Did you see Rubin testifying to congress?

Did you see Rubin testifying to congress?  He blames the people under him.  One of them reports that he told Rubin.

The entire mindset is interesting.  It would be like inviting the person that robbed your house to dinner and honoring him and then asking, "You being an expert, can you tell me how to avoid being robbed in the future?"  Of course, this does not happen, but with Rubin and Paulson it happens every few years.  Amazing.

open letter to michelle obama food organic and advertising

Hi Michelle Obama,

I listen to your let's move campaign.  I agree.  I've created http://move.brooklynmarathon.com long ago to enable better running and exercise support for people.

I recommend that in your talks about healthy foods that you TALK ABOUT ORGANIC FOODS and STOP saying SUGAR so much.  You know that if you tell me NOT to do something they WILL do it.

So instead of talking about ADVERTISING healthy foods, what we should do is tell people SIMPLY DO NOT BUY FOODS THAT YOU SEE ADVERTISED.  I do this and the results are amazing.  ALSO DON'T BUY FOOD THAT IS PACKAGED OR PROCESSED.  It's that simple.

And as for why healthy food cost more than unhealthy foods,  IS IT VERY SIMPLE, the US GOVERNMENT SUBSIDIZES CORN and SOY and WHEAT.  The cows eat this.  remove the subsidies and let cows eat grass as evolution intended.  and meat will diminish and vegetables will rise.

We are programmed to crave salt, sugar and fat.  But these are rare in nature as they should be.

If you are going to speak about this, speak the truth.

This is amazing and Rubin says he's sorry and that's it. Imagine you embezzling funds from a bank and when you are caught you say "oh i'm sorry" and walk out. It would never happen. You would be crucified. We need to investigate, subpoena and indict

This is amazing and Rubin says he's sorry and that's it.  Imagine you embezzling funds from a bank and when you are caught you say "oh i'm sorry" and walk out.  It would never happen.  You would be crucified.  We need to investigate, subpoena and indict Rubin and the rest.

But Prince and Rubin did not take direct responsibility for leading the company into a financial morass. They said they were not aware until the fall of 2007 of the high risks of the mortgage-backed assets the company was holding and largely blamed the company's problems on a confluence of outside market forces.

Regrets of ex-Citigroup execs don't satisfy federal panel

By Jim Puzzanghera

Updated: 10:59 AM 4/9/2010

Multiple Page View

Reporting from Washington-- Two former top executives of Citigroup Inc. on Thursday publicly apologized for the financial crisis and the near collapse of the giant firm that required a taxpayer bailout of $45 billion, but took heat from a federal panel investigating the crisis for not accepting blame for the company's dramatic fall.

"Let me start by saying I'm sorry. I'm sorry the financial crisis has had such a devastating impact on our country," former chief executive Chuck Prince told the federal commission investigating the causes of the financial crisis. "I'm sorry that our management team, starting with me, like so many others, did not see the unprecedented market collapse that lay before us."

Prince's mea culpa came on the second of three days of hearings by the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission into the subprime mortgage meltdown. He was followed by former Citi board chairman, Robert Rubin, who expressed regret for the failure of himself and others to see the approaching financial turmoil.

"Almost all of us in the financial system, including financial firms, regulators, rating agencies, analysts and commentators, missed the powerful combination of forces at work and the serious possibility of a massive crisis," said Rubin, who served as Treasury secretary under President Clinton. "We all bear responsibility for not recognizing this, and I deeply regret that."

But Prince and Rubin did not take direct responsibility for leading the company into a financial morass. They said they were not aware until the fall of 2007 of the high risks of the mortgage-backed assets the company was holding and largely blamed the company's problems on a confluence of outside market forces.

Democrats and Republicans on the panel ripped the two executives for diverting blame.

"At the end of the day, the two of you in charge of the organization did not seem to have a grip on what was happening," said commission Chairman Phil Angelides, a Democratic appointee.

"I'm not so sure apologies are as important as assessment of responsibility. . . . Instead of asking what did you know and when did you know it, I should be asking what didn't you know and why didn't you know it," he said.

The panel's vice chairman, Bill Thomas, a Republican appointee, slammed Prince and Rubin for not returning any of the tens of millions of dollars in compensation they received before Citigroup's fall. He said a "simple apology" isn't enough "no matter how often you feel really really sad."

Citigroup has been the most contrite of the firms that received a major bailout, and because of the large amount of assistance it received, has been a major focus of lawmakers and the panel investigating the crisis.

