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This is just a portion of an article by Paul Craig Roberts, former university professor, Wall Street Journal editor, and assistant secretary of the U.S. Treasury. His latest book, How the Economy Was Lost: The War of the Worlds
My heart sank with every paragraph, as each point was identified, explained, and sank in. It’s like having a game of charades replaced by a set of progressively more informative bullet points with snapshots from your families’ lives appended.
I would love to poke holes in it and identify it as political propaganda, but I have seen, first-hand, too much of what’s described unfold. This is so much worse than accepting the previous, prevalent belief that we would never be able attain our parents’ generation’s standard of living.
Doomed by the Myths of Free Trade
How the Economy was LostBy PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS
The American economy has gone away. It is not coming back until free trade myths are buried six feet under.
...The demise of America’s productive economy left the US economy dependent on finance, in which the US remained dominant because the dollar is the reserve currency. With the departure of factories, finance went in new directions. Mortgages, which were once held in the portfolios of the issuer, were securitized. Individual mortgage debts were combined into a “security.” The next step was to strip out the interest payments to the mortgages and sell them as derivatives, thus creating a third debt instrument based on the original mortgages.
In pursuit of ever more profits, financial institutions began betting on the success and failure of various debt instruments and by implication on firms. They bought and sold collateral debt swaps. A buyer pays a premium to a seller for a swap to guarantee an asset’s value. If an asset “insured” by a swap falls in value, the seller of the swap is supposed to make the owner of the swap whole. The purchaser of a swap is not required to own the asset in order to contract for a guarantee of its value. Therefore, as many people could purchase as many swaps as they wished on the same asset. Thus, the total value of the swaps greatly exceeds the value of the assets.*
The next step is for holders of the swaps to short the asset in order to drive down its value and collect the guarantee. As the issuers of swaps were not required to reserve against them, and as there is no limit to the number of swaps, the payouts could easily exceed the net worth of the issuer.
This was the most shameful and most mindless form of speculation. Gamblers were betting hands that they could not cover. The US regulators fled their posts. The American financial institutions abandoned all integrity. As a consequence, American financial institutions and rating agencies are trusted nowhere on earth.
The US government should never have used billions of taxpayers’ dollars to pay off swap bets as it did when it bailed out the insurance company AIG. This was a stunning waste of a vast sum of money. The federal government should declare all swap agreements to be fraudulent contracts, except for a single swap held by the owner of the asset. Simply wiping out these fraudulent contracts would remove the bulk of the vast overhang of “troubled” assets that threaten financial markets.
The billions of taxpayers’ dollars spent buying up subprime derivatives were also wasted. The government did not need to spend one dime. All government needed to do was to suspend the mark-to-market rule. This simple act would have removed the solvency threat to financial institutions by allowing them to keep the derivatives at book value until financial institutions could ascertain their true values and write them down over time.
Taxpayers, equity owners, and the credit standing of the US government are being ruined by financial shysters who are manipulating to their own advantage the government’s commitment to mark-to-market and to the “sanctity of contracts.” Multi-trillion dollar “bailouts” and bank nationalization are the result of the government’s inability to respond intelligently.
Two more simple acts would have completed the rescue without costing the taxpayers one dollar: an announcement from the Federal Reserve that it will be lender of last resort to all depository institutions including money market funds, and an announcement reinstating the uptick rule.
The uptick rule was suspended or repealed a couple of years ago in order to permit hedge funds and shyster speculators to rip-off American equity owners. The rule prevented short-selling any stock that did not move up in price during the previous day. In other words, speculators could not make money at others’ expense by ganging up on a stock and short-selling it day after day.
As a former Treasury official, I am amazed that the US government, in the midst of the worst financial crises ever, is content for short-selling to drive down the asset prices that the government is trying to support. No bailout or stimulus plan has any hope until the uptick rule is reinstated…
I did a segment with ABC News about having fun doing homework with tweens, which is sort of like asking me to enjoy having Bugs Bunny teach me the quadratic formula. It’s eight minutes long, and I come in right at the end so if you want to see what I look like ten minutes out of my pajamas at seven a.m. with a hair and makeup blitzkrieg because I didn’t realize I’d be on camera, be my guest.
