Impleader

We have made great gains in poverty reduction over the last decade, in absolute numbers, the greatest in human history. These gains were quite unexpected and arose quite independently from the sage advice of the wise men and women who spend their lives pondering the subject in endless chatter; interrupted only by a morsel of caviar or sip of champagne (vintage of course) to quench the parched lips. Such is the life of an UN scholar-official.

Thankfully, the most powerful economic force we know of today, more powerful than a UN resolution, faster than a drunk UN representative heading for the toilet. It’s the World Bank! It’s Obama! No, it’s globalization, able to bring entire countries into the global capitalist system and raise living standards in a blink of an eye. Rest assured, poverty will continue to be defeated as long as globalization is with us.

Times (London)
Sandton city is the most opulent temple of capitalism in the continent most devastated by poverty and environmental destruction. To get to it from the airport, the delegates have to pass by Alexandra, a vast township notorious for its hopeless destitution. The delegates are all staying in five-star hotels, fabulous mansions of gilt, fine statuary and Renaissance paintings, to help people who live in shacks.

The delegates who are tackling world hunger are dining in fine restaurants serving warthog, caviar and champagne in the middle of a region where 13 million people are threatened with famine. The head of the UN environment programme warned delegates that an iron curtain was forming between rich and poor countries, while surrounded by an iron curtain of security to keep the poor away from the rich.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2002/aug/27/worldsummit2002

Hey, maybe I’ve written something useful after all. Google Poor Man’s Guides to Riches and what comes up on the third result? Why my own Poor Man’s Guide to Riches Part II! Given that the first two results refer to a music album with that title, I guess I’ve written the best guide on the net. I think it’s time for you see what all the fuss is about. Make yourself rich, read my Poor Man’s Guide to Riches Part I and Part II, and remember me in your will!

The line of questioning during the most recent Democratic debate has led to this open letter to ABC. But Democrats have nothing to complain about, the Republican debates were just as bad if not worse. Moderators asked candidates about their faith in God, which has nothing to do with policy and has no bearing on if they would make a good President or not.

Furthermore, the very questions themselves were biased and loaded with liberal preconceptions. “What are you going to do to help this single mother get a better job?”. That already assumes it is the Federal government’s responsibility to provide single mothers with better jobs in the first place. All the questions were about what new programs candidates could come up with, and how to spend more tax money.

Liberals dominate the media and the makeup of the moderators. I’d love to see some conservative moderators get a chance to ask questions from a different point of view. How would Obama or Clinton respond to the following questions?

“What are some the ineffective and wasteful government programs you would cut, or do no such programs exist?”

“The top 1% of wage earners paid 39.38% of the total federal income taxes collected in 2005, while the bottom 50% paid just 3.07%, yet both of you state that the rich aren’t paying their fair share. What percentage would the top 1% need to pay for you to deem it a fair share?”

stats from
http://www.taxfoundation.org/taxfreedomday/

“In 2008, Americans will work 74 days to afford their federal taxes and 39 more days to pay state and local taxes. Meanwhile, buying food requires 35 days of work, clothing 13 days, and housing 60 days. Other major categories are health and medical care (50 days), transportation (29 days), and recreation (21 days). How do you propose to lessen the incredible tax burden Americans face?”

http://www.cagw.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=11350

“In 2007, Congress earmarked a record number of projects into 12 appropriation bills totaling $17.2 billion, including money for hops research, the Lobster Institute in Maine, the Montana Sheep Institute. and the renovation and transformation of the historic Post Office in Las Vegas. Senator McCain has pledged not to use earmarks, but both of you continue to do so, do you believe the previously mentioned earmarks are a good use of Federal money?”

“The United States has one of the highest corporate tax rates in the developed world. What would you do to make the United States more competitive with other nations?”

Of course these are loaded questions, but the current line of questioning is just as loaded. Of course, we will never hear these questions asked because the moderators are all liberal and would never think to ask such questions.

Democrats are increasingly losing the support of rural small town Americans. Obama’s recent comment that these people, “cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them” is only a sign of the disconnect between small town America and the Democratic message. The voting pattern in small Colusa county offers a view to what is occuring elsewhere.

Colusa county

Year Rep Dem Other
2004 67.2% 4,142 31.6% 1,947 1.2% 77
2000 64.9% 3,629 31.2% 1,745 4.9% 216
1996 54.3% 3,047 36.6% 2,054 9.1% 511
1992 45.9% 2,589 31.9% 1,798 22.1% 1,248
1988 59.5% 3,077 39.1% 2,022 1.4% 73
1984 65.3% 3,388 33.3% 1,725 1.4% 75
1980 58.0% 2,897 32.1% 1,605 9.9% 493
1976 52.7% 2,733 45.2% 2,340 2.1% 109
1972 57.6% 2,715 38.4% 1,810 4.1% 192
1968 51.6% 2,361 40.6% 1,858 7.8% 358
1964 39.3% 1,811 60.6% 2,790 0.1% 5
1960 51.4% 2,497 48.3% 2,348 0.3% 16

A major factor for the alienation between small town Americans and the Democratic Party stems from the Democrats’ abandonment of certain core values fundamental to American identity.

If you were asked what makes an American, an American, what would you say? What are the some of the core principles make Americans who they are? I would answer the notions of individualism and self determination. Out of that comes liberty, freedom, and an entrepreneurial spirit fostered by market capitalism.

The Democrats’ message has shifted away from and is now counter to those notions. Aside from Constitutional issues, the reason so many are against outright gun bans is because it infringes on our individual rights, which still holds dear. And the reason why the majority of Americans would like to keep abortion legal is again because of individual rights. The Pro-Choice supporters were very smart to frame the debate as a matter of a “woman’s right to choose”, again, the individual’s right to self determination outweighs the “needs” or benefits to society. Americans place individualism first.

More nuanced is the relationship between the individual and government. Americans believe that social interactions and a community is built upon individual interactions. Neighbors helping neighbors, and people helping people. Government is not a required intermediary. This is sort of like Protestantism in where the individual doesn’t need the Church (Catholic of course) to connect with God, when people come together, a church is formed, but one has a personal relationship with God that doesn’t have to go through a priest. People should help others and it is their duty, but it doesn’t have to take place through government.

Now examine this statement:

A person is free to make his own choices, we can warm him, but if he makes bad choices, it is his right to though he should suffer the consequences.