Last month, Citi's current chief executive, Vikram Pandit, publicly thanked taxpayers for the $45 billion in federal money that helped save the company in late 2008. The bailout also included a government guarantee of $102 billion for a large portion of Citi's assets. That guarantee has since been removed. Citi in December repaid $20 billion of the bailout. The remaining money was converted into a $27-billion government ownership stake

The Treasury Department said last week it intends to cash in those shares, which could result in an $8-billion profit for the government.

Prince said risk assessments by Citigroup on about $40 billion of highly rated securities based on subprime mortgages turned out to be "dramatically wrong." But he said he could not fault company employees for acquiring those assets because of their AAA-plus credit ratings.

"Having $40 billion of AAA-plus-rated paper on the balance sheet of a $2-trillion company would typically not raise a concern," Prince said. But the value of those assets began deteriorating amid the collapse of the housing market. Prince resigned in Nov. 4, 2007, after Citigroup announced $8 billion to $11 billion in write-downs for those investments, which ultimately cost the company $30 billion.

Although Prince and Rubin said they were not alone among financial executives to miss signs of the coming crisis, commission member Byron Georgiou, a Democratic appointee, said they and others were "hallucinatory" given the risks being taken with subprime mortgages.

"When you look at the fundamentals, it belies logic," to say the crisis was impossible to foresee, he said.

The financial crisis inquiry panel is focusing much of their three days of hearings on Citi's problems. On Wednesday, Richard Bowen, the former senior vice president and business chief underwriter of CitiMortgage Inc., testified that he began warning company officials in 2006 about the risks being taken with securities backed by subprime mortgages. He finally sent an e-mail on Nov. 3, 2007, to Rubin and other top officials "resulting in significant but possibly unrecognized financial losses existing" within Citigroup.

Rubin said Thursday he referred the e-mail to the appropriate company officials and "I do know factually that was acted on promptly." Angelides asked Rubin to submit details on who acted on it and how.

jim.puzzanghera@latimes.com

open letter to obama war

Hi Barack Obama,

Be honest with yourself and rest, the entire war industry is part of your support and therefore your personal opinion does not matter.

The wikileaks video of americans killing as if life is a video game shows that you are really powerless against the military and money powers that really run this part of the economy.

War is not inevitable. But it is inevitable if you sit back and do nothing and let the ones who financially depend on war rule you.

It is very sad.

All you have to say is "americans, make me stop the constant wars" and set up a focal point (website, phone number) for people to list their concerns. and vote. Let's set up a real democracy and have a referendum on the war and see who votes for war and who votes for peace.

Thanks,
Ralph Yozzo

A plan for Mayor "King" Bloomberg to become President

Statistics on the 2009 New York City Mayor's Race.


$108,371,685 (paid by bloomberg) / 557,059  (votes for bloomberg)

$194.54  / vote

That's approximately $200 per vote bloomberg paid.

So, if there are 200 million American voters, and let's say Bloomberg can buy votes at $200 per vote.

Let's say he buys 101 million votes.  That would cost him $20,200,000,000  about $20 billion

Unfortunately our mayor is a little short.  He only has about $16 billion currently.

mary wittenberg salary vs. running fees

Here's some comments that I've heard recently:

Now the NYC half marathon has risen from 65 dollars last year to 84 this year a 34 percent increase for members.  

  

The NYC marathon is 61.6 percent higher than 3 years ago.  now  $ 160 (for members)

 

Outrageous

We realize that they are the few that don't want to know about what is happening to our running community, but there are those that don't know and want to know.

So, here's an update.

An Open Letter to Barack Obama

Hi,

 

 I support the health care message. I believe that you are not thinking things through however. If there is no price controls (of course because this is devil-take-the-hindmost america) and no public option AND you mandate that insurance companies MUST cover so-called pre-existing conditions, THEN what is to stop the insurance companies from saying: "no problem, we cover you even though you have cancer, that will be 1 million bucks a month." Also you are completely wrong on Bill Gates. His goal from the beginning was money and crushing competition. Which he still tries to do (albeit with less success) to this day.

 

 

Open Letter to edolphus towns about the "Financial Crisis" created by Hank Paulson and his accomplices.

