When will our government and any other government for that matter draw up the courage to enact a ban on shark's fin soup? We all know the peril to sharks that our insatiable demand for this so called Traditional dish has caused. We know what the ultimate outcome will be should this demand continue. Since individual restaurants, hotels and consumers can't be counted on to eliminate the supply or demand, I believe it is high time that the government and the AVA stepped in and instituted a ban. Does the government have the courage to do this? If its ridiculously easy in this country to enact a ban on the innocous chewing gum, surely its as easy to ban a dish?
Isnt it?
Friday, December 12, 2008
Friday, November 7, 2008
Well Done Sir
America has spoken and it has spoken eloquently. Quite possibly a new age has dawned...perhaps a new age of innovation, contribution, sacrifice and volunteerism in the US and perhaps eventually in the world. Many have been inspired by President-elect Obama's monumental victory. But it will remain to be seen, when the euphoria fades and the hard work really begins whether the people will once again step up to the new President's call. Will greed prevail or will it be banished? It is wonderful to be living in such exciting times, to be living through history being made. I look ahead to a bright future.........
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Good Luck Senator Obama!
Tomorrow, while the entire world watches, Americans go to the polls...to quite possibly vote in a new era in American history and politics. It can mean one of two things tomorrow...either history is made and we have a new dawn in the world...and quite possibly the start of some real change in the world...or we see a McCain-Palin Presidency, world disappointment and quite possibly a world that continues to spiral towards its own destruction. Will Americans help bring about the dawn of a new world? I noticed a feature article in The Readers' Digest yesterday in a bookshop. A poll had been done across a number of countries in the world..from European to Asian to African to Latin American nations...on whom they would prefer as the new American President. The results overwhelmingly were for Obama. Overwhelmingly! In Germany for example, it was 85% in favour!
Strikingly though, the lowest percentage of support came from his own country...The United States. This shows how divided America still is in so many issues and on race...one wonders when race will really be a thing of the past for Americans. If Obama is elected, perhaps then the wounds can truly be healed and Americans can make a start in moving on and join the world community.
Let's see.....
Strikingly though, the lowest percentage of support came from his own country...The United States. This shows how divided America still is in so many issues and on race...one wonders when race will really be a thing of the past for Americans. If Obama is elected, perhaps then the wounds can truly be healed and Americans can make a start in moving on and join the world community.
Let's see.....
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Fact Check: The US President's Salary
Salary
The First U.S. Congress voted to pay George Washington a salary of $25,000 a year, about $566,000 in 2008 terms. Washington, already a wealthy man, refused to accept his salary; however, he asked for his living expenses to be covered. Theodore Roosevelt spent his entire $50,000 salary on entertaining guests at the White House.[13] John F. Kennedy donated his salary to charities.[14]
| Date established | Salary | Salary in 2008 dollars |
|---|---|---|
| September 24, 1789 | $25,000 | $566,000 |
| March 3, 1873 | $50,000 | $865,000 |
| March 4, 1909 | $75,000 | $1,714,000 |
| January 19, 1949 | $100,000 | $875,000 |
| January 20, 1969 | $200,000 | $1,135,000 |
| January 20, 2001 | $400,000 | $471,000 |
Traditionally, the president is the highest-paid public employee. President Bush currently earns $400,000 per year, along with a $50,000 expense account, a $100,000 nontaxable travel account, and $19,000 for entertainment.[2] The president's salary and total expense account serve as an unofficial cap for all other federal officials' salaries, such as that of the Chief Justice. The most recent raise in salary was approved by Congress and President Bill Clinton in 1999 and came into force in 2001; prior to the change, the president earned $200,000, plus expense accounts. This was needed because other officials who received annual cost-of-living increases had salaries approaching that of the president, and in order to raise their salaries further, his needed to be raised as well. Monetary compensation for the president is minuscule in comparison to the CEOs of most Fortune 500 companies and comparable to that of certain kinds of professionals, such as attorneys and physicians in some parts of the United States.[citation needed] Overall the vast majority of U.S. presidents have been very affluent upon entering office and thus have not been dependent on the salary.
Prior to passage by Congress of the Former Presidents Act (FPA) in 1958, retired presidents did not receive a pension. All living presidents in 1959 began to receive a pension of $25,000 per year, an office, and a staff. The pension has increased numerous times with Congressional approval. Retired presidents now receive a pension based on the salary of the current administration's cabinet secretaries (Executive Level I), which is $191,300 as of 2008.[18] Some former presidents have also collected congressional pensions.[19] The FPA, as amended, also provides former presidents with travel funds and mailing privileges.
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Obama receives Galactic Endorsement
BREAKING NEWS: Obama Receives Endorsement from ET.
Senator Barack Obama today received his latest endorsement; one of intergalactic proportions, from no other than ET the Extra-Terrestrial!
When interviewed, ET stated that, as a Botanist, he was convinced that a President Obama would lead the world into a clean energy revolution and would end the world's dependence on fossil fuels. He said that he would be happy to return to Earth for a brief visit should the Democratic Presidential nominee win the election on November 4th.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Salaries under the microscope
Now that Wall Street CEO Salaries are under serious scrutiny, will that trend be reflected here? Will CEOs of major organisations be under pressure to drop their ridiculously inflated compensation? What is it exactly that CEOs do anyway....I'd like to know. Certainly most of them haven't been providing any vision and direction to their companies...something good leaders are supposed to do. INstead, they've been making shady deals and then running off with huge sums of money...so should the scrutiny extend to political leaders who earn as much as CEOs? Shouldnt their performance be open to public scrutiny? After all...we vote for them...last time I checked, civil servants (which include Ministers and the Prime Minister) serve the people....not the other way around.........
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Michael Moore's solution to the Financial Crisis
I just read Michael Moore's latest email on how to solve the current financial crisis: here it is:
"Friends,
The richest 400 Americans -- that's right, just four hundred people -- own MORE than the bottom 150 million Americans combined. 400 rich Americans have got more stashed away than half the entire country! Their combined net worth is $1.6 trillion. During the eight years of the Bush Administration, their wealth has increased by nearly $700 billion -- the same amount that they are now demanding we give to them for the "bailout." Why don't they just spend the money they made under Bush to bail themselves out? They'd still have nearly a trillion dollars left over to spread amongst themselves!
Of course, they are not going to do that -- at least not voluntarily. George W. Bush was handed a $127 billion surplus when Bill Clinton left office. Because that money was OUR money and not his, he did what the rich prefer to do -- spend it and never look back. Now we have a $9.5 trillion debt. Why on earth would we even think of giving these robber barons any more of our money?
