Are people going nuts or are we a Nation of Neurotics?

People seem to be going nuts like a Chinook wind is blowing. A few examples... in no particular order:

• A University professor shoots his wife and 2 others with his little kids waiting in the car - obviously "mad as hell and not going to take it anymore!" Whatever "it" was is still unknown - as is the professor.
• Texas Governor Perry announces that Texas is "mad as hell" and may just secede from the United States.
• 43 of 44 Georgia state senators try to one-up Texas - must be "mad as hell & not going to take it anymore" to pass a resolution laying the grounds for secession & dissolving the United States.
• 8 protestors arrested outside Sudan's Embassy include 5 Congressional Representatives - also "mad as hell and not going to take it anymore" because the world is ignoring the madness of genocide in Darfur.
• An Army Reservist w/anger issues about Obama being president - obviously "mad as hell and not going to take it anymore" - kills 2 sheriff's deputies after roughing up his wife - who obviously dodged a bullet.
• Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh agitating for anarchy all across the country.
• A late-season flu epidemic in a few US cities sets off swine flu pandemic alarms because Mexico has it.
• The federal government takes over large banks and automanufacturers teetering on bankruptcy.

We must not forget a major earthquake in Mexico. The Andreas Fault might also come unglued! Okay, I agree that is NOT funny since geologists have been warning about California's "Big One" for the last decade!!

However, the load of negative news can make us feel like we're standing on that proverbial edge staring into an abyss!! To keep our wits about us, keep in mind new implications of chaos for unpredictability of nature requires that predictability of all past events be largely irrelevant. Now put your mind to work on that little morsel - it is guaranteed to help you sleep better at night!

Maybe the predicted "end times" for 2000 is a late arrival and if you're born again, not to worry. But if not... well, dang... best turn the news off or we will become a Nation of Neurotics seeing danger in every nook and cranny.

Have you heard Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand is selling like hot cakes again? I'm going to watch The Passion of Ayn Rand - the movie about the life of Alice Rosenbaum (pen name Ayn Rand). Alice/Ayn was a Russion immigrant of Jewish ancestry who was heavily influenced by the Russian Revolution at age 12. She liked her heroes to be strong and smart like those in her favorite childhood stories. I wonder if there's a connection between Alice's disappearing heroes in her infamous novel about "objective individualism" - and those "born-again" religious heroes who would be "raptured" in the end times of the Left Behind novels. ~;-)

Any laid back non-neurotics can simply vote in the sidebar for whether Susan Boyle will win the Britain's Got Talent and scroll down to listen to Cry Me a River by Susan Boyle, Ella Fitzgerald, Julie London or Barbara Streisand... then vote for which one you think is best!

Health Care Reform - Discussions & Results

First Step: Health Care Community Discussions In December, the President's Transition Team launched an engagement of the public in health care reform that was extensive, intense and unprecedented. Over 9,000 citizens in all 50 states/DC signed up to host community discussions. Patients, doctors, business owners, and advocacy groups - people from all walks of life and various viewpoints gathered, discussed and submitted reports. The Health Policy Transition Team conducted 30,603 Participant Surveys and with help from dedicated volunteers read and analyzed 3,276 group reports submitted and survey results. Details of Report

Video: Results and Remarks of Firefighter and EMT Discussion host, Travis Ulerick, rose to his mother's challenge to stop complaining and do something about the health care problems he saw first-hand as a firefighter and EMT in Dublin, Indiana. A video of Travis' remarks and discussion results are in the sidebar.

Results and Conclusions:
Americans have a cohesive view of what is wrong and the general direction to fixing our health system. Interest in continuing to stay involved was very strong. A group in Green Acres, WA wrote: "We are extremely encouraged that President-elect Obama is reaching out to all Americans rather than special interest groups to come up with a solution. More than ever, we are optimistic that this solution will be reached."

Top Concerns - System Not Focused on Health or Prevention:
75% - costs (55%) and lack of emphasis on prevention (20%)
25% - preexisting conditions limit insurance (13%) and quality of care (12%)

Solutions Wanted:
55% want a fair (36%), patient centered and choice-oriented system (19%)
32% want a simple, efficient and comprehensive system

Second Step: Five Regional Forum in MI, VT, IA, NC, CA.
Democratic and Republican Governors Regional Forums bringing together citizens, key health care stakeholders, and elected officials to discuss what must be done to change our health care system. There was consensus that lack of health care and costs have adversely affected business competition with detrimental effects beyond political partisanship. With community organization and participation comes commitment to reforming the system because it simply is too important to our nation.

