Why Mitt Romney So Awfully Failed!

Sandy Was Romney’s Opportunity To Shine

Besides being way too vague and timid on policy issues or his reform plans, he missed his opportunity when superstorm Sandy hit the north east coast. Mitt Romney turned out to be as timid as those too big to fail bank CEOs who were arm twisted by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.

A Mormon Without Charity When It Counts

Did nobody advise Mitt Romney to write immediately a check of one million dollars to the Red Cross or other aid organizations in the wake of Sandy? This would have been one heck of a photo op.

If the some of the richest Americans commit half of their billions of dollars of their wealth to good causes why couldn’t he seize the opportunity?

Fuel Trucks Anybody?

Why did Romney not immediately buy hundreds of fuel trucks to help the victims of Sandy to fill up their cars? Each truck could have been emblazoned with “Vote For Romney!”. Thus, he would have proven leadership and that one man alone can outdo the federal and state governments.

Losing Faith In The American People

Yes, I do as a first generation immigrant to the USA!

Four More Years With Obama

What happened on election day of November 6, 2012? The souls of the founders of this great nation had to witness how one of the worst presidents since Franklin D. Roosevelt was reelected. This must have hurt! Was this a vote of a food stamp nation or an electorate of which 40% or so pay no federal taxes?

Those Who Voted For Obama

Deserve Neither Liberty Nor Safety

The Great American Experiment is only 236 years old, but the majority of the current generation of American people is too complacent and ignorant. Many contemporaries would never subscribe to “give me liberty or give me death” or would never pledge “our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor”.

Benjamin Franklin said it best “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” What would Benjamin say today?

What happened to the Tea Party that turned the election of 2010 around?

Is it possible that conservative Christians did not vote for a Mormon to become president, because e.g. Mormons are considered to be a sect?

Last Best Hope

The World is watching as this exceptional Nation continues to vanish from earth by its own doing.

Let me conclude with Abraham Lincoln’s famous quote from his Second Annual Message on December 1, 1862: “In giving freedom to the slave we assure freedom to the free--honorable alike in what we give and what we preserve. We shall nobly save or meanly lose the last best hope of earth.”

My hope is that non-Western countries like India, China, Brazil and so on will not repeat these mistakes, but learn from them and exceed were the Westerners failed.

Arizona Proposition 114: Protecting Crime Victims From Liability For Damages Deserves No Vote

Preface

I know, I am coming late, only two days left to the November 6, 2012 election. Unfortunately, I did not have time to read the Arizona’s General Election Guide any earlier.

Official Content Of Proposition

Here is the link to the official webpage for Proposition 114.

“1. Article II, section 31, Constitution of Arizona, is proposed to be amended as follows if approved by the voters and on proclamation of the Governor:

 31. Damages for death or personal injuries

Section 31. No law shall be enacted in this state limiting the amount of damages to be recovered for causing the death or injury of any person, EXCEPT THAT A CRIME VICTIM IS NOT SUBJECT TO A CLAIM FOR DAMAGES BY A PERSON WHO IS HARMED WHILE THE PERSON IS ATTEMPTING TO ENGAGE IN, ENGAGING IN OR FLEEING AFTER HAVING ENGAGED IN OR ATTEMPTED TO ENGAGE IN CONDUCT THAT IS CLASSIFIED AS A FELONY OFFENSE.

 2. Article XVIII, section 6, Constitution of Arizona, is proposed to be amended as follows if approved by the voters and on proclamation of the Governor:

 6. Recovery of damages for injuries

Section 6. The right of action to recover damages for injuries shall never be abrogated, and the amount recovered shall not be subject to any statutory limitation, EXCEPT THAT A CRIME VICTIM IS NOT SUBJECT TO A CLAIM FOR DAMAGES BY A PERSON WHO IS HARMED WHILE THE PERSON IS ATTEMPTING TO ENGAGE IN, ENGAGING IN OR FLEEING AFTER HAVING ENGAGED IN OR ATTEMPTED TO ENGAGE IN CONDUCT THAT IS CLASSIFIED AS A FELONY OFFENSE.

 3. Short title

This measure may be cited as the "Crime Victims Protection Act of 2012".”

No Arguments Against Proposition 114

According to the above mentioned General Election Guide “[t]here were no arguments “against” Proposition 114” only two separate arguments for it.

This caught my eye. Do we have to assume everything is OK with this proposition? Is it so self-evident? I doubt it.

My Arguments Against This Proposition

Such common sense, detailed legalistic instructions should never be written into a constitution! Period. A constitution should be written in a concise language that almost anyone can understand. It should be strictly limited to essential principles.

If a criminal successfully sues an innocent victim of the crime for injuries inflicted by the victim while committing the crime, then something is wrong with the judge or jury or the victim’s attorney was incompetent. Instead of a constitutional amendment, a law would be in my estimation sufficient to achieve this purpose.

Just the long winded definition of these two constitutional amendments are big red flags indicating there will be lots of trouble ahead to interpret these legalese.

Mideast Peace Drip By Drip

Sometimes It Takes Only One Man

His name Daniel Hillel. A Jew born in Los Angeles who moved to what later became Israel in 1931. The Wall Street Journal had an interview on 10/15/2012 with this soil scientist who developed micro-irrigation techniques (better known as drip irrigation) since the 1950s.

