Not only is Jack the Tulip King of America, he is the country's largest breeder of Dartmoor ponies. Yes! Jack is trying to save the Dartmoor pony from extinction by breeding them himself in South Carolina. Nestled in the beautiful foothills of the mountains, Jack's small holding supports what has become a valuable contribution to saving the Dartmoor pony as it struggles to retain its original breed. Prince Charles of England declared that the Dartmoor pony was endangered and this got Jack all eager to save it. What can I say about such an effort other than it merits our support.
Jack sells tulip bulbs to make a living and by planting these we can help save the pony and Jack's business as he struggles with the current depression.
Scratches to Sketches
Saturday, 21 February 2009
Monday, 26 January 2009
What's New on Wooooooh's Stream
Fact is I have had a jolly good vacation while the world fell apart at the seams, or so it seems! Pun intended. My thoughts on what and why this has happened are unprintable.
I do have strong opinions about the post Thatcher and post Reagan changes in the financial sectors of both USA and the UK, that leveraged the property market. The fact is that these are war economies and so deserve special attention.
I do feel that the consumer price index should include rent on land and appreciation of land, after all, is not that what communism was all about.
Now that the weaknesses of both systems have been revealed to revolve around the value of land, we can have a better idea of where to reconstruct both.
What is printable is that there are obvious solutions, even though these promise to be painful. What I see is a severe mathematical disjoint between incomes and debt. Normally economies meet this change by means of the price mechanism.
The problem with the needed price adjustment is that its effect would be to slow activity in areas where activity has been compressed within time just as the price rises of the past decade have compressed activity forward in time in certain areas such as housing and consumer capital items (such as, furniture, heating and decoration).
It seems obvious that what will happen is a reallocation of incomes coming from different areas and capital going into different areas from what we have seen.
The stock market and related economies will continue to grow but some sectors, formerly starved of investment will receive investment while other sectors that have received too much investment should receive less.
The oil sector is grossly over invested as is every item that uses oil, so this sector needs to be starved of capital while the solar sector needs to receive capital.
I do have strong opinions about the post Thatcher and post Reagan changes in the financial sectors of both USA and the UK, that leveraged the property market. The fact is that these are war economies and so deserve special attention.
I do feel that the consumer price index should include rent on land and appreciation of land, after all, is not that what communism was all about.
Now that the weaknesses of both systems have been revealed to revolve around the value of land, we can have a better idea of where to reconstruct both.
What is printable is that there are obvious solutions, even though these promise to be painful. What I see is a severe mathematical disjoint between incomes and debt. Normally economies meet this change by means of the price mechanism.
The problem with the needed price adjustment is that its effect would be to slow activity in areas where activity has been compressed within time just as the price rises of the past decade have compressed activity forward in time in certain areas such as housing and consumer capital items (such as, furniture, heating and decoration).
It seems obvious that what will happen is a reallocation of incomes coming from different areas and capital going into different areas from what we have seen.
The stock market and related economies will continue to grow but some sectors, formerly starved of investment will receive investment while other sectors that have received too much investment should receive less.
The oil sector is grossly over invested as is every item that uses oil, so this sector needs to be starved of capital while the solar sector needs to receive capital.
Tuesday, 21 October 2008
The World's Greatest Challenge is that of Changing Decades Old Habits of Energy Use
We are all user's of energy and we have fixed habits in the way we use energy. This is our greatest challenge, our natural reluctance to alter the amounts and ways we use energy. We have not even accepted yet that we need to change our energy habits. Many newly elected governments are not yet pulling their weight as regards telling the truth to their electorate. Statesmen, like Stephan Dion of Canada, who tried to tell the Canadian people as it is, can be laughed out of a serious role in political circles where they could be extremely value because they see the very real need to alter our habits even if it is costly. We cannot avoid the costs and we need to educate people that these costs are coming down the track, and if we don't the costs will make our present recession seem like a vacation, a play day.
Europe took many decades to set its habits in a somewhat energy saving mode, but North America is decades behind and still unwilling to see the facts staring at them. The very real facts that their economies need to move in very different energy producing and consuming directions. Instead we have insincere people leading what has become a multi-ring circus of dishonest game playing about energy. There is such a lack of consensus in North America about what to do and how to go about it.
Saturday, 18 October 2008
Stop Your Negative Thinking Now
A consequence of the stresses on the world financial and economic systems that we see all around us is the rise of negative thinking. What many don't realize is that the financial patterns that we are presently seeing have been evident for some long time. They are not something negative, but a new pattern that is positive. The earlier pattern of inflation of excessive spending and spiralling house prices was actually the negative pattern. That is now ended in the US and thank goodness for that! Talk about living in a dreamworld!
