We have seen another down day in the market today and it seems we are in a rut. That rut can become a mound of money if some of the new technology developed over the last several years will just enter the market place. There have been few IPO's and the new products let out to the market are just better versions of the same old stuff. If everyone is tired of the slow as molasses market then it is time for the inventors to team up with some money people and start to create new companies with great new products. The products are out there all we need is some people with money to invest. The time for technology is now so look for the boat and jump on as soon as you can.

Send us your comments on this article

Over the next few months Germany will determine the strength and perhaps even the continued existence of the European Union. Many Germans are unhappy with supporting the other cheating nations in the union. Greece and Spain as well as others have cooked the books over the years allowing those nations to live high on the hog and laughing at the hard working Germans who now have to spend their earned capital to aid the cheats.

There will be a push to change the rules, already in play, that support Greece. There continue to be small partisan actions to move for new German elections. These can become strong disruptions for Germany and if supported by a rebellious citizenry we may ultimately see a change in the level of support for Greece. That will perhaps start a series of events that will mean any future default by any European Union nation will leave that nation on its own. If this philosophy were to prevail these actions alone could mark the downfall of the E.U.

Send us your comments on this article

The economic gains of China appear as a wonder to behold. Their achievements have been great so far but now they are coming to a sort of tipping point in their economy. If Europe continues to have economic issues it will cause problems for the U.S. The problem for China is that with these issues which are still in the wind, the demand for their manufacturing exports have started to diminish. China's problem is, as a country, their population is not made up of consumers as are the Europeans and the U.S. markets. That means we have to watch the economic numbers coming out of China as they have a tendency to fudge the numbers to make their balance sheet look good. They are selling more and more product to their citizens but if the slow down in the other markets continue China will have to close facilities. That will mean less home grown people with money to buy the products made in China. Look for their numbers coming out in the next two months and see if the numbers indicate a pull back. If their projected GDP is over 8% they are packing the numbers. If the numbers are packed then the U.S. will have to watch out for some surprise economic moves out of Beijing to help them hold the illusion of an upper hand.

Send us your comments on this article

BP is hiding behind its legal support team now as they have from the very first moments of this event. The first legal maneuver was to say they will pay all reasonable claims. They never mentioned what reasonable meant because they figured they would offer people less for settlements and in the long run allow the court to determine payments via a class action suit. They have agreed to put aside and into a special fund twenty billion dollars. This will be money put aside over time to pay off damages. Once the twenty billion is funded BP will turn on a dime and disassociate itself from the issue. Long before the victim's bills consume the money in the fund BP will file bankruptcy.

Bankruptcy will kill the claims for the spill and when the company appears in court there will be little or no assets left within the company for the victims to attach a claim to. By that time the smart BP lawyers will have sold, transferred or leased most of the company's assets to other corporations offering BP share holder's shares in these other companies. This would be payment to induce those holding BP stock to exchange their stock for equal value shares of the other stock company and receive a share of the assets sold via direct funding from the buyer of the assets as a direct cash payment.

Before anyone stands up and says this can not happen remember this is a company outside the jurisdiction of the United States. Furthermore, The United Kingdom feels the actions of the U.S. in this situation are a bit out of line especially because of the big stake many of the citizens of the U.K. have in the company. This may not be precisely how the play will go but you can bet that when all is said and done I will not have missed all the plays on this outcome by very much.

Send us your comments on this article

Every day this country stands at the crossroads of future success and failure. That is because the public does not trust the people they elected to powerful positions to effectively run the government. Many fear a near future financial disaster while others see the collapse of government into chaos generated by self rewarding politicians. Our present government does not look forward but backward, basking in the fading glow of its glory days, and deluding themselves and their constituents into a false sense of security. This is a grave and continuing problem that can only end in disaster.

Problems will always be with us but if handled correctly the light at the end of the tunnel is never an oncoming train. To solve problems there is a theory of problem solution. This theory looks at every issue and problem as a short circuit relative to the expectations of an anticipated or planned outcome. When that which is not expected occurs there are three main questions which must be answered as soon as there is assurance the problem or issue is real. The three questions are: Can that which is broken be fixed? What is the cost of the fix? What is the cost of not fixing the problem? Presently, the politicians almost always opt for kicking the can down the road for they determine that by not doing anything they will have a better shot at election time.

The problems the American people see represent the important issues and problems of the day and the future. These are the issues which are not being addressed and are causing powerful cornerstones and structures of our society to drastically deteriorate. Financial stability, military strength, civil despair, chaos, and confusion at every level of government are the elements of major concern. These are the concerns and conditions which are not now, and most likely will not be addressed unless there is a change in the way the government runs its business.

