I don't usually talk about the banking industry or government regulation even though I do have my opinions of both. However, now that the health care issue has been put more to the back burner than up front, financial regulation must be at hand.
I follow a blog from a guy in Cincinnati, OH where I have learned about derivatives, the bond markets and banking issues. I may comment on his site, and sometimes I may really really sound dumb but I learn. I definitely know more today than I did a year and a half ago. This gentleman has no agenda, he's retired. He isn't running for some office. All he wants is for the banking industry to get straightened out and the bad boys that don't play fare to go away. Check him out (http://moneyplusthoughts.blogspot.com/).
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/29/opinion/29krugman.html?emc=tnt&tntemail1=y, is from the New York Times and is about the regulation of the banking industry. This story is written about everyday and yet it seems to get the same response all the time.....yawn. Yes, it is boring to many. More so to those that don't have the passion for it and those with the passion are few compared to let's say those that have a passion for a sporting event. I guarantee you that if the NFL decided to change the number of downs in a game to 5 from 4 there would be more people showing emotional concern than there are about how our money is regulated and controlled. The NFL won't put millions of Americans out of work but one little decision by the banking regulators, like letting banks hedge and speculate with our money, can and has put millions of Americans out of work.
It is a real toss up as to whether Obama should have gone after health care or the banking industry first in importance. I believe there are many uninsured because they have lost their jobs and not just uninsured. I beleive Goldman Sachs, AIG (hurry, change the name and people will forget all about us), Moody's, Lehman Brothers all need to be drug infront of the American people. Their reponse time to allegations should be fare but not exceedingly long as it seems to be.
There are many books and articles out there but, to me, no one is listening. This bull market recession WILL go on for a long long time. Yes, it will straighten out but the question is how many more people will be put in food lines without a roof over their heads before someone in government decides enough is enough and gets off their fat ass to go to work for the people of the United States.
If you want to regulated something, start with the lobbyists. They out number the politicians. They get in the way of real democracy.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Friday, March 26, 2010
Oh What A Day Makes In The Ohio Valley
Last 4 days we had upper 50 to lower 60 degree weather. Today.....the cold has returned. The day opened in the uper 20's and will open tomorrow the same. But, it is suppose to climb into the mid-fifties by afternoon.
Yesterday I posted the shots of the Pussy Willow shrub next to our house. A week earlier I did the same thus I am showing its progression to summer.
There is s commercial on TV where a man and wife are standing inside and watching the kids shovel the snow. The wife says something about the weather and the guy says it's cold out, that he isn't going out there. Well, same here. It's cold out so I took the picture through the window. Poor shot but I stayed warm.
You can't see it but I-675 is out below the tree line and was moving at this point at this location. Just a few minutes later it was at a stand still for a wreck to the north about 4 or 5 miles in my best guess.
Yesterday I posted the shots of the Pussy Willow shrub next to our house. A week earlier I did the same thus I am showing its progression to summer.
There is s commercial on TV where a man and wife are standing inside and watching the kids shovel the snow. The wife says something about the weather and the guy says it's cold out, that he isn't going out there. Well, same here. It's cold out so I took the picture through the window. Poor shot but I stayed warm.
You can't see it but I-675 is out below the tree line and was moving at this point at this location. Just a few minutes later it was at a stand still for a wreck to the north about 4 or 5 miles in my best guess.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
One Week Later....Plus a Few Hours
The weather is still warming and the buds are coming out in droves. The Pussy Willow is going from silver to its yellow flower state.
Some Geese come in for a landing while I'm taking the pictures. Heard them, swung around and this is what I caught. Looks like one is running in for a landing instead of the usual foot/belly slide in.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Spring Is Upon Us.......Finally!
One of the first bushes to come out in Ohio, other than the Forsythia, the Pussy Willow. I figure flowers by next week.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Morning and Night
I took these pictures on 2/10/10. The first two were shot about 8 in the morning and the last one was at 10:50 PM. It's almost daylight looking and I did have one that was even brighter. ISO was 800 with a 10 sec. time.