I would like to propose my own bailout plan. My suggestions, listed below, are predicated on the singular and simple belief that the rich must pull themselves up by their own platinum bootstraps. Sorry, fellows, but you drilled it into our heads one too many times: There... is... no... free... lunch. And thank you for encouraging us to hate people on welfare! So, there will be no handouts from us to you. The Senate, tonight, is going to try to rush their version of a "bailout" bill to a vote. They must be stopped. We did it on Monday with the House, and we can do it again today with the Senate.
It is clear, though, that we cannot simply keep protesting without proposing exactly what it is we think Congress should do. So, after consulting with a number of people smarter than Phil Gramm, here is my proposal, now known as "Mike's Rescue Plan." It has 10 simple, straightforward points. They are:
1. APPOINT A SPECIAL PROSECUTOR TO CRIMINALLY INDICT ANYONE ON WALL STREET WHO KNOWINGLY CONTRIBUTED TO THIS COLLAPSE. Before any new money is expended, Congress must commit, by resolution, to criminally prosecute anyone who had anything to do with the attempted sacking of our economy. This means that anyone who committed insider trading, securities fraud or any action that helped bring about this collapse must go to jail. This Congress must call for a Special Prosecutor who will vigorously go after everyone who created the mess, and anyone else who attempts to scam the public in the future.
2. THE RICH MUST PAY FOR THEIR OWN BAILOUT. They may have to live in 5 houses instead of 7. They may have to drive 9 cars instead of 13. The chef for their mini-terriers may have to be reassigned. But there is no way in hell, after forcing family incomes to go down more than $2,000 dollars during the Bush years, that working people and the middle class are going to fork over one dime to underwrite the next yacht purchase.
If they truly need the $700 billion they say they need, well, here is an easy way they can raise it:
a) Every couple who makes over a million dollars a year and every single taxpayer who makes over $500,000 a year will pay a 10% surcharge tax for five years. (It's the Senator Sanders plan. He's like Colonel Sanders, only he's out to fry the right chickens.) That means the rich will still be paying less income tax than when Carter was president. This will raise a total of $300 billion. b) Like nearly every other democracy, charge a 0.25% tax on every stock transaction. This will raise more than $200 billion in a year. c) Because every stockholder is a patriotic American, stockholders will forgo receiving a dividend check for one quarter and instead this money will go the treasury to help pay for the bailout. d) 25% of major U.S. corporations currently pay NO federal income tax. Federal corporate tax revenues currently amount to 1.7% of the GDP compared to 5% in the 1950s. If we raise the corporate income tax back to the level of the 1950s, that gives us an extra $500 billion.
All of this combined should be enough to end the calamity. The rich will get to keep their mansions and their servants, and our United States government ("COUNTRY FIRST!") will have a little leftover to repair some roads, bridges and schools.
3. BAIL OUT THE PEOPLE LOSING THEIR HOMES, NOT THE PEOPLE WHO WILL BUILD AN EIGHTH HOME. There are 1.3 million homes in foreclosure right now. That is what is at the heart of this problem. So instead of giving the money to the banks as a gift, pay down each of these mortgages by $100,000. Force the banks to renegotiate the mortgage so the homeowner can pay on its current value. To insure that this help does no go to speculators and those who have tried to make money by flipping houses, this bailout is only for people's primary residence. And in return for the $100K paydown on the existing mortgage, the government gets to share in the holding of the mortgage so that it can get some of its money back. Thus, the total initial cost of fixing the mortgage crisis at its roots (instead of with the greedy lenders) is $150 billion, not $700 billion.
And let's set the record straight. People who have defaulted on their mortgages are not "bad risks." They are our fellow Americans, and all they wanted was what we all want and most of us still get: a home to call their own. But during the Bush years, millions of them lost the decent paying jobs they had. Six million fell into poverty. Seven million lost their health insurance. And every one of them saw their real wages go down by $2,000. Those who dare to look down on these Americans who got hit with one bad break after another should be ashamed. We are a better, stronger, safer and happier society when all of our citizens can afford to live in a home that they own.
4. IF YOUR BANK OR COMPANY GETS ANY OF OUR MONEY IN A "BAILOUT," THEN WE OWN YOU. Sorry, that's how it's done. If the bank gives me money so I can buy a house, the bank "owns" that house until I pay it all back -- with interest. Same deal for Wall Street. Whatever money you need to stay afloat, if our government considers you a safe risk -- and necessary for the good of the country -- then you can get a loan, but we will own you. If you default, we will sell you. This is how the Swedish government did it and it worked.
5. ALL REGULATIONS MUST BE RESTORED. THE REAGAN REVOLUTION IS DEAD. This catastrophe happened because we let the fox have the keys to the henhouse. In 1999, Phil Gramm authored a bill to remove all the regulations that governed Wall Street and our banking system. The bill passed and Clinton signed it. Here's what Sen. Phil Gramm, McCain's chief economic advisor, said at the bill signing:
"In the 1930s ... it was believed that government was the answer. It was believed that stability and growth came from government overriding the functioning of free markets. "We are here today to repeal [that] because we have learned that government is not the answer. We have learned that freedom and competition are the answers. We have learned that we promote economic growth and we promote stability by having competition and freedom. "I am proud to be here because this is an important bill; it is a deregulatory bill. I believe that that is the wave of the future, and I am awfully proud to have been a part of making it a reality."
This bill must be repealed. Bill Clinton can help by leading the effort for the repeal of the Gramm bill and the reinstating of even tougher regulations regarding our financial institutions. And when they're done with that, they can restore the regulations for the airlines, the inspection of our food, the oil industry, OSHA, and every other entity that affects our daily lives. All oversight provisions for any "bailout" must have enforcement monies attached to them and criminal penalties for all offenders.
6. IF IT'S TOO BIG TO FAIL, THEN THAT MEANS IT'S TOO BIG TO EXIST. Allowing the creation of these mega-mergers and not enforcing the monopoly and anti-trust laws has allowed a number of financial institutions and corporations to become so large, the very thought of their collapse means an even bigger collapse across the entire economy. No one or two companies should have this kind of power. The so-called "economic Pearl Harbor" can't happen when you have hundreds -- thousands -- of institutions where people have their money. When you have a dozen auto companies, if one goes belly-up, we don't face a national disaster. If you have three separately-owned daily newspapers in your town, then one media company can't call all the shots (I know... What am I thinking?! Who reads a paper anymore? Sure glad all those mergers and buyouts left us with a strong and free press!). Laws must be enacted to prevent companies from being so large and dominant that with one slingshot to the eye, the giant falls and dies. And no institution should be allowed to set up money schemes that no one can understand. If you can't explain it in two sentences, you shouldn't be taking anyone's money.