Is this more of a Republican or Democratic statement? Nowadays, the Democrats seem focused on making laws designed to stop an individual from harming himself. Restrictions on smoking, restrictions on fat content or the type of fat that can be used to fry food, restrictions on gun ownership. Of course the tradeoff is the loss of liberty and freedom. You can argue about the benefits, but that’s a judgment call, Americans long ago decided that individual freedom is more valuable and worth the cost. Yes people will make bad choices and suffer, but the right to make those choices is one of our most fundamental beliefs.

That is why rural Americans and most Americans don’t connect with the Democratic message. There was once a time where Democrats supported individual choice, and a person’s right to be different from societal norms. The pro-legalization of drugs stance, the gay rights movement, the hippie/punk culture, all were offshoots. We don’t need to conform, and we can create a viable community based on good people helping each other out and doing the right thing.

That spirit has faded and is almost gone from the Democratic Party. What we hear now is a message based on government action and the welfare of society over the welfare and freedom of the individual. When Kennedy said, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country”, it was a call for individual action with the belief that individuals acting together can change the world in a dramatic way. No where was this message of despair and victimhood, that all people could do is wait for the government to do something and “help” them. Like it or not, this is the message the Democrats are sending out and it doesn’t appeal to a nation used to optimism and a belief that individuals can do something to better the world and themselves. This is where the disconnect is.

Recently a big stink’s been raised about Obama’s comments regarding the bitterness of rural Americans, causing them to turn to religion and guns for refuge. Supporters say that his comments are irrelevant and shouldn’t have been questioned in the last Democratic debate. But his comments do matter and are important. They matter is because he sold himself as a candidate that would take into account the needs and views of all Americans. People are attracted to his IMAGE much more than his policies, which are not all that impressive. But now, thanks to his pastor and these comments, that IMAGE is being called into question. What if he does have grudges against Whites and what if he does have a very negative opinion of gun owning, God-fearing, small town Americans? We want to believe that he’s a person who is willing to embrace all and will try to unite the country by pushing aside our petty differences and championing positive values we can all agree on. But that’s all in doubt now.

Obama’s policies have always been second to his appeal as an understanding and tolerant uniter. Even I was attracted to his uplifting message before I delved into the actual details of his proposals. But his recent statements and his relationship with his pastor puts that message at risk. The media is right to expose the Wizard of Oz, if what he’s saying is fake and he doesn’t really believe in his own carefully crafted message of hope.

While reading an article recently, I experienced a phenomenon that is becoming disturbingly frequent. Early in the article, I realize that I do not even agree with the normative goals the author is advocating for, thus rendering any subsequent analysis pointless. Today’s example comes from Michael Gecan, in his article, “On Borrowed Time: Urban decline moves to the suburbs.” This is the introductory paragraph:

A few months ago, about 125 leaders from religious institutions, civic organizations, and social service groups met at Etz Chaim synagogue in the town of Lombard, in DuPage County, to wrestle with a new reality: a budget crisis. Budget crises aren [sic] not supposed to happen in places like west suburban DuPage. It is home to nearly one million souls and more than 600,000 private sector jobs. It boasts a median income of $70,000, one of the highest in the nation. And yet the county, strapped for cash, was threatening to cut convalescent services, veterans’ services, housing assistance, breast cancer screening, and many other essential public functions. [Emphasis added.]

And so it has come to this. A county which boasts a median income among the highest in the nation is facing a budget crisis. And yet, the same leaders of this county consider “breast cancer screening” an “essential public function.” As if the residents were unable, without the government providing for free, obtain breast cancer screening for themselves.

Indeed, the irony of the situation is certainly lost on the author, who is oblivious to the connection between a government that increases the scope of what are considered “essential public functions” - and thus must be provided by the government - and the subsequent budget crisis that follows.

Postscript: The photo above is used for illustrative purposes; an example of breasts worthy of free breast cancer screening.  And for fucks sake, a spelling error in the second sentence?  “Aren” isn’t even a real word, which means it had a big squiggly red line under it when you spell-checked it.  Bush league.

One problem is that the financial regulators have to be more knowledgeable than its participants in order to determine that a certain product is too risky or to make the claim that the bank/financial entity has an unacceptable amount of risk on its books. Most of the products that have caused the turmoil are new and past data couldn’t reflect performance in a down market. I believe that equity requirements have to be modified to prevent off balance sheet transactions and to account for the different types of “AAA” products out there. I also think that there is much less need for more regulation than implied by the media. Now that we know how the new products behave in a downturn, financial entities will adjust and not extend themselves as they’ve done in the past. In other words, they’ll learn from their mistakes as well investors. Stockholders will punish institutions that take a large amount of risk from now on, we simply did not understand the actual risk of the new innovations but we do now. I’m open to detailed proposals, but most sources just call for “more regulation” without specifying what form this regulation will take.

Rationing is a huge issue that needs to be discussed. Right now, everyone expects health care providers to do all they can to keep a person alive regardless of the cost. It is unacceptable to say, sorry, but there’s a 95% chance of you dying in the next 6 months and the cost of treatment isn’t worth the potential benefit. You know that there will be outrage, and the 5% who do survive longer than 6 months will make a huge issue of how the health care provider was “wrong”.

All health care systems based on insurance require a “middleman” to collect payments from the healthy and reallocate those resources to the sick. The question is whether the government can do this more efficiently than the private sector. Given past performances and data on large government programs, the answer should be an obvious NO.

Those who advocate a government run program have to explain why they think the government can be more efficient in providing health care given the performance of other large government programs. Most answers revolve around cutting payments to doctors and hospitals which would have the effect of reducing supply (of doctors and hospitals) and is not a good solution. Medicare costs have risen far beyond inflation even with the reductions in payouts and restrictions, there is simply very little evidence that the government can do a better job than the private sector in regards to providing health care.

We can compare our US system to others, but people have to consider that we have the 3rd most populous nation on the planet. The number of people that will be covered is magnitudes higher than what the systems in Britain, France, and Canada currently deal with. We have to consider if those systems are scalable or if the “high” cost of US health care is due in part to the large number of people in the system. This last part was brought to my attention by Impleader, I had never considered the size of our population in the past and more attention should be paid to this factor.

UCLA has just finished a new study on Mexican-Americans and here are some of the highlights of the study.

The study’s authors, UCLA sociologists Edward E. Telles and Vilma Ortiz, examined various markers of integration among Mexican Americans in Los Angeles and San Antonio, Texas, including educational attainment, economic advancement, English and Spanish proficiency, residential integration, intermarriage, ethnic identity and political involvement.

