Monday, August 16, 2010
Friday, August 06, 2010
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Rush Hour Journey
Most days for the past five and half years I have walked from my home to the railway station. Sometimes it is more of a run than a walk, trying to get there in time to catch the 8.05 to the city. The distance in not far enough to warrant taking the car, and I can’t be bothered to mess around with a bike, you know what I mean having to lock it up or carry it on board a crowded carriage. Early on I realised the best way to travel is light.
As I round the first bend of my street I can see the city way off in the distance, often covered in a haze, brewing away down there in the soup, that the EPA call haze. Not that it bothers me much. Once you are in it you hardly notice the acrid edge to the air. This morning in early autumn is crisp and clear, up here in the hills. The temperature over night had just hovered above zero, the sun is bleeding through the mist, releasing a smell of leaf compost and turned earth.
I reach the station, I can hear the train as it crossed the level crossing the bells sounding like an alarm clock telling me to get myself down onto the platform. Today it is a silver train, each morning it is either a silver or green, they all have the large logo of the train company on the side, I think it looks like a couple making out on the side of a carriage, but I have been told it is a happy commuter carrying his/her bag, entering a carriage door. Are we all expected to become Metro sexual?
In reality at this time of morning, we are not happy commuters. We are trying to push passed as many unsuspecting sleepy heads to find a good seat and get settled, before the train throws you against the back of someone’s seat or worse into another passenger. Sometimes you are lucky and the seat is there in front of you saying sit, please sit I am waiting for you to drop onto me.
I step up to swipe my Lobster card, and then through the auto barrier, the last hurdle before the train. These new cards/electronic tickets are not working as they should. I stick the card into the slot it spits back at me, the barrier stays down. I try again as the next commuter is anxiously waiting for me to get through. We are all hoping to catch this train. Waiting for the next one is not an option, we have to be in the city by 8.45, push and shove will get you on board. Hanging back and waiting can mean you miss out and have to wait.
Finally the lobster works on the third attempt, I push the electronic tag back into my wallet and run with newspaper and briefcase flapping ahead of me. By running in this fashion I manage to cut a pathway to the train doors. There I notice a vacant seat just to the right of the door way, I lurch like a rugby player going for a try. The seat is mine, no arguments today, a straight touchdown.
As I wait, the carriage fills up with anxious faces searching out a seat, a safe haven for the trip ahead. No seat allocations on this route, first in best dressed. I have wondered whether we would give our hard won seats up to the less fortunate. I don’t think the thrust and lunge technique of landing a seat would have fair play written into the script.
The doors close, already the carriage is three quarters full. No seating left and there are people standing along the isle, but not yet blocking the doorways. I have scored a large man next to me. He takes up over half the seat and I am going to have to lay claim to my space. I use my true and well tried method. ‘The opening of the newspaper’. I am a broad sheet person. Can’t abide the drivel the tabloids dish up. No real interest in sensational reporting of sports players sex lives or their cooking tips.
So out comes the paper, I unfold the neatly folded sheets. They open up like an umbrella in a hotel lobby. Conspicuous and threatening. A flourish as I shake the pages open a long drawn sweep of the arms as the sheets a spread open.
Firstly you have to establish a perimeter around you. The paper creates the illusion of size. The noise of the paper being flapped also encourages your neighbour to shy away for a moment, and in that time you grab your ground and hold onto it with a firm fist. Holding with both hands, one onto the front page headlines and the other the sports pages. Once your position is established it is important to hold firm for at least 5 minutes. This can mean you might have to reread the main story twice. Because if you give ground too early you can loose any ground won.
My fellow commuters on this fine autumnal morning are a mixed lot. I enjoy giving them names and occupations. Some mornings not today, I become very black and dark and think of us all trapped in our carriage as the train derails and we have to cope with the dead and dying. That sort of day dream doesn’t surface on days like today.
