How to strangle an economy

It's simple - watch California, New York, Massachussets (and ofcourse most European countries). http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124260067214828295.html (for a Laffer/Moore article about the issue of how soaking the rich is counter productive. Then again, who will ever imagine that politicians are sensible - Recall that when Obama was asked would he support lowering taxes if data showed that that actually increased revenue - all he could say was it is an issue of fairness. Obama and his ilk will never understand dynamic analysis and human behavior - all they want to do is expropriate and expect that humans will continue to take the abuse. Guess what? Everyone has a limit and these states may find out that it is better to cut that raise - but will cut their noses inspite of their faces. This opens up amazing opportunities for small tax states (and yes small tax countries) to attract those with money and the ideas for the economy. Oh, Obama has just decided to raise the average miles to the gallon standard to deal with "global warming" (really? Check this out http://money.cnn.com/2009/05/14/magazines/fortune/globalwarming.fortune/?postversion=2009051411 ) - Yet I am sure Obama will do what Gore has been screaming about - Obama will not want to stop Gore from accumulating his wealth on alternative energies will he? What a Global Sham and a Global Con Game - makes Madoff look like a petty thief when one considers what Hansen and Gore are wreaking on the world economy. Is anyone going to step up and stop the Global warming nonsense?

It's Time

Those that are graduating in this economy, must not think of themselves, but figure out a way to work for others. They have loans? Well, too bad - they should ask their parents to pay their loans. They need money to live? Their parents can provide for them or they can take a loan. How will they pay the loans back? Oh, they will find a way, they always will. What about new products, new medicines, new technologies? Should not engineers and scientists work for smart, nimble, innovators? Nah - all these companies think of is how to make something that they can sell for a profit and then have an IPO, make their millions while stealing from the public at large. Selling a product that someone is willing to pay for is stealing? Yes, they make exorbitant profits. What is exorbitant? Whatever I say so. Exxon and Chevron and other oil companies profit margins were less than that of Google and Microsoft - So?? SO??? WHAT THE HECK DOES THAT MEAN? Google's CEO visited me and said nice things about my plan - So he is a good guy and can make any money he wants, I allow him to do so. Are you going to go after Microsoft now that you have decided to be aggressive about anti-trust? No, Bill Gates is a good guy who endorsed me, so I will leave him alone. Dont you see the pattern here? Do you not understand as to how my policies work? As to how I really use my power? I WON - REMEMBER? I WON - so, I hold absolute power over everything and will do whatever I can to enforce my will. Yes, I know we have a Judiciary that will time to time try to stop me, but I am working on that also. Just watch me appoint Judges (not just for the Supreme Court) and I will remake the judiciary in the way it should be - Law should be the way I see law and justice is what I say it should be - and not outmoded ideas from dead, white guys. Now, get off my case and leave me alone - OR you know what will happen to you - like what I have done to the Chrysler bond holders and AIG and GM and Citi. I intend to remake the country in my image and make sure that no one can profit in anyway from working people. What? What did you say? That if there is no profit, I will not have money to give to the working people? Just watch me squeeze the industrialists and businesspeople and make them do what I want them to do. Remember - you may think this is a Democracy and we have the rule of law and such - but I am still the decider in chief - and you thought Bush was arrogant. Bush had NO idea how to wield power - and Cheney? He was an amateur - just watch me.

I wake up shivering and trying to find a flight to a friendlier country.

Punish the Successful

Intel remains the dominant supplier of microprocessors. They did not arrive there by accident. Many years ago, Andy Grove, their then CEO, took a strategic decision of getting out of memory (RAM) chips and into the microprocessor market. He bet the company's future, he won - actually we all won. Microprocessors have gotten better even as they got cheaper - something the Europeans apparently are upset about. I guess they would be happy if the processors got more expensive even as they got worse - and forced people to pay more for inferior products. Hey, that is what they want for their economy and not getting what they want, they are upset. So they fine Intel. Here in the US, Obama wants to give more power to his anti-trust division of the DOJ - sue companies like Intel that keep delivering better products at lower prices. I guess it makes sense to them - and it does - if you examine what their motivations are. Obama is anti-industrialist, anti-human innovation, anti-capitalism. I can imagine soon he will insist on passing a 5 year plan with production quotas for every one, in every industry - and threaten those that do not comply. Is there anyway we can bring 2010 closer? Is there anyone who can articulate a vision for this country that is NOT what Obama is talking about? Is this still the US of A? When China and France can lecture the US of A about our economic policies, something is very, very wrong - then again that is precisely what Obama wants. Where is the next Jack Kemp? How do we pass the next KempRoth?