Dear Edolphus:

 

Thank you for the hearing on the bailout debacle with Hank Paulson as the "expert witness" I would like you to consider that Hank Paulson and others created this unethical and clearly immoral event to their sole benefit. He should be given a subpoena and he will return as a "defendant" in one of the worst crimes I've witnessed. Let me say that I worked at Goldman Sachs at the same time that Hank Paulson worked there. His concern for anyone other than himself and possibly his accomplices is almost non-existent. To call him an "expert witness" and to ask for his help is like asking the hyena for help watching the chickens.

 

 

Will Run and Run and Run for Food

A December front page of a local new york paper had a picture of an Ethiopian runner with a doctored photograph where his shirt was modified to read "will run for food". I'm not sure what the intention was but it seems as if the editor or author or whoever wrote that thinks that they don't run for food. If you think about it, the reality is we all run for food. Some run and run and run for food.

A People's Use for the "Stock" Exchange People's Ticker: Obama 40 -1.2 (-1%) , Schumer 0.1 -2.2 (-2%) No confidence vote required (4/10/2009), Conyers 90 +1.0 (+0.9)

Thoughts after the http://bailoutthepeople.org/ march on wall st:

 

I used to work in the very building where the music was set up.  It was the most life I've ever seen in that area.  I was pleasantly surprised by all the different groups.  There seemed to be groups from all over.

I was amazed that the whole area looked very different.  It looks more like a war zone than a city.  We were herded like cattle by 50 to 100 police officers.    There were even officers with rifles behind the enormous american flag that covers the stock exchange.  It seems that the bigger or the more the number of flags, the more we should double check what we are being told.  It could be a simple formula to investigate corruption.

One thing I'd like to see is the president and politicians should have a similar contract as most workers, that is, "terminable at will".  The people should vote each day or weekly (or like the stock and currency market (every millisecond) on the confidence they have in the politician's performance.  We could use all the current stock exchange equipment.  

Imagine: 

People's Ticker: Obama  40 -1.2 (-1%) ,  Schumer 0.1 -2.2 (-2%)  No confidence vote required (4/10/2009),  Conyers  90 +1.0 (+0.9)

Chomsky described a process where the neighborhoods and block associations and community boards would interview candidates for office.  Give them an agreed upon agenda and ask them if they can implement the agenda.  That seems much better than the current system.  The community boards would also have the right to remove the candidates if they were not implementing the community agenda.

Letter to the Nihilist

See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMO-FQwIRiM

here you go: the "virtual portal into luxury" refers to what you call "nothing"

but everyone's "nothing" is different.

some have more "nothing" than others.

RICHEST MAN IN NYC AGAIN WITH $4.5 BILLION GAIN

Of course, this must be a lie also.  Those innocent billionaires works hard and earn every penny.

For instance, given $16 billion "net worth".  How did he do it?

Assuming it's by work (as we, the majority, do):
Here's one way:

• he earns by hard work @ $1000 / hour (he's worth every penny.  Remember, minimum wage is: $7.25 per hour effective July 24, 2009) source: http://www.dol.gov/esa/whd/flsa/
  
• @ 6 days / week (he works very hard but even God rested on Sunday)
• @ 10 hours a day (he's only human, so he has to sleep)
• @ 50 weeks/year (he deserves his two weeks vacation).  

That's $3 million/year. 

So, our hard working capitalist has only worked 5333.33 years to earn that $16 billion.
And that's with zero taxes (as it is only right that our capitalist should not help anyone but himself, even though everyone contributes to his "wealth")

It's all in the Declaration of Independence: Listen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40UX5x3kqpw


--------------------------------------
Here's the 4.5 billion gain:

2008 - 11.5 billion
2009 - 16 billion

BUST IS BOOM TIME FOR BLOOMY

RICHEST MAN IN NYC AGAIN WITH $4.5 BILLION GAIN

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By KIRSTEN FLEMING and LUKAS I. ALPERT

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Last updated: 3:16 am
March 12, 2009
Posted: 3:05 am
March 12, 2009

It's good to be king.

Mayor Bloomberg is no longer just the most powerful man in town - he's the richest too.

Hizzoner has risen to the top of the Big Apple entries on Forbes magazine's 2009 billionaires list, reclaiming the title of city's richest man from oil and gas tycoon David Koch.

And in a year where the list of the world's billionaires shrank by almost a third due to the cratering economy, Bloomberg did the unthinkable - he got even richer.

Last year, the media mogul's worth clocked in at $11.5 billion. But after he bought back 20 percent of his company Bloomberg LP from a foundering Merrill Lynch in July, his value skyrocketed and he is now worth a staggering $16 billion.

