain to shareholders why they are paying taxes when they can actually save the corporation money with decent competitive salaries.
Today those CEO’s salaries are indecent.
The solution to get them in line is easy, let’s get this indecent situation in line.
We all need to talk about it and if choose stand up, you can write or speak with your elected officials, tell them they should eliminate the tax break for CEO’s salaries as a corporate benefit. Get all salaries at present tax value like everybody else, and that should include options taxed at present stock value.
Not a difficult thing to do, one less tax law.
Gosh if we could eliminate around 500 laws a year instead of writing 500 laws a year.
We all should know that 95% of the laws written are to provide less than 5% of the population some economic incentive –aka wealth transfer from poor to rich- and the other 4% are patches to old laws and 1% are social laws as the Patriot Act which was not read by 99.5 of those who vote it for it.
Doing nothing and apathy brings you these situations.
CEO's pay and Board of Directors deaf ears from owners proposals, who are screaming for lower pay will be hear if fair laws are put in place, but politicos, specially those of the Great Oily Parties own their alligance to who they are on lease for the present time. The great corrupters group of industrialists. The Atlanta Journal Constitution has small caption on their editorial side with the title " The Robber Baron Of The Week." Something that it might help to chenge the tide of this pay abuse if more newspapers, TV, radio will start to follow suit of the AJC.
By now, most people are agreeing about CEO’s pay has taken a path of no return with an arrogant stance of super-individuals who happen to be salaried, but hey! that is not more or less than the rest of us believe how things should be. We are encourage to behave in a nationalistic environment in a Darwinian line of thought with the big eat small or else and greed is good, or once a week soul scrapping of six of sin, when it should be all the opposing sin one day and sanctified the other six.
Now, the solution to the absurdity of CEO’s pay is simple, tax all salaries equally and stop subsidizing with tax payers money the salaries of CEOs.
What I mean by that is simple. The CEO’s pay is tax deductible to the corporations and that includes the top three C’s of the company, so ultimately is a political problem, and is up to the legislators to act and the voters to demand change from their legislators.
The taxpayers actually are the ones subsidizing the salaries of the top dogs at corporations.
The solution is simple tell your elected officials to introduce legislation to eliminate this tax break and pilfering of people’s assets.
Not a complicated issue.
If options granting is the problem, make the options taxable at the present stock value to the corporation, and let the Board of Directors explain to shareholders why they are paying taxes when they can actually save the corporation money with decent competitive salaries.
Today those CEO’s salaries are indecent.
The solution to get them in line is easy, let’s get this indecent situation in line.
We all need to talk about it and if choose stand up, you can write or speak with your elected officials, tell them they should eliminate the tax break for CEO’s salaries as a corporate benefit. Get all salaries at present tax value like everybody else, and that should include options taxed at present stock value.
Not a difficult thing to do, one less tax law.
Gosh if we could eliminate around 500 laws a year instead of writing 500 laws a year.
We all should know that 95% of the laws written are to provide less than 5% of the population some economic incentive –aka wealth transfer from poor to rich- and the other 4% are patches to old laws and 1% are social laws as the Patriot Act which was not read by 99.5 of those who vote it for it.
Doing nothing and apathy brings you these situations.
Saturday, April 22, 2006
The Grand Oily Parties aka GOPs
What GOP Stands For
The Grand Oily Party
What the other party stand for
No synonym, thus stands for nothing
But behaves the same than the above party
When the present President was elected all voters identify him as an oil man, with not a single profitable company under his tenure.
A baseball team owner- it is in question who actually owned anything, with questionable track record.
Now, he had a clear path of family relations to rulers with power. We must call those fellows “who is who” ruling the planet inner circle.
Among those in the family inner circle is the famous “Prince Abdullah Bush” -as is known in the Bush family the Ruling Prince of Saudi Arabia, James Baker of Carlyle group (a money group that milks your taxes) a superb family friend and the lists goes on and on of no so lovely good fellows.
