Too Much!

Greed is not Good!

I have an idea of how the United States, and the entire capitalist world has come to get itself into so much trouble. That doesn’t mean that I also have the solution to our problems. Far from it! If my theory of where things went so wrong is correct, making things go right will not be easy or instant.

I can sum it up in two words: Too Much!

I can tell my side of the story in five million words or just a few. I elect to take the latter approach, although the situation is as complex as it is simple. I will use just one bank as an example.

There was a time when our bank held few assets, say, 10 million dollars. Their customers asked them to invest their savings with the dual mandates of conserving the capital and providing a reasonable rate of interest. The bank said that it could do that, and it did because it could find enough blue chip companies to invest in.

Through its success more people came to trust it and its assets grew to more than 100 million dollars. As well, some of the bank’s customers asked for part of their money to be invested in safe situations, and part could go into something called “venture capital” where the returns could be much greater, but also the risks would have to be greater.

The bank had to enter into an investment market that was risky where the swings were wild in order to go after big gains. The more success they had the more money they were given to produce results. It is a truism that if we commit $1,000 to a new idea that pays off well we wish we had put $1,000,000 into it. So, the second time we get serious and the bank is given ever more money to manage. Now, finding the hot items that come up winners begins to get difficult.

This is the culture of greed, and as Gordon Greco said, “Greed is Good!” Not! Greed is what brought more than three million customers to Bernard Madoff and that let him alledgely swindle them of more than 50 billion dollars. It is said that he made-off with all that money by engaging in one of the oldest con games known to man. In among his distinguished clients are a long list of bankers who bloody well should have known better.

Now, let’s switch to the bank’s mortgage market. It does a moderate business in lending money to well vetted borrowers. Along comes a builder and asks that the bank back it in a small building programme. The project gets completed and the builder sells all the properties thereby returning five dollars for every dollar borrowed. So, the builder now wants to enter into a project that is massive and the bank is keen to back them. They repeat the first example, and everyone is happy.

Everybody also gets greedy, and they go again with a project that is huge and not well thought through. When it comes time to sell the units they find that well qualified buyers are few and far between, so they start to go out on the margins to pick up people who just might be able to handle a mortgage, and they give them a bigger mortgage than they should. The stage is set for an unavoidable collapse. When the collapse comes everybody is surprised, except the people who were active in promoting the disaster, but who enjoyed lots of commissions and bonuses along the way.

Ever heard of a 100% mortgage? This is where the buyers have no money at all to buy a home, so all concerned engineer the situation so that the bank gives the buyers all the money they need to sign on the dotted line. How do they do it? The bank’s assessor goes out to view the property, and if the buyer and seller have agreed on 100, the assessor increases the value to 120 and the bank then takes off the 20 as it’s margin of safety and gives 100. The hope is that the market will continue to rise and the buyer will pay on time, and all will be well.

What has happened is that we have built too much real estate inventory for which there are no buyers. The building boom has had to stop, and the person paying the mortgage has lost his job, and the bank has had to foreclose on a property whose value has fallen like a lead weight, and the bank has had to show losses which are then reflected in the value of it’s stock price, and the bank is unable to pay out money demanded by it’s savers who no longer have jobs and are consequently not able to pay any of their bills, etc, etc, etc.

We started with just one bank, but it’s easy to see how interlocked everything is, and the global financial system rises together and it falls together. No business or country is an island in the financial sense.

We have tried to do too much in too short a period of time. Now we see millions upon millions of people around the world losing their jobs with no prospects of finding anything other than whatever their governments can do to put them back to work. Government funded emergency jobs are intended as short-term opportunities. The private sector is where careers are made and entrepreneurship can flourish. This will be very difficult to accomplish.

The alarming thing about all of this is that the experts are suggesting that the answer to an economic comeback is more of the same.

Copyright © 2009 Eugene Carmichael

The Happiest Couple in the World

Miguel and Maria

Miguel and Maria are our neighbours. He is a giant of a man, and Maria is as tiny as a fairy. She once had hair so long that it draped almost to the ground. As a result of living side by side with them, my family and I are all the more blessed. We may try to carefully pick the people alongside whom we live and interact on a daily basis, but sometimes it doesn’t quite work out. Of our four closest neighbours three range from good to very excellent. It’s best I make no comment regarding the fourth.

We have had the good fortune to observe, without being deliberate or intrusive a match apparently made in heaven between Miguel and Maria, for these two wonderful people personify the dream that we all have at the beginning of our marriages, that of having a special someone to spend the rest of our lives with; someone to grow old with in a life marked by peace, love and harmony.

I’m sure you have your own candidates to wear the title that I have given this piece. In our world of serial marriages or no-marriages, it’s important to look for examples of how it’s supposed to be. That is why I want to tell the story of this lovely couple because it is a good news story, one to lift our spirits, and it celebrates Saint Valentine’s Day so well.

Miguel and Maria have been married for 41 years, having tied the knot in 1968. Their story began in a time when Spain was a whole world apart from what it has become in these modern times.

Miguel was born in 1945 in a pueblo called Benelup Casas Vieja, located inland in the general vicinity of Cadiz on the South Coast of Spain. These were the days during the dictatorship and times were very hard indeed. Miguel remembers mostly the ever-present hunger and fear. It was hard to know which was worse. Those were the days where if you let slip the wrong word they would come for you and you were taken away and never heard from again. It was also a time when old scores were settled even though a person might have been entirely loyal to the government.

Sometimes the government agents didn’t even bother to take those chosen away, as in the time the soldiers came to his village and lined up a group of men who were suspected of being Communists. They were herded into a clearing and summarily shot to death, then set ablaze with petrol poured over their bodies.

Living conditions were not unlike those in Northern Africa. Houses were built in the round from clay and roofed with thatched grass. Naturally, all industry was agriculture based, but in spite of growing food the distribution was strictly controlled and that often led to the very people who grew the food being denied sufficient to feed their own families.

1960 was to be a turning point for both Miguel and Maria. That was the year that they met in the town of Manises, Valencia. Fate had brought Maria from Andalucia, and Miguel from Cadiz, and they have hardly been apart ever since. Somehow, they manage to share in most activities of every day and maintain a relationship that is evidently first and foremost, friends and soul mates.

Saint Valentine, the Patron Saint of all lovers, must surely have had in mind these two lovely people as examples for young folk to follow. They are proof that it is possible to make a success of marriage, and that the fairy tale of "happy ever after" can be true.

It is important to keep uppermost in one’s mind the fact that nothing comes easy, and if it’s something of great worth, it will require tenacity, determination to make it work, and the realization that life together is about sometimes giving and sometimes getting.

One more thing: we must first accept the fact that our family deserve our utmost respect. Seems like a simple enough statement, but how many of us accept that as fact? Respect, and loyalty among the family is the cement that bonds us together. Add genuine love to that and a promise not to provoke or hit, and all the elements will be in place for a long life together.


Happy St. Valentine’s Day, Everyone!

Copyright © 2009 Eugene Carmichael

Theft on Wall Street ?

Rewarding Incompetence?


Many banks, both traditional and investment found themselves in a great deal of trouble to the extent that if the US Government had not come forth with a whole lot of money to bail them out, they would have become bankrupt. Then, it was discovered that at the end of the year the executives awarded themselves and their staffs some 18 billion dollars in bonuses.

CNN asked their viewers whether they thought that this was correct, or whether these bonus payments must be returned? That opened a floodgate of responses and among them there was not one "No" to be found.

