...by donating $127 million to the University of Chicago,
Department of Economics, naturally. His company, Citadel,
is worth ~27 billion; a hedge fund (remember, hedge funds
are virtually UNregulated) with a harsh boss, 45 souls have
been given pink slips recently, merely for not producing
profit goals for a few months. 45 employees represents
about a third of KG's staff complement, so others will have
to work even harder amidst a flurry of new hiring--hmmmn.
Let's travel back in time to J.D. Rockefeller, HIS stern and
violent approach to capitalism; eventually, JD realized he
was hated (with good reason) by the many who knew about
his practice of hiring goons to assault his strikers out west, etc.
He and many of his fellow robber barons began to donate
respectably large funds to universities, hospitals and libraries,
feeling charity could wipe away some of the blots on their
escutcheons. Apparently such large contributions DO
get them press, largely favorable, to say nothing of the
oo-ing and ahh-ing, invitations to " A List" events.
--TSK!!
I find it dispiriting indeed to hope for, therefore, work
for change, when far too many people still fawn over
the rich while conveniently denying or dismissing
the many pertinent facts about most of them--facts
which logically should engender skepticism,
suspicion and a raised eyebrow or two.
More disparagement describing the Oligarchs
will follow, bet on it.
Thursday, March 15, 2018
Saturday, March 10, 2018
States' Rights and the Newly-Favored Flavor of Its Definitions
Watching political decisions/events in California, Illinois and
other states, we see an interesting, 180 degree twist from the past:
States' Rights, a term/concept formerly used to thwart Civil Rights
in the USA's southern states, flouting the U.S. Constitution, is now
used to defy the federal government to provide civil and human rights
to its residents.
Chiefly two subjects are in dispute: Marijuana legalization and
Illegal immigrant rights. Several states like Illinois, California
and Colorado have simply allowed Pot to be legalized via state
capital decree, whether for medical or recreational purposes.
Perhaps not coincidentally, these same three states are fighting
illegal residents' deportation, whether via sanctuary cities or
by continuing DACA (allowing young people illegally brought
here as babies to remain, gain routes to citizenship).
California, often the country's trend-setter, is the most strident
and intransigent of the lot, Sacramento issuing three laws
designed to keep the illegal teens in the only home they have
known. Twice elected CA Governor Brown so far stands firm
in support of the three statutes...we now see a Sanctuary State
(CA) rather than just a Sanctuary City (Chicago).
Will Washington DC, AKA the Donald, launch a new kind of
Civil War? It seems a far-out fantasy--until you recall Mr. Trump
saying he's the only one that matters.
Hmmn. "States' Rights" promoting more humane policies--
who knew? New definitions, new flavors, new fights: what next??
other states, we see an interesting, 180 degree twist from the past:
States' Rights, a term/concept formerly used to thwart Civil Rights
in the USA's southern states, flouting the U.S. Constitution, is now
used to defy the federal government to provide civil and human rights
to its residents.
Chiefly two subjects are in dispute: Marijuana legalization and
Illegal immigrant rights. Several states like Illinois, California
and Colorado have simply allowed Pot to be legalized via state
capital decree, whether for medical or recreational purposes.
Perhaps not coincidentally, these same three states are fighting
illegal residents' deportation, whether via sanctuary cities or
by continuing DACA (allowing young people illegally brought
here as babies to remain, gain routes to citizenship).
California, often the country's trend-setter, is the most strident
and intransigent of the lot, Sacramento issuing three laws
designed to keep the illegal teens in the only home they have
known. Twice elected CA Governor Brown so far stands firm
in support of the three statutes...we now see a Sanctuary State
(CA) rather than just a Sanctuary City (Chicago).
Will Washington DC, AKA the Donald, launch a new kind of
Civil War? It seems a far-out fantasy--until you recall Mr. Trump
saying he's the only one that matters.
Hmmn. "States' Rights" promoting more humane policies--
who knew? New definitions, new flavors, new fights: what next??
