A Conversation With Corporate America

More and more details are coming out each day how CEO's and executives of Corporate America have been fleecing their own companies and their average worker with lavish bonuses for themselves taking billions of dollars.  CNN's Headline News reported that CEO's and executives of wall street, financial firms and other businesses received almost $100 billion in bonuses in 2008.  Yea you read right, that's billions.

 

I reported earlier how Merrill Lynch gave its CEO's and executives approximately $4 billion in bonuses one month early because of the Bank of America buy out.  It matters not that Merrill Lynch was losing billions of dollars at the same time.

 

One can imagine the conversation coming out of Corporate America's board rooms between their CEO's and executives.  I think it went some thing like this.

              Our company is losing billions of dollars and will be reporting that in our financial statements soon.

              We need to reduce our work force, cut salary, cut back working hours, reduce our compensation or

              eliminate our contribution to our workers IRA and 401 plans, reduce insurance benefits and warn

              our employees there will be more cuts to come.  Mean while we will reward our CEO's and

              executives with bonuses, stock options and other benefits despite these difficult times.

 

I believe this type of conversation has taken place in many board rooms in Corporate America and I believe the facts as they are unfolding and being made know every day prove the existence of this type of conversation. 

 

We have a recession that started in December 2007, over 2.6 million jobs have been lost just in the last 12 months and more are announced every day.  Workers pay have been cut and benefits reduced or eliminated, home foreclosures at an all time high and the list goes on and on.  The transfer of wealth from the average worker to Corporate America has been complete.  Greed is the corrupting influence and the people responsible for this transfer of wealth need to be dealt with.  They do not deserve any respect and have no place in the board rooms of Corporate America.

Living With The Cycle Of Time

Most everyone has heard the expression, "things seem to happen in cycles."  That expression is usually used when several events happen in a short period of time.  The truth is we do live in a cycle of time and everything we do is related to that cycle.

 

We count time because of the movement of earth and the moon.  Planet earth takes 365 days to make one complete orbit of the sun.  That cycle of time we count as a year on earth and we also celebrate birthdays on that cycle of time.  At the same time earth is orbiting the sun it is rotating on its axis and takes 24 hours to make one complete revolution.  That 24 hour rotation is the cycle of time we call a day.  The day is divided into twelve double hours that we designate day and night.

 

Our calendar is based on these cycles of time and is a solar calendar.  The Muslim calendar is based on the movement of the moon and is called a lunar calendar.  Earthly time began on earth in 3760 b.c. and the Jewish people still use that calendar today.  The Jewish calendar reads the year 5769 instead of the western world calendar of 2009.

 

The cycle of time fits a mathematical scheme.  The cycle of 60 seconds equals one minute and the cycle of 60 minutes equals one hour.  What do the numbers 12, 24 and 60 have in common?  They can all be divided into 360 evenly, the number of degrees in a circle.  The number 12 has always been considered a sacred number.  There were 12 Apostles, twelve tribes of Israel and 12 houses of the zodiac.

 

Our ancient ancestors built temples that were oriented to earth's movement to tell time and to celebrate various events.  Our nation celebrates Easter on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox.  That is Easters cycle of time.

 

Everything we do in life is related to our way of counting time.  A change in the cycle of time as we know it would result in a disruption of our hours, days, weeks, months, years, night and day, our four seasons and just about everything we touch. 

 

For those who worry about their age factor keep this in mind.  Since we use the cycle of 365 earth days to count one year on our planet, a person who is 75 on earth would be only 6 years of age if he lived on Jupiter because it takes Jupiter approximately 12 earth orbits around the sun to complete one year on Jupiter.  So age is related to the cycle of time of the planet one lives on.  This should give people another perspective how to look at ones age.

 

The average person does not give it much thought but our cycle of time keeping is very orderly and fits in with our place in the universe.

Sean Hannity And Rush Limbaugh: A Sad, Sad Story

Both right wing neocons have popular radio shows and Hannity also has a T.V. show called Hannity's America on the Fox News Network.  Both are going after President Obama since his election but attacking democrats is not new for them.  It is standing procedure even when the republicans ran the country. 

 

People in their line of work could do so much good for the country and its people but their lack of character, truth and facts have betrayed what the broadcast industry should stand for.   They are so full of hate for the people they disagree with it has warped their sense and soul.  Why do these two spend all of their broadcast time attacking people?  I believe the answer is a lack of character that started early on in their lives.  The cause I do not know but I know they do not act like responsible journalists.

 

Both men are still trying to sell their brand of conservatism.  They still say the country is conservative but the last two congressional elections and the recent Presidential election proved them wrong once again.  They fail to recognize that the conservatism they and republicans preach is not the same conservatism the people practice. 

 

Hannity and Limbaugh's vision of America is not the America I know and want nor is it the America our founding fathers fought for and died to establish.  Their ideology is division that along with their conservative allies try to establish.  Wrapping themselves in the American flag is their way to gain attention because they failed to serve during their generations war while most of the people they criticize did. 