Not since entrepreneur William Russell Grace won the mayorship in 1880 but spent every afternoon running his company, W.R. Grace, has the city had such a financial colossus at its helm.

While Forbes listed Bloomberg's worth as $20 billion on its 400 richest Americans list last September - meaning his value has dipped by $4 billion in the last six months - he still ranks as the 17th richest man in the world.

Bloomberg was quick to downplay the achievement.

"I don't pay much attention to these lists," he said. "The most important thing is what I do with philanthropy."

The mayor, in fact, came in at No. 9 on a list of the country's top philanthropists in 2008.

While Bloomberg's financial situation defied gravity, a scan through the rest of the list revealed how deeply the global economic collapse has bitten into the wallets of the world's wealthiest.

In all, the list shrank from 1,125 billionaires last year to 793, and their combined wealth slipped from $4.4 trillion to $2.4 trillion. Bloomberg was one of only 44 to see their value go up.

The average billionaire is now worth only $3 billion, down from $3.9 billion last year.

The bite was felt all over the world. The United States fell from 469 to 359 overall billionaires - down 110 from last year - toppling in overall value from $1.6 trillion to $1.1 trillion. Europe lost 102 billionaires and Asia lost 81.

The hardest hit was India's Anil Ambani, whose value shrunk by $32 billion in the last year.

"It's no surprise billionaires have been battered with the global economy," said magazine editor Steve Forbes. "No tears will be shed for the fact that a billionaire has gone down in his net worth."

Despite the hard hit taken by the dons on Wall Street, the shakeup has left the Big Apple as the city with the most billionaires in the world - with 55. That puts Gotham back on top of Moscow, which had 74 billionaires last year and has just 27 now, landing it in third place following London.

But plenty of super-rich New Yorkers got less rich in the past year. Corporate raider Carl Icahn saw his worth fall $5 billion and media tycoon S.I. Newhouse's holdings fell $4.5 billion.

David Koch - the previous holder of the wealthiest New Yorker crown - lost $3 billion, falling from $17 billion to $14 billion.

The global economic meltdown also rejiggered the list at the very top - once again making Microsoft founder Bill Gates the wealthiest man in the world with $40 billion.

He displaces Warren Buffett, who slips to second with $37 billion. Mexican telecom mogul Carlos Slim Helu is at third with $35 billion.

But collectively the three men lost $68 billion in the last year.

Falling completely off the list were former Citibank chairman Sandy Weill, former AIG chief exec Hank Greenberg and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

In all, 355 people fell off the list and only 38 new people joined.

lukas.alpert@nypost.com

source: http://www.nypost.com/seven/03122009/news/politics/bust_is_boom_time_for_bloomy_159183.htm
source (print): http://www.nypost.com/php/pfriendly/print.php?url=http://www.nypost.com/seven/03122009/news/politics/bust_is_boom_time_for_bloomy_159183.htm

Billionaire Bloomberg needs volunteers

Ratner welcomes Murdoch

2007 NYRR Watch Report

 

2007 NYRR Watch Report

sources:
http://bartlett.oag.state.ny.us/Char_Forms/show_details.jsp?id={C8AF4860-DE8B-4639-BE52-0ED371839BDF}
http://www.oag.state.ny.us/bureaus/charities/about.html

---------------------------------------------------
Salaries: 


Mary Wittenberg
Title: Board Member/President
Addr 1: 9 East 89th Street
Addr 2:
CSZ: New York, NY 10128
Country: United States

format: hours worked per week,  compensation, contributions to benefit plans, expenses
40 $365,000.00 $15,600.00 $0.00

Total: $380,600

This is up 29% since 2005.  Did your salary go up 29%?

Patrick McNamara
Title: Staff Vice President
Addr 1: 9 East 89th Street
Addr 2:
CSZ: New York, NY 10128
Country : United States
40 $167,999.00 $8,280.00 $0.00

Toby Tanser
Title: Board Member
Addr 1: 9 East 89th Street
Addr 2:
CSZ: New York, NY 10128
Country: United States
0 $300.00 $0.00 $0.00