If these changes can come about, and that will take a change in the political power and structures currently in place, then the rules we use to govern and the laws by which we live will continue and will remain the same. If the change does not come about, this country will certainly see one or more Armageddon sized catastrophic occurrences.

For the individual the choice is simple. Prepare for life taking and life changing events or work to change and support a renovation of our government that will correct the possibility of an end to the American society as we know it.


Send us your comments on this article

The time has come to be a bit reasonable. There have been many overtures from many sectors offering compromise so the State Budgets in New York and New Jersey. There seems to be no way to give the unions what they want with out cutting the employee level in all sectors. When people were asked to take voluntary time off but the notion was challenged and refused. If the government cannot work out the deals with the people it employs then there is little choice but to close the government down. If the unions were smart they would negotiate now because they know the government is between a rock and a hard place with the budget. If the unions gave back a little for the promise of a better future there would be little reason to let people go. It is time for everyone to suck it up and deal.

Send us your comments on this article

The loss of a single life for any reason is not a good thing. The loss of life in war is often eased by saying the life was given in defense of the country. That phrase indicates that the military action or war was honorable. In general every side in a war sees what they do as duty an as honorable. We have lost many young people for the last nine years because they were doing what is called the defense of our country and the death was honorable. The young soldiers who have been lost over these last years, as well as those who have sustained terrible wounds, deserve to be honored with every ounce of patriotism each of can muster. The only question is why did we have to loose these fine young people in the first place?

The people were sent to war to keep us safe but the wolf is at our door. We may be winning the war in a physical sense, something I truly doubt, but we are loosing the protection we thought we were achieving by putting our soldiers in harms way in other lands to keep us safe at home. The enemy has come in through the back door and will strike us at home when we least expect it. The honor of the people we lost can never be disputed or tarnished. We no longer need not keep our soldiers in other lands and expose them to extreme danger. Attending wars as we have for the last nine years has not made us safe either on the battle field or at home. We need to bring the rest of our soldiers home and out of harms way as soon as we can. What we need to do is use these returned veterans as the guards who will monitor and protect our homeland at the borders, in the harbors, and in the air. The time has come for the government of the U.S. to attack from a distance and ignore the collateral damage that comes with war. We can take the fight to the enemy and all those who support them with out putting many of our soldier's in harms way. The enemy will find difficulty in dealing with that approach.

Send us your comments on this article

The treasury of a nation is like a person's bank account because it is the treasure on hand not what is anticipated that speaks to its strength. The amount of debt we presently have reflects an empty treasury by almost any measure. We can only borrow so much before our creditors refuse to loan us any more money. The time has come to look to our future and see what will happen to the U.S. as a country if these debts are not paid down. The world truly wants a strong America because we are still the economic engine for the globe. In our present economic condition we know in it would not take much for the house of cards to come down. If that were to happen we would loose out position as the leader of the world. With out cash in the treasury and a bad credit rating around the globe where would the money to support our military and defenses come from? With out such defenses the war the U.S. would suffer would not be with bullets but with economic chaos and the collapse of international trade. Remember we no longer make many of the things that allow our world function. We would be at the mercy of the other countries of the world that have been producing the necessary goods for us. We would loose a war we did not even have to fight.

The reality is we do have a cash flow and we can grow much stronger but there are sacrifices that we as a nation must make. Taxes must go up and we need to control our national spending. A national sales tax would go a long way toward providing revenue to help clear our debt. There is another way of attacking the debt and it is simply a matter of putting people to work. If we could put eight million workers back on the payroll the revenue would start rolling in to the treasury. We also need to find other ways to pay for the rebuilding of our infrastructure which would provide jobs as well as provide the upgrades necessary for our expansion. One solution could be bonds sold only to U.S. citizens and U.S. based companies. We need to find ways to stimulate research and development programs that the financial community would gladly buy into. We need to tap the money in the private sector to seek out and fund the new companies of tomorrow. If we wisely use the money currently lying fallow in the pockets of our citizens and companies we can eliminate this debt problem in a short period of time and make our self whole again.

Send us your comments on this article

People have started to worry about the military build up in China. There is a good reason for the U.S. to be concerned at this point in time. The measure of the build up must be put in its proper context and not just looked at as an increase in troops and the numbers of tanks and ships. Military expansion is a natural out growth of economic expansion. The larger the nation and its population the more likely there will be a large army. However, large army's are more likely an image condition than a defensive one. In the case of China this is not the case. The build up is directly proportional to China's economic growth and its technology development and acquisition. Because of its huge manufacturing base and the need for raw materials to support that base the military build up is a way of defending its supply lines. The present military standing is not capable at present of fully defending current supply lines all over the world. The purpose of the build up is to reach that goal.