7. NO EXECUTIVE SHOULD BE PAID MORE THAN 40 TIMES THEIR AVERAGE EMPLOYEE, AND NO EXECUTIVE SHOULD RECEIVE ANY KIND OF "PARACHUTE" OTHER THAN THE VERY GENEROUS SALARY HE OR SHE MADE WHILE WORKING FOR THE COMPANY. In 1980, the average American CEO made 45 times what their employees made. By 2003, they were making 254 times what their workers made. After 8 years of Bush, they now make over 400 times what their average employee makes. How this can happen at publicly held companies is beyond reason. In Britain, the average CEO makes 28 times what their average employee makes. In Japan, it's only 17 times! The last I heard, the CEO of Toyota was living the high life in Tokyo. How does he do it on so little money? Seriously, this is an outrage. We have created the mess we're in by letting the people at the top become bloated beyond belief with millions of dollars. This has to stop. Not only should no executive who receives help out of this mess profit from it, but any executive who was in charge of running his company into the ground should be fired before the company receives any help.
8. STRENGTHEN THE FDIC AND MAKE IT A MODEL FOR PROTECTING NOT ONLY PEOPLE'S SAVINGS, BUT ALSO THEIR PENSIONS AND THEIR HOMES. Obama was correct yesterday to propose expanding FDIC protection of people's savings in their banks to $250,000. But this same sort of government insurance must be given to our nation's pension funds. People should never have to worry about whether or not the money they've put away for their old age will be there. This will mean strict government oversight of companies who manage their employees' funds -- or perhaps it means that the companies will have to turn over those funds and their management to the government. People's private retirement funds must also be protected, but perhaps it's time to consider not having one's retirement invested in the casino known as the stock market. Our government should have a solemn duty to guarantee that no one who grows old in this country has to worry about ending up destitute.
9. EVERYBODY NEEDS TO TAKE A DEEP BREATH, CALM DOWN, AND NOT LET FEAR RULE THE DAY. Turn off the TV! We are not in the Second Great Depression. The sky is not falling. Pundits and politicians are lying to us so fast and furious it's hard not to be affected by all the fear mongering. Even I, yesterday, wrote to you and repeated what I heard on the news, that the Dow had the biggest one day drop in its history. Well, that's true in terms of points, but its 7% drop came nowhere close to Black Monday in 1987 when the stock market in one day lost 23% of its value. In the '80s, 3,000 banks closed, but America didn't go out of business. These institutions have always had their ups and downs and eventually it works out. It has to, because the rich do not like their wealth being disrupted! They have a vested interest in calming things down and getting back into the Jacuzzi.
As crazy as things are right now, tens of thousands of people got a car loan this week. Thousands went to the bank and got a mortgage to buy a home. Students just back to college found banks more than happy to put them into hock for the next 15 years with a student loan. Life has gone on. Not a single person has lost any of their money if it's in a bank or a treasury note or a CD. And the most amazing thing is that the American public hasn't bought the scare campaign. The citizens didn't blink, and instead told Congress to take that bailout and shove it. THAT was impressive. Why didn't the population succumb to the fright-filled warnings from their president and his cronies? Well, you can only say 'Saddam has da bomb' so many times before the people realize you're a lying sack of shite. After eight long years, the nation is worn out and simply can't take it any longer.
10. CREATE A NATIONAL BANK, A "PEOPLE'S BANK." If we really are itching to print up a trillion dollars, instead of giving it to a few rich people, why don't we give it to ourselves? Now that we own Freddie and Fannie, why not set up a people's bank? One that can provide low-interest loans for all sorts of people who want to own a home, start a small business, go to school, come up with the cure for cancer or create the next great invention. And now that we own AIG, the country's largest insurance company, let's take the next step and provide health insurance for everyone. Medicare for all. It will save us so much money in the long run. And we won't be 12th on the life expectancy list. We'll be able to have a longer life, enjoying our government-protected pension, and living to see the day when the corporate criminals who caused so much misery are let out of prison so that we can help reacclimate them to civilian life -- a life with one nice home and a gas-free car that was invented with help from the People's Bank."
Yours,Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.comMichaelMoore.com
"Friends,
The richest 400 Americans -- that's right, just four hundred people -- own MORE than the bottom 150 million Americans combined. 400 rich Americans have got more stashed away than half the entire country! Their combined net worth is $1.6 trillion. During the eight years of the Bush Administration, their wealth has increased by nearly $700 billion -- the same amount that they are now demanding we give to them for the "bailout." Why don't they just spend the money they made under Bush to bail themselves out? They'd still have nearly a trillion dollars left over to spread amongst themselves!
Of course, they are not going to do that -- at least not voluntarily. George W. Bush was handed a $127 billion surplus when Bill Clinton left office. Because that money was OUR money and not his, he did what the rich prefer to do -- spend it and never look back. Now we have a $9.5 trillion debt. Why on earth would we even think of giving these robber barons any more of our money?
I would like to propose my own bailout plan. My suggestions, listed below, are predicated on the singular and simple belief that the rich must pull themselves up by their own platinum bootstraps. Sorry, fellows, but you drilled it into our heads one too many times: There... is... no... free... lunch. And thank you for encouraging us to hate people on welfare! So, there will be no handouts from us to you. The Senate, tonight, is going to try to rush their version of a "bailout" bill to a vote. They must be stopped. We did it on Monday with the House, and we can do it again today with the Senate.
It is clear, though, that we cannot simply keep protesting without proposing exactly what it is we think Congress should do. So, after consulting with a number of people smarter than Phil Gramm, here is my proposal, now known as "Mike's Rescue Plan." It has 10 simple, straightforward points. They are:
1. APPOINT A SPECIAL PROSECUTOR TO CRIMINALLY INDICT ANYONE ON WALL STREET WHO KNOWINGLY CONTRIBUTED TO THIS COLLAPSE. Before any new money is expended, Congress must commit, by resolution, to criminally prosecute anyone who had anything to do with the attempted sacking of our economy. This means that anyone who committed insider trading, securities fraud or any action that helped bring about this collapse must go to jail. This Congress must call for a Special Prosecutor who will vigorously go after everyone who created the mess, and anyone else who attempts to scam the public in the future.