Note how I work in the word “icepick.”
Homework Help For Parents
How to help your kids with their homework even if you don’t have the answers.
Nov 18, 2009 10:09 PM Video from US ABC News
Say it with me: FTC!
*jump splits*
Here’s the short clip on CBS News 5 with Kiet Do that aired at eleven tonight. Props to Jim Flanagan for mad camera skilz and sense of humor. : )
Oh, you want to know why? The Federal Trade Commission did something this week that affects each one of you so listen up:
The Federal Trade Commission today announced that it has approved final revisions to the guidance it gives to advertisers on how to keep their endorsement and testimonial ads in line with the FTC Act.
The notice incorporates several changes to the FTC’s Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising, which address endorsements by consumers, experts, organizations, and celebrities, as well as the disclosure of important connections between advertisers and endorsers. The Guides were last updated in 1980.
Under the revised Guides, advertisements that feature a consumer and convey his or her experience with a product or service as typical when that is not the case will be required to clearly disclose the results that consumers can generally expect. In contrast to the 1980 version of the Guides – which allowed advertisers to describe unusual results in a testimonial as long as they included a disclaimer such as “results not typical” – the revised Guides no longer contain this safe harbor.
That means, no more small print on the bottom of the screen that blends with the room’s carpet: “Results not typical.” Anyone who receives any consideration whatsoever from a company as a basis for a product review must be disclosed to the extent we haven’t seen since the debut of Happy Fun Ball.
I personally do not accept payment for any review, I do not officially do reviews. I have put a disclaimer on this site and instructions on my contact page about what I may or may not do because people will send me things whether I want them or not. These people are paid to throw mud on the wall, and in this particular demographic, over forty soccer mom with kids and a credit card and reasonable vocabulary, we are the golden children. They will eventually move on to a more profitable and interesting demographic, but for now, we are it and we owe it to our readers to be transparent and truthful.
I love this guy. “George D. Lundberg MD, is former Editor in Chief of Medscape, eMedicine, and the Journal of the American Medical Association. He’s now President and Chair of the Board of The Lundberg Institute.” And has been married to my mom for twenty-six years.
How to Rein in Medical Costs, RIGHT NOW
By GEORGE LUNDBERGAmerican health care costs will never be controlled until most physicians are no longer paid fees for specific services…Fee-for-service incentives are a key reason why at least 30% of the $2.5 trillion expended annually for American health care is unnecessary. Eliminating that waste could save $750 billion annually with no harm to patient outcomes.
So, what can we in the USA do RIGHT NOW to begin to cut health care costs? [Read more]
Me, Me, Me, Other people who write, Bad Mood Dude, BlogHer, Giveaways, NewsThe Momversation blog had a post that really hit home with me today, partially because although I’ve dropped off the BlogHer and Other Major Social Groups RADAR in the last few years due to overwhelm, I’m constantly inundated with PR requests, and partially because I am really starting to get irritated with the state of things.
Too many people are getting into blogging as if it were some sort of Amway. It’s not something to jump into while it’s hot so you can collect freebies and get paid to parrot. Blogging is something else entirely. What some people are doing now is the online equivalent of infomercials, hundreds of thousands of mini-Roncos. If all those products truly worked miracles, don’t you think we’d be able to get them at Target? The source becomes distrusted, worthless. And the rest of us are dragged down by association.
I’m thrilled about the Blog With Integrity movement and was on it in a hot second, but in truth I’m a little sad that we need it. I hate that people ask what I rake in (nearly nothing) and what PR folks send to me (you just would not believe it) and wonder how they can get in on it. I want to say, “Plastics” and go refill my drink.