Second-, third- and fourth-generation Mexican Americans speak English fluently, and most prefer American music. They are increasingly Protestant, and some may even vote for a Republican candidate.

However, many Mexican Americans in these later generations do not graduate from college, and they continue to live in majority Hispanic neighborhoods. Most marry other Hispanics and think of themselves as “Mexican” or “Mexican American.”

Vilma Ortiz, a UCLA associate professor of sociology claims, “institutional barriers, persistent discrimination, punitive immigration policies and a reliance on cheap Mexican labor in the Southwestern states have made integration more difficult for Mexican Americans.”

· The educational levels of second-generation Mexican Americans improved dramatically. But the third and fourth generations failed to surpass, and to some extent fell behind, the educational level of the second generation. Moreover, the educational levels of all Mexican Americans still lag behind the national average.

· Mexican Americans attained higher levels of education when they knew professionals as children, when their parents were more educated and when their parents were more involved in school and church activities. Those who attended Catholic schools were much better educated than those who attended public schools.

· Economic status improved from the first to second generation but stalled in the third and fourth generation. Earnings, occupational status and homeownership were still alarmingly low for later generations. Low levels of schooling among Mexican Americans were the main reason for lower income, occupational status and other indicators of socioeconomic status.

· All Mexican Americans were English-proficient by the second generation. Spanish proficiency declined from the first to the fourth generation, showing that the loss of Spanish was inevitable. However, Spanish declined only gradually, and approximately 36 percent of the fourth generation spoke Spanish fluently.

· First-generation Mexican Americans were about 90 percent Catholic. By the fourth generation, only 58 percent were Catholic.

· Intermarriage increased with each generation. Only 10 percent of immigrants were intermarried. In the third generation, 17 percent were married to non-Hispanics, as were 38 percent in the fourth generation.

· Adult Mexican Americans in the third and fourth generation lived in more segregated neighborhoods than they did as youths. This was due to the high number of Latinos and immigrants moving into these neighborhoods, the researchers said.

· Most Mexican Americans identified as “Mexican” or “Mexican American,” even into the fourth generation. Only about 10 percent identified as “American.” Moreover, many Mexican Americans felt their ethnicity was very important and many said they would like to pass it along to their children. (emphasis mine)

· Third- and fourth-generation Mexican Americans supported less restrictive immigration policies than the general population and generally supported bilingual education and affirmative action.

· In the 1996 presidential election, 93 percent of first-generation Mexican Americans voted Democratic. The percentage of Democratic voters declined in each subsequent generation. By the fourth generation, 74 percent voted Democratic.

Telles and Ortiz noted that some Mexican Americans were able to move into the mainstream more easily than other minorities. Mexican immigrants who came to the United States as children and the children of immigrants tended to show the most progress, perhaps spurred by optimism and an untainted view of the American Dream.

“A disproportionate number, though, continue to occupy the lower ranks of the American class structure,” the sociologists said. “Certainly, later-generation Mexican Americans and European Americans overlap in their class distributions. The difference is that the bulk of Mexican Americans are in lower class sectors but only a relatively small part of the European American population is similarly positioned.”

More than any other factor, Telles and Ortiz said, education accounted for the slow assimilation of Mexican Americans in most social dimensions. The low educational levels of Mexican Americans have impeded most other types of integration. (my emphasis)

“Their limited schooling locks many of them into a future of low socioeconomic status,” they said. “Low levels of education also predict lower rates of intermarriage, a weaker American identity, and a lower likelihood of registering to vote and voting.”

Impleader mentioned to me that Mexican Americans don’t value education as much as other ethnicities (White, Asian) and weren’t assimilating as well as prior immigrants. It seems this study confirms his views.

A classic response to all the horror stories posted below. I can understand some of her (I assume) complaints, some passengers are unreasonable, and accomodating some can piss off others (holding a flight for example). Still, it is the job of customer service representatives to make customers feel better, no matter who is right. The goal is to diffuse the problem, not to assess blame or guilt. As noted earlier, airlines seem to have forgotten this, or aren’t teaching their representatives properly thanks to the new focus on cost cutting. Another commentor blamed the unions for creating a fighting mentality that transports itself over to passenger relations. That and the restrictions on firing poor performing, rude, veteran representatives long since burned out. Judging by the comment below, there seems to be some validity to that observation.

Dear Passengers,
Quit whining all the time.
As a 20 year veteran airport customer service representative I am very tired of hearing whining and complaining passengers all day long.
If I went to your jobs and acted like many of you do at the ticket counters, in the gate areas and on the airplanes I would probably be arrested.
First of all, read signs and quit expecting us to treat you like little kids. You can’t find your way to a bathroom? Can’t read a boarding pass? Act like you are “entitled” to a certain seat on the plane. You don’t own the plane, you just rent A seat for the duration of the flight; remember that!( You buy a space, not a specific SEAT) You wanted cheaper fares? Well, join the
other former Greyhound patrons who are now flying. You wonder why that 300 lb woman/man with a handful of teeth and body odor using multiple seatbelt extensions is sitting next to you? She can now afford it is just like you and thanks to you. Let’s NOT forget you already ran Trailways out of business and we won’t allow you to do the same to the rest of us!
You complained when food was served and now you complain that it is not served. Can’t figure out how to go through security checkpoints?
Do you want me to “Map Quest” it for you? Never read any sign anywhere in the airport and then say “nobody told you where to go?” I’ll
tell you where to go. You come with a bad attitude when everything is on time and you’re late. What did you want? Us to hold the plane for
you? You’d be the first one to complain if the flight was held for someone else and is late. You get mad when the flights are full and
then when the flights are half full. You want us to complimentary place you in first class out of the kindness of our hearts. So I guess I can go to the supermarket and fill up a cart and then ask for a “complimentary grocery shopping” This is a BUSINESS! So there are people PAYING in first class for that seat, but OK! I’ll gie it 2 u for free! The object is to make MONEY!
Last time I checked this is an airline. If you want to move call Van Lines. They are the ones with the trailers.
Besides you don’t need to bring everything you own for the weekend.
Yes, sometimes we do have some attitude. It’s probably due to dealing with some of you idiots who fly today. We are NOT babysitters
or Psychiatrists. We did not have an “attitude” when we started in this business so I wonder where it came from? Use some common sense
and quit acting stupid. Bring your BRAIN to the airport. You seem to want to bring everything else. Our pay is downsized and our staff is
downsized so guess what, we are not happy campers on the other side of that counter. Remember that when you ask for the fifth time in five minutes
when are you going to board the flight . . it’s still half an hour before
departure as it’s ALWAYS has been.
Oh yeah, contrary to what you might think . .WE DO NOT CONTROL THE WEATHER But here is a number that does…1-800-MOM- Nature she might just answer!