2. THE RICH MUST PAY FOR THEIR OWN BAILOUT. They may have to live in 5 houses instead of 7. They may have to drive 9 cars instead of 13. The chef for their mini-terriers may have to be reassigned. But there is no way in hell, after forcing family incomes to go down more than $2,000 dollars during the Bush years, that working people and the middle class are going to fork over one dime to underwrite the next yacht purchase.
If they truly need the $700 billion they say they need, well, here is an easy way they can raise it:
a) Every couple who makes over a million dollars a year and every single taxpayer who makes over $500,000 a year will pay a 10% surcharge tax for five years. (It's the Senator Sanders plan. He's like Colonel Sanders, only he's out to fry the right chickens.) That means the rich will still be paying less income tax than when Carter was president. This will raise a total of $300 billion. b) Like nearly every other democracy, charge a 0.25% tax on every stock transaction. This will raise more than $200 billion in a year. c) Because every stockholder is a patriotic American, stockholders will forgo receiving a dividend check for one quarter and instead this money will go the treasury to help pay for the bailout. d) 25% of major U.S. corporations currently pay NO federal income tax. Federal corporate tax revenues currently amount to 1.7% of the GDP compared to 5% in the 1950s. If we raise the corporate income tax back to the level of the 1950s, that gives us an extra $500 billion.
All of this combined should be enough to end the calamity. The rich will get to keep their mansions and their servants, and our United States government ("COUNTRY FIRST!") will have a little leftover to repair some roads, bridges and schools.
3. BAIL OUT THE PEOPLE LOSING THEIR HOMES, NOT THE PEOPLE WHO WILL BUILD AN EIGHTH HOME. There are 1.3 million homes in foreclosure right now. That is what is at the heart of this problem. So instead of giving the money to the banks as a gift, pay down each of these mortgages by $100,000. Force the banks to renegotiate the mortgage so the homeowner can pay on its current value. To insure that this help does no go to speculators and those who have tried to make money by flipping houses, this bailout is only for people's primary residence. And in return for the $100K paydown on the existing mortgage, the government gets to share in the holding of the mortgage so that it can get some of its money back. Thus, the total initial cost of fixing the mortgage crisis at its roots (instead of with the greedy lenders) is $150 billion, not $700 billion.
And let's set the record straight. People who have defaulted on their mortgages are not "bad risks." They are our fellow Americans, and all they wanted was what we all want and most of us still get: a home to call their own. But during the Bush years, millions of them lost the decent paying jobs they had. Six million fell into poverty. Seven million lost their health insurance. And every one of them saw their real wages go down by $2,000. Those who dare to look down on these Americans who got hit with one bad break after another should be ashamed. We are a better, stronger, safer and happier society when all of our citizens can afford to live in a home that they own.
4. IF YOUR BANK OR COMPANY GETS ANY OF OUR MONEY IN A "BAILOUT," THEN WE OWN YOU. Sorry, that's how it's done. If the bank gives me money so I can buy a house, the bank "owns" that house until I pay it all back -- with interest. Same deal for Wall Street. Whatever money you need to stay afloat, if our government considers you a safe risk -- and necessary for the good of the country -- then you can get a loan, but we will own you. If you default, we will sell you. This is how the Swedish government did it and it worked.
5. ALL REGULATIONS MUST BE RESTORED. THE REAGAN REVOLUTION IS DEAD. This catastrophe happened because we let the fox have the keys to the henhouse. In 1999, Phil Gramm authored a bill to remove all the regulations that governed Wall Street and our banking system. The bill passed and Clinton signed it. Here's what Sen. Phil Gramm, McCain's chief economic advisor, said at the bill signing:
"In the 1930s ... it was believed that government was the answer. It was believed that stability and growth came from government overriding the functioning of free markets. "We are here today to repeal [that] because we have learned that government is not the answer. We have learned that freedom and competition are the answers. We have learned that we promote economic growth and we promote stability by having competition and freedom. "I am proud to be here because this is an important bill; it is a deregulatory bill. I believe that that is the wave of the future, and I am awfully proud to have been a part of making it a reality."
This bill must be repealed. Bill Clinton can help by leading the effort for the repeal of the Gramm bill and the reinstating of even tougher regulations regarding our financial institutions. And when they're done with that, they can restore the regulations for the airlines, the inspection of our food, the oil industry, OSHA, and every other entity that affects our daily lives. All oversight provisions for any "bailout" must have enforcement monies attached to them and criminal penalties for all offenders.
6. IF IT'S TOO BIG TO FAIL, THEN THAT MEANS IT'S TOO BIG TO EXIST. Allowing the creation of these mega-mergers and not enforcing the monopoly and anti-trust laws has allowed a number of financial institutions and corporations to become so large, the very thought of their collapse means an even bigger collapse across the entire economy. No one or two companies should have this kind of power. The so-called "economic Pearl Harbor" can't happen when you have hundreds -- thousands -- of institutions where people have their money. When you have a dozen auto companies, if one goes belly-up, we don't face a national disaster. If you have three separately-owned daily newspapers in your town, then one media company can't call all the shots (I know... What am I thinking?! Who reads a paper anymore? Sure glad all those mergers and buyouts left us with a strong and free press!). Laws must be enacted to prevent companies from being so large and dominant that with one slingshot to the eye, the giant falls and dies. And no institution should be allowed to set up money schemes that no one can understand. If you can't explain it in two sentences, you shouldn't be taking anyone's money.
7. NO EXECUTIVE SHOULD BE PAID MORE THAN 40 TIMES THEIR AVERAGE EMPLOYEE, AND NO EXECUTIVE SHOULD RECEIVE ANY KIND OF "PARACHUTE" OTHER THAN THE VERY GENEROUS SALARY HE OR SHE MADE WHILE WORKING FOR THE COMPANY. In 1980, the average American CEO made 45 times what their employees made. By 2003, they were making 254 times what their workers made. After 8 years of Bush, they now make over 400 times what their average employee makes. How this can happen at publicly held companies is beyond reason. In Britain, the average CEO makes 28 times what their average employee makes. In Japan, it's only 17 times! The last I heard, the CEO of Toyota was living the high life in Tokyo. How does he do it on so little money? Seriously, this is an outrage. We have created the mess we're in by letting the people at the top become bloated beyond belief with millions of dollars. This has to stop. Not only should no executive who receives help out of this mess profit from it, but any executive who was in charge of running his company into the ground should be fired before the company receives any help.
