Bits and Pieces, Take…

Some days there are too many news items to ignore! That’s when I engage in ‘Bits and Pieces’. A little blurb on each that gives the matter a tiny bit of focus. You be the judge!

Ben Carson’s Presidential Campaign: it is crumbling as four key campaign staff jump ship. To where is not yet known from news sources, but they have left the ship never to return. One wonders how many more GOP candidates will run for the office but it is clear that there are more running than there is talent to do so. The more that declare candidacy the more professional political staff will be needed to run the campaigns through the early stages of primaries. I think the GOP will run out of those talents. Clearly they have run out of the political candidate talent! Ben Carson’s run was never a serious contender. Soon he will fade away. Then we will be asking ‘who’s next?’

Saudi Arabia and Yemen: finally a war between neighbors in the Middle East without American involvement! Or is that totally factual? Who knows? For now, I am delighted that the regional powers are taking care of their own business and not making it ours! What a relief. As ISIS/Al Qaeda takes over Yemen, it is clearly in the interests of all Middle Eastern nations to get involved and protect each other. Although this plays into the field of interests of America, it also is of interest to global energy markets and economic dynamics. Please: take care of your own region. You have the resources to do so. Thank you Saudi Arabia!

Data Hacking of World Powers: This is interesting. The data systems relied upon for managing the largest agencies of most governments’ world wide are under attack by competing world powers. China goes after American data bases. So does North Korea. And of course Russian nerds are at work to crack computer code as well! In the midst of all this the owners of the data systems are begging for more resources to erect better defense strategies. But the funding mechanisms say no! Why we ask? Is it to save taxpayers money? No, again! It is because competing political powers within the same government are withholding the resources to protect the nation so they can look good when the in-power party is blamed for the vulnerability.  A crazy system we Americans have here!  Our enemies couldn’t wish for a better situation. You go girls!

World Trade Agreements Under Attack: But by whom? It seems political skullduggery is at it again. For heaven’s sake, girls. Let’s get down to business. The global economy does not know borders; only goods and services traded for fair prices. The more the merrier. He who takes home the most foreign currency is declared the winner! So, now we have politicians in Congress deciding which trade agreements are allowed and which not. They were not at the bargaining table to deal with the details and tactics. But now they state they are all-knowing and the best ones to decide what’s what. Well, they are not. The Executive Branch has this power to do battle with the global market system. Congress/Legislative Branch does not. They only approve or disapprove. In the meanwhile they do not understand the core realities. They project what they think the results will be. Freer markets should be the result. Not markets stacked for or against a specific nation. Let the President sort this out as usual. If he were your favorite son there would be no questions asked, right?

Pedophiles versus Gay: the nasty fact is almost all pedophiles – adults sexually abusing kids, both pre- and post-pubescent, are heterosexual. Period. All the research concludes this fact. No, pedophiles are not gay people. Pedophiles mostly abuse kids of the opposite sex but same sex victims are common as well. This does not make the pedophile gay. It makes him – or her – a pedophile, a sex offender. Dennis Hastert, the erstwhile conservative republican speaker of the house of representatives, is a pedophile, not gay. If he is gay, that seems not to be a fact in evidence. But a pedophile is the issue. Deal with it. Do not make this a gay issue. Thank you very much!

Federal Regulators Admit Faulty Investigation: The Washington Post reported recently that federal regulators have admitted bungling their investigation of GM ignitions switches that later caused auto crashes claiming several lives. This is interesting inasmuch as the corporation is being sued by countless entities and will no doubt be taken to the wood shed for over a billion dollars in liability claims. Yet the investigation was poorly implemented and bobbled. Still the loser is the corporation and how many jobs? Of course the Feds may have been laboring with poor budget supports, so who is really to blame? The consumer? The corporation? The feds? Or Congress? So many people to blame, so few taking responsibility. And yet the problem persists. Who fixes it? Who replaces the dead lives of innocent consumers?

That’s enough for one day. We live in an imperfect world. It is time we all admitted that and stepped up to make improvements. Not level blame.

June 8, 2015