Most of the Bush friends come from the industrialist ruling power, great propagators of dictatorships, as the present President put it “ it will much easier for me if I was a dictator” a Freudian slip or a wish, you judge. But his present government circle led by VP Cheney should be of no doubt of the tendencies and techniques to government and the purposeful Orwellian language use should be a clue for their clear intents.
You will not find many middle class Americans “a la” Dennis Kucinich-like people in that circle of this powerful crowd but they befriend dictators but not elected officials that have real democratic popular process. This must be another clue.
There is a natural reason for such inclinations of power. Power is the natural brother of greed as such, people, who are alike joint their greed in purpose.
But the point is not who is on the list, but how great of a job has done delivering to its friends and constituency.
A few leaders around the planet, have indebted their national wealth to redistribute it among their constituency and trump the future of the rest of the people as this administration has done. It is the largest wealth transfer ever in the history of humans, there is not other phase in the earth records that one can take the proportions of wealth transfer taking from the poor and give to the powerful and rich as this past 5 years. No in vain you see all over articles about how the been rich is the fastest growing group, and the wealth of the richest 50000 families has growth at a rate of 14% annually for the past ten years and the wealth of the individuals in the country as a whole as grown at less than 0.5%. See the Census Bureau for this data from The Federal Reserve.
And the most interest thing is how the wealth transfer has occurred. For most people lower taxes are though out to be a good thing and in fact they are if they are applied properly. The nature of taxes needs to evolve to be a continues debate, but what taxes should be not is a tool to exploit the less vocal groups in society that want to live in peace and those who live in political apathy. That is what this government has done. But the Grand Oil Party and the other political ruling party, are not much different, one party does it unapologetically (GOP) and the other (?) has to compromise from all angles using demagoguery a little more but the result usually is the same.
The bottom line is simple. The Grand Oil Party knows how to deliver to the rich and the other one knows who to deliver to the rich quietly and with much less propaganda.
If you really feel like do something, check out your local politico list, show up at your local political party meetings of all sides and give them your piece of mind. It is not difficult and it creates opinion. If you feel more like a couch potato, well, expect more of the same, but while you are in the couch, write to your opinion to your local paper.
The Grand Oily Party
What the other party stand for
No synonym, thus stands for nothing
But behaves the same than the above party
When the present President was elected all voters identify him as an oil man, with not a single profitable company under his tenure.
A baseball team owner- it is in question who actually owned anything, with questionable track record.
Now, he had a clear path of family relations to rulers with power. We must call those fellows “who is who” ruling the planet inner circle.
Among those in the family inner circle is the famous “Prince Abdullah Bush” -as is known in the Bush family the Ruling Prince of Saudi Arabia, James Baker of Carlyle group (a money group that milks your taxes) a superb family friend and the lists goes on and on of no so lovely good fellows.
Most of the Bush friends come from the industrialist ruling power, great propagators of dictatorships, as the present President put it “ it will much easier for me if I was a dictator” a Freudian slip or a wish, you judge. But his present government circle led by VP Cheney should be of no doubt of the tendencies and techniques to government and the purposeful Orwellian language use should be a clue for their clear intents.
You will not find many middle class Americans “a la” Dennis Kucinich-like people in that circle of this powerful crowd but they befriend dictators but not elected officials that have real democratic popular process. This must be another clue.
There is a natural reason for such inclinations of power. Power is the natural brother of greed as such, people, who are alike joint their greed in purpose.
But the point is not who is on the list, but how great of a job has done delivering to its friends and constituency.
A few leaders around the planet, have indebted their national wealth to redistribute it among their constituency and trump the future of the rest of the people as this administration has done. It is the largest wealth transfer ever in the history of humans, there is not other phase in the earth records that one can take the proportions of wealth transfer taking from the poor and give to the powerful and rich as this past 5 years. No in vain you see all over articles about how the been rich is the fastest growing group, and the wealth of the richest 50000 families has growth at a rate of 14% annually for the past ten years and the wealth of the individuals in the country as a whole as grown at less than 0.5%. See the Census Bureau for this data from The Federal Reserve.