Here’s the gist of the post and my response:
The “mommy blogger” backlash hit the front page of CNN.com today, as the PR Blackout Challenge and Blog With Integrity campaigns hit the mainstream media. If you’re not aware, some mommy bloggers are under fire for taking money and/or free merchandise for recommending products and services. It’s causing some people to question the ethics and truthfulness of the moms who are blogging today. But according to the CNN article, some mom bloggers might just be overwhelmed with offers…
I just love how they slapped a screenshot of my site on the front page. Just hope people associate me with the Integrity group, not the Gimme group. I’ve worked too hard for too long to let anything external affect the moral stand I take on reviews. I will not take money, period, and if you send me something, there is no guarantee I will get past the note in the box. It’s so much work just looking at it, and the small percentage of items I do mention only make it here if those things have become part of my daily life.
In fairness, when there is something really cool offered as a giveaway, I’m on it. I don’t endorse anything, just report and reward. I have some great gift cards on my desk I’ve got to give away, and even that is making me hesitate because of all the hoopla. I’m not compromising integrity when I give things away, but it is still doing something I wouldn’t have spontaneously done on my own, and that is the crux of the biscuit. It’s my acid test. Even the legit stuff makes me jumpy. Too many people are doing things for the wrong reason (and calling their sites every possible variation on “The Mommy Blog” but that is a whole other rant). We’re all being spattered with the mud. It’s not a nice feeling.
Anyway. My comment:
I totally didn’t connect the blackout with all the PR requests in my inbox, that’s how scattered and overwhelmed I am. Nice! Now I’m just glad there’s a reason I can ignore them for a week.
I have literally stacks of things, mostly books, next to my desk that have been sent to me, and they are jamming up my life like you wouldn’t believe. Have to state a bit more strongly that I do not guarantee anything in the least, and the only stuff that gets mentioned is the stuff that thrills me and then only in the context of my life, writing as I normally do.
I’m sorry we’ve become saturated with gimme bloggers, and I get too many requests for help “getting started” or “succeeding” to hope that it will die down soon. Those of us who have been doing this forever with no anticipation of readership much less free stuff sort of feel like the guys who made it to Cooperstown before everyone started using steroids. The measurements are all off and the wacky surges have made the old numbers meaningless.
Then again I could be full of shit.
That last bit is what we should all keep in mind—that there is the distinct possibility that we are talking out of our nether regions. But at least I will be totally up front about it.
Lots of exciting stuff on the web today and tomorrow:
- Interview featuring Yours Truly on ABC.com: “Moms Get Real” on Bedtime Battles (featured yesterday on ABC’s Good Morning America online.
- Forbes Woman: Moms Connect On The Internet by Meghan Casserly, 08.06.09: Have parenting message boards and mommy blogs co-opted the park bench? Or are they virtual roots to a network of real-life friends and neighbors?
- Tomorrow: an interview also at ABC.com on Jon & Kate and the aftermath of the divorce announcement and new format.
- Upcoming: some back-to-school tips that may or may not be mother-approved, but will get me through the day. Sponsored, but oh so much latitude. Use as directed. Results may vary.
CBS came by to interview me about the FTC (never saw THAT coming, did you? Any of you. Admit it.) and their potential ruling to make bloggers responsible for what they pitch. REALLY? Well, then. Those with integrity have nothing to worry about!
Simon’s a doll. I must have yammered for thirty minutes and he was so patient. Loved the camera man - almost had to duck to get into the house.
Feds May Make Bloggers Liable In Reviews
The Federal Trade Commission is thinking about changing the law so bloggers who exaggerate the benefits or flaws of a product could be liable or sued. Simon Perez reports.
News
Search Expands for Missing Tracy Girl
TRACY, Calif. (KCBS) —More than a hundred people are now involved in the search for an eight-year-old Tracy girl missing since Friday afternoon. Sandra Cantu, who has no history of running away from home, hasn’t been seen since Friday afternoon.
Please post on your My Space, Face Book etc. This little girl has been missing since last night.
