EfficientHorizons

No bail for the Bailout Culprits

Image via WikipediaNo that we have watched the geniuses in Washington DC spend a trillion plus of our tax dollars to bail out the greedy wall street bankers, we need to make sure this does not happen again.

For this to happen we need to send the CEO's and boards of Lehman, Bear Sterns, AIG, Fannie and Freddie to Guantanamo to serve two years period. No blame game, no retribution. Just serve two years in the hell hole for the hell you have put us thru.

So write to your local Congressman or Senator if you like this proposal. Here is a short link to your congress representative

Contact your Congressman
Contact your Senators

Immigration, Society and Us

Last Sunday I was at a park in one of the most vibrant cities in the Silicon Valley and noticed a curious phenomenon the park had two little league games on and to my surprise the entire crowd as well as the kids in the games were white, not a single non native (so to speak), something unusual I though for a place like the valley. After a while I walked over a couple blocks to the public library and looked in the children's section and wasn't surprised by the fact that about 80% of the kids and the parents were either Asian or Indian. This got me thinking about our society culture and current debate on immigration. Now I am a person who believes that all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy and there is definitely room for games fun and arts and out of life but the big problem I see with today's American society is that the choice we give our kids is not between physics or biology but between gap and Banana Republic. It's no coincidence that most of the H1B (high skill) visas are given to either Indians or Asians, basically because we aren't training kids in math and science, our kids are spending more time with the latest Xbox and Game Boy when they should be spending time reading or hacking code for a new video game.

We have come to complain about high tech jobs being outsourced or being given to H1B visa holders when in fact are partly responsible for this and have brought it upon us by shirking responsibility. Don't get me wrong I believe that high skilled immigrants are extremely valuable for this country and gain do more good than harm to the society. The folks over at the Programmers Guild love to moan and bitch that these programmers are lowering the costs and putting people out of work I think it's a bunch of baloney. There is no doubt in my mind that some companies mainly Indian and abusing the system by getting a low paid programmers into this country paying them 40 or 50K. for a job that the prevailing wage would be 80 to 100K. These companies need to be ferreted out and severely fined maybe even send some of the execs to jail.

However most corporations like the Intel’s, Microsoft’s and IBM's of the word hire the best and brightest using these visas and pay them proper wages. These individuals are an absolute plus to the American economy and society. So what should we do about this?

- encourage your kids to read, especially physics, math and biology.

- teach them economics and financial literacy

- teach them about credit, the convenience and the pitfalls

- teach them geography

- learn from the immigrants, make friends with them

- don't complain about immigration it's good for the country

- teach your kids about balance “learning and fun” can both go hand in hand

Free Markets need adult supervision

The current chill in credit markets is reflective of "the market" borrowing a page from girls gone wild. Uninhibited lending  a.k.a ninja loans - no income, no job, no assets loans, lack of financial education and the belief that free markets are the nirvana of economics. The US in the past 30 years has done nothing but borrowed and spent, we have effectively lived a hedonistic life at expense of our kids and grandkids.

Partly the belief stems from the "voodoo economics" of supply side economists mainly republicans and spineless democrats who have basically reneged on their responsibilities. The very politicians who go around talking about the founding fathers should try and learn from Ben Franklin's aphorisms "Its  better to go to sleep hungry than wake up in debt"

The same fat cats who lobbied to dismantle regulations like the Glass-Steagall act and have railed against new laws are now being bailed with mine and your tax dollars. Don't forget treasury secretary Paulson who is conveniently throwing away your tax dollars  once led Goldman Sachs.

I believe free markets are the best thing that have ever happened to mankind but they can be the "nirvana" only if adequately supervised and supervision should go hand in hand with financial innovation not follow it. I like the independence of John McCain but I was shocked yesterday when one of his proposal to get out of the crisis was to dismantle the "mark-to-market" mechanism. Basically he is proposing to forget and let the banks bury their losses, Rather than propose more tighter regulation this guy is proposing to even throw away the existing rule book. Mr McCain please start thinking and talking like a President if you want my vote, not tow the same staid lines that have gotten us here.
- Give the Fed oversight powers over investment banks
- Combine the Commodities & Futures commission and the all the myriad of agencies that supervise the market piecemeal today under the SEC
- Triple / Quadruple the SEC budgets
Its time to feed and nurse the hen that has laid golden eggs not make an omelet of the eggs!!!

Its not my first time!!

So I have done this before but, this time it wont be anything about stocks, investing frankly anything that could get me into trouble at work....I need to keep my day job, unless of course you start clicking on these pesky ads. I will focus on my other interests Meditation, Homeopathy, Current Affairs (Politics and yes some Economics), my rants and raves on the changing social, demographic and cultural topography. Heard two curious items today on NPR - one of the handful media outlet's worth listening / reading now a days. 
1. The Supreme Court heard an unusual case today about a defendant who was certified to be sane to stand trial but not sane enough to represent himself. Listening to the judges questions made me wonder who was insane, the state of Indiana that was the plaintiff or the same ideologically driven judges who helped Bush steal an election.
2. Marketplace had a great segment on  MindHabits a video game helps players reduce stress and boost self confidence. The product arose out of  a McGill psychology professor's research.
thats should be all for today!!