And the most interest thing is how the wealth transfer has occurred. For most people lower taxes are though out to be a good thing and in fact they are if they are applied properly. The nature of taxes needs to evolve to be a continues debate, but what taxes should be not is a tool to exploit the less vocal groups in society that want to live in peace and those who live in political apathy. That is what this government has done. But the Grand Oil Party and the other political ruling party, are not much different, one party does it unapologetically (GOP) and the other (?) has to compromise from all angles using demagoguery a little more but the result usually is the same.
The bottom line is simple. The Grand Oil Party knows how to deliver to the rich and the other one knows who to deliver to the rich quietly and with much less propaganda.
If you really feel like do something, check out your local politico list, show up at your local political party meetings of all sides and give them your piece of mind. It is not difficult and it creates opinion. If you feel more like a couch potato, well, expect more of the same, but while you are in the couch, write to your opinion to your local paper.
Thursday, April 20, 2006
How is your CPI "baby"
www.fed.gov
Is your CPI 3.5%? If not go figure it out.
This condition does not require medicine, but it is very important for your wallet and your investments.
The Federal Reserve and the Government continue to release data showing that Inflation and the Consumer Price index are at a low in the range of 3.5%. Is that the truth and the numbers are a reflection of something? The fact of the reporting on those numbers is as fictional as a novel. The Federal and Government around the planet interpretation of inflation and Consumer Price Index have nothing to do with people’s economics, and that is what they suppose to reflect, the people behavior and capital cost with the median of spending habits in mind. Basically, reflect the increase in costs in people’s expenditures.
Is your inflation and CPI at 3.5%?
Most likely your real and most of Americans CPI is in the range of 7% and in some cases if you have kids your personal CPI could be as high as 25%.
You might wonder why the government will cook this numbers, as if they were Enron. Simply put if it is a devil agreement of economists to keep it quiet and those who control government. If they announce the real CPI, people will realize that their salaries will have to increase, pensions will have to be adjusted, labor contracts, you name it, the impact will be across the board and it will be a positive welcome to the most disadvantage people in society. Since when, any government will provide the most disadvantage people with anything unless it requires a fight. It will be a first.
Well, the only way to learn what is your real CPI is to have a control of your income and expenditures, but that will be too much to ask.
Simply look at the most direct needs of people data from the Federal Report:
Housing: up 18%
Gasoline and other oil derivatives: 32%
Food and staples: up 11%
Schools (colleges): up 12%
Decent Clothing: up 14%
Medical Costs: up 19%
Salaries up: 0.7 %
So if you are in the red by the end of the month. Maybe you need to start recording your expenses and income. As next step, bring those numbers to your elected people attention at the next town meeting. Who knows maybe the next your heard is that Congress is asking questions about how the CPI is calculated and salaries are up more than 0.7% or you keep losing ground every year it passes.
Thursday, April 13, 2006
Trees as Asset
One of my last investments is in a do good, feel good, make money investment that gets little publicity, it is called: high value trees.
After reading a few books about generational wealth preservation I found that they are a few consistent investments to have in your aim to preserve assets, and that included trees. I found the idea very compelling a basic to follow.
Basic things are not that difficult to apply but difficult to have broad market appeal. The example I used in the "billionaire donut."
Everybody knows that the number one creator of wealth is business ownership.
But most people decide for employement and leaves ownership aside, thus most becoming limted salary dependands. In that case the probality for wealth and education with substantial (100 million or more) assets is reduced to 1 in 1 million.
But the average person goal for money is more modest at one million to five million dollars by retirement age.
The magnificent thing is that not accounting for the value of their houses, 2 of every 100 of Americans have at least one million in assets.
The next stepping stone to wealth will be if you are part of the present elite the haves and the haves more as Presdent bush called his base. Those are CEO's, large private owners basically 40,000 or so familes who control 72% of the total wealth. That's makes it easy to drop a shoe.
For me, to get to the average goal is where trees come to play.
The number one investment on preservation of wealth is hard assets, and trees are as hard as it gets. Blommberg Wealth Manager Magazine called high value trees the perfect asset for wealth growth.
My next important consideration is tax savings.