Here is a picture and a link to a web site about this missing girl.
I can’t believe it, but am so very glad the decision was made.
CNN’s chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, has withdrawn his name from consideration for surgeon general, the network and the White House announced Thursday afternoon… Farrell said he’s been told Gupta had misgivings about both the pay-cut he would have to take and the fact that he might be reporting to two high-level bosses… As surgeon general, Gupta would make about $153,000, according to public information on federal salaries. It’s unclear what Gupta’s contracts are currently worth, but the surgeon general salary would be considerably less.
May I remind you that there is a groundswell of support for Dr. George Lundberg to be appointed Surgeon General. I know for a fact that he cares more about public health than the pay cut, and that he’d probably like to have as few as two high-level bosses for a change.
How you can help:
- Join the FaceBook group, DR. GEORGE LUNDBERG FOR SURGEON GENERAL
- Sign the PETITION TO PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA TO APPOINT DR. GEORGE D. LUNDBERG AS OUR NEXT US SURGEON GENERAL
Perhaps for the first time in recent history we believe that our Surgeon General’s first task is to use the “bully pulpit” of that position to help remoralize American Medicine in the following three areas. These three issues transcend any particular important scientific public-health topic per se like smoking, obesity, mental health, HIV/AIDS and many other worthy topics. But these core issues must be addressed first and foremost before any worthy scientific pubic health issue can be addressed effectively. So we urge our new Surgeon General to address the following upon entering the position.
1) Affordable health Insurance for all American Citizens.
2) Rebuilding Trust in our Federal Agencies that are Responsible for our Public Heath.
3) Wanton Overuse of Potentially Dangerous Medicines and Medical Technology – While the uninsured don’t receive basic medical care the insured (most of us) receive too many potentially dangerous medical interventions.
Dr George Lundberg not only is a consummate public health scientist who knows public health issues, he strongly embraces the above three priorities in words and deeds.
I can personally attest to that.
Critical Condition has posted a call to sign a petition to to President Obama to appoint Dr. George D. Lundberg as our next Surgeon General. As you may recall, Dr. Lundberg is my stepfather, and a damn good one. He is also a giant among men, and is by all objective standards, supremely qualified for the job.
Critical Condition’s mission is “to stimulate a meaningful, civil dialogue on the multidimensional crisis in US health care. We will draw attention to the existence of crisis, clarifying the nature of the crisis, and offering solutions. No nation on the planet has completely solved the health care delivery dilemma. US and multinational vested interests are not moving fast enough to address the depth and breadth of the US crises. More incrementalism is a formula for failure. Posts to Critical Condition will be evidence based.”
An excerpt from the call to action (full text in the extended entry and through the link):
On January 6, 2009 TV news giant CNN announced that Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN’s Chief Medical Reporter, had been offered and accepted the offer by then President Elect Barack Obama to become our nation’s next US Surgeon General.
Respectfully, the signers of this petition, as both health care professionals and many thinking US citizens from all walks of life believe that the appointment of Dr. Gupta would be both a mistake and a very serious lost opportunity for this historic administration and for our nation. Conversely, we strongly recommend that Dr. George Lundberg would be an ideal appointment to this office in these times of unparalleled challenge…
Quite frankly, in short, we need a man or woman of gravitas, moral fiber and substance – not a sexy media star, flitting from one opportunistic subject to another, apparently tied to vested interests- for this venerable office of US Surgeon General
PLEASE HELP DR. GEORGE LUNDBERG BECOME OUR NEXT US SURGEON GENERAL BY SIGNING THE PETITION BELOW AND PLEASE PASS THE PETITION ON THE OTHERS OF LIKE MIND.
Click here to sign the petition
Thanks,
Dr. Rick Lippin
Southampton,Pa
NewsI love that it was the PASSENGERS that stopped this flight.
It is normally a moment of cheery reassurance when an airline pilot greets passengers during preparations for take-off. But Alexander Cheplevsky sparked panic on flight Aeroflot 315 when he began to speak.