Thus, he contributed to turn Israeli’s deserts into productive agricultural farms. Israel thanks to him and others is a world leader in agricultural technologies and exporter of agricultural goods.

Helping The Arab & Muslim People

Mr. Hillel helped numerous Arab and Muslim countries to improve their agricultural output by using water more efficiently like Jordan, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Sudan, Iran, Pakistan and Palestine.

Such individual contributions to peace and prosperity are more valuable than many of these foolish high level peace talks or sophisticated diplomacy that are often more photo op for politicians than anything else.

Indispensable Plastics

In the above interview, Mr. Hillel made the point that it was the plastics boom in the 1960s that made among other things low-cost weather-resistant plastics available. Without plastics, micro-irrigation would likely not have taken off.

The Future Of Hydrocarbon Fuels

Replacement Of Fossil Fuels

I cannot predict how long humans will still largely depend on hydrocarbon fuels for most of their growing energy needs, but I guess this dependency will not really be reversed for another 50-100 years.

Despite the current ongoing discovery of new recoverable oil/gas fields and improved extraction technologies, I believe, the next big thing is to be able to produce hydrocarbon fuels in large quantities using genetically modified bacteria or plants or the like. Given the current exponential pace of technological and scientific progress, I think, such a breakthrough is imminent.

So Called Renewable Energies Are More Like Dead End Roads

Most renewable energies in use today (e.g. wind, water, solar, food for fuel, geothermal) are for various reasons only sources of supplemental energy instead of becoming a substitute to current sources of energy.

Biofuels are obviously so problematic, I don’t think I have to discuss this here. They are an insult to our intelligence.

The massive return to unreliable wind energy by using modern wind mills is an idea born by Don Quixotes.

The exploitation of water energy has also run into serious limitations (environmental as well). Mankind now has thousands of years of experience with engineering water for irrigation and more recently for energy use.

If solar energy efficiency can greatly be increased, solar energy has perhaps the best chance to make significant contributions in the future since the sun is much more reliable and a fairly constant source of energy that can be tapped into with fewer negative side effects.

What would be the consequences if we were to tap into geothermal energy on a massive scale? Would it cool down our planet faster and what happens then? I would guess this is also a limited source of energy.

Other Sources Of Energy

For decades we are waiting on nuclear fusion to become a viable source of almost unlimited energy production. However, the deep seated, human confusion and superstition about nuclear weapons, radioactive radiation, and nuclear energy are tough to beat. The Fukoshima nuclear accident and what followed has been a prime object lesson of human irrationality and folly even as we enter the 21^st century.

Maybe one day we will be able to harness hydrogen power on a large scale. Presumably, this would be a fairly safe and environmentally friendly source of energy. However, too many humans still remember the Hindenburg accident of 1937, right? Had this major accident not be so extraordinary well covered by radio broadcasts and photography …

As with hydrocarbon fuels (see above), I suspect that perhaps within the next two decades we might be able to cheaply produce sufficient hydrogen through genetically modified organisms/plants or by other means.

What about photosynthesis? Photosynthesis may one day in the near future become the true form of solar energy.

Future Energy Demand At A Crossroad?

Over history, the worldwide demand for energy per capita has been rising ever since and there is a good chance that this trend will continue for at least another 100 years. The question is how fast will this demand rise?

However, world population growth may finally peak in the next few decades and there is a good chance that world population may even begin to shrink before we enter the 22^nd century thanks to declining total fertility rates, increased life expectancy and other factors.

As long as the per capita energy use is so divergent among humans on this planet, there is a huge demand waiting to be fulfilled. Thus, during the next two or three decades world energy demand will rise fast, but once per capita energy use is more homogeneous across the earth than today, we may see a significant slowdown.

There is a huge potential for energy savings or conservation like more telecommuting/teleconferencing, more energy efficient homes, self-driving cars, LED light and so on, but I am afraid this will only slow down rising energy demand.

As we go along with the exponential progress of the technology revolution that brought as computers, modern telecommunications, the Internet etc., energy consumption has increased dramatically. We are only at the beginning of this revolution. The massive built out of networks, data storage and processing etc. or whatever the future holds in store will continue.

In summary, I believe, worldwide per capita energy demand will rise significantly for the foreseeable future. Therefore, e.g. so called renewable energies are not more like a supplemental source of energy to satisfy an enormous future energy demand.

COBRA Health Insurance - A Big Government Joke

A Bit Of Background

COBRA stands for Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985. As far as its health insurance portion is concerned it is a prime example of lousy big government legislation coming out of Washington, DC.

Essentially it allows an employee to keep his/her employer-sponsored health insurance if a “qualifying event” like lay off occurs as if the qualifying event did not occur. This coverage is available for a maximum of up to 18 months. Great idea, but big government is what it is incapable: monstrosities instead of designing practical, cheap, and free market solutions.

This law is also a fine example of what ails the US health care system, where big government has essentially taken over health care to an extent that it resembles national health care services like in the UK or Germany.

COBRA Health Insurance Is Very Expensive!

Having been recently laid off myself, I received the usual notice letter from my former employer about my “right to continue health care coverage” under COBRA.

The catch: It would cost me $386 for single and $829 for employee & spouse coverage per month. These premiums include the employer share as well. While I was employed, I used to pay $208 per month.