The collapse of that pattern and its replacement with a process of necessary correction is a positive thing and will help the younger generation realize that things do not come as easily as they have been led to believe. This reassertion of the real values of our universe, is a wonderful expression of its ultimate vitality. What we were seeing was market-led injustice. What we are now seeing is a necessary realignment of values.
The fact that America watched Asia have its crisis in 1997 and did little to change its own ways are an important lesson for all of us. The Asian crisis was in reality an American led dollar crisis, and we can now all see that. That is a very positive step to Americans realizing that they are not the creme de la creme, but a part of the whole, and a declining part of that whole. Now as we watch other peoples realign, we will see more clearly the mistakes of the Bush administration, the lack of understanding by Bill Clinton of the economics of his success.
We see more clearly that all sides were most definitely wrong, and we see that it is now necessary to keep inflation of all kinds down otherwise we risk a rise of the second stage of depression which is anger and intolerance. I myself, sleep much more soundly now that the crisis is over for the crisis was what went on before and not what is going on now. Sure the world is in pain, but it could be in so much more pain down the road, should the old patterns of profligate spending not been arrested.
Now is the time to embrace the message that Obama is stating, and that is one of social justice. This does not mean that Obama got the pattern right. He most definitely did not as the McCain people so clearly show. No one in America has the right now to point the finger. All were within a destructive process that leadership at the FED failed to recognize and act upon.
We are suffered from a lack of direction on the part of the US monetary authorities, who go it wrong and should have known better! Lets hope they can end this scourge of inflation while we invest in a new energy paradigm that is self sustainable and based on what flows from the sun rather than what happens to come from the ground, or from inside the molecule.
The collapse of that pattern and its replacement with a process of necessary correction is a positive thing and will help the younger generation realize that things do not come as easily as they have been led to believe. This reassertion of the real values of our universe, is a wonderful expression of its ultimate vitality. What we were seeing was market-led injustice. What we are now seeing is a necessary realignment of values.
The fact that America watched Asia have its crisis in 1997 and did little to change its own ways are an important lesson for all of us. The Asian crisis was in reality an American led dollar crisis, and we can now all see that. That is a very positive step to Americans realizing that they are not the creme de la creme, but a part of the whole, and a declining part of that whole. Now as we watch other peoples realign, we will see more clearly the mistakes of the Bush administration, the lack of understanding by Bill Clinton of the economics of his success.
We see more clearly that all sides were most definitely wrong, and we see that it is now necessary to keep inflation of all kinds down otherwise we risk a rise of the second stage of depression which is anger and intolerance. I myself, sleep much more soundly now that the crisis is over for the crisis was what went on before and not what is going on now. Sure the world is in pain, but it could be in so much more pain down the road, should the old patterns of profligate spending not been arrested.
Now is the time to embrace the message that Obama is stating, and that is one of social justice. This does not mean that Obama got the pattern right. He most definitely did not as the McCain people so clearly show. No one in America has the right now to point the finger. All were within a destructive process that leadership at the FED failed to recognize and act upon.
We are suffered from a lack of direction on the part of the US monetary authorities, who go it wrong and should have known better! Lets hope they can end this scourge of inflation while we invest in a new energy paradigm that is self sustainable and based on what flows from the sun rather than what happens to come from the ground, or from inside the molecule.
The Pain of the Straight Line
Those who know me will understand when I say that the anathema of modern civilization is its obsession with the straight line. For me, the straight line is associated with the rise of Roman thinking, an obsession with directness and a failing to understand other forms of line.
As the straight line was absorbed into the world as a dominant form with the suppression of other forms, civilization began the road down to evisceration and self destruction. For me the straight line is so closely attached to death that it is synonymous with dying and self elimination.
We are impoverished by the dominance of the straight line and when ever we add curves we are enriched. Why is that? Why do so much of us live linear lives? Why are so many of us impoverished by the straight line. You may not know what I mean, but then you are on the straight line of your life and if you remain on it you are approaching, well whatever! Put a mirror in front of yourself and ask whether you see any straight lines. Your life is based on nature making curves, so why are you so obsessed with the straight line.
Why is the Roman logic of linearity captivating your soul. Consider, is the straight line evil, or painful, or dangerous, of hurtful? I ask you to add a curve or two and to start to live more universally. Get off the straight road and breath life. See the other patterns out there. Forget the straight lines and see the beauty of the curve. Allow yourself to be inspired by the charm of indirectness, captivated by the novelty that is contained in curves. Be yourself as you can be. Live your life more eternally. Don't die on the straight line.