His slurred and garbled comments ahead of a flight from Moscow to New York convinced passengers that he was drunk. When he apparently switched from Russian into unintelligible English, fear turned to revolt.
Flight attendants initially ignored passengers’ complaints and threatened to expel them from the Boeing 767 jet unless they stopped “making trouble”. As the rebellion spread, Aeroflot representatives boarded the aircraft to try to calm down the 300 passengers.
One sought to reassure them by announcing that it was “not such a big deal” if the pilot was drunk because the aircraft practically flew itself.
Best excerpt:
“I don’t think there’s anyone in Russia who doesn’t know what a drunk person looks like,” Katya Kushner, one of the passengers, told the Moscow Times, which had a reporter travelling on the flight.”
And in the related news sidebar? 88 killed in Aeroflot crash in Urals.
This is a comment I left this morning in response to the post entitled Dr. George Lundberg for Surgeon General by Brian Keppler of The Health Care Blog. Needless to say, this is a burning issue, and one that is near and dear to my heart as anyone who had been reading for a while will know!
Disclosure: I am Dr. Lundberg’s stepdaughter.
I have watched my stepfather’s career from the inside for over twenty-five years, and can say that everything that has been said about his professional life carries over to his personal life (not that I will say more about his personal life. I still want to be invited to dinner.). He is, bar none, the best role model for anyone who cares about the nation’s health care, or for their own. He has integrity, a very long view, an infallible moral compass, and an ability to look at matters objectively and see a solution that simply staggers.
He is acutely aware of what’s wrong with the health care system (oxymoron?) and bore frustrated witness to my being unable to obtain health insurance when the company I worked for shut down and ceased COBRA premiums. For nearly a year, I struggled to pay for care as a single (unemployed) mother of three while searching for coverage, which was ultimately granted through HIPPA via an absurdly circuitous route. If this can happen to me, with my knowledge and resources and contacts, it can happen to ANYONE. Just a case in point.
As a family member I may be biased, but I can assure you that there is pure transparency to this man. What you see is what you get, and that is quite a lot and not to be overlooked at this particular time, with this particular administration.
Read Severed Trust. Google his career. Do what you must, but do not let this one get away.
Here is the excerpt that stated his case so well:
The report that Mr. Obama’s Surgeon General choice might be neurosurgeon and CNN medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta produced an upwelling of strong opinion, particularly in the medical community. Some argued that Dr. Gupta has clearly demonstrated his abilities as an able communicator.
But others said that Gupta lacks the experience, seriousness and focus on public health. (I can’t help thinking that anyone who has achieved working neurosurgeon and national TV commentator status is pretty capable and serious, demeanor notwithstanding.)
And so it is that on Facebook, that Dr. Richard Lippin, a longtime Preventive Medicine physician based in Pennsylvania, has posted a letter he sent to President Obama and Secretary Daschle, urging the consideration of Dr. George Lundberg for Surgeon General.
The header reads: “We need a physician with the gravitas and the moral credentials and authority to use this bully pulpit position to speak for science and values based priority public health issues for all Americans. Dr. George Lundberg fits the bill.”
The letter provides a brief bio of Dr. Lundberg, the brilliantly eclectic, progressive, Alabama-born, down-to-earth physician who has been a visible mainstay of American medicine for decades. Dr. Lippin doesn’t mention Dr. Lundberg’s landmark 2002 book on American health care and reform, Severed Trust. (The title alone provides a lot of insight into Dr. Lundberg’s view of the world.)
But Dr. Lippin does believe the Surgeon General choice is about healing both America and American medicine, He writes, “we have a genuine crisis on many levels in US Medicine. Also we need desperately for the medical profession to regain its moral and ethical foundations and furthermore we also need medical leaders who must regain the trust of the American Public which has been dangerously eroded.