On the market of individual health insurance, I would be able to obtain health insurance with a similar coverage for significantly less than $386. My unemployment benefits here in Arizona are $240 per week (the maximum benefit). What were the legislators in Washington, DC thinking or smoking to come up with such a lousy law?

Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance Is Too Expensive

Given my example above, it is clear that at $386 the employer-sponsored coverage was way too expensive compared with what is available to the individual on the market of individual health insurance. The company, I worked for was small.

I venture to guess that my example is typical across the country irrespective of the size of the employer. Thus, I would presume that health insurance for most employees in the US is significantly overpriced thanks to this prevalent employer-sponsored group health insurance system.

Better Solutions

Apart from a fundamental, free market reform of health care insurance, which I would prefer, federal legislators have had at least two choices for a more sensible reform:

1.       Abolish the tax deductibility of health insurance for companies or

2.       Allow individuals to enjoy the same kind of tax deductibility as companies

If Mitt Romney Wins The Election The US Economy Will Take Off

One can only hope the American people do the right thing on November 6^th, 2012 and send Business Enemy No. 1 President Obama packing. Then, the largely held back US economy most likely will finally see a recovery as is typical in the wake of such a deep recession.

Like President Franklin D. Roosevelt unnecessarily prolonged the Great Depression, President Obama has done the same for the Great Recession.

However this election outcome is not a sure thing, decades of government dependency by large segments of the US population have deeply undermined the American spirit and dream.

New Genetic Tests For Autism

A Highly Recommendable Article
In The Wall Street Journal

My apologies again for my shameless reference to a long article titled “Progress in Identifying the Genetic Roots of Autism” published today (9/25/2012) in the Wall Street Journal, but it goes to show that Wall Street is really not about business and profit as some would like to believe us.

Environmental Factors

Since this article is primarily about genetic causes, it only mentions that environmental factors also play a significant role without further discussing it.

I have previously written a blog post about the link between Autism and obesity in mothers.

Meanwhile, I have read articles about the link of Autism and aging fathers, because of the increase of random mutations as they age. By the way, this study was led by the Icelandic firm Decode Genetics.

Possible Fallacies

This article could lead desperate parents to believe that there is or must be a genetic cause for every autism case among the vaguely termed Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Therefore, there must be a cure available in the near future.

Given the intense research in this area and the increased public awareness, there may be a tendency to diagnose all sorts of symptoms as ASD. The article also mentions the dramatic increase in such diagnoses saying “ASD now affects 1 in every 88 U.S. children—nearly double the rate in 2002—according to the Center for Disease Control.”. This is like a sudden epidemy. How many are possibly misdiagnoses?

Possible Import

Rapid progress in Autism research may also benefit psychological/psychiatric disorders in general.

Arizona Unemployment Insurance: Work Search Requirements Are An Insult

I have previously written another blog post on Unemployment Insurance in Arizona.

An Update

Yesterday (9/25/2012), I have received two letters (each one page) in the mail from the Arizona Department of Economic Security/Unemployment Insurance Administration (AZUIA), both dealing with the work search requirements.

The first letter contains following line in the letter head “New Work Search Eligibility Requirements Effective August 5, 2012” (Emphasis added). This letter contains “Important Information”, about two thirds of the letter explains in more details what “systematic and sustained work search” means.

The second letter is captioned “Clarification of Work Search Requirements”. It says “[t]here has been a lot of confusion and misunderstanding on how to report work search requirements …”. Oh, really!

Then, AZUIA provides a sample table of what an “adequate” work search should look like with the caveat “(DO NOT COPY)” (Emphasis original). Are the taxpayers or are the bureaucrats morons?

I say what a moronic waste of taxpayers’ money!

Brief Background

Following information is presented on screen, when an unemployed person does her/his weekly unemployment claims reporting online as he or she is asked to enter work search efforts into an online work search log:

“Per A.R.S. [Arizona Revised Statutes?] 23-771.A.4, all claimants must conduct a systematic and sustained Work Search for each week of Unemployment Insurance benefits claimed.

A systematic and sustained Work Search consists of contacts during at least four days of the week.

If you select ‘Other’ please provide the Employer name, address and/or phone number, method of contact along with any other information.”

An Outrage

To put it bluntly, I think this online form to report your weekly work search efforts is outrageous!

Do these lawmakers not know that job search is a demanding full time job that comes with many disappointments along the way especially during the Great Recession? As if I have to be told by lawmakers that I “must conduct a systematic and sustained Work search”.

For a meager maximum of $240 unemployment insurance benefit per week (about 25% of what I used to make a week), I have to keep track where I applied etc. and spend up to about 10 minutes of my time to fulfill this bureaucratic requirement using a cumbersome web form. Not to mention that unemployment benefits are usually paid only for a maximum of 26 weeks. Hint to lawmakers: I do not mind if you shorten this period.

This meager unemployment benefit has to cover our rent, utilities, my health insurance premium, food, federal/state income taxes (yes, this is taxable income.) etc. On top of that these lawmakers want me to report my work search efforts, this is an insult.

Finally, it is none of the business of government to require me to report which employers I contacted when during my work search.

Waste Of Taxpayers’ Money

In August of 2012, there were almost 250,000 reported unemployed persons in Arizona. If only 50% of those have to fill out this weekly work search requirement and if we assume an Arizona Department of Economic Security (DES) employee would spend 1 minute per weekly report on verifying this information, this would amount to the DES having to spend 260 work days per week just to check if it is done manually. Or did the DES buy a possibly expensive software to do this verification? Do they statistically sample? Anyway, if the DES tries to verify it would be a substantial waste of taxpayers’ money!

