These are education ideas based on th...

These are education ideas based on things that occurred in my private school, which can be repeated in public school. (I attended both types of schools.)

1) Problem solving via education:
a. A medical doctor came into my class in private school in fourth grade with a demonstration. She attached a cigarette to a plastic tube that went into a plastic model of a human being. Inside the model, 2 mason jars were filled with Angel Hair/cotton, which the doctor stated would act like our lungs. She had a hand pump to squeeze that created suction on the tube holding the cigarette to create breathing action. The white cotton after a few puffs on the cigarette began to turn black right in front of our eyes. I never smoked, nor have I ever tried a cigarette since seeing the results in fourth grade of ingesting the smoke from one cigarette.
-public school had nothing like this. This demonstration can be done with nurses, emt's, or any health official.

Bottom Line: Let's target problems in a preventative fashion through education.

b. Obesity is at the root of many of the health ills that are most costly in this country. What can we do through education that targets that problem 100%?
-First, we need to get our information strait. Bring Dr. Michael Anchors -MD, PHD to the White House and to Congress to speak about weight loss. If you read his book - Life between Meals - you will get ideas for policy change. (His book could not be mass published. Publishers said, "It's not trendy enough. It's all fact. We want something that will excite people and fly off the shelf." So they would not publish the writing of a man who has been a weight loss doctor for 30 years, or work with him to reform the book to be more marketable.)
Here is a sample from his blog. Contact him through his site, get his book. It reads like a text book of what every American should be doing. Distill down the information and get it into schools at the early level. Start at the root with health education. Make it important that all elementary school children are saying things like, "I'm not gonna do that, that can't be good for my health." Get them young. This gets heart disease, diabetes, and all kinds of other costly problems down.
http://phenpro.com/comments.php?id=798_0_1_0_C

C. Divorce. My background in Sociology taught me a startling piece of information. The rate of divorce - one of the most costly things in society - is not driven by the quantity or intensity of conflict. It is driven by how the conflict is resolved. In college, I was introduced to conflict resolution. It stated, you listen - paraphrase - state your opinion - and then listen again - paraphrase back - and then state your opinion - until you can find an alternative solution that is win win for both. Why did I have to get that one lesson from a PHD professor of Stress Management in college? (A course I had to argue with my parents to take because it was outside of requirements.)

The funny thing is, the most important thing I learned about relationships in school, that changed my entire life - I learned in my last year of 7 years of college (when I paid myself the last 2) - from a course I could barely find, barely get into, and wish I had first semester freshman year.

Every day, this course provided the most relevant information in the history of my education. Can you take this type of information (Dr. Gerald Greenberg at University of Maryland has phenomenal books and he can guide you) and incorporate it into schools as prevention.

Also, divorce is caused by competition in relationship. When there are disagreements and it becomes debate - one wins - one loses. In a marriage this means you make the person you love most in your life a loser, or you try to. Successful relationships share in common that they dialog about disagreements and find win - win scenarios.

What about having a life skills course at the start of each 4 year block of school? And I mean an intensive course that prepares people for life. Rigorously taught by the best professional educators.


2) Motivation/inspiration via education.
Use the web to create an organization of professionals who are willing to come into schools a couple times a year to speak to specific classes. For example, bring a carpenter into geometry class towards the beginning to discuss how he draws shapes on his designs in order to plan how he will build houses/rooms... etc.
Bottom Line: Education partnerships with the community of professionals surrounding it. Bring experts into each class once a year to talk about how they use each skill. Bring a scientist or a business man in to talk about how he uses writing skills. Bring experts into every class to compel the students to engage far more strongly in the material.
Concept: Engaged students will pull more information from their teachers and challenge their teachers to be better. Teachers will also feel appreciated and will work harder when students are engaged and it is not an uphill battle to teach.

3) An education forum for parents
Provide a forum for parents to get the latest information in very distilled fashion on how to help their kids be successful in school.
One example, highlight that students grades are directly correlated towards the number of hours of sleep they have. When in public school, there was one class in high school where a teacher went - picked up a metal trash can - and threw it down on the ground while standing on a lab desk to wake everyone up. 38 people had fallen asleep during class near the beginning. They were all worn out when they got in there. I was engaged in the material and found him to be a great teacher.

Start with sleep:
Talk about diet:
Talk more about playing outside and video games.

4) Counter act self-defeating trends.
One example, as an entertainer I perform in schools. Now, children are layered up with sun screen before they go outside.
The media has pumped up a lot of fear about exposure to sunlight and so parents and teachers have a different feeling about sending their kids outside. There was a period of time that I realized if I watched the news too much, I would develop fears of everything. Look at what the news tells people, go outside and a mosquito can poison you with west nile virus, or the sun can give you cancer, or.... etc.

There is already some change in this, but we need to take this all the way.
Somehow parents need to learn that being in sunlight activates vitamin D, which helps children develop. Humans work like trees with photosynthesis. We create vitamin D in the sun rather than glucose.

Target and counter these issues that create limits on children being outside.

Remember, being inside on a video game is fun - but if being outside might eventually kill you - you are safer if your kids are inside.

Trend two. Talk to strangers education. Kidnapping is actually one of the rarest form of crime, yet, to protect children from it (even though most kidnappers and child abusers know the family personally) we have told children not to talk to strangers. Imagine Obama running for president not talking to strangers. Imagine a sales person, a business person, anyone trying to be successful not talking to strangers.

I feel in our culture the results of this teaching. When I go around the world and learn how open people are to communication it kills me. We create a pattern in childhood that separates people and makes them keep their distance.

Instead: We need to educate children how to understand who is safe to talk to and who is not. Pick up signs that something is weird. How to judge when someone has your best intentions at heart - or when they are trying to get something. Educate children to read and understand people. Nonverbal communication is a science now.

Primary Green Energy Initiative.

Primary Green Energy Initiative.  To spark the green revolution and create jobs in every state in a way that is market supported.  

Work on the long term mass projects, yes.  

But, we must see financial rewards today - and green job demand grow in every state now. 

1) find areas where during peak time, power companies are buying very expensive energy from far away.

2) the market will support the expense of green power, if it reduces the very expensive rate that is being paid right now during peak times like this.

3) put green power generation systems, locally, where these areas of high demand are - so that the very expensive energy is not needed to be brought in.

4)  this starts a boom in green energy in every state.

5)  when these people finish their jobs in their states, they will expand outwards - including to the areas of mass projects like the sun-belt and wind-belt in the center of the country. 

6)  this initial action generates a trained and experienced work-force, while creating a demand for the products of green businesses that is diversified geographically and based on different local economies.  This can create a stable base, when the economy goes weak in one area.  

7) Call me at 301-325-8227 for more ideas.