President Obama upon hearing the news said that he thought the practise was “shameful!”

“Bonus: An unsought or extra benefit. A seasonal gratuity to employees beyond their normal pay. An extra dividend or issue paid to the shareholders of a company. A distribution of profits to holders of an insurance policy. Bonus: a good thing.”

Those are the descriptions of a bonus given by the Oxford Dictionary.

In my working lifetime I have been a recipient of the year-end bonus at Christmas that was well appreciated. It happened only in those years where we exceeded profit projections and was given as a part of the extra profit and an incentive for us to repeat our performance the following year. In those years where we came in on profit target, or below expectations there was no bonus, for there was no basis on which to award one. We all understood!

So, considering that the 18 billion dollars was given out by companies that were about to fall off the edge into bankruptcy begs the question: how can a bonus be justified? Especially in the light of those companies receiving taxpayer’s dollars to fund such preposterous spending, it seems to me that quite possibly a crime of theft may have been committed.

One CEO of a bank is reputed to have said that if he doesn’t pay his best people well they will leave. He seems to be talking about the very people who got his bank into the mess that it’s in, so not only should they leave, they should be fired! They certainly should not be rewarded.

If President Obama has said that in his opinion what has taken place is shameful, we can be sure that he is directing the Justice Department to look into whether it was also illegal. What America needs is for everyone to be at the head of the line pulling one way to get itself out of the mire that it is in. The example of some people doing things that are counterproductive is like having them on the opposite side pulling backwards, and that simply just cannot be tolerated. What a tough job the President has taken on!

Copyright © 2009 Eugene Carmichael

Waiting to be Fired

Waiting to be Fired

I am a retired person who wonders what life for me would be like were I gainfully employed. How would I feel if my work was in an industry that was susceptible to recessionary or depressionary forces? Being retired doesn’t make me exempt. If anything it’s probably a worse situation because I am at an age which is beyond me being hired even if there was work.

I imagine that were I an employee of any one of the industries at risk, and that includes most, I would find it very difficult to concentrate on my work. Most people give in to temptation and mortgage their future paycheques because that is how we live. The stress levels among employees must be sky high, and that does nothing to improve job performance.

I was seriously affected by the very recent news story of a couple in America who both worked at an hospital, and were both laid off. They had a family of five children, and I suppose they had completely run out of money and hope. The man first shot his wife as she slept, then systemically went to each child and shot him or her dead, and then turned the gun on himself.

That’s not the first time in recent memory that has happened, and unfortunately I think it will happen in the future many times. In America, where guns are so easily obtainable, and in these impossible times it really is a very easy way out. A final solution! As I write this I am getting goose bumps, but I really do think that it will be part of the cost of the disaster that the American economy is going through.

I am a professional accountant, and in that capacity I worked as a manager of proprietry insurance companies. My clients were Fortune 500 companies and the work we did for them was vital in controlling their losses, so I think perhaps I may have been secure for some time to come. Some businesses are recessionary proof, such as undertakers, doctors and other branches of the medical world, and insurance, among others.

What happens in times like these, which are unprecedented? Firstly, it seems that every company of substance are announcing layoffs by the thousands. In America, during the last three or four months of 2008 layoffs totalling more than 2.6 million were announced. That means major companies, so we have to guesstimate a number in addition to those for small companies that have gone out of business. And it continues in the present! These are not just numbers. They are the loss of dreams, ambitions, hope, and of course, private education, homes, cars, etc.

If you are enrolled in a social insurance programme that pays loss of job benefits for a period that will give you a cushion while you frantically search for something else. However, when all around you are downsizing the sense of depression and outright fear must be overwhelming.

There are some people who actually try to live within their means. By that I mean that if they don’t have the cash for it, they don’t buy it. Businesses think that this is a ridiculous way to conduct one’s affairs. We get credit cards filling our mailboxes, and all sorts of tempting offers to go into debt. Business needs for us to spend today and not worry about the long-term, because in the long-term we are all dead. It’s that type of thinking that has got the world in so much ca-ca.

The banks are saying that they cannot loan any more money. Well, that’s the way we have been doing business and without credit we all go back to basics. Can we do that? Haven’t we come too far to go back? The talk is about re-building, but on what basis. We surely can’t re-build on the same sandy patch as we did before. Our house will simply fall down again. So, what’s the answer?

The cold hard situation is that no-one knows anything, and that’s enough to chill me to the bone. So, those who opt to take the, admittedly cold hard way out just won’t be around to see how it all turns out. Personally, I’d like to live to be one hundred, or at least long enough to see whether President Barack Obama can make any difference at all. I know that he is determined to do so, but remember, no-one knows anything!


Copyright © 2009 Eugene Carmichael

President Barack Obama

President Barak Obama


On January 20th, 2009, white people and black people, and all shades in between celebrated the very same thing in the inauguration of President-elect Obama: they celebrated the coming of age of America. By electing someone other than a white male, the way is now clear to choose the best talent for the job, whether that person be male or female.

The day was brilliant and went without a hitch. We all held our breath that it wouldn’t be interrupted by someone trying to do something idiotic. President Obama was elected as America’s first African-American commander-in-chief. That fact brought to The Washington Mall a record number of people, especially black people, to see for themselves the modern miracle of his inauguration.

The ceremony was perfect; the weather cooperated, and no-one interfered with the historic event. Hundreds of millions of people around the world stopped what they were doing and watched. The inauguration of President Mandela in South Africa was as monumental, but I believe that event did not command as many people to listen in absolute silence to President Mandela’s every word as they did to President Obama. Had a pin dropped it would have clanged as loudly as a bell.

Some people later said that they were disappointed in the speech as it did not soar for them in its rhetoric. Perhaps they were expecting show business rather than hard reality. The fact is that the speech had within it everything that should have been there, even some things that had to be hard for President Bush to bear.

In his vow he pledged to uphold the Constitution of the United States. That Constitution states that “all men are created equal”, but then also says that a black man shall be considered three fifth’s of a white man. The Constitution is wrong, has always been wrong on that point, and no longer can be considered an authority on the subject. It raises the question “what else is wrong with the American Constitution?

As wonderful as the ceremony was, all of that happened yesterday. Today, he is now simply Mr. President, and it’s time to roll up the sleeves and get on with a very daunting task. He starts with a positive rating of about 80%, which means that he has both Democratic and Republican support. That is unprecedented.

However, within America there is a school of thought that what is happening is a travesty. They believe that only a white male has the right to lead the country. Those people are both stupid and dangerous. They are also unaware, to use President Obama’s own words, “that the ground has shifted under their feet”. America has moved on, as it must because the world has changed and the task at hand is to recreate America and the world. Nothing works any more as it’s supposed to, and no-one knows anything for sure. So those people who find themselves having a problem getting their head around a black man in the president’s office need to realise it is they who have a very big problem.




We have all seen what America is capable of doing to their presidents, and it is for that reason most people couldn’t be drafted into the Oval Office. However, the Obamas are very special people. They have to be extraordinary just to have made it to where they are. I have no doubt that the Obama administration will be dogged with hard luck and some errors, but these will come about mainly due to circumstances. What we do know is that President Obama can be counted on to make very good decisions. His judgement is clear and concise and will be the thing that will be the difference between disaster or success.
Everyone agrees that his plate is overfull with a very long list of misery. His task is impossible, but the way to take on such an overwhelming challenge is by putting one foot ahead of the other and by keeping that positive mindset that says “Yes we can!”