Another Costly Credit Crime Horror, Synthetic Identity Fraud, COULD be Avoided
...if everyone in the retailer/lender/credit reporting chain
simply DID THEIR JOB. According to the Wall Street
Journal, 03/07/2018, fake borrowers are created, costing
many millions to the lenders who trusted Experian,
TransUnion and a now-infamous third reporting agency
which will be duly noted. The lengthy article revealed
shocking lapses in clerical procedures which would
have eliminated much of this costly crime to lenders and
retailers, thus, to us via raised prices.
Other, smaller companies have known how to stymie
much of this faux info by, among other requirements,
disallowing P.O. and mail box services as legitimate
billing and shipping addresses--a real, verifiable physical
address demand before sealing the deal. The decades-
long practice of eliminating jobs in favor of machines is
catching up to the USA big time: fewer humans to
process and check important information means weakness
in security and accuracy at all points in the money flow.
Interestingly, both Amazon and Discover chose not
to comment for this WSJ piece, as they too have taken
massive $$$ hits caused by not due diligence checking.
--But wait! Isn't Jeff Bezos, head of Amazon, one
of the world's wealthiest people? HE CAN AFFORD
to hire fact checkers and electronic verifiers to scotch
this insidious practice.
I'm surprised what's left of my hair hasn't fallen off after
reading this explanation in the WSJ: a mere credit
application without a subsequent loan or even support
documentation can create a legitimate credit file;
randomly-issued SSA numbers are now the norm at
Social Security (some of the new random numbers will
be duplicates of actual, older SSA card holders as well as
the syn-ID made up ones). Other, quite questionable policies
and practices must be changed to eliminate many of
the time-wasting, money-losing situations we now
see.
Equifax , the biggest malfeasor in reporting history,
released the personal records of some 147 million Americans
even though told how to fix their software security
vulnerability--they simply ignored the helpful warning/advice.
Understandably, Equifax declined the Journal's requests for
comment. TransUnion and Experian claimed it's just too hard
to tell a fake from a real person for the first time without
identifying information not on file...so I say, get it! Hire
more clerks, detectives, accountants, software gurus,
whoever can derive the true from the false. But AGAIN,
perennially boosting the profit margin (also known as
"growth", the capitalist's prime mover) is at bottom of
these shoddy, illogical excuses.
Wow. So many stupidities could be avoided by being
more concerned with error and harm, less concerned
for exponential $$$ growth...
Could be, should be, would be--sic transit gloria mundi.
simply DID THEIR JOB. According to the Wall Street
Journal, 03/07/2018, fake borrowers are created, costing
many millions to the lenders who trusted Experian,
TransUnion and a now-infamous third reporting agency
which will be duly noted. The lengthy article revealed
shocking lapses in clerical procedures which would
have eliminated much of this costly crime to lenders and
retailers, thus, to us via raised prices.
Other, smaller companies have known how to stymie
much of this faux info by, among other requirements,
disallowing P.O. and mail box services as legitimate
billing and shipping addresses--a real, verifiable physical
address demand before sealing the deal. The decades-
long practice of eliminating jobs in favor of machines is
catching up to the USA big time: fewer humans to
process and check important information means weakness
in security and accuracy at all points in the money flow.
Interestingly, both Amazon and Discover chose not
to comment for this WSJ piece, as they too have taken
massive $$$ hits caused by not due diligence checking.
--But wait! Isn't Jeff Bezos, head of Amazon, one
of the world's wealthiest people? HE CAN AFFORD
to hire fact checkers and electronic verifiers to scotch
this insidious practice.
I'm surprised what's left of my hair hasn't fallen off after
reading this explanation in the WSJ: a mere credit
application without a subsequent loan or even support
documentation can create a legitimate credit file;
randomly-issued SSA numbers are now the norm at
Social Security (some of the new random numbers will
be duplicates of actual, older SSA card holders as well as
the syn-ID made up ones). Other, quite questionable policies
and practices must be changed to eliminate many of
the time-wasting, money-losing situations we now
see.
Equifax , the biggest malfeasor in reporting history,
released the personal records of some 147 million Americans
even though told how to fix their software security
vulnerability--they simply ignored the helpful warning/advice.
