Looking Ahead

LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis



Our East Midtown has always been a book country, with a Barnes & Noble book emporium near by everywhere, Cooper Square to Murray Hill, the headquarters on 17th Street just east of Broadway and the superstore on corner 5th Avenue and 18th Street. If that were not enough, The Strand, reportedly the world’s largest antiquarian bookstore, the lone survivor from the famous America’s Book Row, is on the corner of Broadway and 12th Street.



The Book Row book world has been changing since the 1950s, first by real estate development on Fourth Ave south of 14th Street driving out the low profit antiquarian stores. The rise of B&N and subsequently Borders, with superstores offering comfortable reading areas, free author lectures, huge stock and good discounts drove out a lot of new book stores, only to be attacked by Internet book sales on the Amazon site, soon joined by B&N itself. The recession did not help, libraries became widely popular, carrying multiple copies of popular titles, particularly the crime writers



Now our book paradise is under a new threat, called e-books. Although the tablets are still under development, Amazon’s original Kindle is attracting fiction readers at $10 a volume, and the ever-ready-to-join B&N has added its e-reader, Nook, at competitive prices. Recently Apple’s iBook and bookstore jolted the fray, and now the Google steamroller has moved in, as of December 6 activating its retail store with its huge stock of some three million books, most copied from university libraries, particularly the five centuries of non-copyrighted titles, acquiesced to by the librarians in the interests of protecting knowledge from getting lost. Google’s books aim to be accessed through any web browser, and to connect to any device, a lot of them free of charge. What role the public libraries will play in this part- fee based and part-free environment is yet to be fully developed.



Barnes and Noble has been further bothered by costs, losing money in new ventures and store expansion. An activist investor, shopping mall billionaire Ronald Burkle tried a takeover, and in November 2009 B&N had to employ a poison pill approach to stop his 20% purchase.



Now an unexpected player, the Borders book chain, has joined the chase, offering a merger/takeover. That is strange, since Borders is also financially insecure, with market capitalization of only $100M, vs. B&N’s $860M. Can a lean fish swallow a whale? Usually not, but Borders has a partner, hedge fund magnate, activist Bill Ackman, who has offered to finance the purchase at $16/share, a 20% premium, for $960M , Ackman owns 42% of Borders, and had already, in 2008, offered a reverse of this sale, Borders to be bought by B&N. Now he has more of an opportunity, since B&N declared itself to be for sale. Maybe there still a chance for the good old book industry, and the daily papers?



Bill Ackman of Pershing Square Capital Management is an old acquaintance of people of East Midtown. He bought $300M worth of ST/PCV bonds for $45M and tried to foreclose, in the hope of making an n easy fortune in turning the entire $3B property into a co-op. But the overseer, C. W. Capital sued , and NY Supreme Court Justice Richard Lowe stopped the action.



Why should this shrewd operator, with a quick profit motivation, make a major investment in what the market place claims to be a slowly drowning industry, called printed paper? We all know that the general newspapers are losing, the majors are cutting their paid reporting staffs. Now books are migrating to electronic storage media. Is this all worth while, as some environmentalists may claim, will this help save our trees and preserve oxygen supply, and stop land from eroding, and salvage the groundwater supply? Much as we may be for ecology and carbon control, the answer is negative. We want our children and heir children to be able to go to sleep hugging their little Goodnight Moon and The Little Train That Could books, not some electronic tablet with buttons (ah, you have not heard, the newest-readers can show color pictures!).



For background of the ups and downs in the book sales field: B&N, founded in the mid-1800s, was broke when college bookstore operator Leonard Riggio and partners bought it in 1971. Now it has 717 stores in 50 states, plus 616 college bookstores, and it publishes classics, both off-copyright as well as with copyright texts, purchased from other publishers.

Borders, also founded in 1971 by two brothers while studying at UMich in Ann Arbor, merged with Waldenbooks and others, today operating 466 stores, each offering regionally balanced book stock. It was bought and sold by Kmart, and is managed by hedge fund Vector Group as well as by Bill Ackman. If Ackman succeeds, we are sure to see a shrinkage in duplicating B&N and Borders bookstores, our neighborhood will be the less for it, but the book industry will survive. Give books.

Wally Dobelis and the staff of T&V wish our readers a wonderful Christmas, happy New Year, a healthy Kwanzaa and a fine belated Chanukah.

Labels: Bill Ackman, Leonard Riggio

LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis





The phrase about Afghanistan being the Graveyard of Empires has been overused, but it pays to consider it, in the current atmosphere following President Barack Obama’s agreement to add 30,000 American troops to the current US and NATO commitment.