If the DES does not verify, then this is just another burden on the unemployed. So what the heck is this good for?

Diagnosing Psychological Disorders In Children

Disclaimer

I have no expertise whatsoever in this area. However, I am not entirely without personal experience. Psychological disorders and their medical treatment is a subject of interest to me. Further, I am only trying to briefly summarize certain thoughts that came to me when reading various articles related to this complex subject. I have intentionally not sourced this article very well for sake of brevity and time.

An Increasing Trend

It appears there has been an increasing trend in recent decades to diagnose children with different forms of psychological disorders (e.g. ADHD, Autism, psychosis etc.). One can almost get the impression of an ongoing, unprecedented epidemy or is it a phenomenon.

I have included Autism here as well, because the unusual outward behavior and the significant expansion of its definition to autism spectrum disorder. Latter development is usually a sign that doctors are clueless when they attach terms like “spectrum”. In my opinion, there is a significant chance for misdiagnosis. Yes, the US government describes Autism on their PubMed website as “… a physical condition linked to abnormal biology and chemistry in the brain. The exact causes of these abnormalities remain unknown, but this is a very active area of research. There are probably a combination of factors that lead to autism. Genetic factors seem to be important.”. Well is this not true of other psychological disorders as well?

Possible Explanations

Doctors have over time become better in diagnosing such disorders, which have been in the past very difficult or impossible to diagnose or children went simply untreated. Latter assertion is quite true for psychology/psychiatry in general and not only in the past. Ambiguous disorders like psychological disorders are great business for doctors. To use a hyperbole, doctors since time immemorial like to expand and deepen their diagnostic tools almost to the point to declare everyone in need of medical treatment who enter their offices. Illnesses are infinite.

In recent times, more focus and money was assigned to this subject. Huge media attention has spread, parents are primed to be alert. Stigma, taboos are reduced, acceptance is improved. E.g. in the US, special needs education has proliferated receiving lots of money and special teachers. The more special needs children the better for school funding and teacher salaries.

There is the distinct possibility that a self-feeding vicious or virtuous cycle was entered in connection with this subject. And it will take perhaps decades before reasonable judgment returns.

Genius And Madness

I believe, most people have heard about the close link between genius and madness. Two recent movies “A Brilliant Beautiful Mind” (about John Nash) or “The Aviator” (about Howard Hughes) captured this topic quite well.

I highly recommend to watch both movies, in particular the first one, because it shows you how this brilliant mathematician and his wife suffered from the medications he was given and how he himself defeated the demons. The way he defeated the demons is, I believe, sometimes also prescribed by doctors even for children to learn how to cope with demons etc. in a playful way.

Children that are perceived as not “normal” may have special talents and gifts unlike other children. Early, aggressive treatment may only achieve forced conformity to “normal” and kill these special talents or gifts that would otherwise develop to the benefit of the child and the world. As they say if you can dream it you can achieve it. Vivid imagination or unusual behavior may after all be completely harmless and beneficial for the child’s development.

I am far from implying here that any child with a diagnosed or perceived psychological disorder is going to be the next genius. This would be a colossal misunderstanding.

Suggestions Or Food For Thought

Parents are naturally very concerned if they observe anything perceived to be not normal about their children. Naturally, parents seek help from a doctor. Given the great ambiguity of this subject, more than one doctor should be consulted and doctors of different specializations or of different approaches.

Keep in mind, psychology and psychiatry still remain very inexact fields of medicine. It’s more charlatanry than medicine.

It is very understandable that parents seek a rational explanation and the best medical treatment for their children, but be alert to the pitfalls. Yes, parents are very concerned about the possibly negative prospects of their child like antie social life/behavior, unsteady professional career, alcoholism, drug abuse, failed relationships, crime etc. that are commonly associated with psychological disorders. However, an overreaction to the diagnosis may have the same or similar outcome.

Depending on the severity or circumstances, I would not easily have my child being treated especially not over an extended period of time with certain psycho pharmaceutical medications, e.g. mood stabilizers, anti convulsants. Sometimes just close observation, change of daily routines, or other behavioral approaches etc. are perhaps better.

Some research seems to indicate that abnormal, psychotic like behavior in childhood disappears even without any treatment as they reach adulthood or later in life.

What are the long-term implications for our children if so many kids are classified as having a disorder and are in need of treatment? I do not mean to be in denial, but I want to caution.

Misguided Demand For A Return To The Gold Standard

Western Central Banks Are Culpable For The Great Recession

There is little doubt in my mind that the central banks (big government entities) of Western countries are to a large extent responsible for the Great Recession and the rapid and unsustainable expansion of government debt that has occurred over the past two decades.

Twice in the last ten years Western central banks have lowered the price of money (key interest rates) to nearly zero for extended periods of time and they still continue this reckless policy as I write this blog. In at least to other, previous blog posts, I have discussed this issue in more depth.

Return To Gold Standard To Reform The Monetary System

Thus, it is understandable that central banks have finally come under enormous scrutiny. Alternatives to the current, perceived to be broken, monetary system are being considered. One possible alternative, which has garnered some popularity, is the call for a return to the Gold Standard.

