Commentary on Recent News

Well, perhaps it is not news, just pieces published for public consumption. Most likely they were designed for such consumption and represent little logic or factual basis.

For example, take John McCain’s assertion that President Obama take it easy with Netanyahu! Yes, McCain actually said this. He thinks the President has taken easy offense from Israel’s leader and shouldn't let the world see this side of him.

Well, John, what would you say had you been elected President and had your Congress/Senate/opposition party ignore the Constitution and directly involve themselves in peace negotiations? When the President sat down in thoughtful discussion with a prominent newsman and aired his thinking in this area, he shared important thinking with the public. Rare that a head of state does this with full intellectual strength applied.

But McCain feels otherwise. He is not ready to admit he was wrong to dabble in matters of state, let alone join 47 lone wolves of the Senate to do that. He is not ready to admit that Israel does not control America’s future or Middle Eastern policy. Nor should it. No, McCain doesn't understand the fine points of the Middle East’s delicate balance of power.

But he sure is willing to demonstrate his ignorance. And to think he came close to being President. Along with Leslie Graham, John must think he has international relations down pat. Not!

George Zimmerman – the putz who killed Treyvon Martin on a vigilante run – thinks President Obama is responsible for the racial divide in this country. Imagine that! The guy who sneaked around in the dark as a self appointed keeper of the peace follows a sweat-shirted black youth walking to a friend’s home in the neighborhood, thinks he is up to no good and shoots him dead. Shoot first, ask questions later; I’m white with a gun; you are black without a gun; I don’t want you in my neighborhood; I’m entitled; you’re not. Bang!

Sure Mr. Zimmerman, Mr. Hot Temper, Mr. Constantly In Trouble; you have the answers, right? You have proven to the rest of us that your cool calm demeanor analyzes an issue calmly and accurately and leads you to the correct action. Right?

Why any news organization would even give Zimmerman the spotlight and microphone is beyond me. Zimmerman is the racist who stirred up a whole lot of trouble. And he gets to label others?  I don’t think so.

Kardashian. It is a word meaning celebrity, empty celebrity. The family name conjures a horde of publicity seekers and egocentrics. They produce nothing but self attention. No real glamour, news or good works. Just self notice. And noise. Don’t forget the noise. All signifying nothing. What putzes we are to give them air time!

Volatile Stock Markets.  So investors are moving their money into and out of selected stocks in anticipation of a hike in interest rates authorized by the Federal Reserve Bank? The investors want higher interest rates because they think they will earn higher returns on their investments. What they seem to have forgotten is that return on investment is a reward for taking a risk. Currently the investment community is not taking many risks. To prove the point, please note the $7 trillion in cash lying idle. At least that much. Because there are no takers on using this available cash hoard, interest rates remain low. Because millions of underemployed people still want better jobs, and still more millions of unemployed need a job, interest rates remain low.

Get it? Available manpower and mucho available money. All waiting for risk takers to use them.

But they don’t. Why? Because they don’t want to take a risk. Oh, maybe they would if the federal government guaranteed them, like the investment banking debacle of 2007-2009? Or maybe the utter collapse of the American real estate industry? And the mortgage industry? Remember those bloodied noses and black eyes? Losses were guaranteed. The American taxpayer bailed out the risk takers. We The People bailed them out.

And today, those same risk takers are sitting on their goodies afraid to make a move unless someone holds them harmless.

Last time I checked there was a long list of risks they could take; most would likely earn them a bundle of profit. Here’s just a taste of what they could take a risk on:

1. Find a new way of generating power to replace fossil fuel electric power generation. Make this energy source renewable and environmentally safe.
2. Tweak physics to discover a new portable energy source to power personal transportation (automobiles) without endangering the planet’s air/water/soil, and make this discovery self sustaining and renewable.
3. Design and build new housing options for an aging population; eliminate steps and stairways; design in low maintenance and long lasting surfaces.
4. Re-design commercial/retail spaces for adaptive uses now that retail goods and services are purchased mainly over the internet. What will we do with all the obsolete shopping malls and strip malls?

These four ideas are ready for risk takers. The American university network already has much research and development available for use and at low cost. The American military/industrial complex has invented the electronics of the future as well as the materials of the future that risk takers can use to advance their projects. We’ve already paid for these discoveries in our military budget. It’s time to use the goodies for the advancement of our living standards.

The return on equity for risk takers is already heavily subsidized. Why aren't they chomping at the bit to take on the newer risks? One wonders if their greed has finally blocked them from making any decisions?

Meanwhile, their indecision makes for volatile investment markets. They play the uncertainties very well because they control them. So, another opportunity made by them to make money from the rest of us. Playing the stock market for their own gain while their trillions await fruitful use in a later game written to their exacting standards.

For shame!

March 26, 2015