---------------------------------------------------
Independent Auditors' Report
Board of Directors
New York Road Runners
We have audited the accompanying statements of financial position of New York Road Runners
("NYRR") as of March 31, 2008 and 2007, and the related statements of activities and cash
flows for the years then ended. These financial statements are the responsibility of NYRR's
management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements based on
our audits.
We conducted our audits in accordance with auditing standards generally accepted in the United
States ofAmerica. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable
assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement. An audit
includes considering internal control over financial reporting as a basis for designing audit
procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances, but not for the purpose of expressing an
opinion on the effectiveness ofNYRR's internal control over financial reporting. Accordingly, we
express no such opinion. An audit also includes examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the
amounts and disclosures in the financial statements, assessing the accounting principles used and
significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall 'financial statement
presentation. We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion
In our opinion, the financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the
financial position of New York Road Runners as of March 31, 2008 and 2007 and the changes in
its nets assets and its cash flows for the years then ended in conformity with accounting principles
generally accepted in the United States ofAmerica.


O'Connor, Davies, Munno & Dobbins, LLP http://www.odmd.com/
New York, New York
July 22, 2008

---------------------------------------------------
Letter from NYRR VP of Finance

New York State Department of Law
State Charities Bureau Registration Section
120 Broadway
New York, New York 10271
Dear Sirs:
Please find enclosed form CHAR 500, 990, and the audited statement for the New York Road Runners
Inc. fiscal year ending March 31, 2008.
If you have any questions regarding the enclosed material, please contact me at 646-758-9656.

Sincerely
Patrick J. McNamara
Vice President, Finance

---------------------------------------------------
Revenue

Race Entry Revenue 17,141,128
Sponsership Revenue 11,303,158
Other Revenue 4,717,591
Publications & Advertisement 693,648
Classes Revenue 448,950
Medicare/Medicaid payments . . . .
Fees and contracts from government agencies
Membership dues and assessments . 1,418,297

This is interesting.  Race Entry Revenue and Membership dues is 52% of reported revenue.
Maybe the people that pay for the public charity should have a say in the policy and operation and fees of the public charity.

Details:
(17141128+1418297)/35722772
0.5195
51.95%

---------------------------------------------------
Compensation of the Five Highest Paid Employees Other Than Officers, Directors, and Trustees

(a) Name and address of each employee paid more (b) Title and average hours
(c) Compensation
( d) Contributions to
employee benefit plans &
(e) Expense
account and other
than $50,000 per week devoted to position deferred compensation allowances

Ann Wells Crandall
9 East-89th-Street, New York, NY 10128, US Sen. Vice President
format: hours worked per week,  compensation, contributions to benefit plans, expenses
40 269,000 11,220 0

Peter Ciaccia
9 East 89th Street, New York, NY 10128, US
Vice President
40 185,000 7,500 0

Robert L Laufer
9 East 89th Street, New York, NY 10128, US Vice President
40 160,000 6,600 0

Susan Cuttler
9 East 89th Street, New York, NY 10128, US
Vice President
40 150,000 6,600 0

Saul Zuchman
9 East 89th Street, New York, NY 10128, US
Vice President
40 108,722 0 0

---------------------------------------------------
(a) Name and address of each independent contractor paid more than $50,000 (b) Type of service (c) Compensation
Loeb Loeb
345 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10154, US Legal
146,483

---------------------------------------------------
Compensation of the Five Highest Paid Independent Contractors for Other Serv ices
(a) Name and address of each independent contractor paid more than $50,000 (b) Type of service (c) Compensation

American Pro Cyling
500 East 76th Street, New York, NY 10021, US
Art Design & Install
1,172,046

That's $1.17 Million for signs.  Where is the public bidding process on these tasks as required by law?

Daniel J Edelman
21992 Network Place, Chica o, IL 60673, US
Public Relations
283,381

Protective Strategies
14834 Das Marinas Drive, Corpus Christ, TX 78418, US Securi ty
280,192

Expert Collab LLB
29 Florence Drive, Florham ark, NJ 07932, US
Consultation and Collaboration
120,000

Race Results Weekly
PO BOX 8233, FDR Station, NY 10150, US
Coordinator
84,830

Total number of other contractors receiving over
$50,000 for other services . . . . . . . ? 8


---------------------------------------------------
Sales of Inventory
NEW YORK ROAD RUNNERS INC
13-2949483

Running Merchandise
Gross Sales $1,735,483.00
Gross Profit $489,165.00

Here's a 1/2 million dollar profit while the Marathon fee rises rapidly.