Tuesday, 14 October 2008
My Auntie is One Hundred Years Old
As of October 15, 2008, I have it on good information that my English auntie is one hundred years old. Time to celebrate! Good luck and congratulations, Auntie Stella!
The Challenge of Economic Adjustment and What to Expect
For a simplistic explanation read my comment!
Explanations of the present worldwide financial crisis are not so clear as to the adjustment process. Was has happened is the United States and many other countries have over invested in their respective domestic housing markets. This was made possible by lax lending practices which did not adequately take into account what borrowers could afford throughout their borrowing period.
Obviously, to make the financial equations balance either peoples' incomes have to rise, or they have to pay out so much of their current incomes for their mortgages that they can afford little else, or they have to receive further loans at concessional rates, or they have to rent out part of their homes, or they have to sell their homes.
To mitigate the overall problems, governments have decided that they will help out by making available more money at concessional rates so that more people can hang on to their homes. What happens in reality is that people try to make ends meet by getting better paying jobs, by getting second jobs, by working longer hours, by divorcing and selling their homes, by declaring bankruptcy, etc.
In some communities, banks have allowed people to remain in their homes but become shareholders. This seems like a reasonably good solution since the debt of the bank is no longer a purely bad debt, but an asset of lower yield, i.e. lower profit. The problem is that the banks have sold on their loans to other entities who are not in a position to dictate the terms of shareholding in the housing market. Indeed in buying the 'housing' paper, speculative buyers, which means banks wishing to convey at the time to others they were in the 'profitable' housing market, leveraged themselves into a crisis. But, what if the original lenders were required to buy back all their housing loans that did not perform! At least then there would be some accountability.
The impact of over-investment in the housing market, which is a long term market, is probably over investment in almost every other market, especially the longer term markets, such as vehicles and all what fills new houses, such as furniture. What this means is that the value or prices of the product of these over invested markets will decline. Those that have over invested will probably under invest as a precautionary rule. This means that the recovery out of this period of over investment could take a very considerable period.
Meanwhile governments will try by various means to soften the impact of recession. If they soften too much people will continue to over invest and a correction to sustainable investment will not happen. That is the problem of low interest rates and easy money. It encourages over investment and pushes against correction to sustainable spending and investment.
Perhaps, if governments focused on redirecting the economies towards CO2 saving industries where there is now under investment, we might just be spared the repeat of over investment.
Explanations of the present worldwide financial crisis are not so clear as to the adjustment process. Was has happened is the United States and many other countries have over invested in their respective domestic housing markets. This was made possible by lax lending practices which did not adequately take into account what borrowers could afford throughout their borrowing period.
Obviously, to make the financial equations balance either peoples' incomes have to rise, or they have to pay out so much of their current incomes for their mortgages that they can afford little else, or they have to receive further loans at concessional rates, or they have to rent out part of their homes, or they have to sell their homes.
To mitigate the overall problems, governments have decided that they will help out by making available more money at concessional rates so that more people can hang on to their homes. What happens in reality is that people try to make ends meet by getting better paying jobs, by getting second jobs, by working longer hours, by divorcing and selling their homes, by declaring bankruptcy, etc.
In some communities, banks have allowed people to remain in their homes but become shareholders. This seems like a reasonably good solution since the debt of the bank is no longer a purely bad debt, but an asset of lower yield, i.e. lower profit. The problem is that the banks have sold on their loans to other entities who are not in a position to dictate the terms of shareholding in the housing market. Indeed in buying the 'housing' paper, speculative buyers, which means banks wishing to convey at the time to others they were in the 'profitable' housing market, leveraged themselves into a crisis. But, what if the original lenders were required to buy back all their housing loans that did not perform! At least then there would be some accountability.
The impact of over-investment in the housing market, which is a long term market, is probably over investment in almost every other market, especially the longer term markets, such as vehicles and all what fills new houses, such as furniture. What this means is that the value or prices of the product of these over invested markets will decline. Those that have over invested will probably under invest as a precautionary rule. This means that the recovery out of this period of over investment could take a very considerable period.
Meanwhile governments will try by various means to soften the impact of recession. If they soften too much people will continue to over invest and a correction to sustainable investment will not happen. That is the problem of low interest rates and easy money. It encourages over investment and pushes against correction to sustainable spending and investment.
Perhaps, if governments focused on redirecting the economies towards CO2 saving industries where there is now under investment, we might just be spared the repeat of over investment.
Monday, 6 October 2008
My Political Leadership Wish List
If the last few weeks of turmoil and bubble bursting have taught us anything, it is that economic, financial and political policies of communities and governments do matter. The failings of the leadership of Blaire, Brown, Harper and Bush are now very apparent. The most obvious fact is that they need to seriously re-read the histories of their own countries to understand what they did wrong. Perhaps, they should also take courses in ethics. This is so they don't embarass us when they write their memoires.