I am not a fan of former President Bush, although I do commend him for being so generous in the transition by going over and beyond the call of duty. The other thing that he did was to set the scene so that even small gains on President Obama’s part will stand out in exaggerated fashion. Unfortunately, some things happened on his watch that are simply not his fault, but they will taint even further his track record of not much of anything of value to be judged by history.

Now it’s up to America’s security forces to protect the president as he goes about his daily business. He and his family must be kept safe as he tries to re-build America. He is America’s Great Black Hope, and many people say he is their only hope.

Copyright © 2009 Eugene Carmichael

Obama Time!

As I write this the date is Sunday, 18th January 2009. I am reminded that this is the month in which America honours the man who had a dream that one day America would no longer judge a person by the content of their skin colour, but rather by the content of their character. I am not a person who believes in coincidences. I believe that there is more order and pre-determination in our world than may seem. When significant things come together to form what most people consider a coincidence, I call those things synchronicity.

So it will be that we honour the Late Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr, the great activist for civil rights, on January 19th, followed by the inauguration as the 44th President of The United States of America of Barack Hussein Obama, “the skinny kid with the funny sounding name” as he likes to put it. On that day the Dream that millions of people around the world took as their own will come true.

Please do not bother me with telephone calls. Let no one try to sell me anything, or ask me anything, or break my concentration on Tuesday the 20th as I watch transfixed in front of my television set. I don’t suppose I need worry as I will be among the billions of people around the world doing the same thing. Just remember, Valencia, Spain is six hours ahead of Washington D.C.

For me there will be the normal hope that the new person will bring significant change for the better to the table. I am neither Democrat nor Republican, but the fact is that as goes America, so goes Europe. So, I naturally wish President Obama all the very best.


Copyright © 2009 Eugene Carmichael

Planning

While driving the AP-7 together with my wife, the thought occurred to me that in the event that we became involved in a fatal crash we had completely failed to give our son even one clue as to what to do after the police had delivered the news. So, I made a New Year’s resolution to write down for him the steps that he could take, and where to find things. Now that I have completed that list I would like to encourage each and everyone to do something similar.

As an exercise, whenever you see news footage of someone lying under the golden shroud in a scene on the highway, pause a moment to wonder what effect that will have on the family. We may not be able to control what happens to us, however there are some things that we can do to mitigate the effects of tragedy

To get you started the sort of things that your survivors will need to know go something. like this:

Who do I need to contact with this information? Ideally, there should be only one person per country that you can rely on to inform all relatives.
Who do I contact with this information in this country? Other than the obvious concerning disposal of remains, what companies and individuals must you contact?
How to go about cancelling accounts and realizing assets and settling amounts due to various creditors, including the government agencies.
Where are files and information to be found? This is not a time for a treasure hunt. There is quite enough stress already in your next of kin’s life. This part of the process should be made as simple as possible.
What about life insurance policies? Help with information as to where you have such assets would be most appreciated at this time. Otherwise, a trawl of every life insurance company in the world may be the only way to avoid leaving money on the table.
Where is your Will kept? It is so important to have a Spanish Will to cover your Spanish assets. Property held in other countries can be covered under Wills pertinent to those countries, but to die without a properly executed Will is to die In testate. That is a complicating factor that is not a very good thing.

As I got to thinking about the matter my mind got to wandering and I thought about those people who hide assets for the sake of tax evasion. Money in numbered accounts and tax havens may all be very well as long as the individual is able to access it during his lifetime, but when he dies, as he surely will do, after a reasonable period of time it must become the property of the bank. Whatever was held from the government becomes lost to the family plus more on top. In the end that becomes a fruitless exercise. Best just to pay the tax when due.

I do applaud the firms that sell burial plans because it does get us thinking about the end game. I’m taking the idea of planning to the ultimate degree until your estate is completely settled. Some people have even planned their own funereal program, including the songs to be sung. That’s fine with me, although I can choose the songs for you, but other things are strictly your provinces.

Finally, when going through with this we have to be realistic. We must consider that the chances that our information will be needed will be something near 100%. Therefore we do need to be thorough, and above all we need to be current. In undertaking such a task we can always be comforted in the belief that while the information will be used one day, that day may be a long way into the future.

Have a long, happy, healthy and prosperous life!

Copyright © 2009 Eugene Carmichael

Goodbye 2008 ! (and Good Riddance!)

In all my years there has not been another year like 2008. I began that year with the wish to all that 2008 be Great. Of course, I meant that in every positive way, but instead it turned out to be a great year for everything negative.

Now let’s be clear on one thing. This is not a personal rant. My family and I ended the year in plus territory. We did have our problems along the way, but on balance I can say that for us it was not a bad year overall. However, too many people around us had it tough. Far too many people lost their jobs, their homes, their money, their pensions, their hope, and their lives. I’m talking about complete and utter strangers to me whose pain I feel. The news got so difficult to watch that I simply had to take a holiday from watching it.

There has been one thing after another that made my mouth drop ever lower and my eyes pop even wider. I said that it was as though these are the final days of civilisation. But, here we are in the early days of 2009. Normally we celebrate in hope that things will be better than the last year, but really, do we have any reason to hope and expect that this New Year will be any better. I think that it will probably get worse before it gets better. It’s a question of the bottom. When will it be reached? What major earth-shaking development is just waiting around the corner to shake the world to its core? Everything is suspect and no-one knows anything.

Fundamentally, we have all been reduced to a position whereby our long-term financial plan is a ticket on the lottery. If you win the lottery your problems will then commence in earnest. I have been reading about Bernard Madoff, whom I like to think of as Made-off with the money, and others who stand accused of defrauding people out of very large individual sums of money. The claims to which they were seduced are so outrageous I am shaking my head in wonder as to how they could have been so stupid. We are talking about very intelligent people who amassed large wealth only to give it to shamans. I’m fixated on this as perhaps a sign of the times, a form of desperation.

When looked at as a worldwide event I seriously do wonder whether the world can lose its mind. It appears that way.

Although 2009 will have to bear some of the problems that it has inherited from 2008, it will also be a year of opportunity. The new Obama Administration will be seen in a very positive light for the advancements that it makes, and there is plenty of scope for that. In the areas where things continue to slide it will be understood for a short while that it’s not their fault, but then, people will start to grow impatient. Just fix it! That will be the new order of the day. In many ways I see President Obama in the same way that we saw Will Smith in “Independence Day.” That was not a good position to be in.

So, I end this admittedly dismal blog on as optimistic a note as I can. Take care of your health. If you can maintain good health throughout the coming year you will be doing about as good as you can. You might like to stop smoking and to be cautious about what you take into your bodily system.

I would also like to borrow from the late President John F. Kennedy when he said, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country!”
Copyright © 2009 Eugene Carmichael

Don’t Feel like Singing Christmas Carols

2008 has been a truly Crap year! Far too many people lost their money; their pensions; their jobs; their homes; their futures; their families; their hope; and their very lives. About the only encouraging thing that has happened in my view is that George W. Bush is getting ready to move from The White House, and America grew up to shed the old mandate that only a white male could lead as president.

Barak Obama is the president-elect. It could have been Hillary Clinton. If you’re a U.S. Democrat you will no doubt have hope that the incoming president will do a much better job than the outgoing one. But, he is but a person. He might make some mistakes that turn out to be costly, or he might prove to be the best thing since peanut butter and jam. We’ll just have to wait and see.

How could 2008 have gone so terribly wrong, and will it drag down 2009 as well? So far I am one of the lucky ones. I’m retired but not immune to economic troubles. I have a mortgage and a pension, and given that whole countries have been on the edge of bankruptcy, anything is possible.