Understandably, Equifax declined the Journal's requests for
comment. TransUnion and Experian claimed it's just too hard
to tell a fake from a real person for the first time without
identifying information not on file...so I say, get it! Hire
more clerks, detectives, accountants, software gurus,
whoever can derive the true from the false. But AGAIN,
perennially boosting the profit margin (also known as
"growth", the capitalist's prime mover) is at bottom of
these shoddy, illogical excuses.
Wow. So many stupidities could be avoided by being
more concerned with error and harm, less concerned
for exponential $$$ growth...
Could be, should be, would be--sic transit gloria mundi.
Monday, March 5, 2018
Billy Graham, Mr. Rogers and Reputation vs. Reality
A fallacious sort of respect attaches to the dead in
our culture: don't speak evil about the dead.
Based on notions of fair play, the idea is that
the dead cannot defend themselves against
scurrilous attacks. But there are exceptions
to almost everything; compelling reasons do
exist to point out less than perfect behavior while
certain famous folk, now departed, are extolled
without a balanced critique.
Billy Graham, said to be America's preferred
preacher, died recently amid public praise.
Not one of the media outlets I checked dared
to include the unhappy fact that Mr. Graham
was an unrepentant anti-Semite--unrepentant
and dishonest until audio tapes revealed the
Rev's disdain for Jews. In 2002 The National
Archives released tapes of conversations
Reverend Billy had in 1972 with then President
Nixon, also an anti-Semite. Rumors of
such un-Christian attitudes circulated for
years regarding Graham, who stoutly and
steadily denied them until the Archives
published the damning tapes, whereupon
Rev BG profusely apologized.
Then there was Mr. Rogers, friend to
children and normal middle-class values.
My daughter and I enjoyed his show for
years, thinking he really did love children,
loved to be surrounded by them. In 1990
I worked for La Leche League, the mothers'
group promoting breast feeding. One day
my boss told me a surprising story: at an
event sponsored by the League, Mr. Rogers
asked that the children be kept away from
him...what? They had come to interact with
their "friend", Mr. Rogers. But thinking back,
Mr. Roger's Neighborhood did not usually
feature a goodly group of kids, no, just
puppets and grownups.
Shakespeare, in Julius Caesar, observed that
the good men do often gets interred with
their bones. I submit that, all too often,
the bad they do is buried there as well.
All the admiration for the public face
of the man (or woman) can't whitewash
any dark side...
Reputation vs. reality, often at odds.
our culture: don't speak evil about the dead.
Based on notions of fair play, the idea is that
the dead cannot defend themselves against
scurrilous attacks. But there are exceptions
to almost everything; compelling reasons do
exist to point out less than perfect behavior while
certain famous folk, now departed, are extolled
without a balanced critique.
Billy Graham, said to be America's preferred
preacher, died recently amid public praise.
Not one of the media outlets I checked dared
to include the unhappy fact that Mr. Graham
was an unrepentant anti-Semite--unrepentant
and dishonest until audio tapes revealed the
Rev's disdain for Jews. In 2002 The National
Archives released tapes of conversations
Reverend Billy had in 1972 with then President
Nixon, also an anti-Semite. Rumors of
such un-Christian attitudes circulated for
years regarding Graham, who stoutly and
steadily denied them until the Archives
published the damning tapes, whereupon
Rev BG profusely apologized.
Then there was Mr. Rogers, friend to
children and normal middle-class values.
My daughter and I enjoyed his show for
years, thinking he really did love children,
loved to be surrounded by them. In 1990
I worked for La Leche League, the mothers'
group promoting breast feeding. One day
my boss told me a surprising story: at an
event sponsored by the League, Mr. Rogers
asked that the children be kept away from
him...what? They had come to interact with
their "friend", Mr. Rogers. But thinking back,
Mr. Roger's Neighborhood did not usually
feature a goodly group of kids, no, just
puppets and grownups.
Shakespeare, in Julius Caesar, observed that
the good men do often gets interred with
their bones. I submit that, all too often,
the bad they do is buried there as well.
All the admiration for the public face
of the man (or woman) can't whitewash
any dark side...
Reputation vs. reality, often at odds.