Open Letter to Obama: AIG Bonuses

 

 

Obama says no to AIG bonus payout

US President Barack Obama said on Monday that his administration will stop insurance giant American International Group (AIG) from paying 165 million dollars of bonuses to its executives.   "It's hard to understand how derivative traders at AIG warranted any bonuses, much less 165 million dollars in extra pay," Obama said at the outset of an appearance to announce a plan to boost small businesses loans.     US President Barack Obama (L) and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner arrive in the East Room of the White House in Washington March 16, 2009 to make announcements on helping small business during the economic crisis. [Xinhua]        "How do they justify this outrage to the taxpayers who are keeping the company afloat," the president said, adding that the insurer is in financial straits because of "recklessness and greed".

 

To Barack Obama:

I support your statement. How in the world can these wall street criminal take our tax dollars and give millions of dollars to each other.

You are responsible to make sure these people are punished.

The solution is end corporatism.  Fascism and Bolshevism have been overcome.  They had armies to defend them.  Corporatism has nothing but you protecting it.

How in the world can a corporation be a person.  It is not a person.  But the current law gives it has more rights than a person.

Outrageous!

The solution is to promote cooperatives.  We have a 12,000 member food cooperative here in Brooklyn and it's goal is sustainability, not exploitation.   And we have no problem with meltdowns and greed and excessive bonuses.

Op-Ed Columnist

Why Depressions happen?

By Letters From Earth (lettersfromearth1@gmail.com)

Published: February 4, 2009

 

The way Sen. Dodd told me this morning about it, somebody said, "Well, what if we don't do anything?" And Bernanke says, "There will be no economy on Monday."

"No economy on Monday".  What does that mean?  Maybe we'd be better off without your economy, Mr. Bernanke.  And if I had done half as bad as you and the other politicians and elitists have done, I would not only resign in shame, I would apologize and admit my criminal activity.  The fact is you and the other elitists need depressions.  Think about it, who mans the armies for the wars you fight?  Ordinary people do.  Why do they do it? Because they have no choice, there are no significant social programs in America.  You have no insurance unless you work for these dog-eat-dog corporations.  The entire thought process is wrong.  If someone has a broken leg, the first thing I think of is how I can help them.  The first think you of is how can I profit from this person's broken leg.  How you live with youself, I do not know.

The same holds true for other basic human needs such as food and shelter.   This is already true for fire fighting and crime fighting.  The case of fire fighting is simpler.  When your house is burning down and the fire department comes to your door, do they think "how can I profit from this burning house?"  Do they ask "Excuse me sir, do you have fire fighting insurance?"  No, they put out the fire.

The police department is more complicated.  In a fair and just society, we will have laws but not a military police force which creates a police state.  But yet, the profit motive is not involved here.  This is as it should be.  In fact, the "profit motive" is basis of the problem with the world today.  Why do the common people become police officers?  For the exact same reason that soldiers volunteer to go to war.  Let's go back to the Vietnam War.  There was a draft and people hated the draft.  Obviously, war is not feasible if there are no soldiers.  If a draft is not possible, then you need depressions to force people into a crisis state where they will do anything to get money.

So, you see all the false talk about hating the depression or quotes such as "no one could have predicted this disaster".  WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?  What if you tell the police officer when he stops you for some minor speeding infraction, "Officer, the car accelerator got stuck and no one could have predicted this disaster"  You would be laughed at and fined.  What if you work at a factory you've ignored the machines for years and then one day they all rust and stop and you say when asked why it happened.  "What a disaster, no one could have predicted it"  You would be gone the next day.

So, why is Bernanke and the other elitists still there?  When will the people wake up.

The conclusion is we need to realize that we all need to eat, we all need shelter, we all get sick, we all are going to die, and we all equally important.  Not only "created equal" but "always equally important"

Next topic: The "profit motive" vs. "creative motive".

 

 

Amazing: Princeton Professor says global warming is good.

AMY GOODMAN: On Wednesday, our guest, Chris Field, testified before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. The Republican minority invited Princeton University physicist William Happer to testify at the same hearing. He's a former Energy Department official and chair of the board of directors of the George Marshall Institute, an organization that's reportedly received $715,000 from ExxonMobil since 1998. This is a part of what Professor Happer had to say. 

 

WILLIAM HAPPER: The increasing concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere will cause some warming of the earth's surface. The key question is, will the net effect of the warming and any other effects of CO2 be good or bad for humanity? I believe the increase of CO2 will be good.