This is not any different from the military build up of the U.S. from 1890 to the present. We always wish to protect and defend our interests around the world. What should be of concern to the U.S. and the other nations of the world is the path China will take in the future. At present China is not at war and is not in any hot conflict anywhere around the globe. It does put pressure on points such as Taiwan being part of China and the dispute over Kashmir with India. These are the areas of conflict that may become hot in the not too distant future. The question is whether Chinese government will try to use its military might to force concessions in these areas. That is the way it does business internally and there is no reason to believe that tactic will be used less when their power includes aircraft carriers capable of defending supply lines all around the globe. There are many similarities between China's development and that of Imperial Japan from 1920 to the end of WWII. I guess the real question becomes, is the goal of China to become imperialist or to play in the sand box like the rest of the nations?

Send us your comments on this article

The article title is with out a doubt an understatement of major proportion. I say this because the problem is so large that one would logically think it would be the very top priority. Everyone talks about jobs being the number one priority but in reality it is not. We know the economy moves at a pace we cannot change over night but we also know we gave money to banks which held on to the money instead of loaning it out. The banks and the financial industry are making money but they are still making it impossible for a small business to get the loans they need to not only survive let alone expand. The real issue here is no one in government is willing to tell the banks they had better loan money or they will loose their charters as banks. We also need to put together several interstate projects that will fire up infrastructure projects all across the nation. We could do it the smart way by selling bonds for the infrastructure only to the people of this country. It is the way we got through WWII and it could work now. They could be called New American Infrastructure Bonds. Each bond would provide a fair yield with backing by the U.S. Government. The money would allow us to refit America and go green where we can. It would be work for Americans and when we are finished there would be a true Made in America stamp on every project. Why not?

Send us your comments on this article

When a Klu Klux Klan member speaks out against people of color and denounces the Jewish community at a Rally or a press conference Police are assigned to keep the peace and order at that rally. We call them a racist group yet what they say is protected by free speech. Now a news reporter with a fifty year history of reporting on the White House and its occupants states she believes the Israelis who are occupying Palestine should "go the hell home". This reporter is then immediately attacked by all sorts of organizations as being anti Semitic. There is no evidence to prove she is an anti Semite yet she is labeled one because she spoke her mind. She did not say the Jews in Palestine were evil just that she did not believe they belonged there. However, what really rocks the boat is the White House commented that it was sorry to hear such comments from the reporter and that she was no longer welcome in the news room. Our leader seems to have lost his way by allowing this. The truth is that by law she has the right to say most anything she wishes in private and public and the President could have said he did not agree with her but she had the right to her opinions and to voice them. It was almost like being back in school in the 1950s which acquainted me with duck and cover drills. From the White House this was a duck and cover move.

Send us your comments on this article

For the last twenty years North Korea has been a thorn in the side of the U.S. They have made numerous threats and aggressive overtures always with an end goal of obtaining some concession from the U.S. The U.S. response is generally to negotiate a solution that provides North Korea with their goal accomplished. North Korea always plays this game but for the U.S. to attack without providing a stern warning that enough is enough would go against the U.S. in the world of public opinion. The time has come to play the game in the same manner as North Korea and all of the other countries who choose to test us. The difference here is the President of the U.S. must make a statement to the world that threats and taunting of the U.S. by these countries will be responded to with a serious and profound reaction. Such a statement must be made by the President of the U.S. to the world that some times the channels of justice must be suspended when a country defends itself against an overt threat. The President must inform the world that in circumstances when one country makes an overt threat against another country the threatened country has the right to defend it self with a response that may seem out of proportion to the threat.

Send us your comments on this article

Perhaps everyone should think on this a bit. Even the nations that know the military power we have are starting to think America is about to blink. Because of the manner in which we have conducted the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan our enemies feel we can be beaten. Our enemies believe that their cat and mouse games will buy them enough time that Americans will tire of the chase and give up. We try very hard to protect citizen life in the war zones yet we are attacked if we make one mistake. Few civilians in these countries ever complain about the murderous deeds of their fellow citizens. Even our allies seem to think that we are going to give up without a clear win. They call our negotiations with Iran and North Korea time wasting and a road to nowhere. They believe, we as a country, are loosing our edge of power to China. The fact that the Israeli prime minister would show disrespect to a visiting Vice President of the U.S. indicates that even one of our strongest of friends think they can push us around if need be. The time has come for the U.S. to take a stand and, in the most secretive of manners, totally bloody the nose of the next government that attempts to get away with even a threat against the U.S. If we tell people to be careful of what they do to us and they fail to heed the warning then we should make an example of them. When one makes a bloody mess of the leader of a gang and then stands asking who wishes to be next the rest of the gangs and gang members take the example at face value. It is just a message.