This is the Christmas shopping season and we are seeing sales that would have followed Christmas day precede the event. I also have observed shoppers looking among the bargain discount stores for items and asking that they be gift-wrapped. Times are tough indeed. I was born during a time when consumers were subject to rationing and all manner of deprivation. For me, life from my earliest recollections has been one of rising expectations. Suddenly, I get to witness first-hand the effect of what happens when the sky falls.

There was the case in the United States of Enron, also known as the crooked E, and the effects from that upon shareholders and employees that were so diabolical as to defy description. The disgraced chairman did the only honourable thing and fell on his sword. That company’s experience was so horrible that we all walked around with our mouths wide open and bug-eyed. Before that there was the collapse of Baring Bros caused by the actions of one man, and more importantly the non-actions of a whole directorate. We thought that was awful. Then came the tightening of credit, followed by the credit squeeze, followed by the credit crunch and toxic assets. This time the entire world was caught up in the mess and it continues till today.

What the hell ca we expect from tomorrow? We watch a parade of companies and countries looking to be bailed out from the mess that highly paid and respected money managers have created. The former chairman of The Federal Reserve in the United States came forward to say it’s as though he knows nothing. Well, the fact is that nobody really knows anything. Management techniques that once worked have gone out the window. Worthless! It’s a new game now. We now know how the Communists must have felt upon realising that their experiment no longer works either

So, when my wife asked me to go carolling I declined. I am never in the mood to do that, but this year singing Christmas carols and wishing everyone to have a Merry Christmas seems so very hollow.

So, the best that I can do is to wish everyone good luck, and above all good health. The chips are falling where they may and life will produce some disappointments. Our challenge is to accept such disappointments with more grace.

Copyright © 2008 Eugene Carmichael .

The Flying Iraqi Shoe Míssiles

President George W. Bush thought that it would be a good idea if he paid a surprise last visit to Iraq where he would appear in front of the world press, with representation from the Iraqi press being prominent. One of the Iraqi press group fired off first one, and then the other of his shoes at W’s head with unerring aim. George proved a good ducker, and then said that he wasn’t too upset. When people have the freedom to express themselves that freedom might take some forms that are hard to support.

I can’t say that most reasonable thinking people would feel that America’s unprovoked invasion of Iraqi territory was an outrage and a criminal act. I can’t say that the majority of people would see it as a great misuse of power. I can’t say that the great silent majority would condemn the loss of uncountable Iraqi deaths, and the loss of Americans, and even more are still in harm’s way. I can’t say those things because I haven’t taken any kind of scientific poll that would give me a sound knowledge that most reasonable people feel like that. However, I do have a couple of cousins who feel that W’s place within the list of American presidents is at the bottom.

Americans made much of what they said was his stupidity. They should have also added that he was dangerous. Whether you would want to apply adjectives to describe him or not, one thing we do know is this: He placed his nation at war with Iraq because he said that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction, although no one could find them. Even if there were such weapons he was not threatening America with them. However, that was not enough to hold back W. He decided that he was going after Saddam to wipe that silly smile off his face. His father had led a coalition against Saddam to get him out of Kuwait, but the UN would not give the green light to go to Baghdad, so that murdering regime was not toppled and punished. Baby Bush seems to have decided he would show his dad how to get the business done. The rest is now history.

In the process of making this infamous history he was the cause of so much uninvited death and destruction it’s hard to see how any pride can come from those actions. The much sought after weapons of Mass Destruction have never been found, so a new reason was given: Saving the Iraqis from the terror of Saddam. Unfortunately, an unknown number were saved through killing them.

And that brings us back to W’s farewell appearance on Iraqi soil. Why did he make the trip and go before a group other than a safe American audience?

Was he thinking that he would receive statements of appreciation and applause?

I am not an American, just one of the masses of international observers. However, I think it interesting that there is a plan that on January 20th, at the moment that W hands over the presidency to President-elect Obama, throughout America, and probably around the world, people will go into their toilets and flush. Not a very distinguished way to end one’s two-terms in the highest office in America, and some say, the entire free world. What a shame that the good things that he has achieved will be over-shadowed.

Copyright © 2008 Eugene Carmichael

Cold Hard Cash

I recently had the task of counting a lot of cold hard cash. As I carried on with this task I got to thinking about the name and how it arose. The more I passed various quantities through my hands the more convinced I became that that name is a good one for cash.

Whether I was counting one thousand euros or 100 million, the effect is the same: cold hard cash gives back nothing personal. It’s a sad fact that you might be the world’s richest person. If you keep your money in a room-sized vault in which you can retire to count your money, the exercise will leave you cold. Taking wads of large bills in hand is not at all the same as stroking your partner’s skin. You could possibly hug a person-sized stack of money, but it will not hug you back.

Now, I admit that I’m even thinking like this because I don’t have any money, but in these very difficult times I’m glad that I don’t. If you’re someone who does have a lot of money, you had a lot more six months ago. Since then you have had to worry about your disappearing assets.

Perhaps you were a conservative investor and placed the bulk of your holdings in one company, which would have been a dopey thing to have done on principle, but you might have done that if the company was Lehman Bros of Wall Street. This is a company that was 152 years old before it suddenly went bankrupt. You would have lost your entire holding in one fell swoop.

There have been and continues to be a world of stories of people once wealthy now destitute. The problem is that usually when the investment market goes bad that is the very time that you need to cash in those same holdings. Everything turns to crap at the same time.

A rich man is one who is happy in his home life. He has a good woman who gives of her love without restriction, and he lays with her in long intimate hours just enjoying her humanity. If they do have a room full of money then that’s all well and good. But it’s the personal part that really matters, and that’s why the richest man on earth is very often he who has nothing more than a good woman to keep his company. Unfortunately, money is it’s own evil, so I hope that every rich man made their money from when they were both poor as church mice.


Copyright © 2008 Eugene Carmichael

The End of the World continues

We lost our collective minds.

The week of November 24th to November 30th, 2008 has been an extraordinary one.

We turned on our television sets to the most violent channel, the news channels, and we could not believe our eyes. The People of Paradise were up in arms rioting in the streets and occupying the main airport and air traffic control tower. Thailand descended into mayhem and violence and insanity. The cause being that the people consider that their government is corrupt and untrustworthy, and they are demanding that the government step down so that free elections can be held again

The Prime Minister has declared that he won’t do that. Even though the commander of the army has suggested that perhaps he should in the interest of peace quit while he has his head, the Prime Minister is having none of it.

It was the people who put him in his position of power, and having done so they now realize that they made a mistake. So, they are seeking to undo that mistake and to try again. The Prime Minister can’t see it. He is determined to stay the course, but he and his entire government are in hiding, so that should be enough of a hint that he is facing a Mission Impossible. The unrest will evaporate with the resignation of the government. Any reasonable thinking person would think he would do so.

Wednesday arrived in Mumbai (Bombay) India, which I have always thought of as a bizarre culture, and as the day opened several young men arrived by boats with guns a blazing. Their only mission seems to have been to kill as many people as possible, especially foreigners, and not to stop until they themselves were killed. For a little more than three days the horror continued. They targeted the best hotels, particularly the Taj Mahal which is the symbol of safety in India, and systematically went room-to-room non-stop killing. They attacked the Jewish centre, and left behind four innocents dead, and they ran in the street and into restaurants shooting to kill anyone and everyone.