 

Their problem runs deep and they are unable to compete in the market place they serve and which makes them incapable of articulating what they and conservatives really stand for.  That is why they spend all their broadcast time attacking others.  They dare not try to justify their little boy world.

 

The type of journalism Hannity and Limbaugh broadcast has no redeeming value because it is based on division without regard for facts or truth.  Their bottom line is to divide and sell an ideology that is incompatible  with American ideals and the foundation America was built on.  The content of their programs is an indication of how inadequate they feel about themselves.

 

Both men have lived over half their life.  Next time they look in the mirror they should ask themselves how did their lives get messed up so much with their phony ideology and figure out what they can do with what ever time they have left to join the human race and be a positive force for America.  Having a popular radio or T.V. show may be the ultimate accomplishment for some but that is not what makes the world go around.  Maybe it is too late for Hannity and Limbaugh to face their problem but they need to look in the mirror soon. 

American-Cuban Relations

I wrote a post on 11/23/07 titled "Cuba, A Missed Opportunity For America."  I explained why opening up diplomatic and normal relations with Cuba was in the best interest of America.  We not learn from wire reports and reports out of Moscow that the President of Russia and Cuba signed a strategic partnership and several other documents aimed at rekindling their faded cold war alliance and pledging to expand cooperation in agriculture, manufacturing, science and tourism.

 

Cuba, being only 90 miles from our shore and once an ally should be a natural ally of America once again.  The reasons why are so obvious they do not have to be stated here.  There can be no doubt that Fidel and Raul Castro would embrace an American contact of good will.  Our 50 year old embargo against Cuba should be replaced with trade, commerce and normal relations.

 

Cuba is no military threat to the U.S. and will not be so into the future if we pursue a foreign policy with common sense towards that island. Had President Kennedy lived we know he was going to make a strong diplomatic effort to bring Cuba back into their normal sphere of influence.  The embargo policy against Cuba has failed to break Castro and has only hurt the people of Cuba.  President Obama should immediately set in motion a diplomatic effort with Cuba to reverse our misguided foreign policy.

The Republican National Committee

The former lieutenant governor of Maryland, Michael Steel, is the first black chairman of the RNC.  With Mr. Steele's selection,  the Republicans will try to enlarge their base and try to build political coalitions that have been lacking.

 

Mr. Steele said he would bring the republican party to every neighborhood and every corner and that its time to try something different.  He also said the republican party has an image problem and that the American people has lost faith in our leadership.  The results of last November's election is clearly visible as to what is going thru the minds of republicans.

 

However, the test for republicans will not be Mr. Steele, it will be who emerges as their party's leader for President.  As of this writing there has been no change in the attitude of the republican leaders in congress.  Will neocons like Newt Gingrich, Bill Bennett, Mitch McConnell, John McCain and others still set the divisive republican tone.  Will Mr. Steele tell the neocon right wing journalists such as Sean Hannity, Bill O'Rielly, William Kristol and Rush Limbaugh to just shut up or will they also continue to be divisive?

 

My recommendations to Mr. Steele is to lead the republican party away from those guys because they have been wrong about everything.  Let go of the phony conservative ideology that your party preaches, confess that republican moral values are no better than the average Americans and that the republican agenda for the future will be an American agenda.  It has already been established that a conservative agenda is a phony agenda.

 

It will be interesting in the next few months to see if there will indeed be a change in the party and its leaders.

Executive Bonuses Investigation

The Associated Press reported New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is investigating bonuses Merrill Lynch paid executives just before being sold to Bank of America.  The investigation will center on trying to determine why the time table for paying bonuses was moved up to December from its normal period in January .

 

Other questions that need to be answered are who knew about the bonuses, how could Merrill Lynch pay those bonuses when it was going to report a $15 billion loss for the 4th quarter and Bank America was seeking more federal funds to help it absorb losses at the investment bank.  Bank America said it knew about the bonuses but had no authority over the pay outs because the Merrill Lynch sale had not been completed.  The Associated Press said the bonuses were in the billions of dollars.

 

Those Merrill Lynch's executives got their greedy bonuses at the same time their company was loosing billions of dollars.  It is not hard to figure why the paying of those bonuses were moved up a month.  Give us our greedy bonuses while the getting is good.  The Attorney General of every state should investigate every financial, wall street and any other firms who received government funds and make  sure none of that money is dedicated to bonuses for the greedy executives.

 

It is really not hard to answer the question; how is all of this happening?  Its corporate greed pure and simple.  The massive wealth that has been transferred to Corporate America's top earners is criminal.  The average American should understand what has been happening to his earnings and buying power and demand change. 

The Quest For Monopoly Continues

The number one drug maker Pfizer said it is buying number twelve drug maker Wyeth for a reported $68 billion.  If this sounds like the economic melt down of the financial industry, wall street and the automotive industry join the club.  Pfizer also announced they plan to cut 8,000 jobs thru 2011 and a total of approximately 11,500 more from the combined total, reported the Associated Press.  Another blow to the economy and the job market.