The assumption gave me a series of class assets to consider that appreciates and do not pay taxes while they increase in value.
For most of us, the imminent asset is real estate. It is the asset that most people held as primary residence. In this class the next investment that holds value is commercial investments and third is land between driving distance of growing areas. The past years with declining dollar value and low interest rates, we have created a new high in returns for real estate. Those forces pushing prices might not hold true for the next twenty years. The caveat here is that if the dollar continues its decline and the Federal Reserve decides to change stance in interests and starts a new reduction period it might allow the bubble to continue but the probability of that is nil, and the most probable is real estate might not appreciate above inflation. Real estate needs stabilization in prices. After it stabilizes from present prices and a new pool of new prospective owners will get rebuild, unless the growth of new immigrants and nativity rates are not encouraged.
The second asset that appreciates and does not get taxes while grows is wood in the form of trees.
Corporations might gain concession from governments to harvest and this will fail in the above business creation category.
For individuals the next most profitable way to invest is to own a parcel of good land, preferably buy land that allows the growth of endangered species of high valued trees, and fully managed, the alternative will be to find larger company that will manage and buy the harvests as the trees grow. The average growth of a well managed tree farm can be as high a 15% and as low as 5%. The median growth is more common and that is around 9% for tropical woods.
The obvious constant here is time. Most individuals who invest in managed tree farms should expect slow, very slow, a really very slow process of getting returns. But you can count that a well managed farm with average tree growth in the range of 8% after 13 years can become a very compelling investment.
As of today is difficult for individuals in the US to invest in small amounts in this kind of asset class, it is mostly reserved for the people or organizations with at least $5000 start up and more. The ideal would be to have register shares on these investments at value of around $10 with no dividend distributions. I am not sure if the cost of trading the shares will make it valuable enough, but I am considering is learning from companies in Holland, Sweden and many other countries in which investors have access to shares of sustainable profitable tropical rain forest investments.
Follow up to CEO Health Care
by Jon Kamp
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
CHICAGO (Dow Jones)--The federal government proposed stiff Medicare reimbursement cutbacks for heart products like pacemakers, defibrillators and stents, but the cuts may be softened before a new rule is officially determined later this year, clouding the potential impact for affected companies.
The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services' Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services late Wednesday proposed sweeping changes in a 1,200-page report on reimbursement rates for hospital impatient procedures. The changes are targeted at closing reimbursement loopholes used by specialty hospitals and trimming overall costs. The proposals are expected to be implemented in October.
The reimbursement cuts proposed for some of the hottest and most lucrative heart devices in the medical device sector were steeper than some on Wall Street were expecting. Proposed changes for orthopedic products like replacement hips and knees, on the other hand, were surprisingly moderate.
The proposed reimbursement cuts would hit coronary devices that are major revenue drivers for companies like Medtronic Inc. (MDT), Boston Scientific Corp. (BSX) and merger partner Guidant Corp. (GDT), St. Jude Medical Inc. (STJ), Johnson & Johnson (J&J) and others. The products include implanted devices that control heart beats and stents, the tiny mesh tubes used to prop open arteries.
The proposed reimbursement cuts for stents top 30%, Morgan Stanley analyst Glenn Reicin estimated, while the proposed cuts for implantable defibrillators top 20%, he said.
Despite the severity of the cuts, it's not yet clear exactly what impact the companies with heart products will feel going forward. According to Reicin, investors have already priced in expectations for heavy cuts, and even if "radical changes" do make it through a long period of haggling and commentary, they may effect hospitals more than device companies.
"We think it is unlikely that these changes will modify purchasing and demand characteristics of medical devices," Reicin said in a research note late Wednesday. "Hospitals have traditionally had little leverage in reducing device costs."
Some companies with a major stake in cororary devices were down in premarket trading Thursday. Boston Scientific recently traded down 3.7% at $21.35, St. Jude was recently down 4.3% at $35.25, J&J was recently off 18 cents at $57.69 and Medtronic was recently down 1.3% at $50.39.