8. STRENGTHEN THE FDIC AND MAKE IT A MODEL FOR PROTECTING NOT ONLY PEOPLE'S SAVINGS, BUT ALSO THEIR PENSIONS AND THEIR HOMES. Obama was correct yesterday to propose expanding FDIC protection of people's savings in their banks to $250,000. But this same sort of government insurance must be given to our nation's pension funds. People should never have to worry about whether or not the money they've put away for their old age will be there. This will mean strict government oversight of companies who manage their employees' funds -- or perhaps it means that the companies will have to turn over those funds and their management to the government. People's private retirement funds must also be protected, but perhaps it's time to consider not having one's retirement invested in the casino known as the stock market. Our government should have a solemn duty to guarantee that no one who grows old in this country has to worry about ending up destitute.
9. EVERYBODY NEEDS TO TAKE A DEEP BREATH, CALM DOWN, AND NOT LET FEAR RULE THE DAY. Turn off the TV! We are not in the Second Great Depression. The sky is not falling. Pundits and politicians are lying to us so fast and furious it's hard not to be affected by all the fear mongering. Even I, yesterday, wrote to you and repeated what I heard on the news, that the Dow had the biggest one day drop in its history. Well, that's true in terms of points, but its 7% drop came nowhere close to Black Monday in 1987 when the stock market in one day lost 23% of its value. In the '80s, 3,000 banks closed, but America didn't go out of business. These institutions have always had their ups and downs and eventually it works out. It has to, because the rich do not like their wealth being disrupted! They have a vested interest in calming things down and getting back into the Jacuzzi.
As crazy as things are right now, tens of thousands of people got a car loan this week. Thousands went to the bank and got a mortgage to buy a home. Students just back to college found banks more than happy to put them into hock for the next 15 years with a student loan. Life has gone on. Not a single person has lost any of their money if it's in a bank or a treasury note or a CD. And the most amazing thing is that the American public hasn't bought the scare campaign. The citizens didn't blink, and instead told Congress to take that bailout and shove it. THAT was impressive. Why didn't the population succumb to the fright-filled warnings from their president and his cronies? Well, you can only say 'Saddam has da bomb' so many times before the people realize you're a lying sack of shite. After eight long years, the nation is worn out and simply can't take it any longer.
10. CREATE A NATIONAL BANK, A "PEOPLE'S BANK." If we really are itching to print up a trillion dollars, instead of giving it to a few rich people, why don't we give it to ourselves? Now that we own Freddie and Fannie, why not set up a people's bank? One that can provide low-interest loans for all sorts of people who want to own a home, start a small business, go to school, come up with the cure for cancer or create the next great invention. And now that we own AIG, the country's largest insurance company, let's take the next step and provide health insurance for everyone. Medicare for all. It will save us so much money in the long run. And we won't be 12th on the life expectancy list. We'll be able to have a longer life, enjoying our government-protected pension, and living to see the day when the corporate criminals who caused so much misery are let out of prison so that we can help reacclimate them to civilian life -- a life with one nice home and a gas-free car that was invented with help from the People's Bank."
Yours,Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.comMichaelMoore.com
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
New Rule #3: If you're a CEO who's screwed up your bank, you don't get to walk away with millions of dollars
I can't believe that they even have to debate about a cap on severance packages for CEOs of the banks and financial institutions that have gone bust. Because of their greed, the average man in the street has lost their retirement savings, life savings, houses, livelihood and they get to walk away with up to 20 million dollars as a golden parachute? Why should there even be a debate on it??
These crooks should be booted out on to the street with nothing in their wallets! Their homes should be foreclosed, their severance packages should be divided up among the people who trusted them to look after their money! Enough is enough!
These crooks should be booted out on to the street with nothing in their wallets! Their homes should be foreclosed, their severance packages should be divided up among the people who trusted them to look after their money! Enough is enough!
Saturday, September 27, 2008
F1 values vs Climate Change
I'm sure this is not the mainstream opinion...and unfortunately so because its a reflection of where our values lie. I think the F1 is completely contrary to any attempt to fight climate change. Here we are spending 90 million dollars on building a track, gantries, barriers, extensive lighting to the point that you'd actually forget it was a 'night race' because its as bright as day, and pumping yet more carbon into the atmosphere, wasting petroleum as it is pumped into high velocity race cars which are basically going round and round on a track for the sole purpose of entertainment for what is mainly the rich and middle class. When the world financial system is poised on the edge of a meltdown, fat cat CEOs are getting away will millions of dollars in compensation for FAILED policies and we now have runaway climate change, this is akin to fiddling while Rome burns. How will history remember us? Massive expenditure on parties, catering mainly to rich celebrities who have flown in, expending more carbon. So whats the REAL cost of hosting this race here? not in mere dollars, but in carbon, in wasted electricity, petrodollars, lost business because of road closures....lets have a figure for that!
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
New Rule #2: If you can't treat your maid like a human being, then you don't deserve one
I thought last week's report on maid abuse took the cake but it appears that it is an ongoing saga!! Yet another 'employer'...I'd characterise them as slave-owners...has been charged with maid abuse. Well, I say if you can't treat your employees like human beings then you don't deserve the services of other human beings. You should be booted out of human society. An alternative punishment for domestic worker abusers is to serve out an appropriate length of time as a domestic worker. Then maybe you'll understand and emphathise with other human beings?
Monday, September 22, 2008
New Rules
Bill Maher does a segment at the end of his talk show entitled "New Rules". I'm starting my own segment on New Rules tonight........
New Rule #1:
Millionaires should start paying for their own tickets!
An article on page 1 of the Straits Times today mentions that millionaires will be getting free tickets to the F1 race next weekend. Banks in particular will be sponsoring their wealthiest clients with free luxury hotel stays and free grandstand tickets. It kind of stands to reason that if you're a millionaire, you can afford your own paid ticket to the event and your own paid hotel room. So what exactly are you using your millions for then? Well, the banks hope, by paying for your ticket, that you'll just channel it back into the bank!!! I guess wealth begets wealth and greed begets greed.
In the middle of a massive financial crisis where the little guy who invests his hard earned retirement savings in mammoth financial institutions, the little guy who is now very likely losing that investment, because of the greed of these institutions, it appears to be that the fat cats are the ones coming out smelling like roses.
New Rule #1:
Millionaires should start paying for their own tickets!
An article on page 1 of the Straits Times today mentions that millionaires will be getting free tickets to the F1 race next weekend. Banks in particular will be sponsoring their wealthiest clients with free luxury hotel stays and free grandstand tickets. It kind of stands to reason that if you're a millionaire, you can afford your own paid ticket to the event and your own paid hotel room. So what exactly are you using your millions for then? Well, the banks hope, by paying for your ticket, that you'll just channel it back into the bank!!! I guess wealth begets wealth and greed begets greed.