Thursday, March 1, 2018
Young Parkland People Rising--the Right Age, the Right Time
It's not surprising that the Parkland FL teens are more
effective change agents than the small slain children
and their parents in Sandy Hook were--they are perfectly
positioned to achieve improvements in thorny gun
control practices/politics.
Again and again, it is now, always has been, about
power, how to have it, how to leverage it. The parents
in Sandy Hook were too destroyed by their tragic
horror to mobilize politically, which is the only way
to overturn bad law and policy in the U.S. short of
a violent, destructive revolution few would want.
But now, after the Las Vegas massacre and the
latest school shooting in Florida, the students
there recognize they are able to move the needle
on the dial toward a more sane policy--one that
other developed countries DO have.
The "Parkland Advantage":
(1) These students are either at voting age or very
close to it;
(2) They are at the most physically energetic
they will probably be in their lives;
(3) The brain power now available to these
young people is at its peak performance for life--
no accident that college is for teenagers
and young twenty-somethings, by and large;
(4) This horror happened to THEM--not some
news item elsewhere to be ignored.
Conservative Republicans in the U.S. House
surely can't be insensible of the threat to their
upcoming re-election hopes. Ditto "Don T" who
has said he's not afraid of the NRA and advocates
significant restrictions as to age requirements and
bump stock purchases, etc.
Consider the time frame of our next nationwide
elections: every two years U.S. House Reps
face re-election or removal. The students from
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High and their
supporters possess the best schedule possible to
mobilize, register voters, publish PSAs (public
service announcements), canvass, call legislators,
meet with them, more.
I predict these savvy, savaged kids will make most
of these actions a priority, which CAN change
stupid law and policy here at home. I hope and
pray they will not succumb to the flaws Occupy
Wall Street and their clones stumbled over, after
a promising start.
This is the right time, Parkland people/students:
Others will join you, keep rising!
effective change agents than the small slain children
and their parents in Sandy Hook were--they are perfectly
positioned to achieve improvements in thorny gun
control practices/politics.
Again and again, it is now, always has been, about
power, how to have it, how to leverage it. The parents
in Sandy Hook were too destroyed by their tragic
horror to mobilize politically, which is the only way
to overturn bad law and policy in the U.S. short of
a violent, destructive revolution few would want.
But now, after the Las Vegas massacre and the
latest school shooting in Florida, the students
there recognize they are able to move the needle
on the dial toward a more sane policy--one that
other developed countries DO have.
The "Parkland Advantage":
(1) These students are either at voting age or very
close to it;
(2) They are at the most physically energetic
they will probably be in their lives;
(3) The brain power now available to these
young people is at its peak performance for life--
no accident that college is for teenagers
and young twenty-somethings, by and large;
(4) This horror happened to THEM--not some
news item elsewhere to be ignored.
Conservative Republicans in the U.S. House
surely can't be insensible of the threat to their
upcoming re-election hopes. Ditto "Don T" who
has said he's not afraid of the NRA and advocates
significant restrictions as to age requirements and
bump stock purchases, etc.
Consider the time frame of our next nationwide
elections: every two years U.S. House Reps
face re-election or removal. The students from
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High and their
supporters possess the best schedule possible to
mobilize, register voters, publish PSAs (public
service announcements), canvass, call legislators,
meet with them, more.
I predict these savvy, savaged kids will make most
of these actions a priority, which CAN change
stupid law and policy here at home. I hope and
pray they will not succumb to the flaws Occupy
Wall Street and their clones stumbled over, after
a promising start.
This is the right time, Parkland people/students:
Others will join you, keep rising!
Friday, February 23, 2018
More Evidence of Base Motives from Oligarchs Running for High Office
Why must they aim for the top jobs without trying for lower
level experience first? Chris Kennedy, J B Pritzker, Donald
Trump and IL Governor Rauner all feel they need not pursue
a proper learning curve, gain experience/expertise before
becoming governors and presidents. The record clearly shows
how hubris produces ignorant, dangerous decisions and
candidates; our current president is but one glaring example.