I don't think they should write autobiographies or memoires until they really understand how serious their failings were for the three countries they led or continue to lead. They should pay particular attention to the interwar period and try to understand the way things work in desperate societies and why they now have contributed or continue to contribute to the creation of a world environment that is poised for religious, social and then nationalistic warfare. In my view, they do not understand the sources/causes of war. This is why they really need to go back to school so that they can see the extensive damage that they have done.
Of the present candidates for leadership of the free world my present preference is for Dion (Canada), Obama (USA) and Cameron (UK). What strikes me about these candidates is their honesty, sobriety and genuine ethical approach. What worries and worried me most about the Blaire, Brown, Bush and Turner leaderships was their dishonesty. It seems/seemed as if they are/were caught up in a world that they do/did not really understand.
I am particularly distraught about the contradiction inherent in the right wing religious community of USA, which espouses the minimalization of government while promoting ideologies that promote the intrusion of government into everyday life and freedom of choice. They say governments should be reduced, but want governments to expand and then behave as though they are religious communities at war furthering obvious religious goals, such as have to do with reducing the influence and freedom of genuine scientific research while supporting rearmament, disengagement, warfare, prohibitions and ever more dangerous weaponry. By preventing the normal evolution of positive and open value development, they foster an ever more dangerous hidden criminality of mentality. Though they don't bless it, they undoubtedly do lead to its increased likelihood. By supporting gun ownership, they increase the role of government in defending people's rights and a growth of governments and related agencies focused on security and control. They see people being shot in the streets with guns that people should not own. They don't mind gun ownership and they let the fear mentality of gun ownership to dominate the mores of American society. In effect, they bring the old west mentality into an otherwise ethical modern society where it can do serious damage.
I don't think they should write autobiographies or memoires until they really understand how serious their failings were for the three countries they led or continue to lead. They should pay particular attention to the interwar period and try to understand the way things work in desperate societies and why they now have contributed or continue to contribute to the creation of a world environment that is poised for religious, social and then nationalistic warfare. In my view, they do not understand the sources/causes of war. This is why they really need to go back to school so that they can see the extensive damage that they have done.
Of the present candidates for leadership of the free world my present preference is for Dion (Canada), Obama (USA) and Cameron (UK). What strikes me about these candidates is their honesty, sobriety and genuine ethical approach. What worries and worried me most about the Blaire, Brown, Bush and Turner leaderships was their dishonesty. It seems/seemed as if they are/were caught up in a world that they do/did not really understand.
I am particularly distraught about the contradiction inherent in the right wing religious community of USA, which espouses the minimalization of government while promoting ideologies that promote the intrusion of government into everyday life and freedom of choice. They say governments should be reduced, but want governments to expand and then behave as though they are religious communities at war furthering obvious religious goals, such as have to do with reducing the influence and freedom of genuine scientific research while supporting rearmament, disengagement, warfare, prohibitions and ever more dangerous weaponry. By preventing the normal evolution of positive and open value development, they foster an ever more dangerous hidden criminality of mentality. Though they don't bless it, they undoubtedly do lead to its increased likelihood. By supporting gun ownership, they increase the role of government in defending people's rights and a growth of governments and related agencies focused on security and control. They see people being shot in the streets with guns that people should not own. They don't mind gun ownership and they let the fear mentality of gun ownership to dominate the mores of American society. In effect, they bring the old west mentality into an otherwise ethical modern society where it can do serious damage.
Thursday, 2 October 2008
Starbucks Coffee Shop - Blueberry Bar
Since I don't eat wheat, it was a shock for me to see Starbucks in Ontario selling donuts with their coffee. It seems that Canadians cannot get away from their favourite food fifth column.
If you don't think that donuts are bad for you, perhaps you are a bit of a carb addict yourself. In any event, I enjoy the Starbucks blueberry bar, and when I don't see it on display, I do ask for it and have not been disappointed in Ontario, yet! So far, I have not detected any digestive problems associates with any wheat lurking within the bars. I do believe that blueberries are cancer fighters, and that oats are good for your heart. The coffee contains caffiene, which helps keep me alert, but I think it dries me out a bit, so I also like a glass of cranberry juice with my meals.
If you don't think that donuts are bad for you, perhaps you are a bit of a carb addict yourself. In any event, I enjoy the Starbucks blueberry bar, and when I don't see it on display, I do ask for it and have not been disappointed in Ontario, yet! So far, I have not detected any digestive problems associates with any wheat lurking within the bars. I do believe that blueberries are cancer fighters, and that oats are good for your heart. The coffee contains caffiene, which helps keep me alert, but I think it dries me out a bit, so I also like a glass of cranberry juice with my meals.