Economic recovery plan

Economic recovery plan

Dear Obama Transition Staffer,

Please, print this plan and look for salient points. Please, call me to elaborate. I wrote in outline form so that you can see a three pronged plan with multiple specific steps. Each focuses on Leadership, cash flow, market stability, competitiveness, and planting the seeds for our future strength. Jobs are folded into a side effect of each treatment that is stated below.

I have applied for a job in the Obama administration. Please, read this and find the right place for me to be. I am currently an entrepreneur and the President of my own company with an extreme passion for politics and helping America see a brighter future.

I sit all day, collecting and synthesizing ideas. What you see below are some of those results.

A. Attitude Adjustment:
The media is currently pummeling our economy into the ground. People who have jobs, that are secure, with plenty of savings in the bank - are petrified to spend a penny right now. Watch the media and say, "Is it possible that this may have hammered consumer confidence into the ground?"

Lead the media. Ask them to focus all of their news on what people can do to better manage their money and become more succesful. Ask them that whenever they make a report - 540,000 jobless claims - we ask that if you are a business owner you follow through on your contracts and continue to use services of other businesses because it is the engine of the economy. Don't stop building your business in this economy.

Ask the media, when they express negative news to phrase things as - this is things going in the wrong direction - here is one action you can take so that things go in the right direction.

Otherwise we are driving people into fear and creating a recession by people who could spend - being so afraid that they pull all of their money close.

Start a political election style whisper campaign to spark the competitive spirit of Americans. Give everyone the sense that while their competition has stopped spending on their business, they have the opportunity to advance every product they have and get way ahead. Leak these stories and get people thinking they are the only ones who are focused on spending and improving on their business.

Remember how it was leaked that you were muslim and all sorts of other things meant to scare people? Send out all these leaks so that people feel as though they got the idea to use the recession to out-do their competition who is not spending on business improvement.

Leak e-mails all over the place that give the sense that the economy will begin to improve soon.

Consider that the economy has halted due to fear and lack of leadership. People fear innovation and investment because they don't know if our country is going to be here next year.

Announce your 1 year plan, your 2 year plan, your five year plan, your ten year plan - just the basic structure, so that people get in their mind that our country will be here in those time increments. Set the example of long term planning for success. Open people's minds to the idea that they should plan because our country will still be here.

B. Cash flow problem
a. Consider the question - how are we funding our massive trade deficit?
- Americans do not have savings - we maxed out our credit cards - how are we funding this?
My answer: Through sending money that would support the pricing that our markets established. In housing for example, we are not directly spending the money from the equity in our homes. We are spending the money that we might use, if we were buying a home, or powering the economy in America that would generate the revenue that would allow someone else to buy a home at the market established price.
If we send all of our money overseas, we cannot purchase things at the rate that our markets have currently established.
Thus, by sending money overseas, when we do not have savings, or credit - we are going for the jugular - and indirectly paying with the equity in our homes - by being unable to support current market pricing levels.

C. Jobs
New Jobs:
1) Help fill current job demand.
a. Wind Power - we require more training. The jobs are available, money is available - wind power's future is slowed by a lack of people with the training. Create more programs to educate people to fill the jobs that are already there.
b. Nursing - we have more nursing jobs than we can fill. We are insourcing trained nurses from other countries. How can we fill those jobs with American workers? The medical culture undervalues nursing and doctors treat nurses poorly. How do we change the culture and draw more people into an avenue where jobs are available already?

2) Partner with existing organizations working for American competitiveness. This is an umbrella organization that covers most sectors of the economy that has a focused overall vision. Figure out how the government can take their mission and amp it up on steroids through government assistance - and making regulations and trade deals that are friendly to the mission of this organization.
http://www.tradereform.org/content/view/1168/42/
Work with the people of this organization to activate an economic army to go to work on whatever you set in motion. The people are already there. The leaders are already there. Tap those leaders, tap those visions, tap those workers in those industry's.

3) Solve the countrie's cash flow problem. When we ship all our money to somewhere else, we don't have it here and we wonder why we feel financially busted.
a) Focus on jobs that will create massive demand for US products via export.
b) Create an export web-site that teaches American businesses how to export and connects them with other businesses that will help them along the way.
c) Keep the value of the dollar low so that our exports are in greater demand.

4) Auto sector transformation. As part of a bailout - mandate that to get the money an SUV production line must be shut down and GM must act as a manufacturing company, not a design company on that one line. Work out a detail between GM and Aptera.com so that GM produces that car for the mass market. It gets 300 miles per gallon. There is a scientist in Arizona who has a large greenhouse where he grows algae. He can convert that algae to 50% oil in a refinery in his own lab. Ask Aptera to partner with this man to make a 300 mile per gallon vehicle that runs off algae in the next two years and make the funding available for GM to retool to produce this. Then we have a car that out-competes every other car globally. We dramatically reduce C02. We save GM. We switch from foreign oil to algae grown in Arizona. We get rid of corn ethanol that is far less efficient than the algae in terms of conversion to oil. And by dropping the production of corn ethanol - corn prices drop - and farmers begin producing other food crops. Then the price of basic food crops becomes more affordable and people can eat the staples - and afford the staples - more easily.

5) Sit all the bank CEO's in a room. Send one person from the government with each CEO as oversight. State that, "we own part of your bank - we insure your bank - you're business is stable because of us - if you do not begin loaning to qualified businesses and lendees we will nationalize your bank further, or begin treasury direct lending for car and business loans - directly competing with your business - with the full recources of the united states government. Aka - strong arm them. We require persuassion - influence - and if necessary compliance on this. Call bank CEO's each day - personally - and ask them, what are you doing today to increase lending to businesses?
6) The car industry will begin to recover when car loans are available. Make the bailout much smaller than they requested. Send money to keep them in business for one month more. Then, before you send out any more money - you want all 3 major CEO's in your office with a full accounting of how they spent every penny to be more competitive, before they get more. Focus on restoring the auto market by making loans available - and zeroing in on competitiveness, to attack the problem from both sides. Give in baby steps with maximum accountability. Say that only 2 car companies will get the next payment. So, your current actions determine who is in, and who is out. Make it down to the moment - that they must prove they are worthy to stay in business and get government support.

7) bring me in to your office to consult with you further.

8) Ask American's and American businesses a foot in the door action to get them spending again in the right way - responsibly.
Ask businesses to find the smallest investment that they can make dollar wise, that will yield the biggest advancement in the competitiveness of their business. Ask American's to purchase that one necessity that costs the least that they have been holding off on out of fear of the economy.

9) Fear as a wrecking-ball of the economy.