Meanwhile, over in Nigeria a sudden outburst of violence in the country left 300 people dead. The reasons behind that are not as yet clear, but perhaps its all just part of the worldwide madness, be it financial, social or religious, it makes me feel like crying out “The sky is falling, Chicken Little, The sky is falling!”

The thing that I will predict is that there are many more chapters coming, so expect more on this topic in the near future.

Copyright © 2008 Eugene Carmichael

Retail Therapy

Women call shopping Retail Therapy and we men all smile as though it’s a woman thing, until we come to realise that we have not personally bought anything for too long and we have the urge to go out and spend. Oh Dear!

Life is complicated, while at the same time it is so simple. In every country around the world we are controlled by the same emotions and urges and instincts. We need sleep; we need to eat and drink and pass time in the W.C. We need company, both intimate and platonic, and we need things. We must shop!

I don’t pretend to know a thing about how shopping affects women, that’s just too complicated for a mere man to understand. However, for some reason shopping malls are getting bigger and more sexed up to the point that they are a destination within themselves. In America, where shopping is religion, entertainment, and an absolute necessity, the ultimate in shopping opportunity resides in The Mall of America, located in Minnesota.

Normally, shops are located within a town where we park and go walkabout. Mall of America have gone over the top with the idea, and effectively they have built a town that they call a Mall. Here are a few facts:
- It’s such a grand size that 32 Boeing 747’s could safely be parked within it.
- Seven full stadiums the size of Yankee Stadium could fit within its perimeters.
- Walking distance around each level: 57 miles. There are four levels.
- If a shopper were to visit each store and spend no more than ten minutes, it would take 86 hours to complete a visit to all 520 stores.
- There are more than 50 restaurants plus another 36 speciality food stores.
- There are hotels at Mall of America.
- There are big entertainment centres in the mall.

This sounds like a super-size city to me. However, it was built on the premise that people would continue to live way beyond their means, and on credit. Getting credit was no problem. Credit card offers arrived by the bag full with pre-approval. In order to pay off parts of card purchases people simply took another card or borrowed from the bank. Then one day, as any junior accountant could have foreseen, came the reckoning. People with enormous debts could no longer pay the piper and the whole house of cards came falling down.

We now have a worldwide crisis and new words to ponder, such as “toxic loans” and “credit crunch”. Suddenly, all over the world the sky is falling. Banks are folding one after the other and mega-companies are in trouble, companies so large that they cannot be allowed to go into liquidation because the loss of jobs and assets would be cataclysmic.

So, what comes next? People still have to have stuff, and they must still obey their natural instincts. But our very way of doing business is being called into question. The jobless rate is about the only thing on the rise. We have lived with two major experiments for many years. They are the capitalist and the communist systems. The communist system has failed, as more and more of the former communist states become capitalist in their thinking. However, now we seem to be seeing our way of life showing major cracks. Where is all this headed? No-one knows!

Copyright © 2008 Eugene Carmichael

What’s Wrong with America’s Politics?

I have had ten days to take in the win of President-elect Obama and I am still getting used to the idea. Fundamentally the concept of a black man as the president of a country is no big deal. Even South Africa achieved that before America. No one has had to tell black Americans that they are worthy of the office, as are women, but the breakthrough came when a long held pre-condition for that office was broken, that being that you had to be white and male. The only other man who could have pulled that off and had even greater support was Colin Powell, but he didn’t want to put his family through all that the American people and press will put Obama through. As he said, he just didn’t have the fire in the belly for it. A great number of us interpreted that to mean that he was too smart.

But, Mr Obama is President-elect and is raring to take over and get well stuck in. The last time an American president engendered such hope was with President J.F. Kennedy. I think that with Mr. Obama the level of expectation is even higher, and that’s a lot to live up to.

So, what is wrong with American politics?

Firstly, the process is simply too dammed expensive. Between the two front-runners they raised and mostly spent a billion dollars, and the campaign went on for nearly two years. And then, there were all those others who ran hard and spent big.

Secondly, it is extremely divisive. Those important debates were not friendly and a lot of very negative things were said that resonated with voters. It is very difficult to get a straight answer from anyone in America. There are only Republican and Democratic answers. To get a straight and reasoned answer to the question “Don’t you think we’re having a lovely day?” would most likely bring the most puzzling responses.

After all the shouting and money spent, the country can still end up with a Bush. Many people seem to think that he was the bottom of the barrel, the absolute worst of all America’s presidents. Now I’m sure that he achieved many very positive things during his two terms in office. Other than having confidence in Colin Powell and Condeleeza Rice, I just can’t think of much else at the moment because the Iraqi war keeps getting in the way. I’m certain that was the biggest mistake that he made, and that was brought home by the fact that the stated purpose for going to war was weapons of mass destruction. When no such weapons could be found the reason was changed to getting rid of Saddam and his government to save the Iraqi people.

Well, the world is a better place just because that lot have gone, but America was not requested to do that bit of housekeeping. You simply do not send your people into harm’s way on a pretext.

The campaigning process goes on for far too long. Most free world countries take up to six weeks to campaign and to vote. This last election went on for about two years in America. By November 4th the world was so weary of it we just wanted it to be over.

The principal is usually in such danger that protecting the president and his family is an around the clock matter. As personable and charming as President-elect Obama is, he will never again be able to freely walk among the people and feel their warmth. That is because there are organizations now plotting on how to end it all as their hatred is so sick and warped that they are rabid and completely out of reason and control.

However, there’s no turning the clock back regardless of what happens. As the poet once said, there is no thing as powerful as an idea whose time has come. It was always a losing proposition that the occupant of the White House had to be male and white. By those conditions it was guaranteed that some of the past occupants would be ill-chosen for the job.

Ironically, the most prevalent criticism of Mr. Obama was that he was not experienced enough. Ask any black man or woman how many times in their lives have they heard that one as an excuse not to get the job. Half of the time you were not even allowed anywhere near the resources to big yourself up, so no surprise that you were lacking. The truth is that to hold the office of President of The United States, and, (as some will say) leader of the free world, no one has sufficient experience beforehand. This is a position that calls on judgement, and the mere fact that President-elect Obama could marshal a team to get himself elected is exactly the right qualifications of an administrator to manage the White House just fine.

I am expecting great things from Mr Obama, and I wish he, and his team all the very best. The first order of business is to fix America’s shattered image in the world. So far, so good!

Copyright © 2008 Eugene Carmichael

"Free at Last! Free at Last!"

I am making a fairly safe assumption that everyone in the world knows that it was the late, and very great orator, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr who uttered those words as part of his historic ”I have a Dream” speech on the steps of the Washington Monument so very many years ago.

The point that he was making was that no one is free until we are all free. On November 4th, 2008 that dream came true as a black man was judged on the content of his character and not on the colour of his skin. On that day America finally grew up. Even South Africa attained that maturity ahead of America, and that must have surely given America a sense of being isolated. The Rev. Jesse Jackson spoke for us all as he could not contain his tears of joy, and neither could I. Frankly, it was too much to hope for. In my sixty-nine years I could not contemplate that it could ever happen in America, and I held my breath every step of the way.

It’s true that others have been pumped up sufficiently to make a run, but it always seemed like such a vain effort. I lived through all the troubles of America and took the slings and arrows of people who were so arrogant towards black people as to treat us as animals, as beasts of burden that we had to tell them that we are men and women, just like them in structure, but that we had a heart.