Respectfully:
Your Airline Agent….

Forgot also to mention that these stories and more can be found on Felix Salmon’s fine blog in the comments section. They were so incredible that I found it necessary to post them here. This one I had particular issues with thanks to other stories about staff denying passengers boarding for dubious reasons. It seems that powerless employees are taking their frustrations on passengers because the damned management has overloaded them or has put into place, business practices that are sure to piss off passengers, which of course complain to the employees on hand, who can do nothing. Nothing other than to punish passengers by refusing them boarding. Management is to blame, but it hard to hold them accountable. To be honest, it could be sound business strategy to deliberately execute plans that you know will screw X number of people (because delays and such are inevitable) if the benefits to the airline (lower operating costs) outweigh the costs (pissed off customers that may never return). You be the judge.

This report serves as a formal complaint against American Airlines employees for harassment and retaliation against myself.

Said AA employees denied traveler flight midway through passenger�s Official Government travel, after traveler advised employees of his intentions to file formal complaints. Said AA employees then conjured up false allegations in an effort to intimidate passenger from filing complaint, compounded by numerous incidents of harassment and discrimination. Employees violated American Airlines Conditions of Carriage.

American Airline Employees:
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX Customer Service Manager
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX � Gate Agent
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX� refused to provide her last name

In November of 2004, I was booked on travel from Washington National (DCA) to Ontario Airport (ONT) on Northwest Airlines traveling on Official Government Business. The plane had mechanical problems and I was placed on an American Airlines flight, connecting in DFW.

Upon landing in DFW, I approached the American Airlines gate attendants (XXXXXX and another employee who would not give her full name but was later identified by XXXXX � middle aged female, dark hair, Asian) for my connection flight and requested aisle seating if first class was not available (I had shown XXX my first class seating ticket on Northwest Airlines for that same evening had the flight not been cancelled due to mechanical problems).

XXXXXX was rude and ignored me until I asked for her supervisor. A passenger in line with me was equally disturbed at XXXXXX rudeness.

Without further assistance I stood in line ready to enter the jetway as the plane was boarding. I noticed a handicap women by the gate awaiting assistance and I asked if she needed help. Apparently, she has been waiting for some time for one of the two American Airline gate reps (XXXXXXXXXXXXX) to assist her on the plane.

I was the next to last person to board the flight and the handicap lady still had not been helped. I approached XXXXXX and handed her my ticket to board, she tore my boarding pass and handed back my half (which is now in my possession). I then calmly stated to her that she neglects passengers and those with disabilities and that her customer service skills were deplorable. At that moment, XXXXXX became verbally abusive and threatening and said she had the power not to let me board the flight. I asked for her reasoning. She provided none. I asked her to stop threatening me with non boarding and I would report the harassment.

After realizing that Loraine�s irrational behavior was escalating, I stated �Forget everything I said, I�m not going to report this incident, I just need to board the plane.�

Please pay particular attention to this area of the confrontation. It is from there that American Airline employees did a �flip flop� and after I accused them of being verbally abusive, they then turned my argument and facts around to make me look like the �bad guy� by saying I was being verbally abusive.

I asked for a supervisor and with XXXXXXX observing, XXXXXXX (supervisor) approached XXXXX and I and without attempting to hear both sides. She immediately took favor with her employee XXXXXX and treated me like a child (she continuously interrupted me � never able to be impartial, listen, and get to the bottom of the issue.

I advised them that never in my life had I either witnessed, or been victim to such treatment. Both XXXXXX and XXXXXXX made a scene in front of other customers in the area and �ganged up� on me after I told them that I would report their behavior to the Airport Authority.

They were unprofessional, loud and embarrassing.

When XXXXX learned that I would report my complaint she told XXXXXX that she would not let me board and she would advise the pilot (an example of her retaliation).

By stating I was verbally abusive immediately placed me in bad light and gave these American Airline employees all the power in the world to act as horribly and viciously as they did that evening to conjure up every inconvenience they could place upon me at will � and they did. In short, they used the ultimate retaliatory action of �non boarding� in an attempt to not only censor my complaint, but also to intimidate me from pursuing a formal complaint.

See American Airlines Condition of Carriage, Customer With Disabilities Policy, Section F, regarding complaint resolution officials for customers with special needs. Section D states ��pre-boarding assistance will be provided to you, allowing you the opportunity to be seated prior to general boarding.�

I again requested for another supervisor to respond because of XXXXXX clear hostility and retaliatory remarks. I explained to her that every customer has a right to file a complaint and voice their concerns, especially when employees are harassing and violating a passengers civil rights and liberties (I was being unlawfully detained as they were impeding my travel without proper reason, and forcefully having me stay overnight in an airport. Further, when I freely voiced my concerns, they censured and then punished me for doing so � a violation of my right to free speech). These American Airline employees acted as if they worked for an airline in a country that didn�t care for people�s rights.

At this point, it was clear that XXXXX was on a war path and would do everything within her power to be vengeful. She had me wait and stated that she advised the pilot that I would not be traveling on this flight.

I asked for justification and probable cause. She provided none.

American Airlines Conditions of Carriage, Acceptance of Passengers, provides 7 categories in which �American may refuse to transport you.� Again, none of these were applicable to me, clearly violating the existing contract for carriage.

At no time did I see the pilot, nor speak with him. I never boarded the plane and I�m highly skeptical that XXXXX actually spoke with a pilot or provided pilots with an unbiased view of my concerns with gate agents. This should provide American Airline investigators with further proof of XXXXXX harassment.

XXXXXX provided no further information. I asked for the police to respond to keep the peace and conduct an immediate investigation. If I truly was a threat, then I wanted it to be reported fully in an effort to uncover the corruptive nature and sadistic behavior of these American Airline employees.

Further evidence of XXXXXX harassment occurred when I told her I was notifying the police, she summoned her other two counterparts and stated sarcastically, �Yes, that�s a good idea� and told them to call the police in an effort to give the impression that it was they, and not I who was going to call for police assistance (another example, again, of how they tried to turn the tables on me and make me appear to be the person in the wrong.