10) Al Quaida and Iran is fighting a war of attrition against us, while all of our energy has been focused on their nuclear weapons, which would be a war of anhillation. Their attacks are geared towards causing us to continue to drain our resources in every way possible. Our attacks are focused on anhilation of their organizations. We need to fill every one of the safest positions in our military with an ally nations forces so that we focus on the spearhead in the battle zone. Thus, we reduce our costs greatly, our allies are safe, and we achieve greater results at the head of the fight. The way the insurgents and Iran are fighting, is like an enemy sitting outside of our castle - laying siege - and draining our resources.
FOCUS THE BATTLE THE RIGHT WAY! THEY ARE TRYING TO DRAIN OUR DOLLARS NOT OUR BLOOD.

11) End the very strange stock/treasury cycle that we have gotten into. People are selling their stock in companies, buying treasuries, and the treasury is buying companies. The issue is that the people are left with .3% interest instead of the earnings of the stock market.

12) Use government money by contract. If a bank or someone wants money - they must write a proposal for contact, with the specific steps they will take with the money. They must get loans for that specific proposal to solve an exact problem, before they can get money.

13) Banks are not lending because they are not sure where their balance sheets are. They know they have money, they just don't know how much, so they fear lending. Create an external balance sheet. A set fund that they know is balanced and available - for lending to businesses and consumers of automobiles. Instead of isolating the negative assets, isolate some positive assets. $700 billion in business and consumer loans in a forward motion into the economy at the spearhead of companies and certain products that would create jobs, would be an absolute boom in the hands of the right people. Create an external balance sheet for banks to use specifically for loans and nothing else. Call it Loan Core - Lender balance sheet clarity center.

At the loan core, there are representatives to each bank. The bank puts a listing of loans that will create the most jobs, in priority order. Loan core files contracts for those exact - specific loans - instead of gross distribution of money - to irresponsible bankers. The money must go into a direct spear head for your goals.

9) Turn all efforts into as you put it, "Scalpel" efforts, not "hatchet" efforts.

10) Education - start from the bottom up and the top down.
a. Find areas where schools are bad and children are on a freight train from school to prison. b. boost reading instruction in those areas in the grades k-3 until all those kids are reading on grade level and then have a chance to learn what is in all of their other classes. c. Start at the young and focus on the one goal of tweaking the system one step at a time until children are getting their high school diplomas.
Concept: The number one factor that determines if an inmate will go back to jail - is if he gets a diploma in jail. If they do not, most go back. Jail = $70,000 per year, education = far less expensive. Spend on the front end so we don't have to pay for what we failed to accomplish up front.
b. Talented students. In minority schools, due to current rules, we lower the student teacher ratio for children with disabilities and special needs. We must shift this, so that we focus more intense resources on the gifted and talented students in our minority schools.

11) Saving money by leaving Iraq.
a. The generals in Iraq made plans when the Democrats began pushing for a time table for withdrawl. The generals made plans to prevent a power vacuum in the case of a precipitous withdrawl.
b. Get those plans - do everything you can to bolster the ideas in those plans. Give them 3 times the amount of time to execute the plans, focus all US Military and contractor strategy on elements that boost those plans and push the baby bird (Iraq) out of the nest, so it can fly on its own.

12) Call me for more ideas. I am looking for a job, applied, and want to work in the Obama administration. My Grandmother was my mentor and was small business woman of the year and a presidential advisor for four presidents. I want to contribute in the way she did and in the way she taught me how. I am currently the President of my own company that is thriving in this economy.

Sincerely,

Benjamin Corey Feinblum

Economic Recovery: The Inverted economy

Economic Recovery:  The Inverted economy

Premise:  The money is still there.

    People have placed their money in:

• 
  Treasury Bonds
  


• 
  CD's at banks
  


• 
  Anywhere they can find safety
  

    Thus, the money withdrawn from the stock market that caused it to crash is still around.

Premise:  The economy is upside down and lopsided

• 
  Deflation in the home market
  


• 
  Deflation in electronics
  


• 
  Deflation in gas prices
  


• 
  Deflation in the cost of credit
  

• 
  Wealth concentration at the top
  


• 
  Greatest need for money to buy basic consumer goods is at the bottom
  


• 
  Upside down mortgages: People hold mortgages worth more money than the value of their homes.    
  

Premise:  Any economic stimulus to the middle class will be spent immediately

• 
  People who rely paycheck to paycheck will spend immediately
  


• 
  This leads to an upward spiral
  


• 
  5% sales tax, income tax off that money spent at businesses, payroll tax off employee wages, sales tax off employee purchases, business purchases, then income tax at another business - money runs around in circles
  

Premise:  Maslow's hierarchy of needs is not being met - thus consumer confidence is at all time low

• 
  People feel insecure about their homes
  


• 
  People feel uncertain about their jobs
  


• 
  People feel uncertain about what will happen with the price of things
  


• 
  People have fear that terrorists created, the news and Bush perpetuated
  


• 
  Fear prevents entrepreneurial investment and stock investment
  


• 
  This all prevents spending and investing that normally drive the economy, but the money is on the sidelines
  

Leadership over a steady period of time will begin to erode the problems.

1) People lose insecurity about their homes, the economy has a foot hold and progress can begin.

This means half way 2009 the economic graphs can be at a turning point, or 3/4 of the way through the year.

Is the US like an airplane that when in a flip will right itself?  But, if a pilot grabs the yoke it will get messed up and take longer to recover?  Is Barrack Obama the way the airplane has chosen to right itself.

Recovery by 6 months into 2010 if all goes well.

Issue concerning the value of a dollar.

Overseas: Our dollar buys less.  It is weak right now.

At Home: As home prices drop, the dollar buys more of the largest asset one can own.  

Weak dollar advances our exports.

If we re wrack our economy for massive exports through trade deals and alternative energy sales, then we have more money inflows into the economy.  

If home prices fall, then we can afford more home.  

So, we may be set to increase our countries revenue through exports and reduce the cost of things that are within our country.

This might cause American's to again feel rich, which would be a different way of having a strong economy and a weak dollar abroad, but a strong dollar at home.

Essentially, we cannot have a recovery that goes on course with how our economy operated before.  The track simply isn't there to move forwards on.  We must drive our train on the track that will at least give an option for consumer confidence returns.

When the foundation of our economy - our confidence in it - and our hierarchy of needs are slowly rebuilt, we will rebuild our country and our economy.

So, if we funded trade deficit with home equity, then trade profit is the way we rebuild home equity - fixing the largest drag on our economy.

So, the longer it takes to increase trade, the longer it takes for our economy to get on a roll again.

McCain Flub Political action e-mail

Critical mistake of John McCain on the economy.

In today's speech (9/19/2008) McCain said the fed should return to managing the purchasing power of the dollar.

What that means is he wants to strengthen the value of the dollar.

However, the one factor that is keeping our growth numbers from clearly showing recession - the one bright spot in our economy - is that exports are up.

When our dollar is weak, our products are cheaper to people around the world, and we export more.

So, if we had a strong dollar right now, as McCain proposes, we would extinguish the one strong area in our economy.