An Alternate Way

I have never seen the country so polarized. Neither the Democrats NOR the Republicans are concerned about the country as a whole - the ones holding office seem interested only in holding on to their office and the privileges that come with such. The Republicans cannot seem to articulate their vision of a free society and a free enterprise system that has allowed human creativity and innovation to improve the quality of lives all over the world. The Democrats seem intent to do whatever they can to redistribute the wealth while doing everything they can to put the brakes on human creativity and innovation. Once the Republicans start talking about "abortion" - they lose a significant majority of the voting public - EVEN those that are truly horrified by the consequences of abortion. It sounds like politics and not conviction. When Democrats talk about "choice" they come across as anti-life and uncaring about a deeply personal issue. Ted Kennedy once spoke eloquently about the horrors of abortion, yet it is clear that a segment of the Democrat party will not allow him to speak his mind, his conscience. When the Republicans talk about their "God" and "Judeo Christian" nation and about "Prayer" in schools and against many social issues, they come across as intolerant. Democrats use the religion issue to knock Republicans - they are intolerant of anything they do not agree with. Where are we to turn? Where are those leaders that can articulate a vision for this country that allows for diversity in thought and ideas? Where people are indeed free to pursue their ideas and get better as a result? Where the word "big brother" will refer to a brother who is big and not in the Orwellian sense? There is no one like that today. What a shame.

Our transformation

I think I am living in some strange dream - yet much of what is happening around me seems very, very real. In a short 3 months, the Obama administration has managed to TRIPLE the budget deficit (for the next year), INCREASE this every year, add new costs via their drive towards nationalizing the health care system etc etc etc - Where do they think the money will come from? Yes, China will invest in our treasuries, for a while anyway. Do they really believe that economic growth will pull us out of the debt? If they did, they would be encouraging economic growth and not stifling it by printing dollars and rescuing bankrupt companies that make products that no one wants or by giving money to people who just want more and more while doing less and less. The only explanation that fits is that they are truly anti-life. They despise human beings and their activities and will do anything to stop it. I can imagine their nirvana - A world without people (well, except a few of their own).

""'s Day

In the US, we celebrate all sorts of "days" - for example, today is "Mothers" day - soon it will be "Father's" day and it goes from there. What is amazing is that there is no "Childrens" day - when I mention that, I am usually told "every day is children's day" - yea, fair enough, upto a point. The atrocities against children committed by their parents or other caretakers is something a society cannot and should not tolerate. The many children who wait for adoption or foster parents suffer while society argues about how to deal with such children. In the US, "celebrities" travel thousands of miles to adopt children - nothing wrong with that, but why they would not concentrate on children in their backyard is a mystery. I also have a difficult time accepting the argument that race and ethnicity should be a criterion while deciding on who can adopt who. A child needs a home and the security of a parent/parents - it should be as simple as that. Nothing else should matter, yet it does. We have too many hurdles for children to be adopted and supported - it is time we put that on the front burner. I wish this would be a battle that Newt Gingrich can take up - as an adopted child, he should understand. Dave Thomas, who led Wendy's for many years did a great job about adoptions - he died all too soon. We are also witnessing enormous changes in our society - the term "Mother" does refer to a "female" - yet "mothering" can be gender neutral - and I suppose so can "fathering". The difference between an XX and an XY is enormous - add to that the influence of all those sequences/genes/whatever that lie between what we know are exons (expressed sequences) and we realize that there is much we do not know. I never much cared for Howard Metzenbaum (late Senator from Ohio) -except for his fight against using race/ethnicity in adoption. Hope we see new leadership emerge.

Our descent

The US of A seems to be descending into governmental hell and I sense a nervousness around the world.  Obama seems to be delivering what the rest of the world has always clamored for - a less powerful, obliging, apologizing US of A and a determination to rein in profit-takers and in turn protect the working class (this is the class that voted for Obama and the Democrats).  Contracts do not seem to matter anymore - I wonder if Obama passed his Contracts law class (perhaps he dismissed all that talk about Contract Law as unnecessary and wrong).  The AIG mess (unleashing populist anger against a small group of people who had nothing to do with the insurance mess, yet ignoring the mess that Fannie and Freddie made), the thuggery involving SECURED creditors against Chrysler and the awarding of majority shares to the UAW (who I am sure will come back to Obama for more money even though they and the Feds have always been responsible for this mess) and on and on.  Where is all this going to stop?  