Big balls sitting next to me has decided he has an itch, maybe he has worms, he is wriggling his backside around the seat. I don’t think anyone else can see it but I can feel him against my leg. Do we ever sit this close next to anyone outside of public transport? I doubt it. I suspect that big balls has decided that the wriggle backside technique can gain him some ground. He might be right and I think I have been out manoeuvred, not to worry only twenty minutes to go and I have the world news and home affairs to read. If I allow big balls to get to me I will arrive at work with a chip on my shoulder and a pain in my arse. So I am taking the Zen approach today. I look across at his pie shaped face, pale and sallow. Too many days spent inside an office on a bad diet. I can understand the wriggling now. I don’t weaken and maintain my arms length approach to newspaper reading. As I fold the pages over I look up deliberately holding his gaze for a second. I use my, ‘I’m going to win this battle of the wits smile,’ He loves it, I can tell, he holds my look, he even seems to be enjoying our seat tussle. Before I look away I glance to the window beyond him. He looks across the isle in the direction I was looking. In that moment I nudge him across half a buttock. Touchdown. He didn’t see it coming, the age old move. They say the eyes have it.
With that little battle won, I offer a parting smile, before I disappear again behind my paper.
The trees have given way to rows on rows of houses. The train snakes its way around the inner suburbs, occasionally disappearing underground through tunnels, or flying over busy roads, filled with trucks and cars, framed by tram wires and intersections. The train driver blasts his horn as he approaches crossings and stations. They are more frequent now. But we don’t stop, barely slow up. The bored drivers stare back at us from behind the barriers, envious of our unimpeded journey.
As we approach the home straight, I can see the travellers who have been standing for the whole trip, moving from one foot to the other. Rubbing their sore calves, with the toes of their shoes. Some have dozed off to sleep while standing. Their head lolling forward resting against their raised arms, hands holding vice like, to the hand grips above their heads. The carriage has found its shape and rhythm. The speed of the train has rocked us into a robotic indifference of our discomforts.
The trains intercom tells us we are approaching Swanston street station. There is a collective movement. Hands drop down to the bags on the floor. Feet begin to shuffle towards the doors. People smile to one another in a well rehearsed ritual. Time to freshen up, put on the happy face get ourselves ready to disembark.
As I glance across at big balls he is pulling himself up into the mass of humanity, that we have managed to be a subset of for the last 35 minutes. I use his large frame as a protective barrier. I want to hide behind him long enough to get a good start out of the carriage. The bull dozer who will push ahead of me. Plough his way against the tide and in his wake I will slip skilfully away and into the maelstrom of humanity that is the city.
Woof
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Waste of Taxpayers money
Australian government wants to give 6 billion dollars to the car industry.
How mad is it to offer 6 billion dollars to the car industry. We are coming to the end of the carbon based economy. We need new companies and government direction/initiatives to change the type of motor cars we use. I can't see Ford or Holden moving in that direction. They have shown very little initiative and have wasted years of profits which could of been used to develop alternative fuel based cars.
In fact I think Holden's latest car cost the best part of a billion dollars and it was so in the mode of powerful petrol driven cars, it was a joke.
Giving money to large corporations who are having difficulties can come unstuck.
I remember Kodak getting a big government payment, and we all know what has happened to film photography.
Same with Ford and Holden. Both companies have failed to understand the future of motorized transport. Fancy spending a billion dollars on designing a new car that doesn't use alternative fuel.
They are both corporate dinosaurs and we shouldn't be giving them another cent. If we sink 6 billion dollars into the car industry and don't expect outcomes like a totally green, air or electric car, then we are throwing our taxpayers money away. Better use it to set up a comprehensive solar/wind power electricity supply grid.
There is so much that needs to be done and very quickly, but instead we get politics and big business getting in the way of sensible alternative developments.
So no don't give billions of dollars to a couple of old failed dinosaurs. Keep it to make a better future for us all.
Woof
How mad is it to offer 6 billion dollars to the car industry. We are coming to the end of the carbon based economy. We need new companies and government direction/initiatives to change the type of motor cars we use. I can't see Ford or Holden moving in that direction. They have shown very little initiative and have wasted years of profits which could of been used to develop alternative fuel based cars.
In fact I think Holden's latest car cost the best part of a billion dollars and it was so in the mode of powerful petrol driven cars, it was a joke.
Giving money to large corporations who are having difficulties can come unstuck.
I remember Kodak getting a big government payment, and we all know what has happened to film photography.