Why the commitment, to begin with? Well, we know that Obama considers this a just war, against terrorism and Al Qaeda, the organization directly responsible for the 9/11/2001 unprovoked murder of some 3,000 American civilians. No matter how irresponsibly the Bush war leaders handled their December 2001 attack against the refuge of Osama bin Laden and his Taliban friends, the Democrats have inherited the war, and will honor their responsibility for the Afghans who support us. There’s also the backlash in loss of prestige throughout the world; we would lose much of the good will Obama has fostered. not to speak of the respect of and for the US armed forces. Further, withdrawal would endanger the fragile power of Pakistan’s government, and put at risk its nuclear arsenal that might fall into the hands of Taliban-friendly rulers.



How did we get into such dangerous territory? Well, Secretary of Defense Douglas Rumsfeld and his military commander , Gen. Tommy Franks, in December 2001 did use only a tiny contingent of Special Forces at Tora Bora to pursue bin Laden, his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri and the Taliban leader Mullah Omar, allowing them to escape into Pakistan. Their subsequent excuse - that it was done for the purpose of avoiding having too many American soldiers in Afghanistan that would create an anti-US backlash and foster a widespread insurgency - was not believable, and has fueled suspicions of their motives. That was a time when US had the full support of most of the world, all NATO countries and even Iran, and Bushites frittered it away over a period of seven years, allowing a corrupt government and heroin-producing warlords. As people lost faith in the American-promised reform, the Taliban insurgents returned...

Actually, the Graveyard of Empires simile really favors US, compared to previous conquerors. Alexander the Great, the Mongols, Genghis Khan and Tamerlane, and the Moguls were universally hated, as were the British Empire’s soldiers. The Communist revolution of 1978 and the USSR invasion with a force of 100,000 had the support of perhaps 5% of the educated population, and was defeated with the material aid of the US. Our December 2001 invasion came on the heels of a bloody takeover by the ultra-Islamist Talibans, with a heavy-handed attack on civil rights, such as they were, and education, art, and particularly, a demeaning of women’s position in society. Even now, some 60 % of Afghanistan’s population, such as the Usbek and Tajik people are anti Taliban, and it is among the 10 million Pashtuns that the radical Islamists find their strength.



The American command, Generals Petraeus and McChrystal and Admiral Mullen, recognize the need for a peaceful diplomatic solution rather than the impossible military victory in a war with invisible guerillas, and the American forces are being trained in conduct that involves socializing, collaboration with the locals rather than brute force. A longer continued presence, beyond July 2011 if necessary, is offered to Afghans, to encourage participation and discourage fear of a Taliban takeover after 2011. This policy counters Vice President Biden’s approach, of concentrations of Americans at strategic points, with air attacks on enemy villages.



The air war, when causing civilian casualties, is the killer policy that stands in the way of civilian collaborations, says Gregg Mortenson, who has become a civilian philosophical godfather to the success of this war. A son of missionaries and a mountain climber, he found the lack of education in North Pakistan primitive villages, particularly among women, the most destructive problem threatening peace and human progress, and started a foundation, Central Asia Institute, to build schools, with donations from Silicon Valley. His slogan,” If you educate a boy, you educate an individual; a girl educates an entire community,” led to building of schools, emphasizing women’s education that entailed the full collaboration of village elders, local workers and even Taliban converts. This effort began in 1993, and by now he has built 60 schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan, none burned by Taliban protesters, because entire communities stand behind the effort. One of his students has founded a clinic that has cut pregnant women’s death rate from 25% to zero in her village. Mortenson, with David Oliver Relin in 2006 wrote “Three Cups of Tea”, that has become a study text in schools US and world-wide, and required reading among US military members and command members in the Far East. This policy has been successful for 17 years and appears to have been accepted by US commanders. Afghanistan, before 1978 had a positive balance of trade, as a leading producer of fruit and nuts, before the heroin explosion. Can Obama succeed? Mortenson the successful believer thinks so.



Wally Dobelis and the staff of T&V wish our readers a Happy and Healthy Christmas, Chanukah and Kwanzaa Holiday Season! And here's some good news, the greening of the neighborhood goes on: The Christmas tree in Gramercy Park now uses LED candles, to save energy.

LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis



The Gift of Wisdom That Keeps on Giving

Dr Irving J. Block, whose Eighth Annual Memorial Lecture was held on
November 15, 2010 at the Brotherhood Synagogue, was a rabbi with a vision.
This was remembered by Judge Laura A. Ward, Acting Supreme Court Justice of
the Supreme Court of New York (who was the youngest child at the founding of
Brotherhood Synagogue in 1954), with a lecture titled Rabbi Block - The Gift
of Wisdom That Keeps on Giving.
Young Rabbi Block, an accountant by profession, US Army and Hagganah Defense
Force alumnus, graduate of the JTS, wanted to create the ideal synagogue,
described as a warm and friendly place, with the sanctuary open to all, housing a
congregation with an open heart and open door, whose members reach out to
one another and assist all people in the community. / Laura's grandfather
believed him, and the family joined, and Rabbi Block succeeded, in 1954 he
had a synagogue. The first temple she remembers was a six-column Greek
Revival building on East 13th Street which Brotherhood shared with the
Village Presbyterian Church.. The sharing of the buildings, a
complicated procedure, was made easy because the Minister, Dr. Jesse William
Stitt, shared Dr. Block's principles of fellowship. To foster better
relationships between faiths, the Rabbi and the Minister began a program of
speaking to congregations of all persuasions throughout the nation. This was
the era of the civil rights struggle, but the spirit of good will prevailed,
and the team continued their joint effort throughout the 1950s and '60s,
also appearing on radio and TV to promote brotherhood, and traveled to
Germany and Israel to prove to the world that ecumenism was real.

As a teenager, Laura Ward was very much affected by Rabbi Block's mission.
She knows that the example set by his actions had made her a better, more
caring individual, both in personal life and subsequently, as a jurist. In
the daily life of the synagogue, the congregation participated in their
Rabbi's effort to bring more young Jews back to religion (the Bet Cafe
in the synagogue brought in as many as 200 participants at times, to
talk, read poetry, hear music and dance ); helped Ethiopian Jews escape
persecution and resettle, offered services for developmentally disabled
children and mentally disabled adults; , provided meeting space for recovering alcoholics and drug addicts, an expanded Hebrew School, and a homeless shelter program, after the Synagogue's 1974 move to Gramercy Park.
.
The recovery programs affected the young jurist the most. Staring her law
career in private practice with Skadden Arps, she soon followed the career
path of her late father , Justice Robert Ward, for many years a Federal District Court Judge in the Southern District of New York.



First as a Special Attorney , Laura Ward
served with the US Department of Justice 's Organized Crime and Racketeering
section, then continuing as Assistant US Attorney, she prosecuted traditional Italian and Russian organized crime cases, including
the Gambino crime family and its head John Gotti. But her first appointment as a Justice was to the Criminal Court of NY County
in 1997, where she served for three years, and about a year and a half into
her appointment she was asked if she would agree to preside over a
different type of court, one focusing on alternative sentencing for drug
offenders. In NYC courts dependents were being arraigned 24 hours a day,
seven days a week. Manhattan had two daytime courtrooms operating 15 hours a
day, and one nighttime, 1 AM to 9 AM. A judge could arraign in one session
between 50 and 150 defendants, depending on the number of arrests, paper
work preparation and the production of the defendents.
Some 75% of the defendents in the 1990s were charged with possession or sale
of narcotics or marijuana, and many others with crimes related to their drug
addiction, such as burglary, robbery, larceny or prostitution committed because they
were trying to obtain money to buy drugs. A Judge might see a defendant on
Monday take a plea for drug paraphernalia and sentence him to three days in
jail, only to see him return later in the week for some other drug related
offense. It was clear to those in the criminal justice system, the judges,
prosecutors, defense attorneys and arresting officers, that repeat jail was
not the answer to eradicating the drug epidemic. The revolving door would
inevitably escalate the misdemeanors to felonies. Following a law school
principle is that a sentence should combine punishment, retribution and
rehabilitation, Chief Judge Judith Kaye decided to create drug treatment
courts, a principle initially opposed by many prosecutors and judges,
arguing that the criminal justice system should not be entering the drug
treatment profession. .Justice Ward, apparently influenced by the social
service principles inculcated in many of Rabbi Block's adherents, accepted
the assignment and the change of functions for seven years.
An effective drug court requires that all parties cast aside the adversarial
system to help the individual in need, by giving the defendent the tools to
deal with the problem. Typically, an individual who could be cured is
identified by a prosecutor or attorney as potentially benefiting,
occasionally despite a long past history, such as a first time felon facing
five years of jail time. Even recidivist felons may qualify, particularly
since the September 2009 revision of the draconian Rockefeller drug act.