As a former police officer (with over 14 years of law enforcement experience), I was also aware that if the employees provided false information in an official police report, they would be held criminally liable. In short, they would have to tell the truth now, and on a formal record of events.

If I was some kind of threat, as XXXXX stated she led the pilots to believe, then a report should have been filed and any information provided in that report to be false would be grounds for criminal action for providing false information to a police officer (and more so, grounds for immediate dismissal). Providing false information in a police report and providing false statements in an investigation are both crimes.

Additionally, the agents activity is also a form of unlawful detainment because they unlawfully blocked my free travel, thereby forcefully detaining me inside the airport terminal without just legal or rational probable cause. In short, I was imprisoned from my route of travel, which was only agitated further when these employees told police they did not want me in �their� terminal. Again, if I was a treat to them, then a report of either disorderly conduct or disturbing the peace would have been filed. Rather, they used this as one additional form of harassment.

(Note: the time of this incident was nearly 10PM and by the time the police departed, it was approximately 11PM. The airport was shutting down, my clothes and incidentals were in checked bags on the plane which has now departed; I had nowhere to go, no AA traveler assistance, nothing but a complete feeling of horror, shock and disbelief).

Police responded and took statements. They said that the employees provided no statements showing that I was disorderly, disturbing the peace or a threat � further providing proof that that the employees had colluded together, lied, and took revenge against me for indicating my intentions to report them to the highest authority at American Airlines.

I asked the police if they had enough information to file an incident report (the lowest possible type of report). Again, their response was �no� and refused to take any type of report. I asked the officer to contact her supervisor to make sure. Her supervisor agreed and no report was taken. Further indicating that not only did I not violate a law, but my comments were nothing out of the ordinary for a customer voicing his customer service complaints against three rough employees. Further evidence that none of my comments were threatening or abusive � but rather civil and just.

I further witnessed employees collude in their remarks to enter false information into my travel record. Please read and be familiar with their statements written into my travel record. It will show that their sole argument is based on my arguments to be placed in first class � which couldn�t be farther from the truth.

Further acts of retaliation by American employees that evening:

1) The employees advised the police and myself that they rebooked me on the very next flight out (Continental flight), but it wouldn�t be until the morning. No such booking was ever made. I had to go through Northwest the next morning to generate travel. Had I not been on official travel, or an individual with credit cards and money, I would have been stranded in the DFW Airport.

2) XXXXXX told police that they did not want me in the American Airlines terminal. Another form of harassment. These American Airlines employees realizing that they had no legal reason now to deny me boarding used the last trick up there sleeve; to further inconvenience me by putting me out in the cold.

3) The American Airline employees provided no lodging assistance, no further explanation, and no apologies. Again, according to American Airlines Contract of Carriage, in the section of Delays, Cancellations and Diversions, these employees failed to comply with company policy of �providing reasonable overnight accommodations.�

Action requested:
1) Full disciplinary action against all three employees and a detailed investigation.
2) American Airlines to provide increased training on customer service and complaint resolution.
3) American Airlines to provide employee training on inappropriate measures for denying boarding.
4) American with Disability Act training for employees.

Concluding comments:

According to American Airlines Contract of Carriage, under the Authority to Change Contract, � No agent, employee or representative of American has the authority to alter, modify, or waive any provision of the Conditions of Carriage unless authorized in writing by a corporate officer of American.
These employees acted without due regard for your very own written policies and violated the existing contract I had with your airline.

I fly over 100,000 miles a year and never have I been treated like this. I hold high level travel status with nearly every airline (Premier Executive with United Airlines, Silver Elite with Northwest Airlines and Platinum with America West), and just 2K miles away from American Airline�s frequent flyer status (with over 60K in miles in my current American Airlines account).

I was on official Government travel. My official travel was unlawfully impeded by these three AA employees.

In my years of travel, never have I been subjected to, nor witnessed such horrendous and despicable treatment by airline staff. The behavior is clearly unacceptable and in need of immediate attention. Had any of your Executives witnessed this incident that evening, I�m sure that these employees would no longer be employed by American Airlines and immediate actions would have been taken to remedy every inconvenience these employees placed upon me.

XXXXX has no right to be a supervisor in customer service. XXXXX is deceitful, vengeful and dishonest. She could not keep her mouth closed long enough to listen to the situation and her actions are inexcusable. She failed at understanding a simple leadership principle of paradigm; what was the other side (my situation) attempting to explain. To this day, she probably has no idea that the incident began when I witnessed her airline ignoring a handicapped passenger, which your video camera at the gate entrance will clearly pick up.

They are a liability and embarrassment to your organization.

Rather than attempt to have true customer service values, they used a deceitful, vengeful and dishonest practice of lying to makeup a belief that I was some kind of threat simply because they didn�t like what I was going to report about them. In their minds, they wanted to head off my reporting by creating this incident to draw attention from their own behavior and in doing so, they colluded to remove me from this flight for no other reason than for retaliation.

I stand behind my principals, values and statements. This incident is above a simple misunderstanding and needs a full internal investigation with action from the highest levels of the Executive Offices of American Airlines.

Denying boarding to a customer in this manner is clearly unacceptable.

Imagine what type of world this would be if every airline which had a customer post a complaint was retaliated against like this? Denying travel was never meant to be used as a retaliatory measure and American travelers will be outraged at your current practices if dishonest employees can use this tactic at free will to strike out against the American public.

These AA employees severely attempted to censor my ability to bring their actions to the highest levels of AA and, I�m sure violated the very code of ethics your Airline stands behind.

Additionally, I am forwarding my complaint for investigation to outside agencies and organizations for further investigation but will await American Airlines formal response to this formal complaint filing.

I will not rest until this incident is fully dealt with by American Airlines in a manner deserving the highest levels of investigation by your senior executives.