A Personal Review of Tim Horton's Coffee and Donut Shops
This morning, I tried very hard to find something at Tim Hortons that I could enjoy because it would not make me either sick or uncomfortable. Most of the products at Hortons make me ill because my body cannot tolerate the wheat that seems to be in everything they sell! I think all this wheat in the form of white stuff is bad for one's health.
My choice was coffee with two milk and one sugar, plus a side of hash brown potatoe. I find the coffee at Hortons fairly acidic so the double milk was intended to offset that. I was risking wheat being with the potatoe, but thought it might be worth the risk.
Everything went sour when I noticed the 'chef' touching my hash browns with her fingers. I did not order germs, so was a bit put out. The coffee was tolerable and it really did give me an energy rush for my bike ride. I left the hash browns because its not a good idea to eat food that others have touched with their fingers.
By all means have your coffee break, but I would do a cycle around Tim Hortons to a place where the coffee is better tasting, has more aroma, and seems fuller. As for the finger work. Who asked for that!
Incidently, I tend to prefer Starbucks coffee, which is better from filler, taste and aroma aspects, and I find less acidic. The oceans have too much acid so why do I need it also (a stupid non-sequitor!).
My choice was coffee with two milk and one sugar, plus a side of hash brown potatoe. I find the coffee at Hortons fairly acidic so the double milk was intended to offset that. I was risking wheat being with the potatoe, but thought it might be worth the risk.
Everything went sour when I noticed the 'chef' touching my hash browns with her fingers. I did not order germs, so was a bit put out. The coffee was tolerable and it really did give me an energy rush for my bike ride. I left the hash browns because its not a good idea to eat food that others have touched with their fingers.
By all means have your coffee break, but I would do a cycle around Tim Hortons to a place where the coffee is better tasting, has more aroma, and seems fuller. As for the finger work. Who asked for that!
Incidently, I tend to prefer Starbucks coffee, which is better from filler, taste and aroma aspects, and I find less acidic. The oceans have too much acid so why do I need it also (a stupid non-sequitor!).
Monday, 29 September 2008
What Leveraging Really Means to the Average Person
Excessive leveraging is what the Reserve Requirements of a Central Bank are supposed to limit. Obviously, there has been a big failure to communicate and inflation of house prices and stocks over the Bush period has been rampant. Without adequate Reserve Requirements throughout banking systems the US and UK will continue to create too much credit, and their currencies will weaken unless there is real economic growth, which is not likely in this holding period of adjustment.
Obviously, banks need to exact adequate reserve requirements (deposits, lower multiples of loans over income, percentage of income paying for interest and loans, etc.) from customers or they will fold like the economic system is folding right now. If your present loans are more than three times your salary, you should cut back spending or liquidate shares (i.e. loans to companies) to pay your loans down, no matter what the favourable interest rate, dividend percent or capital gain expected. That is prudence and not recklessness as has been common over the Bush administration period.
The problem is that more credit has been created over the last decade than what combined incomes can cover with interest payments. To get back to order, people need to sell assets, such as stocks and shares, houses, and liquidate deposits paying off their debts or as much interest as will keep the creditors happy (pretty high now!).
When this does not happen the debts become bad debts and the banks have to declare that they have bad debts. If everyone has bad debts at the same time, the assets that the bank is using to recover bad debts such as repossessed objects and homes fall in value because everyone is selling stuff at the same time.
When the Fed helps the banks it does not mean that the bad debts disappear, but that the fall in asset values is more orderly over time as sales of assets progress. Prices of stocks and shares, houses, and other assets will continue downwards until the full correction point has been reached.
For the average person, this means that the sale of a property that cannot be financed can to be delayed on a downward moving market. The problem is that people will race to sell while the market is on the upper end of its downward slide. Furthermore, people will delay acquisition of assets on a market moving downward because they prefer the higher valuation. There is consequently no easy solution, just the mathematics of human and market behaviour.
We do not know what the full correction point is, but one can be suspicious that the leveraging went forward some seven years beyond reason. So perhaps values of the past seven years adjusted for some small growth in value would appear to be about right. Not very nice, but more stable than continuing to live with the fear of a rush to sell rather than more certain modest growth in value! The appropriate correction period is the next nine months not years from now as the bad bailout dynamics might induce. Laws and money cannot really buy US banks out of stupidity, just time so that they can become smarter investors in people and assets.