Judge Ward's record of 80% success, defined as the defendants not returning
back to jail within 5 years after treatment, proves that the drug treatment
program works, to the society’s benefit. The program may take one to six
years to complete, and the judge remains on the case for the duration, with
defendants and their families often eager to report back their successes to
what is often the only authority figure who has taken a serious interest in
a young person's life.

Acting Supreme Court Justice Laura A. Wards has since 2007 been presiding
over calendar parts 70 and 23 of the Court. Before that, for seven years,
she shared presiding over with calendar of part N of the court with
presiding over three courts of drug treatment, for first time offenders,
felons and parole violators. She has also been an adjunct professor at Fordham
Law School, and often lectured at FBI and other agencies. Currently she serves on the
Board of Advisors of the Ethics Institute of the New York County Lawyers
Association. One senses that this is another place where Rabbi Block's gift
that returns is playing a role.

Rabbi Block's mission has also continued at Brotherhood, with a dedicated Board
of Trustees and his activist successor Rabbi Daniel Alder, who. with
Executive Director Philip Rothman, introduced Judge Ward.

Labels: Laura A. Ward

LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis

Yes, there will always be an Englend - for historic drama, romance and wit. Take for instance Robert Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy, tyhe first dictionary of psychiatry, with qoutable lines and stories in English, Latin and Greek languages.

Robert Burton,(1577-1640) , an Oxford Christ Church scholar for 40 years, was a jovial recluse , Latin poet and universal savant , popular as a quoter, in 1621 he wrote this highly organized three-partition encyclopedia of depression, its causes, symptoms and cures, a first organized psychiatric textbook.It was a best-seller, providing the post-Elizabethan intelligentsia with instant knowledge of geography, climate, and health conditions, in addition to symptoms, cures, medicines, herbals, and the Latin to quote and stories to tell. It is an encyclopedic treatise that had five editions in Burton's lifetime, and dozens of revisions, right up to 2009. Burton admitted that that he wrote of melancholy, in order to be busy to avoid melancholy and advised that there is no better cure for it than being busy, and no greater cause than idleness.

Robert Burton started his Oxford studies at Brasenose College in 1593. At 22 he was elected to study at Christ Church College, and remained there, student and librarian, taking his DD in 1614 and a vicarage at St. Thomas Church two years later, until in 1`630 his patron George, Lord Berkeley, presented him with a living in Segrave, Leicestershire.
Reclusive but jovial, he quoted and wrote poetry, and a funny Latin play about charlatans, Philosophaster, meanwhile working on his grand textbook , first encyclopedia of psychiatry, written to control his own depressions, actually quite modern in talking out his and other people's problems .The Anatomie of Melancholy, for which he asumed the name of Democritus junior, was first printed in 1621,
A compulsive reviser, Burton kept updating his text in new editions.

The potential of the book was recognized early, and a clever publisher working under the Oxford publishing rules, Henry Cripps , had secured a half right to the book, and was getting richpublishing four editions between 1622 and 1635. To explain, in Britain, a literary country, publishers established their copyright territories, to sell their books and control publication, as early as 1407, forming a Stationers' C0mpany. Selling Bibles and controlled religious works , in strict territories, assured profitability. A Royal Charter was granted in 1557. Only Oxforrd and Cambridge scholarly publishers could float, and around 1635 Barton tried to tiptoe between the Oxford and the English Stationers' Company's guild-like copyright rules by having Henry Young, the notorious King's Printer for Scotland, publish the Fifth Edition illegally, in Edinborough. But Cripps stopped it, having obtained Stationers' Company's protection by selling a part of his copyright to Michael Sparke, a Company member (possibly a wash sale?). Young eventually sold the partially printed books to Cripps, who finished the printing in London and Oxford. The full fascinating page by printed page history of the Fifth Edition is laid out in B. Quaritch's sale Catalogue 2011-03 (US phone number is 011 44 20 7297 4888, call Donovan Rees , an inexpensive call by Skype). Some of Burton's new copy had to be removed to fit the pages, and the Quaritch copy has the rare Ll cancel leaf present. Leaf Ll, discussed by E.Gordon Duff & F.S.Ferguson (see The Library, 1/9/1923), updated by F. Madan in 1926, is not recognized in the STC4163 descriptions. .Only very few copies still existant have the extra page - there were no Bodleian, British Museum and University Library at Cambridge, per Duff.