Sincerely,

Benjamin Feinblum
ps. I am independent, have voted both Republican and Democrat and am very specific on who I support. I have also met and spoken at length with John McCain in the past. I like the man, this is a disagreement of approach.

I've sent this to all the major producers of all the major news networks. Hopefully, this is caught and covered.

elaboration on economic crisis solution

Dear Dr. Reich,

I see a problem with your analysis and everyone else's on the economy and why certain things are occurring now.  As a magician, when people try to explain how a trick worked, they come up with these convoluted answers like, "He made it fly with magnets in his sleeves, that are charged with electricity..."  The answer is always far more simple.  My point is, everyone is looking with wide eyes at a failing housing industry and Leman brothers, and we are so baffled by these overt things that we miss the simplicity behind what has us tricked.  

Bottom line:  I am seeing that our country has a business cash flow problem.  At the root of the cash flow problem is an attitude problem that it is ok to send all of our money to other people and countries.  This is likely Bush's business attitude at work, if you look - it is the same attitude that says, "no matter what the economy will be better with tax cuts only.  Anything else will murder the economy."  One example of the attitude is that, while we have massive deficit - a negative cash flow nationally - Bush proposes reducing the positive cash flow into the accounts by cutting taxes.  Consider that this attitude is pervasive and a lack of balance characterizes the approach because the understanding of a need for balance does not exist.

A strong place where this exists is the trade deficit.  What I have determined is that we are funding our trade deficit with money we don't have in cash - American's are not saving.  So, where does the money come from?  Does it appear out of thin air?  Magicians?  

Theory:  We are deflating the prices and value that our markets can support by sending 700 billion dollars overseas.  

Housing prices:  The market began with single worker families.  Men were buying the houses, with their sole income.

Then, women entered workforce, the housing market saw room for expansion.  With two earners, the market would support larger, more expensive houses.

If you look - that is the root of the macroscale long term increase of prices of houses.  That is what supports prices going up.  

What if we had a two earners family, who was sending $5000 a year to their next door neighbors.  In 10 years, thats $50,000.  This one family doesn't have 50,000 that they would have been able to put towards a house.  

Blow this up to macro-scale and look at this structure in society.  The two earner family is every family.  The money sent to the neighbors is being sent when we buy things overseas.

What does this feel like?  It feels ok to people because the money scraped off the top is disposable income.  However, that family after sending that money overseas would only be in the market for a house that was $50,000 less, or in the market to buy $50,000 less in stocks.

That money going out, means that we cannot support our markets.  If the total value of American assets is roughly 50 trillion dollars and for 10 years we send out 700 billion.  Then in 10 years we sent out 14% of the total asset value of our economy.  

However, because our asset holders - Lehman bros, for example - were leveraged buyers.  The net worth of our country being sent overseas has calamitous effects earlier.  The same is true with Americans who have more on credit cards then ever.  

If we are reducing the money we have here, the impacts will be greater when the people are financially overstretched.  

My concept here is:  we are funding the trade deficit with the equity in our homes and assets in our stock market, not with cash.  

Remember, we had an internet bubble.  What occurred in that bubble is we spread communications globally via fiberoptics, business lost its borders, we lost the feeling of handing money, green cash to people, and began to feel free to spend electronic credits that we care less about losing.

So finding every solution that is the anti-thesis to this attitude that its okay to have a negative cash flow - I mean on the personal level, government level, and business level,   

A summary is below.

I have also been researching for charts, graphs, and others with similar beliefs.  Here is the clearest article:

 http://www.safehaven.com/article-3162.htm

Will you help Obama use this information to express an economic plan that will work with the immediate crisis?  Give him the upper hand by giving him the root of the problem?

For example:  1) buy American.  Stop buying everything from overseas until we get a grip on things.  Thats one things that would resolve the trade deficit.  Bush proposed higher consumption to improve the economy, but most consumables are now made in other countries, which compounds our current problem.

See how this all gets worse and we are digging a hole and seeing larger and larger results?

Solution to economic crisis. OBAMA will win this election if he has the answer to the root of our problems and builds solutions around them. This is the root of the problem.
#1 Understand the root of the crisis
#2 Create a solution

#1: Massive trade deficit is not being funded by savings, it is being funded by credit, the equity in our homes, and the value of our assets.

#2: Begin a shift in the attitude of American's and the leadership towards money and where we send it. We should keep it in our pockets.

Concept, if we send $700,000,000,000 overseas. Where is that money coming from? If American's are not saving their money, we don't have cash in our accounts, how are we funding that deficit.

My theory is that we feel ok with the deficit because we are pulling it out of our market place in ways that are not so visible. An economy losing that money, does not have the money in it to support increasing home prices.

If we send money overseas, we are removing money from all of our markets - stock markets - housing markets - auto markets. Thus, we are seeing massive crashes in all of these things.

Bottom Line: We have an attitude that all of this spending, sending money overseas this way with a massive trade deficit is killing our economy from the inside out.

When we spend money that we don't have, we later can't borrow that money for a home. We have borrowed it for consumption and sent the borrowed money overseas.

Please, consider my theory on the relationship between money attitudes that make it ok for us to send 700 billion dollars overseas and the resulting loss of ability for our country to support the prices we established in our markets.

Sincerely,

Benjamin Corey Feinblum

Funding trade deficit via home equity

I believe that we are funding the trade deficit with home equity, not cash, not credit, and now - assets like companies.

This article elaborates on the trade deficit/cliff

http://www.safehaven.com/article-3162.htm

Question:  What is the amount of money in the trade deficit?

What is the amount of money lost in value of our assetts?

Homes:

Stocks: 

Businesses:  

Here is a paragraph from the article that illustrates the connection:

This astounding amount is 40% of GDP and shows no signs of slowing. To put this $4 trillion in perspective, the comparable base of what the whole country is worth is only $48.5 trillion. This total value of the nation is the sum of all real estate, all equities and such personal possessions as cars and furniture. So we are approaching having given away 10% of our net worth as collateral for importing the oil, cars and computers we use for our life style.

If we sent all our money overseas, would we see companies buying assets with borrowed money?  Aka: Leveraged stock investment

Would we see that money all the sudden evaporate if the rest of the money was based on value our market had defined, but our 

economy could not support?

I found these charts.

All these pictures show that the deficit is big and growing.

The Trade Deficit links to the US housing bubble and government deficit
The most basic view of the economy is diagramed below. Households earn the wages they spend on the goods and services from the businesses:

The following chart adds that consumers spend a portion purchasing foreign goods. The foreigners then recycle the dollars they collect from this trade into the US government debt by buying Treasuries and into Agency debt of Government Sponsored Enterprises like Fannie Mae, which then provide money for housing.

Foreigners have funded our housing boom and provided enough credit that the growing Federal deficits have not driven interest rates up. Much is simplified out of the above explanation, but the value is that we can see the biggest and most important money flows.