In the middle of a massive financial crisis where the little guy who invests his hard earned retirement savings in mammoth financial institutions, the little guy who is now very likely losing that investment, because of the greed of these institutions, it appears to be that the fat cats are the ones coming out smelling like roses.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Barbarity
Today's news about the abject cruelty and barbarity of the atrocity committed on yet another maid by a Singaporean family really takes the cake! The lengths that some Singaporeans will go to to inflict pain and suffering on others really makes me wonder if we have any sense of humanity at all in this country. Siblings who, with cruel deliberation wrenched the teeth out of their Indonesian maid's mouth with a pair of pliers. One wonders at the sociopathic tendencies of the General Public as more and more of the incidents are highlighted in the press.
The punishment for this completely callous act should fit the crime. Is 20 months in prison a sufficient deterrent? Will the offenders be caned? They certainly should be! If we can inflict caning on overstayers and vandals....surely barbarians such as these deserve far worse?
The punishment for this completely callous act should fit the crime. Is 20 months in prison a sufficient deterrent? Will the offenders be caned? They certainly should be! If we can inflict caning on overstayers and vandals....surely barbarians such as these deserve far worse?
Monday, September 15, 2008
With the World at Stake.............
My focus has been on local social and political commentary but I thought I'd deviate and expand my blog to include events of global interest...namely the US Presidential election.
I am a fully fledged Barack Obama supporter. I think he is exactly what America needs...a change in attitude, a change in demeanour, a change in style, and a real change in Washington. I was completely blown away by his Acceptance speech a couple of weeks ago. It quite possibly might be one of the best speeches ever made...on the scale of MLK's I have a Dream, The Gettysburg Address, Winston Churchill's call to arms....it was that good...seriously! After having watched Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden build up to it...I thought...the democrats have it in the bag! Then along came the surprise announcement by John McCain on his selection of a running mate. Suddenly this unknown self-styled 'Hockey Mom' was cast into prominence and seemingly wooed over the Republicans. I watched her speech. I was not wooed. I saw it as nothing but an attack of rhetoric, with no substance whatsoever, not even 5% of it had anything you could hold on to. Nothing! Then we found out who she is....a creationist, gun-toting, oil-drilling, anti-abortionist, climate-crisis disbeliever. That's who could be a heartbeat away from the most important job in the world. Not only would we have George Bush once more...we'd have John Ashcroft, George Bush and Pat Buchanan rolled into one. It would be a disaster for the world. Truly a disaster. She's in her own words, "ready for the job". That's a combination of sheer arrogance and complete incompetence. Remember 8 years ago?
And that's even more reason why Barack Obama MUST be elected. Not just America but the WORLD cannot afford another idiot in the White House. Its really too bad that the rest of the planet doesnt get a vote...Obama would win by an avalanche!
I am a fully fledged Barack Obama supporter. I think he is exactly what America needs...a change in attitude, a change in demeanour, a change in style, and a real change in Washington. I was completely blown away by his Acceptance speech a couple of weeks ago. It quite possibly might be one of the best speeches ever made...on the scale of MLK's I have a Dream, The Gettysburg Address, Winston Churchill's call to arms....it was that good...seriously! After having watched Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden build up to it...I thought...the democrats have it in the bag! Then along came the surprise announcement by John McCain on his selection of a running mate. Suddenly this unknown self-styled 'Hockey Mom' was cast into prominence and seemingly wooed over the Republicans. I watched her speech. I was not wooed. I saw it as nothing but an attack of rhetoric, with no substance whatsoever, not even 5% of it had anything you could hold on to. Nothing! Then we found out who she is....a creationist, gun-toting, oil-drilling, anti-abortionist, climate-crisis disbeliever. That's who could be a heartbeat away from the most important job in the world. Not only would we have George Bush once more...we'd have John Ashcroft, George Bush and Pat Buchanan rolled into one. It would be a disaster for the world. Truly a disaster. She's in her own words, "ready for the job". That's a combination of sheer arrogance and complete incompetence. Remember 8 years ago?
And that's even more reason why Barack Obama MUST be elected. Not just America but the WORLD cannot afford another idiot in the White House. Its really too bad that the rest of the planet doesnt get a vote...Obama would win by an avalanche!
Friday, September 12, 2008
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Third World Attitudes
To say that Singaporeans have third world attitudes would be to insult the Third World. Travelling through South East Asia, a region still characterised as the Third World, I have seen truly elegant social graces, far more civilised than those that exist in this country! We are supposedly, if you listen to the authorities, the beacon of economic prosperity, in a region mired in political and social chaos. And to a large extent this is true. Why oh why then do we have such abysmal manners and social behaviours. We treat the people who do the jobs that no one else wants to do, the cleaners, the maids, the army of service personnel, the construction workers, as though they are the serf class in an increasingly 20th Century feudal society. We behave as though we are feudal Lords in Castles, employing people on disgraceful wages, forcing them to wake before dawn and to work tirelessly till way past dusk, berating them, abusing them in horrendous ways should they even make a single mistake. Is this what economic prosperity does to human beings? Do we truly believe that it elevates us above our fellow human beings?
This is how we appear to be raising our children...I witnessed a child, a student at a Primary school, barging his way to the front of a queue at the canteen. When chastised by the stall operator, he sneeringly said "My father told me that I don't have to queue because I am rich!"
This is the future of our nation? Then it is a future that I will gladly abandon for a less arrogant society....
This is how we appear to be raising our children...I witnessed a child, a student at a Primary school, barging his way to the front of a queue at the canteen. When chastised by the stall operator, he sneeringly said "My father told me that I don't have to queue because I am rich!"
This is the future of our nation? Then it is a future that I will gladly abandon for a less arrogant society....
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Double Standards?
I am a big fan of the Olympics...even though I'm becoming less and less enamoured of them as the years go by and more athletes are turning professional. I particularly admire paralympians who, more so than regular super fit Olympian have to overcome Herculean odds to achieve sporting victory. So, then...why aren't we getting ANY coverage of the Paralympics on TV? There's nothing at all safe a 1-2 minute segment on the news. What's even worse, is that when Singaporean, native-born Paralympian Laurentia Tan won a bronze in an Equestrian event yesterday, it only warranted a tiny section in the front page and a full page in the sports section. When our foreign bought table tennis players won a silver, it made HEADLINES. So why the discrepancy? After all, isn't this what we were waiting for? A true blue Singaporean winning an Olympic medal?