I predict that future historians will look back on this period much as we now look back on the period just before we passed the 18th Amendment to the US Constitution to prohibit the manufacturing, sale or transportation of intoxicating liquors. At the time, the 18th Amendment seemed to be exactly the right thing to do. It was a 1917 version of saving the planet from the ravages of climate change. More than half the states enacted prohibition laws before the 18th Amendment was finally ratified. Only one state, Rhode Island, voted against it, and my hat's off to the senator from Rhode Island. I'm sorry he's not here.


Well, there were many people who thought that Prohibition might do more harm than good, but they were completely outmatched by the temperance movement, whose motives and methods had much in common with the movement to stop climate change. Deeply sincere people thought they were saving humanity from the evils of alcohol, just as many people now sincerely think they're saving humanity from the evils of CO2. Prohibition was a mistake, and our country's probably still not fully recovered from the damage it did. For example, institutions like organized crime got their start in that era. Drastic limitations on CO2 are likely to damage our country in an analogous way. There's tremendous opportunity for corruption there.

 

source: http://www.democracynow.org/2009/2/26/member_of_un_environment_panel_warns

 

What can one say.  This is amazing.  I guess flooding of large portions of the world is considered good to Mr. William Happer.

 

 

NYRR removes benefactor status and NYRR salaries and consultants

Here's a quote from the New York Flyers Forum:

Iris, the end of the annual benefactor membership is really bad news. Combined with NYRR's cap at 5,000 runners "to enhance the runner's experience" and, consequently, NYRR's all but guaranteed price rise in March, they will be (once again and again and again!) be forcing their membership to shell out more and more money for what is already the most overpriced marathon in this country.

"most overpriced marathon in this country". Maybe it's so.

And maybe here's why:

Salaries of NYRR staff and consultants: (somehow the CEO salary is missing)
http://picasaweb.google.com/fedex1/NYRR#5292852791671891234

Source: Form 990 See: http://dynamodata.fdncenter.org/990_pdf_archive/132/132949483/132949483_200703_990.pdf

For who would like to know how to read Form 990, See: http://www.npccny.org/Form_990/990.htm

Don't worry, the volunteers are mentioned here: http://picasaweb.google.com/fedex1/NYRR#5292853625696380658

It appears that the volunteers contribution "do not meet the criteria of contributed services".

Significant Accounting Policies (Continued)
Volunteers
NYRR has many volunteers who make significant contributions to the program and support
the functions of NYRR. These contributions do not meet the criteria for recognition of
contributed services , and therefore , their value is not reflected in these financial statements.

But services/goods contributed to NYRR do have a monetary value:

Contributions of Goods and Services
Substantial goods and services are contributed to NYRR. Those contributions that are
susceptible to objective measurement or valuation are included in the accompanying financial
statements . NYRR has recorded contributions of approximately $1,157,000 for the year ended
March 31, 2007.

Does anyone know how to bid on the NYRR contracts. As a charity they are obligated to have an open fair bidding process.

Independent Contractors:

Susan Spivack
8417 Fort Hamilton Parkway, Brooklyn, NY Art Designer $97,730.

American Pro Cycling
500 East 76th Street, Suite 2RN, NY, NY 10021 Art Design; Install $1,010,863

Protective Strategies
14834 Das Marinas Drive, Corpus Christi, TX 78418 Security $216,680

Daniel J. Edelman
21992 Network Place, Chicago, IL 60763-1219 Public Relations $216,929


Employees:

Ann Wells Crandal Hinegardner
9 East 89th St New York, NY VP of Sales 40 $274,909. + $10,550. (salary + benefits)

Saul Zuchman
9 East 89th St New York, NY VP of IT 40 $118,722. + $6,447.

Peter Ciaccia
9 East 89th St New York, NY VP of Events 40 $166,500. + $7,116.

Robert L. Laufer
9 East 89th St New York, NY VP of Le gal 40 $140,000. + $5,930.

Susan Cuttler
9 East 89th St New York, NY VP of Creati 40 $140,000. + $5,930.

Mr. X, tear down this wall.

I guess the basic difference in our discussion from yesterday is that you think most people are lazy, "want something for nothing", etc.

While I would say the opposite is true. I believe most people are good, (to paraphase Hank Paulson:) "hard-working"

Given the right system (a cooperative sane economy), people would be motivated and "guided by values of solidarity, and sympathy, and concern for others"

RALPH NADER: Yeah. Yeah, a remarkable statement. A reporter asked him, "What's your biggest regret?" at the end of his great career as a labor leader. And Eugene Debs said, "My greatest regret is that, under our Constitution, the American people can have almost anything they want, but it just seems they don't want much of anything at all."