Obviously, banks need to exact adequate reserve requirements (deposits, lower multiples of loans over income, percentage of income paying for interest and loans, etc.) from customers or they will fold like the economic system is folding right now. If your present loans are more than three times your salary, you should cut back spending or liquidate shares (i.e. loans to companies) to pay your loans down, no matter what the favourable interest rate, dividend percent or capital gain expected. That is prudence and not recklessness as has been common over the Bush administration period.
The problem is that more credit has been created over the last decade than what combined incomes can cover with interest payments. To get back to order, people need to sell assets, such as stocks and shares, houses, and liquidate deposits paying off their debts or as much interest as will keep the creditors happy (pretty high now!).
When this does not happen the debts become bad debts and the banks have to declare that they have bad debts. If everyone has bad debts at the same time, the assets that the bank is using to recover bad debts such as repossessed objects and homes fall in value because everyone is selling stuff at the same time.
When the Fed helps the banks it does not mean that the bad debts disappear, but that the fall in asset values is more orderly over time as sales of assets progress. Prices of stocks and shares, houses, and other assets will continue downwards until the full correction point has been reached.
For the average person, this means that the sale of a property that cannot be financed can to be delayed on a downward moving market. The problem is that people will race to sell while the market is on the upper end of its downward slide. Furthermore, people will delay acquisition of assets on a market moving downward because they prefer the higher valuation. There is consequently no easy solution, just the mathematics of human and market behaviour.
We do not know what the full correction point is, but one can be suspicious that the leveraging went forward some seven years beyond reason. So perhaps values of the past seven years adjusted for some small growth in value would appear to be about right. Not very nice, but more stable than continuing to live with the fear of a rush to sell rather than more certain modest growth in value! The appropriate correction period is the next nine months not years from now as the bad bailout dynamics might induce. Laws and money cannot really buy US banks out of stupidity, just time so that they can become smarter investors in people and assets.
Sensitivities
Each morning, I have been in the habit of taking my bike for a ride to Lake Huron and along the coast. The past week has been amazing. Temperatures were around 70 degrees fahrenheit, and there was just a slight breeze.
The sun broke through the leaves of the tall oaks splitting a hundred times within the woods to create a dazzling array of little lights and many shades of green. Acorns fell spontanously and seemingly dangerously from lofty branches a hundred feet overhead, smashing with a hard cachunk on the pathway and anyone or anything below.
I love to watch chipmunks, and these were really having a wonderful time, very excited by the warmth of the day and full of fun.
The sun broke through the leaves of the tall oaks splitting a hundred times within the woods to create a dazzling array of little lights and many shades of green. Acorns fell spontanously and seemingly dangerously from lofty branches a hundred feet overhead, smashing with a hard cachunk on the pathway and anyone or anything below.
I love to watch chipmunks, and these were really having a wonderful time, very excited by the warmth of the day and full of fun.
The Numbness That CNN Coverage of the Credit Crisis Brings to One
I have yet to decide whether it is the way that CNN covers the news or the news itself. Either way the CNN news and coverage of the attempts by Congress, the Fed, the President and the others to 'save the American main/high street and Wall Street' leave me quite numb.
The bottom line to me seems to be that leveraging of debt by all entities in the US and UK economies reached record levels growing alarmingly throughout the Bush administration period. What is clear is that nominal incomes of individuals and companies are insufficient to meet the requirements for interest payments and that the leveraging is collapsing everywhere like a deck of cards. One is quite foolish to think that such a collapse can be paid for by further leveraging by the US congress.
The fact is that the US and UK economies are now so highly geared up that a big crash in confidence will follow in October 2008. During the remainder of 2008, the result of this excess has got to be pressure on interest rates otherwise the result will be inflation during 2009, further job losses and unions pressing wage demands.
What could happen is all out war within society for what remains of income streams after the best creditors have had their share.
Can we really believe that the lenders in Asia will want to lend to dollar holders?
The bottom line to me seems to be that leveraging of debt by all entities in the US and UK economies reached record levels growing alarmingly throughout the Bush administration period. What is clear is that nominal incomes of individuals and companies are insufficient to meet the requirements for interest payments and that the leveraging is collapsing everywhere like a deck of cards. One is quite foolish to think that such a collapse can be paid for by further leveraging by the US congress.
The fact is that the US and UK economies are now so highly geared up that a big crash in confidence will follow in October 2008. During the remainder of 2008, the result of this excess has got to be pressure on interest rates otherwise the result will be inflation during 2009, further job losses and unions pressing wage demands.
What could happen is all out war within society for what remains of income streams after the best creditors have had their share.
Can we really believe that the lenders in Asia will want to lend to dollar holders?