The US credit market matches the amount borrowed and lent. The accumulated foreign contribution of $4 trillion of lending (investment) has provided the credit for the borrowing by the US government whose debt held by the public is now similar in size to the accumulated foreign loans to the US. The chart below shows the size of Federal government debt and the foreign accumulated current account debt to point out that foreigners are funding credit at comparable levels:

A comparison of Mortgage Debt and Current Account shows similar growth rates:

Subprime mortgages are a symptom of the same unweildy spending of money, I believe was influenced by the capacity to hand money off by computers and cards, rather than cash passing from hand to hand.  We couldn't see or feel how bad our transactions are.

$2333 a year going out.  Per person, this includes kids.  

Government needs to nationalize oil drilling where we made all the leasing available, but have not used it.

The core is actually an attitude towards money, resources, and assets that is all confused.  

So, let me repeat - trade deficit is a number one problem.

Trade deficit and other money issues are an expression of a core attitude problem about money.  

Rise up America - Countering the Palin Halo Effect

Social-psychology of persuassion communication analysis.

I am a social psychologist and communications expert and am e-mailing a concise analysis of the current challenge at hand an approach to overcoming it.

1) Palin is experiencing the "Halo Effect."  This is when a full range of positive attributes are given to a person who is very attractive and seems like a positive person.

2) Obama benefited from some of that before.

3) McCain's current method is to directly target Obama's "Halo Effect," by smearing as solidly and as rapidly as possible.  Believing that Obama was successful due to this effect, he is going straight after it and chose a candidate that could challenge that.

4) To counter this, Barack needs to use the contrast principle, destroy Palin's halo ASAP, and rebuild his Halo Effect at the same time.

Method of Attack:

1) Demonstrate a pattern of calculating public deception

- listing of all deceptive elements.

a.  McCain on Obama's Tax plan

b. Palin bridge to nowhere

c.  The advertisement about sex ed for kindergardners

- and the full list, you are aware of what they are.

2) Put your version of the facts right next to theirs.

- Reality of Palin on the bridge + Your history on earmarks good vs. bad - 

-McCain's statements on taxes.  His history and real plan.  Your real plan.

Contrast these 100% right next to eachother.  

3) Focus on painting this as a pattern of deception.

4) Once the pattern is revealed bring up the question - if you see this deception, and don't question it now.  Where do you think we will be in one year.  Bush used lies and smears against Kerry, complete fabrications, and even used them against John McCain in 2000.  Here is the kicker - 

If we accept lies and distortions now - what will we if he is allowed to take office?

Bush smeared, swiftboated, and fooled America about John Kerry.  Then he fooled the entire country and tried to fool the world on WMD's.  It started before the campaign and continued when he got into office.

5) Shift your change message to a call for change today, now, rather than in two months or a year.

6) Call American's and the News Media to change by "rising up."  Do you think McCain and Palin will lie and distort now, and continue to do so, even after being discredited on issues - and then stop if they get to Washington.  Rise up America.

Do you think all those lies will just stop in November, it didn't happen with Bush - he just kept on lying - "Rise up America."

We may be seeing how McCain and Palin truly want to run this country in the future, if this is not what you want, "Rise up America."

Bring your change message, to be a message of rising up against the current lies.  

Frame this as a bigger issue. 

If you accept these huge lies now, what will America look like for the future, possibly the next 100 years?  Political attack engines, will lie and decieve their way into office.  And those who are best at lying, smearing, and deceiving will always end up being your President. 

Housing is tied to the trade deficit.

I have never heard someone say this.  I came up with this by myself.  

Concept:  Sending money away - Iraq, Trade Deficit - it is no longer in our country

Concept:  Housing is a market driven by what the market will bare.

Postulation:  If we send our money over sees then there will not be money available to sustain the same housing market.

Theory:  Saving is down in the US.  So, if we are wealthy, where is our wealth?  In our house.

If we are sending our wealth overseas, where will we lose our wealth?

Where our money is, in our house.

Mechanism:  Wages down, wealth in the country down, cash on hand for buying homes down, credit down, housing market down.

Basically, we sent all the money out of the country, the money is not here to sustain price levels in the housing market, so housing prices are dropping.

New concept:  What we are spending overseas is essentially coming out of our home value, not cash.

Home value dropping is the impact of the trade deficit.

Correction:  Fix the trade deficit, we bounce more money around in this country, and bring more money into this country, employ more people, then housing values go up.  

Compounding problem:  When people expected growth in their income and it did not arrive, interest only and adjustable rate mortgages killed people adn put them into foreclosure.

I want to repeat this:

We are sustaining a massive trade deficit by pouring money out of the wealth source, our home, not the wealth source our bank accounts.

How housing prices are set:  

When single worker families in the past, only men working - homes were priced to what that market would bare.  Homes were built to what that market would bear.

Challenges, and women began to work.  Suddenly, there was enough extra money that the market would bare bigger houses.  They were built, prices were raised on existing homes.

Women work full time to afford even larger houses.  Keeping up with the Joneses takes off and we buy astronomical houses.

We buy in risky ways, interest only loans, and by spending more money on credit cards for other goods when we spent too much on homes and perhaps cars.

The money we were spending, we were sending overseas.  So, it was giving us products to put in our homes to feel wealthier and feel like we have a higher standard of living.  Then, we sent too much money away.  We borrowed too much on homes.  We borrowed too much on credit cards.

The standard of living bubble is upon us.  

I conclude:  Our home prices are dropping because we send so much money overseas, there is not enough money here to sustain the prices that were set on homes.

I predict:  a major expansion of the depth and breadth of the problem before it gets better.

Recovery = when trade deficit turns around enough that money is pouring into our economy and we are flush again.  

Flush people can afford bigger better homes, and will.  Then prices will begin their climb again.

Trending - trade deficit seems to be slowly moving in the right direction.  If this accelerates - we will correct in this country.

Critique of Critical Thinking:  Experience and What McCain and Obama Are Really Saying.

Experience got us here. Putin's experience said, "Go into Georgia." Rumsfeld's experience said, "Go Into Iraq." I believe that the world is already undergoing an immense amount of change. I see Obama's style as actually leading that change, being at the helm of it, rather than necessarily making change. Obama's change would likely be that he would have an approach that doesn't say, "I'm going to do everything myself."

I am an independant. I believe what I believe in snippets. I don't buy a candidate lock-stop-and barrel.  

I watched McCain on C-SPAN, live, during Iraq hearings when he noted how we would beat back terrorists in one area, not have enough troops to hold the last area we fought in, so they would run over there. His most brilliant line was, "What are we playing here, some giant game of whack-o-mol." So, I supported him on the surge.

However, in the bigger picture - I studied Military Sociology in College - and noted that they were putting Petraus - a Military Sociology professor - in charge. It is never the plan, it is the execution.  