I’ve had the good fortune of avoiding American Airlines, but the people below haven’t. I wonder why customer service is such a low priority to U.S. based airlines in general. Several people have given answers and I think the most plausible one is that the airlines are so focused on cutting costs, that it filters down all the way to the people who must deliver the service. Of course it’s bad business strategy to alienate your best customers, or to rip them off, but most employees no longer care because they’ve been so demoralized by cost cutting. My own opinion is that the airlines, especially American, seem to be gambling that they can save enough money by denying legitimate claims without taking too much of a hit to their longterm business. Thanks to the frequent flyer business model, most people are held captive since they will lose their hard-earned miles if they decide to switch over to another airline. Anyway, here are some horror stories to get you in the mood for flying.

i will never book another flight on aa. my son sat on an aa plane for over 12 hours with only a bag of pretzels offered to the passengers. this was supposed to be a 4 hour flight. because of the delay, he missed his flight to london and connecting flight to qatar. aa said they could get him on flights but it would take 3 days to get him to his final destination with one of the flights being over booked and no guarantee he would get on it. he ended up flying back home (had to pay for that flight) after spending the night at the airport. to top it off - they sent his luggage to london. 3 days later his luggage makes it to his airport but aa won’t deliver it, he has to pick it up. total cost $7oo + 80,000 flyer miles. no one was helpful or even pretended to care. from now on its continental for our family. we have flown them hundreds of thousands of miles with very few problems and good customer service. aa-get a clue

Sad Story. A couple of months ago, my wife and I had tickets on an American Airlines flight. We had to cancel due to illness. We received credits for the cost of the tickets. Later, my wife used part of her credit for another flight. American sent her a $160 voucher for the balance. I phoned American and asked if I should receive a voucher for my credit. I was told that was not necessary, that all I needed was my flight info to book another flight.

No long ago, I booked, by phone, another American flight for the two of us. The agent used my credit, which was more than my ticket cost, and applied the balance of my credit plus my wife’s voucher to my wife’s ticket. I still owed $100 and I used my credit card. I asked the agent if I needed to surrender the voucher to American. She said I did not, that it was all taken care of. “Are you sure,” I asked. “Absolutely,” she said, “you’re all done.” I don’t like to drown in a sea of paper, so I put the voucher in the trash. American sent me an e-mail confirmation. It sat in my inbox for a day or so, and then I printed it. I confirmed only my itinerary, not my wife’s. I called American and asked if they could send me a confirmation for my wife’s itinerary. The agent said it had not been sent out because my wife’s ticket had not been issued. “Why not?” I asked. “Because we haven’t received the voucher,” she said. “Wait a minute,” I said, “the agent with whom I booked this travel said you didn’t need the voucher.” “We need the voucher,” she said. “You can’t have it,” I said. “Why not?” she asked. “Because I threw it away.” “Why did you do that?” “Because your agent told me you didn’t need it.” “Just a minute,” she said. I guess she spoke with her supervisor. She came back on the line. “Sir,” she said, “we need the voucher. Do you know the number on the voucher?” “Of course not. Just give me the credit and I will be on my way.” “Not without the voucher.” “May I speak to your supervisor?” “All right.” A woman from Hell came on the line. I explained the situation. “The ticketing agent made a mistake,” she said, “we need the voucher.” “The agent works for American Airlines,” I said, “American Airlines made the mistake. I expect American Airlines to make it right.” “Not without the voucher,” she said. “So, if I don’t have the voucher I am out $136?” “That is correct.” “I don’t wish to give you $136 because you made a mistake. What am I supposed to do? Go to Small Claims Court?” “Sir, now that you have mentioned litigation you will have to deal with our legal department.” “Forget the Small Claims Court,” I said, “what can we do to solve this problem?” Guess what she said. “Sir, we need the voucher.” “This is very frustrating,” I said. “Sir, the voucher plainly states “void if transferred, sold, purchased or bartered.” “What does that have to do with me? I did none of those things?” Guess what she said. “Sir, we need the voucher.” I hung up. I was livid. Then I had an idea. I rushed down to the curb and found that the garbage man had not yet arrived. We have a large container, which usually fills up with flotsam, jetsam, and yard waste. I dumped 30 gallons of garbage in my driveway and sorted through it. I found the darn voucher. I called another American Airlines agent and asked where I should send it. She gave me an address that was not included in the voucher documents. In other words, I could not have sent them the voucher if I had wanted to.

It gets worse. The agent who gave me the mailing address for the voucher said that I should call back in a week to make sure they had received it. I did so. I was told that the voucher was being processed. I phoned a week later and asked if the ticket had been issued. The agent said they had not received my voucher. “But one of your people told me last week you had received it,” I said. She put me on hold for an eternity. Back on the line she said, “We have your wife’s voucher, but we don’t have yours.” I explained that I had never received a voucher and that part of my credit had been applied to my wife’s ticket. “We can’t do that,” she said, “credits are not transferable.” “But you did it,” I said, and I rested on hold for another eternity. She came back on the line. “My supervisor says we need your voucher.” I gave up. I paid for the rest of my wife’s ticket with my credit card. I am going to tell the credit card company to reject the charge on the ground of fraud.

I am an attorney. I will be suing American Airlines for breach of contract, fraud, infliction of emotional distress, and anything else I can think of. If I get a judgment that is not promptly paid, I will not send the Sheriff to the airport to do a till tap. Instead, I will advance the Sheriff the fee to rent a tow cart and instruct him to have an American Airlines plane towed from one of the gates to a secure area and then seal it up.

I read somewhere that American once sent a management team over to Southwest Airlines to learn how to run an airline. Apparently they did not pay attention.

American must hire folks from time to time. Maybe they put an ad in the newspaper: “American Airlines is now hiring. Only the incompetent need apply. Must be willing to annoy our customers.”

Needless to say, I am disinclined to fly on American again. It may not be safe. Perhaps their pilots are incompetent too.

AA Aweful! When I moved accross the country, I chose AA to transport my 2 cats. I made SURE I had done everything possible to prepare them for the trip, ie: proper carriers, labels, food/water, health certificates, etc. When I dropped them off at the cargo terminal the AA agent was the most offensive person I’ve ever dealt with. It was like she was determined to find a reason not to accept my pets for travel! She argued with me, belittled me and acted like it was ‘my problem’. Get this: she wasn’t going to allow my large cat to fly because he was too big! She said a ‘cat’ weighs less than 15 pounds and since my cat was over 30 including his carrier, she wound not do it. Then she walked away. She came back about 5-10 minutes later looking annoyed that I was still there. I negotiated paying a ‘fee’ for the extra pounds and she reluctently abided. After she couldn’t find a reason not to fly them, she ended up refusing to let them fly out of Detroit because it had not reached 40 degrees at 9am (it was 38 degrees and my flight wasn’t till 11:20am) I was in a perdiciment because I had to catch that flight myself and what in the world would I do with my cats if they couldn’t fly, too? I assured her that the temperature would be above 40 degrees in the next hour and definately before 11:20 when the flight was to depart. I understood the policy but she basically just decided that she wasn’t going to help me. Finally, I got her to hold my pets (inside the cargo area where it was warmer) and put them on the next flight. That was only after my father-in-law came in to see what was taking me so long did she decide to do something rather than argue with me!
In Albuquerque I had to return 3 hours after my arrival to pick up my cats. guess what? I arrived precisely as instructed and the office was locked up with my cats inside!!!!!
After 90 minutes of running around the airport, a sincere security guard tried to help me and we started paging for a AA manager so someone could open the office. I swear I was ready to break the window to get my cats! They had been couped up for 15 hours with no food, water or bathroom time. I call that inhumane treatment!!!!!
When the manager did finally come, he admitted that he had left the airport grounds. He wasn’t the least bit concerned or appologetic. I wrote a letter to AA customer service and never heard a word.

