Jeff Goldsmith on Holy Warriors?

Maureen Dowd is wicked smart.  In her commentary on our problems in Iraq and Afghanistan, she gets right to it:

“We invaded two countries, and allied with a third — all renowned as masters at double-dealing. And, now lured into their mazes, we still don’t have the foggiest idea, shrouded in the fog of wars, how these cultures work. Before we went into Iraq and Afghanistan, both places were famous for warrior cultures. And, indeed, their insurgents are world class.”

“The British Empire prided itself on discovering warrior races in places it conquered — Gurkhas, Sikhs, Pathans, as the Brits called Pashtuns. But why are they warrior cultures only until we need them to be warriors on our side?  Then they’re untrainably lame, even when we spend $25 billion on building up the Afghan military and the National Police Force, dubbed “the gang that couldn’t shoot straight” by Newsweek.”

“Maybe we just can’t train them to fight against each other. But why can’t countries that produce fierce insurgencies produce good standing armies in a reasonable amount of time? Is it just that insurgencies can be more indiscriminate?”

What I’d be asking is:  how important is “country” to tribal folk, vs., say, clan, religion or culture.  http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/28/opinion/28dowd.html?_r=1&hp

No!  No!  Tony Hayward, BP’s CEO, was on that Other Yacht!  Try again.

Jeff Goldsmith on Washington: The New Bubble Economy

This Politico article really sums it up:  a majority of Washington policy types think the country is headed in the right direction compared to only 27% of the people who are paying for all of it! http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0710/39851.html

No wonder:  it’s the only part of the economy besides health care that’s growing!  The Washington metro areas has a 6% unemployment rate, new regulations expanding government’s role, billions of dollars for consultants and contractors.  Fairfax County Virginia, the DC suburb, gets $20 billion in spillover from federal procurement.

And of course, almost half of it is going on the Chinese credit card.  We ran a federal budget deficit of $250 billion in MARCH alone.   My daughter is spending this summer in Taiwan learning Mandarin Chinese.  Smart girl:  she’s learning the language of the new owners.

Is it November yet? 

Jeff Goldsmith on What's In Your Wallet?

It certainly isn’t cash!  The Wall Street Journal reported this morning that credit card companies mailed out almost 85 million NEW credit cards in the first six months of 2010, double what they sent last year!  Just what we need, more credit cards! 

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704746804575367172177309754.html?mod=WSJ_business_whatsNewsthat

Capital One, of the famous barbarian TV ads, sent one of them  to a bankrupt, 66 year old retired phone company employee who’s $33 thousand in debt and was SUED by Capital One in 2006, with a letter that read “At some point we lost you as a customer and we’d like to have you back”.  The same article reports that Fannie Mae has begun trying to juice up home purchases by offering marginal borrowers a $1000 downpayment.  Fannie Mae was, of course, the guarantor and facilitator of billions in subprime loans, which brought down the economy. 

In another Wall Street Journal piece, David Wessel argued that the reason why we’re not recovering from the recession is that we are literally choking on debt- 354% of GDP at the peak in 2009. The only way to recovery is to deleverage and begin devoting our free cash flow to actually buying things again, hopefully not with credit cards.   What is it going to take to actually sober us up?  

Jeff Goldsmith on Your Tax Dollars At Work: Congressional Sex Harassment Settlements!

tp://www.politico.com/news/stories/0710/39637.html According to Politico, we taxpayers fund about $1 million a year in settlements of sexual harassment actions against Congressmen (about 38 cases in 2007, 25 with monetary damages).  HOWEVER, few staffers know about their employment rights, and efforts to educate them by email have been mysteriously blocked. 

My suspicion based on the tradition and history of Congress:  $1 million a year is peanuts compared to the actual prevalence of sexual exploitation of Congressional staff. Think about it:  30 thousand hot and ambitious young people and several hundred egomaniacs far from home.  Only a few egregious cases surface every couple of years, like the recent unpleasantness w/ Rep Eric Massa (D-NY).  The number of staffers potentially entitled to a claim is probably a very high multiple of the claims settled.  Inquiring minds want to know what the REAL number ought to be …

Jeff Goldsmith on NYTimes Says Rich Leading Mortgage Defaults

This morning’s New York Times confirms what I’ve long suspected, looking at default rates in the fabled Silicon Valley.   Wealthy people default on their underwater mortgages more than their less fortunate brethren. This does not surprise, particularly in California, where appearing wealthy is a big part of the zeitgeist.  California’s debt laden culture encouraged people to buy more home than they could afford.  And when “wealthy” people run out of cash, they bolt faster, perhaps because they could see the bottom of the proverbial swimming pool coming.    The Times article has a great line, paraphrasing F. Scott Fitzgerald, “The rich are different; they are more ruthless”.  

Where did they go when they mailed in the keys?  Well, they probably just moved in with their kids!  Just kidding …