What is experience? It is when all the information you learned in school, or someone taught you, is put to the test - by an occurence in life. That information, cycles back through your mind, becomes behavior, and then - you know something on a deeper level. Its not book knowledge, its experience. The question is, where does your experience leed?

McCain had some campaign finance trouble in the past. After that experience, he became gung-ho, for campaign finance reform. Perhaps - he was trying to reframe his image from one who was in trouble, a part of the problem - to one that was part of the solution. It makes sense. 

However, he may have overcompensated. His campaign finance reform is what became the independant organizations that "Swift Boated" our last election. In my opinion - killed the delicate intellectual mind challenge that is democracy.

If you want to see what I mean, remember the Ukrainian Presidential Candidate who was poisoned? His entire face was covered in weird lesions. Search online - try to find one of their debates. I was stunned by the quality of the debate.  

What we have now... is really bludgeoning each-other with talking points. IT IS NOT DEBATE. So, we stand on a cross-roads.

Lets open the debate.

Georgia: Could it be that the United States had something to do with triggering this? After-all. The Russians did take four US Humvees that were part of training exercises from Georgia. I say this with the deepest patriotism. Because if we get this wrong, we start another cold war with Russia - that will damn us for decades. IT WILL BE A PROBLEM SO BIG OUR CHILDREN WILL STILL DEAL WITH IT.  

US history reads that America was blindsided by the attack at Pearl Harbor. However, the attack on the US Navy came at a time when the US navy was planning an embargo on the Island of Japan.  

The US was about to lay seige, like in medieval times, running down the supplies before storming the castle. We lost a lot of people as Japan tested the concept of pre-emptive war.  

In a sense Japan said, "We get them in port - or we get them off our shores." The choice, when analyzed, that Japan made - would be a simple and obvious choice.  

If we always do what we always did, we're gonna always get what we always got. If we always pretend we didn't have our fingers in the cookie jar, we will escalate conflicts, in an unweildy fashion with large consequences.

So, McCain a patriot. Who wants best for the country. Goes after Russia by the throat. Perhaps thinking in his head," I will appear presidential, I will look tough - like a commander in chief." But, is that really commander in chief?

Remember the phrase, "Tread lightly, but carry a big stick." One of our greatest President's said that. What if McCain's words (Republican's knocking Obama for only being good with words) were all it took to incite the next diplomatic trainwreck with Russia? Did you ever think to stop and question that? We didn't bomb them, all we had were our words.

It was a tough front, McCain put on, while America is in a position of weakness. He further said something to the effect that in this century civilized nations do not attack other sovereign civilized nations. He tried to lecture Russia on how to behave - when at home - he just authorized a war a few years ago to invade the sovereign nation of Iraq. Regardless of agreement on the war being good or bad - that is what we did.

What would be the appropriate response to Russia? First, to calibrate our response with the realization that American influence in the region may have triggered the Georgian's to push Russia too far. Second, calibrate against history.

History says, no to appeasement. So we can't let them go on this. History also says one of the most costly and challenging experiences in the history of America - where we were at the greatest danger - was the cold war.  

So I ask you - did McCain's approach calibrate well? How did it calibrate?

First - what did he say. "We America are holier than thou - we don't go into other sovereign countries - we had nothing to do with creating conditions that might have caused Geogian's to spark off this conflict - you Dam well better stop because we said so... and we are the United States of America."

I want you to examine very closely another part of another speech given by Obama. He mentioned that he was trying for months to get the US to change course in Georgia because he may have seen a potential problem brewing. Comb his speeches. Look for what Obama has said on this.

Then look, Obama said and I quote from the above article “We failed to head off this conflict and lost leverage in our ability to contain it because our leaders have been distracted, our resources overstretched, and our alliances frayed,” Obama said.  

Key words: Head off this conflict.  

That. That is vision. That is leadership. 

Not running around with one's chest puffed out, in an act of holier than thou puffery.  
Not leashing out at Russia for a problem we helped to create. 

Obama has been saying that Iraq from the start would be a little bit too much of a bite to chew on. Our military and military familes are stretched very very very dangerously thin. Our alliances spent. Now, I want you to watch McCain's speech again.  

Do you think perhaps - that taking a big bite out of Russia - might be a little bit more than we can chew? Or, more than we want to chew?  

I want you to consider a thought - because, we don't have the military or alliances to do anything against the Russians beyond words. The phrases McCain used were a tough front. But imagery wise, at the moment, the United States and John McCain are both toothless old men. We don't have the bite - we don't have the military - to chew on what McCain just took a chomp out of.

If you consider this Georgian conflict to be a defining moment in foreign affairs credentials - I want you to consider all I have stated above very closely.  

On the topic of experience, I want you to consider one more thing.  

My experience and understanding of racism is that people said Black people were subhuman. They weren't smart enough, weren't good enough. They weren't American's, blacks didn't get a vote.  

What is happening today is the next progression in the civil rights movement. A white haired old man - person x - is standing up yelling how inexperienced, incapable, and unready - the black man - person Y, is. That is the group dynamic that was racism.

Racism is looking at the face of a black man and through seeing black making that same set of judgements. 

Right experience/wrong experience for the job.

Our constitution has been randsacked by the Bush administration. Obama was a constitutional law professor and may understand how to get it back. Our alliances and image around the world were destroyed Obama may be a good enough speaker to inspire people - win a few hearts and minds back. Our government has been run by people who believe that they will do everything themselves, who haven't asked American's to do things like - go have a meeting with your mortgage broker right now - rather than letting your house just be foreclosed upon. Re-negotiate. Banks are re-negotiating. Obama was a community organizer who believes that change comes from the ground up. Do we need that - when we just had a government that ignored the participation of American's in creating this country?  

Wrong experience for the job. 

McCain lived a huge chunk of his life before the civil rights movement. He lived his life during the cold war when tough rhetoric with Russia was the name of the game. The biggest, most important factor is innovation.

McCain has experience with the way things were in the past. Today, McCain is just learning how to google. He is just beginning to send a few e-mails.  

In other words, do you want the CEO of the most innovative business in the world - The United States of America - to be a man who has not embraced some of our most transformative innovations?

How can he leed a nation of innovation when McCain cannot understand the usefullness of those innovations. Even the blatantly obvious ones.

My point here is actually quite simple.  

Do not take all of this at face value. Do not read the situations on Tv at face value. STOP. STOP STOP STOP. And..... drum roll.... 

THINK!  

I agree with McCain that businesses would be better off and more would come to this country if the corporate tax rate were lowered from 35% to 25%.  

Wait a minute... I just said something I agree with McCain on, after all of the things I wrote earlier.  

Aha! That is critical thinking, deep thought, debate, analysis. On Tv, all day are people spouting talking points from Republican or Democratic views so often, that I bet you hadn't even considered putting deep thinkers - independant minds - who are perhaps less exciting to listen to, yet more full of substance - in front of the camera.  