Digital Money Is Next

Gold is totally antiquated and nostalgic. We are on the cusp to introducing digital money.

Gold is easily manipulated and dependent on mining, jewelry demand, and human save haven fears.

Only Luddites would call for a return to the Gold Standard. The only thing, I believe, was a benefit of the Gold Standard is that it quasi represented a single, global currency or a point of reference with all its consequences.

A Capital Gains Tax Primer

A Primer By The Wall Street Journal

I did not have to write my own, the Wall Street Journal did a fine job by publishing one in the US weekend edition (9/22/2012) titled “A Capital Gains Primer” (Unfortunately by subscription only). I think this great newspaper is doing the general public a disfavor not to make this good article available.

Brief Summary

In the US, capital gains taxes are a form of double taxation, because business profits are taxed first, then their distribution to investors.

All Americans investing in the stock market or directly in enterprises benefit from low capital gains taxes. American employees benefit from higher business investments through better employment opportunities and higher wages. Thus, those who claim only “millionaires and billionaires” are populist demagogues who do not have the slightest clue how a free market economy works.

Arizona Unemployment Insurance Administration – Treating You Like A Criminal

Meanwhile, I wrote a follow up blog post on unemployment insurance in Arizona.

For A Few Dollars

For laughable $240 per week or even less you are being treated in a demeaning way and like a criminal. From this little money I would also need to pay for my health insurance (but ObamCare is not the solution). It's almost as if you have to beg for this money.

Still Operating In the 19^th Century

After you register online as an unemployed for the first time, the AZUIA (Arizona Unemployment Insurance Administration) sends you within a few days three separate letters in the snail mail with forms, booklets and tables.

Of those tons of questions you are being asked or the items you need to certify, too many of them kind of imply that you are only out there to cheat and defraud the AZUIA. This is what I call demeaning.

If you indicate during your online registration that you expect to receive some severance pay, AZBIA will send you a questionnaire with at least 10 questions that you have to answer within 5 working days of the date of notice.

Most of these questions, I thought I had already answered during my online registration. Why can I not answer those questions online? In the 21^st century there is no excuse not to offer an online form for those questions. It would also save some costs and tax payers' money!

Certification Of Understanding

This is a very benign name for a document that needs your signature and date certifying that “I am aware that the law provides criminal penalties for false statements made in connection with receiving unemployment insurance benefits.”

This is the caption of one of the forms that were mailed to me soon after I registered online as unemployed. This form has to be returned within 7 calendar days or “failure to return this certificate could result in denial of Unemployment Benefits.”

This form consists of a mumble jumble of a number of disparate things (Emphasis added):

·         I have to certify that I “read and understand the contents” of a 30 page “pamphlet” titled “A Guide To Unemployment Insurance” (small page size, 8.5 by 3.5 inches)
[Oh sure, no problem! Great bedtime reading. Will take me only a few hours, if taken seriously.]

·         I have to certify that I had been “given the opportunity to ask questions about my claim and have received an explanation of anything I did not understand.”
[Can I really certify this? I doubt it.]

·         I have to certify again what income tax deduction option that I had already selected during my previous online registration.
[Is this necessary? I am not a dummy.]

·         “I authorize my banking institution to release to the Arizona Department of Economic Security any account information pertaining to my receipt and eligibility for unemployment insurance benefits.”
[What do I authorize herewith? What exactly is the scope of account information to be released? They don’t even ask which bank institution? Do they already know my bank institutions? I would say this is so serious that this requires a separate form plus some explanations.]

You would think that perhaps this 30 pages pamphlet “A Guide To Unemployment Insurance” would tell you something about this Certification of Understanding form or in particular about the authorization to release any banking account information, but the pamphlet on page 26 is very generic and the respective paragraph is only 5 lines long.

Arizona Department Of Economic Security

Whoever came up with this oxymoron of a department name? There is no economic security and never was in a free market economy. Only central planners, statists and the like can think of something like this.

The Arizona Statutes under Title 23 (“Labor”) contains chapter 4 titled “Employment Security”. Is this what this department is named after?

On their website, this department does not provide you with any e-mail addresses, the aforementioned letters I received after I registered as an unemployed also did not include any e-mail addresses, only phone numbers and P.O. Boxes. This is not acceptable anymore in the 21^st century!

Or is this just a secretive department totally afraid of potential legal liabilities or possible retributions by dissatisfied unemployed people? Or do public sector union work rules prevent e-mail contact between tax payers and public sector employees?

This department is also hiding telephone numbers to their various divisions, office of the director etc. You really have to search or drill on their website for their phone numbers. Just try their Site Map, it’s awful.

Finally, I found this page (just look at the rather generic link address itself) with phone numbers of the director’s office. Well, I called (602) 542-4791, the number given on their website for the “DES Director” to inquire about the e-mail address of the Director. Well, it is the Operator, who picks up the phone not the Director’s office. I called twice and both times the Operator picked up, a nice, elder lady. Must be a very busy director’s office or they do not like to receive calls from unemployed tax payers like me.

Albert C. Wedemeyer – One Of The Less Known Generals Of WWII

Posted: 9/20/2012

A New Biography

Just read a book review in the Wall Street Journal about this amazing guy titled “The Man With A Plan”   by Jonathan W. Jordan published on 9/10/2012. The book itself is titled “General Albert C. Wedemeyer” by John J. McLaughlin.