Friday, 26 September 2008
Finally Hope of Ending the US Economic Depression
My take on the credit crunch and the failures of US banks and banks that had bought into the speculative excesses of the financial markets is as follows:
Wednesday, 24 September 2008
Wednesday, 17 September 2008
Saving Energy Resources
In an ideal world, we could reduce the energy costs of moving ourselves and the objects that we use or consume by doing less moving and consuming.
- We eat too much. Reduce our food consumption and we can make big savings.
- We commute too far. Reduce the commute to and from work by say working at home more, we can reduce family costs and company costs, and reduce travel accidents.
- We don't get enough exercise and recreation. By cycling more and locating in places that are more suitable for living, we can greatly improve our health and reduce the costs of the health services. Less time mixing with others in a commute reduces the opportunity for down times resulting from the spreading of disease. By not commuting, we would save time that could be used in recreation.
- We bypass bad places. If we located closer to where we had a real interest in the environment, we would not bypass the bad places of our environment. We would see them and we would want to clean them up because they are near where we occupy space.
Commuting to Work Electronically
Before companies go willy nilly locating in foreign places to reduce their costs, they should ask whether they are located in the right place locally. By reducing the costs of commuting for their employees, companies can alter the family economics of their employees. One way that companies can alter the economics of the credit crunch is to think about helping their employees ride the credit storm. This does nothing to alter the physical costs of commuting and the wasted energy of driving to and from work.
There are a growing number of technologies that firms can now use that would allow employees to work from their homes or from places closer to home. We have seen how the Nintendo Wii allows a child to manipulate an image on a screen by moving an controller up and down. It would seem that there is now technology sufficient to allow people to carry out actions robotically even though they might not be located in the work place. For example, a person could move things in a central location even though they are located remotely. By visually be able to see things electronically at a distance they can set in motion processes that are controlled at a distance. The economics of this is improving steadily.
There are a growing number of technologies that firms can now use that would allow employees to work from their homes or from places closer to home. We have seen how the Nintendo Wii allows a child to manipulate an image on a screen by moving an controller up and down. It would seem that there is now technology sufficient to allow people to carry out actions robotically even though they might not be located in the work place. For example, a person could move things in a central location even though they are located remotely. By visually be able to see things electronically at a distance they can set in motion processes that are controlled at a distance. The economics of this is improving steadily.
Reducing Wasted Energy Resources by Relocation of Firms
After watching the mass destruction of homes in the hurricane allies of world, we should consider assisting those living in these areas to move to safer locations and the businesses located in these areas to be ones that are more suited to a harsh environment.
People want to locate near to where they work and earn a living. It seems ridiculous for industries to locate in regions that are very likely to be swamped by sea water.
While there is a housing and credit crisis, it might be appropriate for authorities to encourage firms to locate in safe areas and design bases of industry that get the mathematics of commuting closer to what employees need as compared to what employers need.
What happens frequently is that the employees of a firm have to bear the 'hidden' costs of commuting and damage by nature when these costs could be reduced significantly by a better choice of location by the employer.
To get the employer to pay up, one needs to ask that employers cover a significant portion of commuting and home insurance costs of their employees.
Do firms consider the costs that their employees must bear to work at the location the employer chooses for locating the work place?
People want to locate near to where they work and earn a living. It seems ridiculous for industries to locate in regions that are very likely to be swamped by sea water.
While there is a housing and credit crisis, it might be appropriate for authorities to encourage firms to locate in safe areas and design bases of industry that get the mathematics of commuting closer to what employees need as compared to what employers need.
What happens frequently is that the employees of a firm have to bear the 'hidden' costs of commuting and damage by nature when these costs could be reduced significantly by a better choice of location by the employer.
To get the employer to pay up, one needs to ask that employers cover a significant portion of commuting and home insurance costs of their employees.
Do firms consider the costs that their employees must bear to work at the location the employer chooses for locating the work place?
A Proposal to Tax Commuter Travel
My proposal is that employers pay a significant proportion of the costs of their employees moving to and from work each day. I think that this tax would alter the way employers view commuting time.
A variant on my tax proposal is that the distance of each persons commute to and from work be provided to the local municipality and the municipality be able to charge people for using the roads going to and from work. This would help recover some of the economic cost of people using fuel on the roads as they commute to and from work.
The benefit of the tax if sufficiently punitive would be to alter the way that people think of their environment. If you lived closer to where you work, you would think more about improving that area of the community to make it more pleasant. As it now stands, people will drive past slums and think nothing about how to improve the lot of the people living in those slums. This is at the root of inequalities within our environment.