Same with Ford and Holden. Both companies have failed to understand the future of motorized transport. Fancy spending a billion dollars on designing a new car that doesn't use alternative fuel.
They are both corporate dinosaurs and we shouldn't be giving them another cent. If we sink 6 billion dollars into the car industry and don't expect outcomes like a totally green, air or electric car, then we are throwing our taxpayers money away. Better use it to set up a comprehensive solar/wind power electricity supply grid.
There is so much that needs to be done and very quickly, but instead we get politics and big business getting in the way of sensible alternative developments.
So no don't give billions of dollars to a couple of old failed dinosaurs. Keep it to make a better future for us all.
Woof
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Financial Melt down [My Arse]
What a load of hype we have been subjected to over the last month or so. You would think that the world was coming to an end. Well surprise, it was Wall Street that was having a melt down not us. It is like that old saying that if, "America gets an economic cold the rest of the world gets pneumonia." We are playing into the hands of these mega wealthy, large institutions that brought on their own problems through greed and manipulative behaviour. The multinationals and banks have prolonged a consumer cycle so they could continue to collect their mega profits. HERE is a link to an article about the Bretton Woods System. And here is a quote from Noam Chomsky which heads the article.
Anti-Democratic Nature of US Capitalism is Being Exposed
Bretton Woods was the system of global financial management set up at the end of the second World War to ensure the interests of capital did not smother wider social concerns in post-war democracies. It was hated by the
Yes we have been hoodwinked into believing yet again that we were operating in some sort of free will environment. No we are by and large, swept along by forces much greater than we can comprehend. The truly sad thing about this is that our Governments are not blind to these forces they are in fact party to them. Especially in the U.S.A.
So now we are all suppose to focus on saving our savings and retirement funds. our homes, and small businesses. And all the while our environment, that is in dire need of help, will be pushed aside as we grapple with. this other man made problem.
As someone said "If we don't do something about our environment there wont be an economy to worry about."
From what I'm hearing from politicians all over the world is that we have to provide funds so we can all get back to spending as soon as possible. The only answer they have is to stimulate the economy, create a buying spree, that's the answer. That has been part of the problem, too much indiscriminate spending on disposable goods. We use too much of everything, create a big environmental stench and then wonder why the world is getting hotter and the Ice caps are melting.
The politicians of the last couple of decades have happily allowed the world economy to go it's own sweet way. Big business to get bigger and bigger. The crumbs from this economic "Miracle' have been tossed to the masses as Tax cuts and hand outs, in a vain hope they would appease the voters. Well it worked, but with no plan for the future, [And still no plan for the future] all they can come up with now is. 'Lets stimulate the economy, spend more again, hurry up the recovery. so we can all make believe we don't have any problems.
Here in Australia. with a change in the Federal Government. we started to talk about using the surpluses on making our economy sustainable. From electricity generation to household emissions. Everyone was going to be part of the Greening of Australia. That was before this Wall St. induced melt down. Now the focus is back on saving the arses of the big banks and investment houses.
If we could be as decisive in our response to Climate Change as we are to Economic Change, The world would be a much safer, cleaner, happier place to live. For all.
So have a look at THIS ARTICLE ABOUT HOW WE GOT INTO THIS MESS.
Woof x
Anti-Democratic Nature of US Capitalism is Being Exposed
Bretton Woods was the system of global financial management set up at the end of the second World War to ensure the interests of capital did not smother wider social concerns in post-war democracies. It was hated by the US
Yes we have been hoodwinked into believing yet again that we were operating in some sort of free will environment. No we are by and large, swept along by forces much greater than we can comprehend. The truly sad thing about this is that our Governments are not blind to these forces they are in fact party to them. Especially in the U.S.A.
So now we are all suppose to focus on saving our savings and retirement funds. our homes, and small businesses. And all the while our environment, that is in dire need of help, will be pushed aside as we grapple with. this other man made problem.
As someone said "If we don't do something about our environment there wont be an economy to worry about."
From what I'm hearing from politicians all over the world is that we have to provide funds so we can all get back to spending as soon as possible. The only answer they have is to stimulate the economy, create a buying spree, that's the answer. That has been part of the problem, too much indiscriminate spending on disposable goods. We use too much of everything, create a big environmental stench and then wonder why the world is getting hotter and the Ice caps are melting.