Here's the bigger question....will our Paralympians be greeted with the same pomp and circumstance as the table tennis players when they return to Singapore? Will the medal winners be granted a National Medal? Will they be feted at NTUC Fairprice events? Will the PM be as effusive in his enthusiastic praise? Let's wait and see....
Here's the bigger question....will our Paralympians be greeted with the same pomp and circumstance as the table tennis players when they return to Singapore? Will the medal winners be granted a National Medal? Will they be feted at NTUC Fairprice events? Will the PM be as effusive in his enthusiastic praise? Let's wait and see....
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Sweeping Assumptions
It seems as though the residents of a middle class neighbourhood in Singapore have made some very big assumptions about the quality of some potential new neighbours. If an unused school is used as a dormitory for about a thousand foreign workers, as the authorities have suggested, then these new neighbours will overwhelm the once quiet, peaceful neighbourhood, swarming for the public buses to transport them to their work sites, invade their personal space, walking around half naked, befriending their maids, staring at them with undisguised greed, waiting to pounce on their properties, children, elderly parents etc
So what are the assumptions then?
1. These are unwashed, unclothed, unskilled labourers who work in construction sites around the island
2. They or at least a large proportion of them, are part of the criminal element that now haunt Singapore
3. They will be destroying the peace of the neighbourhood by blasting their 'boom boxes', congregating in large threatening groups and getting drunk, spitting, littering and generally being a complete nuisance.
So, where are these assumptions coming from? Have any of the petitioners ever lived in close proximity to these assumed 'menaces of the modern world'? Have they witnessed any of the acts they assume will inevitably happen if these 'foreigners' move in or have they been listening to the urban legends of their friends and reading about similar incidents in the media?
It is commendable that they recognize that these foreigners make a contribution to our economy. They in fact, do the jobs that Singaporeans look down their noses at and shun as beneath their dignity and worth. We seem to be victims of our own class prejudices! If we won't stoop to service level jobs...and these include customer service work, nursing, construction work, garbage disposal, cleaning and other 'unworthy' jobs, then can we blame the government for having to bring in people from less fortunate countries than ours to perform these tasks.
With our population, foreign and domestic, burgeoning, space is shrinking in this country.
You are going to have to get used to sharing your neighbourhood with everyone, and not just the people you designate 'worthy' of your space.
It seems that this incident is merely a symptom of what is potentially going to become described as a plague of overcrowding. If you want continued unlimited growth, then expect continued overcrowding. If you believe that this island can sustain a population of six and a half million, than this is merely a taste of what is to come. If you want the life and the nighbourhoods that you enjoy, with peace and quiet and serenity, then you also have to call on a halt or a slow down to growth....will you accept this?
So what are the assumptions then?
1. These are unwashed, unclothed, unskilled labourers who work in construction sites around the island
2. They or at least a large proportion of them, are part of the criminal element that now haunt Singapore
3. They will be destroying the peace of the neighbourhood by blasting their 'boom boxes', congregating in large threatening groups and getting drunk, spitting, littering and generally being a complete nuisance.
So, where are these assumptions coming from? Have any of the petitioners ever lived in close proximity to these assumed 'menaces of the modern world'? Have they witnessed any of the acts they assume will inevitably happen if these 'foreigners' move in or have they been listening to the urban legends of their friends and reading about similar incidents in the media?
It is commendable that they recognize that these foreigners make a contribution to our economy. They in fact, do the jobs that Singaporeans look down their noses at and shun as beneath their dignity and worth. We seem to be victims of our own class prejudices! If we won't stoop to service level jobs...and these include customer service work, nursing, construction work, garbage disposal, cleaning and other 'unworthy' jobs, then can we blame the government for having to bring in people from less fortunate countries than ours to perform these tasks.
With our population, foreign and domestic, burgeoning, space is shrinking in this country.
You are going to have to get used to sharing your neighbourhood with everyone, and not just the people you designate 'worthy' of your space.
It seems that this incident is merely a symptom of what is potentially going to become described as a plague of overcrowding. If you want continued unlimited growth, then expect continued overcrowding. If you believe that this island can sustain a population of six and a half million, than this is merely a taste of what is to come. If you want the life and the nighbourhoods that you enjoy, with peace and quiet and serenity, then you also have to call on a halt or a slow down to growth....will you accept this?
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Litter-ati
I read in the Straits Times this morning about our persistent litterbugs...some of whom who are supposedly 'educated' folks who litter without care in cinemas. They believe its even a right to do so...as if they were at The Raffles Longbar and casting peanut shells on the floor was a tradition. Well, its not a bloody tradition to cast your popcorn on the floor of cinema halls, you idiots!! Its just shows your breeding!! An engineer, no less, actually stated that she didnt like to 'take her litter out of the cinema because there were cleaners there to do it for her'. "After all its their job!" she claimed.
Well, Ms Engineer, who tidies up your home I wonder? I propose the following solution. Give the cleaners a week off work on full pay. Then when the cinema halls pile up with garbage so high that you can't see your favourite movie because of the mountain of popcorn blocking your view, maybe THEN you'll do something about it. Or maybe not, because in the time honoured tradition of most Singaporeans, all you'll do is complain that no one cleaned up after you! Just goes to show that we may have a really high literacy rate, we may supposedly have the 'best' education system in the world, it just doesnt seem to produce too many educated people!
Well, Ms Engineer, who tidies up your home I wonder? I propose the following solution. Give the cleaners a week off work on full pay. Then when the cinema halls pile up with garbage so high that you can't see your favourite movie because of the mountain of popcorn blocking your view, maybe THEN you'll do something about it. Or maybe not, because in the time honoured tradition of most Singaporeans, all you'll do is complain that no one cleaned up after you! Just goes to show that we may have a really high literacy rate, we may supposedly have the 'best' education system in the world, it just doesnt seem to produce too many educated people!
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Human Traffic
I almost never go out to town on the weekend anymore. There's little point in going nose to nose with everyone swarming out of their towering ants nests we call HDB apartments and into the trains where you can barely get a seat on anymore...certainly not on a Saturday! I used to be able to get on an uncrowded train on a weekday before 6pm from City Hall to get home from work. After 6 of course, the trains would be jam packed with office drones heading home. Now you can't even find an unpacked train at 3pm!! Its ridiculous! I was going home at 3 on Friday afternoon and i could barely shuffle on to the train at City Hall...where have all these people come from in the last 8 years? Would someone mind telling me how on earth we're meant to fit 6 and a half million people into this country, let alone the overcrowding 4 and a half million that now live here. Its fine to keep building upwards but that's provided all those people stay indoors and never go anywhere. Given the lack of apparently meaningful things to do in this country, aside from shopping or wandering aimlessly NOT shopping in the cloned malls across the island, people are obviously out and about and its decidedly unpleasant having to jostle for personal space.