I thought when I saw the morning shot that we were going to have a descent day. As you can see, there are clouds and within 15 minutes it was snowing. It was a fooler sun.
I thought when I saw the morning shot that we were going to have a descent day. As you can see, there are clouds and within 15 minutes it was snowing. It was a fooler sun.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Is this little guy confused/
It is bleak and dreary out today. The weatherman is calling it a winter storm. It takes 8" of snow to make 1" of rain water so would this be a spring or summer storm if it produced this meager 1". I think not. It is more the panic mode the news needs to set up its viewers to stay tuned.
You have your county map on your TV screen along with the scolling weather elert at the bottom. On some channels you even have these two along with the closings listed. They are posted there until, hell, I don't know, until someone makes the decision to take them down. You know the school and church is closed by 9 PM but at 1AM they are still posting it.
So, here in the mid-west, the southern part of Ohio, we are having a typical bleak winter day and in just a couple of minutes we will be getting an hour and a half, that's right 1.5 hours, of intense media coverage of the snow storm with all the accidents, closings, precipitation reports from all over the viewing area along with the pictures that are sent in by their viewers. Funny thing here is on one of the last occassions of them asking for pictures they showed one and it had a time and date stamp on it from two years ago.
Well, here's looking out my window this morning. The Robin was in my courtyard feeding of a bush with small purple berries. Funny how these birds are here all year long but seem to only be noticed in the warmer months.
You have your county map on your TV screen along with the scolling weather elert at the bottom. On some channels you even have these two along with the closings listed. They are posted there until, hell, I don't know, until someone makes the decision to take them down. You know the school and church is closed by 9 PM but at 1AM they are still posting it.
So, here in the mid-west, the southern part of Ohio, we are having a typical bleak winter day and in just a couple of minutes we will be getting an hour and a half, that's right 1.5 hours, of intense media coverage of the snow storm with all the accidents, closings, precipitation reports from all over the viewing area along with the pictures that are sent in by their viewers. Funny thing here is on one of the last occassions of them asking for pictures they showed one and it had a time and date stamp on it from two years ago.
Well, here's looking out my window this morning. The Robin was in my courtyard feeding of a bush with small purple berries. Funny how these birds are here all year long but seem to only be noticed in the warmer months.
What Happened to America?
I didn't write the following and I don't know the author but it is so so true.
Posted by an active worker.
As I grabbed my grease soiled lunch cooler and stepped out of my GM truck to head into work at Delphi Packard Electric I had to stop for a moment to digest the sight of a nearly 1/2 mile long 1/8 mile deep parking lot that was literally empty. I reflected for a moment on 2 American brothers, with the knowledge and ingenuity to develop high voltage ignition cable that in the early 1900's was only available abroad. From those beginnings in a factory near downtown Warren, Ohio evolved the largest automotive electrical wiring and component business in the world.
Eventually the North River Road complex became the center hub of all engineering and development. Some of greatest advances in automotive electronics were birthed right here I thought. At its peak nearly 15000 American workers filed through these doors. The huge parking lot that I gazed upon once filled to its capacity with American workers now looked like a deserted scene from an apocalyptic movie.
What happened to my country?
The regal blue engineering and research facility now totally empty. American engineering, and manufacturing skills built this once huge empire with blood, sweat and gears. Once the hard work was all complete and the business model set, little by little the corporate heads began to whittle away at this empire. Not for the sake of survival but for the seemingly insatiable desire to line their pockets in excess at the cost of each and every American worker, union and salaried that they could eliminate.
What happened to my country?