 

Analysts saw no benefit for consumers.  Pfizer had a $2.3 billion legal settlement over allegations it marketed pain reliever Bextra and possibly other products for indications that had not been approved.  The transaction is supposed to cut cost and make Pfizer more competitive  and of course increase their profits.  But in the final analysis what this buy out will do is transfer wealth from the average worker to the executives and CEO's of the newly structured company.  One almost predicts the layoffs in the future will exceed those already announced and the combined companies will offer our economy nothing positive. 

 

This mega deal should be stopped by the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department.  It will result in a monopoly whereby only the executives and CEO's will benefit and will do nothing to help the economy or the average worker.  It will also guarantee future large increases in the price of their products. 

Democrats Make Their Move On Economic Recovery

The House of Representatives voted 244-188 for the stimulus package President Obama urged them to pass.  Not one republican voted for the bill.  No American is happy about the federal government having to spend $800 billion in order to put the economy back on track and producing jobs for our people.  But the people do understand what has happened to the economy under republican rule that has made it necessary for drastic measures to be taken. 

 

Republicans in the House offered all kinds of excuses why they voted no.  They wanted more tax breaks for corporations;  does that sound familiar?  John  Boehner was proud his party voted no because of the belief a unified position of opposition would force democrats to make concessions;  the economy and job creation would not helped in the short term;  they wanted more tax breaks for the wealthy.

 

If all of that sounds familiar, it should.  Lets rewind to 1993 when newly elected President Clinton sent his economic, fiscal and deficit reduction package to congress.  The democrats who controlled congress at the time passed the package without one republican vote in the House or Senate.  The republicans predicted doom and gloom if the package passed.  They were wrong and Clinton's proposals produced the greatest economy and a sustained record of job creation that any one can remember.  Plus surpluses.

 

At a time when the number of Americans claiming unemployment benefits is the highest since 1967 the republicans want to continue their ideology of trickle down economics that is the main cause of where the economy is today.  They continue to promote those policies that transfer wealth from the middle class.

 

One would think the republican party got the message in the November elections but Senator Mitch McConnell, republican minority leader in a speech to the Republican National Committee told that audience the GOP should embrace its conservative principals.  There in lay the republican problems.  They should abandon their phony conservatism and act like Americans.  We already know the conservative record, record federal deficits and debt, a wrecked economy, high unemployment, record job losses and a core belief in using divisive issues to divide the country. 

 

President Obama and the democrats need to have an American policy based on reality and a roll back of the transfer of wealth from the middle class to the wealthy.  The controls placed on any stimulus plan should work for the benefit of the taxpayer and the country.

Hope And A New Beginning

President Obama has named former Senator George Mitchell and former U.S. Ambassador Richard Holbrooke as special envoys to the middle east and Pakistan and Afghanistan.  Both men are serious at that level and have vast experience and knowledge to implement the Presidents foreign policy toward those area's. 

 

The middle east and especially the Israeli and Palestine problem will be Mr. Mitchell's responsibility after 8 years of neglect.  Mr. Mitchell will engage the area and will be a priority for the Obama administration.  I will be surprised if Mr. Mitchell does not bring any thing new to move the peace process along.  His past record of success tells me a few surprises may be in store for both Israel and Palestine and that is a good thing.

 

Mr. Holbrooke's responsibility will be Pakistan and Afghanistan.  Theses two countries are now a serious problem and the status quo policy has to change.  Mr. Holbrook knows the area well and also its leaders.  He is a proven leader in bringing people together and finding common ground.

 

The appointment of Mr. Mitchell and Holbrooke is the first step in addressing a situation that has become worse and has gone on too many years.  The problems could blow up at any time and drag the U.S. into a situation that would not be in Americas best interest.

 

Hope is finally in the air in U.S. diplomacy. 

Wisdom, Courage, Character and Direction

Those are the qualities President Obama needs to display as our nations leader for the next four years.  The President's team, especially National Security, Economics, Defense, State, Joint Chiefs of Staff and Budget needs to follow his lead.

 

Our military role in Iraq and the enormous cost to America has to come to an end.  New Plans for the war in Afghanistan have to be faced with wisdom and courage.  We can not and should not start a large military build up in that country with U.S. troops.  We already invaded that country 7 years ago to find Bin Laden and destroy the Taliban and accomplished neither.  There is no question that we did not have enough troops but is that the answer 7 years later?  A new strategy has to be adopted and implemented that deals with reality.

 

Never in our history has a President committed so many American troops and money as Mr. Bush did to fight an enemy that has no government or country.  Republicans in congress and the neocon journalists are already attacking President Obama's order to shut down Guantanamo prison with their scare tactics. Wisdom, courage and character will be needed to move forward and change direction.

 

President Obama has to have the courage to stick to his concerns about balancing the federal budget with sound economic policies, creating jobs and a fiscal policy that is based on sound principals.  Never mind the double talk from the conservatives.  They have not balanced a federal budget in over 50 years, but the Democrats have and it was not only President Clinton.  I wonder if conservatives know who was the other democratic President to balance the federal budget?

 

Wisdom, courage, character and direction are the qualities that really will matter and make a difference for our country and its peoples future.