The arrogance of much of white America was such that the ultimate symbol of attainment and ambition is named The White House. Coincidence? I think not, but that all changed as President-elect Barack Hussein Obama prepares to take up his office in his 47th year, as the youngest ever person to do so, and as the 44th president of the United States of America, and as many will call him, the leader of the free world. He calls himself the skinny kid with the funny sounding name. His father is a black Kenyan and his mother a white American. Little did these two people, who are both deceased, know what their love would give the world.

President-elect Obama is no ordinary young man. In the words of the poet, “Cometh the moment, Cometh the Man.” He ran on a platform called “Time for Change” and simply by getting more than sixty-two million people to vote for him, compared to John McCain’s fifty-five million, he has given America and the world a quantum step forward in change. In the all-important electoral votes he garnered 349 to John McCain’s 162. That’s slightly more than a two to one majority. The American people spoke loudly and America moved forward.

This is no mere exercise in window dressing. People have such high expectations from his administration that there is bound to be some disappointment, but the one thing that is certain: Change in the way that Washington does business has arrived. The Democratic party have clear majorities in both the House of Representatives and The Senate so whatever they want to do should be possible.

Let me pause here to reiterate my fears: I am on record as having said that I didn’t really want the senator to win because it would place his life in mortal danger and that of his family. For me it would have been more than enough for him to have fought a good fight and then conceded the White House to John McCain. By having done so he would have proven the point that America is ready for a black president. His life has been in constant danger throughout the campaign, and I don’t want him to have to pay the ultimate price for uplifting an entire race and an entire country. However, I am more than certain that he knows the risks.

The other concern of mine is that he is inheriting a White House that is besieged with overwhelming problems, none of which are his fault or due to his judgement, but which he will be held accountable. By extension the entire Negro race that is now so elated by his success will also be held to account. There’s more than the usual weight to be carried by this young and very energetic man. Because he had to be so good to get to where he is, I think that I am justified in placing my confidence in his ability to succeed where no other person can.

So, Congratulations! President-elect Obama. I add my voice is wishing you a successful first four years so that you will be ready for the second half of your baptism by fire. As for America, it still has one or two things to do, such as electing its first woman president.

Copyright (c) 2008 Eugene Carmichael

Whose Fault is it Anyway?

Illegal drugs are the world’s problem! The things that have been done under the influence of hard drugs are, in some examples, unspeakable. There was one incidence in which a man took first one, and then the other of a woman’s two children and held them up as though they were chickens, and calmly fatally slit their throats in full view of the mother, and then he turned the knife on her. To make matters worse, she was someone else’s wife, although his lover. I wondered in light of that shocking event whether anyone still thought that taking drugs was a cool thing to do.

The police commissioner of every force in the world will tell you that he is conducting a war against illegal drugs, but that said, it’s about as successful as the war on terrorism. Perhaps it’s really one and the same.

Who is the drug dealer?

Well, he is the villain of the piece. He is the one who pushes drugs and is available with the goods, and he is the one who is roundly despised. The police operations are directed at him, and when a gang is broken up and the goods confiscated, much is made of it in the press. He is also shown as the person who is wealthy, paying in cash for incredibly expensive items when the rest of the world is suffering through a credit crunch. People are losing their jobs and their homes, but not the successful drug dealer.

The image that he puts out is very seductive to young men. The dealer has women, drugs, big homes, Hummers and other high value cars, and he has the respect of a lot of people. When you try to lure a young man away from that siren song into a normal job paying normal wages, he turns his lip up and scoffs at the “chump change” being offered.

The business is a tough one and the rules are strict. Mess up and you pay with your life, and you might also cause your near relatives to lose their lives. It’s a business that takes otherwise nice people and turns them into monsters. You cannot be nice or slack and survive because there’s always someone coming up behind you to take over your turf. You can only survive if you are prepared to show that you are determined, and that usually means putting people in the ground. Don’t have the heart for it, stay away from it!

The facts are that the drug dealer is a businessman, exactly like all others in a fundamental regard. He seeks to identify a market that needs and wants to buy a certain product, and he then sets out to provide the merchandise. His closest peers are the tobacco and alcohol industry. However, those industries are legal, but nonetheless they do promote a like product that alters the mind and body, and not always in a good manner.

My main beef is with the tobacco industry because they deliver a product that has a negative effect on the user, and those around him, when it is used in exactly the way as instructed. It is even worse than guns because although they are destined to kill, they do no harm if only used for target practise on tin cans. But tobacco certainly does nothing to improve one’s health, and the potential favourite user is a young person. It cannot be said that cigarette smoking does kill, but it can, and very often does lead to death. There was a time when cigarettes were given for free to college students. I hope that is no longer done, but I am straying from my point of whose fault is the out of control use of drugs and its consequences.

For some peculiar reason we do not look at the customer’s role in assessing blame. I wonder why that is? Politically it’s a hot potato because drug addicts still vote, (maybe) and such an issue as this would normally be the subject of the politician to address. Well, I’m not running for any office and I’m prepared to say it like it is. Should it ever happen that a drug dealer imports a quantity of drugs and no-one shows up to buy, he won’t do it again and he will find something else to sell, like Mary Kaye products, or Amway.

So, in summary I say that the people at fault for our problems are the users. I sincerely hope that none of those people are in the chorus demanding that the streets be cleaned up and the war be won because they cannot have it both ways.

Copyright © 2008 Eugene Carmichael

Good Medical Operations

I have just had my first ever operation in an hospital. Oh no! I hear you say. Don’t bore me! Well, lend me an ear as I relate to you a delightful story of a good operation because you are only human and we just don’t know when your turn may come around.

The world is full of Good Operations and Bad Operations. Because there is more than one hospital it is inevitable that there will be various degrees of satisfaction flowing from necessary interventions for your health.

I live here in Valencia, Spain, and ever since we came to Spain we have been clients of the Sanitas system of private health insurance. It is not cheap, nor is it expensive if you get what you pay for.

There are options available to some people. For instance, should you be employed here you are automatically enrolled into the public health care program, and that continues for as long as you work, and for a while after your employment ceases. I came here as a retired person, therefore I was advised to purchase private insurance. My wife works, and her policy covers herself and our dependent son, but not myself. The two of them are double-covered by both public and private cover.

Recently, and for the first time, I have had to use my cover for something other than normal annual checkups, and the reason I’m boring you with this is because I can report that my experience was how it should be, with a liberal margin that went above and beyond.

My problem was a gradually growing bunion that was disfiguring my left foot, and it had progressed to the point at which it was becoming uncomfortable. My doctor advised that the time had come to rectify the situation, and so I got on with it. As an introduction to the operating room it seemed like a fairly gentle way to do it.

I should say that about twenty years ago I had the opportunity to observe this operation take place on live television and I thought it was fascinating and horrible. The tools employed were scalpel, saw, hammer, screwdriver, screws and file. Although the technique has improved those are still a part of the necessary equipment.

The Sanitas system in Spain is a private organisation that operates its own complete circuit of clinics and hospitals, complete with dedicated professionals. It is very clear to me that the administration has got it right when it comes to what is their number one priority. The patient is Number One! All too often systems are so preoccupied with their own concerns that they place the patient way down the list.

My operation took place at the hospital in Valencia called “ Hospital Nou (9th) de Octubre”. My instructions were to arrive at 8am for admission and preparation. My wife accompanied me, as it is expected that family will be in attendance in order to assist.

I was assigned to a private room that was more like an hotel accommodation, including the wording on the welcome cards left for me. Family visiting hours are 24 hours a day, and the room includes sleeping facilities for visitors.