Consequently, the history of the Fifth Edition makes it the most interesting and research-worthy 17th century printed work, also a detective story, a tale of business intrigue worthy of XXI Century, and a romance. There is some thought of a stage play, not quite of Shakespearian magnitude but a worthy companion to the King's Speech, The Queen and Masterpiece Theatre. Yes there will always be an England , source for romance, drama and historic wit,

Burton's positive attitude, humor and rich quotes made him a popular writer, a bestseller of the century. He admitted that that he wrote of melancholy, a way of being busy to avoid melancholy, and advised that there is no better cure for it than being busy, and no greater cause for melancholy than idleness. This explains the cyclic revivals in interest in Burton, with major updates of translations. It may be noted that the Cripps new editions of 1651 and 1660, though claimed to contain new words by Burton, had the same page length as our friend, the 1638 Fifth edition, and only the 1676 book had seeming improvements. Around 1840 the reprints acquired a Latin quotation translator credit, by Democritus Minor. More recently, the 1932 edition, less Elizabethan in tone, has an introduction by Holbrook Jackson, a Fabian journalist , who identifies Burton's great influence in John Milton's Il Penseroso, George Byron, Charles Lamb, Lawrence Sterne' sTristram Shandy. Nonesuch Press and Everyman's Library have also reprinted him. Today you can buy a Penguin reprint, of extracts only, but this is a different era.

To that point, Barnes & Noble carry no copies of the Anatomy, but offer over a dozen printed-to-order sources, to be ordered through them, prepaid

Labels: Anatomy of Melancholy, Robert Burton

LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis






The results of WikiLeaks have reached this household directly: an Israeli friend called to complain about the Obama administration being friends of Iran, and not helping Israel. Bush was good, he gave; Obama makes demands; he is a Moslem. How des she know it? Simple, read the WikiLeaks. Obviously, there are interpretations at work that work against US, and hypocrisy abounds around them. This anarchist, Julian Assange, made sure of maximum spread by sending copies of the 250,000 documents to The Guardian in London (who copied NYTimes), Der Spiegel in Germany and Al Jazeera in the Middle East. Their condensations were copied and reinterpreted by newspapers of every persuasion in the world. The documents contain diplomatic chatter, not significant decisions, and cannot be compared to the Daniel Ellsberg's Pentagon Papers, or Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson's "16 words" disclosures. Nevertheless they compromise our friends, disclose our despair and destroy our standing and the credibility of US. Stealing and pushing this information on the world is destructive to peace and treasonous to all efforts to work out the world's disasters. I have no qualms with the government reading my e- mail and monitoring my foreign correspondence and phone calls, searching me at airports, accessing my personal information, when that helps to prevent suicidal terrorist attacks against my family, my country and my world. I have nothing to hide from people who protect me and my planet. On the contrary, I harbor much anger towards those who want to destroy my country's effort towards peace in the world, and I am sure that in their hearts many Liberals and middle-of-the roaders feel the same. If that's not acceptable to ACLU and other protectors of the 1st Amendment, please recognize that we are facing destruction of the world, with world shattering weapons in the hands of people who think that Armageddon and advancing the Final Days is within their purview. What motivates this capricious Julian Assange and his US Army private to destroy the credibility of this country and its allies, and sow anger towards US among desperate people here and abroad? Have they considered the ultimate results, or are they driven by other motives? Who is paying for this effort, are the political enemies of US government at work? We really have to move, temporarily, beyond civil liberties and other privacy issues, to protect our families, our country, and the planet; it is within our purview and in our social contract. The stakes have grown exponentially. If that sounds trite, maybe you consider how the potentials of total destruction within our generations have escalated beyond belief.



Which brings me to the next fear, of economic destruction. The United States, in terms of productivity towards balance of trade, is somewhere near Portugal's level. We can only pay for 59% for what we import, leaving use with $836B trade deficit. .Portugal is at 62%, and the commercial EU world does not accept it. While 60 years ago Portugal and Spain were the countries to buy textiles and tiles from and outsource work to, because the cost was 1/4 that of Germany's, their social benefits systems have rolled up, and so have labor costs. Southern Europeans have acquired democracy, TV sets, homes, health benefits, Social Security, early retirement, and unemployment protection. As an EU economist states, you cannot base economic recovery on tourism, real estate and finance. The world allows the US to function without calling in its chips because we have the largest, monster economy, a GDP of $14T plus, about the same as those of the export countries Japan, China, Germany and Russia combined, also because we have the world's standard currency and largest reserves. But someone, some day, may have to call in some chips, and it can snowball, although it is in the interests of our creditors to keep the status quo. Our government debts are 84% of GDP, equal to or a bit above those of France, Canada and the Euro area, and well below Japan, Italy and the smaller debtor nations (all figures used are 2009 or 2008).