Some Excerpts From The Book Review

My apologies to the Wall Street Journal for liberally quoting passages from this review, but I was so stunned by what I was reading that I could not help myself (Emphasis added):

·         “"World War II," wrote Adm. William Leahy, President Roosevelt's wartime chief of staff, "was the best-charted war ever fought. Everybody had charts for everything. We even had a section of the Government devoted solely to telling the rest of the Government how to make charts." The ubiquitous charts—together with such equally mundane cousins as tables, memoranda and staff studies—were the first weapons that America's high command wielded against the three Axis empires.”

·         “He foresaw another war with Germany and, in the late 1930s, attended the German army's prestigious general-staff school, the Kriegsakademie. There he learned the art of blitzkrieg alongside his future enemies. He watched Nazi brownshirts strut around Berlin, venting their hatred against Jews. He was in Vienna during the Anschluss, and he saw the Czechoslovakian crisis unfold from the German perspective.

Wedemeyer's report summarizing German tactics and organization brought him to the attention of George C. Marshall …  Marshall assigned Wedemeyer to the War Plans Division and tasked him with reducing America's mobilization requirements to a single document. In the summer of 1941, in response to a request from Roosevelt, Wedemeyer's team expanded this into a blueprint on how to defeat America's likely enemies in a future war.

Completed in an astonishing 90 days, this plan [Victory Plan] laid down all the critical politico-military-industrial assumptions for the looming conflict, correctly identifying America's adversaries and where the main fighting would take place and estimating the industrial capacity needed to feed the war machines of China, the Soviet Union, Great Britain and the United States and how much war materiel could be spared to allies.”

·         “Wedemeyer methodically argued the case for a 1943 invasion at a White House meeting with Roosevelt, Churchill and the Anglo-American chiefs of staff in June 1942, and he offered a direct and unapologetic rebuttal to Churchill's preferred invasion of North Africa. "Churchill could not have been pleased as the mid-level American officer categorically presented information that undermined his grand scheme," Mr. McLaughlin writes.”

·         “Wedemeyer, to the end of his days, insisted that the Allies lost an opportunity to win the war a year earlier, to save American lives and, perhaps, to have staved off Soviet hegemony over Eastern Europe.”

·         “by dispatching … to a seemingly dead-end assignment in the China-Burma-India theater … Marshall continued to hold a high opinion of him, and he was given key commands in Asia: serving as chief of staff to Louis Mountbatten … and … as chief of staff to the Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek [and and commander of U.S. forces in China (1944–46)]. … then turn his considerable analytical skills toward the quandaries of postwar China and the 1948 Berlin blockade.”

·         “Historians such as the late John Keegan have praised Wedemeyer as "one of the most farsighted and intellectual military minds America has ever produced."”

Can you imagine that this US general was attending the Preußische Kriegsakademie (Prussian Military Academy) in Berlin from 1936-38 just before WWII, the same academy where, e.g., Carl von Clausewitz was one of its first students?

Wedemeyer In China

“After graduating from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point (1919), Wedemeyer was assigned to Tientsin, China, where he studied Mandarin Chinese.” (Encyclopedia Britannica).

“During his time in the CBI [China-Burma-India command], Wedemeyer attempted to motivate the Nationalist Chinese government to take a more aggressive role against the Japanese in the war. He was instrumental in expanding the Hump airlift operation with additional, more capable transport aircraft, and continued Stilwell's programs to train, equip, and modernize the Nationalist Chinese Army. His efforts were not wholly successful, in part because of the ill will engendered by his predecessor, as well as continuing friction over the role of Communist Chinese forces. Wedemeyer also supervised logistical support for American air forces in China.” (Wikipedia).

“His 1947 report of the situation in China and Korea, which warned of an imminent Communist triumph in China unless greater U.S. support was given to the Nationalists, was deemed so sensitive that its publication was suppressed for two years.” (Encyclopedia Britannica).

President Ronald Reagan On Wedemeyer

On May 23, 1985 general Wedemeyer received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Reagan’s remarks about this general were very generic: “As one of America's most distinguished soldiers and patriots, Albert C. Wedemeyer has earned the gratitude of his country and the admiration of his countrymen. In the face of crisis and controversy, his integrity and his opposition to totalitarianism remained unshakeable. For his resolute defense of liberty and his abiding sense of personal honor, Albert C. Wedemeyer has earned the thanks and the deep affection of all who struggle for the cause of human freedom.”. Reagan’s remarks about, e.g., Chuck Yeager were better chosen.

US Army Center For Military History On Wedemeyer

Apparently this center offers a 170 pages publication as a PDF file on the Victory Plan on their website, but it is scanned as an image and therefore not searchable. That is very clever or simply useless! Optical character recognition software is not a tool employed by CMH it seems.

The CMH also offers a Google powered custom search, but you cannot filter or drill down. Very clever or useless! So when you enter Wedemeyer as a search term you get “About 180 results (0.16 seconds)” and there is no way to narrow it down say by biography etc.

Wikipedia On Wedemeyer

The Wikipedia entry on Arthur C. Wedemeyer is surprisingly short and unremarkable on his contributions to the War Plans Division. It is almost like “oh, by the way …”. His work for the CBI (see above) is ‘enriched’ with trivialities, but at least you get a better understanding of US involvement in China against Japanese invaders.