I wasn’t taken into surgery until 1pm, so that involved quite a long wait during which my wife was free to come and go as she wished. I was finally wheeled downstairs and parked outside the operating arena and then I was taken in to be processed.

We must bear in mind that all business was being conducted in Spanish, and my skill is lacking. The senior surgeon realised this and kindly consented to converse with me in English. That was even more gratefully received than the anaesthetic.

They seemed to think that a bunion operation is all too routine, but as I was awake throughout I thought it very complex and difficult. The chief surgeon, who seemed to me to be about the age of my son, worked together with two others and the anaesthetist and a nurse. That seems like a lot of personnel to me, but for over an hour they did a lot of violence on my foot, including having to break my big toe in three places to straighten its direction.

My first moment of anxiety came when the surgeon said that he was going to introduce four needles into my foot in order to deaden the nerves. He then asked me whether I could feel anything and I said that I probably wouldn’t after he had done the injections. I was wearing a facemask at the time inhaling tranquillising gas. He said that the needles had been given and my foot should be nerve dead. I looked over at the anaesthetist and he smiled back at me. Lovely! He simply had turned up the gas to calm me and turned it down again to bring me back to full consciousness.

The procedure itself was very peculiar. As I was conscious I knew what they were doing through the feel of pressure. I knew when the surgeon cut my skin as I felt the pressure from the tip of the scalpel. I could tell when the bone mass was being reduced through both the sound of the saw and the feel of the pressure, and also I could feel when he was filing away unwanted edges. I really felt uncomfortable each of the three times they pressed down until the bones broke, which I could hear as a small “pop” sound. And, finally, I knew that they were affixing a small plate as they applied screws to the bones to keep it in place. I was perfectly aware of all that, but there was no pain.

What this essay is really about is competence and attitude. I am singing the praises about my experience because Sanitas got it completely right, from the moment I walked in to discuss the problem, through to my recovery. Every member of the team acted in a completely professional manner, and they even added their own personal pleasantries and wonderful bedside manner. Should you ever have to have medical attention you should be so lucky!

P.S. Had I known ahead of time that the doctors were going to break the bones in my big toe three time I may have gone to the movies instead.

Copyright © 2008 Eugene Carmichael

The End of the World as we know it! (Part Three)

The Grim Reaper has arrived!

In parts One and Two I wrote of the seeming meltdown of the world order as oil prices soared, social order went to hell, and people were losing their homes. I predicted there was much more to come, but while I was right about that, I certainly wasn’t expecting what we got!

How does a company that has been in business for more than 150 years suddenly find that it cannot continue to trade. Didn’t they learn anything at all over all that time while in business? Suddenly we find that it was not just one or two companies that were in trouble but the entire banking system. Now governments all around the world have been forced into action to prop up the capitalist form of doing business. How did we come to this point?

The short answer is that it was because of the way we do things. Our capitalist system runs on credit. We are all expected to live beyond our means. Credit cards arrive in the mail urging us to step out from beyond our safe “living within our means” policy, and go borrow, borrow, borrow! We are urged that it is important to keep up with the Jones’ next door.

It is a shame to be the only family in the neighbourhood driving a ten-year old car. Still using the old big chunky television? Why, when you can bring home a flat screen for no money down and pennies per month. Are you actually renting the place in which you live? Don’t you know that home ownership is essential; otherwise you are throwing your money away.

Well, now the business world are coming to face what are being called toxic loans on their books. These are loans and mortgages that people were given, sometimes railroaded into, that they can no longer afford to pay. When interest rates were low they were sucked in, and subsequently rates have risen and Gotcha! Many young families are now being thrown out and their homes are taken over by the same kind bankers who drew them into the mess.

Children are being taken out of private schools to be put into the public system; people are losing their jobs, and in the first case of its kind (lately) in the United States, a man killed his entire family and himself because they were broke and losing their home.

Meanwhile, as an astonishing first time ever, capitalist governments are taking up equity positions in private enterprise in order that such businesses have money to continue to trade. Make no mistake about it, this is nationalisation, something that is so abhorrent to Western governments that they have to hold their noses while doing it.

In the case of one entire country, Iceland, it finds itself technically bankrupt. Imagine that, an entire country has gone broke. On the complete opposite end of the spectrum are the many 20 to 25 year old young women who are declaring bankruptcy because they have so overspent themselves on all the things that modern society insists that they do. How shameful is that?

This is clearly an-going story, so I shall be back with an update. Meanwhile, the question arises as to what can we do as individuals to protect ourselves? The problems are so large and so deep, covering so much territory that it is difficult to know which way to jump. Governments are taking strategic steps to guarantee your deposits in banks, so if that is your only concern perhaps you can relax. Certainly, without those guarantees even more banks will go to the wall as customers demand their money.

If you’re an investor on any of the stock markets you are certainly at very great risk as we see volatility being the order of the day. Mainly, it seems to be a case of hanging on and hoping that all those over-paid executives haven’t made too big a mess of things.

Copyright © 2008 Eugene Carmichael

The Media

It’s a very good thing that I’m my own editor, otherwise this piece would never see the light of day. That’s because it’s about the news media and all its faults. The one thing that both the electronic and print media do well is report on the mis-steps and bad fortune of the public at large, but when it comes to having their own sores exposed they are very shy.

You can take your pick of the world’s media, they all pretty much march to the same drummer. The ironic thing is that they can only do so because of the support that we, the very people whom they so love to destroy, give them. What’s wrong with this picture?

In trying to start my rant I am finding it very hard to know where to begin. Which country has the worst press? I used to think that it was England with their News of the World, and the other tabloid papers. But America’s no better! It’s about what sells.

Now, of course, when I was a young lad I was discouraged from telling tales out of school. It was not a very noble thing to come into contact with interesting information, only to go as quickly as possible to pass it on. Well, that is exactly what the media do, and they all too often succumb to the temptation to place their own opinion or bias upon the news item.

You have seen the news interviewers yourself interrupt their guests, who they have asked to come on to share their views, only to shape the interview to satisfy the host’s own point of view. They seem to think that this is about being a professional. The fact is that they are like little boys and girls having tantrums because their opinion is the only one that matters, or so they think.

In the United States, Bernard Goldberg, a long-term news correspondent at CBS wrote a book after he retired called “Bias” an insider’s view of delivering the news with a liberal slant. He was condemned and ostracised because the media can’t even admit that it has an opinion about the news.

This is my point about news reportage: it’s all about someone’s point of view. Yes, I know that they control the printing presses and that they can say whatever they want. However, there’s something called the Media Trust. I can’t even begin to imagine what real work this group does as it sure does nothing about controlling the quality in reporting.

The late Princess Diana is a superb example of the hound dog mentality of the press corp. On one occasion she had been visiting a female friend’s home, only to emerge to face a battery of cameras. They actually chased her down the street to her car, but before she got there she came to a stop alongside a wall as she cowered from the continuing flashes. I thought as I watched that clip that those bastards will chase her to her death.

Perhaps you’re an editor of a small town newspaper where nothing newsworthy ever happens. This is called punishment and is the place where disgraced editors get sent. One of the tricks of the trade is to focus on a few members of the community in good standing and to build them up in stature, while at the same time looking for a mis-step that can be blown up and scandalized. If they request your opinion on something you can be sure they will go and find a contrary point of view. Beware of friendly news people! I have even seen capable and honest news brokers respond to the directives from “upstairs” to get tough.