All that, and I am a professional entertainer as well. I bet I could do that and be entertaining at the same time. I bet, I could have deep intellectual discourse that gets somewhere, and... and - be entertaining at the same time.  

I challenge you to do the same. A major form of joy is actually derived from intellectual challenge and learning. Lets bring the joy and pleasure of reading the news and watching news on TV to add this level. Intellectual challenge. Challenge ideas.

When McCain blasts Russia the way he did is that really the kind of President we want? Was his message calibrated enough? Do we want a guy who looks tough - yet may have taken a bite out of Russia that could become something too big to chew?

I ask you to question these things far far more deeply. You are caught up in the momentum of your own computer graphics department. Slow down. Take a deep breath. Examine one point in great depth. See what happens. I think you will find that you will derive great pleasure from it, if you give it the chance. 

Sincerely,

Benjamin Corey Feinblum

Critique of the news media's coverage, written to CNN via e-mail at campbell@cnn.com when they asked for critiques.

I believe you can go deeper. Every news channel and reporter is parroting the same information and we rarely get anything new. Consider, that you state polls about McCain being percieved as better for foreign relations and this perpetuates the perception. However, if you examine in your report the true credentials of Obama and McCain, you might be revealing something. Obama has a Master's Degree in Foreign Affairs from Columbia University and is on the Foreign Affairs Committee in Congress. Obama is a foreign affairs expert, with a life long interest, and thus his ideas that seem to go frequently right - do so - because he is not just a lawyer, but also an expert on foreign affairs.

When you report polls you engage the conformity theory of social-psychology. People actually begin to believe things because others believe it. However, you can go deeper.

You could also play the c-span recordings of the senate hearings when McCain was coming to the conclusion that we needed a surge. He was really upset. Our army was clearing one area, the insurgents were running away, then they would clear another area, and the insurgents would run back to place we cleared before. He said, "What are we playing here, a giant game of whack-a-mol." If candidates make a claim to something, you can show the actual clips on your web-site in full if need be, or link to c-span.

You can go deeper on what the surge was. The strategy of the US military up until that point was to secure key people, not secure the country. The surge was the idea that we should move from a personal security role to an actual national security role, with forward bases. It wasn't about the number of troops, it was about the fact that we decieded not to play defense anymore.

You could examine how, when the Democrats started calling for withdrawl from Iraq, it may have caused the politicians there to begin to think, if they didn't get their country right and American's left - their necks could be on the line. What effect did it have when Democrats started calling for withdrawl?

You and the media report the stories as seperate things; this is the side of one, this is the other side. But, do you ever synthesize the ideas and note that maybe, one person saying they will stay, another saying we will leave - creates a lever - like a good cop/bad cop situation - that may actually compel the Iraqi's to prepare for us to leave?

What you did not report is that Iraqi generals made a plan to maintain power in case the American's precipitously withdrew. If more people knew this, maybe this idea would come up. We could help them boldster, and implement that plan - over a longer period of time than a precipitous withdrawl, and then we could leave.

In the debate - you let people frame the words about things however they want to. With the war, we should be looking for an exit strategy. You should be asking the candidates. What is your exit strategy?

Obama's strategy is to withdrawl with a massive diplomatic surge to tie things together.

McCain's strategy is to prepare the conditions first and then start withdrawing. But, he doesn't say anything about massive diplomatic efforts. The problems in the country currently, are mostly political in nature.

You cover every bombing that the terrorists do and show it in full detail and run it over and over and over again. If the "Terrorists," aim is to create terror - then when you run their attacks globally - which is what they hope you will do - you give them a platform for generating mass terror across the globe. And all they have to do is blow up a few bombs on a street corner.

In Asymetric warfare - you are allowing yourself to be manipulated that way.

What about providing coverage with a few more real people? You always bring on people who are paid by someone involved with the specific issue at hand. They often are spouting a party line - hammering the talking points. So instead of having dialogue and thoughts on an issue, you often have people competing to get their talking points out more forcefully. More exciting? Perhaps... but, you are destroying the capacity for real intellectual discourse through your approach.

I would like to see a more round table approach. Get people with ideas on there that are not talking points. Then you will be doing the real work of reporting and looking at topics.

Sincerely,

Benjamin Corey Feinblum

Heroin? A National Security Issue?

Most of the heroin that infects our society and destroys lives in America comes from Afghanistan.

Is this considered a national security issue?

Or, is it only a national security issue when people are blown up all at once in front of us?

Education leeds to more money for you and more taxes for the government.

We both benefit. Both you and I - in the government should be putting whatever investment we need to make certain we have the most highly trained workforce in this country.

People in jail don't come back after getting a high school diploma.

We need to create a momentum of developing all the talent and ability in every American.

Education can be a form of trade on the economy that forms the backbone of the economy - rather than regular consumerism.

New Textbooks, jobs for writers, jobs for printers, transporting them, you create jobs.

New schools, new construction, new furniture, new computers, new jobs.

Education can replace part of consumerism in the economy.

We can shape how we consume knowledge instead of a myriad of other things that leave worse by-products.

What is the winning factor?

Obama will balance out any advantage among white voters with John McCain.

Neither will gain a huge leed there.

But, if Obama is balanced out there and a massive quantity of the population - black people - all vote for Obama and there is high turnout -

What happens?

He only needs to win by one vote.

If Obama is behind by 9% in the white vote and the black vote rolls in and 100% comes for him, he will win.

The black vote could actually be enough power that, the white voters balance each other out, and the black voters determine the election.

Consider what has been occuring in American Idol.

We have had many black winners.

This will be a similar situation.

All Obama has to do is chew away at McCain's leadership areas amongst white voters, and maintain his standing with black voters - and he wins by a large margin.

The black voter block - in this case it is a block - may block McCain from becoming President.

How does Obama win by a Land Slide?

Economic Strength as an Obligation for National Security and an Obligation of the Commander in Chief.

After answering on Military points, returning at the end of each major statement to a pocket book issue.

As commander in Chief, I will be focused on energy at home - because it will create jobs, money for Americans, and security through independance from other countries.

America is more secure when more Americans have good jobs. That pays taxes, which funds our government and our military.

So, we do better in every way when our economy at home and how you are doing in your life, financially is taken into account.

How you are doing at home, your physical health, health care, financial situation, job stability, is the foundation for our national security.

As commander in chief I won't take my eyes off the foundation of our national security - you, your ability to work, your ability to earn a living, pay taxes, and keep our country economically strong.

So, I will do everything I can to keep this economy strong as the foundation to my national security plan.

Obama will win. My prediction is made today.

McCain will climb back several times and not go down without a serious fight, but he will go down.

Obama is going straight for the juggular.

McCain is seen by the public as having one major strength over Obama.