Surprisingly, Wikipedia seems to lack an entry for the army War Plans Division, but it has entry on the Air War Plans Division. I presume, they are not the same. Wedemeyer cannot be found in this article.

Germany’s Upper House To Vote On Gender Quota In Corporate Boardrooms

Following In The Footsteps Of The European Union

I have previously already written a blog post what I think about this big government overreach committed by the European Union.

The German Upper House (Bundesrat) is scheduled to vote as early as tomorrow (9/21/2012) on this subject. According to news reports (in German language) it is likely that such a misguided gender quota will pass.

The bill stipulates a two stage phase in: Beginning in 2018 a 20% quota will apply and beginning in 2023 it has to be at least 40% women on corporate boards. Why not 100% women?

A Massive Intervention In 

Property Rights & Freedom Of Contract

This example unequivocally shows that democracy and a constitution or the rule of law are no guarantee that individual freedom and property rights are protected from big government.

Thank goodness, the USA has not yet followed such dangerous follies. That is a beacon of hope, but a tiny one given the many follies of the USA like ObamaCare.

Such nonsense speaks loudly of the miserable quality of elected representatives in Germany. What is next?

Currency Manipulator China - An Irrational Obsession Of Mitt Romney

Candidate With Business Acumen, But A Poor Economist

No doubt, Mitt Romney is an accomplished business man, someone the USA urgently needs to end four years of agonizing und unnecessary Great Recession. However, his understanding of economics seems to be poor as can be shown by his insistence of China being a currency manipulator.

I do not understand which voters Mitt Romney is trying to win with this campaign motto, but if he is smart he would drop it instantly. How much is to be gained with such a slogan versus how much is destroyed by it?

Romney’s Trade Campaign Platform On China

Under “Trade Issues” we read “Confronting China. China presents a broad set of problems that cry out urgently for solutions. …
•Designate China a currency manipulator and impose countervailing duties …” (Emphasis added).

This is certainly overly aggressive language, more suited perhaps for the national defense issue page.

Currency Manipulation & Countervailing Duties

Both terms are taken from the tool box of a mercantilist or protectionist. Both have been tried in the past with considerable negative consequences.

The US thanks to its Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930, preceded by the similar Fordney-McCumber Tariff Act of 1922, has greatly contributed to the severity of the Great Depression.

Currency manipulation is in the eye of the beholder. Is it currency manipulation that the US keeps short term interest rates for years at artificially and recklessly low rates?

A currency is a two edged sword. It is a measure of value of money of one country versus the value of money in other countries. If one country decides to control the value of its currency to be cheap versus the rest of the world so be it. As most relationships in economics it has benefits, but also disadvantages. A devalued currency promotes exports, but it makes imports more expensive and so on. Thus, China, which is highly dependent on imports of resources and technology, pays a price for devaluing its currency.

The US Needs A Strong Economic Recovery Above Anything Else

The World, including China, is waiting for that to happen!

People, who sit in a glass house should not be throwing stones. That is counterproductive. Meaning, China has acquired a trillion and more dollars in US government bonds, thus helping the federal government to finance its extraordinary debt binge of the past decade. At present, a highly indebted country with a weak economy like the US ought to be careful what it wishes for.

DroughtGard – The Green Revolution Goes On

A Perfect Coincidence

Just three years after Norman Borlaug passed away in 2009, I was excited to read an article in the Wall Street Journal by R. Paul Thompson titled “Seeds of Hope for the Dry Midwest—and the World/Monsanto's DroughtGard corn and other genetically modified food may also be an environmental boon.” (Subscription necessary) published on 9/9/2012.

This article coincides with one of the severest droughts since the Dust Bowl in the Midwest of the US. I think, I also read there were so far few farmers who used this product at the time of this drought.

An Exciting New Development Of The Green Revolution

As Mr. Thompson writes “Rising world-wide affluence, particularly in countries such as China and India [ca. 2.2 billion population together], will place ever greater demands on food production and, in turn, on water resources.  … [a] gene from the bacterium Bacillis subtilis is inserted in the DNA of corn; the resulting plants tolerate drought more effectively and require less water in non-drought conditions.   . how to produce food using less water, fewer pesticides, herbicides, and synthetic fertilizers.” (Emphasis added). [This is what this is about, more food with less water, drought tolerance is only a welcome side effect.]

What the author did not specifically say in this article, but which I have read elsewhere is that there are unmodified plants in nature which have the natural capability to resist droughts. So why should we not copy or apply this capability to other crops?

As the author points out in his article, this is a brand new development at the very beginning. Thus, I am sure, this new technology will be improved and made safe like so many others before.

In my opinion, humans are perhaps only decades away from producing our daily food without planting and harvesting plants like humans have done for several millennia.

Union Of Concerned Scientists Reacts

This article by Mr. Thompson has immediately elicited critical responses by this Union of ‘independent’ scientists. On 9/16/2012 a letter to the editors of the WSJ titled “Drought-Resistant Corn Is Oversold” appeared written by Doug Gurian-Sherman.

Same person also wrote a blog post titled “A Less Thirsty Future Through Engineered Crops?” regarding the above WSJ article on the blog of this Union published on 9/13/2012.