The costs that American middle class will have to assume to try balance the budget and improve the trade balance are formidable. The president has signed on, with the appointment of the bipartisan Alan K. Simpson/Erskine B. Bowles fiscal commission, which has concrete plans to cut expenses, starting with marginal income increment-based reductions in benefits and increases in prices for Social Security and Medicare, including an upped benefit start age, and tax deduction elimination for mortgage interest, real estate taxes, donations, various tax loopholes (try inventorying them from Alternate Minimum Tax form 6251), and more. The first increases mailed out November 24, marginal Medicare Plan B premium increases, for singles starting at $85K and couples at $170K income, are 40 percent, rising to 230 percent at incomes of more than $214K and $428K respectively. If these percentages relate to future Social Security premium rises, Young America is in for hardships.. All this , once more, prompts asking why the incomes above $1m ought not to be taxed higher. I ask this of conservatives in particular, to consider the events that have changed (below), or should have changed, their free enterprise and free trade theories.



Since the repeal of FDR's Glass-Steagall act of 1933, a law that defined the functions of retail banks, investment banks, stock brokers and insurance as not combinable, these entities have turned full service, all functions in one office. A bank (any kind since the robber-baron investment banks now have registered, to obtain protection of FDIC ) now can underwrite a bond, get it rated, offer it wholesale or retail, collect commissions, provide phony insurance (remember AIG and swaps?). The REIT crashes of 1970s-'80s did not prevent an act to deregulate savings banks in 1980, and particularly the Gramm-Leach-Bliley act of 1999, approved in the Republican Senate and overwhelmingly accepted by bipartisan support in the House. It freed the banks from the responsibilities of managing risks, and not speculating with depositor funds. The Federal Reserve had to spend over $3,000B to bail out the big banks (including UBS, a foreigner) to keep the credit availability open, else payrolls would have stopped all over the world and the entire financial structure of this multinational world economy would have collapsed. Unfortunately, the big banks just served the credit market as barely as possible, and speculated their way back to being bigger than ever. Recovered businesses kept $1T profits abroad, waiting for a tax amnesty. US Treasury did not play its control role wisely, not forcing the banks to help recover the middle tier of business. They should not have accepted quick repayments but retained their ownership and controls positions.



What's my beef? Well, banks and business have destroyed the US position as manufacturer by outsourcing production to cheap markets (remember maquiladoras?) . Free trade agreements like NAFTA lost US jobs - not that the social entitlement structure has not helped, by skyrocketing labor costs. The business world is not keeping its social contract with our country. Maybe we are more entitled to benefits than the Portuguese, by being more inventive - Ford and the automobile, Rockefeller and oil, Silicon Valley and electronics, and cotton gin and air conditioner in between - but the Ricardo theory, that colonialists can always stay ahead of low cost producing colonies by being technologically ahead, has failed. Manufacturing has become mobile and the former exploitees have brain power and sometimes have moved ahead of the West. Conservative non-traditionalist Patrick Buchanan has long been screaming for tariff barriers to protect American jobs, despite the economists' insistence that Smoot-Hawley like barriers are counterproductive.



Can the natural resource poor West recover? The Germans manage, with hard work and the Ruhr iron, but can we? Will we tighten the belts and accept a lower standard of living? Not easily. the older of the 15M unemployed will drag on, with unemployment benefits , not willing to step down and retrain for the 5M vacancies going begging. I know two college grad kids now retraining, one dropped by finance and learning to be math teacher, the other learning IT; a number of others are turning entrepreneurial, working off the 500m member worldwide social networks. As for the banks, can they be turned around to finance real estate and native manufacture recoveries?. The best among bankers, Jamie Dimond of JPMorganChase who in 2008 refused to be Secretary of Treasury,, insists that they can, but he too had to do tough foreclosures. And what happened to the president’s commission, with Bill Gates, to develop new salable manufacture lines? Did they decide that the American worker is too expensive, and slink away?

Positive thinking is getting harder, but let’s keep it up.

Labels: Alan Simpson, Armageddon, Glass Steagall, Gramm Leach Bliley, Jamie Dimond, Julian Assange, Last Days, NAFTA, Patrick Buchanan, Smoot Hawley, social contract, treason, Wikileaks