Even the weather can be an ally. During this past Summer the area of Southern United States took several hits from hurricanes. Poor Haiti took one hit after another, but that was not where the major channels amassed their people. As residents were ordered to leave New Orleans the press came crowding in, because that was where the story was supposed to be given New Orleans history. When the storms changed direction they left to head for the next projected hotspot to be able to report on the expected death and destruction left by nature’s wrath.

I watched as the Force Five hurricanes were downgraded to a One, and the feeble efforts of the presenters to justify their presence. How absolutely pathetic and loathsome is that? They feed on bad news. They want images of people crying who have lost everything. The more dramatic, the better for the cameras! As viewers, we know only too well that people lose their homes and possessions and they cry. Please, give these people the only thing they have left, some privacy.

I would not be fair and balanced without presenting the other side of the media. They expose the crooks and bad politicians; they open up shady dealings to public scrutiny and hold governments accountable. In this regard they do a job that is actually beneficial to the public. I guess all that other stuff can be called entertainment for as one paper said, “Inquiring minds want to know.”

Copyright © 2008 Eugene Carmichael

Secrets II

As a member of a secret group, is there a feeling of being special just because it’s secret?

Let me be clear: What I’m talking about might be different to privacy, although I believe that generally it’s thought that the two are one and the same. I think that the right to privacy in our lives is an inalienable right; but secrecy is quite another thing.

Very public people who are professionals are still entitled to a private life. Simply put, as human beings we are not designed to always and forever be on show. We need down-time to be able to relax. The mobile phone is one of the most invasive objects to have been invented in the past 100 years. It invades our privacy in all manner of times and places, and more surprisingly it’s amazing the things we interrupt to answer.

In my last blog I talked about the weight, responsibility and honour of keeping the secret that we promised we would. Not everybody is automatically able to do this. For some people it requires deliberate practice to learn how to keep quiet when you long to blurt it out.

WikiHow, the on-line advisor at www.wikihow.com/Keep-a-secret, suggests the following things to help you keep mum about important information: (Words in italics are my own.)
1. Keep your motivator in mind. If you let the information out how damaging will it be?
2. How long do you need to keep the information to yourself. There is nothing worse than struggling to keep the information, only to find that it has passed into the general population.
3. Force yourself not to tell. This is about having the discipline to keep your mouth shut. As discipline goes, this form is quite extreme as the inclination to tell is one of our basic human characteristics.
4. Never drop any hints that you have secret information: Should you do so it will only be a matter of time before you let it out.
5. Avoid the 20 questions if someone thinks that you have something. News reporters do this all the time. They assume that you know something and they attack your soft spot. Don’t fall for it.
6. Don’t even bring up the topic within which is hidden the secret. That’s too easy for the inquisitive. Once the topic is on the table the forbidden information is a mis-spoken word away.
7. Defensiveness is good. If your questioner has figured out that you have the information there’s nothing wrong with being defensive about it. It’s OK to say I’m not going to talk about it.
8. Lie, if necessary. This would be an extreme thing to do, but if the information is so important, that would be better than releasing it. Politicians do it all the time.
9. Tell it to a stuffed animal. If you are breaking at the seams and you just have to tell it, do so to a stuffed animal. Preferably not one that has an eves- dropping microphone.
10. You can also just say the secret to yourself. Sometimes, just saying it is all that is needed to make it manageable.
11. Change the topic. If the topic comes up in a conversation and you hold secret information about it, as suavely as you can, try changing the subject. This works, as I have done this very thing.
12. Pretend you don’t know any secrets. This works well by simply refusing to confirm or deny that you know anything at all.
13. Never pass secret information to unreliable people. Stay a thousand miles away.
14. If your motivator is that the information is simply embarrassing, perhaps by some simple editing it can be made more acceptable.
15. Can you share the secret with one other trusted person? This is a dangerous suggestion for once the information passes to a third person it can no longer be assumed a true secret. However, there are whole groups who share confidential information so it just depends on the culture within which you operate.

“The Way to Truth” blog states that “Guarding a secret is the same as guarding one’s chastity. Those who keep a secret, whether personal or a friend’s. keep themselves chaste. Conversely, those who spread secrets damage their honour and reputation by leaving them unguarded.”

The business of secret keeping is indeed serious. However, sadly it is perhaps one of the most understated.

Copyright © 2008 Eugene Carmichael

Secrets!

“Information that is kept, or meant to be kept private (by one, or a few individuals)”.

Recently a friend brought the matter of secrets to my attention, and that got me to thinking about the whole subject of what are secrets, and how should they be treated. Why is it that news reporters try hard to get their hands on your secrets so as to report them on the front pages or the evening news? If secrets are not important, why does everybody perk up at the sound of the word?

Let me warn you that should you ever wish to research this subject you will find it’s like jelly. You place your thumb on a part and the rest swishes away. The one thing that we can start with are the types of secrets. Military, industrial, commercial, artistic, religious, sporting; and the type that I’m going to deal with are personal secrets. For me, this is the most troublesome.

At one time I was engaged in a public study of a very sensitive nature. I conducted my research on a person-to-person basis in confidence. On one occasion I met with a group. My job was to collate the information and develop a report to my superiors. To my horror, one of the women with whom I met told her mother about our meeting, and her mother challenged me, saying that due to our personal friendship I should have told her about it. I refused to confirm or deny that I had even met with her daughter.

Keeping secrets is a very difficult thing to do, and when a friend approaches you with the question “Can you keep a secret?” you really do need to consider what is being asked of you in its fullest degree. Taking on privileged information from a friend that you are not supposed to divulge to anyone, for that is what a secret is, can be a very worrisome thing. Once you have the information it is human nature to want to share it with someone. If you are not able to share it you will begin to feel the weight of it.

The probable reason why you were asked to accept the information is that the other person was feeling the need for relief and to pass it along. It had become too much to hold in. When you pass information like this, having said you wouldn’t, that goes straight to your integrity and your honour.

There are professional people who take on their client’s secrets, and some are charged with holding those secrets lawfully. How do they cope? How does the priest protect the secrets from the confessional, and his own sanity? The psychologist takes on nothing but privileged information every day. He, or she cannot simply get drunk to forget.

Who decides on the status of information as to whether it should be held in confidence or not? If your friend says that they are sharing confidential information with you, should it be treated as such, or can you challenge it as non-confidential? Are there certain kinds of information that are commonly considered to be secret by their very nature? I’m thinking that medical data about a patient would be such, as would be financial information.

I personally think that the type of information that flows from personal relationships also fall under that heading. The Way to Truth states that “ Hearts are created as safes for keeping secrets. Intelligence is their lock; will-power is their key. No one can break into the safe and steal its valuables if the lock and key are not faulty.”

Having said that, these days we are seeing people going on television to lay all their washing out for the public to see. Famous personalities wake up to the shock awareness that a book has been written about them by a former lover. Publicity hungry people, who do not have a real life, will jump at the chance to bare all to the public, and the worse their story is, the telling of it seems to be all the more important.

Men and women generally tend to think that we are better than all of the other animals on the earth, but the fact is that it is our integrity and honour that separates us from the animal kingdom. If we have neither we have nothing to promote ourselves above the so-called dumb creatures.

I will have to return to this subject next week, but for the time being I want to suggest two things: (a) If you are the person who wishes to pass a secret, ask yourself why do you need to do this before just pressing it on to your friend. (b) If you are the person being approached with a request to accept privileged information, ask why is it important for you to have it.

The bottom line is that should you keep things that are clearly private, and are meant to be kept that way, to yourself, you will earn your place among high society. Do otherwise and you earn a place in the mud.

Copyright © 2008 Eugene Carmichael