Final Step: Discussion of 30 Health Care Stakeholders on April 8
Leaders from hospitals, physicians, nurses, public health, educators, business, insurance and IT participant comments summarized in Health Reform Blog. (Big issues listed below)
C-Span (2 hr) Airtime at 3:50 pm on April 8

Major Stakeholders Ready for Reform:
Leader of America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP ran "Harry and Louise" ads early 90's) stated to President Obama: "We want to work with you, we want to work with the members of Congress on a bipartisan basis here. We hear the American people about what’s not working. You have our commitment to play, to contribute, and to help pass health care reform this year. American Medical Assoc. (AMA), Physician-Hospital Organization (PHO) also committed to reforming the health care system.

Action Needed Now - Big Gorilla Issues:
Patient-Centered - focus system based on patient-centered and individual care.
Insurance Plans - insureds do not understand policies affecting care and costs.
Insurance Costs - not sustainable for small businesses (employ 70% of workers).
EMR 'Wiring' - focus on patient & operability for information and reimbursement.
End-of-Life - options affect economic and human costs (hospice vs intervention).
Prevention - focus must on prevention of chronic diseases at home and school.
Education - provide health care literacy programs for prevention and options.
Provider Shortage - need to train more doctors and nurses to meet demand.
Primary Care - clinics, not doctors, needed in rural and low-income areas.
Disabilities - train providers in care of disabled with more home care options.
Home Care - align costs and care w/facts - most care is provided at home.
Responsibility - engage employers and insurers in system designs.
Children Care - system must include schools, chronic disease and disabilities.
System Design - simplify, seamless access, technology and education.
Risk Barriers - patient risk-taking and align incentives among providers.
Social Connections - strategic investment w/health impact in communities.
Pharmaceutical - FDA approval delays requires funding more staff.
Dental Health - integrate prevention into health care system structure.
Public Health - healthy work/military force relies on care at front end.
Patient Choice - patients want choice of providers not insurers.
Individual Responsibility - health incentives work (nutrition and activity).

Global Migrating Traders

Is trading in this global world of finance still too much to grapple with? Try comprehending something more complex, yet much easier to understand - because we simply accept forces of nature like these Global Migrating Traders.

Major players in Nature's Global Trading Exchanges are the Sandhill Cranes, much larger than snow geese. In March the Sandhill Cranes migrate from their winter homes spread across northern South America, fly north through a narrow band across Nebraska, to arrive & again spread out across their summer home in Canada. These large cranes are especially graceful despite 7 ft. wing spans and squat bodies balancing on spindly legs. Watch their dance moves in the sidebar video shot by Harold Silver in southern Ontario.

As the Sandhill Cranes traverse a narrow route across Nebraska's beautiful Sandhills, they stop for several weeks to rest and mate along a 50 mile-wide stretch of Nebraska's Platte River near Kearney. This wildlife spectacle of graceful cranes swoop up each night in the sky & land gracefully on sandbars in the Platte to roost overnight. It is a sight to behold while visiting Nebraska in March.

Let's not forgot 500,000 snow geese, trading places from the north to the south, that gather in Missouri's Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge. Their chattering as they roost for the night sounds like Nature's Global Trading Exchange every Spring and Fall.

Big-3 US Auto vs Big-2 Japanese Auto

So much ignorance, so little understanding.  Management & unions have a history of both good & bad relations, depending on their leadership.  Decisions at the top set the tone.  Does greed play a role?  Yes, on both sides. Have certain corporations lost their way? Absolutely!

Unions elect their own leaders, but don't have a say in executive hiring decisions.  Consider for a moment that Chrysler hired Nardelli as its new CEO, who had been fired by Home Depot the year before & paid $125 million as severance! 

If bad blood began at the top, those attitudes get insulated on both sides, flowing down to the bottom rung, becoming entrenched regardless of market forces.  Those corporations eventually become dinosaurs - executive, management & union.  Unfortunately, both sides dig ever deeper defenses & their products or services suffer the most.  Expenses for marketing/sales get bigger, which cover bad products/services only so long before more flexible competition takes a bigger market share.  This describes GM, Chrysler & Ford.

As an investor, I look for companies who's executives have a positive tone at the top. If they treat all employees well in terms of safe working conditions & wages, that company does not have union problems regardless whether unionized or not. They clearly understand that "best practices" get "best results" from employees, top to bottom, i.e., smarter decisions, fewer conflicts, happier employees, better trained workforce, less turnover, fewer QA rejects or returns, far fewer injuries or sickness, experienced supervisors, better management, smarter executive decisions - full circle.  All of which leads to larger profits in the bottom line.  This describes Honda & Toyota.

Japanese auto manufacturers learned well from Peter Drucker.  His analysis of GM, at GM's request, was published in "Concepts of the Corporation" (1946), with suggestions for improved management that was rejected by GM executives for decades.  Meanwhile, the Japanese manufacturers hired Drucker & adopted his ideas wholesale.  Results speak for themselves, including their 9 US plants, which are not unionized & are expanding.