2 months later we had to fly our dog out and we chose Northwest and it was a MUCH better experience for us and our dog! They treated him with respect and dignity. I will never fly AA again.

Here’s what I predict will happen. Obama will win the majority of delegates before the DNC, but Clinton will easily win over enough super delegates to make her the Democratic nominee for president. I expect the Clinton machine to ramp up to full effect in the coming months. Obama ain’t seen nothing yet. Personal attacks, shady backroom deals, ahhh, a return to the glorious 90’s. I would not be surprised if the slick trial lawyer Edwards throws his support behind the Cllntons. No one outdeals the Clintons, Edwards knows he’s finished as a political force, his only option is to sell out to the highest bidder.

Thanks to the Wall Street Journal for the answer.

I’ve never flown an US airline to an international destination, but this NY Times opinion by Pico Iver who did, caught my attention. I too, was plesantly surprised last time I flew on Cathay Pacific. A few passengers near me made special requests for drinks and/or food during our long flight from LA to Hong Kong. When they did, I cringed, expecting the flight attendant to castigate them for daring to ask–that’s usually what I’ve encountered flying US airlines domestically (except Southwest which has no services so you can’t ask them for anything). Instead, the attendants went out of their way to make a special drink for one, and a meal for another, all with a smile. I was incredibly impressed. The food was also better than what I’ve been used to, and we were all given silverware.

Why are US carriers so horrible with service compared with international carriers? I think the dual factors of having their wages and benefits cut, along with an unionized mentality where you can’t be fired no matter how lousy the service, explains nicely.

Some people ask me why I’m so cynical of government institutions. They question why I favor private entities and free market dynamics over well intentioned government plans, and why I have absolutely no faith that any government run, nationalized health care system will be better or less costly than the flawed one that we have now.

To answer, let me point to this:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aSkgscULJ6Tk&refer=us

Nov. 28 (Bloomberg) — Florida local governments and school districts pulled $8 billion out of a state-run investment pool, or 30 percent of its assets, after learning that the money- market fund contained more than $700 million of defaulted debt.
Orange County, home of Disney World, removed its entire $370 million from the pool on Nov. 16, two days after the head of the agency that manages the state’s short-term investments disclosed the defaulted debt in a report delivered to Governor Charlie Crist.
“Our primary goal is to protect our funds,” said Jim Moye, Orange County’s chief deputy comptroller, from his office in Orlando. The county’s school board withdrew $388 million this week, following other local governments that pulled funds, including Miami-Dade County and Pompano Beach. The withdrawals, made since Nov. 14, were disclosed to Bloomberg News in a response to an open-records request.
The State Board of Administration manages about $42 billion of short-term investments, including the pool, as well as the state’s $137 billion pension fund. Almost 6 percent, or $2.4 billion, of its short-term investments consist of asset-backed commercial paper that has defaulted. Those holdings include $425 million in Axon Financial, a structured investment vehicle, or SIV, according to state records.

I’ve wondered for some time just who was buying the lowest tiers of packaged subprime crap. Those are the tiers that are first to take loses on any defaults and seemed to me, guaranteed to washout. In fact, this lower tier stuff has been nicknamed toxic waste for some time now on financial blogs, well before the current credit crisis. Now we have part of the answer, except that the government idiots didn’t even intend to buy what they got.

The Florida pool, which was the largest of its kind in the U.S. at $27 billion before the recent spate of withdrawals, has invested $2 billion in SIVs and other subprime-tainted debt, state records show. Connecticut, Maine, Montana and King County, Washington, are among other governments holding similar investments, in smaller quantities.

No, it’s not the structured investment vehicles (SIVs) who actually bought the toxic waste who are the dummies, they’re really the smart ones here, or at least in comparison. You see, the SIVs didn’t use all their own money to buy the lowest tiers of packaged subprime mortgages. In fact most of their money was borrowed, typically more than 90% as leverage with SIVs usually exceed 10x equity. How did they borrow that money? Why by issuing short-term asset-backed commercial paper of course. They then employed the proceeds to buy high yielding toxic waste, pocketing the difference in yield for themselves. What’s even more impressive is that they used the garbage they purchased to guarantee the commercial paper they issued, so that if they ever defaulted on that paper, the buyer would be entitled to nothing more than the toxic waste underlying. So what we have is akin to someone borrowing money to gamble in Vegas, and using the chips he’s gambling with as the sole collateral for the loan. Now who would be stupid enough to buy the SIVs commercial paper? Look no further than government hacks who thought they were being smart by buying collateralized commercial paper that offered a slightly higher yield, but in reality had no idea what they were getting into.

The Florida pool’s $900 million of defaulted asset-backed commercial paper now amounts to almost 5 percent of its holdings. The paper, which carried top ratings from S&P, Moody’s Investors Service and Fitch Ratings as recently as August, was downgraded after declines in the value of collateral affected by the subprime mortgage slump.
The pool owns $168 million of debt from KKR Atlantic Funding Trust cut to D, or default, from B by Fitch Ratings on Oct. 8. It also has $356 million issued by KKR Pacific Funding Trust, cut to D from B by Fitch Ratings on Oct. 2. Fitch said the cut to default on the debt reflected non-payment under the original terms. The debt was restructured to extend the maturities to February and March, and interest payments are continuing.
Ottimo, Axon
Florida’s pool has another $180 million of paper from Ottimo Funding, cut to D from C by S&P on Nov. 9. S&P said an auction of Ottimo’s collateral “did not generate cash proceeds” to repay the asset-backed commercial paper. The pool also holds $175 million of short-term debt issued by Axon Financial Funding, an SIV. It was cut to D from C by S&P yesterday. S&P said Axon failed to pay liabilities maturing Nov. 26, causing an “automatic liquidation event.”
SIVs are typically offshore companies created by banks and other firms to sell short-term debt to buy mortgage securities and finance company bonds with higher yields. They profit on the spread between the two.
Banks such as New York-based Citigroup, which manages $83 billion in SIVs, collect fees for running SIVs while keeping their contents off the bank’s books. SIVs finance themselves by selling asset-backed commercial paper, or short-term loans backed by collateral such as mortgages.
When the subprime debt market blew up in August, investors stopped buying SIV commercial paper. As a result, in September and October, some SIVs didn’t have the cash to pay debt holders.