We wonder why people live in bad areas, and we know that it is because they are poor. The problem is that skilled people bypass the poor areas and bypass improving the lot of people they could be helping. They bypass because they commute to work. If one reduces commuting, one forces people to think more about average neighbourhoods and give incentives of people in neighbourhoods to improve them because they must endure them all the time.
A variant on my tax proposal is that the distance of each persons commute to and from work be provided to the local municipality and the municipality be able to charge people for using the roads going to and from work. This would help recover some of the economic cost of people using fuel on the roads as they commute to and from work.
The benefit of the tax if sufficiently punitive would be to alter the way that people think of their environment. If you lived closer to where you work, you would think more about improving that area of the community to make it more pleasant. As it now stands, people will drive past slums and think nothing about how to improve the lot of the people living in those slums. This is at the root of inequalities within our environment.
We wonder why people live in bad areas, and we know that it is because they are poor. The problem is that skilled people bypass the poor areas and bypass improving the lot of people they could be helping. They bypass because they commute to work. If one reduces commuting, one forces people to think more about average neighbourhoods and give incentives of people in neighbourhoods to improve them because they must endure them all the time.
A World at the Cross Roads
Habit persistence is a known phenomenon. It governs what economists refer to as the consumption function, which is a mathematical representation of our behaviour. Even if we move away temporarily from what we thinks good, correct and right, we tend to ratchet back to earlier patterns of behaviour.
Fundamental changes in the way we do things come not from within ourselves but from the environment around us that force us or lead us to new behaviour. If the environment were like us, and predisposed the way we are to copy cat behaviours and to habit persistence, then we would be in a stable equilibrium world. Fact is our environment changes and we change as a response to our environment. Only difficulty is that our environment is not moving in the direction of change that it should be moving in. This means that we are having to adapt to a world that is full of hidden dangers that our weakness in choosing appropriate technologies have created.
There is a way that we can have some control over our behaviour and that is through making the correct technological decisions that eventually feed back into our environment. I am of the opinion that technological innovation and thus our behaviours have been stifled by the inability of human beings as a sufficiently large group to make the correct technological decisions. This means that societies tend to persist in their bad behaviours and it becomes extremely difficult for individuals of societies to move towards improved behaviours.
The world is at a technological crossroad. We are being offered the opportunity to redirect change towards good and wholesome technologies. I have no faith in the process because those people who define the most appropriate directions are being ignored or vilified while those that ratchet us back to habitual and bad behaviours are almost worshiped as saviours. It does not take a very high intelligence to understand that we need to move towards an enormous restructuring of our between work and home habitat travel.
We have technologies that could reduce travel between work and home, but we are persisting in continuing the twice daily mass movement of bodies to and from locations that are in many cases enormous, but in most cases could be greatly reduced.
What if a limit were imposed that forced people to live close to work if their physical bodies were needed at the workplace? What if employers were required to pay for peoples' travel costs to and from work? That would force a big change on our wasting of resources travelling between home and work.
Ok! My proposal is that a law be passed that requires employers to pay one third of the cost of peoples' commute to and from work each day.
Fundamental changes in the way we do things come not from within ourselves but from the environment around us that force us or lead us to new behaviour. If the environment were like us, and predisposed the way we are to copy cat behaviours and to habit persistence, then we would be in a stable equilibrium world. Fact is our environment changes and we change as a response to our environment. Only difficulty is that our environment is not moving in the direction of change that it should be moving in. This means that we are having to adapt to a world that is full of hidden dangers that our weakness in choosing appropriate technologies have created.
There is a way that we can have some control over our behaviour and that is through making the correct technological decisions that eventually feed back into our environment. I am of the opinion that technological innovation and thus our behaviours have been stifled by the inability of human beings as a sufficiently large group to make the correct technological decisions. This means that societies tend to persist in their bad behaviours and it becomes extremely difficult for individuals of societies to move towards improved behaviours.
The world is at a technological crossroad. We are being offered the opportunity to redirect change towards good and wholesome technologies. I have no faith in the process because those people who define the most appropriate directions are being ignored or vilified while those that ratchet us back to habitual and bad behaviours are almost worshiped as saviours. It does not take a very high intelligence to understand that we need to move towards an enormous restructuring of our between work and home habitat travel.
We have technologies that could reduce travel between work and home, but we are persisting in continuing the twice daily mass movement of bodies to and from locations that are in many cases enormous, but in most cases could be greatly reduced.
What if a limit were imposed that forced people to live close to work if their physical bodies were needed at the workplace? What if employers were required to pay for peoples' travel costs to and from work? That would force a big change on our wasting of resources travelling between home and work.
Ok! My proposal is that a law be passed that requires employers to pay one third of the cost of peoples' commute to and from work each day.
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