If the proposed changes are really damaging for hospitals and utilization, "we think that changes will be scaled back and have little likelihood for implementation," Reicin said.
In a note early Thursday, Leerink Swann analyst Jason Wittes concurred. "There is room for negotiation, and the final codes will likely be less dramatic," he said.
Bank of America analyst Glenn Novarro noted some of the proposed changes "were far worse than expected," and suggested a potentially more damaging impact for affected companies. In a research note late Wednesday, Novarro said the cuts "would serve as a significant negative" for medical device stocks if enacted.
The impact was much less dramatic for major orthopedic companies, as the only sizable reduction was proposed for spinal procedures. Among major orthopedics firms, Zimmer Holdings Inc. (ZMH) recently rose 1.5% at $66.50 in premarket trade and Biomet Inc. (BMET) gained 1.6% at $38.75
Morgan Stanley has an ownership stake in Biomet, St. Jude and Boston Scientific. The bank has had an investment banking relationship with Guidant, Medtronic and Biomet.
Bank of America or an affiliate has an ownership stake in Guidant and Medtronic, and the bank has had a banking relationship with Boston Scientific, Guidant, Medtronic and St. Jude.
-By Jon Kamp; Dow Jones Newswires; 312-750-4129
jon.kamp@dowjones.com
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
CHICAGO (Dow Jones)--The federal government proposed stiff Medicare reimbursement cutbacks for heart products like pacemakers, defibrillators and stents, but the cuts may be softened before a new rule is officially determined later this year, clouding the potential impact for affected companies.
The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services' Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services late Wednesday proposed sweeping changes in a 1,200-page report on reimbursement rates for hospital impatient procedures. The changes are targeted at closing reimbursement loopholes used by specialty hospitals and trimming overall costs. The proposals are expected to be implemented in October.
The reimbursement cuts proposed for some of the hottest and most lucrative heart devices in the medical device sector were steeper than some on Wall Street were expecting. Proposed changes for orthopedic products like replacement hips and knees, on the other hand, were surprisingly moderate.
The proposed reimbursement cuts would hit coronary devices that are major revenue drivers for companies like Medtronic Inc. (MDT), Boston Scientific Corp. (BSX) and merger partner Guidant Corp. (GDT), St. Jude Medical Inc. (STJ), Johnson & Johnson (J&J) and others. The products include implanted devices that control heart beats and stents, the tiny mesh tubes used to prop open arteries.
The proposed reimbursement cuts for stents top 30%, Morgan Stanley analyst Glenn Reicin estimated, while the proposed cuts for implantable defibrillators top 20%, he said.
Despite the severity of the cuts, it's not yet clear exactly what impact the companies with heart products will feel going forward. According to Reicin, investors have already priced in expectations for heavy cuts, and even if "radical changes" do make it through a long period of haggling and commentary, they may effect hospitals more than device companies.
"We think it is unlikely that these changes will modify purchasing and demand characteristics of medical devices," Reicin said in a research note late Wednesday. "Hospitals have traditionally had little leverage in reducing device costs."
Some companies with a major stake in cororary devices were down in premarket trading Thursday. Boston Scientific recently traded down 3.7% at $21.35, St. Jude was recently down 4.3% at $35.25, J&J was recently off 18 cents at $57.69 and Medtronic was recently down 1.3% at $50.39.
If the proposed changes are really damaging for hospitals and utilization, "we think that changes will be scaled back and have little likelihood for implementation," Reicin said.
In a note early Thursday, Leerink Swann analyst Jason Wittes concurred. "There is room for negotiation, and the final codes will likely be less dramatic," he said.
Bank of America analyst Glenn Novarro noted some of the proposed changes "were far worse than expected," and suggested a potentially more damaging impact for affected companies. In a research note late Wednesday, Novarro said the cuts "would serve as a significant negative" for medical device stocks if enacted.
The impact was much less dramatic for major orthopedic companies, as the only sizable reduction was proposed for spinal procedures. Among major orthopedics firms, Zimmer Holdings Inc. (ZMH) recently rose 1.5% at $66.50 in premarket trade and Biomet Inc. (BMET) gained 1.6% at $38.75
Morgan Stanley has an ownership stake in Biomet, St. Jude and Boston Scientific. The bank has had an investment banking relationship with Guidant, Medtronic and Biomet.