The rest of the world enjoyed US bashing when we were strong and our economy hummed along nicely, bringing the fruits to everyone - now that we are struggling and the rest of the world is ALSO struggling, countries are waking up to the reality that they do need the US of A after all.  In fact they need the US of A as that dynamic, open, unfettered by government system - NOT what they have in their own countries.  The rest of the world is worried that finally they will get what they have been asking for - Obama transforming this economy to do what he bids it to do.  Watch as the banks and car companies and oil companies and chemical companies are bullied to do what Obama says they have to.  

I hope fund managers start unravelling their positions with the largest US corporations while convincing business friendly countries to open up their economies.  This is indeed a giant opportunity for countries like India, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand ... to tell the world that THEY are open to business - Come one, come all.  Let Obama have his anti-business tantrums while the world moves along and eclipses the US.

Naivete (binary? fractions?)

I have been called naive - to an extent it is very true. I do not see gray areas in places that others seem to see grey. The sciences and engineering is not like that - there are laws of physics, there are rules derived from mathematics and the subject matter is not subject to whimsies - conclusions can be drawn from a set of data that will pretty much be identical no matter who looks at such data. Oh, when did I first hear about by naivete? As long as I can remember, through high school, college years and beyond. It was only natural therefore that when I first read Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, it was an immediate hit for me. I read it often, amazed by her perception and the beautiful logical structure she elaborates for life and living. Apparently, Atlas Shrugged remains a popular book even today, especially today, as we watch Obama and his administration dismantle the United States as we know it, in many cases brick by brick, but mostly using the wrecking ball. Where is Midas Mulligan when we need him? Where is our own John Galt?

Scapegoating Illegal Aliens

In April, 2009, there was a tragedy involving two teenagers in Huntsville, AL, killed by a drunk driver. It turns out that the driver was being chased by a policeman, refused to stop, ran a red light and killed two kids at an intersection. In a day or so, we found out that the driver was an illegal alien and had had several run-ins with the law, but was still driving. Instead of concentrating on the tragedy of drunk driving and issues with law enforcement, a few turned their anger and venom against illegal immigrants in general. The anger now is about why we are not working to restrict illegal immigration and why we are not doing anything about the illegals that are already in this country.

I was listening to the tirade against illegals on a local radio station. I had just finished reading Jason L Riley's excellent book titled "Let them In" (he is talking about letting illegals and other immigrants in). Riley points out that statistically illegal aliens are LESS LIKELY to commit crimes, use LESS public resources, PAY more into the system than they take out, work at jobs that no one seems to want and in general contribute to our economic growth enormously. Yet, myths about what the illegals do and what it costs our system persist. Often the rage against illegals turns to rage against ALL immigrants and there are groups that are working to restrict even LEGAL immigration. Most people will try hard to say that they are against ILlegal immigration and not LEGAL immigration - yet, when pressed will not hesitate to say that we must do something about those immigrants taking jobs away from natives - never mind what immigrants bring to the US. I am an immigrant - Did I take a job away from a native? I am sure some think so - no matter what I have done or will do - or how I may have contributed to this economy - or how what I do, the skills I brought to this country are shared by very few here and elsewhere in the world. Yet, myths about immigration persist, must to my disappointment.


I am an immigrant. I made a CHOICE to adopt this country as mine. I like my choice.

The reason we have "illegal" immigration has to do with many factors - one being the low number of legal options. Our companies, industries cannot survive without illegals. Forgetting for the economic mess we are in now, look at California - Has the illegal problem caused them economic hardship? Not from what I have seen - their unemployment remained low for along time, their
economy GREW like the rest - their problem is crazy taxation policies.

I have much that to align myself with "Conservatives" - but my hero is Reagan - who talked about freedom and our heritage as an open nation. Riley does a great job of reminding us of what Reagan stood for - and yes, Reagan actually signed into law "amnesty".

The Republican party will NEVER again be a majority UNLESS they stop their madness against immigration in general and often xenophobic outbursts.