I couldn't help but get a bit emotional as I reflected on my own family members that had helped to build this empire and the excitement I felt when I was hired into the fold. The future looked grand here at Delphi Packard. But now each day is greeted with more uncertainty of the future of this once great American icon of business. No committment from a company whose intranet pages are loaded with the investments and accolades of plants in China, Mexico, S. America, Morocco, Turkey, Romania. The smiling faces pictured amongst brand new equipment and facilities. While the US operations makes more product per employee and higher quality percentages with equipment dating back in some cases to the 1950's.
What happened to my country?
Delphi Packard should no longer even be considered and American company with how it has forsaken it's homeland. So as I continued my walk on that cold January afternoon up the sidewalk towards the turnstiles, I could almost hear the voices and footsteps of the thousands of former employees that walked this same sidewalk, where now just a few hundred remain.
The sad part is, this same scenario, in different scales of severity is being played out all over the manufacturing base of this "once" great nation. For the sake of making a chosen sect of the American populous extremely wealthy they have forsaken Joe and Jane American. What they are beginning to realize though is that Joe and Jane American are the people who drive the American and world economy. Not the Ceo's and other corporate heads. Take away Joe and Jane's livelihood and you have the America that you see now.
What happened to my country?
Well I'm sure we may not all agree on the answer to that question. But one thing is for sure. The United States of America has changed drastically in the last 15 years and in my opinion not for the better. Greater empires have fallen. God Bless America....
Posted by an active worker.
As I grabbed my grease soiled lunch cooler and stepped out of my GM truck to head into work at Delphi Packard Electric I had to stop for a moment to digest the sight of a nearly 1/2 mile long 1/8 mile deep parking lot that was literally empty. I reflected for a moment on 2 American brothers, with the knowledge and ingenuity to develop high voltage ignition cable that in the early 1900's was only available abroad. From those beginnings in a factory near downtown Warren, Ohio evolved the largest automotive electrical wiring and component business in the world.
Eventually the North River Road complex became the center hub of all engineering and development. Some of greatest advances in automotive electronics were birthed right here I thought. At its peak nearly 15000 American workers filed through these doors. The huge parking lot that I gazed upon once filled to its capacity with American workers now looked like a deserted scene from an apocalyptic movie.
What happened to my country?
The regal blue engineering and research facility now totally empty. American engineering, and manufacturing skills built this once huge empire with blood, sweat and gears. Once the hard work was all complete and the business model set, little by little the corporate heads began to whittle away at this empire. Not for the sake of survival but for the seemingly insatiable desire to line their pockets in excess at the cost of each and every American worker, union and salaried that they could eliminate.
What happened to my country?
I couldn't help but get a bit emotional as I reflected on my own family members that had helped to build this empire and the excitement I felt when I was hired into the fold. The future looked grand here at Delphi Packard. But now each day is greeted with more uncertainty of the future of this once great American icon of business. No committment from a company whose intranet pages are loaded with the investments and accolades of plants in China, Mexico, S. America, Morocco, Turkey, Romania. The smiling faces pictured amongst brand new equipment and facilities. While the US operations makes more product per employee and higher quality percentages with equipment dating back in some cases to the 1950's.
What happened to my country?
Delphi Packard should no longer even be considered and American company with how it has forsaken it's homeland. So as I continued my walk on that cold January afternoon up the sidewalk towards the turnstiles, I could almost hear the voices and footsteps of the thousands of former employees that walked this same sidewalk, where now just a few hundred remain.
The sad part is, this same scenario, in different scales of severity is being played out all over the manufacturing base of this "once" great nation. For the sake of making a chosen sect of the American populous extremely wealthy they have forsaken Joe and Jane American. What they are beginning to realize though is that Joe and Jane American are the people who drive the American and world economy. Not the Ceo's and other corporate heads. Take away Joe and Jane's livelihood and you have the America that you see now.
What happened to my country?
Well I'm sure we may not all agree on the answer to that question. But one thing is for sure. The United States of America has changed drastically in the last 15 years and in my opinion not for the better. Greater empires have fallen. God Bless America....
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