Bank of America or an affiliate has an ownership stake in Guidant and Medtronic, and the bank has had a banking relationship with Boston Scientific, Guidant, Medtronic and St. Jude.
-By Jon Kamp; Dow Jones Newswires; 312-750-4129
jon.kamp@dowjones.com
PayWatch:
Insurance CEO Drives Down Everyone’s Care but His Own
by James Parks
When William McGuire retires as CEO of UnitedHealth Group, he won’t have to worry about his health care. His contract requires the insurance company pay for lifetime health care for him and his wife. Not that he really even needs help paying for health care: As of Dec. 31, 2004, McGuire had $1.1 billion in unexercised stock options and cashed out more than $114 million in stock options during 2004.
So why is McGuire working overtime to lower the quality of care for working Americans?
McGuire is a big player in pushing for health savings accounts (HSAs)—employment-based programs in which consumers pay for their own health care through accounts established with a set amount of money available. President George W. Bush has made such accounts a cornerstone of his so-called health care reforms.
McGuire and others are peddling HSAs as a way to cut back on health care costs—but in fact, consumers would bear the cost burden. In an HSA, consumers would face a minimum of a $2,000 deductible for a family, but as high as $10,000 in some cases—before their coverage actually kicks in.
While working families likely won’t benefit, big employers like UnitedHealth Group will because they can shed current health care costs by shifting workers into high-deductible plans.
In sum, HSAs will lower health care quality and raise premiums by increasing out-of-pocket expenses for workers, cause employers to shift costs to workers and encourage families to give up preventive care, which would increase the likelihood of serious illnesses.
McGuire also has the fourth highest pension deal among corporate CEOs, according to the newly released AFL-CIO Executive PayWatch, with a retirement package worth $5.1 million. Meanwhile, his 55,000 employees—like other employees across the nation—have no legal right to retiree health care coverage or pension benefits.
Meanwhile, UnitedHealth Group is one of the insurance companies that received quick federal approval to be the first Medicare drug discount card providers when Bush’s Medicare reform took effect.
Coincidentally…McGuire raised more than $100,000 for the Bush campaign.
by James Parks
When William McGuire retires as CEO of UnitedHealth Group, he won’t have to worry about his health care. His contract requires the insurance company pay for lifetime health care for him and his wife. Not that he really even needs help paying for health care: As of Dec. 31, 2004, McGuire had $1.1 billion in unexercised stock options and cashed out more than $114 million in stock options during 2004.
So why is McGuire working overtime to lower the quality of care for working Americans?
McGuire is a big player in pushing for health savings accounts (HSAs)—employment-based programs in which consumers pay for their own health care through accounts established with a set amount of money available. President George W. Bush has made such accounts a cornerstone of his so-called health care reforms.
McGuire and others are peddling HSAs as a way to cut back on health care costs—but in fact, consumers would bear the cost burden. In an HSA, consumers would face a minimum of a $2,000 deductible for a family, but as high as $10,000 in some cases—before their coverage actually kicks in.
While working families likely won’t benefit, big employers like UnitedHealth Group will because they can shed current health care costs by shifting workers into high-deductible plans.
In sum, HSAs will lower health care quality and raise premiums by increasing out-of-pocket expenses for workers, cause employers to shift costs to workers and encourage families to give up preventive care, which would increase the likelihood of serious illnesses.
McGuire also has the fourth highest pension deal among corporate CEOs, according to the newly released AFL-CIO Executive PayWatch, with a retirement package worth $5.1 million. Meanwhile, his 55,000 employees—like other employees across the nation—have no legal right to retiree health care coverage or pension benefits.
Meanwhile, UnitedHealth Group is one of the insurance companies that received quick federal approval to be the first Medicare drug discount card providers when Bush’s Medicare reform took effect.
Coincidentally…McGuire raised more than $100,000 for the Bush campaign.
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