The politicians of the last couple of decades have happily allowed the world economy to go it's own sweet way. Big business to get bigger and bigger. The crumbs from this economic "Miracle' have been tossed to the masses as Tax cuts and hand outs, in a vain hope they would appease the voters. Well it worked, but with no plan for the future, [And still no plan for the future] all they can come up with now is. 'Lets stimulate the economy, spend more again, hurry up the recovery. so we can all make believe we don't have any problems.
Here in Australia. with a change in the Federal Government. we started to talk about using the surpluses on making our economy sustainable. From electricity generation to household emissions. Everyone was going to be part of the Greening of Australia. That was before this Wall St. induced melt down. Now the focus is back on saving the arses of the big banks and investment houses.
If we could be as decisive in our response to Climate Change as we are to Economic Change, The world would be a much safer, cleaner, happier place to live. For all.
So have a look at THIS ARTICLE ABOUT HOW WE GOT INTO THIS MESS.
Woof x
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
The mother of all rip-offs
The Following article is in todays AGE newspaper.
We have had our common wealth ripped from our economies over the last couple of decades and some people should be held accountable.
Hank Paulson has got to be kidding. He wants American taxpayers to hand a cool $US700 billion ($840 billion) to his pals on Wall Street in return for a gigantic bundle of their delinquent assets ... without his pals taking a pay cut.
Could there be a finer reward for failure? Could there be a worse deal for taxpayers?
No stake in the upside, no ceiling on extortionate Wall Street salaries, no guarantee the system will be stabilised. Just the mother of all rip-offs: a deal to privatise Wall Street's profits and socialise its losses.
How about this bit: "Decisions by the (Treasury) Secretary (Paulson) pursuant to the Authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to Agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency''.
Paulson and his pals get an explicit protection against any review by the courts and Congress while taxpayers fork out top dollar for rubbish the banks can't sell. It is the quintessential dudding.
If the Paulson "cash for trash'' plan could avert systemic failure and this is by no means assured - it could have legs but Congress is jacking up at the ample "trust me'' element. And rightly so.
There is no reason to trust Wall Street, or the regulators. As House Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi put it, Congress would not "simply hand over a $US700 billion blank cheque to Wall Street and hope for a better outcome."
Until now Americans have been mostly apathetic when it came to the excesses of their investment banks. But now that Main Street is being asked to bail out Wall Street, again, and in huge measure, the temperature is rising.
Congress wants a brake on salaries, some kind of guarantee that Paulson's pals won't simply load up the truck with billions in bonuses again, this time funded by Ma and Pa Kettle.
The four biggest investment banks on Wall Street, which included Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers, shelled out $US30 billion in bonuses last year. Lehman just went under and Bear Stearns was bailed out earlier in the year.
While pushing through his emergency deal, Paulson says he wants to defer the debate on salaries. Someone should take him aside and tell him, "Pal, it's over''. The moral and philosophical underpinning for $US50 million salaries is gone, let alone $US10 million salaries care of government.
These remuneration structures were struck on the basis of a compact with the market, that is that pay is "at risk'' and should reflect performance. That compact is finished. What is the risk if the losses are nationalised?
And what is the performance? The fancy deals and the structured finance rubbish brewed up by this crew gave the world CDOs, CDOs squared and cubed, RMBS, CLOs, ABS, CDS and all manner of noxious excuses for a fee.
From the sub-prime to the ridiculous, this orgy of leverage on leverage mimicked in financial centres as far afield as Australia has whipped the world to the edge of recession and destroyed faith in the entire system.
And now here is another $US1 trillion ($US700 billion is just for starters) to add to Bush's $US9.6 trillion national debt. Where will the money come from? The issue of Treasury bonds. Who will buy them?
Good question. Anyone for some bonds in an entity which can't pay off its debt but has just taken a trillion dollars worth of delinquent assets on its balance sheet?
The US dollar has been sinking thanks to the daunting prospect of a bond market deluged with bits of paper nobody wants: more US Government debt. The more paper on issue the lower the price.