Send us your comments on this article

I will make this comment short and sweet. The President is the President or in other words the leader of this country. Unlike George W. Bush who went around bitch slapping everyone with the power of the U.S. this President seems to be waiting for the time to fight. Well Mr. President the time is now. When I say fight I do not mean an all out war but I am looking for the leader to stand up and tell North Korea, Iran, Palestinians, Iraq and Afghanistan the game is up. We will no longer stand for the actions of these governments. They either play nice or the next government to test the U.S. will get the beating of its life. The President needs to tell the world that he is still willing to help and assist and continue with the moral responsibility the U.S. has with the rest of the world. The President must also explain to those who wish to hurt the U.S. that on the next attempt to harm the U.S. some government will suffer the most severe consequences imaginable. And to those who think they can pull something off and not take a hit the response of the U.S. will be non-proportionate and as harsh as we can make it. It is now time for the people who live in regimes which would do harm to the U.S. to understand that if they cannot change the path of those who govern them they will share the same fate as their governments.

Send us your comments on this article

I really do not know what went down on the Turkish ship running the blockade to Gaza. At this point I do not care who is right and who is wrong. What I do care about is the Israeli approach to peace and war, as well as in this case their blockading to keep arms from flowing into Gaza. I look at the actions of Israel bordering on the actions of a teenager who constantly is caught with their hand in the cookie jar. The kid may be innocent but everyone knows how many times he has been caught. That means he looses credibility and does not get the benefit of the doubt. For Israel it is like the boy who cried wolf. One cannot keep getting into dangerous situations without having some of the blame stick even if it is not their fault. The world needs to talk to Israel like a Dutch uncle.

Send us your comments on this article

The BP oil leak is a serious situation. In the past forty days we have seen several projects paraded out and given big publicity but to no avail. The projects have special names and are presented to the public long before they are ready to go into action. The reason for the big named projects is to make the public feel as if something is being done to correct the problem. My experience with problematic issues is that those who have a half baked plan spend more time thinking up the appropriate name for the project and just hope the plan works. Though everyone understands this is a situation one mile under water there still needs to be a go to the wall effort for a solution. During the space program when Apollo 13 was in grave trouble with a varied number of catastrophic possibilities to be faced the mantra was failure is not an option. Teams were assigned problems and they went away for a while and came back with a solution. None of those fixes had a project name. Some one has to make it clear to BP that failure is not an option.

Send us your comments on this article

It was not that long ago that the local counties in my area were offering amnesty for those who turned in unlicensed firearms. People shooting people, is all over the news and it still is. However, recently there has been a rash of attacks with pipe bombs all over the country. These are not terrorists in the same way we consider those who bombed the twin towers. These are street thugs who want to ratchet up their mode of attack on a rival street gang and of course middle and upper class individuals who are seeking a thrill. No matter what social class these individuals come from their use of pipe bombs is now the new fashion statement for those seeking attention or a sure kill. The problem is the sure kill usually takes out just plain innocent people and that is the real disgrace. These individuals are so myopic in their attempt at revenge or first strike they do not care who they kill.

These devices are easy to make at home and the instructions are on many web sites just waiting to be down loaded. Part of the problem is the individual who would use such a bomb either wants to die in the process or is willing to take a chance at missing the intended target by setting it off remotely. A remote bomb means the potential killer does not wish to die. This has become a problem for the inner city police forces who are dealing with street gangs. The police realize that an escalation in the use of these devices could cause more harm than people just shooting people.

Send us your comments on this article

Here is the thing about charter schools if you are thinking about sending your kid to one. Statically they work most of the time. With out the statistics we have to look at new data that tells us that if you measure who fills most of the charter school positions and where they came from the story changes. Most of the kids in charter schools come from educated families with the money to spend to get their kids the best. The students themselves are of a higher achievement level even the ones who come from poor and uneducated families the child is in because the child is quite smart. At the charter school teachers find it easier to teach the more well equipped kids who are on the higher cerebral and social level. We also know if the intelligence is there the social skills will come. The question is what happens to the balance of the public education system kids do if they fail to get into a charter school or are put into one that has the same level of cerebral capacity but no social skills? These second, third and fourth level charter schools seem to be where this program is going to assign most of the students. It will not make for a better educational system but it will eventually provide a separate but equal system again. The difference is this time it will be all over the country. Perhaps we should take a look at the Brown vs. the Board of Education decision again.

Send us your comments on this article