If someone on WSJ's staff knows anyone with Drucker's genius, please publish their solutions to the Big-3 problems.  Otherwise, the tripe from "talking heads" is simply not useful to us.

Short & Simple Story of the Credit Crisis

TV news anchors are STILL trying to figure out who is to blame for the credit crisis!  Media artist - Jonathan Jarvis - came to their rescue with a visualized explanation. Check out  Crisis of Credit Visualized (video in sidebar).

Jonathan's goal of giving form to a complex situation like the credit crisis is to quickly supply the essence of the situation to those unfamiliar and uninitiated. This project was completed as part of his thesis work in the Media Design Program, a graduate studio at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California.  Explore more Jonathan Jarvis new media.

REVOLT OF THE BANKS

Healthy banks are revolting?  Yes, & with good reason!  Regional branch banks & community banks are rebelling against added FDIC costs, curbs on pay and business practices imposed on recipients of TARP capital after public outrage over bonuses and perks at the biggest lenders. 

I fault the News Media for not differentiating healthy banks from big unhealthy banks, causing a TARP stigma that has decimated stock prices of healthy banks & brought pressure to cut dividends, pay and perks. Healthy banks are applying to return TARP funds & urging Congress to change FDIC assessments so formulas are weighted by bank size to shift the cost burden to the largest banks that caused this train wreck.

Why should healthy banks have to help clean up the mess made by Wall Street banks?  8300 regional branch banks and community banks did NOT "securitize" collateral nor indulge in other unscrupulous behavior like hire fly-by-night mortgage loan originators.  These healthy banks adhered to high standards, maintaining healthy balance sheets & capital reserves. 

Adding insult to injury, the 8,300 banks also face increased FDIC fees plus an "emergency charge" to raise $27 billion this year to replenish FDIC's funding accounts. The FDIC took over 25 banks in 2008 & another 16 banks this year, most with less than $1 billion in assets.  Independent Community Bankers of America, representing 5,000 locally-owned community banks, expects that even half the proposed "emergency" charge means a 10-20% drop in 2009 earnings.

I wholeheartedly agree with Paul Volcker, former Chair of the Federal Reserve (1979-1987), who has recommended separating commercial banks from investment banks & insurance companies.

Congress should reinstate holding company provisions in the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 that were repealed by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999.  Obviously such provisions are needed to maintain scrupulous oversight of our banking system.

Holding Conservatives Accountable - Part II

UPDATE: Conservatives dumped "socialist" now for "fascist" now. Someone finally convinced them Social Security and Medicare is "a good thing" for the economy and THEM (thanks Martha). They still don't bet it! The large majority in Congress is indicative of "fascism" if they don't adopt the conservative platform lock, stock and barrel. Folks, this is why the United States is a REPUBLIC, not a fascist union.  The rumor Conservatives hijacked the GOP is true!  But where are the OLD Republicans?  Could we please have our Grand Old Party back?

Conservatives are on the stump claiming the "house is burning down" while Pres. Obama ignores The Banking Crisis - by focusing on putting ARRA funds in the hands of state & city leaders to jump-start their infrastructure projects. Such short memories!

Are Conservatives still drinking the Kool-Aid? Did they forget a year ago in March the GOP's Gang of Three, led by Treasurer Henry Paulsen, started bailing out the BIG investment banks beginning with $29 BILLION to Bear Stearns? Okay, so they didn't bail out Lehman with $84 BILLION, but they rushed to save an even bigger fire - AIG.

Apparently Conservatives drank too much Kool-Aid to recall last summer at all!! When bailing out the largest and most incompetent bankers didn't break the log-jam of credit, GOP's Gang of Three worked furiously to get Congress to adopt TARP. Finally in October they forced 10 largest banks to take $250 BILLION & used another $200 BILLION to shore up other weak banks that also let greed run away with their common sense. Mere weeks after the election, the Gang of Three had the Federal Reserve create TALF using $200 BILLION to prop up asset-backed securities collateralized by student, auto, credit card, and SBA loans. Should've fixed those banks, right? Wrong!

Conservatives let the country down. Where were Conservatives when Nouriel Roubini, NYU Prof. of Economics, warned the IMF back in 2006 that our country was heading into a huge crisis? Prof. Roubini, a highly regarded economist, laid out projections of a housing bust, an oil shock, abrupt halt in credit, imploding investment banks, crashing markets & sharply declining consumer confidence - all leading to a very deep recession. ["Dr. Doom" by Prof. Steven Mihm - NYTimes 8-17-08]

Speaking of incompetence! The oh-so-smart members of the Conservative Media didn't sound the alarm when they could have used Prof. Roubini's warnings to pressure Bush|Cheney to to stop predatory lending in its tracks, putting out the first small credit fires and stop the bankers' Ponzi game early - before it burned down the house?