Either the US defaults on its obligations an outcome many regard as "unthinkable'' or taxes will have to go up. Higher taxes, deeper recession. Thanks Wall Street.
All this makes it critical that Paulson and his pals demonstrate to the world that they understand the jig is up. The world changes.
People and pay are central to this understanding. Industrialists or entrepreneurs with their own businesses can pay whatever they like but the failed managers of licensed institutions on corporate welfare can hardly expect a blank cheque from those they have blown up. The contract is finished. Wall Street has not fulfilled its obligations.
As Paulson tries to shove his plan through in the face of congressional opposition the rewards for failure have already shamed the principal of pay for performance.
Fannie Mae boss Daniel Mudd and his opposite number at Freddie Mac, Richard Syron, walked last month with $US9.43 million in retirement and pension benefits on their way out the door. Failed, sacked and showered with money as their two giant mortgage operations were nationalised.
Lehman Brothers chairman and CEO Richard Fuld picked up $US22 million for 2007, the year thousands of his staff found themselves on the street. He took $US35 million the year before.
Merrill Lynch boss John Thain took a $US200 million payout with two offsiders for less than a year's work. Merrill was so close to obsolescence it sold itself to Bank of America for $US50 billion in scrip few days ago just as Lehman was biting the dust.
Thain was given a $US15 million bonus for signing on. Two former Goldman Sachs executives hired by Thain may do even better. Head of global trading, Thomas Montag, has already received a $US39 million bonus since signing on in August. With stock options accelerated by the buyout, he could finish up with $US76 million.
The bank's head of strategy, Peter Kraus, was bestowed with a $US95 million package just to beat what he was on at Goldman.
Paulson himself has shares in Goldman whose value was estimated at $US700 million. He is a direct beneficiary of his own bail-out proposal blind trust or no blind trust.
On the positive news front, the former head of broken insurance company AIG, Robert Willumstad, voluntarily forfeited a $US22 million severance package after he was giving his marching orders. He was only appointed in June.
"I prefer not to receive severance while shareholders and employees have lost considerable value in their AIG shares," wrote Willumstad in an email to his successor Edward Liddy.
Goldman boss Lloyd Blanfein took home $US54 million last year and Morgan Stanley's John Mack $US42 million.
The list goes on. Some of the investment bank's hedge funds clients have even been paying themselves more than $US1 billion.
Regulatory oversight and the ramifications of Bush's tax-cuts-for-the-rich policy alongside his catastrophic jaunt in Iraq have come home to roost.
On top of its $US9.6 trillion national debt, America is heading for its first $US1 trillion deficit this year. Paulson's bailout will add another $US1 trillion to the bill.
America is in trouble.
mwest@fairfax.com.au
We have had our common wealth ripped from our economies over the last couple of decades and some people should be held accountable.
Hank Paulson has got to be kidding. He wants American taxpayers to hand a cool $US700 billion ($840 billion) to his pals on Wall Street in return for a gigantic bundle of their delinquent assets ... without his pals taking a pay cut.
Could there be a finer reward for failure? Could there be a worse deal for taxpayers?
No stake in the upside, no ceiling on extortionate Wall Street salaries, no guarantee the system will be stabilised. Just the mother of all rip-offs: a deal to privatise Wall Street's profits and socialise its losses.
How about this bit: "Decisions by the (Treasury) Secretary (Paulson) pursuant to the Authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to Agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency''.
Paulson and his pals get an explicit protection against any review by the courts and Congress while taxpayers fork out top dollar for rubbish the banks can't sell. It is the quintessential dudding.
If the Paulson "cash for trash'' plan could avert systemic failure and this is by no means assured - it could have legs but Congress is jacking up at the ample "trust me'' element. And rightly so.
There is no reason to trust Wall Street, or the regulators. As House Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi put it, Congress would not "simply hand over a $US700 billion blank cheque to Wall Street and hope for a better outcome."
Until now Americans have been mostly apathetic when it came to the excesses of their investment banks. But now that Main Street is being asked to bail out Wall Street, again, and in huge measure, the temperature is rising.
Congress wants a brake on salaries, some kind of guarantee that Paulson's pals won't simply load up the truck with billions in bonuses again, this time funded by Ma and Pa Kettle.