“When funds like this are liquidated, the Street will take advantage of their desperation. They don’t care if you’re a hedge fund or a school district,” said Mason, who completed an 18-month appointment as a scholar in residence at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in January.

“The state appears to have breached the trust of the investors by putting money in new kinds of debt its managers didn’t fully understand, in their search for higher yields,” Mason said.

Greed and stupidity, it’s what I expect from government bureaucrats, and now you understand why I’m rightfully cynical.

This is one of the most amazing Ebay auctions I’ve ever seen. Yes, it’s an auction for an ordinary dollar bill and it just goes to show you that some people are quite smart and devious (the seller) while others are completely clueless (the buyer). You can make money selling anything on Ebay, even plain dollar bills. All you need is one sucker…

A little while ago, a class discussion focused on the issue of internet voting.  Oddly, it was discussed as a purely hypothetical possibility because the consensus of the class was that technology had not reached a stage yet where we could guarantee the integrity of the vote.  Remember, this is from a technological perspective, not a human one.  There is no technology that can prevent changes from people authorized to make those changes.

I tried to bring up the point that currently hundreds of billions of dollars are transmitted throughout international markets 24 hours a day every day.  This was to be prima facie evidence that such technology already exists.  Sadly, to the detriment of class edification, I was not called on.

It’s been said many times that we’re in a war of ideologies against Islamic Fundamentalism, but does it really have to be that way? Why has Islamic Fundamentalism become such a force recently and can conflict be avoided? I recently thought about a commentary written by Jeff Sachs of Project Syndicate where he made the following statements:

Many of today’s war zones – including Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia, and Sudan – share basic problems that lie at the root of their conflicts. They are all poor, buffeted by natural disasters – especially floods, droughts, and earthquakes – and have rapidly growing populations that are pressing on the capacity of the land to feed them. And the proportion of youth is very high, with a bulging population of young men of military age (15-24 years).

All of these problems can be solved only through long-term sustainable economic development. Yet the United States persists in responding to symptoms rather than to underlying conditions by trying to address every conflict by military means. It backs the Ethiopian army in Somalia. It occupies Iraq and Afghanistan. It threatens to bomb Iran. It supports the military dictatorship in Pakistan.

None of these military actions addresses the problems that led to conflict in the first place. On the contrary, American policies typically inflame the situation rather than solve it.

A more peaceful world will be possible only when Americans and others begin to see things through the eyes of their supposed enemies, and realize that today’s conflicts, having resulted from desperation and despair, can be solved through economic development rather than war. We will have peace when we heed the words of President John F. Kennedy, who said, a few months before his death, “For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children’s future. And we are all mortal.”

Jeffrey Sachs is Professor of Economics and Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University.

What is the most effective system of economic development? Capitalism, and the US already tries to promote economic development by advocating that countries adopt a capitalist system. But what happens when leaders refuse to help their desperate and despairing citizens? And worse, when they want to spread their poverty inducing, suspect methods to other countries?

Jeff Sach’s analysis is lacking in many respects. First of all, if not everyone is willing to enter the capitalist sphere of prosperity, then there has to be conflict. Dissidents need and will find an alternative ideology to back. First it was communism, but with the destruction of communism as a viable alternate ideology, a new one had to arise to replace it. The largest anti-capitalist block today happens to be the Islamic fundamentalists. Notice how Al-Queda states that their beliefs are incompatible with both democracy and capitalism, basically, they’re providing the same function as communism, an alternative to democratic capitalism for those who still don’t get it. One thing Sachs implies and is right about is that this alternate ideology won’t be defeated on the battlefield alone. People will have to learn for themselves that an Islamic fundamentalist state cannot provide a better lifestyle than a democratic capitalist one, just as people had to learn communism was a vastly inferior system. They will have to experience extreme suffering and underperformance, as the former communist countries did. Once they have suffered enough, they’ll finally admit their alternate system doesn’t work as well and stop believing in it. That’s what happened with the communist states, the people stopped believing and that’s why the Cold War ended. This process will continue until every nation in the world adopts a democratic capitalist system; that’s when history will end.

Now there are two issues, should we actively try to stop this alternate system from expanding knowing that people will suffer greatly under it? But it’s even more complicated because, like communism, Islamic Fundamentalism and every other alternate system that will arise, states that it is hostile to democratic capitalism. Thus conflict is a given and openly sought, otherwise it would not provide a true alternative. Capitalism’s productivity comes from specialization, even across countries. Why are we involved in Saudi Arabia, Columbia and so forth? Because we trade with them and have to be. Capitalism is based on specialization and trade, the more people who specialize and are involved in the system, the more prosperous everyone in it is. It is an organism, take away a part and the whole is weaker and the organism suffers. Everyone is dependent on each other, so it’s impossible for us not to have a relationship with Saudi Arabia, or be involved with China, or anyone else that comes into the system.

Sachs never provides a course whereby we could avoid conflict with a hostile regime that wants to cut off part after part. Take away a country, especially an important one like Iraq or Saudi Arabia, and the whole will be worse off and less productive. He never provides a clear alternative. Just as with the conflict in Darfur, we’re told we have to “do more”, but there isn’t any more that can be done in that case without the use of force. So the genocide continues and will continue until someone does use force, or one side is exterminated.

The thoughts above were written in a stream of consciousness manner. My major contention is that we will have Cold War type conflicts until one social economic system is accepted by the world and nothing can prevent these conflicts as they are both organic and necessary to the process whereby the best system is determined. There are still choices we can make, we don’t have to nuke the rest of the world, where and how we deal with this conflict is up to us, but it is there and will be there until defeated as with communism. Just food for thought.