The powers that be tell us that its no different in places like Tokyo where people are crammed into trains like sardines. Well, all well and good but why the hell would I want to BE a sardine?
The powers that be tell us that its no different in places like Tokyo where people are crammed into trains like sardines. Well, all well and good but why the hell would I want to BE a sardine?
Friday, August 29, 2008
Environmental Hypocrisy
I read an article in the Straits Times today that Resorts World at Sentosa, the self styled Integrated Resort, otherwise named CASINO is planning to bring in whale sharks for its oceanarium. They claim that they 'will be loved and will receive top-class care'. Umm, exactly who are the people providing this care? Are they top class Oceanologists? Are the zoologists? What qualifications do they really have that qualifies them to provide 'loving top-class care' to an unknown number of Whale Sharks? Are they world renowned whale shark experts? Or are they Tampines fish farmers, hastily recruited by this casino to tend their over sized aquarium? And as, the SPCA has rightly asked...for whose benefit are we bringing in these gentle giants? Does keeping a whale shark in captivity really promote appreciation of aquatic diversity? How does one measure this? Or is it the same silly reason that over sized aquariums give for keeping animals that shouldnt be kept in captivity in the first place?
Here's the clincher though...Resorts World has launched a 'marine life fund' and has stated that shark's fin soup will not available on its menu....EXCEPT to high rollers. I guess everything, ultimately has a price!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whale_sharks
Here's the clincher though...Resorts World has launched a 'marine life fund' and has stated that shark's fin soup will not available on its menu....EXCEPT to high rollers. I guess everything, ultimately has a price!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whale_sharks
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Nurturing Talent
Enough already with the table tennis celebrations!!! If we really want to win a medal without outsourcing it, we have to remember that developing and nurturing talent takes a long, a very long time...generations sometimes, and probably combined with some pretty nifty genes. See how long it finally took the Jamaicans to win a Gold? Even Afghanistan won a medal...and it was an Afghan who won the medal! Another thing we need to do is to completely change our mindset with regard to sport. Remember Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences? not everyone is academically endowed. Maybe we should move away from the obsession of attaining academic achievements for individuals who are more gifted in other areas. Think about it...would Michael Phelps or Usain Bolt have been straight A 'O' Level students?
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
A Sporting World
So now the Olympics are finally over and everyone's gone home...some to Parades and more medal presentations...will their necks ache after wearing those medals all the way from the airport across town and straight into another presentation? Athletes are maybe $750 000 richer for playing a sport they were bought over to play in the first place....and the story goes on.
So whats with the Olympics these days...it was only 2000 years ago that all you ever got was a laurel wreath around your head and maybe free food for a lifetime...or something like that. One wonders if the local discus maker would sponsor an athlete for a million drachmas to advertise his product!! Sporting was kinda pure...way back then. Then again, women and non Greeks weren't allowed to compete...so maybe it wasn't so great..they were missing out there.
So flash forward 2000 years .... gold medal winners are the most marketable people on Earth suddenly advertising watches they never wear, food they never eat and possibly clothes they wouldn't be caught dead in. And all this so that the general everyday ne'er do well with no concept of his own identity can parade around saying "Hey Michael Phelps wears Nike...so do I...so gee, I could be a rough caricature of Michael Phelps!!"
So now we've even stopped depending on our own athletes to win medals for the countries they're born to...okay maybe that's not so bad if you migrate to a country for the sole purpose of migrating to that country. If you're specifically brought over and given citizenship so that you can compete and win a medal for that adopted country, doesn't that smack somewhat of desperation? So now we have Brazilians playing beach volleyball for Georgia, Chinese table tennis players in Canada, Australia and Singapore, Jamaicans in Canada etc etc. Maybe we should stop making the Olympics about countries competing against each other. Maybe we should go back to the old days of jousting where the contenders walked in with their own personal coat of arms? Maybe that will silence the idiocy of countries claiming that they 'won' the Olympics because they won more medals than anyone else or because they won more Gold medals than anyone else or because they won more team events than anyone else.
What happened to the good old joy of competing for the sake of competing? For the pleasure of running down a track for the sheer enjoyment of it. Maybe for some athletes that's all it is. I hope it is! There must be some hope for the world!
So whats with the Olympics these days...it was only 2000 years ago that all you ever got was a laurel wreath around your head and maybe free food for a lifetime...or something like that. One wonders if the local discus maker would sponsor an athlete for a million drachmas to advertise his product!! Sporting was kinda pure...way back then. Then again, women and non Greeks weren't allowed to compete...so maybe it wasn't so great..they were missing out there.
So flash forward 2000 years .... gold medal winners are the most marketable people on Earth suddenly advertising watches they never wear, food they never eat and possibly clothes they wouldn't be caught dead in. And all this so that the general everyday ne'er do well with no concept of his own identity can parade around saying "Hey Michael Phelps wears Nike...so do I...so gee, I could be a rough caricature of Michael Phelps!!"
So now we've even stopped depending on our own athletes to win medals for the countries they're born to...okay maybe that's not so bad if you migrate to a country for the sole purpose of migrating to that country. If you're specifically brought over and given citizenship so that you can compete and win a medal for that adopted country, doesn't that smack somewhat of desperation? So now we have Brazilians playing beach volleyball for Georgia, Chinese table tennis players in Canada, Australia and Singapore, Jamaicans in Canada etc etc. Maybe we should stop making the Olympics about countries competing against each other. Maybe we should go back to the old days of jousting where the contenders walked in with their own personal coat of arms? Maybe that will silence the idiocy of countries claiming that they 'won' the Olympics because they won more medals than anyone else or because they won more Gold medals than anyone else or because they won more team events than anyone else.
What happened to the good old joy of competing for the sake of competing? For the pleasure of running down a track for the sheer enjoyment of it. Maybe for some athletes that's all it is. I hope it is! There must be some hope for the world!
First Thoughts
A good buddy of mine encouraged me to put my thoughts down on 'paper' as I continuously rant to him via SMS. Thanks to Superretrenchedman, I'm finally getting my 3am thoughts into something readable! Watch out for more posts over the next few days!
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