He is also the author of study published by the Union titled “High and Dry/Why Genetic Engineering Is Not Solving Agriculture’s Drought Problem in a Thirsty World” published June 2012. I think, based on the subtitle of this study, the author is confusing something: the purpose of genetic engineering is not to solve a drought problem.

Mr. Gurian-Sherman is listed as an Expert and works for this Union and he previously worked for among others for EPA (US Environmental Protection Agency) and FDA (US Food and Drug Administration). “Dr. Gurian-Sherman holds a doctorate degree in plant pathology from the University of California at Berkeley.” I wish that Mr. Borlaug, a Ph. D.  in plant pathologist himself, and Mr. Gurian-Sherman could have had a little chat.

So much attention from this Union, there must be something good about Monsanto’s DroughtGard.

Mr. Gurian-Sherman writes in the last paragraph of his above letter “While Monsanto and its competitors have struggled to overcome inherent technical difficulties with genetic engineering—such as unintended gene interactions that can make crops less valuable—more mature farming practices and technologies, including organic and other ecology-based farming systems and advanced breeding techniques, have delivered far more with far less investment. These promising but often neglected technologies, not genetic engineering, deserve increased support.” (Emphasis added). Do I detect that this ‘independent’, concerned scientist has some kind of bias?

He also warns us in blog post that biotechnology like “The backers of nuclear power claimed it would become “too cheap to meter” after it was rolled out more than half a century ago. Nuclear power is still expensive, and still faces big technological hurdles such as the disposal of nuclear waste. And after Fukushima, we are less sanguine about its safety as well.” (Emphasis added). Well to compare biotechnology (or more specifically Monsanto’s DroughtGard) and Fukushima is cheap demagoguery. Was it not this Union and other so called concerned scientists who have for decades vigorously fought against civilian use of nuclear power?

In the above blog post, the author writes (just a few selective excerpts):

1.       “Thompson ignores the part of our report [“High and Dry”] that examines why the technology faces significant challenges in addressing drought. These include unanswered questions about complex and unpredictable interactions of engineered genes with the rest of the workings of the crop that may result in undesirable tradeoffs in crop properties.” (Emphasis added).
[Uh, sounds scary! That is what ‘independent’, concerned scientists do for a living, scare the s**t out of us, right? Had humans always been so scared we would still be living in caves.]

2.       “… we also need to understand whether it [biotechnology, genetic engineering] may be compatible with justice and fairness.”.
[Well, when scientists get near “justice and fairness”, we have to pay extra attention. Is this a study by the Union or an opinion piece by an individual?]

3.       “Finally, he compares GE [genetic engineered] food to GE medicine, expressing exasperation at the greater acceptance of biotech drugs. But these two applications of biotechnology present very different benefits. Medicine is a choice, and we may accept serious side effects because the alternative may be more dire. Food is a daily necessity, and when our food supply is inundated by GE, our choices become limited.”
[Now, that is an interesting argument. So what if GE medicine is partially based on plants? So he does not mind the risks potentially involved with GE Medicine, but is opposed to GE food? Starving for hunger is a choice too, right? The author and his followers are free to plant any food free of GE to have more choices. In short, this argument is bizarre.]

Don’t Trust Concerned Scientists

These scientists are perhaps concerned, but these are most likely not your concerns.

Why did I waste so much effort writing about the responses by the Union of Concerned Scientists? Simply, to demonstrate how biased scientists operate and that we all should take the words of so called ‘independent’, concerned scientists with a huge grain of salt (“The phrase [cum grano salis or correctly a addito salis grano] comes from Pliny the Elder's Naturalis Historia, regarding the discovery of a recipe for an antidote to a poison.” according to Wikipedia).

Reassessing Silent Spring After 50 Years

A New Book By The Cato Institute

Judging by its introduction, excerpts, and table of contents available, the new book titled “Silent Spring at 50: The False Crises of Rachel Carson” appears to be well worth reading.

This reassessment should already have happened 20 or more years ago.

A Pseudoscientific Scaremonger

I believe, this sums up the book, I never read, but which I only know through what others have said or wrote about it. This is the impression I had for a long time.

Here is an excerpt from the first chapter of the above Cato book (Emphasis added):

“Perhaps Rachel Carson’s greatest sin of omission in Silent Spring was that she focused almost entirely on pesticide use in agriculture and essentially ignored pesticides’ public health role, particularly that of DDT in controlling malaria and other diseases transmitted by insects. This gap is all the more puzzling because DDT’s popularity in the 1950s stemmed from its use in public health campaigns during World War II—which many soldiers personally witnessed. Saving many lives and greatly reducing human misery was the reason Dr. Paul Müller received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1948 for his role in the discovery of DDT’s insecticidal properties. In Chapter 8, Donald Roberts and Richard Tren, who have devoted decades to malaria control, review the evidence about DDT’s use for public health purposes—including significant benefits for the poor in the South in the United States—that was known at the time Carson wrote and explore the legacy of its fall from grace.”

Just One Book In A Line Of Similar Biased Publications

Friedrich Engels “The Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844” first published in German in 1845 and in English in 1887.

“The Jungle” by Upton Sinclair published in 1906.

I am sure there are more publications to be listed here, but you get the idea that there were a number of such publications that had a significant, long lasting influence despite their bias and incorrectness.

Hopefully, in the future we will be able to debunk such publications much earlier before their negative influence spreads.