I agree with Dr. Lippin that those are the tasks, and I agree that Dr. Lundberg is a terrifically suitable candidate. Over many years, I have developed a warm friendship with him. It is impossible to not be bowled over by his range and grasp of issues, and by his unswerving willingness to stand clearly and openly for approaches that are tied to evidence and reason. The ultimate critical thinker, his judgments are founded most closely to merit, possibility and an unshakable belief in the correctness of the pursuit of excellence in health.
He is also bold and politically savvy. You don’t become the longest running Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the American Medical Association (until he got politically at odds with them) and then build Medscape into the most widely read Web resource for clinicians worldwide unless you can continuously strike the delicate balances between science, sensibility and moral imperatives among your peers. Read more…
Last night on CNN I mentioned that you could find hundreds of really inexpensive, fun things for kids online and have them shipped to a shelter, or charity, or anywhere in the world. For those who are interested, the web site is Oriental Trading Company.
I didn’t know I was even going to mention them, but it popped into my head, and this morning I realized why: On September 26, 2006, Asha Dornfest wrote to a group of bloggers to ask a favor. I didn’t know her at the time.
Please forgive the mass email, but I felt this was important enough to warrant it. I just received a note from a member of the US Army Corps of Engineers stationed in Iraq—a woman named Edmay Mayers. Prompted by a past discussion on Parent Hacks about where to donate used stuffed animals, she wrote asking readers to send them to her, and she would see they are distributed to children in Iraq.
Here’s my post, including photos she sent and a link to an article about her. If anyone can get the word out, it’s you. If you feel it’s appropriate, would you consider sharing this info with your readers? No obligation, of course—I just want to do what I can to help this woman. I really admire her.
Thanks for listening.
Asha
I wasn’t working at the time and couldn’t afford to donate, but then changed my mind when I saw what could be had for so little. One hundred dollars sent a hug box of things to Edmay, and she personally wrote each of us with thanks. She is a hero, and I’m so glad to have the opportunity to give her props—and to thank Asha for doing what she does best—helping people make life easier and more fun for our kids.
Get shopping! (And no, they don’t know I’m doing this, I’m not being paid, though I suppose I should send a note to give a heads-up!)
North Palm Beach, Florida. January 9, 2008: divorce360.com commissioned a GFK Roper poll on divorce to learn more about the causes for divorce.
Women divorce over abuse, men divorce over sex:
The number one reason people gave for divorce is abuse. More than one in three (36%) divorced Americans cited either verbal or physical abuse as the main cause of divorce. Money, at 22%, is a distant second. Other reasons for divorce include someone new entered their life (18%), sex (16%), disagreements about how to raise their children (13%), or boredom (12%) as contributing factors. Only 6% divorced over whether to have children, and just 4% cite religion as a factor.
Gender plays a role in the reasons for divorce:
Women are more than twice as likely as men (48% vs. 21%) to divorce because of verbal or physical abuse. Men, in turn, are more than twice as likely as women (22% vs. 11%) to cite sex as the cause for their failed marriage.
Not divorcing- but thinking about it:
One third, 33%, of married Americans have at some point in their marriage considered the idea of divorce. Two in ten, (19%), cited issues surrounding children, while 18% cite fears about cheating as the primary reasons for thinking about divorce.
Women are significantly more likely than men (39% vs. 27%) to have at least thought about divorce at some point in their marriage. Children are most likely to be the issue, particularly for women. Most notably, women are more than twice as likely as men to think about divorce after their children were born (19% vs. 7%).
“Divorce has become an unfortunate reality”, notes divorce360.com’s CEO, Cotter Cunningham. “It is difficult, painful and complex. We don’t advocate divorce. We do want to help people struggling with it. From making the decision to leave to going to court for custody or alimony, divorce is an emotional, financial and legal rollercoaster. It doesn’t just impact the two people involved. It impacts their children, friends and other family members. The decisions made before, during and after a divorce can touch many lives. Divorce360 strives to offer the essential information needed to help people make educated choices about those important decisions.”
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