The U.S. House and Senate have office holders of various
ages, so "starting young" is not a requirement. Trusting
one's advisers inevitably is, but without the proper
foundation, how can one know which policy prescription/
recommendation to follow?
Meanwhile, many well qualified individuals don't even
attempt to join the game, as it is so based on money.
"Money answereth all things", says my King James Bible
in one spot...interestingly, though, nothing follows that
cryptic sentence describing or explaining what sort of
"answers", good, bad or indifferent.Where is the value??
Beware those nobly-canted TV ads proclaiming the
caring character of the super rich candidate--he or
she rarely achieved great wealth without resorting to
LLPs, LLCs, hedge funds and other mechanisms
absolving officers and owners of legal responsibility
when things go seriously awry.
Base, self-serving hubris drives such people.
level experience first? Chris Kennedy, J B Pritzker, Donald
Trump and IL Governor Rauner all feel they need not pursue
a proper learning curve, gain experience/expertise before
becoming governors and presidents. The record clearly shows
how hubris produces ignorant, dangerous decisions and
candidates; our current president is but one glaring example.
The U.S. House and Senate have office holders of various
ages, so "starting young" is not a requirement. Trusting
one's advisers inevitably is, but without the proper
foundation, how can one know which policy prescription/
recommendation to follow?
Meanwhile, many well qualified individuals don't even
attempt to join the game, as it is so based on money.
"Money answereth all things", says my King James Bible
in one spot...interestingly, though, nothing follows that
cryptic sentence describing or explaining what sort of
"answers", good, bad or indifferent.Where is the value??
Beware those nobly-canted TV ads proclaiming the
caring character of the super rich candidate--he or
she rarely achieved great wealth without resorting to
LLPs, LLCs, hedge funds and other mechanisms
absolving officers and owners of legal responsibility
when things go seriously awry.
Base, self-serving hubris drives such people.
The USA: Every Day Violence in Speech
--"Pull the trigger", "It was a shooting match," "Take your best
shot", ad infinitum, ad nauseam. These and many other similar
expressions are frequently found on police procedurals
AND in everyday life, used by various talking head media
mavens. Because we are copy cats, the average Joe and Joanna
spout such phrases when they are spicing up various calls to
action having nothing to do with guns and/or violence...need
to make a decision? "Pull the trigger". Achieved mastery or
success? "I killed it". (You can now see the toothpaste test
ad where a young woman "crushed it" after her whiter
tooth win).
Our whole society is inextricably intertwined with violence--
from the news, political reaction, TV and movie fiction, in
the home, the school, everywhere. This phenomenon runs
deep indeed, no one can "drill down" to find its bottom
so as to extirpate it. Realizing what this means to stopping
tragic outrages like the latest school murders in Florida,
my mood is grim indeed. No wonder Congress won't
pass stricter gun laws--the NRA's moneyed tentacles
are not the only stumbling blocks to fewer murders
here at home.
It could happen--most adults in their millions could
rise, unite, and demand better laws, better entertainment,
better behavior from one another. But how likely, in the
immediate future, is it?
shot", ad infinitum, ad nauseam. These and many other similar
expressions are frequently found on police procedurals
AND in everyday life, used by various talking head media
mavens. Because we are copy cats, the average Joe and Joanna
spout such phrases when they are spicing up various calls to
action having nothing to do with guns and/or violence...need
to make a decision? "Pull the trigger". Achieved mastery or
success? "I killed it". (You can now see the toothpaste test
ad where a young woman "crushed it" after her whiter
tooth win).
Our whole society is inextricably intertwined with violence--
from the news, political reaction, TV and movie fiction, in
the home, the school, everywhere. This phenomenon runs
deep indeed, no one can "drill down" to find its bottom
so as to extirpate it. Realizing what this means to stopping
tragic outrages like the latest school murders in Florida,
my mood is grim indeed. No wonder Congress won't
pass stricter gun laws--the NRA's moneyed tentacles
are not the only stumbling blocks to fewer murders
here at home.
It could happen--most adults in their millions could
rise, unite, and demand better laws, better entertainment,
better behavior from one another. But how likely, in the
immediate future, is it?
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