The Guardian on the Prescient Prof. Roubini: 25 People at the Heart of the Meltdown (1-26-09): "He remains a pessimist. He predicted last week that losses in the US financial system could hit $3.6tn before the credit crunch ends - which, he said, means the entire US banking system is in effect bankrupt. After last year's bail-outs and nationalisations, he famously described George Bush, Henry Paulson and Ben Bernanke as "a troika of Bolsheviks who turned the USA into the United Socialist State Republic of America."

Conservative Talking Heads still don't 'get' it, which frankly gives Conservative Media a bad name! They espouse free market solutions (just cut taxes) UNTIL free markets burn down the barn with out-of-control greed. Then they DEMAND that a new LIBERAL President use the government to fix the problem. Well, this old gal is no fool!

President Obama is no fool either - he gets it. Those bankers played a stealth game trading CDO/CDS like baseball cards and are still buried in that humongous stinking pile of debt of their own making. The President is correctly focused on bringing business to the 8300 leaner banks that kept their balance sheets healthy!

Holding Conservatives Accountable - Part I

Apparently Conservatives in the media were in the dark back in 2006-2007 when big banks went out of control - gorging on greed. What did Conservative reporters for National Journal, American Spectator or Fox News & other Conservative columnists know & when did they know it? Do we hold them accountable for their stupidity or their silence?

Conservative commentators & writers like George Will, Pat Buchanan, Rush Limbaugh, Stuart Taylor, Charles Krauthammer & many others - 'true believers' in the GOP spending & regulatory policies - were focused on keeping the GOP in power... while rich bankers got richer. Rush began sounding the alarm only when the GOP Gang of Three started up the firetrucks to save Bear Stearns. THE BANKING CRISIS was addressed by Bush|Cheney last year AFTER the barns began burning down... & after they got THEIR horses out first of course.

The very same Conservatives now want us to believe that Pres. Obama hasn't done enough in 6 weeks to save the banks from burning to the ground. NOW they ramp up anxiety?! They love to beat that drum now keying off Stuart Taylor from The National Journal, "The house is burning down. It's no time to be watering the grass." ["Obama's Left Turn: Centrists fear that the president's budget reveals his liberal leanings." by Stuart Taylor, National Journal Magazine (Mar. 7, 2009)]

Conservatives want to think THEY have all the answers. DO THEY? Hold them accountable for their silence when the fires began to burn back in 2006-2007! If they didn't know then, why didn't they? Why should we think they have all the answers now?

The LiteSide: First Arms Debate

I have some observations to share about the President's address to Congress last night.

The First Arms debate is not about proliferation or reduction of nuclear arms. NonsenseNews is up in arms over the First Arms of First Lady Michelle Obama. 1,440 hits on Google in 24 hours, 2680 hits in 1 week and 11,400 hits over the last month! Media focus on the First Lady's First Arms would make one think bare arm wrestling will be the new sport of arms negotiations.

President Obama used his gift of oratory to chide and inspire with the best of them - he gives as good as he gets. Couldn't tell by watching Republicans, but the GOP did the same to Pres. Clinton and Democrats did likewise during Pres. Bush 43's addresses. So what else is new? Gov. Jindal is new... as a GOP spokesperson. I heard so many good things about him, I wanted to like him... but he simply does not have the gift of oratory.

Wish now I had taught my kids to clap every time I said something they liked and if they really, really liked it, to stand up and clap really hard with an occasional long "whooey" too! Too late now that they're almost as old as the First Couple and parents themselves. Parents today should consider whether they're teaching their children to respect them today, tomorrow and when they're my age.

The LiteSide: Music, Maps & Innovators

On The LiteSide: Discover another world of Music, Maps and Innovators!  Wiki, OpenSource, CreativeCommons, OpenStreetsMap are bringing delightful changes in the world.  Check out the video in the sidebar!

CreativeCommons ... Creative Commons (CC) is a nonprofit organization that creates free tools and software for authors, scientists, artists, and educators.
Jamendo ... Enjoy and legally download free music.  Discover new musicians in the largest Creative Commons (CC) catalog in the world (in 7 languages).
Jamendo's Blog ... Learn what's new in the world of music (in 5 languages).
OpenStreetsMap ... Free World Wiki Map that continuously maps countries.  Edits were made by 20,000 people in 2008.  ITO World provides free online support software for OpenStreetMap.
Ideas in Transit ... Engages User Innovators, utilizing an Innovations Portal on Wiki, to find solutions to problems facing transport systems and users, and provides incubator funding of sub-projects.  A collaboration of government, commercial and academic leaders and networks, it uses 'bottoms-up' people rather than 'top-down' industry as a powerful new source of innovation to influence transport decisions.

Video: OSM 2008: A Year of Edits by ItoWorld
Financial support from Ideas in Transit
Music by Vincent Girès' Silence: Open Electro
(Open Source Audio hosted on Internet Archive.org)