We, the US of A, remain what I believe to be the truly last, great free society where we enjoy unprecedented freedoms, in our personal and public lives. Yes, there are other democracies and republics and yes there is rule of law in many places, but none like the US of A. This is, I believe, in part because of our willingness to accept a few/many that will choose to disobey our laws since we know that we cannot catch and prosecute everyone that breaks every law. The view of a few is that we can do more to catch illegals entering the country and prosecute more of those that we can catch. Perhaps. But, what is their threshold? When will they be happy? I think most agree that it will be
impossible to stop everyone from coming. My point is that a substantial ratcheting up of law enforcement that is specific to illegal immigration will cause untold, collateral damage with minimal improvement to life in general - Yes, I am sure a few will feel better that "We are atleast doing something". The collateral damage I am talking about will be the rounding up of legal immigrants due to error in our record keeping system and the fear it will engender in ALL of us - who knows, perhaps a society that will require ALL of us to carry
"PAPERS" that can be checked randomly by authorities to make sure we are legal. Yes, it is a stretch - but I imagine it will happen EVEN if everything the natives want is implemented by Congress. If a WALL is built and yet people keep coming, I can imagine people screaming for something else.
If employers cannot be stopped, people will scream for more enforcement and more and more. It will never end.

Jason Riley said it best. The simple fact is that the illegals have contributed enormously to this economy by taking jobs that no one else wants - and creates new jobs through their contributions to society in many ways. Till recently, our unemployment rate hovered in the low 5's - EVEN with those 12 million illegals. They are not all sitting home, watching TV and cashing welfare checks -
THAT is done by an entirely different segment of our population that is destined to grow larger in the coming years.

Mysteries, I

We humans are always seeking to understand. The physics, chemistry, biology,mathematics etc etc that we enjoy and keep working on are a result of someone, somewhere at sometime struggling to understand nature. What we have today is amazing - a logical structure that withstands the test of time and gets changed as and when new data, new ideas come along - and that which is universal - that glues us all together - irrespective of who we are, which part of the world we live in, what else we may believe in. And then there is human behavior - call it psychology or whatever - an absolute mystery. In the sciences, as we try to keep up with new ideas, we realize that the ratio of what we know to what we do not know keeps shrinking - our questions lead us to newer places, new expeditions. Much is the same as we try to understand human behavior - except here, the rate at which our ignorance to understanding grows is much much larger. One way we can notice that is the proliferation of books that deal with humans in one way or another - the more it seems is written about human behavior, the less we understand. Logical thinking gets turned upside down, not much makes sense at times. The amazing thing is that societies continue to progress inspite of logical inconsistencies - or is it because of? (See? I am so confused!) - My objective will be to try and explore - both in a logical arena where I am comfortable and elsewhere where I have no idea what is going on.

Christopher Hitchens

I really did not know who Hitchens was. I remember reading "Letters to a Christian Nation" by Sam Harris and was fascinated. That started a journey that led me to "God is Not Great" by Hitchens and it IS powerful indeed. To those that believe in God (in whatever way they do) what Hitchens writes will be disturbing and upsetting. Yet, I wonder - Why is it that those that do believe in the all mighty and the all powerful worry about an insignificant little man like Hitchens who is after all, expressing his "God given" talents? I find it incredibly difficult to understand as to why mortals often feel the need to defend the almighty against the assault by mortals. A fatwa against a writer who dared write a story that some found offensive? The response of the religious and the "God fearing" is often illogical and can at times be downright dangerous. To those that believe in God, read Hitchens and see what he has to say. Yes, he does rail against God and religion (ALL religions) - and does so by quoting religion and their spokesmen. It is one thing to say religion and God are personal and quite another to believe that one is endowed by their God to right things as the mortals see them.

Jason Riley's "Let them In"

I have never read a book that so clearly shows that immigration remains a strength for us, even Illegal immigration. Jason Riley writes for the Wall Street Journal, my favorite newspaper since I first stumbled onto it around the 1980's - What really impressed me then was their steady, consistent approach towards immigration in general. Ronald Reagan remains my favorite of all time - again because of how simply he could communicate great ideas and supported the idea of this country as one of immigrants - He always made me feel welcome, in my adopted home. Conservatives today do not understand what Reagan stood for, shame on them