Obama is succesfully targeting the only place where McCain polls as being ahead.

If Obama narrows the gap on that even a little bit and keeps McCain fighting on that, we all know McCain is clueless on the economy already and has very little to say.

If McCain were to gain momentum on the economy, Obama could just match his message, improve on it, and deliver it better.

So, Obama is succeeding at going after McCain on the Commander and Chief level of being President.

7/17/2008 be it predicted here.

Obama will be the next President of the United States and by that time, he will have changed everything.

Iran: Cohort Perspective

Fact: 70% of the population in Iran is under the age of 30.

Reality: American leaders who are interacting with Iran are at least a generation or two older.

The American leaders come from a time when they witnessed as adults and had to work on the hostage crisis and other problems with Iran.

The Iranians are in a young and fresh cohort.

There is an asymetry here - in that Americans may pride themselves on remembering and learning from past problems - when

the Iranian population wasn't old enough or even born - to be able to remember most of them.

This young cohort in Iran over time could put more and more pressure on the government there and shift the policies.

I think Iran is an easier out than we may have anticipated.

Conclusion: The young cohort in Iran will have a capacity for new directions, flexibility, and changes of leadership - not possible if it was an older more rooted population.

Consider: The population is not filled with old - hard -liner Yassar Arafats - who have 60 years of war under their belt.

The potential for change exists.

When does a President get good at his job?

I believe it depends on the talent of the person to begin with.

But - consider that Bush had 8 yrs.

This is an MSNBC article below. Is it possible that it takes time for someone to get good at being the president?

With recent successes in North Korea (noting that a diplomat who is very effective may be in place), and other things.

Is it possible we would pull out of Iraq right at the time we get good at it?

Or the President learns how to responsibly handle the job after 8 yrs of on the job training?

Just a thought.

#1 in my mind is that what crosses the president's desk is only the major difficult decisions and the crises that require fast action by the one in charge. The one where weeks of thinking may not be allowed.

So my number one test would be the answer to the question.

Who would best handle the hard decisions and crises? If one says experience - then Mccain gets the answer. If one says, one who proves each day his judgement is ahead of the curve - Obama can have that because he was against Iraq from the start. If one believes the world

has changed so dramatically that experience is a detriment then you have another issue altogether.

McCain doesn't know how to Google. Thats how old and out of touch with the modern era he is. That is how Obama wins.

That is discourse in the vernacular. McCain has experience and a sure mastery of the way things used to be. He's not even up on the times enough to know how to Google. Do you google?

Bush seeks sanctions against Zimbabwe

President Mugabe expected to be sworn in Sunday after 'sham' election

Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi / AP A man and his family examine results of the presidential runoff election Saturday outside a polling station in Harare, Zimbabwe. View related photos

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Mugabe votes in presidential election June 27: Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe casts his ballot in the internationally discredited and violence tainted presidential run-off. Msnbc.com's Dara Brown reports. msnbc.com

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Zimbabwe runoff crisis After months of politically fueled violence, Zimbabwe braces for its one-man presidential run-off election. more photos

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Zimbabwe, a nation in decline Take a look at the country's tumultuous path since independence.

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Mugabe’s Zimbabwe As the one-time "breadbasket of Africa" plunges deeper into crisis, an analysis of President Robert Mugabe’s devastating legacy. NBC News Web Extra

ENCARTA

ZIMBABWE: Maps, facts and figures

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Zimbabwean exiles protest June 27: In London protesters carried a coffin from the Zimbabwean Embassy to the South African High Commission today to illustrate the death of democracy in Zimbabwe. ITN's Paul Davies reports. Nightly News

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updated 15 minutes ago

HARARE, Zimbabwe - The United States is developing penalties against the government of Zimbabwe, President Bush said Saturday, in response to the country's widely-condemned runoff election.

Is it a recession or not?

Bush says "No, it's slow growth."

I say, if you look at what is happening with the figures, the overall gdp that measures what the economy is doing, you get a .06% growth rate. Yes, very slow growth.

But, if you look behind the numbers, you will see that those numbers are buoyed by one factor. The dollar is so low that exports are increasing. People overseas can buy American goods on the cheap and they are beginning too.

Thats a silver lining to the economy.

But, are you in the export business?

At the moment, me neither. So, what are the other numbers?

If the GDP is boosted by exports and what we see as a slow growth economy includes the figures from increased exports, then the economy at home, must be way down.

So, we are in a recession at home, but there is a little more money coming from outside. Basically, we are not pouring our money like a flood to the outside world as fast as we were before. Though we are still in a trade deficit with the outside world that is staggering.

Recession = yes. Unless you are an exporter taking advantage of a demolished dollar.

In a year the dollars the exporters earn at home could cycle back into the economy and be spent on other things and effect other businesses, but, well that would be a year in recession for most.

Bejamin Feinblum

Iran's Involvement in Asymetric Combat

You are missing this.

This entire war is about Asymetric Combat against the United States. If you cannot beat the US Militarily, what other way?
The two war strategies are 1) Anhilation - wiping us off the Earth 2) Attrition - beating us by taking out our recources and supply chain.

Consider Bin Laden was part of the group that took down Russia by keeping them stuck in Afganistan spending their money. Thats how to take the recources of a government.

Read this:
http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/

What if the other way to take the recources of the government was by stopping the flow of tax dollars that fund the government?

If we go into recession then tax dollars slow and the money that funds the military slows down.

Note here that Opec nations are not increasing oil production to lower prices. In fact, it is the first time they have acted in a coordinated fashion. Normally, a few opec nations sneak and ramp up production to make as much money as possible - even when they agree not to, but they are working in concert this time.

Now, Iran builds relations with Venezuala. One word - Oil. Venezuala is a huge supplier of oil and owns Citgo.

So... if you want to take out the US how would you do it?

Would the gas prices be $4 per gallon? Even though it costs $2 a barrel for the entire production line from the Middle East to here?

If oil prices went up and then... lets say we began to use Ethanol as a back-up plan. And Ethanol uses corn, which increases corn demand, so farmers begin growing more corn - because prices are higher. Then, farmers stop growing all other grains and prices for those go up.

Wait - then that would be the perfect recipe for a government to spend a trillion dollars in Iraq - Iran would be helping to keep us there by creating a proxy war.

Then you take the recources of the people in America by triggering a run up in prices for everything we buy.

Then recession occurs and America pays less taxes, while our government carries the largest debt in our history. So, they have no way to pay it off.

Then, the countries that are selling all this oil to us, send our money back, by buying all of our assets - our companies, with their sovereign wealth funds.

How would you take out the US? Direct war? Or, by going for its recources.

What is happening.

This is a war of attrition.

Iran and Venezuala have oil. If every car stops in America we have no economy. The economy funds our entire military.

We are missing it all.

This is a war of attrition.

Benjamin Corey Feinblum