The four biggest investment banks on Wall Street, which included Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers, shelled out $US30 billion in bonuses last year. Lehman just went under and Bear Stearns was bailed out earlier in the year.
While pushing through his emergency deal, Paulson says he wants to defer the debate on salaries. Someone should take him aside and tell him, "Pal, it's over''. The moral and philosophical underpinning for $US50 million salaries is gone, let alone $US10 million salaries care of government.
These remuneration structures were struck on the basis of a compact with the market, that is that pay is "at risk'' and should reflect performance. That compact is finished. What is the risk if the losses are nationalised?
And what is the performance? The fancy deals and the structured finance rubbish brewed up by this crew gave the world CDOs, CDOs squared and cubed, RMBS, CLOs, ABS, CDS and all manner of noxious excuses for a fee.
From the sub-prime to the ridiculous, this orgy of leverage on leverage mimicked in financial centres as far afield as Australia has whipped the world to the edge of recession and destroyed faith in the entire system.
And now here is another $US1 trillion ($US700 billion is just for starters) to add to Bush's $US9.6 trillion national debt. Where will the money come from? The issue of Treasury bonds. Who will buy them?
Good question. Anyone for some bonds in an entity which can't pay off its debt but has just taken a trillion dollars worth of delinquent assets on its balance sheet?
The US dollar has been sinking thanks to the daunting prospect of a bond market deluged with bits of paper nobody wants: more US Government debt. The more paper on issue the lower the price.
Either the US defaults on its obligations an outcome many regard as "unthinkable'' or taxes will have to go up. Higher taxes, deeper recession. Thanks Wall Street.
All this makes it critical that Paulson and his pals demonstrate to the world that they understand the jig is up. The world changes.
People and pay are central to this understanding. Industrialists or entrepreneurs with their own businesses can pay whatever they like but the failed managers of licensed institutions on corporate welfare can hardly expect a blank cheque from those they have blown up. The contract is finished. Wall Street has not fulfilled its obligations.
As Paulson tries to shove his plan through in the face of congressional opposition the rewards for failure have already shamed the principal of pay for performance.
Fannie Mae boss Daniel Mudd and his opposite number at Freddie Mac, Richard Syron, walked last month with $US9.43 million in retirement and pension benefits on their way out the door. Failed, sacked and showered with money as their two giant mortgage operations were nationalised.
Lehman Brothers chairman and CEO Richard Fuld picked up $US22 million for 2007, the year thousands of his staff found themselves on the street. He took $US35 million the year before.
Merrill Lynch boss John Thain took a $US200 million payout with two offsiders for less than a year's work. Merrill was so close to obsolescence it sold itself to Bank of America for $US50 billion in scrip few days ago just as Lehman was biting the dust.
Thain was given a $US15 million bonus for signing on. Two former Goldman Sachs executives hired by Thain may do even better. Head of global trading, Thomas Montag, has already received a $US39 million bonus since signing on in August. With stock options accelerated by the buyout, he could finish up with $US76 million.
The bank's head of strategy, Peter Kraus, was bestowed with a $US95 million package just to beat what he was on at Goldman.
Paulson himself has shares in Goldman whose value was estimated at $US700 million. He is a direct beneficiary of his own bail-out proposal blind trust or no blind trust.
On the positive news front, the former head of broken insurance company AIG, Robert Willumstad, voluntarily forfeited a $US22 million severance package after he was giving his marching orders. He was only appointed in June.
"I prefer not to receive severance while shareholders and employees have lost considerable value in their AIG shares," wrote Willumstad in an email to his successor Edward Liddy.
Goldman boss Lloyd Blanfein took home $US54 million last year and Morgan Stanley's John Mack $US42 million.
The list goes on. Some of the investment bank's hedge funds clients have even been paying themselves more than $US1 billion.
Regulatory oversight and the ramifications of Bush's tax-cuts-for-the-rich policy alongside his catastrophic jaunt in Iraq have come home to roost.
On top of its $US9.6 trillion national debt, America is heading for its first $US1 trillion deficit this year. Paulson's bailout will add another $US1 trillion to the bill.
America is in trouble.
mwest@fairfax.com.au
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)