Fast-forward to 1945. We were the biggest power in the world after World War II. Western Europe was devastated, but those people pushed and got, by law, universal healthcare, decent pensions, living wage, decent public transit, paid vacation, paid maternity leave, paid family sick leave, university free education. They got it, by law.

Sixty-three years later, these two parties, the Republican and Democratic parties, still have not given the American people what people in western Europe got decades ago. So we're trying to raise the expectation level, Amy, of the American people. If they become cynical and withdraw, which is what cynicism does, then they're going to lose their country. These giant corporations that hijacked our government are tearing the heart and soul out of America.

Noam Chomsky: Modern industrial civilization has developed within a certain system of convenient myths. The driving force of modern industrial civilization has been individual material gain... Now it's long been understood - very well - that a society that is based on this principle will destroy itself in time. It can only persist - with whatever suffering and injustice it entails - as long as it's possible to pretend that the destructive forces that humans create are limited, that the world is an infinite resource, and that the world is an infinite garbage can. At this stage of history either... the general population will take control of its own destiny and will concern itself with community issues guided by values of solidarity, and sympathy, and concern for others, or - alternatively - there will be no destiny for anyone to control.

Another good lecture on "really existing free markets"
http://www.chomsky.info/talks/19960413.htm


And here's Chomsky's view on human nature and government.

2. Critics complain that anarchism is "formless, utopian." You counter that each stage of history has its own forms of authority and oppression which must be challenged, therefore no fixed doctrine can apply. In your opinion, what specific realization of anarchism is appropriate in this epoch?

I tend to agree that anarchism is formless and utopian, though hardly more so than the inane doctrines of neoliberalism, Marxism-Leninism, and other ideologies that have appealed to the powerful and their intellectual servants over the years, for reasons that are all too easy to explain. The reason for the general formlessness and intellectual vacuity (often disguised in big words, but that is again in the self-interest of intellectuals) is that we do not understand very much about complex systems, such as human societies; and have only intuitions of limited validity as to the ways they should be reshaped and constructed.

Anarchism, in my view, is an expression of the idea that the burden of proof is always on those who argue that authority and domination are necessary. They have to demonstrate, with powerful argument, that that conclusion is correct. If they cannot, then the institutions they defend should be considered illegitimate. How one should react to illegitimate authority depends on circumstances and conditions: there are no formulas.

In the present period, the issues arise across the board, as they commonly do: from personal relations in the family and elsewhere, to the international political/economic order. And anarchist ideas -- challenging authority and insisting that it justify itself -- are appropriate at all levels.

3. What sort of conception of human nature is anarchism predicated on? Would people have less incentive to work in an egalitarian society? Would an absence of government allow the strong to dominate the weak? Would democratic decision-making result in excessive conflict, indecision and "mob rule"?

As I understand the term "anarchism," it is based on the hope (in our state of ignorance, we cannot go beyond that) that core elements of human nature include sentiments of solidarity, mutual support, sympathy, concern for others, and so on.

Would people work less in an egalitarian society? Yes, insofar as they are driven to work by the need for survival; or by material reward, a kind of pathology, I believe, like the kind of pathology that leads some to take pleasure from torturing others. Those who find reasonable the classical liberal doctrine that the impulse to engage in creative work is at the core of human nature -- something we see constantly, I think, from children to the elderly, when circumstances allow -- will be very suspicious of these doctrines, which are highly serviceable to power and authority, but seem to have no other merits.

Would an absence of government allow the strong to dominate the weak? We don't know. If so, then forms of social organization would have to be constructed -- there are many possibilities -- to overcome this crime.

What would be the consequences of democratic decision-making? The answers are unknown. We would have to learn by trial. Let's try it and find out.

The best one is the quote which I can't seem to find in print, but Chomsky says and I paraphrase: all this talk about corporate greed is a diversion. Basically, corporations are greedy, they are nothing else. They are institutions created to interfere with markets to maximize profit. The Capitalist autocracy comes from the same intellectual roots as the other modern forms of totalitarianism. Asking corporations to be less greedy would be like asking a totalitarian government to be less brutal. The point is not to get a tyranny to be less brutal, but to get rid of it.

The best part was when Noam explains that there's nothing engraved in stone about capitalism, stalinism, fascism. They are human institutions and in the same way that stalinism and fascism fell, so too will capitalism fall.